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Rejection Is Proof You’re an Actor · The Aligned Actor

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to The Aligned Actor Podcast.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Amy Schloerb, your friendly fellow actor and mindfulness and mindset coach.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: And this is the podcast where I offer practical mindfulness tools
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: and mindset shifts designed to help us all thrive in our full atmosphere.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because actor life, as we all know, is really rough.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's a challenge.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's a challenge that we all can face and that we all choose to put up with,
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: but it's a challenge.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a roller coaster.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's ups, there's downs, there's twists, there's turns.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes there's full-on loop-de-loops and you're like, what the heck happened?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: And the entertainment industry constantly is wreaking havoc on our poor nervous systems.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Our poor human nervous systems.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: They have to deal with rejection all the time.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: They have to deal with uncertainty all the time.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: They're having to deal with unpredictable urgency that just pops up out of nowhere
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: where we're like, oh my god, now I have to get an audition done.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like, tomorrow.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Or like, I...
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's also this sneaky urgency that pops up out of nowhere where we start
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: to feel like we're behind and nothing maybe stimulated that
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: or maybe we saw something online,
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: we saw a friend book something or something and we're like, oh, I'm falling behind.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing has actually changed in our actual career.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Or anything.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: But all of a sudden, we feel like we're falling behind.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: So that's another way that urgency sneaks in there.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, long story short, havoc for the nervous system.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we need to find reliable ways to care for our nervous systems,
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: to care for our bodies, to care for our minds.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what this podcast is really designed to do.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: To make you feel less alone in this banana pants of a career.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And to help you figure out ways to handle that stress so that you don't burn out,
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: so that you stay in this career long term,
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: so that you are ready for the opportunities that come your way,
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: and so that you can have a career that you enjoy and that is sustainable
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: for your life.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we're trying to do here.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And today we have another weekly roundup of 100 days of yapping.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still committed to this.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still enjoying it.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still figuring out kind of what I want to be saying, how I want to be saying it.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a really interesting journey for me so far,
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: and I'm sure at some point I will talk more about that,
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: but I'm still so in it that I can't properly put into words how everything is going,
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: if that makes sense, or what I'm actually learning.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm It's very visceral right now.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's much more like feeling based than it is intellectual,
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: which is different for me because I'm a very intellectual person.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: I am a feeling person, obviously, but I intellectualize things.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: So the fact that I don't have a clear way to describe
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: to you how I feel like this 100 days is going is interesting for me.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: It is going well.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: I am still doing it.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: I have not missed a day yet.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that feels really good.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: But there's feelings coming up in my body around, it's resistance.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's what Steven Pressfield talks about in The War of Art.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: I am starting to feel resistance.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm starting to be like, I don't know if I have any more good ideas.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what to talk about.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: But I actually do know logically that all of that is BS.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: I do know what I'm talking about.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: I do know the things that I want to put out there.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: I do know the ideas that I want to relate to you.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we're continuing on and I'm navigating and managing all of that kind of,
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: it's the habit building stuff that comes up.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: That, you know,
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: whenever we make a big change in our lives and we,
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: you know, for me, putting myself out there more is a big change in my life.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Stuff's going to come up.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm dealing with all of that.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe in the future I'll be doing some episodes about that.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: But for today, I'm very excited to share with you days 22 through 28 of my videos.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And in these videos,
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: I talk about my free guided meditation that can help you get out of your head
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: and rock your next audition.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I made this...
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of made this on a whim because I realized that I was having
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: a really hard time focusing in auditions.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And by that I mean...
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: I would focus on everything around the audition.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what does casting want?
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: How can I book this?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Am I getting the lines right?
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Am I getting the scene right?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the thoughts that would be going through my head.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: All of that kind of mental garbage.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: And instead, I realized, I was like, no, no, no.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hold on, hold on.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: What I need to be focusing on is what's happening in the scene for my character.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: What does my character want in the scene?
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And how are they going about getting it?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: I need to focus on the actual acting, the actual work.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And when I realized that, I then went, okay, hold on a sec.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: I know mindfulness.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: I know this process of, oh,
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: I've realized I'm over here thinking about something that's unrelated to the task
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: at hand,
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: and I'm going to come back to my breath and focus on my breath and be in
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: the present moment.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I realized that this was a skill that I had In mindfulness and
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: that I could translate that skill and bring it over to my acting,
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: bring it over to my auditioning.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I started doing that.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so anytime I would kind of realize like, oh, I'm not in the scene.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking about like, how's this going to work for casting?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Did I get that line exactly right?
