LIVE Video Broadcast With LA Acting Image Guru - Sam Christensen!

[Music] [Applause] [Music] and it's 7:00 in the UK it's 11:00 a.m. in La now why is that important well tonight this is the first live act on this video broadcast which is going to be International tonight we're going to be talking all about about identity image um how you can bring your uniqueness to a casting to give you that edge that's going to make you stand out and make you memorable the absolute Guru on this who is joining me tonight is none other than Sam Christensen if you've watched the preview you will know a little bit about him already but Sam welcome to the broadcast thanks so much for joining us I'm happy to happy to be here how's La this morning I've heard you've got a bit of a heat wave over there I've got a few friends over there at the moment they're saying it's incredibly hot like 99 degre yeah it's in the 990s we have some wind and it's a hot dry wind so yeah it's hot it's we've had in well I'm in Manchester um in the north of England and we've had a beautiful day as well so I think we're getting a bit of LA weather ourselves which is uh makes a change we get nothing normally it's normally raining gray overcast it's horrible the last time I was in London was was a heat wave it was actually over 100 degrees in London that that summer I was there so it get hot too that is rare we don't get that off sound we don't get that often at all guys welcome to this broadcast anyway hopefully um we are coming through loud and clear you can see us you can hear us um the way this is going to work hopefully people are used to these broadcasts now if you're joining us for the first time the way this works is well it doesn't work unless you get involved basically uh the way you can do that if you're watching this broadcast on the ACT on this website you will see just above me you'll see a Twitter button if you want to get involved tonight ask Sam any questions at all as we go along you can do that by tweeting us them live is@ Acton this TV but basically click on that button if you're not signed in to Twitter it will ask you to sign in if you are signed into to Twitter you'll see a little Twitter box and you can tweet us your questions as we go along I promise you we will answer everything that we can we're going to be broadcasting for around about 1 hour this evening so tweet us let me know straight away if you can hear us if uh everything's coming through loud and clear and if you do tweet us um tonight we are going to be drawing at the end of this broadcast we're going to be drawing one lucky Tweeter at random to win a 12month premium sub subscription to Casting Networks UK If you joined us on our last broadcast with Dan and Martin from Casting Networks UK you will know all about it it's one of the sort of most revolutionary casting systems that we've ever seen it's becoming massive with casting directors in the UK it's similar to uh well I don't want to compare it to Spotlight it's a completely different Beast really but if you're familiar with the way Spotlight works it works in a similar way but casting directors are going crazy for it because it makes their job a lot easier so you're going to find a lot more castings um that are coming out um from here on you know here onwards are going to be exclusive to Casting Networks because Cas directors love the software that that provides them with and Sam do you use Casting Networks in America have you heard of it obviously they're big in Hollywood oh yeah definitely there are um four or five of them that uh sort of kind of innovate on top of each other and get better and better so yeah and exactly I mean anything that makes the uh casting directors work uh more efficient so they can see more know more um people is obviously good for everybody and it and that thing of getting it out and doing all that from your computer and managing career is uh a valuable thing when I started that wasn't there people ran around and delivered pictures by hand wow I mean I been speaking a few cast directors who said they remember when everything was faxed there was nothing obviously no email back then but delivering things by hand even before that they KN knocking on the door with a picture in hand wow okay well yeah times have moved on and what we going to do guys I'm just going to show you and for those who aren't familiar with Casting Networks because I promised um our friends at Casting Networks big shout out to Marielle and uh Martin and Dan and everybody there I'm just going to share my screen with you and just show you my casting Network's profile just so I can show you a couple of things that cast networks do differently to any other uh service that's out there if I share this you should be able to see my uh C networks profile photographs are a little bit bare at the moment I'm afraid um I've definitely some new head shots done and I've only got one through so I need to get some Smiley ones done but the way Casting Networks um your resume or your CV actually works on Casting Networks is a little bit difference how it works on other platforms you'll see uh that next to each of my credits have a little play button so rather than just uploading your entire show real Casting Networks um or as you would do with other services you can do that you'll see here over here we've got show show real and voice real video real and voice real um but you can actually add just individual credits uh Clips to your credit so we go emale okay so I'm just going to click on that and then that will bring up just my idale clip so when you're submitting yourself for jobs through Casting Networks rather than asking a casting director to SI through five minutes of footage to look for something that's suitable if I was going for another doctor rooll for instance um I've got a doctor rooll that I played here you can just attach that clip and make it very easy for them to see what you like um there's loads and loads of other features that's just something that I like about it but if you check out the live broadcast recording section on Acton this.t um you can see the broadcast we did last time with Dan and Martin we take you through absolutely everything it's a free service but there's a premium side to it as well um and we will be giving away at the end of this broadcast a uh an unlimited media profile for 12 months which is worth1 pound so get Twee in um and we will uh we will draw a winner at random at the end of this um right so Sam what we're going to do then let's have a look I'm just going to get on Twitter make sure we are being we are being seen yeah CLA camera says hearing you loud and clear una Love is Here una actually um made me aware of of your work Sam so big shout out to Una haly right here Mike FC hello Mike um so we are coming through loud and clear keep tweeting guys and we're going to go to a Twitter uh question answer session in just a few minutes time but Sam let's just get a little bit more knowledge on you because I was just saying before we went live how much you've done in your career you did so much before I was even born um but just give us a little bit of background on how you got into the industry you've been working in Hollywood for over 40 years yeah and I started actually in New York uh I wanted to be a uh uh Broadway uh producer I wanted to produce Shakespeare actually for the audiences in New York that was my study ended up in New York and then a casting job uh led me to the West Coast where I was going to be for six weeks and you know 38 years later I haven't uh I'm still unpacking so wow I've got some facts here I'm gonna read them out Sam because if you read them out people might think that you've got a big head but you haven't you be you're not showing off listen to some of the things Sam has done let me just let me just qualify how qualified he is to speak to us tonight so Sam has been an independ independent casting director um Sam you are responsible for casting the most popular small screen series of all time which was Mash I used to love Mash I remember watching it as a kid what was it like working on such a huge show it was a it was a great experience I mean there were incredible writers who adapted it from the film to television and then of course the cast everybody knows uh Alan Alda leading it and um uh the great thing about it uh as I mentioned to you earlier was that it was a wonderful show the scripts were exciting they were interested in having the best young actors and I sort of had an expertise in the in the younger actors and also there was this dedication to ending a war and so there was this uh drive not only to make a great show but to have an impact and it was exciting to be part of that so wow absolutely yeah I mean that that in itself is such an achievement but you then went on to you were the first casting director actually to be given front title bill in on a major Hollywood feature film which was the MGM film coma he did several Motion Pictures after that the champ the cult classic Clash of the Titans you also cast Broadway Tours tv series Pilots other miniseries um and you did that all by 1982 and I was born in 1982 so you that's right before I was even born H you then moved from casting to become a personal manager um tell us a little bit about this this is fascinating give us some gossip Sam you were John Claude Van Dam's personal manager among others but what was it like managing such big names well it was it was fun I did it um primarily because Mash was coming to an end and I knew that I would never have another opportunity quite like that and I finished off with a uh a minseries called Jonestown the Guyana Massacre that won a lot of EMES and I just thought I was at a point that I needed to shift the things I loved about casting most was not the deal making and the scheduling it was you know helping the actors get ready for the the maximum kind of call back they could do so I thought management was a natural kind of thing and I was lucky to be involved in some um some careers jeanclaude really um was just a guy who' hit Hollywood looking for a way to create uh a a martial arts uh starring career and uh my partner Tom and I were involved in the very beginnings of that and getting that setup um a wonderful uh actor named Brian Mitchell who went on to a giant Broad way career that's gone on and on was a client of ours as well um Rita Wilson who is also known as Mrs Tom Hanks um and uh just exciting it was fun it was it was a lot of fun being that involved on a daily basis with getting folks prepped and out to do their best absolutely and then the natural progression from there obviously you enjoyed so much you know helping helping actors get ready and stuff you then went on to co-found um the actess center of Los Angeles which was only a multi-million dollar 18,000 foot facility serving the whole West Coast um of La you know the acting community so it was there you started work I guess on what we're going to talk about tonight which is your life's work really for the last 25 years the Sam Christenson process um which you term as an authenticity definition system uh before we look at that system uh I mean we just just give us a you know give us a a brief intro to it how it came about and um you know I suppose how it's evolved well as you know I'm going to be in London at the end of the month and uh I'm going to be doing a preview uh there my work because I'm I'm starting the uh the uh chance