Caitlin O'Brient

A Sense of Entitlement

2011-05-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

I wish this article had been around when I was graduating. My first year out of school was the hardest year of my life. I quickly learned that my BFA meant nothing in LA. I had an edge for getting temp jobs because I had a degree, but that was about it. I got very lucky landing my agent. He just happened to have his BFA from University of Miami as well. Small world, right?

A SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT

From Backstage.com

So what exactly is that degree worth?

This past weekend, I spent most of my free time enjoying an annual event we all know as spring cleaning. After dusting and shining and sweeping every inch of my townhouse, I started digging through the closets, making a list of what can stay and what must go. It was during this phase that I came across an 11-by-16 frame that held a document I haven't seen in ages. Yes, I'm talking about my college degree. It's a Bachelor of Fine Arts from a well-known film school on the East Coast. My major was cinema, which sounds much cooler than film, and I also minored in theater.

Beer in hand, I sat down and stared at this old friend. College was a long time ago. My mind drifted back to those years, and fond memories washed over me. I remembered my hunger to learn, my need to succeed against all odds. Even then, my young mind knew I had chosen a difficult business, one that's hard to crack. That's why I was in college. I also knew those four years would be crucial to my future success in the entertainment industry.

When graduation day arrived, I had a sense of entitlement that cannot be measured on any scale. My education was finally complete. I was ready to take Hollywood by storm.

It took me less than six months to realize I knew nothing.

I've been an agent now for more than 10 years, and during those years, I've met countless young actors, fresh out of school, who remind me of that time in my life. They're all the same. After years of training and winning awards, they look like racehorses that can't find jockeys to ride them. I always try to explain that the business of acting is about taking two steps back before you can take one forward, but they never listen. And I totally get that. I didn't listen back then either. That's the folly of youth. You think you know everything.

An actor's first year out of school is always the hardest. That's the time you first encounter indifference. Soon after that, you meet rejection. How can this be? Surely, all those teachers who praised your talent couldn't be wrong. The ones who are wrong are all those stupid agents and managers who are too ignorant to know a good thing when they see it.

As that first year slips away, your confusion will only grow as actors less skilled than you start to catch a break. How can that hot young blonde with almost no training land such a great agent when you continue to walk the streets unrepresented? And now she's testing for a network pilot when you can't even get seen for a few lines on a sitcom. This doesn't make any sense. You graduated from Yale!

Reality checks are hard to cash, aren't they?

It took me a long time to understand that my fancy college degree wasn't going to open any doors. All those years of studying and paying tuition bills got me a job as an assistant answering someone's phone. The only reason I succeeded was because I learned to find my own way, knowing that everything I was taught in college would pay off when the time was right. Trust me. A good education is never a waste of time. It's just one of many tools you'll need to survive in this industry.

Here's what all young actors must understand: Graduating from a respected program (or taking classes here and there) doesn't entitle you to work. It entitles you to pursue work, but that's about it.

Accepting this simple little fact will make your first few years in the business much easier. It will also save you a fortune in therapy bills.

Upright Cabaret Alumni on TV & In Theaters!

2011-04-28T13:07:00.000-07:00

I am so excited for my dear friends at Upright Cabaret this week! Their alumni are making big waves!
Follow Upright Cabaret on Facebook for more updates!

1. Frenchie Davis made her debut on NBC's The Voice on Tuesday night and she absolutely KILLED it! Here's a video of Frenchie singing "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry. Here's hoping Christina Aguilera leads her to VICTORY! You can follow Frenchie's progress here.

Thoughts, anyone??? I'm rooting for ya, Frenchie!

2. Chad Kimball is currently playing the lead in Memphis on Broadway. The show will be playing in select theaters from April 28 - May 3, 2011. Click here for the playbill.com article for more details. Congrats, Chad!

Here's a video of Chad singing "Memphis Lives in Me" at Upright Cabaret a few years ago:

Are YOU going to see Memphis in theaters?

How Failure Worked for Me

2011-04-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

By Paul Russell

From Backstage.com

For years I had a deeply personal secret. Only family and some acquaintances I knew from the era of bell-bottom pants and a CB in every Ford Pinto were aware of my shame:

I failed seventh grade.

You may chuckle or chortle, but it still remains a deep wound to my spirit. One that I exposed in my book. And my choice to do so on the printed page and once again here remains a terribly uncomfortable offering of honesty.

If repeating seventh grade weren't enough of a humiliating wake-up call with teachers, when I first re-entered their room for another round, several asked, "What are you doing here?"

I foolishly seemed to keep wanting to repeat my recidivism for academic failure. I spent several semesters attending required summer school during my high-school years. Including my senior semesters. My adolescent academic failure eventually disallowed my participation in the graduation ceremony.

I did graduate months later as a school secretary unenthusiastically handed me my diploma on a sweltering August afternoon. Just the two of us. In an abandoned registrar's office. No cap. No gown. No family. No friends. No smiling photographs for decades later reminiscing of what should have been a joyful moment marking my progression.

Why did I continually fail at academics? Was I an intellectual nit? No. Laziness and a lack of priorities were the culprits.

How did failure work for me? The self-inflicted emotional scars that linger arduously drive me to make certain that I am never again—for lack of earnest effort—to fault for a failure I will encounter in the future. I can fail for lack of skill, to which I will learn how to improve myself. That's not a shame. But to fail for lack of trying—there is no forgiveness.

Actors encounter failure, often. But let's focus what is and is not failure.

If you audition and they hire a more qualified actor for the role, then you did not fail. Someone who was better suited for the role was chosen. There is no blame; unless you have been lax at improving your art.

You are culpable if both you and the competing actor were spot-on for the role but the foil that kept you from advancing was an aspect of your craft that could be improved by you.

A desire for improvement is not an entitlement to being better.

There are many 'actors' or 'actor/singers' who can't act or sing and just shouldn't be in the business. Those people are at fault for not recognizing they are out of their league and should pursue a career in which their bank account and personal fulfillment will be better sated.

Just like with athletes, there comes a time when we must realize that the spirit may be willing but proficient skills may never be achieved to compete professionally.

If you're unprepared for an audition (you didn't study the material given; you arrived late and flustered to the audition site; your personality in the room was cold and unbecoming; etc.), you are to blame for the failure.

Take from that experience the knowledge of what you did wrong and strive not have a repeat performance of such in the future. That's how failure can be a good thing. It's like the worn old adage: "Learn from your mistakes."

Mistakes? Yes, I have a few that I own. And if I fail again—and it's more than possible, if I'm honest with yourself—I will make damn sure not to repeat the causes for my defeat.

Determination to succeed is the bastard child of failure. Embrace the offspring as if it were your very own. Only then will failure work for you as it has for me.

The Importance of Professional Relationships

2011-03-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

By: Caitlin O'Brient

Very recently I was given an amazing offer to work on a production of Guys & Dolls being produced by the former head of the theater program I graduated from.

Never in a million years did I think I would be stepping back into the shoes of Miss Adelaide this soon (after all, I’m only 24) and with many of the same creative team I worked with my senior year of college. I didn’t even have to audition—this was hands-down one of the coolest moments in my life thus far! I am saying a thousand Thank You’s for being given such an amazing opportunity.

As I reflect upon my recent good fortune, I got to thinking about the importance of the professional relationships in my life and the good habits I’ve developed that I think have helped me cultivate these relationships.

When I was younger I used to waste a lot of energy being bitter that other actors were getting cast over and over again with the same directors. I thought it was just favoritism. It seemed “SO unfair!” I never understood that this was the nature of our business. You actually get to choose who you work with, what a concept… I was just too inexperienced to understand that.

I mean, look at directors like Christopher Nolan. He continues to cast the same core group of actors: Cillian Murphy, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Christian Bale to name a few. They’re all VERY talented actors. But more importantly: Chris Nolan clearly loves working with them.

Hmmmm….

SO… here are a few things that I think have really helped me to stand out as a professional:

NEVER BURN YOUR BRIDGES

I thank my mother for beating this one into my brain as a kid...

The show business community is one of the smallest in the world. EVERYONE knows each other and they’re not afraid to talk. So be careful—don’t go pissing off the intern at the casting office or the tougher than nails stage manager or your professors in college. They’re all people who are there to help you in the long run. I vividly remember the head of our program at UM saying he received calls from CDs and agents in NY all the time about former students…

I know it can be hard if you disagree with someone (we’ve all suffered through community theater), but keep it to yourself and be respectful about your differences of opinion. You may end up learning something from these people and more importantly making a good contact.

FOCUS ON THE WORK AND THE WORK ALONE.

Acting is a job—plain and simple. Yes, it’s a lot of fun, but you’re still getting paid (hopefully) and you’d better deliver the goods. You’re there to forge relationships as well, but try to leave the partying at the door until you finish the run. I learned this one the hard way...

TRUST ME: You don’t want to have to ask your stage manager to leave a trash can right off stage just in case...

KEEP YOUR HEAD LOW AND DO WHAT YOU'VE GOT TO DO.

AKA: NO DRAMA. What is the point of creating it or getting involved in someone else’s? You’re just going to piss people off and in turn develop a bad reputation for being a pain in the ass to work with. Let’s be honest: it’s a waste of time and a HUGE energy drain. Leave your baggage at the door. Am I throwing in enough clichés for ya, yet?

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

Your body is an instrument and it’s the only one you’ve got.

If you don’t get the proper rest, exercise, nutrients, warm-ups, etc., you WILL get sick and you won’t be able to do the job you were hired to do.

I also learned this one the hard way in college and it definitely bit me in the ass many a time until I buckled down and realized what was more important to me: my training (at the time) and my future.

I had a pretty horrific incident where I felt like I had to push through the sickness and developed pre-nodes. Not only did I feel like a complete jerk, but I ended up having to get scoped and do a ton of speech therapy. It wasn’t cheap and it wasn’t pleasant. Lesson learned!

If you can take good care of yourself and deliver the goods, people will know that you are reliable. Reliable is one of the BEST things you can be next to being talented.

KEEP AN OPEN MIND/KEEP LEARNING

I touched on this before, but it is so important that you always keep yourself open to learning. Just because you have talent, or a degree, or 10+ years of training does not make you an expert.

You’re really never finished learning and the minute you decide that you have learned everything you can from a person, you’re screwed. You might as well consider yourself dead inside.

Not only are you going to piss those people off who are trying to help you, but you’re closing yourself off to an amazing opportunity to grow as an actor and as a person.

If I had all the money in the world I’d be in class every day. Sadly I have to make do with reading lots of blogs, books, websites (I LOVE BACKSTAGE.COM), and watching a ton of theater, movies, TV, and so on.

BE POSITIVE!

A positive attitude = a fun person to work with. No one wants to hang around with a Debbie Downer. If you’re someone who’s fun to work with, you’re most likely going to get hired again.

I believe each of these things tie back into that important little word: Relationships. You never know if a friend or teacher might become a big producer someday and have a role that’s absolutely perfect for you that could launch your career. If you were a heinous bitch, you’re probably not going to get that call. AND you’ll have missed out on a great opportunity.

The Ugly of Our Trade

2011-03-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

As I promised yesterday, here it is...

THE UGLY OF OUR TRADE

By: Paul Russell
From: Backstage.com

Recently I was talking to an agent regarding two actors I had brought to his/her agency. For the sake of clarity and protection of all involved, I'll name her Sue. (Why oh why do I hear Johnny Cash in the background?)

Sue was discussing the future of two clients I had brought to her agency: one signed (Amy); the other, not signed (Peter). Peter was not fully represented, but was in a popular show for which Sue had helped negotiate his contract. Both were wonderful people but as actors their type and/or skill-set have been a challenge for professional advancement.

And so Sue spoke with me about releasing Amy and not taking on Peter. I was troubled. For I—the person of "This is a business folks, treat it as such"—found myself asking Sue to consider emotion and state-of-being for Amy and Peter before casting aside each.

But Sue reminded me of the harsh realities of our trade: If the actors were not making money for the company or, as in Peter's case, not an easy sell, then it only made sense to let them go.

Damn.

In Amy's case, Sue spoke of how her office had gotten Amy—never before represented—into all the major NY casting offices for Broadway: Telsey, Rubin, Carnahan, Binder, Howard. et al. And she noted that in the two years that Amy had been with the agency there have been no callbacks. Zip. Nada. None.

The creative teams were nonplussed. That silence was accompanied by a lack of interest from those same offices in seeing Amy again for other projects. Sue reminded me that Amy failed to get callbacks on projects cast by my office.

Because of Amy's lackluster performance in audition studios, agents in Sue's office stopped submitting the actress on projects, including readings. I argued that since Sue is owner of the firm—her name on the office door—her employees should follow her directives. Sue countered by reminding me that you can't force someone to be enthusiastic for a client if the results are lacking and love has waned.

She continued by adding the reverse by an actor could and has happened to Sue and many other agencies: If an agency wasn't producing an actor's desired results, the actor would not think twice about severing ties.

Checkmate.

As for Peter (the actor Sue only represented for the hit in New York), it was his age and type that was holding him back from being welcomed as a member into the agency's family. Selling him to the gatekeepers would—as in similar past instances—provide few, if any results. That's a cruel reality I know all too well. Casting directors have far better and more experienced choices of actors at Peter's age.

Unfortunately, I could not argue from a business stand point with Sue. My heart wished for another reality but I knew the truth. She was correct. I've seen many wonderful actors of a certain age or type with few credentials fall by the wayside.

There's little an actor can do if, at a point of maturity, they have not had a work history that can compete against their peers. (For anyone who points out actress Gloria Stuart of "Titanic," that was a fluke. Plus, the creatives wanted someone of that age who was not known. How many decades did Ms. Stuart toil away in the civilian world after her acting retirement in the 1940s waiting for that one last grand opportunity? You do the math.)

Our industry of entertainment is not the precedent holder for seeking people who are more qualified on paper over the lesser curriculum vitae holders. How many small-town mayors go from governing a village directly to Commander-in-Chief? (Ok well, it almost happened but didn't, thank God.)

On a personal level, would you feel more comfortable if your cardiac muscle needed care from a heart surgeon of a 20-year practice or a resident internist? If you said the latter, either you are lying or foolhearty with your health.

We as artists often keep marrying our lives and personalities to what we do for work, thus we feel entitled to leeway for opportunities, believing that the human condition should be taken into consideration when it comes to who is best suited for a job.

In response I ask: Do you hold that same standard when choosing teachers of your trade? When buying a car do you consider the car salesman's "personality," or how well the desired automobile performs? When opting for one food brand over another, do you do so because you like the taste of one over the other, or do you consider the emotional well-being of the employees toiling at remote factories manufacturing your consumables?

I've stated many times, yet sometimes fail to recall myself, that an artist must separate who we are from what we do. Our work is product. What you do is not you.

Do not expect that because you bring cupcakes to your agent, flirt with a director, write postcards to a casting director, or attend a producer's wedding that these mannerly niceties of life guarantee you a dedicated response to your product. Sometimes they will help to keep you in mind by the recipient.

But if there's a better choice of product—like all of us—we/they are going to go shopping for what suits professional and/or personal needs the best. And dependent upon your view, that's the ugly side to any business.

Paul Russell's career as a casting director, director, acting teacher and former actor has spanned nearly thirty years. He has worked on projects for major film studios, television networks, and Broadway. He is the author of "ACTING: Make It Your Business – How to Avoid Mistakes and Achieve Success as a Working Actor." For more information, please visit www.PaulRussell.net.

Actors Behaving Like Idiots... Yet Again.

