I want to give a shout out to Alan Watts (who I will thank again next week) and Thomas Kuhn who coined the Phrase "Paradigm Shifting" in 1996 when I first came across his book. The two men have had a profound impact on the development of my brain in terms of non linear thinking. I couldn't do what I do without their guidance. Their influence will be woven into the blog below and the one to follow next week. “You can’t understand someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes”  This line originates in a poem called Judge Softly written by Mary T. Lathrap Marcus Aurelius said, “Whenever ..read more

If you've ever gone on a road trip through the US of A ("the land of the best and the worst" according to Leonard Cohen), you may have noticed these cathedrals of excessive calories and poor culinary taste in nearly every State. Their orange signs point skyward above the roadside trees as you speed along the interstate. I am talking about the chain of restaurants called Cracker Barrel. These establishments exude an atmosphere of old America. As you approach the door along a covered porch, you pass rocking chairs that gently sway in the breeze, as if inhabited by the souls of an America that ti ..read more

Step 8: It’s about getting better, not booking. Don’t measure your success by comparing yourself to others. I tried it. It doesn’t work.   Let’s get this cliche out of the way “A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” Even if you manifest a future where booking is the goal you still (logically) must do it one step at a time. Pointing to your goal is like pointing at the moon and expecting to be standing on it. Yes, you need a plan and a vision, but first, you need clarity of being. Your mind and body are the rocket ship to the moon. It starts as a dream, but you guide it ..read more

THE 12 THINGS YOU MUST DO TO BECOME A BETTER ACTOR AKA THE 12 THINGS I BELIEVE MAY BE HELPFUL TO SOME, IF YOU PRACTICE THEM I have been doing this for a long time now. When I began this journey Mork and Mindy, Taxi, Barney Miller were the top shows on TV. The Shining, Raging Bull, Caddyshack, and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back were in the movie theatres. There was no World Wide Web, the iPod was 20 years away, the iPhone 26 years away and Mark Zuckerberg won't be born for 4 more years. The letters BIPOC and LBGTQ were something like what your tile holder looked like when you removed ..read more

THE UPS AND DOWNS – LIFE’S JOURNEY “If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.” Carl Jung If you are going to stay in this business for the long haul one has to learn how to see life as a continuum or a wave not as a stock market graph. The tide comes in, the tide goes out. Beware the fate of Smeagol (Gollum) and your desire for the shiny object. In this blog I’d like to explore a few exit strategies to find your way out of this intricate web we weave for ourselves. We come into this world expressing ourselves with a howl. With our first breath we declare our presence ..read more

THE HOBBIT BOOKS THE JOB  (YOU GOT THE JOB: NOW YOU CAN CHILL) First of all, you got the job. Congratulations. Do a victory lap and give yourself a big psychic hug. Share with friends and loved ones. Take in your moment – you’ve worked hard for this and so enjoy the victorious sensation for a while, before you start worrying about your day or days on set. Remember the following: 1/ They believe in you! They picked YOU over many others (sometimes 100+ people,) and YOU were the one they chose. 2/ They believe that you fit into the whole world vision of their show/ film. They put themselves ..read more

THE HOBBIT PREPARES TO ENTER THE ROOM If you haven't read PART ONE, please start HERE The actual techniques we use to help actors memorize and break down scripts for auditions will have be part of a much longer, detailed blog. In fact, it most likely will have to wait for my book or a training video. However, the point of this blog series is not the particulars of “how to do” this or that, but the state your brain is in through it all. Your brain goes through many different chemical stages throughout the audition process. From when you prepare for your audition to entering the audition r ..read more

We all intuitively know that our choices in life tell us (and the world) a lot about ourselves. Ultimately, these choices define who we are. It can sentence us to a potential lifetime of regret or shame or to a confirmation of living by our values, which result in deep satisfaction. We can experience pride and joy as easily as shame and despair. What we choose to do and how we respond to the consequences of these choices will be the measure of us – both on screen and in the “real world.”  It is not the “big story” that will always hold our attention. We consume so much TV and fi ..read more

A Hobbit or Gollum: Who do you want to be? GOLLUMYour heart is racing as you enter the audition room (virtual or live). Maybe you try and occupy space and smile waiting to be told what to do. Maybe you have a pre-thought of something clever to say to break the tension when you enter. Your voice rides high on you accidentally or perhaps you pitch it lower deliberately. Your heart beats fast like a ticking bomb. You try to remember all the cliché’s: “be yourself,” “just have fun,” “they want you to book the job, otherwise they wouldn’t see you,” etc. Perhaps you are channeling Oliver: “Please si ..read more

I’ve met thousands of young actors over the years. One of the most commonly asked questions is “How do I get an agent?” This is not the most important question! I know this might be tough to read, but hang in there with me… The most important question is “Am I ready for an agent?”, and more specifically: “What type of agent am I ready for/ what type of agent do I need?” There’s an array of agents that cater to different needs. There are agents that deal strictly with Background Performers, agents that only represent actors commercially, to day-player roles all the way to guest stars and lead ..read more