to uh to present the process in London and in that preview I tell a kind of personal story about my a very very good friend of mine an actor who was about to quit uh after a a pretty successful decade career in which he never had to do anything but act he never had to be a waiter or a taxi drive anything and uh yet he was about to quit over not being able to deliver on that just be yourself direction that often follows you know like there's no acting Improvement that needs to happen you just need some individualization and uh my friend Chad was about to Chuck uh maybe that's an American expression but was about to give up a uh a wonderful career because he kept getting this critique your your performance was great just be more yourself and I real realized from all my work with actors that how often that direction is given and how misunderstood it is and that just planted the seed in my mind that I had to figure out a way to balance between the need for great craftsmanship which is obvious and then this thing of personalizing that craftsmanship to your own version so that's kind of how the system got stimulated and born how it was born absolutely and uh obviously you know that's that's evolved over the last 25 years as you you said you're bringing the system to the UK later this month this is how I found out about it um as say big shout out to unaa who's watching tonight she uh she sort of uh you know brought this to my attention you're doing a free preview even evening at the actors Center no the actors Temple sorry in London on May the 26 um how is I mean how do people kind of get involved with that we're gonna have a look at the process obviously you know in in detail in a second but um just so that people know uh you know how they get involved with that um if they want to it's very easy to just go to uh my website which is just Sam christensen. comom and then back London back slash and uh if they go there it'll give them the uh the details about it time and all that and the opportunity to make a reservation and uh hopefully I'll see a lot of uh of actors from the UK and be able to kind of tell my story uh I it's really a very personal story and I love telling people how it uh came about and how much that particular thing that was embodied in my in my friend Chad but I see so often when actors get just discouraged by the process and yet they they hear this we just need more of you and they don't know exactly what that means I had to identify a little technical problem in there and I talk about that in the preview and sort of give a a a background to the work and also explain how it works so that people can see if it adds to what they do it's it's really to sort of finish that process of when a great Craftsman is credited with the the depth and and originality of their work and yet they're told we need more of yourself in it so that's that's the what's the preview will be about it's difficult isn't it because I mean I I've heard this before as well and um I find it something that I can do when I walk into a room I can do it before the camera is turned on and I can just chat away and be myself and the minute somebody just CHS right and action or okay you ready in your own time and that camera's on suddenly as actors we kind of feel that I don't know I guess we have to put on a performance we have to there's a veneer there in front of us that isn't just us we have to do something more than that um I mean how many when you were casting how many actors did you see fall into that trap was that something that was just really common really common you know especially on on Mash is just is such a a a great example because we would have callbacks generally on at 11:00 on the Tuesday because that's when you know the the producers could be free director could be free for a few minutes to see people for the next episode and um so often there would be you know terrific young actors who were so accomplished and so well trained and incredible backgrounds and they would come in and do wonderful readings you couldn't fault their approach to the material their understanding of the writing and yet at the end of it the director would say yeah wow that was great now do it again and just be yourself and I would see this look come into their eyes this frightened dear in the headlights look because they wanted to deliver actors generally will do anything to deliver what's asked but they couldn't translate it and it took me the longest time and it was really in my work with Chad that I realized why that's so difficult to translate and once I had the technical difficulty I figured out what the problem was then a system to solve it just followed that so absolutely yeah I was going to say there was um I was reading about about kind of like your work last week and and I'd watched interviews with you uh that were online as well um I had a commercial casting last week um for a for an advert over here in the UK um the actual task of acting in the audition was very very basic there wasn't an awful lot to do it pretty much involved kind of sleeping through the audition s which was ideal best audition I've ever had there was very very little to do but I'd read about kind of you know bringing yourself to the audition and and a lot of the stuff that you know that that you kind of um talk about online and uh on your website and that kind of thing and um the only place for me within that audition that I could do that was what we call over here in the UK the ident and you call it the Slate did he say slate yeah yeah so that's basically you get to say your name your age the camera your agent you know whether you've done any adverts before that conflict with this commercial and and that kind of thing and I thought the only place to inject a bit of personality and have a joke you know and crack a joke or you know not not being too too upfront um but you know just sort of show a little bit of spark there was during that um I did that I didn't think I pushed it too far but then I got booked for the job yesterday so I I don't know whether I got you to thank for that but if I have thanks very much but um I mean what do you think about that is that something that you know is is something that you uh you're an advocate of as well well yeah um but with this clear with this qualification um what that moment allows you to do and as you say in the slates the ID Dan it's so brief um and sometimes they don't even give you the chance to say anything but agent and AG in name but whenever you've got that moment that you can throw in a sentence um obviously your instinct was I want them to see a little of me I want to ease up out of this before I do my sleep audition and uh I want to give them a chance to see something because obviously sleeping they're just going to see a guy sleeping but if I have a little chance to give them a sense of what I'm going to bring along with me that day even if it is just sleeping and waking in this commercial what my uh process delivers and this is sort of taking it from the technical difficulty to the result the results that happen have to do with a vocabulary of self-description that's developed so that rather than cracking a little joke wondering if you're in good taste wondering if you're uh if if they're in the mood instead there's the a moment to attach a little self-descriptive thing to that slate to your name and once when we talk a little bit more about the process you'll understand how these descriptions are delivered but if it allows you to say something in that moment that self-describes in a way that they're already feeling you know they've already sensed this thing about you and you say well you know how I am a little sentence that captures this moment they always they already are sensing then you have that charismatic effect then you have that thing where they go oh yeah I was just say thinking that I wouldn't have put it in those words yes you are that kind of person you are onto yourself I get that under the pressure of shooting you're going to hold on to that personality you're going to be who you are that's reassuring and that makes the ident the Slate a valuable tool not only to lighten up the room but to also let people know that you are onto yourself that your authentic it is solid and that they get it will probably translate into the more stressful shooting situation so that little opportunity when it's that short can really be maximized and deliver um a real effect of what I think is important which is obviously getting the role is great but even if you're not going to get the role they feel like oh yes now I know Ross he's too tall for this or too short for this but I'm using him I'm going to work with that man at some point even though it may not be on this spot and that's great you know if you've got five or 10 casting people or directors who go and working with this guy sooner or later I'm committed to that you've got a career running you know so yeah no absolutely it's um I actually occasionally over the last couple of years I've worked freelance as a cast and assistant so I'll you know I'll either work the camera or I'll read in opposite people for scenes and that kind of thing in auditions and I've seen a lot of uh well I've seen both of those things we just mentioned I've seen people delivering slates or idents um very poorly very kind of like oh my God I'm scared I don't want to be here I'm petrified eyes to the floor and straight away it turns you off you don't really want to watch them because you're like you're uncomfortable you're almost a little bit kind of nervous for them um I've seen it go the other way though where people are way too much and they come across a little bit arrogant and you're like you know not too sure about you um but I think it is uh it's a great opportunity to kind of just show like you say just show something um something and that little moment of you know calling to attention something folks have already seen allows you to put the focus on you without ego you know without arrogance without that thing you mentioned where some people demonstrate way too much um but just that thing of yeah well you know how I am and they all go oh yes I noticed that and all of a sudden it's like that well you know how it is at a party you know if you're at a party in London let's say and somebody two conversations over mentions Manchester you go oh now I know that person we're in agreement about something we come from a similar place I will talk to that person before the part is over just because I I heard them say Manch just where I'm from and that same sort of thing that recognition when you say something about yourself that they already recognize it's like it creates that same feeling of oh I already know this person a little bit and they seem to be comfortable enough in the room to just say something about themselves that's true and that has like an exponential effect it it it's just a sentence sometimes of self- description but the amount of ease and and authenticity that spreads in the room can really be much greater than just what a sentence seems like it should do yeah definitely there's H yeah there was a an actress that I know recently who walks into an audition and they were making a making a jump um and she did she had like pretend to jump over something I don't know but they made her take her shoes off because she was in kind of like wedges that were quite high and they wanted to see a real height