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Danielle Vasinova: Making It in Hollywood: Ups, Downs, and Lessons Learned | E104 · In Search Of Excellence

• 0:00
  Danielle Vasinova: I find it very hard to watch myself on screen, although like I forced myself to because sometimes I feel like I've learned from it.
• 0:05
  Danielle Vasinova: So I use it as you know, a training ground in a way. A lot of times you don't get paid for what you do because it takes so many auditions to even book a single job. But there's a lot of blood, sweat and tears that go into it and you're working long hours, you can't even remember your name, let alone your lines.
• 0:27
  Danielle Vasinova: Sometimes you're working in inclement weather, it's not as sexy as, as people think, you know, they they look at the outside and they think it's bright and it's shiny, but there's a lot beneath the surface.
• 0:45
  Randall Kaplan: You're listening to part two of my awesome conversation with Danielle Vassa Nova, an actor, producer, entrepreneur, avid equestrian, and drummer. If you haven't yet listened to part one, be sure to check that one out first.
• 0:58
  Randall Kaplan: Without further ado, here's part two with the amazing Danielle Casanova. So you talk about spiraling right one things leads to the next so young and restless boom, you know, dream, this should never happen. But it happened to great role. What happened next? I had to find an agent and find a manager and then reality hit, you know, so it wasn't just you know, boom, boom, boom, everything is gravy, everything is puppy dogs and ice cream. It's like, no, now the work starts. Right now I've really got to figure this out.
• 1:33
  Randall Kaplan: And if I want to do this, I need to get a good team and start auditioning and bump the grind.
• 1:44
  Randall Kaplan: But you had the young and the restless on your resume right out of the gate. It was Yeah. So I got Taft Hartley, like you did, right? I mean, that show for for those people who don't know, started in 1973 had been on the air now. 50 years exactly.
• 2:01
  Randall Kaplan: 15,000 shows and for 32 years, it was number one soap opera in the United States consecutively.
• 2:05
  Randall Kaplan: Not too shabby. It's crazy.
• 2:09
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah. And that's your first building block on your resume.
• 2:12
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah. So was it easy to get like working with Sharon Stone? You know, well.
• 2:19
  Danielle Vasinova: You actually got paid for yours. I mean, I did I made whatever the Taft Hartley was I think it was $700 or something. Yeah, like scale for the day. Yeah. And I get residual checks. I'm not exaggerating. I'm not I'm not bragging about this. But my last residual check. 21 cents. Oh, yeah. I think I've literally gotten a one cent check before.
• 2:41
  Danielle Vasinova: I'm like, Why do you have to defy just on principle?
• 2:46
  Danielle Vasinova: The more descended? Yeah, you have to write?
• 2:49
  Randall Kaplan: Right? So okay, reality sets in. I mean, you had the big show. But was it super easy to get an agent?
• 2:56
  Danielle Vasinova: No. And I went through a series of managers and a series of agents after that, you know, I didn't know like, I thought that you get an agent and get your manager and that's who you work with. And that's your team. I didn't know that. You know, you kind of roll through it.
• 3:13
  Randall Kaplan: How long was it before you got your next role?
• 3:16
  Randall Kaplan: And what were you doing during that time to keep yourself busy and keep your mental sanity?
• 3:19
  Randall Kaplan: Exactly.
• 3:21
  Danielle Vasinova: No, I got a job. There was a restaurant in Sunset Plaza called Cliff Lu T.
• 3:26
  Danielle Vasinova: French restaurant. Yeah. And I got a job there. But when I was living in Van Nuys, I tripped and I fell down the stairs and I broke my toe. And so then I couldn't work at Cliff Lutie anymore. And so I got a job just like being an extra. And wearing shoes on my one foot that were two sizes too big for me, just so that my my toe would fit in it. And I just told the ad I'm like, Look, just can you put me in the back, like reading a book or something because I can't I can't do these crosses. I can't do these passes, you know. And so that's how it because I needed to make money I needed to pay pay the bills. And so that's how that's how I paid my rent for a little while. And and if I could, you know, if they would send me out for an audition, I'd have to go and you know, Miss work and go audition and try to juggle.
• 4:20
  Randall Kaplan: So sometimes things come up very quickly. We got to act super quickly. Yeah, yeah. Be ready to tell us about this call you got I think it was from your agent. Genie back right. If I have the if I have the name right. Getting your passport together. Now you're
• 4:42
  Danielle Vasinova: funny that you knew that yeah, no, I I got a call. I think it was on a Friday and it was last minute audition. And I hustled through traffic. I went to this casting.
• 4:56
  Danielle Vasinova: I decided to play this character just like kind of off the wall and I put a piece of gum in my mouth and she was real edgy. And she kind of I could see you're kind of clock me like she liked what I did. And then she's like, Okay, do this. Go
• 5:11
  Randall Kaplan: back for a second because you're you're way past the story of let's slow the story. Okay. You had never seen the scrip you had never read for the script. And you had to audition. And then
• 5:28
  Danielle Vasinova: it was an NBC show. They sent me the sides, but it was same day audition, same day audition, right. Yeah.
