[CONTENT] A04 - Brandon Ellis - Broadway (Success Summit 2013)

hi I'm Aon Marcus and welcome back to the acting and modeling success Summit we have a special guest with this his name is Brandon Ellis and Brandon is an actor singer musician working in New York City he graduated with the BFA in acting from the University of North Carolina Greensboro as you can see by his shirt in 2005 and he made his Broadway debut in a in the Tony awardwinning 2006 Revival of company today Brandon is on Broadway in the Tony award-winning production of once which is really incredible uh Brandon is also you ready for this he's also a competitive fighter and he's proud to train at Shang hpo Academy hey Brandon thank you so much for being a part of the summit today my pleasure so what millions of people are always wondering you know you went to school in North Carolina you decided to go to New York uh certainly you knew that you were a singer what was the first step that you took in trying to get involved in the New York City acting scene um well thankfully uh my college had a showcase which I think is um when you're picking a school one of the most important things is to is to have a college with a showcase and so would you just explain exactly what a showcase means for everybody yeah um basically when uh when I got to my senior year of college we prepared um scenes and myself I prepared some songs and uh my the my college rented out a theater and they invited agents and casting directors to come and see us before we graduated so um before I graduated I had an agent already an agent signed me out of that showcase and so he he was really lit a fire under me to move to New York and to um you know get here quicker and start auditioning and if it wasn't for him I probably wouldn't have been up here in time to to audition for company you know he he had me uh fly up to do uh final call backs for Sweeney Todd and those people in Sweeney Todd remembered me they didn't cast and Sweeney because there wasn't a place for me but they remembered me and then they called me back for company and uh and I booked it you know that that's one of the incredible things I think is really important for actors to understand is that you know getting the audition I mean that's the that's the amazing part I mean whether you book it or not I mean that stuff is out of your control but when you do a great audition you are remembered and and that's just like a perfect example of you did an audition and you wound up not getting that part but you wound up getting a job uh later on with the same people yeah yeah it's definitely definitely important I think to to just remember as an actor that our day job a lot of people say my day I'm a waiter whatever our day job is auditioning and so it's our job to go in and uh and give a good audition and no matter what if you go in and you kick ass you're going to walk away smelling like roses so yeah whether you get the job or not and that's and that is the important part of doing a great job at the audition now when you are getting ready to audition and and actually let's just talk specifically about Broadway because I mean that's anybody who's done theater I mean that's the dream I mean to be able to do Broadway is the mecca for anybody who's interested in theater so when you are getting prepare to audition for any any kind of Broadway piece what exactly do you do as way of getting ready for it uh it's it's an extreme amount of preparation I mean if um I I usually go to several vocal coachings um I'm always off book for my first audition whether whether I got it the day before or not I always memorize it even you know I go in and I still hold it in my hands so I don't look cocky but always memorize um score the scene make sure you know all your actions and objectives and um you know go to I go always go and see an acting coach um you know that's another thing a lot of people they graduate from school and they forget that it's a continuing education thing you know you got to keep your chops up it's just like you know playing football or anything you got to practice and keep your body in shape you got to keep your acting shops and your singing shops in shape so I uh so I go vocal coaching I um I go to an acting coaching or or more if I have the time um if the if it's an accident I go to I hire a dialect coach um and then I spend uh I don't know six hours a day until the day of the audition you know at least looking over stuff I don't do it all at once so I don't burn myself out you know but I'll spend an hour go grab some food do another hour go hit the gym go to work look at it at my break at work come back home look at it before I go to sleep you know I spent a lot of time I some people in order to be free to make interesting choices in auditions need to not be too prepared uh for me that doesn't work I need to be hyper hyper prepared in order to feel uh relaxed in an audition yeah and it's interesting you mentioned that as well because like there are many different methods there are many different philosophies of how to prepare and it's kind of like even you know with music you know there everybody has different techniques for things what ultimately matters is what's the final version what's the product that comes out and no matter how you get there it really doesn't matter and whatever works for you is the important thing so when you actually walk in well actually maybe you can just kind of walk us through that process uh you've got a specific do you have you have a specific time to audition is it like uh with a sag after audition where there's a very specific time slot or is it between the hours of and then you show up no it's always pretty specific um they almost always are behind but um but they you know I'll have a time like 12:30 so I usually show up at you know 12 or 11:30 and I'll rent a studio in whatever building the audition is in um and you know that's not that expensive maybe 15 bucks and um you write that for the hour and I go in there and I warm up and go over my stuff that I'm going to and get myself prepared so that I don't just walk into the building and sit down outside the room and get myself nervous waiting and also you separate yourself from everybody else in the room who sometimes can do a lot of crazy things while you're trying to get prepared yeah I don't like to I don't like to sit around and compare myself to people so or talk about you know your most recent projects and how you're going to be