Acting

You will hate this blog.Not the most inspiring of beginnings, but bear with me…I struggled as a voice talent for almost 15 years. Before that, I went to college and graduate school for acting. It turns out that while I was pretty good at acting, I hated the lifestyle. I hated the competition and how it brought out the worst in people. I hated, well, other actors. Their insecurity, their need to act as a form of therapy, their love of Ramen Noodles. I hated actors because I saw too much of myself...

Hey guys!  Happy Sunday. The past week has been consumed by Cannes prep (see all the details here), so I have something a little different for Coffee & Content this week.  And it's something for everyone.  How about we cover ground on all the following topics: - Why you need to cut the negativity out of your life- Today! - Why you do not need to be micromanaged as a screenwriter or a filmmaker - How you can bring value to every meeting - What I'm hearing in my meetings regarding...

Hey guys, On the AMA last week, many of you asked a number of questions that I have answered on various podcasts over the last few months.  Additionally, some of you asked where you could find certain podcast appearances.  Allow me to be of service!  All of my recent podcasts as well as numerous other webcasts and video content can be found by clicking on Education on the top menu bar and then choosing podcast.  You'll find dozens of hours of FREE content you can listen to and view at your con...

My agent once told me that he was more than happy for me to write my little character drama about a man who lives a double life robbing banks. He then asked me if I could also build him a time machine back to 1975 so he could sell it. Point taken. Hollywood is a fluid business where trends change in a matter of months. Some genres, in fact, go completely dormant. In 2009 The Proposal, It’s Complicated, and Couples Retreat all grossed 100M+ domestically. Know what the highest grossing romantic co...

If there was one subject that dominated the questions asked during my recent Stage 32 AMA, it was about best practices on social media.  Many of you wanted to know how to go about creating meaningful relationships that would help accelerate your path to success.  You know my feelings on this subject as it relates to launching and maintaining a career in film and content creation: Relationships = Reads Relationships = Jobs Relationships = Financing Relationships = Champions of you and you...

Part of why I love overseeing Stage 32's education is because of the incredible array of talent that I get to meet. Recently when Stage 32 hosted the 2018 Film Con Hollywood conference we had the pleasure of working with some incredible executives, including Adam V., a talent agent at the Gersh Agency. Adam works in the TV literary department and has a strong eye for what's happening in the TV space, but he also has great knowledge of the entire industry right now. We took a few minutes to ask...

Well, this is exciting. As you all know Stage 32 has has worked directly with and have had an official presence at the Cannes Film Festival for the last 4 years. This year, our role with Cannes has grown. We are thrilled to announce that we are an official education workshop partner with the Cannes Marche du Film!  Stage 32 will be presenting an official workshop to producers, filmmakers and other content creators on the importance of audience building, branding and crowdsourcing at the Marche t...

I caught the travel bug early in life and have been blessed with the number of places on this planet I have visited. It’s more than a lust for vacation, but it is a desire to see the world, learn from the people, and tally up some great stories. I'm sure there are plenty of you out there who have the same desire to hike Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat and photograph the penguin colonies in Antarctica. But there is always something that stands in the way, the lack of travel funds and the fact that I...

Getting the Call It started, as it always does, with a phone call. I was driving down Sunset, it was a beautiful day in Hollywood; and I was feeling good. I had been in Los Angeles for five years, after having moved from Minneapolis. I had some great success back home and was expecting to jump right into the business when I go out here, but I was in for a bit of a surprise. I booked a guest star after only a couple of months, but then things really dried out. I spent the next five years tryi...

Happy Sunday to all.  Hope you are all enjoying and taking advantage of Introduce Yourself Weekend! Back with another 2 videos designed to entertain and educate. First up, New York Acting Coach John Windsor-Cunningham with an acting lesson he says saved his own career.  The vid is titled The Best Acting Lesson in the World (I don't name 'em folks) and I'll be very interested to get your feedback. Next up, a TEDx talk from Zach King:  The storyteller in all of us.  Zach built a huge online...