2011-03-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

It's days like today that make me want to crawl under a rock and hide. People wonder why I sort of cringe when I have to admit I'm an actor... especially in LA!
Don't get me wrong: I LOVE what I do with all my heart and soul. But let's get real: Actors don't have the best reputations.

So here's what really triggered that little rant...

Today I stumbled across another brilliant blog post by a Casting Director named Paul Russell. If you don't know who he is yet you either:
A) ...haven't been reading my blog that long (since every other post I put on here is from his backstage blog)
OR
B) ...aren't involved as an active participant in the NY casting community.

I usually find his posts while skimming the advice section of Backstage.com

But today I saw a facebook post from him that caught my eye:

This really disturbed me. So I decided to follow this link to said blog.... And this is the idiocy that I found:

Now here is the kick ass response from Paul and someone calling themselves "former agent" (I couldn't fit the entire thing on a print screen):

Former agent
March 02, 2011
First off...I can't believe you called Paul Russell a "bonehead"! He is an unbelievable writer, casting director, director, and industry professional--overall. If you think that his job isn't a "real job", then maybe you need not audition at all for any casting directors in your future. He labors mostly pro bono, brings you these articles for free, and most importantly...he is one of the few casting directors that I have ever known who really cares about actors! I was an agent/agency owner for 20 years, and I have to tell you that you just called out one of the best industry pro's that this business has to offer. Your comments are as good as the old crumpled Diet Coke cans in the landfills of Secaucus...good grief Mr. Spelvini--get a friggin life!!!

Permit me a bitchy moment, please: One can only hope that this Georgio Spelvini ends up in front of another industry professional someday to be publicly told to his face "You're a dick" for what he said.

Way to go, buddy. You just screwed yourself with one of the top industry professionals out there and probably many others who will soon know your story.

Let this be a lesson to us all...

Don't put anything on the internet that might bite you in the ass (yes, that means on facebook or your blog or even just commenting on someone else's posts).
Pull your head out of you ass and listen to the advice people have to offer you. You are more than welcome to disagree with it. Hell, you can even HATE what they have to say. But most of the time don't deny the fact that the reason you hate it is because you know it's true..
Do your fucking homework! If this guy had any clue who he was calling a "bonehead" he would NEVER have posted something like that. Or maybe he did know and he's just that stupid.

Tomorrow I plan to post the article that prompted this idiotic behavior because I definitely think it's one worth reading.

Reading Suggestions: "Food Rules" and "The Skinny Bitch"

2011-02-26T10:02:00.000-08:00

I'd like to suggest you guys check out the books "Food Rules" by Michael Pollan and "The Skinny Bitch" by Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman.

Food Rules

This book was super straight forward and an easy read at less than 100 pages! What I liked about Pollan's writing style is that he wasn't too preachy about eating like most people get. Go sit in a weight watchers meeting--everyone who has reached lifetime is rather cult-like in their following of what they did to reach their good health. What works for one person may not work for another. BUT there are definitely simple rules you can follow to modify your eating to be healthy.

The main idea of the book is as follows:
"Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants. That’s what it comes down to."

Some of my favorite tid bits were...

"It isn't food if it arrives through the window of your car."
"Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce."
"Eat animals that have themselves eaten well." - One of the most important things I took away from this book and "Skinny B*tch"! You'll be happier if you're eating an animal that has lived a happy and low stress life.
"The whiter the bread, the sooner you'll be dead."
"Have a glass of wine with dinner." - Red wine is good for your heart. In moderation... which brings me to my final favorite...
"Break the rules once in a while. 'All things in moderation. Including moderation.'”

The Skinny Bitch

This book is not for the faint of heart... well, at least one chapter is not.
I got through about half of the segments on animal cruelty, almost threw up 3 times, cried a little, and skipped to the end of the chapter. Beware of "You Are What You Eat." I am glad I read it because I will never take a piece of meat for granted again. But I'm also going to buy organic and free range as much as humanly possible...

What really appealed to me about this book was how tongue-in-cheek the writing was, but also how downright brutally honest these women were in what they had to say.

They're absolutely right: If you really wanna get skinny, then stop eating crap. Period.

I know Weight Watchers is all about teaching you moderation first. But I'm sorry... I've been a weight watcher for 2 years, hit my goal weight 3 times, and the only way I get to it is when I cut certain items out of my diet. I can't eat pizza or fast food every week--not that I ever have. Since eating healthier, whole foods that stuff makes me sick to my stomach.
Moderation isn't really the right word--there needs to be a word for eating crap once in a blue moon." Then you realize you'd rather have a piece of marinated fresh grilled chicken and an artichoke instead... more bang for your buck and health.

Now I hate to break it to the authors of this book... but I'm not going to become a vegan. Sorry, Kim. I feel for those animals, I do. I actually have been making a concerted effort to try vegan and veggie imitations just for the sake of trying it out. But imitation chicken just isn't the same...
I'm going to meet you in a few weeks (she's doing a book signing at Kaeng Raeng's booth at the Natural Products Expo West) and I'm going to have to look you in the eye and say "I liked your book, but I'm still a carnivore."

My favorite little takeaway from the book (albeit a tiny one) was the reference to soda as "liquid satan." I've started using that from now on. My friends who still drink that crap get mad at me when we lunch, cause I ask them how liquid satan tastes today. Any better than yesterday? ;)

I lost my first 5 lbs by cutting soda out of my diet a few years ago. I now drink a ton of water and crystal light iced tea.

If you've got an open mind and you want to pick up some extra health tips to apply to you life... check both of these books out. It's worth saying you've taken the time to educate yourself.

Happy reading! :)

Best Animated Short (Hopefully): Day & Night

2011-02-25T11:16:00.000-08:00

I just had to share this cute little film by Disney/Pixar. If you saw "Toy Story 3" then you probably saw this little gem before. I'm hoping this takes the best animated short category at the Oscars this Sunday!
Enjoy!

45 Recycled Actors Who Suck

2011-02-24T17:31:00.000-08:00

By: Bob Fraser
From: TheProfessionalActor.com

A while back I saw a post on one of the many groups I belong to that was touting a new website, selling ‘pages’ to actors. It was a post filled with lies, half truths and completely mad conclusions about actors and acting careers. It got me sort of angry.

Here’s some of the offensive post:

“I’ve received tons of e-mails asking what prompted me to start my website, xxxxxxxxx.com. I was inspired to create a website dedicated to a small group of people (high level studio & network executives, top agents, managers and even some casting directors), in an effort to dispel the notion that there’s no fresh talent in entertainment … and to create a platform for every actor out there who deserves recognition.

“In a nutshell, I think that becoming a successful actor is one part talent, and 99 parts ‘who you know’. It’s an insider’s game. The ‘powers that be’ and/or casting directors bring in the same actors for all their projects, actors that they’re already familiar with. Which is why you see the same recycled actors over and over and over again – some of which even play college students but are well over 30 in real life.

“So, not only is it monotonous to see the same 45 actors over and over again, it’s also frustrating because most of them suck.

“To make matters worse, it’s depressing and quite scary knowing that Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Dustin Hoffman, Angela Bassett, Sally Field, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey and Martin Lawrence are all up there in age and the powers that be act as if there’s no new generation actors worthy of replacing them. I mean we have rappers playing action heroes now … come on! Actor recycling is going to completely ruin television and film.

“So, I started this site because I’m tired of seeing the same recycled actors over and over again. Yes, it is an ‘insider’s game’ to make it in Hollywood. And yes, casting directors primarily do bring in actors they’re used to – so I’ve decided to show my cards. I’m posting one new actor every day and I’m saying: ‘This actor is good, add them to your rotation. This is what they look like, this is what they’ve done, they’ve trained with this person or this company and these are the roles they can play.’ Success takes too long and I’m trying to speed the process up.

“Wish me luck! ~ Anonymous”

Here is my response to this errant nonsense:

I’d like to take a moment to respond to this email from ‘Anonymous’ – there are so many offensive and clueless remarks in his email that it’s hard to know where to start … but you know me, I’ll start anyway.

First the idea that “becoming a successful actor is one part talent and 99 parts ‘who you know’” is facetious at best – and at worst, downright insulting to any actor who has actually made the journey.

In truth becoming a successful actor is a subtle combination of talent, business acumen, social skills, training, persistence, and in most cases, years of ‘product development.’

The idea that actors get to the top ranks because of some cabal of casting directors, directors, producers and powerful talent reps reveals ‘Anonymous’s’ total ignorance of how things really work in our industry. And I’m only addressing the idea of becoming a well-paid, regularly booked, so-called ‘working actor’ – when it comes to becoming a star,the formula for success is even more daunting: Add in things like audience interest, a work ethic that makes a farmers look like a slacker, and that most stars generally own that ineffable ‘something’ that makes them believable, ‘watchable’ and identifiable at a glance. These are not attributes that are divvied up on an equal or fair basis.

Next is the overarching theme of this letter: That people in our community and the audience are tired of seeing the same actors over and over again and that it’s time for some new faces. The implicit idea being that other actors deserve a chance to prove themselves – and that this wondrous new site will speed up the process.

Again, this shows utter lack of understanding when it comes to the basic concepts of success: Such as working one’s way up the ladder. Apparently ‘Anonymous’ believes that there is an ‘escalator of success’ and is demanding to be told where it is. As for there being no actors on the scene to replace those named – has ‘Anonymous’ never heard of Ewen McGregor, Renee Zellwegger, Will Smith (a rapper, by the way), Anne Hathaway, Alicia Witt, George Clooney, Amy Adams, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, Tobey Maguire, Hilary Swank … oh, making a complete list is pointless.

Wake up, ‘Anonymous!’ This isn’t a business of ‘turns’ or ‘deserving.’

Actors who have proven themselves and are able to put butts in seats – are not ‘picked’ by casting directors, et al (“the powers that be”) … they work their asses off to get there – and the reality is that they don’t get there at all, if the audience doesn’t agree they are worthy of being there.

Have you ever heard of Bella Darvi? She was Darryl Zanuck’s girlfriend and he tried to make her into a star by putting her in a few 20th Century Fox movies. It didn’t work. The audience stayed away in droves. There hundreds of stories of powerful industry executives trying to create stars, only to be handed gigantic flops for their troubles. To be blunt, things just don’t work that way in show business.

As for the dark idea that casting directors bring in the same actors over and over again because they are playing it safe – get real. Casting directors make their reputations by discovering new and exciting talent. Do you really think the great ones are mindless functionaries with no creative or artistic ability? Of course smart casting directors bring in the same actors over and over again (and, by the way, that number is probably closer to 2000 than 45) … but there’s a darn good reason for that: The companies that employ casting directors are expecting them to deliver the goods on every single assignment.

But, make no mistake in your assessment of them – actors have no stronger advocates than passionate and professional casting directors. (Apparently ‘Anonymous’ is unaware that a fairly large percentage of casting directors were once actors themselves.)

The general idea being expressed in this letter (and one presumes the entire ‘raison d’être’ behind the site itself) is analogous to baseball scouts being urged to consider players who own a bat and glove – simply because they own a bat and glove and they know where the stadium is located. In other words, they ‘deserve’ a chance to bat clean-up for the Yankees. Let’s face it, they know how to play baseball and can easily replace the same old 45 players who show up on baseball cards, year after year.

Ridiculous!

As I point out constantly – there are no shortcuts to the red carpet.

If you truly want to make that trip, make a plan, get a map, and be prepared to work very very hard … usually for a long time. If you expect it to be fair, a level playing field, or easier because you ‘know somebody’ – you are in for a world of hurt.

Finally, the remark in this letter that really set me off is the ad hominem attack on the 45 stars that ‘Anonymous’ seems obsessed with…

“… it’s also frustrating because most of them suck.”

Anonymous, if you think that attacking your betters is a way of improving your chances, you have no concept of human relations. Furthermore, what this sentiment reveals to a pro is that you are likely to be a mean-spirited human being and therefore someone most of us would avoid hiring in any capacity.

Wise up. Work harder. Stop whining. Suck it up and try ‘making it’ on talent, hard work, persistence, training and product development.

As for social skills, it may be too late for that – but please do everyone a favor and cease trying to convince other actors to buy into your ‘beef.’ While it’s not a huge loss to our industry if one actor believes the host of wrong-headed ideas you’ve assembled here – dragging dozens of other naive actors down with you is not a nice thing to do … in my not so humble opinion.

Getting Past the "Door-Keepers"

2011-02-23T11:28:00.000-08:00

By: Bob Fraser
From: TheProfessionalActor.com

Despite what you may have heard about “door-keepers” there are many people on the other side of the desk who are really on your side. One of the tragic mistakes many actors make, is to assume that casting directors and assistants are there to make things difficult.

In point of fact, actors are the only ones who can help them do their jobs properly – and having a good business relationship with a casting director can shorten your climb to the top … dramatically.

A casting director (sometimes called a casting agent) is usually someone who enjoys and respects actors and good acting. I’ve worked closely with dozens of casting directors and have never met one who wasn’t a fan of good actors and good acting.

Actors often ask me this question: “How can I get a casting director to hire me?”

Or sometimes they’ll make this sort of statement: “I’m a trained actor, but the casting directors won’t hire me. They only hire their friends.”

Once in awhile, I’ll hear this complaint: “Casting directors hire the same people over and over. A new actor – no matter how talented – just doesn’t have a chance.”

Okay, in an effort to clear the air between actors and casting directors, I’m going to tell you the absolute truth … from a producer’s point of view.

First off, let me make reality perfectly clear …

CASTING DIRECTORS DO NOT HIRE ACTORS.

Period

The casting director’s actual job is to find actors who match each role’s criteria – who are then suggested/submitted to the producer for consideration.

PRODUCERS HIRE ACTORS.

Period

When a producer assigns a casting director to a project, the producer enters into that particular relationship with certain expectations. Whether it is TV, film or theatre – a producer always operates under the assumption that the casting director will bring in a selection of ‘good actors’ from which to choose.

What follows is a list of the implicit (and sometimes explicit) expectations most producers have – when they send the casting director off to find a collection of ’good actors.’

These are the qualities that producers routinely expects the casting director to be mindful of – with regard to every actor being brought in for consideration. These are a casting director’s ‘marching orders’ … and a casting director will only ignore these dictums at the peril of his or her own job.

These are the components of a producer’s definition of ‘good actor’ …

This actor is sincere.

This actor is reliable.

This actor is a learner.

This actor is punctual.

This actor is collaborative.

This actor values our time.

This actor is an encourager.

This actor has clarity and focus.

This actor is peaceful, calm, and kind.

This actor appreciates (and accepts) advice.

This actor treats everyone like they are special.

This actor wants to serve the needs of the production.

This actor wants me to be successful and make a profit.

This actor demonstrates that s/he deserves to be successful.

This actor has the same value system and work ethic as I do.

This actor is intelligent and always uses good common sense.

This actor wants to work as hard as I do – to achieve excellence.

This actor demonstrates integrity, loyalty and honesty – consistently.

This actor personally guarantees his or her contractual agreement with me.

This actor possesses – and demonstrates – mental and physical well-being.

You probably noticed that talent and training were not mentioned. That’s because, at the professional level, talent and training are simply expected.

Most producers will assume that if you meet these other critical qualifications – you’ll probably be a capable professional actor.

They’ll be right 99% of the time.

Since casting directors know perfectly well what their duties actually are – often some very talented and well-trained actors who are late, who disparage the show, who don’t play well with others, who don’t listen, who don’t care about the outcome of the project, who demonstrate a lack of integrity, loyalty and honesty, etc. … well, those actors will find it hard to get past the casting director – talent notwithstanding.

Bluntly, life is too short.

