Acting

Like many of you, theirs been many days where I’d stare off into space wondering when I’d hear good news. I realized that I had two choices, bury my head and soak in the stress and weight of negativity or preoccupy myself by driving my kids insane, singing, dancing, or playing board games. So, I created other choices, flip a couple of houses, and redesign my entire first floor. New boxes showed up on my steps for almost three months. I was busy. I was creating. I used art, fabrics, furnishings,...

After three and a half years of being a reader in multiple casting offices in Los Angeles, and participating in more than 10,000 auditions, I'm sharing with you the knowledge and insight I've gained by being a fly-on-the-wall in the room with casting director's, directors, producers, and showrunners. So take the journey with me, and discover some insider secrets that will help you manage your fears and expectations, as well as give you an edge as soon as you walk in the audition room.   Clic...

Probably the most nervewracking assumption actors make when going into the audition process is that the people they will meet “on the other side of the table” somehow know everything about how the industry works and what it takes to succeed. Certainly, they must know more than you! After all, you’re the one who’s asking them for work! Let’s stop thinking of power, authority, and experience as all being the same thing. Consider, instead, that how much a person knows about success in the enterta...

Welcome to Atlanta! Where the Actors Play. Waaaay back in 2005, if you were living in Atlanta and looking to jump into this crazy business called acting, conventional wisdom would have told you to make the move to Hollywood and start there. And even as recent as 2012, if you came to Hollywood and mentioned you were from Atlanta, you would be met with a shrug of the shoulders, and maybe even a look of disgust. Flash forward to 2020, and if you were to move from Atlanta to Hollywood, ears would...

Always Be Writing Michael - At the beginning of the pandemic, like most of us, I was suddenly rich in the commodity of time. For some friends, this proved difficult. But writing is its own form of isolation, so this seemed to play into my hand. One morning, I jotted down some thoughts and posted them anonymously across my socials. My friend Connor Pannell, who I’d met at Catalyst Stories in October of 2019, responded with a scene for a new concept he was developing. I immediately connected t...

Who would’ve ever thought a simple smile could change everything. That’s right, just a smile and nothing more. That’s not so hard, right? Did you know that smiling releases endorphins and dopamine in the brain? A natural antidepressant and all you have to do is turn that frown upside down. I’ll admit, that was a bit cheesy but hell, you get the point. What if I told you, a smile could also help your neighbor. Did you know a smile is contagious? If you don’t believe me, next time you have a mo...

Happy Sunday Creative Army! Here's hoping you had a happy, healthy, and creative week. I've got some fresh coffee in hand and some amazing content coming in hot. Let's dive in, shall we? First up, The Hollywood Reporter has an all-star roundtable all about creativity featuring some of the biggest names in entertainment. This video features Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton the musical, In the Heights), Donald Glover (Atlanta, Community, and hip hop superstar Childish Gambino), Damien Chazelle (La...

I remember sitting on my porch in December 2019 and saying to myself, finally, 2020, a new start. I think the majority of the world pretty much felt that 2019 could take a hike, that is until 2020 really hit us with a Pandemic. Being a filmmaker during this time has struck fear within our industry, as well as the rest of the world. So, the impending question is, how do we get back to set? What does that look like as the bans are lifting and work is kinda moving forward? I’m here to give you s...

Hello Stage 32 Fam! I have some hot tips for all my fellow actors out there on how to rock your next self-tape audition. Even before stay-at-home orders and social distancing became the daily norm, self-tape auditions accounted for over 85% of all auditions, according to SAG-AFTRA. Trust me, I love bringing the in-person charisma as much as the next person, but now more than ever, it is essential to learn how to bring that same charm and energy to your digital auditions.  Fortunately, SAG-AF...

Happy Friday Creative Army! As you know, back in March, we announced and launched Stage 32 Screenings to help filmmakers who were impacted by the cancellation of their live screenings at film festivals all over the world. Stage 32 Screenings is a unique platform that allows filmmakers to get their films seen to a concentrated audience including thousands of distributors, sales agents, producers, financiers, development execs, and more decision-makers here on Stage 32. We are currently screenin...