• 5:33
  Danielle Vasinova: Okay, so I didn't have a lot of time to prep it. Okay, you know, so I was kind of just flying by the seat of my pants. Okay,
• 5:39
  Randall Kaplan: and your hair was blonde. So talk to us about that hair was
• 5:41
  Danielle Vasinova: blonde. Yeah, I was going through some some, you know, quarter life crisis.
• 5:45
  Danielle Vasinova: And I was like, dyeing my hair blonde, like, you know, a screw it does that. And so yeah, they dyed it bleached blonde, actually, that was for a job.
• 5:57
  Danielle Vasinova: And then but my hair was fried.
• 5:57
  Danielle Vasinova: It was so fried. It looked horrible. Anyway, and so yeah, I just like put it up in a ponytail. And I put a piece of gum in my mouth, and I created this character. And so I kind of did a cold read. She gave me an adjustment. I did it again.
• 6:13
  Danielle Vasinova: She's like, Okay, now lose the GM. And then I did it again.
• 6:16
  Danielle Vasinova: She's like, Okay, that was it left the room. They call me like, my manager calls me at like six o'clock. He's like, your passport is up to date, right? And I said, Yeah, he goes, you got the job. You're going to South Africa on Sunday.
• 6:29
  Danielle Vasinova: I was like, oh, what that's the day after tomorrow. He's like, pack your bags, you're going.
• 6:36
  Danielle Vasinova: And it was one of the most magical, crazy cool experiences of my my life. And I totally thought that that was it, you know, and then I was off to the races. And I went to the airport. And I remember, Paolo, I can never say his name, right.
• 6:53
  Danielle Vasinova: Paolo Coyle. Whoa, yeah. From the alchemist. Yep. I saw this book on the Barnes and Noble bookshelf at the airport. And it said, the winner stands alone.
• 7:03
  Danielle Vasinova: And I remember feeling like that. I remember feeling like, wow, I'm on this NBC show going to, you know, a foreign land and I'm by myself, and what's going to happen, and I felt so grateful and so excited. But also, like, very lonely. Because I didn't know anybody. And I didn't know what I was walking into. So it was it was kind of scary. It was cool. But it was very scary for me.
• 7:28
  Randall Kaplan: So the fright was, you're going to movie set.
• 7:33
  Randall Kaplan: You don't know anybody and you don't you're afraid of being alone. And you're afraid of being isolated.
• 7:39
  Danielle Vasinova: Yeah, and I mean, excited, but also kind of scared. You know, I just felt like, like that book. The winter stands alone. I felt like wow, this is a great triumph for me.
• 7:49
  Danielle Vasinova: But I'm like, like, where's everyone? You know, it's just me. So
• 7:55
  Randall Kaplan: that was a pivotal moment in your career.
• 7:58
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah. And then from there, you worked on and off for a while, I thought
• 8:04
  Danielle Vasinova: I would just be back to back like I thought the offers would be coming in and it was just gonna go crazy.
• 8:08
  Danielle Vasinova: And then I think I didn't work for almost four or five months after I got back. Just crickets.
• 8:13
  Danielle Vasinova: And that's how it is it just kind of ebbs and flows. Nothing is guaranteed.
• 8:21
  Randall Kaplan: So how do you plan your life? Exactly?
• 8:25
  Danielle Vasinova: My question exactly, financially.
• 8:28
  Randall Kaplan: Exactly. Right.
• 8:28
  Randall Kaplan: I mean, did you buy a house at this point? Or were you thinking of just keeping the expenses low, just saving for a rainy day? I mean, yeah,
• 8:37
  Danielle Vasinova: I've always, I mean, I grew up with nothing.
• 8:41
  Danielle Vasinova: And so I've always kind of been like a little squirrel. And so I'm used to living pretty close to the vest. And so I just kept my nose to the grindstone and just kept on.
• 8:54
  Randall Kaplan: You've, you had jobs, on and off. And you want to continue to add continue to make money continue to build your career. I remember a friend of my wife was an actress. The only part she could get more parts in her husband's movies.
• 9:16
  Randall Kaplan: When she had a chance to be on Melrose Place. Okay, the first Melrose Place, okay, the one that was super popular, Aaron Spelling, biggest producer she play. She had a chance and didn't take it. Because it was to lowbrow for her. She was a real actress, and wasn't in what didn't want to be on the show. I mean, Aaron Spelling at that point was that when the show went on forever, forever residual Yeah, famous could get lots of roles, but she was worried about not getting roles and not being treated seriously as an actress, and was just high on a horse. She couldn't recognize by the way that the only part she got were her husband's movies. But there's a huge opportunity. It wasn't him and she said no. So they offered her the part, they offered her the part. And she turned it down.
• 10:04
  Danielle Vasinova: Does she regret that?
• 10:06
  Randall Kaplan: I haven't talked to her? And I don't know. I mean, I can't imagine she didn't regret it. But sometimes you say no to movies. You said no to the Danica Patrick movie? And the answer is why tell us about the movie? Why just say no. dannegan
• 10:22
  Danielle Vasinova: the Yeah, it's weird Danica Patrick has come up a couple of times in my life, they wanted to groom me to be a jockey. Actually, before I got into acting, and they were, they said to me, oh, I want to move in and make you like the Danica Patrick of horse racing.
