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One Broke Actress
No Stupid Questions (Pt 2): bathrooms on set, kmr, only fans, money and connections, local hires, and tattoos
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Sam Valentine
Does casting care if you have done nudity or partial nudity when casting certain projects? Is it possible to be a successful actor without money or connections? My first one is my favorite one. I think you need a safe space in this business to ask questions. So occasionally I put up a box on my Instagram and I say, hey, do you have questions? Because this is called no stupid questions. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is where I will try to answer your questions that you might be too nervous to ask somewhere else or feel like you're not getting a straight answer or honestly, you just want to be preached to by the choir, in which case I got you. Just so you guys know, these questions I picked for this video are a little bit more high level. This is not necessarily stuff that actors who don't have reps yet or not going out on auditions are going to vibe with, but you can still take stuff from it and learn it for the future. So my actors, who are a little more seasoned, who have been on some sets, this episode is absolutely for you. Let's roll the tape. Fast Forward Productions. The women are speaking foreign. What's up, guys? Welcome back to the One Broke Actress podcast. An honest account of actor life, plus a few lessons I learned in the process. I am your host, Sam Valentine, and today I want to give you a safe space to ask your stupid questions. Just kidding. I don't believe there are stupid questions. I think it's really hard to find places to ask good questions in this business and get pretty steady opinions. Note I said opinions because everything you're about to hear in the this video is indeed my opinion. But I wanted to give you that. Exactly. So today I gathered some more questions from my Instagram. Put them all on here. Pick some of the best ones. We're gonna get into it. My first one is my favorite one. I'm not even kidding you. Whoever asked this question, like, I love you. I'm obsessed with you. Getting real. What does everyone do when they're miked up and they have to take a poo? I have so much anxiety about it. It's such a good question. It's such a real question. For those of you who might not know what we're talking about here, when you are on set, you. You are strapped with a mic. Typically, oftentimes it is a small lav microphone that you see people holding on TikTok. It's actually just meant to be strapped to your clothes. But you know what? To each his own. And then there's a cord to it that typically goes down and around the front of your shirt to the back of your shirt. And if you're just wearing a shirt and pants, then the mic pack will be put on the top of your pants. However, with women's clothes, especially because we tend to be often not as clothed as men or in different types of outfits, there's not always a space for that. So they can also put a mic pack around your waist. They can put a mic pack in your sock. They can put, like, they can put them in some wild places. So sometimes you're kind of strung up. So what will happen on set is a boom op will come up to you. This is the boom operator. They will be the person who's probably micing you up on set. They will ask, hey, can I take care of your mic real quick? And you'll say, absolutely. And if you're needing to somehow undress or under your pants or shirt or something in order to get the lav mic in and around what you're wearing, then they will often pull you to the side to do that process. So you're kind of stuck once you get to that point. So my first recommendation is try to use the bathroom before they get to that point. And if you're like, ooh, I gotta go do it before they mic you. Now, we can't always avoid that, but there will be times when you are broke on set, when they're changing lighting or moving around the shot where you can say, I'm gonna take a 10 one. This is speak on set for, I'm going to go to the bathroom. Sometimes you'll hear crew members say, 10 2. That's. That's their funny way of saying, I'm going to go poop. You don't have to say that. I don't know a lot of actors who use that terminology. But 10:1, I need to go use the bathroom. Just, like, take a quick break, and you can walk over to the boom op who originally mic'd you, and you can say, hey, can you grab this really quick? I'm just going to go use the bathroom. Because I promise you, they do not want to lose their equipment either. They want it to be kept in pristine condition, and they don't want it to see it dropped in a toilet. Like, that's so embarrassing. You can also ask them exactly how to turn on and off your mic from your mic pack. If anybody saw the Robert Durst documentary on hbo, that would have been a great question for him to ask. Yeah, if you don't know what I'm Talking about, you should go watch it. So figure out how to turn on and off your mic, just so you know. And then feel free to ask to slip it on or off when you go to the bathroom. A lot of times if you are already mic'd up and you have the lav clipped on your shirt with the wire hanging out wherever it is, and you need to go use the restroom or take a break or something, sometimes your Boom app will just unlock, undo the battery pack and so they'll curl up the wires and like tuck it into your bra or your pocket or something so then there's less mechanics for you to carry around. And once that is undone from the battery pack, you're no longer connected to Video Village, you're no longer connected to the sound. So feel free to move around as you wish. They're not listening in and trust me, if anybody accidentally does that sound is like, oh God, let's turn off their mic really quick. Like it would be an accident. It's definitely happened before, it's happened again. But they don't, they're not trying to