The Business: Prepping for Pilot Season - Audition Technique

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Together, everyone benefits. Join the cause. Act now. [Music] So, let's give them a hand as they take a seat. Before we jump into it, I just want to um thank you for those who are viewing through the live stream. Um across the country and um across the world we have people view. So thank you for that. A couple of um housekeeping needs. We're on social media things like Facebook, Twitter. The big thing is YouTube. YouTube.com/sackfoundation. There we archive all of our live stream events. We have over two and a half years of panels that you can view educational for educational purposes life raft or the Q&As we do through our conversation events with celebrities and the latest movies and such. 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They were joking and laughing and exch exchanging dog pictures in the green room. So it was hilarious and they came up with the idea of instead instead of sharing about themselves, they want to share about somebody else on the panel. So that was all all idea. So Howard, I'm going to let you start off and you get to pick the first person you want to share about. I will introduce my dear FRIEND MARGIE HABER. MARGIE AND I STARTED OUT together very much beginning in the 80s. I've been teaching since 1983. 1980s. Can we All right. It's the truth. I know. I don't look at In any case, uh, we've watched each other grow over the years and we refer each other all the time. So actors who study at my studio foundation and technique I will then recommend go to Margie for audition training and we just get the biggest kick out of each other and I'm so proud of her and the international star that she is. So I'm delighted to be sharing the stage with my dear friend and the brilliant audition coach Margie paper. Thank you so much. I might as well do my might as well do my thing, right? Well, we call each other like once every couple months just because we truly love each other, you know, and it's what's great about it and I I feel this way about everybody in this panel uh is that we respect each other and uh when you respect each other and you love each other, then we are happy that the actors are growing rather than controlling and holding on to our people. So, I've had that experience with Howard now for 190 years. But I look good. He doesn't look as good as me, but I look great. But 100, no, he looks pretty good. Um, and we we we kippets around because I remember it was like he was talking about the years was 198 I think it was 8 1984. I lived on San Vicente and Ocean, you know, there was like this area and was paying $300 a month for a rent control apartment. and we were walking down the street and we were and we're very close friends at the time and and we still are very close. So walking down and he says, "You know, I can't believe it. I make He says to me, I make and I'll make it up. I make I'm making $3,000 a month." I go, I know I'm making $2,800 a month, too. And he said, "My god, because it only cost about $1,000 for your entire life because, you know, cars are didn't cost anything with a car. It was rent." And we walked down. We were so proud of each other. And we have been proud of each other since the 1980s. Um, and I'm so proud of Howard because I wrote a book 12 years ago and he always says, "Margie," he wrote a book and now that he's written a book and he's a big maka and he goes to Australia and he Hello Australia, they're watching. Hello Australia. Yeah. And I'll be there in October. But anyway, um, it is it is just a pleasure. She's a kind, good soul. And I when people get stuck and they're not living the life the way I'd like them to, I say go over and see my friend Howard. And we've been very supportive of each other through the years. I love you. Warner, you want to be next? Sure. Warner, you don't know anything about me, so you can't introduce me. Yes. Yes, I do. I think kindred souls and kindred spirits when we first met each other did feel like well let me tell how I know you can I okay so 112 years ago Christian Kaplan you guys all know Christian Kaplan he's big deal casting director at Fox said it's all about Warner Laughlin she's so kind and she's so loving and you're so aggressive Leslie I put the two aggressive people together here and he's right I am I'm I'm pretty aggressive and and I kind of say what I think and he goes, "You know, some actors need a softer touch." And so whenever I run into an actor that needs a softer touch, I send him right to her. That's the sweetest. I think I'm a softer touch. And ask Erin Taylor over there. She has seen me get pretty firm myself, but thank you, Leslie. Um, when I see an actor who just wants to do comedy and is living uh for the comedic dream, I always say Leslie because she and I think I don't know if people tell you that I've sent people over there, too. And Leslie has sent people to our studio because when we say, "How did you find us?" they go, "Oh, Leslie Khan sent me." I'm like, "Come right in." Um because the queen of comedy does remarkable things and I'm uh proud and happy to spend this time with each of you and all of you out there because it really is about us giving back to each other, isn't it? Right. It's about we need to help each other elevate. Wonderful. Thank you all. It's been fun getting a hold of you guys and um getting you guys here. So, thank you. I appreciate that. Um, just so you guys kind of know the structure of the evening, we're going to talk a little bit about each individual's technique because everyone's a little different and that's kind of the point is how they kind of approach this thing we call acting. And then from there, we'll get into more kind of more specific questions and eventually into audience questions. So, um, we'll start with you Howard. Can you just talk how do you describe your technique? How, you know, in a in paragraphs or to what is the Howard Fine technique? I never describe it that way. I don't have the ego yet. And Hogan, who I'm derivative of, never described her work as a technique either. To her, it was common sense. The basis of it is that every character lives inside you. One of the greatest misconceptions about acting is this idea of playing a character. The character has no independent life other than you. Ironically, I was in Melbourne, Australia, where we have a studio, and I went to the Hollywood costume exhibit in Melbourne. I had to go there to go see the Hollywood costume exhibit. And Merryill Streep had a wonderful quote and it talked about how she sees every character as an extension of herself in different arrangement but an extension of herself. So just think about how many characters we play in the course of a day. How many do we play, right? And who are they? They're all us. If I speak to a young acting student who's just moved to town, I feel as if I'm father time dispensing pearls of wisdom from on high. If I talk to a scientist who's working on a cure for cancer, I feel as if I'm an idiot. So, what lives inside me? Someone who feels very confident and bright and someone who feels absolutely ignorant. We tend not to see all aspects of our own personalities. Negative behavior does not tend to incorporate into our self-concept. We tend to see ourselves as the heroes of our own stories. Why? According to the my dear friend, the noted rabbi and author Joseph Tushkin, we judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions. When you look at a character, it's easy to judge because you look at their actions and you go, "Oh my goodness, that's terrible. I would never do that." actors. That is a [ __ ] question. Do not say what I would do. You let yourself off the hook. Oh, I would never do that. [ __ ] I was the one who said we weren't going to swear. Well, the fire truck I think it's your influence, Leslie. Uh, the operative question for actors is not what I would do, it's what would make me do this. And until you find the character inside yourself, Hoggin said it the best. She said, "It's not about losing yourself in a role. It's about finding yourself in a role. Until you make those words come from a real place inside you, they're just words on a page." And so, the basis of what I teach is the use of the self. First, taking a real inventory of who you are and being honest and owning all of who you really are, from light to dark. An actor ought to be able to play everything from Mother Teresa to a serial killer and see yourself in all of those roles. Easy to look at a heroic role and say, "Oh, that's me." Harder to look at a darker role and say, "That's me." So, we judge ourselves by our intentions, others by their actions. Our job is to justify, not judge. And then there's of course more. But it is about extending everything from yourself. Thank you. Excellent. Oh. Thank you. Can you give me a better warner? You want to go jump in? Sure. Um, there's a lot of that that I completely agree with. Howard, uh, I'm a big one on behavior. Uh, taking a character's behavior and figuring out what event might have caused the emotion that caused that behavior. In other words, we're all imagination based, which is a little bit different than Howard, but we're sussing out the character. We It's hard to explain in a nutshell, but I want you to get deep down psychologically into that character in a very nuanced and specific way. So that it's um when you're acting, you're playing. You're living in your right brain. You're not in your left brain judging what am I doing? Am I hitting my mark? I'm supposed to be angry here. I'm supposed to be sad here. I'm supposed to be I want it to be knee-jerk. I want you to walk as she walks. Talk as he talks. uh behave as that character behaves. Um we agree on a lot. It's just the way that we go in to get that character is slightly different. Um we start with the text at hand figuring out the behavior getting core knowledge the history of the character and we begin at age like three, four, five and six with that character and we essentially live or create the emotionally pertinent moments of that character's life so that you are fully engrossed in that character. And Howard is right. You should be able to play Mother Teresa or a serial killer. Not that you should go out and kill young little animals to see what that feels like. But um it is a way of living the character's life in your imagination. So that set time is playtime. Should be right. Yeah. Thank you. Me, Lesie. Okay. Um, I agree with all of that stuff that you guys just said and I'm really glad they're doing it because I don't do it. I don't do any of the stuff that they do. So, and I think you really need that stuff and I'm not doing it. I I came out of drama school and I and I didn't really know how to