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: What's happening?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: I would be like, nope, nope.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Focus.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: What does your character want?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: What's happening in the scene?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Stay present.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: And it was working for me.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so I decided to record a little meditation to kind of get people.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, what you do in it is you acknowledge that you do want to book.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, obviously you want to book.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Why else would you be submitting a self-tape or going on an audition
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: if you didn't want to book that role?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very obvious thing.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Admitting that or acknowledging that makes it easier to go,
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: oh, this is the thing, this is the elephant in the room that keeps distracting me.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is the thing I keep thinking about.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is where my focus keeps getting pulled, wanting to book the job.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And when I acknowledge that,
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: it makes it much easier and cleaner to know when I'm focused there and then know how
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: to come back to, oh, wait, I know what I need to be doing though right now.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: In order to book the job, I need to focus on what the character wants in the scene.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so the guided meditation kind of takes you through
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: a little process around acknowledging that want,
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: the want to book,
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: and then acknowledging what your character wants,
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: and then Very easily staying focused on what your character wants,
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: making that want really, really big.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: So by the time you're done with the meditation,
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: that want feels really big and easy to focus on so that then you can go
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: into your audition and rock it.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what that video is about.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: I basically tell you about it.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: I tell you where you can get it.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's on my website.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: And if you scroll down in the show notes or if you scroll down on the Substack,
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: you can find it there as well.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that was what one of the videos was about.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Another video is about how...
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Rejection is actually just proof that you are an actor.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then I go on to list a bunch of really big,
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: huge actors that you've obviously heard of who have been rejected from roles.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just kind of fun to be like, this just happens to everybody.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, you didn't book it, but also these other people didn't book this other role.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: And can you imagine if those people had booked that role?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: That'd be a very different movie.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: That movie just doesn't feel the same if Kurt Russell is playing Han Solo.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: That just doesn't feel the same.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, what?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Huh?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: How would they?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we would have accepted it at the time and maybe
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: the entire Star Wars franchise would have been very different.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: But...
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: It just goes to show you that like big name people get rejected all the time.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: So you're never going to get to a level in your career where you're just not rejected.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I do have another video that kind of ties into that theme as well.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, good.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: I am recording.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: I just like to double check.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: I get worried.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so then another video is about one of my favorite calming breath techniques,
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: which is the double inhale and the long, slow exhale.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: And this is a lovely breath technique that really helps to calm my nerves,
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: helps to calm my body.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Before I do a big scene, before I do a podcast.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't do it before doing this.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: I really should have done it.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: So let's do it now.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: So basically you inhale,
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: you pause briefly,
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: and before exhaling you inhale a little bit more, and then you slowly exhale.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: So let me show you what that looks like.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: It looks like this.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to do it again because I feel like I need it.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's really calming.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it's actually called a physiological sigh because you'll notice you kind
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: of get like a little yawn or a little sigh.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like it feels like, oh, it feels like a release.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that's one to try before anything stressful in your career.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Auditions, you know, you've got big nerves about a scene, whatever's going on.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Give that breath technique a try and see if it works for you.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Then the next video is about the fact that rejection,
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: uncertainty, and unpredictable urgency are present throughout our careers.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: See, there was a theme this week.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: They're present throughout our careers,
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: and there's no way to make it to a point where those side effects of being
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: an actor are just completely eliminated.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: We're never going to make it to a level where...
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: We won't have to deal with rejection.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: We're never going to make it to a level where we never have to deal with uncertainty
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: in the entertainment industry, in our own careers, as being actors.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: There's always uncertainty, no matter what.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: We're never going to get to a level where we avoid unpredictable urgency.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Something's always going to come up.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: It just happens.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of the question being,
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: how do I make it to a level in my career where I don't have to deal
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: with these things?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: The question becomes, how do you make sure that you can deal with these things?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: How do you make sure that you have techniques and tools on board that are ready
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: to go,
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: easy for you to use,
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: so that you know how to care for your physical and mental well-being so
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: that you can continue on as an actor?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, I don't think this career gets less stressful the more success we have.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think this career gets more stressful the more success we have
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: because there's just more to deal with and the stakes probably are higher
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: and it might not be more stressful than
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's different.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: But you don't just magically get to a point where you've made it and all of
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: a sudden there's no stress with being an actor.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's no issues with being an actor.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it's all sunshine and roses.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: So knowing how to handle your body,
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: knowing how to handle your nervous system,
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: knowing how to work with it, knowing how to Calm it.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing how to metabolize things like rejection,
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: uncertainty,
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: and unpredictable urgency through mindfulness,
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: that's the method that I use, is really important.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, there's that video.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, then there's a video about how we need to stop explaining ourselves to people
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: who are outside the entertainment industry because they're never going to get it.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: They're just not going to understand us as actors, and that's okay.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly,
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: every time we try to explain, like,
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: that book the room,
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: not the job,
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: to somebody who's not in the entertainment industry,
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: somebody who's not an actor, they're like, but you didn't get the job.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: How is that a good thing?