hear that right. So they'll be like, oh shit, let's turn off our mic really quick. She didn't real because they're obviously paying attention to something that's going on set. Also, just a little hot tip on set, learn that person's name because they have to be kind of intimate with you. So it's just really nice to know their name to be able to converse with them. That way you can say, hey Jennifer, can you strap this off really quick? I need to run to the restroom and do a 10 one. Great. That is so kind and also nice. And people want to help people who know their names. So remember your Boom Ops name and you can take off your mic at any time. Next question, how to ask for help when I'm finding new reps. I was repped by kmr. This is very, very nuanced. So for those of you who don't know, once again giving you all the information that you can possibly have. I would Google this if you don't know all of the goods, but KMR was a well known agency in Los Angeles and in March of this year they suspended their franchise with SAG Aftra amid many, many money issues. Clients weren't getting paid, there were things going on in the back end that were kind of hush hush and currently I don't know what's going on. But they people listed on their IMDb page and there's still just the one executive owner in charge. I don't. I don't understand what that is. But from what I know, they were regrouping. And every agent has left that agency except the person who started it. So that's the information you need to know. The thing with this is we want to like, hate the man. Like, yeah, those agents were bad people. Maybe a couple of them weren't on the up and up. But also some of those agents were just as blindsided as the actors were. So keep in mind that not everyone who ever worked for KMR is a bad person. Some of them also got fucked here. So there's two paths we want to go down. Did you like your former agent? That's the most important question here. And if the answer is yes, you really enjoyed working with them, you didn't have any association with them and not getting paid, or they were very on the up and up with you and you felt like you were being told whatever they knew at the time. If the answer is yes to that, I would reach out to them. You might have to dig for their email because most agents to clients typically talk to each other in form of their agency email and their agency emails likely shut down. So you might have to kind of do some due diligence. If you didn't have their phone number before, like their personal phone number, you might not have that yet. You might have to kind of do a little Instagram checking. But I would reach out to them. They may be able to help you or talk to you about taking you up on where they actually are. First things first. Check on them first. I don't think enough people check on their agent, especially agents who all of a sudden were out of a job just like we were. That was a pretty scary situation. And people who were at that agency probably thought they were going to stay there for life. So check on that person first. Maybe we don't make this all about you, especially if you liked that agent. Once you kind of start that conversation, that's when we can talk about how's it going, where are you at now, blah, blah, blah. If they haven't already reached out to you to potentially take you on, they might not be a fit for you. They might not be able to take on new clients wherever they landed. They might not still be in this business doing what they were doing before, but you can be genuinely curious and let them know that you are still looking for a place to land. However, this is a completely different story. If you did not have a good relationship with that agent and it did not end well, and you didn't like how it worked out and who they were. Were. And that's a whole different ball game we're talking about. Great. Okay. So you were able to leave that agent pretty cleanly. Listen, sending those emails is hard. Let me save you some time. Your agency folded. There you go. I know. It sucks, guys. I don't want to make light of it. I'm just. It's just. We gotta. We gotta laugh. Okay? We gotta laugh sometime. So I'd use this information in a pitch if I were you, because it's kind of a good convo starter, to be honest. Everybody likes tea. Everybody likes a little. A little gossip. Let's use it in our favor. You know what? Let's be bad. Let's be bad actors. And let's say I was just with kmr. And. Wow, that was interesting. I'd love to chat with you about moving forward with your agency. Do you know how bad that agent wants the tea? I want it. So I think it's a good convo starter. Also, it shows that you were repped by a previously reputable agency before, so you're not starting from zero. You had great reps. Just the way it ended wasn't ideal. But that still means that you had something to offer to an agent, and it still means that that agency kept you on for a reason. So it's not like you're starting from zero. I also want you to think back to how you got this agent previously. Can you repeat that process? How was it? Did you submit? Was it a referral? Whoever referred you, they're probably like, oh, fuck, I might have done a bad thing. So can you reach out to that person and say, hey, crazy, what happened at kmr? I'm actually looking for a new agency I've been looking at. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right. You can talk to them about that. Open up these doors. Also, did you make any relationships in the time you were at kmr? Can we tap into those? This could be. Do you have any really good relationships with casting directors who you could grab a drink with or a coffee? Are there other actors who were on the roster that you really respect and worked with? Sometimes. What types of things did you build in the time you were there that could potentially influence how you get your next agent? You guys, we have to have a sense of humor. I can see the comments now. That was really sad and tra. It was really sad and tragic. Okay. But this business is hard. Giggle with me. All right? I'm going to move on. Okay. Next question. Does casting care if you have done nudity or partial nudity when casting certain projects? Probably not. If you didn't put it in your reel, the likelihood of casting just seeing your actor's access page, seeing your resume, and knowing she's been naked in a movie, she's showed her boob in a movie, and I say she because I know the pronouns of the person who asked this question. They're not going to know that based off of your profile. Now, if this is children's programming, if this is like a Disney show for kids, not like a Disney plus original type of situation, that's a different story. They will do a little bit more due diligence, especially based on the size of the part. But if you're just like, I did an indie movie where I was partially nude and there were nude scenes, blah, blah, blah, unless you showcase it, no one's going to know. The caveat to this is that I did have an actor reach out to me in my DMs once and said, I have an only fans page. Do you think that's the reason that casting's not seeing me? This is complicated. Maybe, maybe. It might not be specific for all of the roles that are out there. If you are leading pretty heavily in your sexuality, not a bad thing, not a judgment, not slut shaming you, do you also, you make that money. But if it's in the first page of Google results, when I look up your name, like, if that's what you lead with first, if you're like, this is my profile only fans, da da da da. And it's like the only fans type of profile where we know, like, we know what you're, we know what you're getting up to in there. You know what I'm saying? If that's what you lead with and you let define you, yes, it might shade how people look at you in terms of casting because that is what you are choosing to lead the narrative with. Does it mean you're never going to book roles? No. Look at those people who were plucked and tossed into euphoria. There's always space for that. But if it's the one thing you tell people you do and it's like your main thing and it's like, like I said, like, first couple things on Google that come up, if I look at you, then that might have an effect on your casting. So just think about that. Whatever it is you lead with that could shade what your casting is not saying, don't do it. I'm telling you make your money. I got a YouTube channel. I just choose to lead with this. Right. Although that only fans feet thing, is that real? Can someone tell me if that's real? Are you really making money off pictures of your feet? My feet are really ugly. Bum, bum, bum. Next up for theatrical in person callbacks. That's out of the state. Does production pay for you to travel and stay? So just like our previous circumstances, we have two paths. In the words of Robert Frost, two roads diverge in a yellow wood. And I. I won. We're going to go off topic here in the fifth grade. I'm going to look right into camera for this. In the fifth grade, I read Two Roads, the Robert Frost poem. I don't even know if that's what it's actually called, but I read that in front of my whole class and I got an A plus and I moved on to the national poetry reading contest and I got to do it on stage. And I wore a bucket hat and cargo pants and my dad and I made a wooden sign that was two road signs. And I thought, I am a performer. I can't believe my parents let me go to college for this. I could still recite you that whole poem, but I won't. Okay, so this comes down to get it together today. It's Friday. It's been such a long week. Okay, okay. All right. Be serious, Sam. This situation of whether or not production is paying for you to go to a callback is are you being seen as a local hire for this production? Very simple. If yes, you have officially told casting you are local there and you are 100% in charge of your own logistics. That means you got to get yourself there. You got to put yourself up, you got to take care of it. If you tell casting I am a local hire and I can be there for whatever it is that's listed on this project. Callbacks, chemistry reads potential dates. You got me. I'm there. They shouldn't have to blink an eye or be concerned about you at all. I did a full YouTube video about getting a call back in Atlanta and having to go on like a two day notice. You should go watch it. I will link it right above here somewhere. It's actually pretty interesting. But I have the funds and I have the job that is so flexible. I actually get more content when I get to go do a job like that. That is a very specific niche scenario. So watch that video. Because they talk about all about working as a local hire and what the ramifications of that were for me. So if not, if you're not a local hire, you're not working as a local hire and you auditioned for this role and production has told you that they are going to bring you out for a callback that's like major. That's really cool. We don't see a of this anymore because flying actors used to be a thing that you'd hear a lot for testing for pilots and things like that. And actually Sierra Payton is an actress and she was on the podcast, I think in the first season back in 2017, where she was actually flown from New York City to Los Angeles to test for the Shameless pilot. It's actually a really cool story, so you guys should go look at that. But if that's the case, your reps know all about this process and they are the ones that are going to be fully communicating all of the travel, all of the logistics to you. But if you are an actress and you lit live in, let's say, Kentucky and you audition in Atlanta and you get a call back in Atlanta, you gotta get your ass to Atlanta. We're gonna do two more. Be brutally honest. Is it possible to be a successful actor without money or connections? Yes, but it's gonna be fucking hard. But I want you to know specifically why I say that and what I