act when I came out of drama school and I couldn't really get an acting job very easily when I came out of drama school. So, I needed to find something different. So, um, while I think that stuff is so so fantastic and while you absolutely have to do it when you're going to go and do a play, most of you guys are going to go audition for Two and a Half Men tomorrow morning and you're going to get the sides tonight if you're lucky. And I need to make sure that you know what to do with those sides, those 10 pages of double space sides that you're going to get tonight, and be able to go in tomorrow morning and blow the roof off of the joint. And so I'm very textbased and it's all about thoughts. I feel like um that all all of the things that we learn in method are so important. And you know as designed back in the 1890s with Stannislovski and back in the 1930s with the group theater, that stuff was designed to take four to six weeks to work. And it does. But again, you guys don't have four to six weeks. You've got overnight. So, we've got to find a way for you to look at that piece of paper, know exactly what that writer is asking you to do, and be able to go in and do it tomorrow, and then be able to go and do it again tomorrow afternoon at 5 at the call back because the writer's going to be in the room. And if you're not doing what he's written down there on the paper, he's going to go, I don't want that person on my set. I don't want to have to tell that person what to do. That person needs to be able to read what I've written and know what I want them to do and be able to do it instantly. And it's really hard and it's not what most of us were trained to do. And you need this foundation in order to be able to do what I'm asking you to do as well. So to me, it's a thought-based process. I ask you what you're thinking. What is your character thinking? And and this is very important. What is your character thinking? Not as Howard and Warner said, what would you do in the situation? I don't give a flying [ __ ] what you would do in the situation. A flying what? [ __ ] I'm absolutely, however, concerned with what this character would do. And the writer has, as Warner and Howard just told you, told you exactly what that character would do behavior-wise. And that's what you have to do. And they're right. You have to figure out why you would do it and what you would be thinking that would cause you to do it. How's that? That's good. Brilliant. That's good. I could feel like I can leave now because I think they covered everything. Okay. Uh well, I feel like I'm a combination of everybody here. Uh I I've been we all have been doing this for a long time and I feel like I have grown. I wrote my book How to Get the Part Without Falling Apart about 10 years ago or so, maybe even longer. And um who I was then is different than who I am today. And I I believe all of us are different. So I go back to when I originally when people say, "Oh, I studied with you 10 years ago." I said, "Was I any good?" Or especially people say 20, 30 years ago. I said, "I wasn't even born." I don't think. But I think that what's happened well I was obviously but what's happened is through my journey as who I am as a human being I have changed and the way that I approach things now is I don't believe in acting so I guess I shouldn't be up on this stage anymore. I don't believe that I'm an acting coach. I believe I teach human beings to be human beings. I think that is the most difficult thing that actors have to do is to live a person's life. So when you come to my studio and I have you know various levels various teachers the whole the concept of my studio is we're much more relationship oriented and that um if you don't know the relationship with the person in front of you then the story then you can end up playing the idea of the story. So I always say the line I am this person living this life. I am this person living this life and uh I was supposed to write another book but Howard wrote it so I said [ __ ] that second so no I did not the second so it's getting too much anyway so I decided to do something a little different I was very very excited about it I came out with it a few months ago I don't even know if these wonderful uh people here know about this but I came out with a thing called stop acting and it is a the audition class from Margie of from Margie Haber or whatever the name it is stop acting the audition class with Margie Haber and it is um a digital class a digital class because I felt like if I write another book it's going to be technical and I'm not a technical coach I don't teach anything technical so it became to me you have to watch me you know in order for you to really understand what I do it's behavior which is what we all believe in and uh to watch me do it and I've taught this all over the world I've you know, all over the world, seminars all over the world and whatever. I figured, well, how am I going to get to people who can't afford to come to me because I have an international program that people come out. How do I afford people like you who may not be able to afford coming to me? And so, I came up with this I'm very proud of. It's it's called it's this app, but it's also on V Vimeo and it's a digital class because I want you to see the truth about what I teach, which is live the life and not be so technical and grab a piece of paper that you have. I don't believe in the word monologue. I change the words. I don't believe in the word intention. I believe the word need. I don't like acting words because I think you become an actor. So, it's the same thing only it's the way that I change the focus. You know what I mean? So, I don't use those words. I don't say what's my opening beat anymore which I used to say. Now I say I'm coming coming from something. I don't concentrate on the slices in the that you give me the scenes. I call them slices of life because if you concentrate on a scene then you're not living all the other slices. So I concentrate a lot on the slices that are not written in the script because the ones that are not written in the scripts are the most interesting ones. So I can go on and on and on but that's wonderful. Give let's give Margie a hand for that. Yeah. Thank you. Um we'll start with Warner um and then you guys can jump in obviously um as well. What are you in 2013? What are the concerns questions that the students are consistently coming to your classes with? Um it's deception because we talk about pilot season, but really what you guys are going to talk about is not just pilot season. It's year round. So, but the idea is what are the kind of maybe questions or concerns that um students or things are coming in with from their experiences going I had this experience or this was really weird or I'm really concerned about this. Is there any kind of consistent themes coming up in your classrooms? Uh, oddly enough, there is one theme that's come up. I bet it has with you guys, too, in the past, I would say, two weeks, oddly enough. Um, going into that audition room and looking for an outcome. I I just want to clarify that that the technique that we use, you don't it won't take you weeks to do. You can do it overnight for an audition, okay? Because it would be really weird if you couldn't. Anyway, um um the idea of being so concerned about the outcome of an audition because when you do, you're cheating yourself essentially because what should you be thinking about when you walk in that audition room? You're there not to get something. You're there to give something. That should be your play time in that room. You should be able to walk in as a peer, so to speak, of this casting director because, believe me, most casting directors really want you to do well. They really do. They're on your side. Um, and we get different signals from casting, I think, that are false signals sometimes, don't you think? We get this where casting director is not looking at us. Well, that casting director is probably auditory. Maybe she has to listen to you to understand what you're doing. Some casting directors give that uh flat read. Have we all had that? Right. And you're like, why? A friend of mine once said, "Oh, but Warner, I do that because I want to give the guys who come in at 9:00 in the morning the same read as the guys at six o'clock in the morning." I'm like, "But but but give them something. Just a little something." Um, if you will hear it from casting or your reader as you need to hear it rather than how you're hearing it, it will serve you well. But I'm sorry, tangent. I do that all the time. Tangent. Anyway, going in not concerned about the outcome. You don't want to walk in thinking, "Oh my god, if I book this job, I'm going to get, you know, how much money?" You know, you you don't want to. No, you don't want to um walk in thinking, "Oh, my manager said this was like unbeliev Oh, oh, and I'm going to let them down if I don't do well and I'm new with them. I don't want to get dropped by them." All kinds of outcomes in our head. Go in to give them the best you that you can possibly give them and enjoy it. What one little trick? Yeah, go ahead. Get your checkbook out. write a check to yourself for, I don't know, 50 bucks, whatever. And in the memo, put for the role of whatever that character is between the hours of whenever your audition is and pay yourself so that you're walking in that room and it's a paid gig. So have fun, enjoy it. Why else would we do this, right? or you Well, I think it's really hard to be an actor. Don't you think guys? Uh it's really hard and I think what I say it's kind of similar to and and what Warner is saying about enjoying it, enjoying the process. I'm a big believer in See, I don't I I'm an audition guru they call me, but I don't believe in auditioning. I believe that it's actually you have maybe 20 opportunities to audition, but I call them 20 opportunities to live a life. that if you wait for that one or two times that you book something, you're going to have a miserable life. Don't you think? So rather than thinking I have to, oh god, I need this job. I have to get this job. Rather than thinking that way, get change your I I believe in changing the lens. I'm working with a guy, this guy Travis on a new series called Last Ship. And he is I'm just so proud of him because what he's doing and we work every week together is he changes the lens when he gets like he starts to look at something he looks at negatively. for example, you know, he said to me, "Well, you know, I don't I don't think anyone know should know that I'm working with an acting coach." I said, "Really?" And then he said to me, "Wait a second, that's an old lens. I got to change that lens. This is a team. You're team to me." And he said, you know, and I said, "Yes, thank