Believe me, most casting directors aren’t so high up on the food chain, that they can’t be fired for one lousy mistake. Which is why most of them hesitate to deviate from their ‘marching orders’ … because, frankly, they want to keep their jobs.

So, now you know why the same actors get hired over and over again – they are actors who exemplify those qualities, habits and traits that define a ‘good actor’ – the things that producers are really looking for in a collaborator.

If you become an actor who possesses the ‘good actor’ traits mentioned above – you will book more work … no matter what the level of your talent or training happens to be.

Because if that’s the sort of actor you are … you will get in to see the producers a lot more often.

You can take that to the bank.

10 Things I Wish I'd Known Before Deciding to Become an Actor

2011-02-19T12:37:00.000-08:00

By: Jackie Apodaca
From Backstage.com

Building and maintaining an acting career is a daunting endeavor, especially in the early years, when you've got so little idea about how to navigate the terrain. Here's a list I've pulled together, with help from some folks with a few years of experience under their belts, of things I wish I had known before I decided to become an actor. It's a long road. I hope this list helps you skip a few potholes.

1) It's called show business for a reason.

Acting for a living is a business. I wish I had worried less about whether it was an art or a craft and had begun researching it in a practical, unemotional manner. My actor pal Nick says, “How one handles their business—relationships with agents, managers, producers, and directors—is crucial. Business sense and relationships matter as much as talent, beauty, luck, and opportunity.” Flora, another actor with years of experience, adds, “I think it's sometimes difficult for an artist to look at the pragmatic side of life. Certainly I would have liked to have had more business tools. I wish I had known when I first started out how important that is, ultimately.”

2) Consider the source.

I wish I had listened less to acting teachers and sought out advice from working actors. Why I thought teachers, far removed from the real grit of the acting industry, had the skinny on the current practices of the acting profession, I'll never know. I should have tirelessly queried the numerous professional actors I had the luck to work with in graduate school. Instead, I just hung out with them backstage, assuming my place among them was assured.

3) Always overprepare.

One should always overprepare for every opportunity. It's funny: I was pretty good about this one at first, and it paid off, landing me an agent and a really great job right out of school. But because it wasn't a lesson I really understood, I slacked off, assuming my success was based purely on talent. It was especially hard to overprepare for jobs I didn't deem worthy of my “art.” Silly me. Actor pal Amy clarifies what overpreparing means: “Read the script, look up everything in your monologue or sides you don't understand or can't pronounce, make active choices for each beat, and rehearse, rehearse, rehearse—preferably with another human being! That way, when you go in, you'll be able to relax and do your best work.”

4) Casting directors don't forget.

No. 4 is from Nick, who's seen a lot more CDs in his career than most: “What I wish I knew is that casting directors don't forget the times you've come in not quite ready—'slightly half-baked' is how I like to coin it. I wish I knew that having three auditions in one day might only allow me to be able to focus 30 percent of my attention on each, and that I would ultimately show up to all the auditions half-baked. Casting directors don't forget because at the end of the day, their jobs are on the line, as they bring in guys and girls who need to wow everybody in the room so they look good.”

5) Silence is a virtue.

Yes, having strong opinions serves me well as a producer, director, and, heck, as an advice columnist, but I probably turned off more than one colleague with my “helpful” suggestions. It took me a while to learn to keep my mouth shut when the timing or situation didn't call for my input—something I still struggle to do. On keeping your mouth shut, Amy adds this helpful point: “When you get frustrated with a casting director, director, technician, designer, or another actor, take it home to your mom, your significant other, or your shrink. Try not to yell at, write nasty letters to, or in any other way express your dissatisfaction to the above-mentioned people. You're probably overly tired, hungry, or reminded of someone from your past who angered or hurt you. Build bridges; don't burn them.”

6) Relax; it's not brain surgery.

I wish in those times when I was getting all tied up in knots about blowing an audition or not landing a role or wondering why some agent/CD/director hadn't called, I'd remembered not to take any of it too seriously. Yes, actors are important vessels of communication in a society. And yes, acting is a difficult craft. But one role, one job, one audition? It's just not that big a deal.

7) Money isn't everything.

You can have a satisfying actor's life without making a dime off your acting. Throughout my early years, I believed that making 100 percent of my living from acting was the definition of success. I have since watched numerous actor friends, some of them far more talented than I could ever hope to be, give up acting altogether. I now believe that continuing to act, in and of itself, is success. Funny, this is how I looked at acting when I first fell into it in my teenage years. I didn't stress out about day rates or callbacks. I just acted whenever I could, for the sheer pleasure of acting.

8) It's all about who you know.

Yes, clearly, being friends with Steven Spielberg or dating George Clooney would be helpful, but what I didn't understand when I began was how incredibly important all my connections with other up-and-comers would turn out to be. People from classes, plays, theater companies, films, and even crappy local commercials have turned out to be incredibly valuable connections. Networking doesn't mean getting established people to pay attention to you; it means paying attention to the people you are already working with.

9) Don't believe the hype.

I, like many of you, have heard that old diatribe “If there's anything else you can do, go and do it” so many times my head hurts. For a while I believed it. Then I looked around and saw how capable, well-adjusted, and multifaceted my fellow actors really were. I realized that any of us, all of us, could do many, many things. What's more (and here's the shocking part), we could be happy doing them! Pursuing an acting career is a choice, just one of many wonderful choices open to you. It's not “all or nothing” or “take it or leave it.” Honestly, I don't even believe it's a calling (although my fellow Working Actor columnist, Michael Kostroff, would disagree). I believe now, looking at it 20 years in, that it's just a thrilling, invigorating, creative, explorative, inquisitive, and passionate thing to do. I love it, but there are plenty of other things I can and will do.

10) Acting is a marathon, not a sprint.

You may have heard this saying more than once. Attribute that to its accuracy. Success, in whatever form it takes, comes with time and many years of hard work. Sure, we've all heard stories about the exceptions—overnight sensations who don't seem to have to work for their fortunes. For most of us, however, the actor's life is just that—a life. Don't put too much importance on any one role/job/agent/break. Try to enjoy the journey.

Creating the Ultimate Actor Website

2011-02-18T10:54:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time I hired a well respected website designer in the theater community. I was very happy with my website. It was simple, clean and straight-forward. I had a brand coming out of college! Yay!
Sadly my website designer fell off the face of the earth right around the time my career started picking up. I can only hope and pray nothing bad happened to her....

So, what was a poor actress with a PC to do?
Fortunately for me, my older brother is a bit of a self taught computer guru. He taught me the basics of editing simple html code and my parents bought me a couple of "editing/building websites for dummies" books for Christmas. I was also lucky enough to acquire a free copy of Dreamweaver.
Those of you with a MAC have got it made because you have iWeb. There is no reason that you can't design your own website if you've got that software. It's a simple program with templates you can customize to your own style and plug your info/media into. All I can say is: I'm jealous and I can't wait for the day I have the money to purchase my own MAC computer.

But I digress... I found a great article on what you should look for in a great actor website on backstage.com(can you tell it's my favorite source for all things show biz?) and here it is:

CREATING THE ULTIMATE ACTOR WEBSITE

By: David H. Lawrence XVII
From Backstage.com

Making stronger choices and raising the stakes don't apply just to your acting. They're also part of creating the ultimate actor website, an exercise in branding, discipline, technology, and avoiding the pitfalls of being too clever.

There are two types of actor websites: fan sites you build for your adoring audience and business sites you build to get work. Mix the two up and you may send the wrong branding message: Fans don't need to know your agent's number or your union status, and casting directors don't need information on getting an autographed headshot. Some information belongs on both—news about recent bookings, appearances, articles, and so on—but be careful to create for your intended audience.

Let's concentrate on the business site, the digital branding of your acting practice. This type of site is all about loading quickly, clearly laying out your brand, and offering complete and precise tools to the people you're targeting. The audience? Casting directors—and only casting directors. Sure, the occasional director or writer may come along, but your goal in building an acting site for the industry is simple: to get work.

Your domain name itself is important, and registering www.yourname.com is the holy grail of owning your brand online. I've counseled actors faced with choosing a union name to research which names are available as domains and then go with the simplest. It may seem backward to choose your acting name based on branding, but today's online traffic demands it.

When I was on the user-interface team at America Online, one thing we found to be a consistent roadblock to success was placing unneeded clicks in the user's path. Through extensive focus-group testing, we found that you lose half your audience with every click you force the user to make. Instead of making people hunt for your demos, headshots, résumé, and contact information, "rise" the information through the content architecture by putting everything you can on the front page of your site.

Your image should be front and center, but clearly label it as a clickable link for downloading a jpeg of your headshot. Do the same thing with all of your core digital tools: a PDF of your résumé, an MP3 of your voiceover demos, QuickTime versions of your on-camera reels—all linked conveniently from your front page, so casting directors don't have to look for them.

Make sure the color scheme of your site reflects the brand you're selling. It may be cool to have all kinds of neon green and yellow to indicate your worldview, but if you're selling "ingénue" or "villain," your site's color scheme, fonts, and layout should reinforce that brand.

Think about your audience and choose your technology carefully. I watched the record companies shoot themselves in the foot over and over by heavily using Flash technology in an effort to outdo one another. Don't make the same mistake. Flash is not viewable on iPhones and iPads—yet. And it loads far more slowly than good old simple HTML. Choose the fastest-loading, easiest-to-parse site: no overly fancy and complicated navigation, no clever microprose (captions, links, and so on). Be clear, direct, and careful that your branding is spot-on, but don't make anyone wait to use your site.

Social networking is important, at least until that particular Internet butterfly flies away. Be sure your Twitter and Facebook links are visible somewhere on your front page, but don't add "Latest Tweets" or "Status" to your site unless your tweets are all business, no politics or personal stuff. CDs don't need to know how great the Lady Gaga concert was last night and how wasted you got; they just want to book you for a part. And with a carefully branded and frictionless website, that becomes a much brighter possibility.

Staying On The Radar

2011-02-17T11:17:00.000-08:00

By: Jamie Painter Young
From Backstage.com

Targeted mailings can work for savvy actors.

Actor Anna Nugent was frustrated when trying to come up with a selling point she could use to promote herself to agents and casting directors—one that she felt good about and that rang true to her. Then she had an epiphany one night while meeting friends over drinks: She wanted to play a cop on television. It was, as she put it, "her longtime dream"—one she had not admitted until then. However, a few things stood in her way: She didn't have representation. She didn't have any film or TV credits to her name (her résumé lists theater and training). And she was not yet well known to the casting community in New York City. But she didn't let any of that stop her.

"In this industry, often it helps to show people what you can do. How do they know that I can be a cop—that I want to be a cop—unless I tell them? So that's how the idea was born," says the New Jersey–based actor, who trained and got much of her experience in Ireland before moving back to the States.

With her writer husband's help, Nugent put together a group of actor friends and shot some footage in upstate New York last summer. It featured her as—you guessed it—a TV cop on a pseudo–"Law & Order" case. She put the footage up on YouTube and created a link from her website. She had headshots taken depicting her as the next Mariska Hargitay. And then there was the pièce de résistance: She created a postcard that she mailed out to agents and other industry contacts selling herself as the next great TV crime fighter.

Admittedly, Nugent hasn't gotten any bites from agents yet. But, she says, "I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from people in the industry that I know and a lot of support from other people. What's great is that it's out there and can continue to work for me, and I can continue to send out postcards. I can do another episode. I'm in this for the long haul, so I'm not in any rush. I'm not deterred by the fact that I haven't instantly received auditions from it."

Indeed, if you want to get attention from an industry mailing, you need to be in it for the long haul and you need to be savvy about how you target people.

REMIND THEM WHY THEY LIKE YOU

Inger Tudor, an L.A. actor, landed theatrical and commercial agents from mailings she did, and in the case of the commercial rep, she says, it took three or four mailings to finally get the agent's attention. Tudor has also had success with mailings to casting directors: "I actually had a casting director specifically tell me, 'Don't let anyone tell you mailings don't work, because you've been mailing to me consistently and I've been looking for something to bring you in for.' So she had finally brought me in and she said, 'So, I want you to know the postcards worked. That's why I brought you in.' "

Keeping yourself on someone's radar is the key. Says Tudor, "Even when you're mailing to people who have already cast you, what I've discovered in talking to them and to assistants in their offices is that a lot of times they like you; it's just that if you're not on their radar, they don't remember to call you in. So what I find also is that the number of times I'm called in for auditions goes up shortly after I've done a mailing, because I think I've gotten myself back on someone's radar."

Tudor prefers not to send out mass mailings on a regular schedule but rather when she has something new and notable to promote. "For instance," she says, "I have a small role in 'The Social Network,' which recently won best film at the Golden Globes. So I'm planning to send out postcards saying, 'Hey, catch me as Anne in 'The Social Network,' and, of course, I put something about the fact that it just won best film."

If she is doing a large mailing to CDs, Tudor will buy labels to put on the back of her postcard-size headshot and incorporate the logos of TV shows, films, or companies when they're available. "Like when I was in a post office commercial," she says, "I took the logo for the post office and put it on. So it's stuff to make it pop, which you can't always do if you're handwriting a postcard."

Tudor credits career coach Dallas Travers with recently helping her to be more effective in marketing herself to the industry. "She is a marketing guru," says the actor of Travers, who wrote the book "The Tao of Show Business" and works one-on-one with performers. "She has a phenomenal way of helping actors market themselves—to not just think of it as a chore and to do it in a way that's systematic and helpful, so you're not just spinning your wheels."

NICE HEAD OF HAIR

Gimmicks succeed on rare occasions, but not as a rule. Russell Boast, a casting director with Pagano/Manwiller Casting in Santa Clarita, Calif., says, "I'm a sucker for paying attention to blind submissions, and in particular, special skills. As a CD, producer, theater director, and acting coach, I am constantly looking for new talent across the board. I once spotted 'zebra-pooping impersonation' under someone's special skills on their headshot—keeping in mind I'm from Africa. That actor not only got an agent recommendation; he also booked three films, eight TV commercials, and is currently in my live stage show, GravityWorks."

Says L.A.-based casting director and acting teacher Craig Campobasso, "I once received a postcard from a male actor. It was the back of his head. He had a nice head of hair. The postcard read, 'If you want to meet me face-to-face, call me in for a meeting.' I did. I would suggest to other actors reading this to not copy this idea. It's been done. I usually don't like gimmicks, just professionalism. So make sure your mailings have only one great shot of you and a smart-looking résumé. That's how you will get seen."

Campobasso reiterates what Tudor says about staying on casting directors' radars: "Mail your picture and résumé at the beginning of every television season to those casting directors. Enclose a short note that says, 'For your season files. I am happy to come in and read for any role.' Be open to all roles and get seen. That's what it's all about."

Boast suggests, "Design your mailing plan like you are your own business. No actor is the same, and no casting director will have the same opinion, trust me. Try everything and then evaluate your efforts based on the response to those efforts. Most CDs hate this, but I actually salute the bravery of an actor who personally walks into my office and drops off marketing. It makes me pay attention."

Here's what other actors wrote in to tell us about their strategy with mailings:

"I send out postcards immediately after I meet a CD or agent, thanking them for their time and sharing any news I have. I save myself time by using an online service to print and mail the cards. (I use Cardstore.com, but there are several out there.) I upload my photo for the front of the postcard, can type out my note, and then place a scanned version of my signature on the back. I also keep all addresses handy online so they're easy to get to. I send out postcards about once every three months or if I have a performance coming up. I also point them to my website, where I keep my news and online video clips always up to date."