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, no, but like, they liked me, they keep bringing me in.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but you're not booking.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't understand.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Huh?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Make it make sense.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, no,
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: but it is a good thing because it's just that I haven't been quite right
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: for those roles.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I booked the room so the relationship is developing and clearly they're going
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: to remember me for things in the future.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: You're just continuing to put energy into...
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like you're pouring into a cup that has a hole in it.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: So...
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you pour into this cup of trying to get them to understand that, like,
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: here, here, let me pour you a cup of, this is how actors, this is actor life.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: But there's all, there's no bottom to it.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it just keeps leaking out.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so they just, they just don't get it.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: I've tried for years to have the people in my life understand me as an actor
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: and things, and they just don't get it.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: So...
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: The point that I'm trying to make here is you got to stop wasting your energy.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Find ways to keep it light, you know, or just basically be like, okay, they don't get it.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'll say a couple of things,
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: but then I'm not going to just continually explain myself because
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: that gets exhausting.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's so exhausting to feel like we have to continually explain ourselves.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to actually take a sip of this because it was awkward
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: that I was just holding it as a prop.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Always have an exit strategy for your props.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Acting 101.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway,
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: we keep pouring all this energy into explaining ourselves as actors,
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: explaining what the career is like when you really can't get it unless you're in it.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I have tons more to say about our relationship with outsiders,
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: people outside of the business who love us,
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: relationships that we want to maintain,
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: relationships that we don't care about,
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: like people that we just meet randomly that like,
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: they have an opinion about what actors are and who are actors and who aren't actors.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: We don't really care about them all that much.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: But the people in our lives that we actually love,
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: that we want to have relationships with,
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think there are much healthier ways to have relationships with those people such
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: that we're not draining our energy and such that we don't want to murder them
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: at Thanksgiving.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Or we don't feel like we want to, you know, run away from Thanksgiving.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: More to come.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Stay tuned.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, then the next video is about the time that Sandra Bullock
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: in 2010 was declared worst actress.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: She got a Razzie.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then the very next night she won best actress, an Oscar.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it thus proves,
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: notice the theme here,
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: that you will never get to a level in your career where you don't have to deal
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: with rejection.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Someone's going to hate your work.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really sorry to break that to you.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: But at times, someone's going to hate your work.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's just gonna happen.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: The critics are gonna hate it.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be something about the film or the TV show or whatever that like,
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: eh, we just didn't really like her in that role.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: It happens.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you think it's hard to deal with that you're not getting feedback on a self-tape?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine you put a series out there and The critics are like,
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: we just really don't like Amy in that role.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: She just seems kind of, she falls flat.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe it is me, maybe it's the whole production, I don't know.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not going to be any easier of stress to deal with
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: than just not hearing back on a two-line co-star.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, stress, it's everywhere.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Rejection, it's everywhere.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Every stage of our career, we're never going to escape it.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: So learn how to deal with it.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: My last video for this round is a little mind trick that I use to fill the silence.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Fill the silence.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Get it?
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: That exists after I submit a self-tape.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because there is silence.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: You either hear or you do not hear.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that silence sometimes is deafening.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: But what I think tends to happen,
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: what I used to do with that silence was make up stuff about what was happening
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: with my tape.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it usually wasn't good.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Usually I would make up stuff like,
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: oh God, maybe they watched it and they were like, oh, who is this Amy Schloerb?
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: What is this tape?
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what?
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is the worst acting I've ever seen.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, hey, Donna, get in here.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Get in here.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to see this.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: This is the worst acting I've ever seen.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't this horrible?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like,
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: we should just put out a bulletin to the entire entertainment industry and tell them
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: that this Amy Schloer person is just horrible.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: I would make up stuff like that in my mind.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it didn't go to that extreme.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm being a little facetious and funny.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's not that funny.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: But...