• 10:32
  Danielle Vasinova: I didn't do that. Because, you know, when I went to the barn, and I talked to some of the other jockeys, and some of the trainers, it's not if you're gonna get hurt, it's when and used to be a 106 strips, your buck 20 With attack, and you have to make weight, and it's a lot of pressure. And so I said no to being a jockey, and being kind of the Danica Patrick of horse racing because of that, you know, and maybe I would want to go on and have a family one day, and I figured, you know, I don't know, maybe that wasn't the best career path. But there was another Danica Patrick movie that I didn't want to do. And the whole movie ended up falling apart. I don't know if if it was because she didn't win this one of the races. And so they wouldn't have this, you know, climactic end to the movie. I think they wanted her to be a little bit further on in her career. And so that in the development phase, it just felt fell apart. But I would have, I would have done that.
• 11:33
  Randall Kaplan: So let's switch gears talk about challenges.
• 11:36
  Randall Kaplan: We've all had challenges in our life. We've talked about, we've been talking about more and more serious challenges, right? I told you about my health scare.
• 11:45
  Randall Kaplan: Yes. And how you come out of there and I'm grateful.
• 11:53
  Danielle Vasinova: And I could have died you could have you could not be here right now. The crazy
• 11:57
  Randall Kaplan: thing about that is a woman that I knew that I was friends with that we weren't together when I was a lawyer way back at the VA my career. I got out of a hospital and she died five days later, I went to her funeral. And I thought, oh my god, like, this could be my funeral. And I learned later that she died in myocarditis.
• 12:16
  Randall Kaplan: You know, yeah, she'd gone running. And it was rare. It was weird. And I remember being at her funeral and she had five year old twins and her husband just, you know, couldn't even speak.
• 12:32
  Danielle Vasinova: How quickly does it escalate? Does it? Is it come on? Fast? Or does it take years,
• 12:38
  Randall Kaplan: she went on a run and came back and didn't wake up. She says she was really tired. And she came came back and you didn't wake up. In my case. It just felt like the flu that was getting worse and worse and worse. Where you know, she had something seriously wrong.
• 12:51
  Randall Kaplan: But you had something seriously wrong with you as well tell us the story about how you died for three minutes.
• 13:54
  Danielle Vasinova: 1212 2019 died three minutes. The doctors couldn't tell my mom flew in from New York. They couldn't tell her that I was going to live. I went I went to downtown LA I went to urgent care and because I kind of was feeling like I had a cold. And so they did a bunch of tests. And they said that I had strep and sent me home with a Z pack. And then cut to the next day. I was supposed to go to Vegas to do a commercial for MGM. And I had actually asked my Uncle Rob to my brother lives in Vegas, and I had asked my Uncle Rob to come out and take care of him because he has kidney stones. And he needed to get his kidney stones blasted. And so he needed help.
• 14:38
  Danielle Vasinova: And I wasn't there because I was here in LA and anyway, long story short, I woke up the next morning I couldn't. I felt like I couldn't walk. And my Uncle Rob, left Vegas, flew to me drove my car back and I was like very sick the whole way vomiting all the way back to Vegas got there. They put me on an IV drip and middle of the night. I was like two o'clock in the morning and I woke my brother up and I said I we need to go to the hospital. I feel like I think I'm gonna die. And he was like, okay, you know, put your boots on, put your coat on. And I'm like, you understand we gotta go. And he got me. He took me to the hospital, this one called St. Rose. And he let me out, went around to park the car and he came back and he said it was like a scene out of a movie. The whole this one light at the end of the hallway was illuminated and everybody was just rushing to this room and then he saw you know the machine and all of these people around talking this one girl. Later on, he found out her name was Ruby and she got on top of me and she was like pumping, pumping, pumping away, trying to get a heart beat going and he saw that thing go to three minutes. Finally, she got a heartbeat back, they transferred me from St. Rose to st Martine. And they had to induce coma. They had to, I would had complete organ failure. They've cut my sides put long tubes in Qatar pericardial window. And my mom flew in from New York, they couldn't tell her anything if I was going to pull through or not, they didn't know what was wrong with me. And this went on for almost a month, I was there until New Year's 2020 When I finally got discharged, and I, when I, they must have taken me off of whatever, you know, drugs they had had me on, it was on the ventilator. And I was on, you know, all these, whatever they had me on, and I guess I started, I like movies, right?
• 16:46
  Danielle Vasinova: And so the one guy came in from, you know, to do all of the brain tests, and they're like, you know, what's your name? And, you know, how old are you? And you know, what, who's the president of the United States all of this and, and when he asked me how old I was, I was like, nine to seven. But I look a lot younger.