—Sarah Cooper

"While on set of 'Law & Order: SVU' one day, I asked a P.A. to snap a quick picture of me in character. It was by the trailer, out of the way and after I was wrapped for the day, thus it did not disrupt production in any manner. I used that shot, which cost me nothing, in the design of a custom postcard I crafted in Photoshop. It was an interesting, eye-catching character shot that offered agents an idea of one of the believable types I can portray. I also included such information as the airdate, episode number, and network. It was to the point, professional-looking (Reproductions printed the material), and answered the needs and questions of anyone receiving the notice."

—Chris Northrop

"When mailing headshots to casting directors, agents, and managers, I type my résumé, cut it to fit the same size as my headshot, and then staple it to the back with just two staples, on both top right and left corners. That way nothing is folded or hanging. I believe that makes it easier for them to review, as they can flip over the headshot to see the résumé without digging into the envelope to see if there is a résumé enclosed or, even worse, trash my résumé if it's hidden or stuck in the envelope by accident. Ouch! Also, if they want to separate both résumé and headshot, they can just pull them apart easily and compare side by side, unlike if I had the résumé typed or preprinted on the back of the headshot. When mailing postcards, I order the most-current casting director mailing labels, as I have learned things change very fast. On the back, I handwrite something very simple—a tip I learned from my L.A. agent. I once heard her say something handwritten is more personal, as it shows that someone took the time.

—Lucy Golden

Kaeng Raeng Natural Detox Releases Infomercial

2011-01-08T13:36:00.000-08:00

What better way to start of 2011 than with a post about health? :)

I just had to share this press release with all of you! I am beyond proud of Lindsay for how far she has come in just one year. Kaeng Raeng is on a roll right now. Not only is it now carried in multiple Whole Foods Markets in the SF Bay Area, but it has been featured by such popular blogs as: Healthy Bitch Daily, Vital Juice, and most recently: Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Life.
Every one of my friends who has tried it has loved it and had great success with the program! Get into it folks!

P.S. If you watch long enough you might just catch a glimpse of yours truly talking about my own experience with Kaeng Raeng!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 29, 2010
Palo Alto, CA

Kaeng Raeng Inc, a nutraceutical company based in Silicon Valley, is proud to announce the release of its full length infomercial. The infomercial is available online at www.kaengraeng.com and will be aired on TV nationwide in 2011.

Kaeng Raeng is an all natural meal replacement detox program designed to remove toxins, jumpstart weight loss, improve digestion, bolster immunity, and enhance overall well being. Kaeng Raeng is vegan, gluten free, caffeine free, peanut free, and made with local ingredients in Palo Alto, CA. Kaeng Raeng comes in three levels and two timelines. Each serving contains 15g of non gmo protein, a full serving of fruit and fiber, daily vitamins, and 2 billion live probiotic cultures.

Kaeng Raeng is available online and in Whole Foods Market stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. Kaeng Raeng is manufactured in Palo Alto, CA. For more information or CEO interviews, email press@kaengraeng.com

Performers Discover the Downside of Twitter

2010-09-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

By Zorianna Kit

September 15, 2010

From Backstage.com

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Is celebrities' obsession with Twitter starting to wane?

When singer John Mayer, one of Twitter's most high profile users with 3.7 million followers, shut his account on Monday, he was just the latest celebrity to quit the micro-blogging site.

Some stars are finding that Twitter may be great as a promotional tool or for reaching out to fans, but it also comes with a downside.

Teen singer Miley Cyrus deleted her account a year ago, persuaded into silence by her new boyfriend, Liam Hemsworth.

"Hairspray" star Amanda Bynes deleted her Twitter account last week without any notice to her fans. Earlier this month, Disney starlet Demi Lovato, 18, tweeted that she's saying "goodbye to twitter" because "the access that the other people have is uncomfortable to me."

"The blessing of tweeting for celebrities was this idea that you could bypass sending out a press release and go directly to those who are following you," said Robert Thompson, professor of Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.

However, many celebrities have found that their tweets are being made fun of, or blow up in their faces.

Although Bynes, 24, offered no explanation for quitting Twitter, she seems to have had a volatile relationship with the so-called "Twitterverse." The actress got flack for announcing on Twitter that she was retiring from acting earlier this year, and then subsequently "un-retiring" a month later.

She also got into Twitter fights with users who disagreed with her tweets, including those about her taste in men.

FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT

"Many celebrities are realizing the old saying that familiarity breeds contempt," Thompson told Reuters. "We used to think that celebrities were distant people we could never communicate with. Twitter reversed that and some celebrities are growing tired of that."

Just ask country singer LeAnn Rimes, who was an active Twitter user when her marriage ended after she cheated on her husband with married actor Eddie Cibrian.

After Rimes and Cibrian divorced their spouses, the duo was photographed kissing each other, which sparked outrage. The singer began to get attacked on Twitter but when she tried defended herself on the site, users retaliated even more.

Rimes closed her account in July 2010, tweeting that it was "unhealthy for me and my family to have to read negative comments." However, a week later she was back on Twitter, saying she missed her fans and wanted to let them know "how much u r appreciated."

Paul Levinson, author of "New New Media," says Twitter has now reached a sort of "shaking out point."

"Those who joined as part of a bandwagon because their peers were on the site, are now finding out if it is truly a medium that works for them.

"For some it will continue to be one of the best things they could do. For others, it has become an imposition, a pain," Levinson said.

WHAT'S THE POINT?

Comedian Ricky Gervais joined Twitter last December because he was hosting the Golden Globes and "they want me to do a running commentary on Twitter."

However, less than a month later, he quit. In his last Twitter post, Gervais wrote he was "going to stop these tweets because I don't see the point.

So is this the beginning of a mass Twitter exodus? Not so, said Bonnie Fuller, president and editor-in-chief of celebrity website HollywoodLife.com.

"For every celebrity that quits Twitter, there's 10 who sign up," Fuller said. "There are just too many of them benefiting from Twitter. Celebrities see it as a great opportunity to communicate with fans, give them information and get feedback."

Fuller cited reality TV star Kim Kardashian, who uses Twitter to successfully promote herself, the products she's lent her name to, and the careers of her sisters.

As for Mayer, a spokesperson for the Grammy-winning singer said he had closed his Twitter account because his concert tour has ended and Mayer is preparing to head back to the studio.

Mayer used Twitter to talk to fans and address controversies, including an expletive-laced Playboy magazine interview in February about his sex life.

The bluesy writer of hits like "Gravity" remains active on Facebook, his own website JohnMayer.com and what appears to be his new favorite blogging site, Tumblr.

In a post on Tumblr last week, Mayer said he felt he had "made the right move" to the new site. Despite having only 50,000 Tumblr followers, he admitted to having "an even larger Tumblr addiction" than the one he had to Twitter.

Whether or not he continues on Tumblr remains to be seen. In a September 12 post -- the latest and last post to date -- Mayer thanked fans for making his recent tour a success and signed off by saying that it was "time to (try to) disappear for a while."

Natural Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

2010-07-08T15:03:00.000-07:00

BY: LIVESTRONG.COM, on Wed May 26, 2010

A fast metabolism is critical to burning fat and managing body weight. While some dieters use diet pills to speed up their metabolisms, the risks and side effects of these drugs make them risky. You can use some safe and natural methods to speed up your metabolism.

Gain Muscle

The American Council on Exercise recommends resistance training for weight management. Think of your muscles as your body's engine. The bigger your engine, the more energy you can burn. Muscle, unlike fat, is active tissue that raises your metabolism just by being there. Adding a resistance training program is a sure method of naturally raising your metabolism. To make the most out of your time in the gym, train three days per week, training your entire body during each session. Use basic, compound exercises such as the leg press and shoulder press.

Keep Hydrated

Inadequate water intake can slow your metabolism. Water is responsible for several metabolic processes, including digestion, waste management and temperature regulation. The Mayo Clinic recommends drinking 2 liters of water daily. You can fight hunger as well as raise your metabolism by drinking a glass before each meal. To provide an extra boost, make sure your water is ice cold. Your body burns extra calories heating it up to room temperature.

Cardiovascular Exercise

Cardiovascular exercises such as walking, jogging and cycling are all effective ways to burn calories and keep your metabolism stoked. If you are just starting out, use a low-impact, low-intensity exercise such as brisk walking or moderate cycling. With more experience, you can graduate to jogging or intense cycling like spinning.

Coffee

Whether you realize it or not, you might already be waking up to an effective natural metabolism booster. The caffeine naturally present in coffee raises metabolism and can improve fat oxidation. Drinking a cup before exercise can also improve alertness and help fight fatigue.

References

LIVESTRONG.COM is designed to inspire people to change their lives, help themselves and help others. For more on this topic, visit http://www.livestrong.com.

Related Articles on LIVESTRONG.com:

About this Author
Based in the Greater New York area, David Kirschen is a 15-year veteran of the fitness industry. He is co-author of "The Business and Practice of Personal Training" and has lectured to countless fitness professionals. Kirschen holds a degree in physical education from SUNY Cortland.

Rescuing Voices

2010-06-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

I wanted to give a quick shout out to the fact that the reason Adam Lambert's voice sustains is due to the fact that he uses a solid technique to back it up. I'm proud to have been studying Speech Level Singing for the past 12 years and I'm happy it's getting some good press!

RESCUING VOICES

Adam Lambert's voice teacher tells how he keeps singers in shape while on tour.

By John Henny
From Backstage.com

There is a lot of pressure for the artist on tour. Large amounts of money are made or lost based upon the singer's ability to perform. Cancellations quickly become logistical and financial nightmares. Dave Stroud is a Los Angeles–based voice teacher who has been called to rescue many a tour or recording session. He has worked with such stars as Adam Lambert, the Cheetah Girls, and Jordin Sparks. Stroud blends expert vocal technique with an uncanny ability to figure out the situation quickly and get the entire support staff working together.

The Village

Stroud believes there are three elements to getting a singer through a successful tour. The first is the idea that the team must work together. "When you have an artist out there struggling and possibly canceling shows," he says, "the first thing you have to realize is it takes a village. There's no way one person is the key to this."

In order to create this harmony, Stroud very carefully defines his role and avoids some of the pitfalls that can plague big-name voice teachers. "You've got a manager, a road manager, a music director, a doctor, and a voice coach—and everyone hates the voice coach!" he says. "Either the voice coach accepts that they're only one cog in the machine, or that voice teacher walks in, thinks that they're God, causes havoc, and leaves."

Stroud has strict professional rules for working within the team: "Don't try and be something more than you are. Don't step in and make the musical director feel threatened, or the tour manager. Don't walk into a recording session and make the producer feel like you are now the vocal producer. You end up shutting down the people you need the most."

Strategy

Once Stroud is working in harmony with the team, he goes to the next part of his three-step plan: strategy. "Without strategy, giving vocal exercises doesn't mean anything," he says.

He explains his approach with Adam Lambert's tour: "Adam can do extreme things with his voice that most singers will probably never be able to do, but he can't do it endlessly." Stroud started by going through Lambert's set list. "Adam's tour right now is around 14 songs, of which three are at 11 on the intensity scale," he says. "Going all out on those songs, it makes it more difficult to pull off the subsequent songs. The fact is Adam is so amazing that he doesn't have to overdo it. I work with the music director to look at the peaks, where they happen in the show, and where he can recover from that."

Sometimes Stroud will suggest changing the order of the songs or even making slight key changes. "Sometimes just dropping one song a half step or a whole step can change the whole dynamic of the night," he says. "The artist is no longer worried about that one note."

Form

The final part of the puzzle for Stroud is form—working on the actual vocal technique. He is always careful to maintain an artist's signature sound while rebalancing the voice. "I can't always have someone sing completely technically correct, because sometimes their sound is more aggressive," he says. "Otherwise management will say, 'What have you done to our artist?' I work on getting better vocal balance while allowing the artist to feel like they're still selling their product, but it's not costing them vocal health."

Stroud has different ways of working the voice, depending on whether it's a show day. "It's the difference in working out when training for a marathon and then going in and warming up just before the marathon. That's how I approach the voice," he says. "I do a 20-to-30-minute warm-up, just easy cord closure exercises and transitions through their vocal registers. It's not a big workout. I just want them to feel ready and agile with their voice when they hit the stage."

Stroud changes the specific exercises he uses based upon the singer. "With Adam Lambert, I will work to get easy cord closure and I will vocalize him to G above high C. He has climax notes at E's above high C, so I need to give him that extra range," Stroud says. "Jordin Sparks has a really exceptional voice. I just want her to feel mentally that everything is in her comfort zone." He feels that half of the process is psychological: "I physically prepare the cords for singing, but I also want their minds to say, 'Okay, I'm good. I feel good.'"

Dangerous Shortcuts

Stroud says there are times when even the best singers may need medical help to get through a show, but this can have a downside. "Steroids are very much like shooting up a football player with anesthesia when they have a torn ligament or broken bone. They're able to go out and run, because they don't feel it, but they do more damage," he insists. "These medications need to be combined with good technique."

Stroud warns that singers can use these treatments as an easy out: "They think, 'Wow, I didn't have to do any work for that—give me some more of that.' You keep accumulating bad habits and damage that you don't really realize until after the tour has ended. It can end a career in the long run."

Kaeng Raeng Now Available in Whole Foods Market

2010-06-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

I just have to give a shout out to my best friend, Lindsay Reinsmith. She quit her job less than a year ago to pursue her passion of bringing a truly healthy and natural cleanse product to the market. I am proud to announce that after just 6 months of being out there, Kaeng Raeng is now available at Whole Foods Market. So get thee to your local Whole Foods and ask them to order Kaeng Raeng today! :)

Here is Kaeng Raeng's most recent press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 7, 2010
Palo Alto, CA

Kaeng Raeng LLC, a nutraceutical company based in Silicon Valley, recently became authorized in Whole Foods Market, starting with the Stevens Creek Boulevard store in Cupertino, CA. Kaeng Raeng is available in the Whole Body section.

Whole Foods Cupertino currently carries Kaeng Raeng’s best-seller, the 3-day Beginner detox program, as well as the beginner trial packets in all three flavors: “joyful,” “daybreak,” and “into the blue.”

Kaeng Raeng is also authorized in their national system. For those consumers living outside of the bay area who would like to purchase Kaeng Raeng at their local Whole Foods, they can request the product in the Whole Body section of the store.

“Whole Foods is focused on consumer demand,” said Lindsay Reinsmith, founder and CEO of Kaeng Raeng. “They want to carry what consumers want to buy. If you request Kaeng Raeng at your local Whole Foods, the Whole Body staff will listen.”

Kaeng Raeng is a young, small business, but a fast-growing one. Located in Palo Alto, CA, Kaeng Raeng is available in bay area nutrition and health food stores, as well as online at Kaengraeng.com and other drop-ship sites.

“We got the product to shelves in January of this year,” Reinsmith said. “It’s been a crazy, busy experience placing KR into our first Whole Foods Market within 6 months. Nutraceuticals is a competitive, difficult industry that I can only describe as sink or swim!”

Whole Foods Market is the world's largest retailer of natural and organic foods, with stores throughout North America and the United Kingdom. Whole Foods is focused on providing consumers with high quality products and strives to stay local, sustainable, and in line with their own core values.

“I believe Kaeng Raeng is a great fit for Whole Foods,” Reinsmith said. “Our product is 100% vegan and gluten free with all of our ingredients from the USA. KR contains no artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, or preservatives. We too strive to be a socially responsible business with a sustainable product and a portion of every sale benefiting the Humane Society.”

Kaeng Raeng is co-packaged by Multivitamin Direct and headquartered in Palo Alto, CA. Samples and CEO interviews available upon request. Contact press@kaengraeng.com or visit www.kaengraeng.com.