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: I would make up these things like, oh, it clearly wasn't good enough.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: It probably was really bad.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: And they were like, oh, well, never mind.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: But instead, you know, I've booked things.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: I know I'm putting out good work into the world.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: I've had enough feedback from enough people that I trust that my work is good.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: My work is solid.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: So now instead, what I do is I imagine them enjoying the tape.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: I imagine them putting me on their short list of actors that they like.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: I imagine them sending that tape off to producers.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: If I don't ever hear anything, I at least imagine I'm in the mix.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: It was a strong tape.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: And if nothing else, it strengthened my reputation with that office.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: It strengthened my reputation overall in the business.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I imagine myself being far better known within
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: the industry amongst casting directors that I've submitted work for
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: than I will ever know.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: They know me.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: I may not know how much they know me,
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: but I choose to believe that they know me through my work on my tapes.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little trick that I use to deal with that silence.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: So without further ado, enjoy the videos that I've now told you all about.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Spoiler alert.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it's really good because now you get like the shortened,
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: you've heard the long version,
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: the long Amy version,
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: and now you get the short punchy, yeah, you get the short punchy version.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: So please enjoy.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: I can help you get out of your head and rock your next audition.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: I've created a free, guided, mindfulness-based meditation.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to help you calm your nerves and get out of your head
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: and stop thinking all those thoughts around, what does casting want?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Am I getting this scene right?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: How can I book this?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: And instead, let those thoughts go and focus on your work.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: What does the character actually want?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because your character doesn't care about booking a job.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what they're thinking about.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you need to focus on what your character wants.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: This meditation is going to help you acknowledge all those thoughts
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: that are distracting and instead focus on what your character wants,
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: which is what's actually going to help you book the job.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: So you can go get that on my website, thealignedactor.com, and go grab it.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's free.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's totally free.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: You have nothing to lose.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Go get it.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Go get it.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Rejection is just proof that you are an actor.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Big, huge celebrities get rejected from roles all the time.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Britney Spears,
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Reese Witherspoon,
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Jessica Alba,
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: and Jessica Simpson all auditioned for the role that eventually went
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: to Rachel McAuley.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Kurt Russell got rejected for the role of Han Solo in Star Wars.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Angelina Jolie got rejected for the role of Cher in Clueless.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're getting rejected, that just means you're doing it.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: You're doing it!
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: You're doing the actor thing!
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yay you!
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know it hurts.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't feel good.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's uncomfortable in the body.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: But it's not a sign that you're failing or struggling by any means.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a sign that you are an actor.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: What you need to do is find a way to metabolize that rejection.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Breathe with it.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: Be mindful of what that feeling feels like in the body and relax.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: If you get super nervous before auditions or while you're on set, you are not alone.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I have something you can try.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to take a deep inhale.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Then without exhaling, you're going to take another little inhale.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Then you're going to slowly exhale through pursed lips.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: It looks like this.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's a wonderfully calming breathing technique called a physiological sigh.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it completely resets your nervous system.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: It makes your body and brain more relaxed.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's just really, really nice.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you can find more mindfulness-based stress relieving techniques like this
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: in my book, The Aligned Actor Mindfulness Toolkit.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's available on my website.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's just $7 and it includes video demonstrations.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: So you can watch me take you through all the various different techniques that I have.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to support you and your nervous system throughout all of your actor life.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: The question is not how do I make it to a level in my acting career
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: where I never again have to experience rejection,
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: uncertainty, or unpredictable urgency.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Those are just normal parts of being an actor,
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: and those things exist at every single age and stage of a career.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: The question you really should be asking yourself is,
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: when I experience rejection,
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: uncertainty, or unpredictable urgency in my career, how do I respond?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: Mindfulness has helped me soothe and fortify my nervous system so
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: that I can handle anything that the entertainment industry throws my way.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Long silences, months without auditions, I am okay.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: I feel secure in myself as an actor.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: I feel okay in this career.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: I can teach you mindfulness meditation for free.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: I have a mini course.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: The whole content takes less than an hour.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's completely free and you will learn mindfulness so that you too can soothe
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: and fortify your nervous system so that you can handle whatever
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: the entertainment industry throws your way.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: You can get that course on my website, thealignedactor.com or via the link in my bio.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Your parents are never gonna get it.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Your grandmother's never gonna get it.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Your sibling's never gonna get it.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know that's really hard because it's just another form of rejection,
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: a subtle but insidious form of rejection that actors have to face.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: But you are wasting your energy if you continually try to explain and explain
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: and get them to get it and get them to understand and get them to see it
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: from your way and that, oh no,
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: it is actually good that I'm getting called in a bunch of times
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: but not actually booking.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: It means that I booked the room and not the job but that's okay and it's all right
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: and it's gonna work out.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: Just stop trying to explain yourself as an actor to people who are not a part of the industry.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: Sandra Bullock was declared best actress in 2010.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: She was also declared worst actress in 2010.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Which just goes to show you,
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: you will never,
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: ever get to a level in your career where you do not have to deal with rejection.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: So please,
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: learn how to metabolize that stuff safely so that it stops wreaking havoc
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: on your nervous system.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: I have a free course, Mindfulness 101.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's on my website and you can go get it.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: Ta-da!