• 17:04
  Danielle Vasinova: And it's seen it's a quote from Benjamin Button. So I thought that I was being so funny. And then I was rattling off this, you know, something from Benjamin Button, the movie, but the guy did not think it was funny, the doctor and he was like looking like oh god, this is this is not good. She might be gone. Anyway, that last that lasted for like a couple of days. And I was talking like a child. And I thought everything was so funny. It was bizarre.
• 17:38
  Danielle Vasinova: But I ended up I came out of that those drugs flush themselves through my system.
• 17:41
  Danielle Vasinova: And then soon after that I was discharged. But I was very, very, very, very lucky.
• 17:50
  Randall Kaplan: One of the first cases of COVID and the United States
• 17:54
  Danielle Vasinova: came on so hard and so fast and so strong.
• 17:57
  Danielle Vasinova: Did they
• 17:57
  Randall Kaplan: tell you you had COVID or no one really knew what you were baffled at what
• 18:01
  Danielle Vasinova: the what it was, and the only thing I had done differently that week was go to a rock climbing gym, like an indoor rock climbing gym. I had never been to one before my friend took me and I don't they probably don't really clean too much in those, you know, Nooks.
• 18:13
  Danielle Vasinova: And that's, I don't know, I don't know where else it would have come from. But yeah, did your
• 18:23
  Randall Kaplan: outlook on life change when you got out? You were 90 pounds when you got out of a hospital?
• 18:27
  Danielle Vasinova: I yeah, I had to relearn how to walk. I couldn't work. Because my brain was so cloudy. And I just everything was new to me again, you know, and I didn't have an N D, but they say that they can come back later in life. Which is? Who knows? Maybe I will maybe I won't? I don't know. But yeah, I mean, I had over a million dollars in medical bills. I have lost my sag insurance that year, because I had a really bad year. And if you don't make, you know, if you if you don't make it one year, they kick you off. It's not like, Oh, you had you know, two years, three years in a row that like weren't good. It's like, No, you don't make the cut one year, you don't have insurance.
• 19:12
  Danielle Vasinova: And so I was switching over from sag to Blue Blue Shield or Blue Cross Blue Shield. Anyway, so I was looking at stacks of bills, I was seeing, you know, medical bills of over 500,000 70,200 I mean, just coming in, and it was so stressful. And I was just lucky to be alive. And I had to basically start over again. Did
• 19:41
  Randall Kaplan: you have a completely new outlook on life when you got home and said I'm going to live? And how did that experience? Change your outlook?
• 19:51
  Danielle Vasinova: I don't even think at that time that I was even, you know, really thinking I was so grateful to be alive.
• 19:57
  Danielle Vasinova: 100% But I was literally trying to get up the first stair to get in my apartment. You know, I couldn't even walk up a whole set of stairs without getting winded. So it was it was like, Wow, here I am. And I almost have to relearn everything as a child would in a way. And I didn't know where I was going to go or what I was going to do or how I was going to make money or anything.
• 20:29
  Randall Kaplan: When I got to the hospital, I got home. I thought gosh, you know, I have a new outlook on life. And I just caught on my friend's funeral.
• 20:34
  Randall Kaplan: And I said shit, like, all the aggravating stuff that happens in our lives is irrelevant.
• 20:42
  Danielle Vasinova: It's irrelevant. Right? My life's gonna change
• 20:46
  Randall Kaplan: and then three months later, you go back to what you were doing and you kind of forget some wasn't lessons there.
• 20:54
  Danielle Vasinova: But then you think, okay, you know, he brought me back for a reason.
• 20:56
  Danielle Vasinova: Right? And what's my purpose?
• 21:02
  Danielle Vasinova: Like? Did you have a greater found sense of purpose after that?
• 21:07
  Randall Kaplan: It was more of a I'm grateful. Yeah, you know, it's, it's I assumed I was living my dream, you know, I started a successful company and I was,
• 21:19
  Danielle Vasinova: you know, hey, no, no day for granted, right? No, I mean, our for grandpa. No one, it's gonna go.
• 21:26
  Danielle Vasinova: No, you know,
• 21:27
  Randall Kaplan: like I was living in my dream house had made a bunch of money. Yeah, I had a wonderful family, you know, three young kids at the time, and just kind of appreciate what you have.
• 21:37
  Randall Kaplan: Sometimes you're just so far in the rat race, and I work long hours and very long hours, today, even 70 hours a week, usually minimum, and it's, sometimes it's your choice, that is a choice. It's for sure, a choice, but it it, it helps bring things back to reality and helps you focus on what's really important in life. And my family was the most important and I just needed to slow down for a while. I just hold on for a while, but then I turn it back up into fifth gear, maybe a few months later, that's just,
• 22:10
  Danielle Vasinova: that's just who you are. But it makes you appreciate the little things and the people around you completely. And that's what really mean, you know, that's truly what life is love, and family and experiences and helping other people, right?
• 22:27
  Randall Kaplan: For sure. Let's talk about the life of being an actor, everyone dreams at some point in their life or thinks about what it's like to be famous. And you go to the movies, you see yourself on the big screen and just say, Gosh, one day, I'd love to do that.