Ladies and Gentleman: VON SMITH

2010-04-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

Glee song

Glee | MySpace Video
You MUST watch this video. This if my friend Von, and he's all sorts of FIERCE. Kudos, Von!!!

Why You Should Do a Detox and 10 Things To Look For In Your Detox Program

2010-04-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

By: Lindsay Reinsmith

Brought to you by Kaeng Raeng, be healthy. be strong.
Conducting a detox or cleanse is certainly a frightening notion to several people, as this conjures up images of fainting, drinking spicy lemonade, and starving yourself. While there are several juice fasts out there that guarantee to help you drop pounds (since you’re consuming so few calories), putting your body through a detox does not have to be a scary ordeal. First, you have to know the benefits of a detox and what to look for in a safe, healthy program that won’t have you fainting or starving.

Why should you detox?

Everyday we consume millions of toxins, chemicals, additives, and preservatives in the air and in our food. Our bodies were never meant to absorb these toxins. During the digestive process, your stomach cannot healthfully separate the clean from the bad portions of the food you’re eating. Once in our system, these toxins can hurt our digestive and immune systems and cause such symptoms as:

bloating, constipation, and flatulence
poor skin and hair health
fatigue and loss of energy
weight gain
insomnia or poor sleep
cravings for salt, sugar, and processed foods
irritability/crankiness
recurring illness/sickness

How does a detox get rid of these symptoms?

Many of the symptoms of a detox are related and build off of each other. You may feel sluggish and hungry all of the time but not have any of the other symptoms. Typically the way you feel is directly related to what you’ve been eating. If you’ve ever lost control of your healthy lifestyle and binged on crappy food, you may have felt awful afterward. This feeling can be attributed to the significant toxin buildup in your system.
Detox programs help to “flush” these toxins out of your system using all natural ingredients and plenty of water. By putting only natural foods into your system, your digestive system has a chance to “reset” and use less energy. This gives your body more energy and stability to help enhance sleep, alertness, functional energy, and provide strength for your immune system, which improves hair, skin, and overall health quality.

The Importance of the Colon

The colon is the most important part of your digestive system. In it, there can be years of toxic buildup inhibiting your body from experiencing its most healthy state. A detox works to push this colonic buildup out of your system by flushing it with plenty of fiber and water, cleansing your body and ridding it of the toxins and chemicals you’ve consumed over your lifetime.
Once this elimination part of the program is over, many detox participants experience weight loss, water weight loss, and a reduction in cravings for salty and sugary foods. Since you’ve abstained from these foods through the duration of your detox, your body no longer believes these ingredients to be necessary.

How do I detox?

There are plenty of do-it-yourself detox programs that involve several trips to an all natural foods store (like Whole Foods), but these programs can be incredibly time consuming and expensive. Organic fruits and vegetables may also be unavailable or prohibitively costly in many parts of the country, especially during the winter months. If you want to do a fruit-based detox program, one of the best is a raw vegan diet, whereby you only consume non animal foods that have never been heated above 118 degrees. This basically leaves you with fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Again, this can be expensive and isn’t for everyone.
There are, however, several detox programs of all types sold online and in nutrition stores. Some of these programs are better than others, so if you decide to go with a supplement detox program, choose wisely.

What should I look for?

It is a good general rule that if you intend to cleanse, and you want to do it a nutritional, safe, healthy way, make sure your cleanse program has the following qualities:

Nutrition
Unless you intend to do a fast, which is completely separate from a nutritional cleanse, you’ll want to go with a detox program that values nutrition and contains daily vitamins, protein, fruits and vegetables, and other healthy foods. Many detox programs are simply diet pills that you take in addition to your normal diet (or they’re meant to be your ONLY source of nutrition). These are dangerous and do not provide the benefits your body needs to sustain a detox healthfully. Make sure to pick a product that helps you stay full so that you’re less likely to cheat and break your detox.
All Natural
Unfortunately, the regulations concerning what constitutes “all natural” is incredibly vague. Many companies, especially those with products made outside of the United States, claim that their products are all natural but they may still use trace amounts of artificial ingredients. All natural in its most simple form means any product without artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or preservatives. If it’s got citric acid, it’s not all natural. If it’s sweetened with Splenda, it’s not all natural. Basically if you can’t pronounce the ingredients, then it’s not all natural. If your grandmother wouldn’t recognize an ingredient, then it’s not all natural. In general, try to use a detox program that only contains REAL ingredients from the earth, not a lab. If a product contains soy, make sure it is non-genetically modified (non-GMO) and the product uses soybeans instead of a soy isolate.
Vegan
This should go without saying, but animal products, whether meat or dairy, in general, are packed with fat, hormones, chemicals, cholesterol, salt, and other things that contradict weight loss and a healthy detox. One of the biggest benefits of a detox is reduction of bloating. Animals products directly cause bloating since they have salt, fats, and lactose that can fill your stomach with gas. The types of products that are NOT vegan include those with whey protein, eggs, honey, milk, or meat. Also, it’s important to support companies that use animal free ingredients since it is more sustainable and better for the environment. Several companies, such as Kaeng Raeng, support animal rights organizations by donating a portion of every sale of an animal free product.
Gluten Free
Those with Celiac Disease suffer from a gluten allergy, but they aren’t the only ones who should avoid gluten. Gluten can raise insulin levels, cause abdominal cramping and water weight gain, and is usually associated with sugary processed simple carbohydrates that contain the very toxins you’re trying to get rid of. Make sure to choose a detox program that is gluten free, which means yeast and wheat free.
Stimulant Free
Products that promote “weight loss” are often caffeine pills masquerading as detox pills. These stimulants increase your heart rate, can lead to insomnia and loss of concentration, and really contradict the purpose of getting your body back to a natural chemical-free state. Another type of stimulant is a laxative. Laxatives are often used in colon cleanse products to help speed up the elimination portion of the detox. Yes, there are natural laxatives that occur in nature like Senna and other stimulants, mostly in the form of herbal laxative tea. These products, however, can cause severe cramping and can be aggressive and disruptive to your normal daily life. If you want to detox in a safe, easy way, avoid laxatives.
Local Ingredients
If a product has a bunch of ingredients you can’t pronounce and most of them are from outside of the United States, be aware that those ingredients 1. are not regulated by as many US agencies as those ingredients made within the USA, 2. had to travel a long way to get to you, which makes the product worse for the environment, 3. does not support the efforts of local farmers and suppliers. If you want to support American businesses, stay local. Many nutritional cleanses are made in Japan or China, while others are made in California, New York, or Florida.
Taste
There are plenty of detox/cleanse juices and powders out there that use all natural ingredients and unconventional sources of protein like hemp, flax, rice, or nuts. These products can taste like grass or sand. Hey, if that’s what you like, then go right ahead! But most of us want to drink something that we can keep down. If you can’t stand the taste of a product then you WON’T stick with your detox, so you might as well not try at all. If you want a fruit-based cleanse, make sure to choose one that has actual fruit in the ingredient list, not fruit puree concentrate or fruit flavors.
Probiotics
Probiotics literally mean “for life.” As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), a probiotic is a living microorganism that, when administered in adequate amounts, confers a health benefit on its host. Probiotic live cultures are friendly bacteria that help to regulate and speed up digestion through the intestines and colon. Probiotic cultures, specifically L. Acidophillus blend, have been linked to better digestive health and stronger immune systems. Probiotics are typically found in yogurt and other cultured dairy products, but are also available in freeze-dried powder form.
Convenience
There are several detox programs that involve blending smoothies with your own fruit and vegetables. These programs are usually fairly expensive and can be incredibly inconvenient. Make sure to read customer reviews regarding how simple the program was to follow and how easy it is to make the various meals/drinks. Kaeng Raeng, for example, comes in freeze dried powder form and can be taken just about anywhere.
Price
The truth is, there are good companies and shady companies in this business. The shady ones will typically offer a “free trial” and then bill your credit card ridiculous amounts for subsequent months. Other, more honest businesses, will charge reasonable rates based off of the cost of the product. These businesses care about their reputation and customer service. In general, detox programs that charge more than $30 per day are ripping you off, and those that charge less than $10 per day are offering a low quality product.

When should I do a cleanse or detox?

As soon as you start to feel like crap! Happy detoxers typically conduct a 3 or 6 day cleanse every 1-3 months.

Which one is the best?

Kaeng Raeng brings together the convenience and affordability of a value product with the quality and health benefits of a luxury brand.

Good luck, healthy girl!

Actor Jealousy and Comparisons

2010-04-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

By: Paul Russell

From Backstage.com

Comparisons, they happen. Especially in group settings such as the collaboration that is the performing arts. And they can destroy the harmony and productivity of any project.

The comparison can be a seemingly innocent thought, such as a dance captain musing to themselves that one the dancers in the theatrical company has a better extension. Or it can be a morale-damaging comment carelessly (or with malicious intent) spoken by a secondary role actor that they believe they have superior skills than the actor playing the leading role.

Comparisons do damage, whether spoken or silently pondered. While you may think comparing is helpful to better oneself, be careful. Human nature often goes towards the negative like a sexual compulsive to a bathhouse. Either situation—the chatting comparer, or the salacious sexual compulsive—leaves them feeling empty and less than their worth. Jealousies fester.

We all do comparisons of ourselves to others. My partner constantly reprimands me for diving into the infested waters of the comparison swamp. I'll comment about peers who I assume or know to have more profitable careers than I. And then I'll mope. For days. Sometimes weeks. Thinking 'I'm not good enough'.

When my high school friend Kevin Murphy (the creative behind "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and "Reefer Madness–The Musical") became an executive producer and writer for "Desperate Housewives," I wallowed in the soulless self-pity of 'Why can't that be me?' None of these actions were helpful to my moving forward in my goals. Nor was I a happy camper to be around in the company of others.

And this wallow and worry was also a major waste of time and energy. Energy that could have been put to better use elsewhere—like looking for new opportunities for growth. As I often say (but seldom follow), "Worry is a waste." Eventually I'll slap myself and stop what is essentially career momentum-stopping behavior.

We all have our moments, but when they build from moments to eras, then you need to fix your comparison problem.

Positive comparisons are fine, such as one actor complimenting another on their performance: "It's wonderful how you ground your character and keep the tension of the story. I'm learning much from your work!" With a comment similar to that, you're not only providing positive reinforcement to a fellow company member (who may be in their own comparison swamp), you're also displaying your desire for growth.

A potential negative comparison—like when one actor says to another in a regional theater setting: "Your comedic timing is fascinating. I'll never be as good as you"—opens a Pandora's box of trouble. It may have seemed that what was expressed was a compliment, but words have a funny way of being twisted, carrying meaning beyond what we intend.

Let's take a look at where the statement crashed.

First, the comment tag: "I'll never be as good as you" belittles your contributions and openly announces insecurities that others in the company will seize upon as a confessed weakness, which offers an invitation to be possibly used against you. Secondly, you empower the person to whom you're speaking. They may then think themselves far superior to you and consider you as persona non grata. And thirdly, the vagueness of the comment "fascinating" could be viewed as sarcasm by the recipient—a miscommunication that can foster and fester ill-will against you.

The comparison statement doesn't even have to be made by you to the person you admire, or are jealous of. Some people with insecurities—and that's the heart to where this problems stems from—will whisper to others in a company that they believe their skills to be far superior to someone else within the same company.

That "I'm better than so-and-so" statement then, like the childhood game of telephone, gets spread from one company member to another. The telling of the comparison changes as the information is disseminated and distorted between exchangers.

Eventually that gets brought to the attention of the person(s) you were comparing yourself to. And then there goes company moral. Unnecessary tensions build. Distrust breeds. And the negativity eventually manifests itself in production whether it is in rehearsal or performance.

Making comparisons is not healthy if you continually focus on your faults or the faults of others.

One of the traps in the comparison swamp is perception. While you may look at someone else who dabbles in your field of expertise and think them to be wildly successful, you never truly know what their life is like. To the public they may seem as if they have their shit together (accompanied by a healthy bank account), but in reality they may be just like you: in debt, comparing their career (or lack thereof) to someone else, and wishing their own were better.

The only good thing that comes out of comparison is if you use it to better yourself. Seed your ambition for a healthy harvest. And in a manner that is not spiteful but which enriches your spirit and skills. If you wallow in the "I wish that were me" tripe then you'll always be mired in the comparison swamp. Lost in the reeds. Drowning.

When the comparison thoughts surface in your cranium, think carefully before giving them a position of validity: Is it jealousy that prompted the thought, or is it a desire to better yourself?

If it's the former, toss the "I could be better than so-and-so..." thought away. If it's for the betterment of you and invigorates your ambition for improvement, then embrace and keep the thought to yourself while working on finding a way to be content with what you presently can develop or keep from your talents. You'll be a much happier artist if you do so.

Ambition to be better always brings success. Jealousy often brings pain (and an occasional police report).

Turbo Jam: The Results Are In!

2010-04-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday my friend Caitlin and I made a pact to be each other's workout buddies. Even if we can't manage to get together to workout, we're going to call each other to make sure the other has worked out for the day!

We ended up having a rehearsal canceled, so we decided to use the time wisely. She brought over this exercise DVD called "Turbo Jam."

I took one look at the cover and almost died laughing. I mean look at it: These people look so RIDICULOUS! They HAVE to know what they look like, right?

I had introduced Caitlin to my Jillian Michaels DVDs, which you all know I am religious about. So, I figured it was only fair that I try out her DVDs. She is in pretty fierce shape--so it can't be all bad, right?

We ended up doing the 45 minute "Cardio Party" workout and I nearly died!!! Yes, the DVD is cheesy but oh my goodness did I get my butt kicked! You want to know why those people look like that on that cover? Because they're in amazing shape and they got paid to do that workout once.

My thoughts...
The music was fun--think cheesy revved-up versions of "Blame it on the Boogie", the instructor had so much energy I think she might have been on speed, and my entire body is hurting right now for the first time in MONTHS!

I'm excited to see the results of doing these workouts on a regular basis.

Care to join me in the Turbo Jam challenge? I'll keep you posted on the weight loss and inches lost soon...

xoxo

Caitlin

Valid Deductions

2010-04-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

Since it's tax season....

From: Backstage.com
By: Chuck Sloan

This week let's look at the specific acting-related expenses you are allowed to write off on your tax return. Remember, though, you can't take any of these deductions unless you have receipts and expense records to back them up.

Obviously, you can write off the costs of your headshots, duplications, classes, coaches, and résumés, as well as the editing of your reel and voiceover tape and other promotional efforts. We generally include gifts for business in this area, but remember, each gift is limited to just $25 per person per year.

What you paid for classes and your agent and/or manager fees will be significant deductions for actors who are aggressively pursuing their careers. Make sure you can validate these payments: Keep your check stubs.

Union dues and initiation fees are always deductible. So too are costume expenses, but not the cost of any clothing that can be considered general street wear, even if you personally wouldn't wear it on the street. If you buy props for your classes or auditions, keep those receipts. Be sure to document how and when you used the items, as sometimes props can seem a lot like normal household objects to an auditor.

If you're holding Back Stage in your hands, don't forget the $2.95 per issue you pay for the privilege (or the cost of your yearly subscription). Other trade publications count too. Then there are the amounts paid to casting websites and submission services, including BackStage.com. Keep your records not only for the initial sign-up fees but also for less-significant costs, such as the charge to change your headshots.

Did you rent studio space to rehearse a scene for class or an audition? Write it off. Did you have other audition expenses, such as sides or hiring an accompanist? Don't forget them.