you. Just say thank you, Margie Haber, then God, then your mother, whatever." But but the point of it is is that it's it's an opportunity for you to live. Don't wait for that one time. If I could give you any advice here, and I know we're doing this because we want to support you guys. Everybody here is doing that. It I would say to you, enjoy living the life. I'm big on doing it quickly and thoroughly. That's my thing. How to teach you to do it quickly and thoroughly. It's very similar to what Leslie does. It's it's wonderful. But at the same time, if you have a day or you have two days, you live it for those two days. You can live it just the way that Howard and Warner are talking about. You don't have to live it in 15 minutes. Oh, I did my work, I put it away. You live it all through the day. You step out when you're not living it. You know what I mean? And then the biggest problem that people say to me, which I'm sure everybody has, is when they go out and have um it's coming for pilot season now, and now you're going to have three or four quote auditions the next day, God willing, you hope, right? So, what do you do? Now, I'm a little different than probably everybody is on this panel. Um I don't believe in memorizing. I I believe in using the paper and that's probably going to be a question that you're gonna ask asking. We can do it any way you want, but it is a very different way because I don't think you should be spending your three,000 hours on that night on these three slice three things on worrying about your faka. There's a nice way of saying it, your faka words, okay, when you should be living the life and if you're worrying about the words and memorizing it and I can tell you, you will be screwed up because all you'll be doing is thinking about what the [ __ ] was that word and you don't have the time. You don't have the time. So this habber phrase saying yes I use my name versus you is staying on the paper coming up and communicating so you don't have to memorize that really gets in your way. That's all I would say a lot more. Excellent lesson. Can I can I comment on that too? I I think u that's a big misconception. I'm with you on that Margie. I think learning your lines use your page. I mean they have experience. I'm going to be odd man out. You're gonna be odd man out. Literally odd man out. Well, but I think some people do need to be off book. Some people get stumped by that page. I love a page. I think pages are great. Um because I can rely on it. But there are some people I know who just are like, if I've got pages in my hands, I can't do it. I can't do it. Right. Yeah. I'm Well, yeah, I'm going to totally disagree. Uh but but the phrase reading the phrase reading technique, especially when you don't have time, is a brilliant technique. So, no espersion there. Uh, but just last week I coached Galadote who got the role of Wonder Woman. How and what? Memorize the damn thing. It is a performance. You don't get a part because you're sweet. You get a part because you walk in the room and you take it. And you take it by getting good at memorizing. I'm not going to make things easier for anybody. It's hard. And I wish the dabblers would quit. I really do because it would make room. Why do you think casting directors are in bad moods most of the time? People are unprepared. And if you don't know how to work quickly, you don't know how to work correctly. How many of you cook? Okay. What do you do when you don't have all the best ingredients because you know how the recipe should be made? A short order cook will only ever be a short order cook. I find so many are running head first after the lower part of the middle. Separate yourself. Dare to be great. Everybody I have ever coached who's booked a role has memorized it. And they're good at memorizing and that's part of your job. We think not in words but in images. If you can't remember a line, it's because you don't have an image for it. So when you first read a script, turn the script over and see what you can't remember. What you can't remember, you need an image for. And that's the work you need to do. Yes, it is a test. Yes, it is hard. Go in the room and take the thing. Now, what's this issue that comes up? And I'll just address that and then pass it on. The issue that comes up most often is nerves. And we do a number of things wrong with nerves. We were discussing a little bit earlier about being agorophobic. I relate to that very well. No, not her. She's an extrovert. Okay. But if I let myself, I would stay home. How many of you are shy? Yes. Okay. Oddly, we choose this public profession, isn't it? Okay. So, I wrote a chapter on nerves because I think that's the thing that we need to learn how to cope with. We do the wrong things with nerves. Most of us have been ashamed about being nervous since we were kids. And then what do people say to you? Don't be nervous. Gee, never thought of that. That's really helpful. Or they'll suggest create an adversarial relationship. go in and you know make them the see them naked that's not always a good idea right so we don't want to do that and I totally agree with what Warner was saying and and Margie about living the life and play so we cannot give ourselves negative meaning from nerves tell yourself a different story be willing to change the conversation or the lens so nerves equal excitement breathe chances are when you're nervous you're holding your breath breath. Do not deny nerves. Don't tell yourself, "I'm not nervous at all. I'm fine. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm okay. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not scared." And then ah, realize that everybody at every step of the way gets nervous. Acknowledge them. Own them. They're never going to leave you. Make friends with them. And then learn to correctly place your attention. Here's one of the most common mistakes at auditions, and this was alluded to a bit. You walk into the room and you send your attention around the room and you and of course we're sensitive people, right? The most sensitive people in the world go into this insensitive profession. You walk into the room and you send your attention around the room and then you start interpreting. Oh no, they don't like me. And then you start to freeze. If I place my attention incorrectly and I look at all of you and I wonder I wonder what you think about what I'm saying, I freeze. I have to correctly take my attention off myself and on my task which is teaching you now the minute I do that I'm free to live. So when you pick up the material few key things the difference between why and how. Most of the time we are incorrectly using our technique to figure out how to play it. In life we have thoughts and feelings and then we find the words to express those thoughts and feelings. Right? It's a straight line. What should you do as actors? We start with the words. So, we should find the thoughts and feelings that make us need to say these words. The why. What's the acting mistake? How? How should I play this moment? Where does the scene do this? Where's my transition there? Where's my B? Right? And then you're going to do all that and then but try not to be in your head. And then how can you not start measuring against your predetermined game plan? How can you not be in your head? So, all of the work is basically this. What in the human condition is this about? And where does it live inside me? And if you need these words, if you need the words, if you find the need for the words, they will come to you. If you memorize the need before you just try to get words in isolation, they will come to you. So, I'm going to tell you from my point of view, and of course, we all differ and everybody up here is valid in what they do for from my point of view, memorize it and get damn good at memorizing because you know what happens to most people when they hold the script? Their confidence goes down. It's security blankie. Put blankie down. Let's have Let's have Lesie jump in the live. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Um, I love what everybody is saying and I um I understand what Howard's saying and when it's three weeks into your audition for that pilot, uh, you bet your sweet bippy you better go to that test and be memorized. But when it's February 5th and you have five auditions tomorrow and four of them came in last night and four of them are scripts you've never read before, you are not going to be memorized. Even if you've been on a soap for the last five years of your life, you're not going to be memorized because it's five different characters and you don't know them. And you're not even going to be able to figure out how to get to wherever the [ __ ] you've got to go. So, I need you to be able to do both, right? You better be off book when you go to that test. Unless you got the test tonight. Now, if you've been a series regular, you're good at memorizing and you better go to that test tomorrow and be off book. But if you haven't been a series regular, no one is going to expect you to be off book tomorrow. And you have to be the kind of actor who can have those papers in his hand and be freaking fantastic and be in the moment and be listening and be having relationships and be in your given circumstances. You have to be able to do both. He's absolutely right. You have to be able to be memorized. I'm not bad at memorizing. Get better at it. I'm really bad at math and science. So, do you know what I decided not to do? I decided not to be a doctor. So, if you're going to be bad at memorizing, I don't really understand why you decided, hey, it'd be a really good idea to be an actor. Get really good at memorizing. Practice. Be scientist. Be a scientist. That's very funny. Now, let's talk about nerves. I love what these guys are saying about nerves. They're absolutely right. But let's talk, God bless you, about what your nerves are. Your nerves are a physical manifestation of the [ __ ] that's in your head. So, let's talk about what the [ __ ] is that's in your head. Tell me some of the stuff that's in your head when you're at that audition and you're nervous. Tell me what you're thinking. Tell me what those thoughts are. I'm afraid I'm going to fail. I'm going to I'm afraid I'm going to suck. What else? They're not going to like me. What else? I'm too old. What was that? That girl is way better than me. I saw her in that movie. Absolutely. She is [ __ ] better than me. I saw her in that movie. All right. How are you? I don't know what they want. Exactly. I don't know what they want. These are all great and useless things for you to be thinking about. Okay. So, the first thing you need to do is become aware that you're thinking that. And then, do you know what you should be thinking? Your character's