• 22:41
  Randall Kaplan: They think it's sexy. They think you make a lot of money. And I think it's easy. What's the reality,
• 22:52
  Danielle Vasinova: none of those. I find it very hard to watch myself on screen, although like I forced myself to because sometimes I feel like I've learned from it. So I use it as you know, a training ground in a way, but it's uncomfortable. A lot of times you don't get paid for what you do, because it takes so many auditions to even book a single job. Right? So say you're working for scale for the day. So you're working for 1000 bucks, right? Just under 1000 bucks. But maybe you've done 20 auditions, right and put in 20 hours before that. So you're really you're not making any money until you until you start to you know, become a series regular and things you know, one thing leads to the next and the next and you test for network and then your your rate starts to go up. But there's a lot of blood, sweat and tears that go into it. And you're working long hours, as you know, I mean, I think I did one day I think we worked like it was like golden hour. I mean, we went into like 22 hours, all through the night, you're tired. You can't even remember your name, let alone your lines. Sometimes you're working in inclement weather, all different things. It's it's not as sexy as, as people think, you know, they they look at the outside and they think it's bright and it's shiny. But there's a lot beneath the surface. So
• 24:25
  Randall Kaplan: how many takes you do in a movie? I mean, you're you're part of a scene, right? Let's say there's five people in the scene. How many times do people fuck up? And it's not you? You got to recut the whole thing? Oh,
• 24:35
  Danielle Vasinova: yeah. I mean, depends on the director. Some directors move quick. And they figure out a way to cut around it or, you know, whatever. But they still have to get coverage.
• 24:45
  Danielle Vasinova: And it depends on how many cameras there they're using. But I mean, you could do you could do you know, five takes you could do 17 tags, that depends on it depends. It could be there for a long time. I'm
• 24:58
  Randall Kaplan: going to be doing some paid corporate speaking on the top of extreme preparation, which we're going to talk about in a couple minutes. Okay. And it's my speech is 39 pages. Wow. And I yep, I wrote it. It's an hour and memorize or prompter. I'm no, I'm memorizing it. Okay, and it's taken me months, months, maybe six months. I'm
• 25:23
  Danielle Vasinova: gonna memorize that much. It's, well, what? Well, my question
• 25:27
  Randall Kaplan: to you is going to be how to actors? memorize so many lines so quickly, especially when they're doing weekly shoots. I mean, I can see a movie where you've got months to prepare, but
• 25:40
  Danielle Vasinova: soap opera actors, usually they shoot over 100 pages a day. So a series regulars on soaps usually do about 2025 pages a day. On big action movies,
• 25:53
  Randall Kaplan: they're memorizing that
• 25:55
  Danielle Vasinova: every day, how? I don't know, it becomes like how, like a muscle. You just do it.
• 26:03
  Randall Kaplan: There's no teleprompter anywhere on this yet? Nope. No, I mean, some of
• 26:08
  Danielle Vasinova: these scenes with a lot of different cameras, so they're getting every angle so they can move quick.
• 26:13
  Randall Kaplan: So how do you do it?
• 26:15
  Danielle Vasinova: Repetition? I am not a good, I'm not good at memorizing. For me, it's, it's, it depends. Because if it's good writing, it's a lot easier to memorize than if it's, you know, not. Or if you're in a show where there's a lot of medical jargon or things like that, and you don't know these terms, right? If it doesn't make sense in your brain, you're just you're just repetition, repetition, repetition, is the only way. I mean,
• 26:43
  Randall Kaplan: I went and shot a sizzle reel for my speaking website that we're going to do.
• 26:46
  Randall Kaplan: And maybe I did 20 minutes of the sizzle reel. And my colleague, Matt and I is over there, when a producer of my show who's awesome. We rented a stage in Santa Monica, the Santa Monica theater, I'd go there and I would practice, all you have to memorize it. But you have to make it seem natural, you got a inflection point is not just memorizing it, right? Which is still difficult, but it's actually you're performing something with different people.
• 27:17
  Randall Kaplan: It's hard. But
• 27:18
  Danielle Vasinova: you can remember, you can memorize it by Think of it like a story, right?
• 27:22
  Danielle Vasinova: And so you can visualize what's going on, you can kind of remember those bullet points, how it transition, and then start to go back and fill in the gaps. Right?
• 27:35
  Randall Kaplan: So what does it take to be successful to be an actor? And are the elements the same to be successful in life?
• 27:44
  Danielle Vasinova: Yeah, I mean, it's funny because I even still, I work but I still don't feel like I've reached the level that I would like to get to. So I think it's this constant, you know, almost state of like, dissatisfaction with myself, that fuels the drive, because I think I can do better. I want to, you know, work with this director or work at this, you know, this actor or I never feel I feel like it's, it's about the climb. Right. It's not the destination, it's a journey. And so I think a lot of those crossover into life, because I also have a very curious soul. I think you're kind of like that, too. I think you know, that fuels your entrepreneurial spirit. And I think there is a lot of crossover there.
• 28:35
  Randall Kaplan: What are the elements that it takes to be successful as an actor, and then
• 28:42
  Danielle Vasinova: discipline, I mean, discipline, discipline, a lot of discipline. Drive.