There are certain expenses, such as your cell phone or your Internet access, for which you can deduct a percentage for business use. Don't be greedy and try to take the full amount. For most people, personal usage is greater than business usage. Many people are eliminating their home phones completely and using their cell phones exclusively. But think twice before you do so. In an audit, the Internal Revenue Service has the right to dismiss the cost of your primary phone line entirely.

The IRS will normally disallow anything you spend to watch movies, plays, and cable TV, as it considers these expenses entertainment. It is up to you to prove their educational value. Don't argue with me; that's the rule. So create a viewing log and write down what you learned when watching the show—such as who cast it and the style of the production—or plan to lose this deduction. If you don't take these steps, I would urge you to simply forget about writing off this expense.

If you take a lot of meetings for business, you will need to write down when, where, why, with whom, and the amount you spent. Get in the habit of doing this immediately after (or during) the meeting—and don't lose the receipt.

If you travel, you do not have to keep receipts for your meals, as there is a per diem rate established by the U.S. government that the IRS allows. This amount is usually more than sufficient for anyone. But you still need your receipts and records for expenses such as your hotel and travel (airfare, car rental, etc.).

Always keep your original receipts for all business transactions, including office supplies, postage, maintenance and repairs of business items, and the like. Don't assume that a check or debit-card statement listing Office Depot is sufficient proof that the transaction was solely for a business item.

I have written in previous columns about the importance of keeping a record of all your auditions, classes, and meetings—especially dates, times, and locations—to prove your travel costs. But this record does a whole lot more for you in an IRS audit: It validates the time, effort, energy, and money you put into your career. It acts as a secondary authentication to the monetary records you present. It's persuasive and invaluable, so don't get caught without one.

How I Reached My Goal Weight

2010-03-18T18:54:00.000-07:00

By: Caitlin O’Brient

I want to start by noting that everyone’s weight loss journey is going to be different. What I did may or may not work for you. I would love if my program helped you to achieve your goals, but please know that it may not.

Even at my heaviest, most people would never have considered me overweight. But for my height I was literally on the cusp of being overweight.
Personally, I felt out of control. I had become completely unhealthy: eating and drinking whatever my heart desired and not supplementing those choices with exercise.

What really caught my attention was a combination of the number on the scale, my physical appearance in photos, and the way my clothes didn’t fit any more. Instead of accepting defeat and buying a whole new wardrobe, I decided to fight back. I knew I needed to take control of not only my health, but my life.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN...
When I graduated college I was in peak physical condition. I had spent over a year working with a personal trainer, attending 3-4 group exercise classes per week, and 2 dance classes a week. Needless to say, it wasn’t that difficult to understand why I was in such good shape.

Graduation rolled around and it was party after party, which meant a lot of alcohol and a lot of delicious, but unhealthy food. I kept making excuses like “You only graduate college once.” Which is true—but I kept using
that excuse for the next 3 months without any exercise.

Graduation Dinner, South Beach, May 2008

I moved home to spend time with my family and spend my boyfriend’s last month of grad school with him. And what do you know…? More parties!

To top it all off we had been planning a three week trip to Europe which ended with us going to my mother’s family’s cottage in Camden, Maine for my final family vacation before venturing into adulthood.
We ate and drank our way through Greece, Prague, and Amsterdam. When we came back it was lobster and bottomless glasses of wine.

Wine Tasting in Santorini, Summer 2008

At the end of the summer I stepped on the scale and was shocked to see I had gained almost 20 lbs since graduation! Not long after, I moved to LA and I continued to make excuses such as “I don’t have time to workout” or “I really can’t afford a gym membership.”

The holidays rolled around and wreaked havoc on my self control. My boyfriend’s younger sister was turning 21 the day before New Year’s Eve, so we decided it would be fun to take her for an all-out trip to Las Vegas! We ate, we drank, we gambled—we had a GREAT time.

It wasn’t until I got home and started looking through the pictures from our trip that I actually understood how bad it really was. I saw one picture that made me want to cry. I could not believe that girl was me! It wasn’t shocking that I wasn’t getting auditions or meetings.
What to do…? It was time to take responsibility and take control!
NEW YEAR. NEW ME.

WEIGHT WATCHERS
I was very lucky because my mother was in town when I had this epiphany and she happens to be a Weight Watcher. For years my mother had been trying to convince me to give it a try, but I never took it seriously as an option for me because I had never been overweight enough to really worry. But she convinced me to go to a meeting with her before she left town.

I’m not gonna lie to you—I was really put off during the first meeting. I was hands-down the youngest person in the room and I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. It was a very difficult thing for me to admit that I had a problem and I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit. Weight Watchers isn’t temporary or a fad diet—it’s a lifetime commitment and a lifestyle change.

However, the energy in that room was so positive, that I decided this might be the right fit for me. This seemed like a very supportive group of people and that was exactly what I needed. Everyone talked openly about their successes and failures and they had really great tips for recipes and weight loss. Some of them had been coming to the weekly meetings for over 20 years! It was obvious to me that there was something really great about this program.

So, I signed up for Weight Watchers and I started going to meetings and tracking EVERYTHING I ate and drank. I set my goal at 120 lbs, which meant I had a total of 20 lbs to lose. I felt that 120 was a reasonable, attainable goal for my height.

I lost 3.4 lbs during my first week on the program! I kept going to meetings every week and I kept losing. By mid-March I had lost almost 12 lbs. That’s when I got too confident and down I fell.
I stopped going to meetings, I stopped working out and I stopped tracking. By mid-July I had gained every bit of the weight back. I felt disgusting and like a complete failure. I didn’t know what to do and I was too embarrassed to go back to my meetings and have to admit I gained it all back. How was I going to bounce back from this?

Well, first I had to swallow my pride and get over the fact that I had fallen off the train. It happens to the best of us and it was probably a good thing it happened to me. Now I am even more committed to the weight loss because I know how difficult it is to start over a 2nd and now a 3rd time. That weight does NOT come off easily once your body knows what you’re capable of.

KAENG RAENG
(click above to visit the site)
Once again I am a very lucky girl! Around this time my best friend Lindsay was starting a new company called Kaeng Raeng. Kaeng Raeng is an all natural detox diet program that helps with weight loss. She was getting ready to do a free beta launch and I figured it might be a good way to get me back on track.

Permit me a moment to preface this…
Anyone who actually knows me would NEVER have thought I would ever do a detox. I used to think detoxes were a HUGE waste of time—and I still believe most are.

When I was in college I would see girls doing the “Master Cleanse” and practically passing out during dance class or breaking down crying because they were so hungry and so miserable. Why were they so miserable, you ask? Because they weren’t allowed to eat anything when they cleansed!

I thought these girls were out of their minds. I love them dearly—but no one in their right mind should do the Master Cleanse. It’s just not healthy. You drink water, lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper for 10 days! The worst part is that the weight comes back almost as quickly as you lost it!

You’re not allowed to eat anything—someone please explain to me how that is healthy! If you can prove to me that starving yourself for ten days is healthy, then I owe you a coke!

Now back to how I became a believer in Kaeng Raeng…
What really sold me on this product is that it contains all of your daily nutritional needs and contains a ton of protein and fiber. While you’re doing the cleanse you can eat as much fruit and raw veggies as you want. In addition, you can mix the powder with water, juice, or milk. You have options—other detox programs don’t give you any flexibility.
I have always despised limitations, so this program is a great fit for me.

I began my 3-day Beginner Kaeng Raeng cleanse…
I added juice and fruit to it every time to make a delicious little smoothie. I was so full, I couldn’t fathom wanting other food. You can ask my friend—I watched her eat In ‘N Out Burger on my second day.

By the end of the 3-day cleanse I was more energized than I had ever been and I lost 4 lbs! I am proud to say I never gained it back. Kaeng Raeng really is a great product and I really do believe it's the future of cleanses.

EXERCISE

AidsWalk LA 2009!

Well, I hate to break it you folks—but Weight Watchers and Cleansing just aren’t enough to get rid of and keep weight off. We all make excuses like “I just don’t have enough time to go the gym.” I used to be the queen of that excuse. But I realized you really don’t need a gym to get a good workout. I bought 3, 5, and 12 lb weights from Target and discovered this is all you really need for some good at-home workouts.

What’s with all my luck??? I was yet again lucky enough to discover “Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred” on Time Warner Cable’s On Demand Exercise TV.
I committed myself to this program for 30 minutes a day, every day for 30 days. In addition I tried to attend yoga class twice a week when I wasn’t working. By the end of this month I had lost another 6 lbs. Yay me!

But what to do next...?
From this point on I realized that 30 minutes a day was no longer enough for my body since I had built up so much strength and stamina. I had to switch things up.
Currently I alternate about 3-4 Jillian DVDs, I go to Yoga when I can, and I use 5 lb weights for the 30-day shred instead of 3 lb weights.

I understand that I won’t be able to stick with this routine forever, because at some point my body is going to get used to it and it’s going to stop working.
But at least I’ve discovered that the key to exercise is to keep things fresh and more importantly, to keep surprising and challenging my body to do more.

The best part is: when you’re getting started you really don’t need to exercise for more than 30-45 minutes a day as long as you’re combining cardio with strength training. The key is to keep your heart rate up the entire time. Once you’ve reached a plateau, add another half an hour and you should be good to go for a while.

SETTING GOALS

The most important thing I have taken away from being a Weight Watcher is setting small and more importantly attainable weekly goals. I have to admit that I’m not the best at coming up with something new every week—but in terms of exercise I found a really great tool compliments of my boyfriend, Justin.

He helped me design a weekly weight loss goal calendar. We already determined my goal weight was 120, so we determined how soon we thought I could reach that goal. On average, you should only lose 1-2 lbs per week. So, I set a goal weight each week of 1-2 lbs.

If you'd like to see my calender, click here

Every day I weigh myself as soon I get out of bed and I track that on my calendar. Additionally, I check off whether I stay in my weight watchers daily point limit and whether or not I exercise.

I am a visual person—so being able to see my progress really helps me. I feel guilty if there are a lot of blank spots on my calendar, so I am able to stay motivated to exercise and eat a bit healthier than I normally do.

I’ll be completely honest with you. I did not reach my mini goal weight every week and I did not reach my final goal on the schedule I originally set, but that’s okay. It’s unrealistic to think you’re going to reach your goal weight every week.

I started using this calendar in October. I made it through Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New

Years and I am proud to say that although these set me back slightly on a weekly basis, I still managed to lose

just under 6 pounds during that 10 week span.

Oh yeah... See those stars? Those are stars of victory!

There are always going to be distractions such as birthdays, holidays, special events, etc.—you just have to stay motivated. It’s perfectly okay to indulge once in a while and you may or may not gain a little weight from your indulgences. If you don’t indulge once in a while, you could end up feeling trapped and unhappy. This usually leads to binging, which in turns ends up setting you back much more than if you had just had that one tiny little indulgence.

You also have to remember that it’s completely healthy for your body to fluctuate on a daily and weekly basis. Once I was able to accept these things, I was able to reach my goal with very little stress and in a much quicker time frame than I had expected.

Lessons learned? TRACK your eating, TRACK your weight, TRACK your exercise, set GOALS, and BE HAPPY with yourself! You only get one life, why not make the most of it?

Some of my favorite tips:
- If you’re hungry, drink water. Sometimes your body confuses being thirsty with being hungry. Drink an 8 oz glass of water, if you still feel hungry, then you probably are!

- Combine cardio and strength training in a circuit workout. I HATE running on a treadmill or spending an hour on the elliptical—what a boring way to exercise. Why not do a circuit workout that saves you time and boosts your energy?

- Fruits and Veggies are your best friend. Find something healthy you actually enjoy snacking on. Personally, I love clementines. You can have 2 small ones for only half a weight watchers point and they tend to tide me over in between meals.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Scale at My Weight Watchers Meeting

2010-03-06T13:08:00.000-08:00

This came to me in the form of a facebook note last year and it seriously changed my life. I had already been a weight watcher for about 2 months, but this really solidified how important it was to stick with it and how important it is to love your self and your body.
I think every actor should read this--especially if they are in their senior year at a conservatory program. I probably would have been a lot healthier and happier if I'd had this kind of advice.

By Sarah Knowlton

Scales are not traditionally objects of affection. More often they are the object of resentment, obsession, rage, and servitude, and the source of anxiety, fear, self-loathing and shame.

I have come to see the scale at my Weight Watchers meeting as my link to sanity. “It’s just a number,” my WW leader says. I know she means it shouldn’t be the source of our self-esteem, that it’s just information, that we shouldn’t invest in our emotional reactions to our weight, but rather in what the measurement is telling us about our own process of returning to health.

For me, it is just a number, but it’s also much more. It’s a way to stay in touch with reality. It’s freedom from dizzying body dysmorphia. It’s my way of stepping out of the river of media distortions of what a woman should look like. It’s my touchstone to what “health” actually means.

I had no weight problems until my mid 20’s: was actually naturally very slim, if by natural you mean smoking as many as 2 packs of cigarettes a day from the age of 15. Even before I quit smoking at 30, the weight was sneaking up on me. Slimfast brought it down, and then it went back up. Atkins brought it down; afterwards it went up further than before. There was never an approach that addressed the problem of being an animal that has to eat several times a day (O to be a snake and swallow one big rodent a month!)

Meantime, the slings and arrows of being an actress in the late 20th and early 21st centuries were wreaking their particular, subtle havoc on my psyche. While on the coffee/cigarettes/workout-4-or-5-hours-a-day/7 days-a-week diet, I was on a sitcom that sent me to a nutritionist to lose weight. I was a size 2. They wrote jokes in the script about my character being fat. I’m not kidding. I was “released from my contract” (fired) after the first season, assured I was a wonderful actress, “just not what the show needed at the time.” I was convinced I was fired for being too big. That and I wasn’t very good on the show, which, truth be told, I wasn’t. (Then again, if they give you a bent frisbee, it doesn’t matter how good you throw it.) Years later I found out it was because the head of the network wanted a blonde on the show. Also, due to my height, it was harder for them to frame me in a two shot with the star than the blonde they replaced me with. Welcome to Hollyweird.

ANYway… The following years had their ups and downs. On more than one occasion an agent asked me to lose weight. That’s always a fun conversation. Then I got a series of corseted jobs. Corsets are wonderful things, aside from their history as tools of suppression and physical torture of women. Corsets used in theater are fairly comfortable, and I made a very happy, sexy and employable truce with my bigger (not biggest, that was yet to come) self. I did a musical spoof of film-noir as a Jessica Rabbit-esque vamp, a Shaw play, a Gershwin musical, and one of Lear’s daughters; all fabulously corseted, beautifully dressed, unapologetically womanly characters that were all deliciously larger-than-life. I felt like a stallion straining against its saddle. Only I think stallions are male. But you get the idea: strong, sexual, potent, wild, barely tamed, and full of Life with a capital L.

Somehow, I went from bigger to biggest. I knew I was gaining (didn’t own a scale), but I kept booking jobs. By this time I was back in L.A., and had found my niche as the youngest, prettiest, thinnest of all the old, ugly, fat actresses. But I started to feel bad: tired and out of breath. I noticed myself looking not as cute in pictures, seeing my knees getting a little knocked, and being treated as increasingly invisible by men and thin women (It’s true: White men and skinny bitches of all races see right through you when you’re zaftig. Assholes.) A friend challenged me to go vegan and train for the L.A. Marathon with her. I took her up on it.