thoughts. Here. Here. Think your character's thoughts. Your character isn't thinking about whether you've got the right color hair or that she saw that girl in the movie last week. Your character's thinking, "Why did they think I killed this guy? I was at home with my husband. I didn't kill anybody. Don't put me in prison." That's what your character's thinking. Oh, Leslie, I can't do that. I can't think my character's thoughts. My heart's going pitter or pat. I'm spitzing. My knee is shaking. I can't do that. The stuff that your heart and your knee and all that stuff is doing, it's just physiological. It's just, you know what? I have to pee and I'm doing great. And that's your obstacle. Okay, that's your obstacle. Do you see what I'm saying? I I I have to pee. And you know what else? My lower back hurts. Do you know that my lower back hurts? No. I'm doing fine. It's just physiological stuff that's going on. Now, going back to what Warner was saying about this about this audition, you know, I love what Warner said about having fun. Y'all have to have fun. And in addition to having fun, and in addition to having fun, I want you to think about this. You got up this morning, you got in your car, you paid for the gas, you paid for the goddamn [ __ ] parking, right? You're probably going to get a ticket. I'm sorry if you're offended that I swear. I I was not allowed to swear when I was young and nor was I allowed to wear jeans and so I do nothing but swear and wear jeans now. I just um but uh you know what you are doing those people a favor. You got you got in your car, you're paying for the gas to go in and show them how this thing should be done and then you got somewhere good to go afterward. You are not you are not needy. You are not desperate. Nobody dates the desperate. Nobody wants anybody needy. It is not sexy. When you turn on Letterman or Leno or one of those guys at night, is anybody looking desperate and needy? No. That's what they're casting. They're casting sexy. And sexy doesn't have to mean sexy like that. Sexy is smart and in and and and on top of it and confident. You think confident thoughts. And I don't happen to think confident thoughts are I'm really confident. I'm really confident. I can do this. I can do this. I don't actually think that's what I'm talking about. The best way to be confident is to do the work that these guys have taught you to do and think your character's thoughts. Yes, Margie, I know you want to say something. Well, because you're so much I mean, we could do a teamwork with our [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] No, because it was we're also we're also we passionate about this because this is what we do all day long. I'm terrified that you guys are going to not do it. And you know the thing the the thing the thing that is so interesting is that we all known each other for so many years and now here we are together. Um and it's just great because we're all very passionate. The one big thing is don't stay with people that aren't passionate. Obviously that's not here on this on this place here. We're all very passionate. Don't stay with everybody doesn't curse. Obviously Howard cursed now so it's okay to stay with him. But the thing the thing I want to say is that in everything that they're saying, how do I tell people how do you get rid of nerves? You you get you get rid of nerves by living the life of the person. You're having that person's thoughts. You can't be thinking two things at the same time. If I'm going, "Oh [ __ ] oh shit." You know, people when the one of the things that I have that I talk about is these five ego states and one of them is the critical parent and one of them is a fearful child. When you walk into that room, any room, you know, what voice are you hearing? If it's the critical parent is saying exactly what you guys said out there, right? Oh, I you know that person's younger than me or oh my god, I've been here and that person's been on every every audition I've been on or look at me, I'm fat today. That's the critical parent. That's what you hear. Or if you hear that fearful child which goes, oh my god, just put me under bed all night and I won't have to get up. Uh I I'll just stay in bed. I don't have to audition. Those are those things those are the voices you hear. Those voices go away. Okay, they go away when you have a relationship and purpose. And that's what Howard was talking about. When you when I have when I go into that room, first of all, I don't go into the room thinking I'm going to audition. I go into that room living the life of this person. So, as I'm going in there, I'm thinking that person's life anyway. I'm not going I hope they I hope they hire me. I hope they hire me. I hope they hire me because I that's not my focus. That's not my job. I'm not going there to to get the job in my life. I'm going there to have that time to live it. Okay? So, that pressure is off of me. It's off of me. You have to be very specific to get that way. You just can't say I'm going to live my life. You know, there's lots of things to do that. But you have to have the opportunity to believe that. Oh my gosh, I'm mistakes are your friends. I write that all over the place. Mistakes are your friends in comedy and everything. We know when we make a mistake, it's a gift. In life, if we pull back, right, then we look like we're scared and then we don't have the power. But the power comes when I'm willing to share that I'm imperfect, that I'm I'm willing to share that. And I'm imperfect. Everybody up here is imperfect. And so why do we we have to be perfect? Except Leslie. Leslie's kind of perfect. I want I was produc involved in producing I've never been on the other side. I don't know if all of you have been on the other side, but I've never been on the other side really. I'm uh involved in producing a movie called Strings, and I worked with the actors on it, Josh Demal, and this great guy, Lucas Till and um and uh whoever these people are. Anyway, uh great great people. And there was when I was um Laura Durn, I'm going to get the names out. It's the senior citizen moment coming up. And I was and I never I've never been on the other side and I really other than with sitting with Fern Champion who's a friend of mine and I sit with her, but I've never been in that position. And it is unbelievable how much you give up your power. It's unbelievable that you sit there outside going like it's too late now to worry about your lines. All right? Uh because now is not the time if you're going to memorize it. And I do believe there are times to memorize. I'm not an anti-memorizer. But I do believe that I do believe that most of the time you don't have to. But anyway, I see these people sitting out there and they're so frightened, you know, they're like they have lost all of their power and they're they're hoping that they can get this job. And it was a particular it was about it was a dancer uh that had to come in and do this this particular and they were just horrible because they were so worried about themselves and they didn't really even notice I existed and I was giving them stuff. I was reading with them while the reader that was next to me was reading like this before it was like down. I was giving them stuff. It wouldn't make a difference if I was giving something to you or not. You're still not paying attention because you're so worried about yourself. Stop worrying about yourself and start checking the person out. Look at this person in front of me. She's been typing away like crazy. What's your name? I'm Mara. Mara, you've been going a whole doing a whole number with her hair sticking out over here, the red hair. She's got her red shirt, a very striped zebra kind of jacket. I notice you. Your smile. You change the way I'm going to say something now because I notice you. If I go in and play the idea and cover myself with it, I won't notice you. But when I notice you, I don't get nervous anymore because now it's about you and me taking a dance. And that's what I'd like to do. Take a dance. Dance on, girls and boy. Excellent. Woo. Yeah. Give them all a hand. So, we're going to start with Lesie for this question, but obviously it's for everyone. Um Lesie, so we you guys have talked about this. We get the um pilot season, even not pilot season, actors get the script 800 p.m. 9:00 p.m. You know, it's five, six, 10 pages. um talk about I get um 10 pages for Two Broke Girls and I have to go in at 10 a.m. tomorrow. What are some tips of things that I can know that I can accomplish with that script or I can work on the script to know that I that I'm going to achieve the goals that you would recommend I achieve and then we can break it um open up to everyone else. Not everything. Don't memorize. Thank you. Sorry, Howard. Is that it? Is that the end? Okay. You'll have your turn, Howard. You'll have your turn. Read the script. Read the script. Read the script. And read the script. But Leslie, I don't have time to read the script. I have to go work at the bar and then I'm not going to get home until 2:00 in the morning. And then I have to be there at 10:00 in the morning. I can't read the script. I have to memorize my lines. Don't memorize. What are you doing if you're memorizing? You're doing what Margie said. You're worrying about the words. Instead, read the script and figure out who your character is and what your character thinks. This guy just came in and he wants me to a couple days ago and he wants me to work with him on this movie. And he like shoved the script in my face. this 110p page script, by the way, too long, but that's something else. Um um and he goes, "So, coach me." And I'm like, "Dude, I haven't read the [ __ ] script." And he goes, "Yeah, but I'm just I'm a boxer and I'm this and I'm gay and I'm this and I'm that." I'm like, "Dude, I need to read the script." "Oh, and I'm Mexican and I'm this and I don't Okay, I don't know anything about the script. You telling me about the script isn't going to get me anywhere." All right, let me read the script. I read the script. It's so different from what he told me. Read the script. But Leslie, my agent didn't get me the script and so I only have that breakdown in the sides. Well, it's two and a half men. It's been on the air for eight and a half years anyway, so let's not worry about it. But for the pilot, your agent did get you the script. And if your agent didn't get you the script, find the script. It's out there. You can get you get the breakdown and what is it? That code screenplay online or something. You pay 10 bucks and you get it. Leslie, I can't pay the 10 bucks. Do you want the job or not? You're not going to get the job unless you read the script, unless you know exactly what's going on. The breakdown is helpful, but who writes the breakdown