• 28:45
  Danielle Vasinova: Punctuality, if you're not early, you're late. Or if you're on time, you're late.
• 29:00
  Randall Kaplan: If you're early, you're on time. If you're early.
• 29:02
  Randall Kaplan: You're on
• 29:02
  Danielle Vasinova: time. That's what I meant. If you're on time, kicking in Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. What else? I think consistency.
• 29:14
  Randall Kaplan: I mentioned earlier in the show today that one of the ingredients or characteristics that's contributed my success, probably the most important thing is preparation, but not the kind of preparation most people think about something you call extreme preparation. I'm writing a book by the same title. And that's going to be the topic of my paid corporate speaking. And I also do one on one coaching as well, I coach, Coach, professional athletes, I've coached young professionals, wealth managers, investment bankers,
• 29:47
  Danielle Vasinova: what do you tell all of them? It's, it's a, when
• 29:51
  Randall Kaplan: someone prepared one hour for something, I'll probably prepare 20. Right. My goal is to be the most prepared person who's ever walked into that room with somebody, I'm 99% successful when you do that, you'll be able to achieve dramatically faster results, results that would not have been possible and which people think are impossible. Do you believe you're lucky? You create your own luck. Well, number one, yes.
• 30:17
  Randall Kaplan: Of course, I've been lucky. Mark Cuban was on my show. And he said, You can't be a billionaire if you're not lucky. But I think every successful person has had luck. I mean, I've had a lot of people on my show. Most of them are incredibly humble. And most of them attribute some degree of luck to their success. And on the flip side of that as you create your own luck, I mean, if
• 30:40
  Danielle Vasinova: you didn't reach out to those people if you didn't, you know, send those crazy presents.
• 30:47
  Randall Kaplan: Presents I send letters to 300 CEOs got news with some nerve Redstone, Michael Eisner, the head of every studio called letters because my letter was different than any letter they've ever received.
• 31:00
  Danielle Vasinova: People like you write in your letter that was different.
• 31:03
  Randall Kaplan: It was a crazy letter. It started with a quote that the CEO had given at some point in their career was big cursive letters. The key to Disney is how we hire Michael Eisner Time magazine. I still remember June 21 1996. That was the cover. It had a plastic cover. It had I went on LexisNexis there was no Google back then. And I read I created a list of 300 people so Michael Eisner, Sumner, Redstone, Marc Platt, Stacy Snyder, these people all ran studios at a time Mike met a boy lessons become friends with you've probably met him. He's a great guy. I've never met him. And I incorporated every job they had ever had in their career into a single paragraph. And I basically said, you've done X Y, I mean ABCD. And sometimes it went to W but it was every job I mean, every promotion every this every that. And then said, I want an informational, interviewing on a job interview where a letter would find a shredder to talk about getting advice for how to transition from a legal to a business related career. My letter had tabs, it had my single space three page letter, it had my transcript from college, I did very well academically, I graduated top 1% of my class at Michigan, at Northwestern. I also did very well I had letters of recommendations. Then I had this newspaper piece that had been written about me in college for a TV show. A weekly TV show we are one and done. But there was a nice write up. And then it had a cellophane cover and was wrapped in one of those three, those small plastic spiral binders. Wow. And I got and people
• 32:55
  Danielle Vasinova: sent them in when I grew up. Can I be like you?
• 32:58
  Randall Kaplan: But But these are all things by the way that I teach. And they're simple. Okay, right. They're they're easy. You can do it. I've told you how to do it right now. Right? And it's very easy. You create a spreadsheet of people, you want to meet you do your research, create your now it's easy, right? You got Google. It's so easy to do it right now. Nobody does it. I got a letter three days ago from this guy named Miguel Perez. I haven't met him yet. And he did to me. He sent me a letter in a cellophane cover that was tabbed that had everything I had in my letter.
• 33:34
  Randall Kaplan: By the way, I've talked about it, but not a lot. Not the details. I mean, this is much more detailed than I've ever gone into on my show. All right, period. But he did it. And he FedEx it. And he said it. So this is easy to write. You have a meeting. You want to send a thank you. All right. Want to send an easy email? It's easy, right? Why go easy? Do a handwritten thank you though.
• 34:03
  Randall Kaplan: And yeah, we're gonna zoom when they're New York, FedEx. Thank you now. You spent all that time preparing for the interviewer the meeting is 20 bucks. Yeah, for 20 bucks. You'll be the only person who's ever sent someone a FedEx thank you note, that person is going to remember you forever. There's 100 people for that job. And my daughter worked at CAA last summer, I think they had like 6000 applications for the summer for something like 40 jobs. You know, you got to do people, things that people don't do. Right FedEx the thank you letter. But you know, it's I tell you about the letter writing campaign. It's easy. You just have to be willing to do the work. And so you asked me about extreme preparation. I mean, each letter took five hours. So you got so many people doing spray and pray right? Send the same cover letter, you change the name, you change the company. And they say, oh my god, I spent so much time and no one responds to my application.
• 34:57
  Randall Kaplan: Of course they don't. Who would respond to that application?