Training for my first marathon, believe it or not, was when I got to my highest weight. It’s not an uncommon phenomenon: for some godforsaken reason the first marathon often adds weight (WTF!!) I was also carb-loading pretty much every day, doing the pasta/rice/bread approach to veganism rather than the whole fruits and vegetables route. And I got big. I carried 185 lbs that first 26.2 miles. Only then, after I’d found the discipline of running, was I ready to face the discipline required to learn how to eat.

Thus began my life in Weight Watchers. I hit it. Hard. Never looked back, never faltered, did it like I quit smoking: once and for good. Practiced portion control. Wrote down everything I ate, diligently. Discovered these things called fruits and vegetables (They’re on the side of the supermarket, not in the aisles. They’re the things with no packaging. I know; it’s weird.) Lost 20 lbs my first 3 months, 20 more over the next 5. That got me to my healthy weight goal. But I live in Kookytown, Hollywood, and once you start getting a lot of praise, attention and positive re-enforcement for losing, it’s hard to stop.

I went down another 10 -12 lbs. I was barely within Weight Watchers healthy weight guidelines for my age and height. I kept running, completing 6 more marathons and 6 half-marathons, but I also kept restricting: eating the number of points required to keep losing, not the amount needed to maintain an even weight. Then I got a terrible intestinal virus one weekend (being underweight can weaken your immune system: Who knew?) and dropped 7 lbs in 3 days, bringing me under the WW minimum weight for me. I had my first audition for Desperate Housewives that Monday, but was too sick to go. I was finally thin enough to be on Desperate Housewives, but was too weak to make it to the audition. I recovered from that illness, and put a little weight back on. But the bookings just … stopped. I had my slowest professional year to date in 2008. How could this be? I’m Hollywood skinny, in Hollywood! I’m the weight I was when they sent me to a nutritionist in ‘97!! Something was wrong: I wasn’t I getting what I wanted!!!

The answer is, I’m 12 years older than I was in ‘97. Not that I necessarily looked healthy then. But the face changes with time, skin has less elasticity, and what may have been cute at one age can leave a girl looking like Skeletor at another. Catherine Deneuve said it best: “There comes a point in every woman’s life when she has to choose between her face, and her ass.” I had reached that point. I got up my courage to ask my agents if they thought I should gain some weight, and half of them answered “yes” so fast it was as if they’d been praying for me to ask. One said I used to stand out because I looked like a real person: now I just looked like everybody else out here. Others thought I was out of the character actress type, but not able to be competitive in the leading lady type. My mom asked me which one I wanted to be: my response was “I want to be the one that books jobs again.” I’m kind of whorish that way.

So I started to deliberately gain. And after a weekend in San Francisco of sundaes, french toast, and soup served in bowls made out of bread, I went to my Weight Watchers leader and asked for help. And she gave me a strategy to put some weight back on exactly the same way I’d taken it off: slowly, methodically, mindfully, and nutritiously. And the scale became the thing that would tell me how I was doing. If I could pull this off, I could lose and gain deliberately, free of emotion and judgment, healthily, in control, non-secretively, supported, and sanely. Moderation: the final frontier. There I might find freedom from fear of food.
After 15 years of being told to lose weight and stay skinny, gaining isn’t as easy as I would have thought. Even new habits die hard, it turns out. I realize not a lot of people are going to want to listen to me complain about this. An actress friend told me it was “her dream” to have her agents tell her to gain weight. My response to that is whether they’re telling you to lose or gain, it’s not good because it means something’s not right and you’re not making them or yourself any money. I’m still running ‘cause I love it, and they give you medals. Now I’m learning to eat like a runner instead of like a Hollywood whacktress.

So I put 5 lbs. on. And I kept it on for a month. And I booked a Desperate Housewives episode. My agents joked that all I had to do was gain 5 lbs and look what happened! That could be true. It could be coincidence. I find this business maddeningly random. But I have to believe them when they say my face looks better when my ass isn’t as small as I can possibly make it without surgery. They even said I could gain another 5. Maybe I will, maybe not. I don’t know yet what my ideal fighting weight is going to be. It’ll probably keep changing as time keeps passing, I keep ageing, and hopefully keep growing as an actress.
What I do know is every Tuesday I can go step on the same scale and find out what is really going on with my body, ‘cause I can’t tell on my own what reality is. At my heaviest and most unhealthy, I was back in a corset doing “Sunday in the Park with George,” feeling powerful and sexy (when i wasn’t struggling to catch my breath.) At my Desperate Housewives fitting, while the costume designer was telling me how slim and fabulous I looked in the tightest, lowest-waisted pair of jeans I’ve ever worn, all I felt and saw was fat. I can’t see reality. But the scale at my Weight Watchers meeting shows me what my healthy body “looks like” numerically. Not my body-as-others-see-it, not my body-as-a-marketing-tool, not my wildly distorted perceptions of my body. It looks how it looks, and it does what it does for me. The number on the scale makes me aware of what I’m doing for it. And I get to choose what I’m going to do for it from one week to the next, one gig to the next, one year to the next. And that’s pretty invaluable.

Plus I got to be on Desperate Housewives.

Actors Effectively Exploiting Social Networks

2010-03-04T11:41:00.000-08:00

This is my kind of article!
Being the deemed "Queen of Facebook" by my friends at the Upright Cabaret, I can proudly say that social media and networking sites are key marketing tools these days.
Example: Lady Gaga is awesome and most of us know it. But if it weren't for Perez Hilton's support and coverage on his website, she might not have skyrocketed to stardom the way she did.
Due to the fact that I had a youtube channel with videos of my recent performances I was accepted to sing at the Upright Cabaret in Los Angeles.
Everything is on the internet and anyone can find information about you. You might want to be careful not to put anything out there that you don't want seen!

Now on to the article...

ACTORS EFFECTIVELY EXPLOITING SOCIAL NETWORKS
From Backstage.com
By Paul Russell
March 1, 2010

I found a wonderful status on Facebook recently:

"Christopher ******** TODAY - Auditioning for a role on 'Law & Order: SVU' & auditioning with CD Jamie Schulman (Jen Euston Casting) & CD Jessica Kelly (Chrystie Street Casting) THURSDAY - auditioning with Agent Holly Vegter (Hartig-Hilepo Agency)"

One day later it was followed by an updated status:

"Christopher ******** got a callback for 'L&O:SVU'! Just finished auditioning with CD Jonathan Strauss who loved my work. He wants me to go back today @ 4:15 to audition with the Director of this episode of 'L&O:SVU.' Then I will be meeting & auditioning with CD's Jessica Kelly (Chrystie Street Casting) & Jamie Schulman (Jen Euston Casting)."

Finally! An actor, among the thousands who have befriended me as a "networking receptacle" using their Facebook status for something other than telling me:
– My cat is in heat and so am I.
– I hate life and people. You should too!
– I just took this quiz to find out that my personality for religious sects is: Amish.

People (i.e., bitter career-barren actors) have written me nasty notes stating that I utilize Facebook as a marketing tool for He is the author of my book. My reply? "Why, yes. Yes, I do. I'm also marketing my career as both a director and casting director plus dispensing casting and career information on my time at no cost to actors. Got a problem with that?"

I once did reply to a mean-spirited missive from an actor (I've never met) who first befriended me with intent to market himself as he complained about my merchandising:

"Facebook is a marketing tool for all. Know that our office daily receives unsolicited inquiries and requests from actors via the postal system, email, and social sites to attend their shows (after our normal hours of work), seek representation (of which we do not do since we are not a talent agency), provide employment (of which we're happy to offer access if the actor is avail, willing and correct for a project). Everyone is selling something."

What I really wanted to reply was, "You friended me. Stop bitching and market yourself."

And here's something I don't openly share (until now); I'm not thrilled with having to be a self-described "marketing whore." I vehemently hate selling myself. But when it comes to survival, we all have to have a bit of the selling slut in each of us. Online social networks have become a modern medium for everyone to sell their wares with the least amount of cost for the most return.

In my NYU and private classes I often instruct my students to watch what I do on Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace and excel past me. Some do; others remain timid. It's timidity that keeps one from advancing.

Joining a Facebook or MySpace group that is administered by a casting office, producer, director, theater, or an actor collective is not actively marketing oneself. It's passive and lazy. Befriending same and expecting the person you networked to suddenly look upon you as brilliant for your talent just because you're on their friend list will garner little more than electronic crickets.

Like Christopher, put in your status something of use. Provide career advancing information to the person(s) you're networking. Let the people from whom you want notice know that others are noticing you for your talents and/or achievements.

I recently had a student who exploited Facebook well with the release of his film "The Graduates." For weeks he would put in his status, links to trailers for the film, plus announce screenings and praise for his performance. A few of his friends may have tired of the promotion, but what kind of friends were they if they didn't support and encourage his achievement?

If you've joined an online social network you should be seeking out directors, writers, producers, agents and casting directors. And not just the household/industry name names... go for the up-and-comers. They're the ones who need you as much you need them.

Find industry people who have friends in common with you. Strangers are more apt to electronically accept a virtual friend if they see there are a number of mutual friends between themselves and the person inviting the online friendship. They'll ignore the ignore button for fear that they may offend someone whom they may have met but can't recall. It's that fear, doubt and potential for embarrassment that is the Achilles heel to a stranger's friend list.

If you're not comfortable with networking online; that's ok. You're leaving open vacancies to be filled. Thousands of other people are taking your place and their fearlessness to network is putting them ahead of you in this journey that is life.

Again, I hate promoting myself. Always have and probably forever will. But I've learned to deal with my squeamishness of selling out of necessity (medical bills, rent, food, etc.). If I didn't get a reality check I wouldn't have worked on Broadway, wouldn't have done films for 20th Century Fox, gone would be my directing credits, and never would my book have been published by Random House. I also would not have been able to share my insights here with you. My fear would have left my life empty.

And it did for awhile at the beginning of my career to which I have great regret. What I missed can never be recovered. For I'll never know what opportunities I let pass me by for my being passive. What's passing you by?

The choice is yours. If you don't market yourself who will? You're the owner and operator of what is essentially your business—acting. Use effectively the social network tools provided. Ignore them and they'll ignore you.

Time for a Change

2010-03-03T14:53:00.000-08:00

Picture This
March 1, 2010

From Backstage.com

I decided to use my own headshot instead of the one of the site to show that after two years I was able to go back through my stockpile of headshots on my hard drive and find something fresh and fun to use!
You don't always need to go spend hundreds of dollars to get new photos when you have perfectly good shots that still look like you in your back pocket!
Thrifty? Yes, I know.

Douglas Gorenstein
New York

There are often very personal reasons for an actor to have new headshots taken. But as a general rule, the following situations would make it a priority:

People say you're better-looking in person. Example: You look like Brad Pitt but your headshot makes you look more like Screech from "Saved by the Bell." Or conversely, you resemble Ugly Betty but your headshot makes you look like Angelina Jolie. Embrace the true you!

You're stuck in a time warp and still using black-and-white when nowadays color is the way to go (don't tell me you still own a black-and-white television?). Your clothing and hair are out of style (that Britney Spears belly shirt seemed like a great idea in 2000). Your appearance has altered since your last headshot: You've got a new hair color; you wear your hair short when it used to be long; you've lost a lot of weight (good for you) or gained a lot of weight (not so good for you). You're now a 45-year-old balding father of two, but your headshot was taken when you were a freshman in college and sporting an Afro (act your age, grandpa!).

You have only one headshot that you use for everything but would benefit from having several different headshots that represent different sides of your personality. This allows you to market yourself, with the appropriate headshot, specifically for the role described in the character breakdown. Casting directors don't have time to have an imagination.

Peter Konerko
Los Angeles and New York

To me, it's a given that your shots are going to look like you, so any obvious change in physical appearance will require a new headshot. If you look different today than you did yesterday, time to get new headshots

When you walk through the door at an audition, you must meet the expectation set by the headshot and vice versa. If you look like your shot but your personal energy doesn't match the shot, it's time to get new headshots.

Aside from the above, it is absolutely vital to consider brand management. If you think of yourself as a product—and you are—there is a high level of branding that has to be the foundation of your career. This is a first-impression business. If your headshot is not dynamic, if it doesn't stand out on a computer screen among hundreds of thumbnails, then you need to get new headshots. You have to be honest with yourself. Try to look at yourself objectively and say, "Is this an undeniable, dynamic headshot?" If the answer is no, then you need new headshots. Period.

Start researching and find the photographer whose shots stop you in your tracks. You have a single moment to stop someone from clicking by you or jumping to the next page. The industry moves quickly and the trends shift on a dime. It is important to stay on top of it. Make the investment, constantly reinvent, and continue to grow.

Thaddeus Watkins
New York

You need a new headshot when you no longer look like your current headshot. When the casting folks can't pick you out from your headshot, you know it's time! And when your agent or manager says you need a new headshot, pay attention. They have your career and marketing in mind.

In addition to these basic reasons, you may need or want a new headshot:

- Anytime your current headshot doesn't make you feel attractive and confident in your professional presentation. You won't mail it if you don't love it.

- When you add new skills—for instance, film or commercial credits to your mostly theater résumé. You'll need a different photo for Sunny D than for Lady Macbeth.

- When the technology changes. If you have only a black-and-white photo in 2010, you need color shots, including emailable JPEGs.

- When you're tired of looking at "the same photo." In this case, try another image from your most recent headshot session to keep yourself inspired. It's less expensive than a new photo shoot. If you had only one keeper from that session, be sure to plan for more variety in your next one.

Innovative Marketing Tool for the Actor

2010-02-23T10:11:00.000-08:00

From Backstage.com
By Paul Russell

I'm surprised this hasn't been utilized by actors when it comes to marketing and hustling to get work. What is "this"? Journey onward via my musings and discover.

In my 30-year career as a director, casting director and former actor, I have never once come across an actor (including my past self) who had a reduced, easy-to-pocket, up-to-date resume on them at all times.

As I wrote earlier on this column, there have been many occasions when I encountered actors who had no form of picture and resume (i.e., their business card) with them. I'm not talking about just at auditions (though actors without a P&R while in the job search mode is unfortunately not uncommon). I'm offering a solution to those who foolishly go without their P&R for whatever reason, including "it's too big to handle." To be an actor without some form of a picture and resume with you at all times is poor business practice, asinine, and lazy.

So how to create and carry a miniature P&R to pocket in your pocket, purse or over-sized wallet? Two ways:

OPTION 1:

Know those postcards that give us a vision of your visage? The ones other actors send out to say, "Hi, my cat's in heat and so is my career!" Well, keep your face on the front and drop the backside update about your kitty.

1. Order a set of postcards with your picture, name, phone, and email on the front. On the back leave the postcard blank. Order either standard size (4 x 6 inches) or oversized (5.5 x 8.5 inches) postcards.

2. Then you'll need labels. What kind of labels? I've already done your homework for you:

-- For standard size postcards you'll need Avery 8464 (3-1/3 x 4 inches) or another brand that is similar in size. If you can find a larger size that will fit without need of trimming; great.

-- For oversized postcards you'll need Avery 8165 (5.5 x 8.5 inches) or another brand of the same size.

3. Simply reduce your resume to the label size that you have chosen. If you can't fit your full resume on the label, edit waste/fillers and keep the best of the resume on the label.

Important: Include a notation that your full resume can be viewed via your website. Don't have a website?! Bad actor – five demerits.

4. Then in a small quantity put the printed labels on the back of your postcards. When you need to update your resume, reprint your labels and put those onto another set of blank headshot postcards.

OPTION 2:

An alternative to having backside-blank-headshot-postcards would be to use a service like Vista Print, PostCards.com, ImageMedia or whomever you find on- or offline that offers the best value and quality that your pocket can purchase. With one of these services you can then have both your headshot and resume formatted and pre-printed on the respective front/back of your post card.