in most cases? Breakdown services. Breakdown Services. They don't know any more than you do about it. So, you don't you don't really need you can tell if Breakdown Services wrote it because it sounds like Breakdown Services wrote it. If it's really well written, then one of the writers wrote it and then you can pay attention to it. Um, you need to go through and figure out the the basic things that Margie and Warner and Howard and I all agree on. What the hell just happened? What is your relationship? Who are you in the scene with? What do you think about that person? What do you think about what just happened? What do you think about what that person just did to you? And what do you think about what was just said or done? Say it out loud and then start the scene. Here's my feeling. I would rather you sit there in the waiting room. Go there tomorrow morning. Sit there in the waiting room. read the script and make no choices except for what your first thought is at the beginning of the scene as a result of whatever just happened then that you memorize your lines because if you memorize your lines you got nothing going on in there. Is that is that a good beginning? I'll let I'll let Howard jump in. Howard turnard Howard. Howard Howard. Leslie, my darling. Howard. First of all, let me give you an example. Okay. Okay. First of all, I'm going to speak the really dirty word, the dirtiest word that's been said here. Theater. Plays. Gee, who do we see at award time? those terrible actors, you know, Kevin Spacy, Meryill Streep, Anthony Hopkins, you know, Viola Davis, Kate Blanchett, the people who really drag us down, you know, who have who have craft because we don't want to be that. This is TV film. We don't want craft. We want to be third nurse from the left. [Laughter] That was me. You were very good. I was actually one moment, doctor. I believed you. I did. So, let's talk about craft. If it's just about the words when you memorize, you don't know how to work. So, tough cookies, aren't they? Here I was in the 80s directing a play called GR Point, which starred Craig Schffer, who some of you know from A River Runs Through It. And the end of act one in GR point is one of the most emotional scenes ever written. And Scott Plank, who was an amazing actor who died at an early age, he went right from my production to play opposite Shawn Penn and Hurley Burley. Every actor coming in was reading this emotional, gut-wrenching scene this way. And Scott walked in and said, "I think I know it. do you mind if I put down the script? And I said, "Sure, go ahead." And Craig Schoffer, who was reading with the actors, put his script down. And they went for it. And that kid took that part. He took it. You got to get fierce. Yes, I agree. Read the script. Is this a wise career choice? You've got to be out of your mind, right? And you could probably give me the statistics, but at any given time, how many of SAG members are unemployed? Um, there's 2% of SAG after members make a living wage. Good. So, 98% of SAG members, not even people who aren't SAG, 98% of the union are unemployed at any time. Get ugly. Get fierce. Everybody else ought to just stay home because you are going to take that thing. Now that means you got to read the script and you got to know how to read a script. Do you know how much not to join the name dropping thing although I started it but okay I just finished coaching Will Smith on his new film called Will Smith. Wow. You know Will we call him Will? I used to call him Willie. Well, little one. In any case, on his new movie called Focus, where he plays a con artist, I read that script over and over again, and I saw so many logic problems in it, which I pointed out to the producers, and they went, "Oh my god, they rewrote it." Know how to read a script the way a detective reads a script. Pick out everything that is in your given circumstance. Anything that you miss, you have missed something actable. So you've got to know how to read. And actors, not enough people read. Imagine going to a job interview in the business world and saying, "Okay, are you a natural leader?" No, not really. Well, you're organized. No. Well, you're good with people. No. Now you go to an interview as an actor. Are you emotionally available? No, I'm cut off. You're an avid reader. No, I hate to read. Well, you're passionate. No, I just thought I would do this cuz I sucked at school. So, check in with one. Do you have a craft? And we are saying prepping for pilot season, but you alluded to it, Dennis. You don't prep for pilot season. That's year round. Look at the Olympics about to come up. Why do we respect all those athletes? Because we know the hours they put in. We know the work ethic. And in Los Angeles and Australia and everywhere else, just having a work ethic. Just having a work ethic will separate you. A real work ethic. I agree with Howard. I agree. We all agree with you, Howard. Do you agree with all agree? We all do. Howie, you're the man. Yeah, you're a man. You're the man's man. Well, because you also believe and you know what everyone here believe theater is fantastic. I mean, I think all of us I mean whether I mean all of us believe that if you get a chance always I tell people that come why do you come out to LA to do film and TV? But you should be doing theater, you should be doing commercials, you should be doing industrials, you should be doing everything. Anything that's going to help you live a life, you should do all of it. I mean, you know, and read a script. We are detectives. Every single thing that's written in there has to be understood, but you don't want to understand it here. This is the problem. Many of you get it up here in your head and you don't get in your body. So, you know, uh I was working with someone today, but it wasn't Willie. Who was it? Well, now that you asked, uh just left me. Relle. She's so gorgeous. Relle from Mistresses. And she's pro. She's like Halle B's like like a Halle Berry. is gorgeous and working today on this um we work on the mistresses but working on a film she just got. So, it was fascinating because I said, "Get up. Get up." You know, or get out, get off the chair and let's walk around and live in the body. Because every time you're sitting down, I and I see people in my studio, they're all sitting down. I go, "What are you doing? Get up. Get up and live in it." Because people, we human beings live in our bodies. But in the audition process, you think it's all about this. You see, and I know why Howard says what he says. And if I saw the way you people use the paper, I would say the same thing that Howard said. I would say memorize because you're not using it the right way. When you use the paper and you're going like this and taking a sneak look, how everything go looking like this, going down like this or I call this the I [ __ ] Hi, how are you? You do that stuff. Yeah, everyone wants you to memorize it because it's not living it. But when you use the paper as part of the behavior, the life here is the same as here. No one even knows you're using the paper. I have somebody I'm doing in Australia who said to me um he has a studio in Australia. Did I mention that? I'm just support I'm just giving a little thing for you. Um but uh I have this woman who's uh this marvelous actress Laura Gordon who says to me, you know, every time I go to Australia and I stay there or here, I have to do these self tapes, right? These I mishuga these self tapes are horrendously difficult. Aren't they difficult? the self tapes and over and come they do this and she said you know I had so many that one day I had four of them and I got at the last minute. No, she did not have time to memorize it. She literally got it that you know you have to have it in out in like a half an hour. So she said I'm going to use this paper you know this phrase technique I'm going to use it and the people this is what she ended up booking because she wasn't worried about it. She didn't have the time. If you have the time do it memorize it. It's part of your tools. the this phrase technique I'm talk I'm talking about is another tool it's another tool for you to use you wanna anything you want to add to I forgot the question from it was no I did I thoroughly enjoyed everything everybody said but no but it was any tips for breaking down a script when you when you get it the night before do you have any tips for Oh I I completely agree with Howard in that um character must come first right if you are sitting there thinking about how how am I coming across how then you are in your left brain and when you act, you are in your right brain. The same place that we used to play as children when we could go, I'm going to be the handmaiden and you be the princess and we didn't care what anybody else was doing. We didn't care that our parents were talking in the next room or whatnot, right? It was a complete escape. And I think that's where you want to be in your right brain escape. But character must come first. Like Howard was saying, I I don't think you said exactly like this, but I think we mean the same thing. Okay, you said it. Um, dialogue is nothing more than a thought. Oh, for God's sakes. Come here, Leslie. Jesus Christ. Oh my god. I've waited so many years. Leslie and I had lunch about 20 years ago. Oh my god. You changed. You've changed. Warner, dear. What were you saying? Used to be. Excuse me. Uh, Warner was speaking. I was saying dialogue is nothing more than a thought spoken out loud, right? It's a thought spoken out loud. That's what it is. Sus out your character first. You must read that script because I guarantee you, you'll read those sides and like a detective, do look at it objectively as if you're going to tell someone what this character is about. Right? You want to sus out your character, build your character first, and then put that character in the circumstances of the scene. Just as sure as you read that scene and then you go back to read the script, that character is going to look different. That scene's going to look different. So yes, fight. Fight to get the script. And Howard is right. We do have to fight, guys. You have to have persistence out there, don't you? For every day that you persist, there's somebody dropping out. Whoop! Right. And just because you're you've booked a fantabulous job, there's still going to be hills and valleys. hills and valleys. I always like to say this is a 60-year career. It is not a six-year career. So, if you want it to be a six-year career, this is probably not the right business, right? It's a 60-year career. I'm I'm upping that now because I'm old. It's an 80year career, right? And every rung of the ladder that you go on, they're going to have a different set of so-called problems, right? Just because I mean, you you can look