and the floor was quite skiddy um and she took her shoes off skidded on the floor just fell completely over she was initially kind of like thinking oh my god I've made a fool of myself they absolutely loved it found out she could laugh at herself she was dead easy going really easy to get on with and she got a call back for that didn't get the job but they said we'll definitely get you back in because we just love your personality so uh you know anything like that you never know what's going to happen but it's exactly exactly but anything that causes that recognition in the room where everybody and it's your identity and everybody is sort of plugged into the same moment even if it's an unfortun it fall but that has a a value and the fact that you know what she doesn't want to have to do now is fall down in every audition that would be not only painful but pretty soon people would notice um but that ability to know I have the power to say something that is self-descriptive that is not out of ego and that allows people to know I'm I'm I'm aware of myself um that has a tremendous amount of value and that that is part of what I work with in the system to get to that that payoff of being able to do that awesome well we're going to talk a little bit more about the system in a second I'm just going to go over to Twitter because the tweets are building up quite a lot of people oh I want to say a big shout out as well tonight to um Maria Theresa Rodriguez who should be watching us by a swimming pool in Mexico Sam she's out in Mexico getting married this week well next week well that's great congratulations Maria Tera there we go so yeah she's just TW us now so I know she's definitely watching wow we've got loads of tweets guys keep them coming but I'm going to try and uh we'll try and get through these um okay so these are probably going to take us off on a little tangent Sam they might not even be exactly what we're talking about but we'll people are asking them so we'll answer them let's see what we can let's do it we'll pull back if we have to cool so unaa says Sam if actors could do only one thing for their career what do you think that would be so if you could just do one thing maybe to change your career or one thing that you know you think would would put them an advantage I don't know what do you think that one thing would be well now that's way too easy I'm of course gonna say you know come and do the process because you'll learn something magical and and transformational but if I you know were to separate it from what I do I would say anything that allows people to relax a little bit off of the work and bring something else to the moment that is personal and sometimes that is through the work sometimes it is the way one personalizes their approach to the the writing and the audition um sometimes it's with a comment as you made sometimes uh it's in conversation when those horrible moments of tell me all about yourself come up but um that ability to say I'm going to deliver great work I'm well trained I know what I'm doing I'm confident about my craftsmanship if I need to adjust it I'll accept any adjustment you give me and and answer that but I also want you to have a sense that it isn't just the craftsmanship you're getting it's also me so I think there are a lot of ways people do that some folks do it through therapy some folks do it through um um actor groups where they toss around some identification uh information and react to each other some uh some teachers handle it in classroom settings as well as the craftsmanship so if I if I had to say a single thing that would affect both audition performance and marketing the pictures the websites all of that it is that what do I have to present and how do I get to it besides my craftsmanship besides my work what else do I have that distinguishes me doesn't necessarily make it me better it just makes me distinct from other good Craftsmen that's what I would wrap it up as great answer no I get it totally yeah absolutely it's with the more and more well I say this all the time the more and more um kind of importance that that I will now put on the extra stuff that isn't just the acting you go oh well I've been at drama school done three years I should be good I'm good at this I know I am but it's the stuff the extra stuff and the personal stuff that they get well I will only get that from Ross or I'll only get that from unaa if I book them well I'll tell you the Telltale part of that I mean when I would work on feature films can't tell you how many directors that I worked with wouldn't read actors they were embarrassed by it they assumed that as a casting director I was only bringing the people who were going to give a good performance you mean by read we would say audition so they wouldn't audition them they would just meet them for have work with the script they would instead chat um uh I worked with a wonderful English director named Desmond Davies on um Clash of the Titans and uh many many years ago the original Clash of the Titans the one I think was the better one um and uh Mr Davies uh surprised me when I worked with him by not wanting to read with the young you know Clash of Titans had a a bevy of incredible uh English talent in Lord Olivier and Maggie Smith I mean incredible people wonderful script by Beverly cross and um uh when Desmond was meeting the Young Americans that were going to play the leading roles and we ended by using a wonderful English actress named Judy balker instead of an American girl but um when we were casting those two parts and he was meeting these young people I was surprised he did not want to hear them read the lines he wanted to meet them he assumed I was bringing him good actors he wanted to know what else he was getting besides the acting because he knew it was going to be a six-month shoot all over the Mediterranean and he knew that their personalities were ultimately going to carry it more than their reading of the lines so um very often on that call back level that's what's being cast is not how well you audition how well you read but who you are and that's the part I think people neglect in favor of getting their craftsmanship up to the competitive level definitely could not agree more so una hopefully uh that that has helped you definitely keep the questions thank you for everything you're a doll um okay so um we'll just go take these take these in order Mike FC says what does Sam think the ideal showreel should be in length um and what format should it take I'm guessing nowadays everything should just be online Sam in terms of You Know video rather than sending anything on DVDs or anything like that just like and I was impressed with that site where it allowed you to tag individual clips that was great I don't know that anybody in America is doing that although they may be I love that but at sometimes people want to see your real they want to see the whole clip real now I can't uh I don't know what what UK standards are but what I advise people is is that it ought to operate in these ways 90 seconds to 2 minutes um I I liken it to a trailer The Coming Attractions for a movie you know they'll send sell a hundred million do movie on a 90c trailer and very successfully and the whole psychology of a trailer when the people and I know folks who cut them the whole psychology of that is to say we don't have to respect Chron chronology we don't have to respect that content of scenes we're giving people story highlights that will engage them and allow them to fill in the blanks so very often What actors will do is go well I have to put the front of the scene on or they won't understand what the scene's about they don't want to understand what the scene's about otherwise they would see the movie you were in or the TV show you were in what they want to see is a sense of you so if people begin to cut with that in mind I am showing highlights of me what the tra what my real ought to do is not be a Cavalcade of my acting skills it isn't a lifetime achievement film it is instead a teaser it ought to cause people to want to see more of me not to feel that they've seen everything so very often actors are cutting because they want all their talents to show and all of their work to be there and people to understand the context of the scenes instead what should happen after I've watched a real is I want them in the office now now I want to meet more I'm teased I want more instead of I've seen it all does that yeah definitely it's about maybe yeah not showing them everything because I think as actors we're very tempted to go I'll make a five minute reel and I'll show you me in all different walks of of of Life different emotions different characters um but I completely agree logical perfectly logical it feels like well this is my chance to show people the full breadth of my work but it really needs instead to say I'll show you more this should tease you to want more I'm happy to come in and show you much more yeah definitely so it's uh yeah hope that uh answers your question Mike FC um big shout outs to Tim paly Haley cartright they're just saying hello thanks very much CLA Cameron thanks for joining us um Peter greenall Sasha Bor U they're all saying they're loving it Sam so you're very popular that's nice great um this is a question right Peter's asked a question here that I've also had tonight well from about four or five people I know Christine dalby I think think as yeah Christian D asked this as well quite a few people on on the uh broadcast tonight have asked this what is the um was that the question yeah what is the worst uh mistake you see people making in auditions what do you think is the most common I guess um that underlying attitude of I have to prove myself you know when people come in with that little bit of desperation unfortunately no actor even ones who are acting all the time get the chance to act as much as they like you know uh if you're working you're waiting for your scene if you're not working you're waiting for your audition nobody gets to act people should be acting all day and so consequently the audition gets this load this is my chance to act I can prove everything in these three minutes and casting directors I think there's a little psychological thing I want to add here because I learned it as a casting director it's a disappointing life in a certain way because casting directors get to say no all the time directors say yes producers say yes the BBC says yes the network says yes so casting directors are just in this constant waterfall of disappointment you know that they're handing out to other people so you know they get a little it's hard and then the actor comes in desperate to cram my entire life's work into three minutes and that sort of um Overkill I think is the biggest mistake people make in auditions I think the more you can say this isn't really about me this is about the story in this scene and can I make this story work and if I do then of course it's about me because I've been an effective Storyteller the ancillary effect is I look great but if I'm paying more attention to the story that's encapsulated in these words that I've been asked to read and less in need to prove to you the entire breadth of my acting career then I think auditions are easier on on the casting people and they are more readily taken in by those watching them and they're much easier for the actor because the burden is different I don't have to