you know traveling you know around the world okay so so now now you're you're physically you're mentally prepared you go back in and then you're called so you walk in now do you have because I'm not sure how that works do you have uh sheet music or are you doing something specifically for that play uh it depends um usually uh these days it's pretty common for someone to if it's a new musical they'll send me something to prepare from the show and they'll also O say bring your book um of Music which is just a book of songs that you put together over the years that you enjoy singing and they'll um sometimes they ask for something from the book and sometimes they don't um they usually always ask for something from the show if they have asked you to prepare it and um then there are some sometimes you'll show up for something where they'll just say uh sing something you love we just want to sing you we just want to see you do something you love doing um and so you want to have your book full of stuff that that you love doing you know if there's a bunch of stuff in there that that you're kind of tired of then take it out of there you don't want them to see you do something you're tired of and so you just walk over and hand it to the accompanist just go over to the accompanist and uh you know just have them take a look at the time signature and say you're doing about this fast and I'm going to need a starting pitch or or just roll a cord to start um and then say you know follow me at this time change and you know just point out the things that they may or may not know and remember to always be like super super nice to your accompanist because they can they can think you're audition if they don't like you so when you are auditioning in that situation um about how many people are actually sitting in the theater uh well it's usually held at some um Studio you know like Ripley Greer or Pearl or something in you know in New York there's a bunch of kind of go-to places to have oh you're not actually in the theater at that point no very rarely I've never auditioned in the theater for anything okay so so in those situations because those are pretty small rooms then you're talking about somebody sitting behind a little table and there might be two or three people well it depends um in your first audition it's probably going to be one or two people it's probably going to be some kind of pre-screen if we're talking a Broadway show and who and who are those people there's a casting director and yeah you're first audition if it's a pre-screen for a Broadway show it'll probably be a casting associate or an intern that has been told uh look for these specific things and if they have those then pass them through and then you'll get to the next person which is the casting director and then that c that casting director has uh will decide whether or not you get passed on to see the creative team and then if you get pass on to see the creative team then you'll go in front of the director and probably the music director um and then if they decide that you're going to get cut down to the final you know however many two or three people they want to see for the part then the your last audition I've had as many as 20 23 people in the room because they'll bring in they'll bring in producers choreographers line producer you know there's so many people in the room because all of them have a say um you know people that put tons of money in the show they want to be able to say you know we like that guy and then you know a director ultimately has creative control but if someone's given the show you know $5 million and they say I want to have a say on who gets cast and they're gonna say all right that's fine and so how many auditions Could you actually go through you're were talking about different days correct oh yeah so you could have four or five auditions easily oh easy yeah um I think I had like seven for once it was a very long process wow that that must be tough because your life is just up in the air and you know that if you book it your life is going to change pretty dramatically and so you're probably trying to juggle a lot of things at one time making sure you're always available for the callbacks yeah as well okay so so you find out through your agent that you booked the job yeah usually if you went through an agent for the job then yeah they'll call your agent with an offer and uh then you decide whether or not you want to take it and uh or whether or not you want to negotiate um if it's your first Broadway show then you just you just say yes there's you're not negotiate uh but you know after you've done you know two or three Broadway shows then sometimes you can negotiate a little bit if there's some things that are important to you to get into your contract and I'm just kind of curious I mean would you say to your agent and I'm not even talking specifically you or in a spef but in general would somebody could you imagine somebody saying to the agent hey look I want this gig do not lose it for me definitely negotiate I definitely would like to get more money for this but I want to make sure do not lose this job for me and then let the agent kind of do their thing yeah I mean you gota yeah you just kind of gota you got to trust your agent which is important because you know a lot of Agents aren't trustworthy sorry guys if any of you guys are getting are are getting interviewed on here sorry but I mean like a lot of agents are they you know they're going to take their 10% percent and they're not going to do anything for you so you know you got to when you know when you pick an agent you got to make sure you pick one that you get a good vibe from and you know they are going to represent you they are your representation so you know Disney doesn't let their actors go out and you know get do a bunch of coke and then get on TV about you know being drug addicts and just like that you don't want to agent representing you to be a jerk or lazy or whatever uh because that reflects poorly on you absolutely I mean it's it's a relationship you know and that's why it's really important not to jump uh for the first offer make sure this is somebody you trust implicitly because yeah I mean this is your livelihood so okay so you book the job and then the next step is you have is it a rehearsal or is it just a meeting with everybody what what happens next uh yeah I'd say the once again if you're talking for a Broadway show then you'll you usually show