at that, you know, the red carpet and see the Oscar nominated people and let me tell you, they have a whole different set of problems than when you're just starting out, but they're just as real. Yeah. So, the the hills and valleys in this business, let it be. Let it be and enjoy the freaking journey of it all. Amen. Yeah, we forget to enjoy the journey. Uh, working hard is key. You must work your butt off. Amy Adams still comes into class. We still work countless hundreds and hundreds of hours on a role that she has. Amy Adams. Yeah. Was that Amy Adams? That was Amy Adams. Um, Amy, she's a lovely lovely [Laughter] Was it Will Smith? Yeah. No, but she does. And you don't think I tell you right after Catch Me If You Can, we we thought, "Oh, yay. We're here." Um, I have this picture in my office that she gave me. Uh, and she gave it to me because it was a set picture. And she says, "Look at this picture. I was in my prior moment." Right. Um, she goes, "To the left of me is Leonardo DiCaprio, to the right of me is Tom Hanks, and directly in front of me is Steven Spielberg." I went, "Wow, look at that focus." Yes, ma'am. You can't think a personal thought and a character thought at the same time. So, in your prior, I like to call it instant. If you will think a character thought that's associated with a scene, like Leslie's saying, you have your prior circumstances, which are the circumstances before the scene begins. You have your prior moment, which are the moments leading up to that scene. And then you have your prior instant. And the prior instant are the exact character thoughts that the character is thinking, which in an audition and on set is extremely helpful because you can't think of I shouldn't have worn why did I wear my hair like this and I hate this girl. You know, you can't think a personal thought. Think a character thought. Yeah. See, tangent. I do that all the time. But Amy, um I'm getting back to Amy. Um after Catch Me If You Can, we thought yes, it's going to roll. and she didn't work for a year. She called me up and said, "I'm moving back to Colorado. I'm going to be a waitress." I'm like, "I will hunt your ass down and drag you screaming." That girl works so hard at what she does and so must you. At every turn, work harder than the next guy. Yeah. Do you have any hands to that? Um, this question, we'll start with Margie and then we'll get into some audience questions. Um, Margie, what does it mean to be a self-aware actor? Um, self-aware actor. What does it mean to be a self-aware actor? Well, I think so. Thank you, Leslie. What I'm feeling right now, self-aware. Well, I would think I'm talking thinking of it as a negative way, right? Self-aware. I'm thinking it negatively. Well, but also positively, too. How do they become self-aware to be able then to do their work to know like to make it about the other person? Okay, because uh let me let me say that self-aware in my definition means I'm aware of self and that's not necessarily good because uh but if you're talking about uh how do I get the confidence which is a different thing for me to to go into the room um you know I just believe we have we have so much power we give up so much power because we want to book and it's such a stressful thing they're saying work hard and I'm I'm saying work hard, but I'm not saying work hard, you stupid people. Don't work you. Everybody wants the same thing. We all want to succeed. We all want to do the best we can do. If we can all sit down and do the best be the best of Margie I can be, be of le best Leslie we can be. And we believe that's our goal, then we can actually own the life of another person. But if we ourselves are damaged and injured and we don't get help to be a better person then it's really hard to be to be the best that we can be. Don't you believe that to be I mean I think that I when I look at my actors that are there a lot of actors that are injured I go you know what I have I have my own personal therapists I go to I love my therapist Barbara Satin over all right Barbara uh I I go I believe in mindful meditation all right and I believe that what happens if you are and if you can be a healthy person and then start to live the life of another person then you're in good shape so healthy means being positive uh I believe that if you're glass half full person your life is going to be better. Every time I work with somebody um on on a slice of life I call it, they have to bring in all the life that they've given all those moments before all that's happened previously. And once you do that and once you go in that room before you go in that room in a waiting area that's the most important time the waiting area is where you end up I'm gonna say would you guys lose a job because you're so [ __ ] nervous that you're thinking you know do I remember my lines but if you actually are living in the life of what's going to happen what's happening and you're you're out there you're standing up and you're walking around you're talking to yourself and you're a lot of people think you're schizophrenic because you talk a lot to yourself you know and then you go in you're you're full I I call it blow up the balloon halfway way. If you don't blow up the balloon halfway, you ever tried blowing a balloon? I'm sure you're good at it because you're a man. Your muscles, but I I It must take muscles to blow up a balloon. I don't know what the hell I just said. Anyway, if you blow up a balloon, it's very What you mean? I don't know. I have no idea. But if you try to blow up She's very cute. Leave her alone. She's doing We're having a drink afterwards together. That's for sure. If you blow up a balloon, it's really hard to blow it up, isn't it? Right. But if you blow up before and stretched it, I Do you want to stop while you're ahead? Stop while I'm not ahead. While I'm ahead. Oh, great. Great. Anyway, the end. I feel like May I just feel like what Margie's saying is absolutely right. The the two kinds of self-aware. If I'm aware of Leslie and I'm playing, you know, Margie, I'm a little bit [ __ ] So, I should be thinking my character thoughts. And I love what Margie's saying about have your [ __ ] together. Um, in terms of being self-aware, understand what you're marketing. Um, understand how casting sees you. Understand that if you walk in the room like this that they're going to think one thing about you and they're going to think something completely different if you're standing like this. Um, you need to understand all of those things. You do need to be self-aware, but can I change the subject? Okay. Um, because Margie said something else a few minutes ago and I don't remember what it was, but it reminded me of the first question. Um, which was I don't remember. And so, um, but what I wanted to say about that is pilot season. Um, how many of you are with the top five agencies and you're going to be having five auditions a day come January 15th? Right. That's what I thought. So, um, one of you. Excellent. So, um, I think what we have to talk about is what about the fact that pilot season might not happen, right? So, I I think there are a couple things to to address there and I can't wait to hear what these guys have to say. Um, if I unless you're with one of the great agencies, you're probably not going to have a fabulous pilot season. So, you think what you need to do is get with one of those fabulous agencies. And while that would be fabulous, do you understand how you're going to get with one of those fabulous agencies? Probably by standup or by improv or by putting something fantastic on YouTubes and getting 10 million hits. So, if you're not going to have a pilot season or if it's February 15th and you find yourself not having a pilot season, I really need you to think about how you're going to have a pilot season in 15. And and I need you to understand that it's not like it was when we were coming up. When we were coming up, you could be a really good actor and you could go to a really snazzy drama school and you could get really great rep and you could get all the opportunities and you could have a pilot season in five minutes. It's just not like that anymore. And so you guys have to become aware that that's what the deal is and you have to be making things. But I'm not a good writer and I can't do that. Well, there are 7,000 people out there who are and who can make friends with them. And if you can't write, you don't have to write, but find somebody who does. And you need to start making things. I I mean, y'all, crap is all over YouTube. It's just crap all over Funny or Die. And these people are getting deals for shows and you're not. make it happen. You got to be doing your standup, doing your improv, or making your stuff. Is there something else they should be doing beside that? Singing? I don't care. But find have something else. I'm sorry. It can't just be auditioning, you guys. You cannot just be relying on the auditions to make the career happen for you. Back to you. Leslie is so right about that. It's it's self-generated and we must self-generate these days. uh find people. Find people who do what you don't do. My uh Wednesday night class got together, the whole class, decided to do a feature film and in three days they did dramatic improv based on characters that they'd been working on. Uh dramatic improv, three-day shoot, did a feature freaking film. Yes. Unbelievable, right? I was so impressed with him. Um, and it got into the Austin Film Festival. Wow. And it won the audience award. Wow. I mean, that's that's taking it that's taking the ball, the bull by the horns and doing it yourself. You must got rep out of that, right? Somebody probably got rep. I I'll tell you, CA. Wow. And that's one of the biggies. You guys got to be doing stuff. They're not They're not out They are out there looking for you online. Please do something online. It doesn't even have to be good. It could be weird. It could be funny. It could be strange. There are so many people. I can't tell you, and I know that it's the same with these guys, how many phone calls a day we get from CIA and and William Morrison Endeavor and everybody going, "I got this actor, not really an actor, really just made this [ __ ] online. Really can't act at all, but he he's doing a pilot. Can you teach him how to act this week because they're shooting it next week?" All the time. I get that kind of all the time. All the time. But so we want you we want it to be you guys. We Listen, we're all trained actors. We resent those [ __ ] too. I don't think there's any there's no disagreement. No, there's no disagreement on this at all. Web series. Terrific. I'm going to add plays again to the ways you can put yourself out there. But let's face it, it is a business of no. Don't be surprised by that word. The