prove myself I have to make this story work and ultimately that's going to be the job anyway once you get the part that's the job make the story work so I think if people can allow accept the fact that they don't get enough chance to show what they do to do what they do and to just accept that and say so I don't have to make every one of these things my chance to act this week um I think then uh they're likely to be much smoother for everyone concerned yeah definitely and I also agree with you Sam when you say um it's almost for cast director say no all the time is so bad there needs to be and I reckon there should be a category we have the bafs over here which are the uh Academy Awards you know you obviously have the Oscars and all that sort of stuff there's nothing over here that actually recognizes the casting director and goes well you went out on a limb you chose so do you know what Brian Cranston as um Walt in Breaking Bad that was I think that was a risk you know they just went well let's get the dad from Malcolm in the Middle bring him in and everybody was going well that's a bit risky isn't it why are you seeing him and then look how amazing he was oh yeah that was such a good choice and it wouldn't be necessarily on your radar normally so they're casting director for that you know took that chance went out where's the recognition do you guys have anything in America that that recognizes that or are you just like us where we don't first of all I want to point out that one of your countrymen one of the world's greatest actors Sir Anthony Hopkins um actually said that he thought uh that Brian Cranston was the greatest living actor now that Brian must have felt pretty good that day when uh Sir Anthony said you know you're the greatest living actor that was amazing and um also in the things that uh Sir Anthony said uh he he mentioned that he said whoever made this choice and however this Choice happened they recognized something in Cranston that allowed them to take that chance and I think uh it's very true um there's been a movement here for a long time to get an Academy Award uh uh category for casting and eventually I think that will happen it took a long long time for certain other uh um uh of the disciplines to get recognized and I think casting will um and especially because it's become more and more and more important um it used to be that casting was done on television of something called tvq the the the relative uh importance uh and and viewership uh almost like a what you equivalent to a Twitter following what it used to be um and and that was who was picked in the starring roles and then all the other parts were played by working actors that has all collapsed um because we have so many different television venues here and in the UK it isn't just the BBC or NBC or ABC it's so many different people producing and creating wonderful television that um I think casting is done much more now on The credibility of a given performer in a part they don't need to bring audience with them and I think in feature films while the bigger films still obviously are cast with stars um I think more and more the popularity of that second strata on down to Independent films the from the medium range Studio films on down there is a much greater emphasis on casting the right person rather than the person who bring sells tickets and that is a a boon to every actor because the chance to go in and do good work and to make a signature is is greater the chance that that will pay off in something is much greater than it was when I began in in in Hollywood many years ago where it was really if if one of three networks recognized you then you were in if they didn't recognize you you had to wait till they did and that was really uh um difficult um to get to the point that anybody had even could knew your name today it's much different and uh and we owe that to sort of the wonderful television that's done off Network so yeah absolutely well hopefully the cast will get recognized one day and they'll get their own Awards definitely um right we we got so many Twitter questions Sam let's have a look we'll be here for about eight hours I think but we'll uh I'm going to try and roll a lot of these into into one um let's have a look you've got a lot of people here as well Sam you know saying when you've been to London can you come to Manchester there's loads of people going don't go to London come up well I'll tell you this is I have I'm a bit of an anglophile because uh my genetic background is Danish on the one side you can probably tell from my name but uh my mother is uh English Irish so it's a big part of my life and I've always come to London uh as a tourist uh an angle file this is the first time I'm coming working and uh you know I'm I'm looking forward to the chance to meet a lot of uh uh folks when I'm there and uh then I think we'll return in the fall to actually do a process in London and I would consider it uh a privilege to come to Manchester and other places in England I mean I just uh I would love to uh I I think that you know there's no one doing what I do here um and um this is supposed to be the movie and television capital of the world I you know that is certainly in dispute anymore but um uh so I suspect there's no one doing quite what I do there and I would love to come and and fill that Gap because I love coming to the UK so it'd be great welcome welcome anytime come and visit us I'll I'll I'll make you a cup of tea make all be very British Sam definitely well I hope we can do this again if the Twitter stuff after I've been in in England and I have a better sense of of your compatriots then perhaps we can do this again sometime definitely well we've got literally I mean this is like one of the biggest responses uh I've had the cast of D Abby on one of these broadcasts before and the Twitter wasn't going quite as mad for that so you're obviously very popular Sam okay if I can uh was Maggie there was oh unfortunately well no Maggie I don't know if she if she even has a computer lesser but don't I'm sure she sure she probably has but you know she's old school um let's have a look um right what I'm gonna do I'm Gonna Leave Twitter for a minute because I just want to ask um I'm gonna let those build up there's at least another God I don't know how many questions on there but we'll come back to those in a second um right we mentioned before I want to talk about the process a little bit more just to give people a bit more of of an Insight you were saying that when you're bringing that Personal Touch to your audition you need to recognize what that is I guess first of all and for me when I left drama school I found that very difficult to actually work out what I was because it's very tempting as an actor to go well I'm trained I'm good I think I can do this I could maybe do that I want to do that um and that's not always realistic you will be seen by other other people as something that maybe you don't recognize even in yourself so I noticed after a couple of years when I kept getting cast as doctors and policemen and like professional people like that that that was probably kind of my Niche and I don't need to shy away from that I know if I go for a role and as good roles as doctors and policemen and that kind of thing there's a lot of police dramas in the UK there's a lot of you know hospital dramas and things like that um some really good roles for that I I thought right well I can capitalize on that and I know kind of what I do well but it took a long time how do you think I how does that come about or how would you kind of advise people to to find that stuff out about themselves that you know quicker I guess or to recognize what they are faster and not try and play against their type as oppose to prove a point to go look I can act yeah well let me I'm gonna I have to give you a slightly detailed answer here first of all this burden you know hits you when you're coming out of drama school in you're 20 or 21 or 24 you know I mean everybody's putting together a personality at that time any person um so now the pressure is on to be yourself and who knows who you are at 22 it's a mystery um but the other issue really is this I think we get a little confused between these sort of casting frames were put in these boxes young Doctor Young professional police Lieutenant whatever those things are that people seem to lean toward with you know pretty quickly you figure that out you go well I really don't see myself quite like that but I guess they do and that's okay I can go in they're good parts I know how to do it but the more subtle issue talked a little about this yesterday in the in the taster we did is when you actually are up for that role and you're sitting with four or five other young men that look rather like you because they all fit the same thing they may or may not think so themselves but they're all there and they're called in because they seem to fit so now you look down the line of these other four or five young men and you say well I've seen seen that one on two shows he's really good and this one I went to drama school with and he was beating me out for parts and now what am I supposed to do outa these guys and you realize I can hold my own I'll go in and do a great performance but I'm not going to outa these other guys they're going to go in and do great performances too so now the issue has changed we all look alike we are all called back so we're qualified for the role the C directors determined our skills are up to it so now what's the issue what do I do so this is where I discovered the technical problem um this whole issue of being yourself compounded by being young perhaps but for anybody of any age it's compounded by the fact that our identities on the interior are a little different than what is exported outside um and everybody's had that experience where someone has said you know what I love about you you are so da d da and you've gone really you yeah you go what do I do that yeah and then you've said to a friend you know that guy said I was Dada isn't that weird and your friend says oh I've known you 10 years you've always been dada and then you go there seems to be a whole conspiracy here of people holding some thought or the converse sometimes we say um well you know how d da d da I am and someone else goes no I really hadn't noticed and you become aware that some of what we know about ourselves isn't perceived the same outside so when somebody says just be yourself what they really should be saying is be the you that I perceive you to be in which case the actor would go okay I'll probably do that what is the you you perceive me to be so that's really what my work is about is let's find out what's going on outside it isn't that that's right it's just there and a lot of people share it there's almost seven billion of us on the planet now everybody's on the outside of you so I start there what's going on on the outside a lot of it you could predict there may be some of those d da da I mentioned and then um in the next part of the process I work privately with people to go okay what's your side of it where do you feel these things you're in agreement which ones were surprising some of them may even fall in the category of I don't want to be that way I went to therapy to fix it I don't want people perceiving that yeah yeah but what's going on up there and then how do I coordinate it with what I know about myself and