• 35:03
  Randall Kaplan: Right, versus someone sends a crazy letter like that. You know, I called the guy yesterday, Miguel. And it went to voicemail. So I texted him, I don't have my number. And he texted me back. Oh my gosh, Mr.
• 35:23
  Randall Kaplan: Kaplan, I didn't think you would respond. I text them back. How could anyone in the world not respond? Right. It's a no brainer. So my question to you is flipping it around. How has extreme preparation played a role in the success in your life?
• 35:40
  Danielle Vasinova: I don't think that I would have been able to climb a ladder, so to speak, if I hadn't done that work. I don't think I would have been able to, you know, attract that team. or get in the rooms with those casting directors to then get those jobs if I if I didn't do that work.
• 36:01
  Randall Kaplan: Give me an example of a time where you used extreme preparation just went so far above and beyond anybody else and you had a successful outcome.
• 36:12
  Danielle Vasinova: That's the thing about that. We'll come back. We'll come back to that.
• 36:15
  Danielle Vasinova: When I come back to it. Think about that. That's a good question. I like that. Are you going to be my mentor? My mentor now.
• 36:25
  Randall Kaplan: One, one of the great things about my show that I love is a lot of people like you who I didn't know Sharon Stone. And the Tysons, Mike and Kiki his wife I've become close to and friends with. And they've done so many nice things for me.
• 36:42
  Randall Kaplan: And I like doing nice things for them. So I've, I've mentored a lot of my my guess. They mentor me and they teach me about things that I know nothing about. They're doing me huge favors by being on my show helping me to grow my show. They do super nice things like Post Mike Tyson put up a permanent post on his Instagram. Not a story, but a permanent post. I mean, he's got 40 million followers. Yeah, that's incredible. Oh, yeah. Doesn't have to do that. And there's nothing for the Tyson's that I wouldn't do. Yeah. And it's been it's been fun. But I love mentoring people. I love coaching people. I love it. Love for you. Really? Would you want on my show? Yeah.
• 37:23
  Danielle Vasinova: You can see the results right? You can see them grow immediate,
• 37:28
  Randall Kaplan: immediate, immediate. Wow, we have some guy Christian. I'm not gonna mention your last name. Reach out to me on Instagram. You said I listen to your show. He's a dentist in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He's making mid six figures, comfortable pediatric dentists, international violinist at age 14. Wow. Four from Brazil for ride to yell for a to Harvard and full ride to tough dentistry. And he said, I've listened your show. And I want you to coach me. And I,
• 38:13
  Danielle Vasinova: you seem like you have it kind of right there.
• 38:16
  Randall Kaplan: I'm sure they're big in you. You should coach me.
• 38:19
  Randall Kaplan: Your otherwise pretty, pretty awesome. And you know, we got on the phone and I never done paid coaching before. Right? I've been very generous with my time.
• 38:27
  Randall Kaplan: But also I want to give more than I get. So someone is doing me a favor being on my show. I it's not a thing on my show.
• 38:37
  Randall Kaplan: someone does something nice for my kids. I mean, that's, that's the ultimate right? There's nothing I wouldn't do for that person. And I always want to give more than I get. But in some cases, I am incredibly busy. I don't have a lot of time for myself. I have five kids, an amazing wife. How do you manage it all? You know, I work seven days a week and and not full days, National Days. I'm up early about when my wife when my wife goes to bed, I'll sometimes go out of my office. You know, but I, I'm lucky. I love what I do. But Christian caught in and I didn't even know what to price it at. So I set it extremely high. I'm not going to lie. Just just because I don't want to be a lawyer. It's like if he was gonna if he's if he want to do it. Want to do it. If he doesn't want to do it. Yeah, I don't need it. Right. He's like, Okay, I'll take I'll do it. Well, I figured out their icon and he's like, Okay, done, said, Alright, send me the check five sessions.
• 39:36
  Randall Kaplan: And I'll say it this way, he's gonna do a promo reel for my website. And, and whichever, we're gonna send the film crew out there. And he's grateful but but the truth is, I say this in a very humble way. He says, you know, when I met you, I had no net worth. I was making $500,000 a year a foreigner and 50,000 to be exact. And a year and a half, I'm now worth $10 million. And it was just a few few little tweaks and advice about his business and what he should do and start a new practice. That was that was very helpful to him. So it's, it's, I take joy in it. And the results of extreme preparation are 99% successful. That's incredible.
• 40:23
  Randall Kaplan: 99%
• 40:26
  Danielle Vasinova: And you're you're still his mentor to this day. Yeah,
• 40:30
  Randall Kaplan: I mean, he's had a lot of success. My team, Matt, Ricky, who also I work with, who's one of my mentees and now he's he's mentoring me and a lot of things was a former intern.
• 40:45
  Randall Kaplan: We all met with them and they're going to help me with my my show. Help me with my coaching business and and Some of the things that I'm doing. So tell us about the improv group. And what your motto is.
• 40:59
  Danielle Vasinova: Don't think I went to Upright Citizens Brigade, UCB, and that is the motto, don't think, you know, just just just jump, go for it.