agent is going to say no to you. Then the agent turns around, signs you. Then the casting director is going to say no to the agent. The casting director is going to pitch it to the producer. The producer is going to say no. It's a business of no. Everything actually begins with no. And learning how to get around that word without being obnoxious is what all this is about. Because I'm sure each of us had several major nos in our own lives. And I'm sure all of you have as well. And if you learn to find a way around that word and a way around the gatekeepers, no one should be able to keep you from acting. If it's what you do, you need it in the way you need sunlight and air. It's who you are. And you have to find a way not to let somebody to stop you from doing it. Student films, I would add that as well. Your student filmmakers are your filmmakers of tomorrow. Get to know them. find a way to do what you do so that you're not waiting even if you get together and you produce something lowbudget with all the tech that's available now there's so much you can do to put your work I have so many students doing that right I mean I have students in my classes um and I have and not even just my students but teachers that are in the intermediate level they don't have to be in my level the master level to be doing this I have people that are not even in my classes but in the intermediate level that are literally going out and doing the most amazing things that I would like this one guy, he showed it to me. He said, "You've got to go look at this. He who was in a forest. He had a bunch of other people in the forest and all of a sudden this this uh car comes and this guy starts shooting and then it's all I don't know what the hell it was, but it was absolutely astonishing that he did this on his own, you know. And I want to say that the two things I think you guys are learning here from all of us is one is how ambitious you need to be, right? and how you all of us say that there's no one's going to no one's going to do it for you. The second thing I want to say to you that I want you to hear me is to know that every day you have the opportunity to live a life and not to wait. Meaning that when you when you're sitting at a restaurant, I tell my students, imagine, use your imagination, imagine the couple over there or whether they're having a fight, what their fight's about. Go to go to I tell people go to the airport and watch people when they almost careful carefully. I haven't said anything about anything bad yet. Careful. We're living in a very high security age. See he's see he he doesn't go with me to airports. I go by myself. Thank you. Go to the airport at the places you're allowed to go and watch people kiss each other and say goodbye to each other and start to create. I think the biggest problem with you guys is you want to be actors. You keep wanting to want to be actors. You keep wanting wanting want to be actors. You want to get the job. You want to get the job. And you know what? Meanwhile, you're not using your tools, your everyday tools of sensory and imageries and then creating your imagination. Everybody can do this all the time. There is no excuse for it. You know, to sit around and just watch TV all day or just do that. You could go out there and experience life, you know, and that's going to cause you to be a better actor. You give him a hand for that. Yeah. Love it. Leslie, you just answered the question I was about to ask. So, boom. There you go. You're two steps ahead of me here. So, um, another question I have for you guys is, um, what, um, how has, how you mentioned this a little bit, Margie, I'm going to open up to the panel. What are the things you are talking about as teachers now? Maybe it's this creating new work, maybe it's something else that maybe you weren't talking about 20 years ago or the language you're using. What is the things that as acting teachers you've changed in the last 20 years and you're like now I see it this way? I brought that one up. And so Margie kind of talked a little about it. Um the question was um for the rest of the panelists as well. What is it language? Is it the new media aspect? What are the things the conversations you are having now that maybe as an um acting teacher you didn't have 20 years ago? Wow, they're silent. I think that's the first time this evening. This is the You'll never see this again. So, watch carefully because we're all aggressive personalities. Even this one right here. Sweet, but watch out. Okay, they're all quiet. Go ahead. All right, I'll go. Uh, first of all, much has stayed the same. I am really focusing on certain things. I have noticed a few things. One is for some reason almost an epidemic of ADD. And I'm finding my students not reading. And if you want to get better at auditioning, if you want to get better with any scripts, read daily. Read. All art is derivative. Do you realize how many plots are based on Shakespeare? All art is derivative. You want to understand sitcom, read Aristophanes. So I'm finding that we are becoming a society of texting and we are losing the ability to fully communicate and express. So if we are communicating in shortorthhand all the time, how are you going to pick up Romeo and Juliet? Right? Because how do we express ourselves? Do we express ourselves with poetry? and the great writers even for television because look, television has changed. Look at what's being done now. You're getting film quality on television, not just HBO and Showtime and Stars and but we're getting it throughout. Amazon's coming out with material and also film actors, it used to be all separate, are now doing television projects because they're of such a high quality. So, develop your verbal skills. and concentrate. If you don't have a concentration skill, if you don't read a book cover to cover, you don't have the concentration to be an actor. So, you want to get better at working quickly, read. That's what's changed. And the the fact that we don't express ourselves fully. How many of you know a great storyteller in your lives? Okay, it's almost a lost art. And isn't that what we are but great storytellers? So start to communicate. If you want to get better, learn the language of communication and emotion. How was your day? All right. Want to hang out? Okay. How do I look? Yeah, good. Want to get married? All right. Right. So that is what's changed. We are not using language. We're not reading. And we're not developing the concentration skills. I'm a big fan of yoga. Alexander technique, voice class. I'm a big fan of all forms of dance training because it develops a concentration skill that you will need and that's what's going to keep you going is the ability to focus. And if I see one more student in my classes because it doesn't work, right? Patience, too. I'll leave you with this story. A young man goes to a first day with a martial arts master and after one class, and I bet my colleagues will identify this, after one class says, "How long before I'm as good as you?" And the martial arts master thinks about it and says, "10 years." And the kid says, "Well, what if I come three times a week?" And the martial arts master says, "Hm, 15 years. What if I come every day? 20 years. The kid says, "I don't understand. How come if I come that much more often and try that much harder, it takes me longer? It doesn't make sense." The master says, "With one eye always off in the distant future, you only have one eye in the present with which to learn." I love that. We are stealing that one, Howard. That's our story for today. I got one that I want to add. Brilliant. That was really good. Let's go less than four if you have anything. Well, I'm sorry. Oh, no, no. Um, getting back to where we were in our day coming up. We were in drama school required to do dance, fencing even, we had Shakespeare, we had voice, we had movement and we have lost that I think in today's world a bit. So, that full body actor to me is exceedingly important. Um, I see people with, you know, their voices are displaced. They don't you don't and there's a difference. So yes, get in an improv class, get in a comedy class, a drama class, get in voice and movement, get in all of that because it will serve you well. And when she says that, I want to say one thing. There are teachers, and we're not one of any of them, thank God, that say, "Do not study any place but my my place." You know, I I know these people and I don't know if you know, but there is someone who has people study for two years. Until you finish the two years, you can't study any place else. I'm just saying I'm not saying who. I'm not gossiping Howard, but I'm saying to you, everybody has a a different gift to give you and nobody should own you. You know, I love when my students go and to Leslie. I mean, I recommend Leslie for comedy all the time. I love I mean, this is what you need to do. You need to know that that there are specialties out there and that people have different things to offer and that you should go out and find that and look at the truth of yourself because you're a business. I mean what are your assets and deficits and if your assets are there then look at the deficits and don't be critical about it. Don't make it a negative thing make it a positive thing. noise. Two things. The frame. Pursuant to your question, um about what's different. The frame. Um you guys, you guys got to know the frame. Um if I were you and if I were an actor coming up right now, thank the Lord I am not. Um, I would have a camera in my house and I would be videotaping myself 247 until I was the world's foremost leading authority on the frame and on me on the frame. Um, I would become a filmmaker. Not that I want to. Um, I certainly understand why you're not. I would become a cinematographer. I would I would know all about that frame. There's a phenomenal teacher in New York named Bob Crackour and he is the one that made me really really get it, really grock that it's about the frame now. Every single audition that you're going in on is on tape. For you to not know exactly what that tape is going to look like is an error in judgment on your part. And there are fantastic and brilliant things that you can learn to do with regard to what that image looks like that will affect the way that image is seen by the viewer and how you are perceived and whether or not you get that call back. So I really really recommend that you look at the frame. The second thing is the way we look at text. I love what Howard's saying about the text. Um uh the text is so much thicker than it was. Every year it gets thicker and thicker. I think Aaron Sorcin just gets smarter and smarter every year and we Yep. And he gets wordier and wordier and every other writer in town, you'll forgive me, every other