that's the identity that I get to about 2third of the way through the process is what is the actual public identity that honors my interior knowledge of myself but also honors this stuff other folks are seeing how do I put this together into you know a United identity because is that I have to take pictures of it's that I have to introduce in the idents it's that that I have to bring to my roles and ultimately that's my favorite part of the work is giving people a vocabulary that allows them to go access those particulars of themselves because you know directors are always saying to you you know Ross I love what you're doing I just I think you're but show me an edge here uh take a risk for me will you and of course actors go I'd love to what risk do you want me to take what you're really being asked there is take something I already believe about you and take it to a more extreme version show me a more extreme version of something already operating so one of the that's my favorite part of the work I do is providing actors with actual named locations so that they can go oh folks recognize that I'm smart okay good I'm asking being asked for an edge now oh if I take smart all the way to its most positive thing well then I'm scintillating that might be an interesting rehearsal choice or if I take smart all the way to the negative end then I'm going know it all and that might be an interesting rehearsal choice and the great thing about honest personal choices is you can't go wrong even if you make a choice the director doesn't like they'll say to you that was weird that was just plain weird but it was Brave do it do something else you've succeeded you've made a brave personal choice it may not be the right one but at least you aren't because usually if you don't have a place to go when somebody says make a brave choice you just speak louder you know when when you really make a you you make a scintillating approach to the role the director will go no not quite what I had in mind but that was really interesting show me something else then you're a player and that's what I love most when I turn people out of this process and I know on set they're going to be one of those people who are fcel with signature choices as quickly as directors demand them then I know I've succeeded that's what I love most yeah no definitely not I get I get that totally what happens if for instance I know um Maria just tweeted that she thinks some of her real side I guess is uh and you see this with a lot of performance is is quite shy so kind of like you know being yourself not in in not all roles obviously would be you know would be uh ideal how do you deal with stuff like you say that you might go well actually I've been to see people about this and I'm trying not to be like this can you can you hide that or should you embrace it the shyness yeah or any or anything that might well I'll tell you um first of all I I I it probably wouldn't surprise you because you have interviewed so many people but it's it's really amazing to the non-actor how many actors report that they're shy because you know when you see a person get up on stage or sing a song or in front of camera you can't imagine that they're shy and I think a good many actors are very shy not all but many but that in any other quality it's like this idea that well this might not be hirable this isn't a desirable quality um I have an actor that is relatively arrogant to tell you the truth and uh he has learned to understand that he comes off that way and he said to me but I can't go out and be like that you know um who's going to hire that and I said well first of all I can name you about 18 movie stars who made entire careers off of it but um the other side of this is you can't argue with nature ultimately when you are trying to tuck something in or hide it obviously we all make little appropriate social adjustments we aren't the same way with our friends at the bar that we are the next day at church but it's just a a a gradation outside of that I don't think you can argue with nature then you're falsifying and you feel it and you're watching for something to leak out and it just becomes somebody trying to manage a room and I don't think there's anything more uncomfortable for anybody than that because you know somebody is trying to manage your impression and you don't know why and you wonder if there's really something I think you just go out and own it buy it I think you've got to solve that technical problem of how are things reading differently perhaps to me than they might be outside that's why the process is there but I think ultimately the more we own uh what we have become by nature and by environment the more we're individual and the more chance that our work is going to be is going to be signature yeah and I guess in a way if you embrace the fact you go okay well I might be a little shy or whatever but you acknowledge that as opposed to hiding away from it in in a roundabout way you end up becoming more confident in who you are which will kind of eradicate that shyness but it's there if you need to use it for a role I suppose well yeah and or if you're loud or or if you are um um um over articulate or any of the things that various ones of us are the more you can say to somebody in the room well you know I'm a little over articulate and somebody says I noticed that and then all of a sudden there's that community of agreement you're willing to be yourself you're on to yourself all of this other stuff of what's actually going on in the room is eras now we can get down to the real work of getting to know each other and assessing the story and the talent um all of that other stuff of trying to be you know actors will say well if I know what they want I'll do that and I always say to them they don't know what they want they don't know any more than you do they they're looking at the same lines you are what they want is for somebody to come in and bring a life to those words and you don't have any life to bring to it except the one God gave you identify that be willing to be it fully be willing to be it in its extremes and then you are taking the the raw material that nature gives you and using it to tell the story and I think that's ultimately what acting is about awesome yeah no definitely it's a it's a fantastic answer let's H we'll talk about more of the process in a SE time let's just go back over to Twitter um cuz I'm getting snowed under here um I've got to answer Peter's question because he's asked this twice and I've noticed this twice um we're going a little bit off on tangents again but let's let's do this he says Sam I want to up my game to get a bigger agent for higher profile castings and potentially movies what do you think he can do to maybe tempt agents or is it I don't know if there's anything that kind of you know anything that you can think of that you know that would uh gain him a bit of interest um I'm going to give Peter the same the same answer in different version I think ultimately um as casting directors are looking uh in that final call back process for the for the individual what why this person for this role opposed to that the agent is just looking at that from the other side how do I send in people that I know I mean agents are not going to take on bad well some may but most agents are not going to take on Bad actors they're going to take people that are trained and qualified and do good work so then if I've got three of you for example Ross if I've got because I don't know what Peter's type is but if I've got three young guys you know early 30s play professionals this kind of thing I've got um and I'm you're interviewing with me and I'm a I'm an Echelon up I'm a higher placed agent somehow and you come in the first thing I'm going to say to you is you know you're pretty normal looking I've got four of you already I can't get them as much work as I'd like so even though you're very I respect your resume but I can't take you on at this point because I can't get work for the guys who are your doubles that's that moment where you have to say I understand you have people my height my look my age but you don't have me and it isn't that I'm a better actor than them that may or may not be so but here's the ways that I'm individual here are the kinds of things about me that I bring to an audition and then to be able to describe those in words because words are what travels everything then that interview begins to have that sense of authenticity and Charisma the agent sitting there going oh this person is not only a qualified actor I'm looking at their resume they're worth representing but I get how to contrast them from the other folks that resemble them which gives me two things a way to sell them within the agency because that's very often the problem of how to convince the other colleagues that this person should be signed and then once signed I now have a way to distinguish this actor from the other people of the same type that I represent and that other agencies have I can say oh yes Ross early 30s plays Dr and Ross has this quality and then they say one of these descriptive things and then the pictures looked at and they can kind of see that and then Ross shows up and they go you are exactly who your agent said and you're a really good actor then all of a sudden there's a there's a level of recognition that can't be achieved any other way EX accept by being able to say these self- descripted things that allow people to go oh oh this guy gets who he is I bet he's going to deliver that when I send him out because you know the agent's Ultimate Game is I've got to know that either you book jobs or you create relationships that will turn into booking jobs that's why I want to represent you and the more you can individualize yourself and allow people to see how how you are distinct from the other good actors you'll compete with of your type the more you're able to do that the more I'm assured that you are going to book or you're going to create relationships based on you not based on your type there we go awesome awesome answer hopefully Peter that is uh that's helped you definitely it just it makes so much sense you know Sam everything that you're saying this is one of these moments where you go oh God yeah but like for like 10 years of my career I've gone not really kind of focused on that really where I should probably Focus so much more on this side as opposed to just being a better actor we go to classes every week you know do all this sort of you know work on the craft but I just kind of like have ridden I guess taking it for granted that I come across quite charismatic you know I'm likable and you know people want to work with me but it's never something that I've consciously until last week until I went to that casting last week and I and I made a conscious decision and I got booked ultimately the acting wasn't really probably a question because it was pretty much sleeping waking up and all that sort of stuff B no but it was the way you did that it's and your confidence to do that and let them know see that there's a very good reason that we emphasize craft because people ought to be doing their jobs rightly and that's really important but ultimately when you get to that level of craftsmanship where now I'm maintaining now I'm making those subtle improvements I'm in class not to learn to act I'm in class to learn those little subtle improvements I can make then the issue