The downside to this is that you have to order a large volume and, being that the resume information is pre-printed, you can't update information until your next print run.

The pro to having your reduced, postcard-size picture and resume pre-printed is that it'll look cleaner if properly formatted by you when ordering.

*****************

So there ya have it. Prior to writing this advice nugget originally for my blog, I had yet to receive from an actor something similar for reduced P&R postcard marketing. Ever. (Since then many months ago I've only gotten two!)

Give this twist on postcard marketing a try. You'll be able to carry your headshot and resume everywhere you go. Everywhere. (well maybe not to a clothing optional campground or beach.)

Far too many actors have I run into at airports, on the street, at openings, or elsewhere and they didn't have information to offer me that was useful -- i.e. their picture and resume in a reduced form for both of us to easily carry. You'll be viewed as innovative. The smarter actors tend to lead with options new (they also get more of the work available).

Believe me; not many people venture first when given a new idea. Don't assume that everyone reading this rumination will actor-up and be bold in marketing themselves.

What will you do?

Advice: Ask a Professional: A Day in Your Office

2010-02-11T11:40:00.000-08:00

To all my industry friends: especially those of you who are graduating seniors getting ready to head out in to the real world--this is some excellent advice for you on how you might want to get started...

From Backstage.com

A DAY IN YOUR OFFICE

If actors were to spend a day with you in your office, what would they learn that would help their careers?

Orion Barnes
Theatrical and commercial agent and owner, Rogers Orion Talent Agency, Sherman Oaks, Calif.; clients recently booked 'Ghost Whisperer,' 'Saving Grace'

I thought the best, most honest way to answer this question would be to have an actor actually do it. So let me introduce actor and intern Julie Civiello.

Civiello: "I could be considered a fly on the wall, but I am better known as an intern at Rogers Orion Talent Agency. Here are a few things I have learned: Actor-agent meetings are surprisingly informal. The conversation seems to be mostly about shared interests, sometimes not even directly related to film and television. If a topic sparks something in both persons, it's going well. An easy conversation lets the agent know that the actor is someone who would be great to work with.

"In regard to mailed-in submissions, I have learned that without a referral—current client or casting director—it usually doesn't travel very far. Sure, the agents go through every submission, but it's rare for a nonreferred headshot to make it to the next step. I've also noticed that the packages that do well here aren't necessarily trying to grab attention with crazy stories or cutesy questions; instead, the cover letters that stand out are the genuine ones: the actors who write about what they are working on at the moment and describe their ability to make jobs happen for themselves despite their lack of representation or Screen Actors Guild card. The best ones are honest, direct, and display a passionate urgency to work.

"So how can we succeed in this city overwhelmed by fierce competitors and small windows that lead to overly crowded casting pools? I think in terms of what this particular agency looks for, it's about answering a lot of personal questions and doing something very simple but rather difficult: staying true to your core personality and nurturing who you are."

Thanks, Julie! All great observations. I'd just like to add one thing: If you are able, I recommend that every actor should intern at an agent's office for at least a week. I started in this business as an actor interning for the agency who represented me, and it was absolutely invaluable for my then career. Interning arms you with insight and gives you a nice healthy dose of reality. It gives you an idea of what works and what doesn't, who books and why, and most important, how to apply these insights to empower your career.

Rick Miller
Commercial agent and president, the Rick Miller Agency, New York; clients recently booked Verizon, Bank of America TV spots

Well, right off the bat, they would see appropriate pictures and really well-constructed résumés of working talent and people that I represent. So they would have insight on what really good pictures are. Whether it's a print job or a TV commercial, a lot of these pictures have a quality that's indigenous to that particular part of the business.

I also think they would really realize, just by hearing my end of the conversations, what it is to work with a really great professional actor. Because when you're working with a really great professional actor, there's a rhythm to the conversation. Since I'm not a theatrical agent—it's commercial: print and television and industrials—it's a very quick turnover. It's very high-paced. I'm not spending 10 minutes on the phone with somebody going over a script or anything like that. It's really getting them to the appointments, giving them all the details, whatever they need. So even if they couldn't hear what was going on on the other end of the conversation, they would certainly hear by my end of the conversation how that dialogue is going. And what they would pick up from that is that the people who really excel in this business are not only people who have great pictures and résumés but people who have great communication skills. A lot of information has been passed in a very quick and efficient amount of time.

I think they would also realize how much work goes in from an agent's point of view. What they would really see is how much work I put into everything I do, how quickly I have to move, and how much I have to accomplish in a very short amount of time.

Carole J. Russo
Theatrical agent and owner, Agents for the Arts, New York; clients recently booked 'Grease' (tour), 'Fiddler on the Roof' (tour)

They would see how busy we are trying to ascertain what's going on with auditions that some of our clients have been doing. They would see how we have to work at doing the breakdowns as they come in, especially when they are hard-copy submissions—which, dear God, we hope would stop someday soon.

They would see what our problems are as opposed to just theirs. I would have them answering the phone calls and learning how to deal with people on the phone. I think probably it wouldn't hurt them a bit, because it's a role they might have to play someday. All of the things they have questions about would in all probability be answered from being where it happens. But if my clients ask me about things like that, I will easily discuss it with them.

They would also be there when I'm checking on some of those auditions and a casting director says, "You know, he or she read beautifully. However, they don't have the experience of working in television or film enough." That backs up the necessity of actors getting to places where they can learn about production and what goes on in TV and film.

Finding an Agent: Timing

2010-02-06T11:22:00.000-08:00

I found this article interesting because a week after it was written I signed with my agency.

By Paul Russell

November 17, 2009

"It's the most wonderful time of the year
When casting comes stalling
As actors are bawling
'Why is my calendar clear?'
It's the most wonderful time of the year"

Let me explain.
My adulterated Andy Williams brings to question: When is the best time of year for seeking an agent?

Now.

For unrepresented actors—or those wishing to change agencies—this is the most wonderful time of the year for finding your champion. (Plus another point in the talent rep's calendar.) But first let's revel in the cornucopia of opportunity for representation presented as gifts that exists between Turkey Devotion Day and the heralding of holly instead of headshots.

The regionals and Broadway castings have gone through their first rounds of the season (August through October). Episodics are on hiatus. Pre-production of films will begin after the start of the New Year. And talent reps are bracing for pilot season—reviewing their roster, pondering if they have enough young, hot, sexy TV talent that producers and America will devour in vain glee via an all-you-can-eat eye candy buffet.

November to December is one of two turns in the talent reps' calendar when they have a bit of time on their hands for pursuing unsolicited headshots. When else does this happen?

June to mid-August.

Pilot season is over. Casting for regional theater and summer stock has ended. Film and TV casting won't pick up again until summer swelters in August. Regional theater resumes casting in late July. So May, June and July are anemic as far as activity between casting and talent agencies.

During either of these two sluggish semesters (November–December or June–August), agents, aside from sitting at their desks surfing the web, are seeking new clients as they clean house (i.e., dumping troubled and/or lackluster product). During these casting doldrums agents have time on their hands—which is often taken up by anxious clients asking their reps, "Where are my auditions?" You would think these inquiring actors would know that year-after-year this is hibernation season for casting.

It's cyclical folks.

So place an annual reminder in your mobile device's calendar marking these two seasonal industry slowdowns as the best times for anyone without representation (or represented actors seeking a change) to seek their champion. It's agent-hunting season.

There's no better time for trumpeting yourself to talent reps—fully prepared with an effective audition, revamped marketing materials and well-honed interview skills. In anyway you can, get yourself in front of agents. Somewhere. Now.

It's the most wonderful time of year (well... out of two). Go get 'em.

15 Reasons Why Your Skinny Friend is Skinny (And Why You're Probably Not)

2010-02-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

As some of you may know, I was recently named Director of Marketing for a company called Kaeng Raeng. Kaeng Raeng is an all natural detox diet program that helps to promote weight loss, among other things.

My good friend Lindsay Reinsmith is the founder and CEO of this company and I have a lot of respect for her and this product. I had no interest in detoxes at all until Lindsay insisted I try this product to jumpstart my weight loss. I am proud to say that I lost 4 lbs in 3 days and it has stayed off! Since September I have lost 20 lbs and I sincerely believe I owe it to having started off my healthier lifestyle by using Kaeng Raeng!

She recently started a blog called Hectic life. Healthy Girl and I really want to share it with you.

I thought this particular article was really fantastic and it was written by none other than the spectacular Lindsay, herself.

As actors, we all know how important keeping healthy is, so I wanted to share some tips for those of you who are struggling with your weight and health as I have in the past. Although I am not vegetarian and I will most likely choose to have a beer or a big juicy steak when offered, these are some rules that I have been living by before I even read this article. Enjoy!!! :)

15 REASONS WHY YOUR SKINNY FRIEND IS SKINNY (AND WHY YOU'RE PROBABLY NOT)

By: Lindsay Reinsmith

1. Skinny girls only eat real food. Processed, highly artificial foods were created with addictive delicious ingredients (on the cheap) to make sure you keep eating them! It’s one of the reasons you can’t eat just one potato chip, or why you find yourself gorging over sugar when you’re not that hungry. Skinny girls don’t think twice about fake food – they’ll choose an apple over a McDonalds cheeseburger and receive the same filling of “full” without the chemicals and calories. Make a pledge to only eat REAL food – food without any artificial flavors or colors, food that’s from the earth instead of a lab, and see how you feel. You’ll make smarter choices and eat fewer calories.

2. Skinny girls spend more time (and sometimes more money) selecting food. This is related to reason number 1. Real food, in general, is more expensive and can take more time than fake food, but eating right should always be a priority. Devote an hour to going to the grocery store. Carefully read labels, go out of your way to get to a farmer’s market, and make selecting food an enjoyable experience rather than a chore. Grabbing a quick bite on the road is a sure ticket to a fat ass!

3. Skinny girls eat slowly. Remember when your mom told you to slow down because you wouldn’t be able to taste your food? Girls who take their time eating will feel full without having to eat everything on their plate. Eating slowly gives your digestive system time to catch up to your hunger zones in your brain. Plus, food was meant to be enjoyed. What’s the rush?

4. Skinny girls are willing to let food go to waste. This is related to reason number 3. Especially if you’re on a budget, it’s normal to think you have to eat what’s in front of you otherwise it will go to waste. Global hunger and lack of access to fresh water are sad issues, but just because you ate that extra piece of cake doesn’t solve world poverty. Skinny girls will let part of their meal go in the disposal. If you’re really concerned, invest in food storage and refrigerate or freeze the last bits of food you didn’t want.

5. Skinny girls eat breakfast. Even if it’s just a banana, having calories early in the morning helps you eat a smaller lunch and jumpstarts your metabolism.

6. Skinny girls drink from the cup, not the carton. Studies show that by pouring food or beverages into a smaller container like a glass or bowl, you can consume up to 30% fewer calories than eating straight from the carton or jug. Forcing yourself to get up from the couch for a refill will keep you from finishing off an entire pint of ice cream. Eating treats and snacks in small dosages is perfectly fine – but it’s all about moderation. This goes back to reason number 3. If you’re eating smaller portions, you’re likely to eat more slowly and savor the food, which will make you feel fuller faster.

7. Skinny girls don’t drink diet soda. Just don’t drink it. It makes you crave sugar and contains sodium which makes you retain water. Choose water instead (or tea).

8. Skinny girls love soup. Soup, since it is water-based, can be a great way to get fuller faster without excess calories. Soups are also easy to make – pick one day a week to make 2 or 3 different soups, then freeze them. Microwave when you’re ready and enjoy! Many canned soups are perfectly healthy and calorie controlled. Remember to eat only real food, though!

9. Skinny girls sip, not slug, cocktails. If you want to drink and stay skinny, you can! Just don’t get sloshed. Skinny girls order fewer drinks and sip them slowly. This will keep away the calories and is far classier than jello shots and keg stands.

10. Skinny girls are willing to eat alone. Social eating is one of the fastest ways to get fat. Remember college? One of the reasons women put on the freshman 15 is not because the food is necessarily worse than what they were having at home. It’s because eating is a social event. You’re going to spend more time around food (and likely more time in restaurants where the food is highly caloric) if you’re a social eater. Skinny girls are fine to have meals at home alone. They’ll cook dinner for one and enjoy it slowly with TV or music. Do you have to eat with others often due to work or family reasons? That’s OK! Remember to eat slowly and choose food wisely at restaurants.

11. Skinny girls are willing to be high maintenance. This is related to reason number 10. Skinny girls are willing to bother the waiter at a restaurant for what they want. Want the dressing on the side? A different dressing? How about no cheese? Or wanting your meat cooked a specific way? Or substituting a salad for the french fries? Ask for it! That’s their JOB as servers, it’s to SERVE you. Don’t get upset if they give you a hard time – you’re entitled to eat only what you want, so ask for it! Ordering straight off the menu and eating the calories you didn’t want is a fast track to fathood!

12. Skinny girls enjoy the outdoors. This isn’t necessarily so, but healthy skinny girls typically enjoy walking, hiking, jogging, and other outdoor activities. Make a pact to do at least one thing outdoors per week or weekend. You’ll spend more time exercising than you would at the gym and it’s more relaxing.

13. Skinny girls will choose the vegetarian option when available. Not all skinny girls are vegetarian, but studies show substituting vegetables for meat dishes every now and again can help cut back on calories and improve digestion.

14. Skinny girls don’t chew gum. Chewing sugar or sugar free gum will make you crave more sugar. It can also fill your stomach with gas, which causes flatulence and bloating.

15. Skinny girls do exercise, but it’s not something they worry about. Ok, so not everyone loves the gym. And that’s OK. You don’t have to obsess over fitness to be thin. In fact, skinny girls are almost apathetic about it. They won’t let the gym, or any exercise, stress them out. Over thinking about food or exercise can lead to yo you weight patterns, frustration, stress, and disappointment. Having a healthy attitude about exercise, that it’s something one should do but it’s not the end of the world if you skip a workout, is your best bet for having the right mind set.

The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards!

2010-02-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

What better way to start off a blog than to talk about the Grammy Awards?

This year was not my first, but my SECOND year to work the Grammy Awards with the Art Department.
My older brother, Evan happens to have some very generous friends from college who were willing to give lil old me a chance to work on something pretty spectacular two years in a row! These friends happen to have been the Art Directors of the Grammy Awards for the past 5 years. Awesome.. I know...

Can you believe I managed to put 750 miles on my car in 3 weeks!? On the bright side that was 200 miles less than last year...

Honestly though, for any actor or anyone starting out in the entertainment industry, being a PA is the BEST way to begin. You meet a LOT of different people and you will know your way around Los Angeles by the end of the project. It's true--It only took me two years, but I finally know the side streets to take home from downtown LA without using my GPS! It took me a year--but I am beginning to become less dependent on it.

My highlights from this year were hands-down Lady Gaga and Beyonce.
I wish all artists were as professional and talented as these two ladies are.
I mean, everyone involved in this show was a class act, but Lady Gaga really impressed me. She was very vocal about her appreciation for the work that the art dept did on the design. So... Kudos, Brian! Lady Gaga is your fan. :)

Until next year...

Shout-out to University Miami Alumni Josh Henry who is currently part of the cast of American Idiot. So proud of you!!!:

I have to acknowledge the Genius of the Art Department: Production Design by Brian Stonestreet, Art Direction by Alana Billingsley and Kristen Merlino.

You can see their genius combined with Lady Gaga here:

Beyonce invented FIERCE:

xoxo
Caitlin