mean. So let's start with connections. That first part of your question. Most of us do not start in this business with connections unless you grew up in the business or in a business household or you went to a really, really well connected school like USC or nyu. The rest of us come to our cities and we build relationships over a long period of time with working and networking, which is networking is just the building of relationships over a long period of time by doing really good work and being a good human. And we are building them all over years and years and years and years and years in this business, which is where your second part comes in, which is money. You have to have this to live in our capitalistic society. And you need to spend money at least in intervals on your acting pursuit. And that will probably not pay you back anytime soon. Meaning you need some liquid cash. And in order to see a return on this investment you are putting into your acting, you probably need the ability to stick around long enough in the work to build your connection and your connections, slash, relationships will make it easier to be on people's radar, which will hopefully make you more money down the road. So yes, you need both and you can get both on your own over time. But what you need is Time, that is the important question. So be brutally honest. Can you do it without them? No. But you can get them by yourself. You just need some time. And I will now direct you to Side Hustle Academy, which is the course we have that is launching October 21st that teaches actors how to build their own side Hustle hustles. Just giving them a cash flow and, honestly, hopefully, overall, more joy in this process to maintain themselves in the business for the long run. And, yes, this course costs some of the money that we just mentioned that you need to utilize in the interim. But just FYI, for you guys who are listening, it's going to be at the lowest price that it's ever going to be on October 21st and 22nd. And we are putting hours and hours and hours and hours of work into this class. So if this is something where you see no option for you to build longevity via making money and building relationships over a long period of time, and you need a way to do both, I'm going to direct you to that class. It is linked below in the wait list. Get on it. That's a place to go. But, yes, you can do it, but you're still gonna need them. You're still gonna need them, and you can get them yourself, but you just need time. Okay, we're gonna end this video with one last question, and it is one that I like because it's a little bit lighter, it's a little softer, and if you didn't like my Robert Foss poem earlier, here's another piece of lightness for you. Okay, tattoos, yay or nay? I worry about how they affect my casting. I have some and I like them. This has actually come up a lot recently in my online membership, and I want to say two things about it. If you have or want tattoos, go for it. I would recommend, however, that you know how to cover them up. You can get on Amazon right now and buy amazing tattoo cover up. It's not as hard as it used to be. Like, I used to watch actors put layers and layers and layers of foundations on their tattoos, and you can still see through it. You could just. Just. It's like a smear, right? It's just like a big, dark smear on your arm or whatever, and then it would get on your clothes, and it was a whole situation. But now you have access to really good tattoo cover. So have a way to cover them and. Or have the fashions that cover them, the sleeves, the neckline, whatever it is that works for you, just know you will have to Pay attention to them. If you choose to get them or if you have them, it is something you have chosen to put on. Just like, you know what, if you dye your hair purple, you now have purple hair. That's great. Pay attention to how you use it. Is it going to make it harder for you to be cast in a period piece? Probably. But if you use the proper tools to put it away when you need to, that opens that up for you completely. I also would like you to pay attention to the roles that you see in tv, film and commercials that have tattoos. There are certain brands and companies that you're never going to see a commercial with people with tattoos on. It is just a very specific choice for some of them. For others, for certain TV shows that like realisticness or grittiness, you're going to see tons of tattoos. So just pay attention to where they fit in casting and utilize them accordingly in your tapes. Just make sure you can cover them up. And secondly, this is something that you guys can figure out. But look into getting an artist waiver so that you have a sign off to utilize your tattoo. If you're in a project and they need the artist to sign off on it, you can google this. You can look up in many different ways, but there are tons of them floating around and you can look for the official sign off this way. If you're in a production and you're playing a specific character and you have a sleeve and you get to show it and it's so cool, you need your artist to sign off off on that or else technically. Some productions consider this utilizing art that's not theirs inside of their show and it gets them into a bit of a illegal scarfle. So just check that out. Oh you guys, we made it. I love these videos. I love these no stupid questions podcasts. If you guys want more of these, drop your questions in the comments on YouTube. If you are listening to this via podcast, drop them in the comment section of my latest Instagram. I will be thrilled to have them and keep an eye out for my questions box that I post all the time on Instagram because I will be doing more of these in the very near future. Love these episodes. Thank you guys so much for listening and I will talk to you next week. I will put my heart on the line Give it all this time I will I will put my heart on the line Nothing stop me this time.