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Here's my work!
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't it great?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you love it?
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: But guys, focusing on that silence is not doing you any good.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's just leading to frustration and resentment.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: So here's what I do instead.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: I imagine casting absolutely loving my tape.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: They watch it.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: They love it.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: They lean in.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, ooh, I really like what Amy did with that part there.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: They're hooked.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: They're engaged.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: They're sending it to producers.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're putting me on the shortlist of their favorite actors.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: I know I'm making it up.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little trick that I do that keeps me inspired and motivated and wanting
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: to keep putting my work out there.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Give it a try for yourself.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm telling you, it beats the hell out of frustration and resentment.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed those videos.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoyed making them.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: Before I forget,
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: I am absolutely going to tell you that the credit for the sound effect that I use in
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: between the videos,
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: that whoosh that just sort of transitions us nicely,
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: whether you're listening to the podcast or you're watching the podcast and seeing
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: that, like, it's day 25 or whatever, that title will go across the stream.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: The credit for that whoosh sound effect is whoosh, long cinematic.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's its name.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it was sound designed by J.W.S.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Sound Design.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then in the show notes,
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: there's a link to freesound.org,
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: which also, just so you know, great resource for free music, free sound effects.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: Free music?
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if they have free music.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: I might be wrong about that.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: But they definitely have free sound effects that you can use in projects,
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: you can use in videos, whatever you want to do.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: You can just use them to scare your cat.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever you want to use freesound effects for, you can go to freesound.org, and it's great.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Not a sponsor, by the way, but hey!
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Free sound!
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you ever see this or hear this and you want to jump on board, let's talk.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's a license attribution 4.0.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, I have been forgetting to do that and so I wanted to do it right away.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, thank you so much for joining me today.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that you found that content helpful and informative.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you liked those videos.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not already following me on Instagram, please come follow me.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: That'd be fun.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: It'd be fun to have you around.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Comment on the videos.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Share the videos.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: Share this podcast with your actor friends.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: Rate and review this podcast.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: It all helps me out.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: It all helps get this podcast and my content and my ideas out to more and more actors.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I really want.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be spreading these ideas.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think these ideas are really good.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think they will be helpful to people.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm getting better and better, I think, at explaining them in the way that works.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because I really understand them.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: I have really reaped benefit from these ideas.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then teaching them to other people, that can get tricky.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'm getting better at it.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think I am pretty good at it.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm only going to get better at it as I practice with these videos.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I've been doing.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, if you could leave a comment, that would be great.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you can share it with your actor pals, that'd be great.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Check out my offerings below.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right now I have...
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Three offerings, is that right?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: I have a free offering of my guided meditation that's gonna help you get out
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: of your head and rock your next audition.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's a quick, I think it's like eight or 10 minutes.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: You put it on,
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: you focus on what the character wants,
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: not on trying to book the job, and then you're ready to go in and do the audition.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I have that available for you on my website.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: I also have a ebook of mindfulness tools.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's a mindfulness toolkit.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: The Aligned Actor Mindfulness Toolkit, I think is what it's called.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: I should probably know that for sure.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that is available on my website.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's $7.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just a ton of ways that I stay present and,
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: efficient ways to calm my nervous system,
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: calm my body and my brain so that I can Put good work out into the world so
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: that I can feel calmer about the industry in general and my place in it
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: and things like that.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then I think, oh, new one.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: I have a free mindfulness course on my website.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: I will teach you step-by-step how to actually start and engage in and do
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: a mindfulness practice for yourself.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: What's actually involved in it?
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: What myths and misconceptions you can let go of?
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: What mindfulness actually means?
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: How to actually practice it?
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: And there's actually a lot of practice sessions within that course.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's a mini course.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: Content, I think, takes less than an hour.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's definitely less than an hour.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that includes like four practice sessions where you're actually like,
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: I've taught you something and now we're going to practice that in
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: a little meditation.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I've taught you something else.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're going to practice that.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's completely free because I do believe that learning mindfulness,
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: understanding these concepts should be free.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know...
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, it's on my website, thealignedactor.com and you can go get it.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: It says mindfulness 101 up in the little corner thingy or not corner,
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: but like up in the toolbar, the navigation menu, whatever.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you're on mobile,
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: it's in the little like hamburger thingy that exists and you click on it and
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: then it says mindfulness 101 and then you can just get the course for free.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Free, free, free, free, free.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's everybody's favorite price.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, there we go.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Once again, thank you so much for joining me and I will see you next time.