up and you'll kind of meet everybody and uh there'll be some kind of meet and greet where you just introduce yourself to the director and the choreographer the music director and the assistant music director and the assistant director and Stage management team and uh probably some of the producers maybe the writers uh and you know that and then after that you'll go on to your first rehe so you don't necessarily meet all the other actors in that first meeting uh they yeah they're usually there unless you're working with um celebrities who only show up at certain times here okay so now now you're in rehearsal and I realize it's going to vary once again from Project to project but any just to give people a general idea how much rehearsal time is there before you actually go live uh it depends on the job um like you said uh for a new Broadway show usually if uh you're in the original company you'll probably get four weeks maybe six weeks of rehearsal if you're lucky uh and then you'll go into previews and during previews you're still having rehearsals but you're also performing for the public um but no press is invited um and then when you get out of previews that's when press is invited and they're allowed to review the show and and for the rehearsals how many hours a day are you talking about uh depends uh it's usually an 8 hour day uh you'll start rehearsal at 10: you'll get done by 6 and you'll get an hour for dinner um then uh then you go in when it's in Tech then you go into 10 out of 12 and then you're then it's 10 hour day it's a 12 hour day but you get an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner those days would you just explain what tech means as well yeah Tech is just when you're iron and out all the lighting set pieces that move uh making sure everything knows everybody knows where they need to be to be lit if there's some interesting stuff going on um and they they go Q to Q which means here's q1 let's make sure everything's set for that do everybody know what they're doing great let's go to Q2 and there can be as many as you know a thousand qes in a show so it take a long time wow okay so so now you've gone through all of that and now production is happening you are performing you know live for audiences what is life like at that point um I mean I know was it You' got mates well you're you're you're you're dark on Mondays yeah we do eight shows a week uh so you do your dark on I mean just it it varies show to show but for my show we're dark on Mondays and then one show Tuesday two shows Wednesday one show Thursday but we also have understudy rehearsal during the day on Thursday one show Friday two shows Saturday and one show Sunday and and so when you have one show let's say like for instance on Tuesday uh what time does the show start uh Tuesday the show starts at 7 so I have to be there at 6 really only an hour ahead of time yeah actually I'm only it's only I'm only required to be there a half hour ahead of time but for our show because there is a pre-show we have to be there an hour ahead of time a half hour before the pre-show and in in the pre-show is that performing for the audience in some capacity yeah the for our show the pre-show is you know our show is a lot about um you know getting like a family feel an all-inclusive feel like an Irish Pub would be so our pre-show is we all come out on stage and we jam on Irish and folk uh Irish and Czech folk songs and the audience is invited to come up on stage and hang out with us and drink some beers and then when real beers yeah it's a functioning yeah and then uh you know the stage managers will when the when the pre-show is about to end the stage managers clear all the audience off the stage send them back to their seats and uh then we start the show that sounds incredible and then the show runs from Seven till till when uh it depends you know with our show it's uh it's uh about two and a half hours including the intermission so long it's kind it's it's relatively long first act's about an hour 15 then there's a 15 intermission 15 minute intermission and the second act is about an hour so by the time you are um out of costume makeup um what time do you actually leave the theater uh well for what you know just to clarify this most of the time on Broadway men men do not wear makeup um no makeup at all makeup not for men women but not for men yeah unless you're doing like Phantom of the Opera or something like that but I've never had to wear makeup on stage before on Broadway um yeah that's kind of a misconception I mean it depends you know if you're doing a stylized piece of theater then sometimes they'll wear makeup um or like if uh I don't know if they want to make you look a little older or make you look a little younger but if um you know I don't wear any makeup in the show um okay but uh yeah by the time I like on a on a Tuesday I get home 9:30 10 o'clock depending and so so at that point I mean I'm sure you're not going to sleep at that point because you're you know you just got off of work uh you're pretty wired up um so during the day I'm sure you're not you know waking up at the crack of dawn so during the day how do you spend your days you know since you don't have to be at work until you know much later in the evening yeah uh well I uh I'm I'm actually a personal trainer so I I still work during the day sometimes and uh I also you know I work out go to the gym because that's an important part of being an actor your body is your uh instrument so you got to maintain it and so I work out probably five days a week um and uh a lot of I still take class uh once or twice a week um mostly right now I take mostly film and TV stuff but uh it depends on whatever's going on I just want to make sure to keep maintaining my chops and doing different things and making sure everybody knows who I am and um now I know that excuse me I know you've done like a number of films uh and and some TV as well while you're on Broadway though does that pretty much cut out those types of jobs while you are uh you know still running uh no um usually you can get if it's a if it's a you know like a a one day shoot you can usually get the ask for the day off and get it if it's uh if you're if you book uh you know a couple of a couple of days you can request it I mean they have the right to say no you can't do that but usually they won't you know that's what under studies are for um and uh then if you you know me personally my contract says that if I book