• 41:11
  Randall Kaplan: So it doesn't make sense to analyze a situation just jump right in and kind of put your blinders on.
• 41:17
  Danielle Vasinova: I think I think it's a mix. I think the way that you work is very detailed and very admirable. And I respect that so much. And I think sometimes as an artist to be able to prepare, but then let it all go. I think there's freedom in that. So I think a combination,
• 41:42
  Randall Kaplan: I would say, what are your goals with your career and in your life?
• 41:48
  Danielle Vasinova: There's a lot, how much time do we have? I mean, I would love I, I met Taylor Sheridan at a Cowboys game a couple months ago, and I had read this, I went up to him and I said, Hi, but I read that article, I think it was in variety, or the Hollywood Reporter or something. And he was a broke actor living in his car. And he went from that to building this empire of Yellowstone. And because of my Christian background, and whatnot, I'm very interested in Yellowstone or 19, or 18, what is the 1883 1920 of the whole Yellowstone series? But he said I learned pretty pretty quick that you've got to create your own destiny. And so that's what he did and but to be a series regular in a show like Yellowstone or to be in a you know, the Marvel Universe to do any of those big tentpole movies would be incredible. I've got a laundry list of directors that I want to, you know, work with Tarantino, Spielberg, Aronofsky, Woody Allen, there's a ton family life, I'd love to get married and have a family. What else?
• 43:07
  Randall Kaplan: You're single?
• 43:09
  Danielle Vasinova: Yeah, seeing somebody right now. Okay, not married.
• 43:13
  Randall Kaplan: Okay, so some I don't have a lot of famous friends. It's hard to crack into, you know, they're not gonna call your manager and don't have your phone number.
• 43:21
  Randall Kaplan: But no offense to the guy that you're dating. The way that people meet people's DEM. Yeah, a lot of DMS. So, Joe Russo is going to do my show. So I'm very grateful for Joe to do it. I'm very excited. He did all the Marvel movies. Oh, nice. Second most successful director in history behind Spielberg, the Russo brothers. So he's, I'm excited to have him. Oh, my show.
• 43:55
  Danielle Vasinova: That's gonna be how did you guys meet? We're neighbors
• 43:57
  Randall Kaplan: up in quarterly in Idaho. Okay,
• 44:00
  Danielle Vasinova: that's really beautiful up there.
• 44:02
  Randall Kaplan: It's so nice.
• 44:02
  Randall Kaplan: There's a group table at a restaurant on our in our residential complex and they see you with people at picnic tables. I mean, it's it's a nice picnic table. Yeah, random. They see. That's cool. I'm sitting next to them and you know, just people don't really talk about work there. I mean, no one does.
• 44:20
  Randall Kaplan: I mean people there are generally where we live it's a it's a nice place there well to do and you've got you know, the Kardashians are the neighborhood and Bieber's in the neighborhood. But you're beyond them. It's like people are just regular people. They're regular people out there, right? No one's taking photos. And we're sitting there and Jesse's with his kids. I'm with Madison, my wife and I were just talking.
• 44:43
  Randall Kaplan: And he said, What do you do? And he was, there was a guy next to him from Nashville, who was a friend of his who was in town and they said something about movies. I said, are you okay?
• 44:54
  Randall Kaplan: I'm a director, and I said, Oh, you know, have you done anything? I wouldn't know. But I asked him. I felt like an idiot when I went back and he Googled him, but I Googled him because he told me what he had done.
• 45:12
  Randall Kaplan: Okay. And I said, Oh my gosh, and others saw he was so humble.
• 45:15
  Randall Kaplan: So I thought it was great to like, want to be on the show. I didn't ask him and he didn't ask me. We're gonna conclude here. I always end my podcast with something I call fill in the blank to excellence. Are you ready to play ready to play? The biggest lesson I've learned in my life is behind my number one professional goal is there's so many
• 45:40
  Danielle Vasinova: to be in the Marvel Universe,
• 45:42
  Randall Kaplan: my number one personal goal is to
• 45:46
  Danielle Vasinova: get married have a family. My biggest regret is I don't have any regrets
• 45:51
  Randall Kaplan: the things In my life that I'm most proud of is
• 45:55
  Danielle Vasinova: my relationships with people.
• 45:58
  Randall Kaplan: If I could land any part in a TV or movie today, the part would be
• 46:06
  Danielle Vasinova: James Bond.
• 46:07
  Randall Kaplan: The one thing I've dreamt of doing for a long time, but haven't is winning an Oscar, if you could go back and tell your 21 year old self one piece of advice, what would it be?
• 46:17
  Danielle Vasinova: Be nicer to yourself?
• 46:19
  Randall Kaplan: So one question you wish I'd asked you but didn't is what the one question you wish I had asked you. But didn't is.
• 46:32
  Danielle Vasinova: I don't know.
• 46:32
  Danielle Vasinova: You are the most prepared person I've ever met in my life and you are amazing, and I am blown away. Thank you.
• 46:44
  Randall Kaplan: Thank you.
• 46:44
  Randall Kaplan: Appreciate you