is now not craftsmanship anymore the issue is the same is why you select a particular attorney you know if you're going into some legal setting and you meet three different attorneys hopefully they're all qualified ultimately you're going to pick the attorney with whom you have a personal uh Bond and I think it's the same thing we've got to get to that stage where where that becomes uh important and we understand how to do it quickly the difference for us is sometimes you have that one sentence in an ident sometimes you don't even have that and how are you going to establish your signature and that's why the final stage in what I do is to bring this to vocabulary so that you've got the words to fill that moment and allow the authenticity because sometimes you've got eight seconds to create the fact that you're distinct from the other good actors you're competing with definitely no it's uh it's it's fascinating on on that of what you're just saying in terms of um you know the last part of the process una said hey I don't know if if uh this is an easy question to answer Sam but she said please can we hear some examples of these self descriptors and the impact that they have had have you got have you got any examples of actors you've worked with that you know in your workshops that have had success off the back of this or what they've discovered about themselves or the the kind of things that they can say about themselves um you know to to gain more work um well uh the best example for me and una now I'm mad at you because I hate this question um because I can never think of anything to to you know when I I do this all the time yet I can it's so hard for me to pin an example to a certain person but um for example you know I could say about myself you know me I can say in 50 words what needs to be said in five and then people go oh yeah I get you're one of those people that likes explain and talk and it's true you know uh and when a person can say something that everybody's already feeling you know that's that the beauty of those the there are just this is actually this is exactly the the what happens when we're done everybody walks away with three vocabularies that allow them of so many self-descriptive options and that's why it's a little difficult to think of one because they're geared to operate on the artist's natural good taste and good judgment because what I say descriptively about myself in this situation for instance what I just said has to do with what're doing it has to do with the fact I'm giving an interview and I'll probably overt talk a little because I do um in another situation I might say something else self-descriptive that was suited to the situation that I was in so when we develop these vocabularies at the end one is sort of a shorthand one it's those six or seven basic statements that can guide a photographer when we have to sum it up in a couple of minutes some primary essential drives in our personal impact we develop a vocabulary that's more conversational so that good taste and good judgment can pull something out casually in the moment and then lastly I developed that interior vocabulary for going for those shades of believable behavior for rehearsal and performance choices so the reason that I'm giving you a hard time about this question is there are so many examples that it's difficult for me to to give you a particular one but I guarantee that anybody who comes and does this work with me will end up not only with examples of others but because they'll hear their classmates do it but with vocabulary for themselves which will suddenly they will find they're never in a situation where they don't have the ability to catalyze for everybody their distinctness that's what's important because I think we have these so brief moments to let people know who we are and that we're we're on to it yeah yeah definitely no I mean you you all well not always but you're never really in commercials over here but in uh in drama auditions over here um obviously you have you know that that little chat at the beginning you tell us a bit about yourself and I hear in in a lot of acting classes that I'll sit in and and uh either take parting or you know or or watch um that people always say they struggle or what do I say about that or how do I you know how do I talk about myself or that kind of thing and I think when you do something like this and you go through this process and you discover a lot more about yourself and who you are and equally what how other people see you because like we said that you know that can be very different um that it is so useful and you just mentioned then about head shots and that was something I never thought of as well when you're try to encapsulate with a photographer your type your role type you know what you are and that kind of thing they don't know you obviously or a lot of the time they won't know you from you know from anybody else um it's useful to be go along and go right I'm this this and this let's capture that in a shot yeah because you know I mean they can look at you a photographer is going to for instance you look at you and go oh I imagine you play the young doctors your young cops could you look like those guys so to to identify your type slot is pretty obvious the issue for you is I want to have a picture because those are the type slots that I go in I want to expand them of course but I want a picture that says this is how Ross does it this is what you get if you hire him and so once you get past you know I need the young leading man shot and I need the more working class dad shot and so forth whatever those are for you um what I find people Miss is that lead shot they miss a shot that just captures the personality of them and what makes them distinct from all the other people that kind of resemble them and that I think I I have actors bringing in show me their shots and go okay I see you can dress up like a doctor and I see you can dress up like an attorney okay good but I don't get anything of who you are and of course if you think about it it's slightly insulting to casting directors because they know they can dress you in a lab coat and make you a lab technician they're not stupid what they want to know is if I have you come in as a lab technician and this other guy who constantly competes with you what are the differences in that lab technician if Ross plays it or if Harry plays it what's the difference you know and that when we have to try to establish that in a picture is a really rough go but if we can say some things to the C to the photographer that allows them to begin to go oh I get it you've got this and you've got that let me change a light here you know I'm not a photographer I don't know exactly how they apply their design Theory but when we give them some design guidance I know they're going to begin to apply that and take a photo that's more personal which is ultimately what we must have because photos you know there's a lot of them massively important as well this leads us on to a brilliant um well it's a brilliant little uh lead onto this question that John Sackville uh I printed it out John I know you uh submitted on this on the website before you've just tweeted me I've not forgotten John says um he's what he guesses is what you might Loosely call a leading character actor um he tries to dress for the role as far as possible um except when it's very period or like a uniform or that kind of thing yeah um but even then he'll try and suggest a feel for that when he goes to castings and auditions um is that the best idea to dress as close as you can to the role um or like you say is that you know the C director can go all you know I can give you a haircut I can give you a policeman now that's fine um or do you have to be like a massive name he's put like Daniel de Lewis to get away with entering the room as a mohawk or something like that right well I think it's a very very good question because it comes up every audition when you go to the closet you know it's a constant query here's I think the answer I think what you just said that to lean in and create a feel without saying I'm trying to convince you of something that you're probably intelligent enough to imagine yourself uh to uh and I you know I I don't know exactly it was Peter I think you said I don't know exactly how far he's going with it but my my and again UK standards may be slightly different than ours but in general I think with creative people who are storytellers and imaginers by profession all of us in this business um that a a subtle suggestion is probably more effective than something that is less subtle and more forced and for example I think uh you know just to to to wear a tie when something is professional uh and your shirt open is probably uh as far as we need to go uh you don't need to be on a full three-piece suit to convince them that you could look like a like a member of parliament or a or an attorney um and I I can remember very often I remember so distinctly a girl once who came in for a um play I Was casting uh it was a uh a Revival of cat on the hotton roof and she came in in her slip you know like in her slip like Elizabeth Taylor and it was so wildly inappropriate and um and the director just said to her I know we can give you a slip this is weird this is an office I want to see you you know and she really felt that and I I could just see Crest Fallen she thought she'd made a good decision she thought she was helping but the reality is we are imaginers by profession so I think the more we trust that and the more we go in and say the issue is less can I dress up like this part the issue is more what the part becomes I I often lean back to uh something I pulled from Lord Olivier's autobiography of which there are two volumes um and he says uh in in a place in in the book that it took him 30 years to learn that it was not what he had to become to play the role it was what the role became because he played it and I think that's such valuable advice to a question like this it's not what I have to do to convince you I can do this it is what this role is going to become when I'm doing it that's the issue here and I think that's my best answer for Peter yeah definitely um hopefully uh yeah for John that's uh hopefully that's answered your uh your question there sorry definitely no problem um let's have a look right I've got some others that were emailed through to me that I'm going to uh we've already been going guys for uh an hour and seven minutes we're going to cut it off an hour an hour and a half for you Sam otherwise you'll just be here all day but we will definitely do a part two of this when you've uh when you've been to London and and we'll check in with you and how how that went um Christine Delby um email oh sorry were you going to say say something then no I just I said I'd love to I'd love to be back ex definitely more than welcome um So Christine says um oh this is a bit of a personal question for you Sam well not personal personal but if there was one show or film that you could have cast what would it be uh what would you have like and what would you have done differently as well if it was you who had cast it have you got any examples of that where you think people have made great choices or bad choices or something you would have loved to have been involved with I would love uh to have cast a an American television show called The Wire oh yeah yeah the wire is brilliant