a lead in anything that I can leave if I want to um so if I booked a series regular or uh the lead in a feature film somehow then uh I would have to I give them four-week notice and as long as I give him four weeks then I can I can go well that's why you have a great agent Hey listen I'm gonna have to um wind this part up because we have a bunch of questions that I want to get to you uh as well um this is a question from Arland in Boston uh who wants to know can anyone audition for a broad play or do you have to go through an agent or already be uh in the Union uh anyone can audition for a Broadway play uh it is hard to get seen if you if you're are not in the union and you don't have an agent then you have to go to what's we they have required Equity principal auditions and Equity chorus calls uh which is basically they hold auditions for people that couldn't or didn't get appointments for the show through their agent uh if you're not in the union then you have to get up and go really early and go on the alternate list and hope that you get seen but they don't have to see you um but you can try and before I was in the union I succeeded at getting seen several times you just got to get up at 500 am be there you know be there by seven be the first person to sign up on the alternate list and then you might be waiting there for six seven hours before they see you uh and it's exhausting which is why you want to get in the Union as soon as possible um now if you get in the union but you don't have an agent then you can go to the equity uh principal Edition or Equity course call and as long as you're there uh by 10 whenever the list opens then uh you can probably you know get in line and get an appointment at some point during the day um and they are required to see any Equity person that shows up and gets an and is shows up at the time that the list opens and gets uh gets an appointment oh that's great yeah um got a question here from Justine in Ireland who wants to know does being on Broadway open up doors for you in TV and film uh a little bit um the good thing about it is that it gives you some Street CR kind of um and and you can invite like let's say I really want to be on Blue Bloods but I can't get an audition for Blue Bloods because I don't have much TV and film on my resume then I can call the casting office or send them an email and say hey I'm an actor I'm in once um I'll buy you a ticket if you'll come and see me in the show and then if they come and see you and you do a good job then the next time your agent asks you know will you see Justine for an audition then they probably will because they will have had a relationship with you hey and just so you know blue BL man it's you have to travel very far to audition for that show it's not not in the city like all the other places I remember going out there one time and oh man you switch Subways and oh it's a hassle it really is but hope you hope you get on the show I I didn't get the the one audition but it's it's a little bit of a hike um Maran in New Mexico um is there much time for anything else in your life when you are on Broadway uh it takes up a lot of time uh because you have to be available to do press events and stuff but yeah I still have a fair amount of time you know I still work as a personal trainer some uh because I enjoy it and I still take class I'm busy but I'm I you know personally I kind of thrive on being busy I don't like sitting around so uh I like it well one thing and we were talking about this earlier uh when I mentioned in in your little introduction about you also being a fighter that you said you had to kind of postpone that for a while because uh you certainly can't be destroying your face or your hands while you're uh doing this once Broadway is over you gonna go back to fighting at all I don't know um right now things are going pretty good and certain with certainly with this show um you know I did that for a long time I enjoyed it a lot and uh I still train that way to stay in shape but um you know I can't being a musician and now people now people know that I can do that and they will hire me for that and now that I'm starting to do more TV stuff I can't really break fingers and noses anymore or other people my weigh on you during the middle of a performance hey I've got one more question I'm trying to squeeze in here this is from Joey in Montana and he says I know this might sound silly but since you're on Broadway do you actually get discounts to see other Broadway plays or get free tickets uh actually yeah oh really yeah we don't really get discounts but when a new show opens they will usually give every cast on Broadway the actors in the cast they'll give everyone a ticket because uh during previews you want uh friendly people in the house you know you want theater people and actors that you know are going to come and they want to support you so they invite us to come and watch them while they're still developing the show during previews so that they know they have a supportive audience that um that wants them to succeed it brings a lot of positive energy so they so they give us I usually if a show if a new show is opening I usually get to see it for free wow well Joey that wasn't such a silly question after all Brandon hey I just I wanted to thank you so much I know your your life is very busy um hey for people who would like to learn more about you get in touch with you how how can they reach you uh the best way it's still a work in progress getting up and running I got to hire a Web Master but you can check out Brandon ellis.com that is a upand cominging website and I'll put my uh put an email up there and and you can email the website and stuff like that well listen I I just wanted to thank you so much I really appreciate you being part of the summit and want to wish you all the best I hope this show runs for as long as you want it to run and uh continue to get the gigs that that you want to get as well um really you're a nice guy and and I remember we met in New York a couple years ago you're really a very special guy I really appreciate it man so thank you so much hey we're gonna take just a couple of minute uh break here and then we're going to come back if you do have any additional questions uh I'm going to be sticking around at the end of The Summit and I'll just continue to answer questions that we simply couldn't get to right now so anyhow Ain Marcus Brandon thank you so much again man thanks a lot e e