writer in town, you know, tries to emulate, you know, some of the genius. And, you know, you may not like what's the show that's on right now? Newsroom. Yeah. You may not like Newsroom. You would be wrong not to like it, but you might not might not like Newsroomy. It's wordy. The man's a genius writer and you're captivated and we need to be able to think like Aaron Sorcin in order to be able to execute Aaron Sorcin. Um, I love that these guys all say that I'm a comedy teacher. And if y'all want to call me a comedy teacher, bring it. It's fine. I don't see myself as a comedy teacher. I see myself as a text teacher. And I utilize comedy because it's so much easier for us to learn text analysis on comedy because the patterns in the text are so much more readily visible on comedy than they are on drama. I mean, in drama, you know, there's a car crash, somebody's dying, somebody's in the hospital, there's a lot of blood, but in comedy, you know, you you you got to, you know, achieve that pattern and you got to you got to make that moment. And so I find that if you if I start you out on comedy, then suddenly you can do horror and you can do adventure and you can do the buddy thing and you can do everything and and so to me it's all about text analysis and um I think it probably was always about text analysis but I do think now you know the writers of today there's so many Bobby Moresco there are so many amazing writers out there um and and when you when you turn when you turn on Sunday night TV on HBO and Showtime. I mean, what is that new one? Is it Getting On that? That um that I mean, this is Have you guys seen it? This is some amazing stuff they're doing in in Getting On. There's so many amazing shows that are that are being done on on these on these uh Your dog is named for Khesi. My dog's name is Khesi. My dog's She's very happy cuz it's our first dog. Game of Thrones. They're all looking at me blankly. Game of Thrones fan people. Game of Thrones. Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. 14 years. And Rome, do you guys remember Rome? I mean, talk about I I mean, wasn't that a great show? Where did that go? God. And you know, the important thing about all these shows and you say about the writing is this is what bothers me when people change words. I mean, it makes me crazy. I mean, there's certain obviously shows and improvs, of course, you can do that for that. But when you have good writing and you start changing it, like are you going to change Shakespeare? how I mean you know um is this a dagger which I see before somebody whatever you know I mean it's just you don't want to change words and that's why I that's why I'm such a stickler on using the paper the right way because if you start changing words and and and I I know even especially I'm going to say comedy because I do think of you comedy but I'm everything else too but when you do comedy and you say robbed robbed they come in they take things out they robbed us and then you say robbed the prisoner of second avenue by the way that's Mhm. Very good. If you change it and go robbed, I think they took something. It changes everything. So, you're really a stickler. I'm a stickler on using the words that are written. The other thing is that the writer isn't going to be very happy with you if you change his writing. Most of the time they're in the room. That's right. When you audition and do you know how much they love hearing their words? Very much narcissism. Unless their name is What's that guy that does everything improv? You know, all the improv movies. Who would you say? Jud Appattow. Jud Appattow does not want you to say anything written on the page. Okay. But everybody else pretty much does. And Erin Sorcin's people will fire you if you don't. Can I? That brings me to something. Can I May I um know the shows that you're going into audition for. Know the producers. Know the what the writing is like. Know the characters on that show. Know know what the tone is, the flavor, the feel of it. Know what you're walking into. Yeah. And watch them all. and watch pilot season is a little bit different in that pilots some of them some of the characters are well I find in sitcoms particularly not that they're vanilla but they haven't been completely wholly totally flushed out yet three four episodes into the series you're going to find that the writers are writing more for the actors involved that's why it's doubly hard and triply important for you to sus that character out make it your own Okay. Agreed. Agreed. Howard, do you agree? I agreed, Howard. Agreed. Okay. Okay. We're moving on. Um, we're going to do our last question. You've guys said so many wonderful things, right? They've so many amazing things. But I'm going to ch this is a challenge here. What's maybe your one last thing you want to leave us? Um, one think of it as like a one nugget of like if I could sum it up. This is the sentence or two or three that I would sum it up with. And we'll start with Howard or Leslie. She's Lesie's in it. Go to law school. Perfect. Perfect. This is why we talk about comedy. Okay. What's uh there is no scene to do correctly. There's simply a human being living authentically in the given circumstances. If you try to figure out how to do scenes well, you'll be in your head your entire life. Don't even think of it as a scene. It's a human being living authentically in given circumstance. What in the human condition is this about? Where does it live inside you? And how can you make it come from you so that we don't see the acting? If we see the acting, you're in trouble. I agree. That's the perfection of acting is because it's imperfect. any I I look at all you guys as you have such a gift. Find the joy in it. Don't take it lightly, but do find the joy in it and know that there may be one character that you portray. There may be one line that you read. There may be one thing you say as a character. And you will be touching people lives. You touch people whose names you will never know to either give them comfort or joy or to teach them something. But you touch them. What a noble gift that is. Yeah. So that um Yes. Wow. I think that's what's so wonderful about us that we get the opportunity to do this every day. Um I've been doing it for 4,000 years. as you've been doing for 3,3,999. But I I feel very blessed. My life is very blessed. Um I'm very blessed cuz I get a chance to go all over the world and and see everybody's the same. Nobody's different. I'm the same as you. I'm not any better than you. I'm just we're all the same. And you know the in my studio we have on camera. Everything's on camera. So you always see what the truth you see yourself. And because when you're talking about how important it is to really see that that and the intimacy of a camera is an X-ray. It's what I love about film. I love the opportunity when I watch you and you watch yourself and you can say, "Wow, at this moment, at this very moment, nothing's going on or at this moment I'm thinking a specific thought." It's fascinating to watch. Now, I just I I just would love for you guys to uh to really have the opportunity to watch and see the truth of what you do because that really changes everything. And I believe that there's a structure we have the frame which of mine is a 10step method that's in I have the frame, but to do it linear or technically gets in your way. You want to have the frame, but you want to be messy inside as messy as you can get. And messy means you can let yourself fall forward. So when you're in that audition room and you call it audition room and you go in there and you [ __ ] it up, [ __ ] it. [ __ ] it up. Whatever you and when you do that and you go like this and you pull back, you've lost all of the magic. You do that, right? Am I right? You go, "Oh shit." Anyone notice? Yeah. We're noticing that you're saying, "Oh shit." Yeah. But instead of pulling back, I always say, "Go forward." Because we love outtakes, don't we? I mean, I love outtakes. I wait for the end of the movie more but for the out takes than the intakes. And I love the out takes because it's real life and that's what I want you to do. I want you to enjoy the process of living a life. You want to add? I would say rehearsal and performance are two completely different things and don't bring your rehearsal into your performance. So, you get your audition, you work on it um tonight, you don't stay up all night, you get enough sleep, you get your beauty sleep, um you go to the gym in the morning, you go to the audition, and as you're sitting there in the waiting room, you can take 5 minutes if you want. You can review your work. And at the top of your page, you can have written down your first thought. And then you go to the audition, you shoot the [ __ ] with casting, and she says, "Are you ready?" And you say, "Yes." And you have your first thought. And then what do you do? You [ __ ] it. That's what I say. [ __ ] it. You [ __ ] it and you let go. You don't go, "Oh god, what was I supposed to do on this line? Oh god, what was that amazing moment that I did last night in the shower? Oh god, I've got a room." You can't do that in the middle of your audition. You can't. You have to do you have to be like Margie says, you have to fall forward. You have to be in the moment because you have prepared. You have prepared as much as you're going to prepare. and and being there in the middle of the audition in front of Juny Larry Johnson and worrying about what you decided you were going to do last night is going to ruin your audition. I promise. And this is the freedom. You get to do all your rehearsal and then you get to [ __ ] it. One of my faculty members is here right now um in the audience. Her name is Allison Turner. And Allison always likes to say, "Fuck it." Say if I say this right, [ __ ] it is an ingredient, not a garnish. [ __ ] it is not something that you can put on at the end if you have a little extra to make it taste good. [ __ ] it is the last and most important ingredient of your preparation. Prepare and then [ __ ] it and have a great time. Like Warner said, you know that that is on my thing. [ __ ] it. I can't get over it. This is on my video. Everyone should say it together. One, two, three. [ __ ] it. Now I say say it with your body. [ __ ] IT. OH MY GOD. I SAY thank you for my titus. Let's give him a hand. [Applause] Um they are going to take their act on the road. So you might be able to see them in St. Louis or Michigan or town. We're going to make a YouTube video. Other than that, um thanks for coming. Please do fill out the surveys and turn them in and have a wonderful evening. Yeah, that was I know it was wonderful. But thank you guys. Okay, well bye everybody. Thank you. Bye. See you all. Happy holiday season. Make a leg, everybody.