I would love to have cast it and I wouldn't I don't think I could have done nearly as well as it was done frankly it was flawlessly cast and um and with actors who I think stepped Way Beyond the choosing of them you know I mean many of them uh UK actors who came and did extraordin IL convincing uh American work I I did not know Idris Elba was English until I looked him up so convinced by his his work uh as an American and um I think that show was important and uh it influenced a lot of other television worldwide and I think if you know there are many things that I would say I would have enjoyed working on uh but I think that would be the the answer yeah definitely what about um I tell you I loved when you're talking about English um English actors doing American work and I had no idea as well with a couple of actors in that um Homeland are you a fan of Homeland have you have you been watching that oh yeah um I mean in in America it's a really really popular show of course you know and uh yeah and Damen Lewis doing the work that he's doing you know as an American and U Manny patkin who somebody I've known for a long long time and I just I I'm constantly um uh intrigued by the the the Deep neurotic intellect that he always CHS up in hising I love him I love him and um it's also um uh CLA Dan's is just uh Sensational in it and she's not an actress that I was you know I always recognized her as being a a good young actress she never but it is she has captured some sort of um torture in herself and lend lent it to that character so brilliantly and so yeah it's uh it's a and I think that is a show that is a product of the kind of um discipline that the wire had about storytelling shows like Homeland are a reflection of that in American television so I absolutely love it yeah honestly the UK well God I mean and no one makes I mean d British UK uh UK drama is absolutely fantastic but we only ever really run to kind of like three or six episodes um in a season or series as we say but uh the big you know the big American drama stuff like Homeland and the wire just you know it's just box set Heaven you just get on Amazon or on iTunes now or Netflix or anything like that and I'll just sit for hours just watching and it's just such a master class of of uh of acting ability it's so exciting and I think we owe this in America to you um that to to the to the UK and the and the pioneering television that uh that was done uh 40 years ago and onward because I think uh UK television really set a standard for what can happen on television because we in America did what we sometimes do which is to just Walmart it you know where television was just really a a calate of silliness and then because we C we started seeing what you guys were doing we began to go hey television can be important and it can rival feature films and it can sometimes do things that films can't do and uh and American television got better I think because of British television and I'm proud now of American TV and uh you know from The Sopranos era onward uh we began doing things that are just extraordinarily watchable and uh and really make a difference and I I I I do think we owe that to the influence of British television there you go well on on behalf of Great Britain you're welcome it's fine and believe me it's a gift well received because you know I I television had become pretty unwatchable uh for me until about uh 20 years ago when we began this journey of making it into something vital and important and also when the grip of the three networks began to loosen and we began to have all these other venues home box office on up that made such a tremendous difference and and had a place where themes could be explored that weren't appropriate uh to network thinking and uh it's a great thing because I think now a young person coming up can actually misfeature films and get extraordinary artistic values off of Television massively so massively so definitely I think the the stuff that's coming out of America absolutely leads the way there we've got some great dramas over here at the moment but uh you know some of the stuff like you know like we said Breaking Bad The Wire Dexter Sopranos everything like that is uh is just phenomenal I would love to be involved in anything I'd take I'd take one line in Homeland series 4 if they're going to do one I'll have in fact I'll just be an extra it's not a problem yeah I'll do anything um right I've got a couple um of questions here and we'll start wrapping up um want to talk a little bit about the your process and age as well because for me recently this is the first time o over the last two months really I have been seen for young dad roles now I'm 32 this year I still think I'm like 18 in my head though Sam um so it's been a bit of a wake up for me going going to auditions and going what I'm not a dad and then I think well no technically I could easily be a dad I could have been a dad 10 years ago how do you think people kind of can adjust to that you know and uh sometimes I think I think that you pinned it you know you this was one of the questions you you previewed that we might talk about and I I mean I asked I as I wrote down as my note exactly what you said which is that uh you can't think about what your 32 years of experience are you have to think what a young man's 32 years could bring if you were of a different culture if you were of A different race if you were you know what would it be and what would 32 years be if you were born in 1900 you know what would 32y old man have done what are the possibilities because let's face it you could have been a dad or you could have been a soldier or you could have been killed in a war or you could have been a terrorist or you there's a lot of things that people can do by the time they're 32 and I think that's the question you have to ask your yourself is okay had I made that choice when I was 22 were I a dad what kind of dad would Ross be how would that be to my best of my imagination I can't Source it in reality but I can Source it in the way that I do other things I mean look at you you know look at what you have invented in you know uh out of your little Studio you've created something I suspect you would have been that kind of dad I suspect you would have been assembling things Rector sets with your little kids I suspect that you would be teaching them how to use earplugs you know I it wouldn't be very much different and I think that's the best that you can do and then you go in and and play now the more important question I think is this whole issue of what we think our age is people say this to me all the time especially folks who play younger they or play older they consistently go in older or younger than they are yeah and uh then of course they move into the next age range and they're still on the younger end of it because they will people who appear younger always do that whole issue then becomes how do I address this with the people who are going to cast me what happens when somebody says well how old are you like and then they go oh well I don't really want to tell them because you know they see me as younger older whatever it is or I don't want to tell them I'm really not a dad what you say is okay here's the the truth I'm 32 years old I am not a dad what the industry seems to want to do with me is they see me slightly older and it looks like they see me as a dad I'm fine with that what do you think because then you have been able to be honest in a room you've said that the industry doesn't necessarily match what you honestly are and you're fine with it and what do you think because ultimately it's going to be what they think anyway and I think that's the psychology of all these questions about age about race about type all those things here's who I truly am here's what the industry sees what do you want to do with the information because you're going to make the decision anyway I think it's so valuable to be able to be honest in a room to not have to say falsify one's age or one's background or you know lie that you are a and I don't suppose you would do that but that whole thing of I've got to fool them as opposed to say here's the truth that the industry and I have been conspiring on fooling everybody because they cast me as a dad all the time I don't have any children you know that way everything is covered the truth what the industry seems to be doing and what they are going to do with you with that information definitely and if you tell the truth I love the fact that if you would tell the truth you don't have to have a memory you don't have to remember anything that you might have said oh yeah because it is so remembering all those lines what I've said here what I've said there is torture and especially as you go on and develop these relationships you know the little filing cabinet you have to keep of these different kinds of things you said it's just too much work yeah definitely and yeah all comes down toh to honesty I always just say well I have done in the auditions that I've been to where for dads recently you know I go look I'm not dad but I've got a neew who's the age of the son that I would have in this show or whatever you know and I'll play it with that kind of you know experience that I've got you know because I think that's how I be yeah yeah yeah ex I think that's the interior work too you know what kind of dad would I be you know I suspect I'd be the similar guy to the non-ad that I am right now you know yeah yeah definitely I'd be an amazing dad some I reckon maybe that helps too one day right okay I'm we're gonna have to kind of start wrapping up guys um if you've got any last sort of minute things to uh to tweet us tweet us as well because we're going to be doing that draw in a minute for the Casting Networks UK uh 12- month premium subscription it's worth £100 so get tweeting and I'm going to get Sam to help me draw one at random in a minute so Sam really important let's look at the work you're bringing over to the UK when it's happening how people can get involved I guarantee a lot of people on this webinar going to want to come and see you uh for the preview and then hopefully want to get involved uh with the workshops you're doing the preview is taking place on Monday the 26th of May it's 7il 900 p.m. so at the actors's temple which is 13 to 14 Warren Street in London um now if people want to book onto that preview is that where they go to your website and they can do that from there yes Sam christensen. lundon and that will get them to a page that lays out details about uh the process and about uh and there's clicks on there to uh to register for the uh uh preview so we know who's coming because I'd love to know who's coming a little bit and uh and then we'll be there and do that and I'll be happy to uh to um there's a presentation I do I I like to tell the story of how it developed and then there's plenty of time for uh questions and I'm eager to uh to meet the folks it's it's just it's the previews I do them regularly here in Los Angeles and well I also do them in Atlanta and Philadelphia and New York and Washington DC and Toronto the other places that I present now New Orleans um and uh I love the previews because you know folks come in just kind of wondering what this is about and I get to tell the story and uh it's really it's easy people there go oh this fits right into my life at the moment or it doesn't and I love that because um the folks for whom this is the moment it makes sense to them they jump on board and do the process and other people tuck it away and sometimes it's a year later or two years later they call and go you know now I really see why this fits now I need it and so the previews are just a great way for me to just tell the story I love telling the story of it amazing definitely if I am around I'm I want to come and meet you in person anyway but I'll definitely I'll definitely come down for that um you have got then um the actual workshops that you do people want to actually book on and go through this process with you um they're taking place from Friday the 6th to Monday the 9th of June actually that is inaccurate information oh god well I'll tell you what um it it appeared for a whole bunch of reasons that um we were rushing it um and it partly has to do with health concerns of mine I've had a back operation not long ago and so what we decided to do is come to the preview um we may do a need to do a second one depending on on U attendance and um uh and then we'll come back in the fall uh and uh do a workshop and maybe two uh we're we're uh we just realized we needed to do some more research we needed to feel more about London about location what was the right place um all those kinds of concerns that we were being a little too hasty about so um that's what we have have done and we'll be announcing those dates as soon as we get a little bit of the lay of the land in London and we do our research we'll be announcing those dates I suspect midep we'll we'll be back to do actual workshops ah okay fantastic so for now then guys yeah well there's no excuse everybody should get the themselves down to the free preview um definitely and then um if you want to find out more obviously as uh as Sam said it's Sam christensen. comom London um if you don't go for London you can go to Sam's main site as well and there's loads of info that I've been reading on there you've done some great interviews obviously this one it's probably the best one ever Sam but he does some great interview on YouTube as well so there's a lot of you know lot of things that people can watch as well if they want to find out a little bit more as well yeah but you know I tell you something about the videos I've had a wonderful time with you because I love the Twitter questions I love things coming in from the outside and I would love people to scan through what's there whatever interests them but what they're going to hear the same story I am I'm a I'm a committed man in terms of artist staying in the game I think art makes a difference I think it's the world changer I think the only reason we grow as a culture comes from the stories we tell and so you know they will hear that and how the process works no matter which video they click on they're going to hear that because that's what I'm I'm about absolutely but no it's all all builds up a uh a nice clear picture of uh of everything that you're about and if you want to find out more guys and I guess if people want to ask you any questions Sam they can get you on Twitter which is samor Christensen or they can email London Sam christensen. I'll also put links um on the recording of this this is being recorded guys uh and there'll be a YouTube video of this that I'm going to publish on the live broadcast section um of Acton this.v if you go to www.a on.tv you're on it now if you're watching it so uh what I'll do is when this has been processed I will put that on the website and you can watch the replay as well but I'll put up all the information of how you can get in touch with Sam as well there um Sam we've got this prize to give away um we're going to do it randomly are you ready I'll tell you how this is going to work okay um I'm going to get my iPhone now I'm going to open Twitter this is technology for you this impresses me every time right I'm going to connect my phone to my computer this will just take me a uh a couple of seconds uh I really hope everyone has enjoyed this tonight I've had a great time I think this is brilliant and it's this is the first International one Sam we're breaking boundaries here you know this is uh never been done before well you're going to have more because anybody I know coming to London I'm going to tell them to get be in touch with you and uh and talk to uh to British actors before they make the trip so you'll probably hear from some other actors and some other people who want to tell you about their lives absolute pleasure no problem at all I will uh be more than happy happy to uh to oblige always looking for for great guests uh right I'm going to push my phone now to my computer hopefully and I should see this in a second oh come on you kidding me don't let me down technology this normally works perfectly Sam well I know and we've got through all this time with me being a technical idiot so um you know if we have one snafu I know you were good you really good um we didn't have any any technical drama really GL you walking through it all it's all right no problem let me try it one more time if not oh guys you got to just trust me I think because I'm basically what I would normally do Sam is I would show my iPhone on the screen I would show my iPhone screen on the broadcast so people would know that I'm not making it up I then scroll down the Twitter feed you shout stop I put my finger on a random place and whoever we land on wins the casting Network subscription now normally I can show that but my phone is just going not going to show you that uh today well I have I have an alternate suggestion oh go on then um run through them and pick the person oh go on pick the person who has three numbers in their Twitter name three numbers in their Twitter name what if no one does Sam I've got it working by the way so Sam suggestion doesn't work we can go we can go random um let me have a look or should we just go random I don't know is it working so you can do it the way you usually do yeah it is now oh yeah let's do that let's do that it was uh it was playing up but it's uh it's doing that now so so should I close my eyes so I don't see who's going by and then just say stop yeah good idea let me just get this ready so people can see it so they know I'm 100% genuine there's no competition fixing here there's a whole Scandal a few years ago in the UK some where people started fixing phone competitions on TV shows no scandals please people got into a lot of trouble right so let me share this so guys you should see my Twitter now here we go I'm just going to pull this up to the top God there's loads look at all these tweets so there we go una says great would' love more guests from across the pond um there we go un's un signed up to uh to do the process with you Sam so and so is Peter I think so they're both going to meet you later on this year um okay so there's absolutely loads of tweets um I'm GNA just run down here and you just shout stop at any time and then uh I'll stop and uh whoever it is will win from the screen I can't see right in three two one rolling now stop Robert Williamson Roberts you have just one son so uh there you go he he tweeted to everybody that there is a live broadcast going on tonight so there we go Robert you have just won congratulations in fact let me give you a uh a round of applause I want to test these effects out this is what I've not been uh utilizing tonight could have been could have been playing us some lovely uh sound effects well I got a little I got a little look at Robert's picture when I congratulations robt there we go congratulations Robert so Robert what's going to happen now is I will follow you on Twitter I'm then going to um direct message you I'll get your email address and then I will get the guys at Casting Networks who send you an email if you've already got a free account on Casting Networks they will upgrade it for 12 months for you um if you've not got an account at all they'll get you to sign up and they'll give you a premium one it's worth1 pound hopefully it will get you some acting work so uh congratulations um so that's it guys I'm just going to go back to Twitter just get a little bit of feedback Sam I'm sure everybody's been loving it um Una attends everyone you know una you know if there's someone who deserves a Casting Networks profile for the proactiveness of your acting career it's you you know I'll have a word one day and see if they can give you at least a taster maybe give you three months or free because you're dedicated um so yeah so un says great advice on being yourself CLA Cameron said it's so inspiring timely words um for her thanks very much Sam Mike says it's been great thanks very much for doing this stuff great stuff Peter's really thankful as well um he just booked on and paid for your course Sam so whenever the dates are fine with him um he's there Christine dby thanks for your honesty and openness fabulous broadcast looking forward to the next one already um everybody has uh has has had a great time basically cannot praise you enough thanks so much for coming on and joining us well great and I'll tell you what when I get back and we do another broadcast in the summer before I come back in in September I'll have a giveaway for the uh the broadcast we do then amazing yes let's do that that would be fantastic all right great definitely let's do that well guys listen it's uh it's it's half eight now we've been on for an hour and a half um so that's going to be what half 12 where you are Sam what you doing for the rest of the day uh I'm going to have a little lunch and then I have a bunch of appointments this afternoon with students and we're moving through a process here as we always are um always students so um I'll be doing the work I do this afternoon awesome well keep up the good work um guys thanks so much for joining us tonight hope it's been really useful uh if you want to find out more about Sam as I say I will put all the links on the recording uh page for this broadcast but you go to www.am christensen. London or email London Sam christensen. you can also follow him on Twitter _ Christenson thanks so much for taking part keep an eye out on the website at act on.tv for our next live br broadcast I wish to God I could tell you who it was it's an incredibly well-known UK actor he's been in everything from Star Wars um to a lot of stuff I can't I just can't really say just in case anything it's not going to go wrong I know it isn't everything's kind of planned but it's it's massive it's going to be an incredible guest really really looking forward to him so keep an eye out for that um I'm going to email everybody about that closer to the time as well um once again just thanks and um yeah if you're not a member of at on this and you're watching this broadcast get yourself over www.at on.tv we're about to launch a brand new version of the site as well in June which is bigger better than ever um so it's a really exciting time to join so come along get involved in the forums um comment on all the Articles and things on there submit your own blog posts just be part of the team thanks so much Sam once again have a fantastic day um and I can't wait to catch up with you again for the second broadcast and I'll see you in London awesome I will definitely I will come to London everybody get yourself down to London for the preview thanks so much okay going to sign off now guys but thanks a lot and I'll see you on next broadcast bye for [Music] now