Welcome back to actors, You are enough. Welcome. Ah, so exciting. We're getting such great feedback, you guys. If you love what we're doing, please subscribe. And if you're listening, follow, make comments. I write you back. If you write Ophelia on Instagram, she writes you back. I mean, we are accessible, yeah. Right, and share it too, because there's several people that have contacted us and they're like, Oh my gosh, this has been so helpful and my friend shared it with me.
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Ophelia and I were just not marketing fanatics. So. But that's all you're getting about marketing right now, guys. That's it. Exactly. We're not salespeople, you know, No. So last week we talked about social media and this week we're going to talk about elevator pitches. Yeah. And guess what? I'm going to make Ophelia my Guinea pig today. Are you OK with that, Ophelia? I am OK with that, but let's talk about why we need to do
this. Let's talk about like what networking, Like, why is networking really that important? And I mean, it's like in this day and age, it's so much more comfortable to just sit behind your computer and you know what I mean? And just not really have to interact with people a lot or just scroll on Instagram and communicate through your post or
through messaging or commenting. And you know, we did a whole thing on social media, which, if you haven't seen it, you just need to go back and watch it. It's super informative. But sometimes people get really comfortable, like not interacting with people. Well, I think when COVID was here, all of us were kind of like still living in our sweatpants, you know, and, and, you know, and then, and then you have the texting thing and then, you know, everybody, they, they
don't want to be in person. Uh huh. Yeah. Yeah. And it's really important that you that you get out there and, and you meet people like, like Ophelia and I. We went over to Aroma Cafe to have breakfast the other day and we're just sitting there, La La La La La La. Finding your own business. Finding our own business when a bump into my neighbor who is Jason George and see there I go dropping a name, poof. OK, Jason George.
And Jason George plays Bailey on on Bailey's husband on Grey's Anatomy. And he also had a series regular on stage 19 and he was there having a meeting. So I said hello to him and he introduced us to his firefighter guy, 'cause they're making a firefighter movie. And it turns out he talk, he ends up talking to Ophelia, 'cause she dropped that she's an agent, right? Yeah, exactly. And all of a sudden he spilled his guts. So funny. He tells somebody that you're an agent or an or you want an
acting school. All of a sudden they're like. It all just comes out. It's great. It's awesome, you know, because this is what this is what happens when you're in person that you can't replicate when you're. Not, but I will tell you this. What he didn't know was an elevator pitch, because he went right to dogging his old agent. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. That's true. I didn't even catch that, but you're right. That's you know what happened.
It wasn't like it wasn't like gnarly, but it was just kind of like, OK, he like he wasn't prepared. He wasn't totally prepared and you know he. Wasn't prepared at all, but he was prepared to talk talk smack about them that he was prepared for. And and you know, a lot of actors do that. You guys don't get in the habit of doing that. That's bad. That's bad. Get in the habit of of really thinking about what your pitch is and what you can say to an industry person.
And especially in this case, he was, he should have been trying to drop names of shows he's been on to Ophelia. What he did was talk about how the agent never sent him out. Well, you know. There's. A lot. There's a lot involved with that because you know there's a lot involved with that. There's there's could be a lot of things going on. Yeah, I mean, it's like, maybe it didn't work for him, right? It's working for somebody, but it didn't work for him, right? Exactly. Right.
But you don't want to bring bad blood into a new relationship. One hundred 100% one. 100 I was like talking about your ex-girlfriend on a first date. Yeah, yeah, that's a really a great analogy. That's a super great analogy. And it's not that like when you when like when like you see elevator approach, it's, it's not like every time you meet someone, you're, you're like trying to sell yourself and, and, and you're going to talk more about it.
So people understand that. But what you're trying to do is you're trying to build relationship with someone. That's the whole essence of networking is not to see what like you can get out of them. You're trying to build authentic relationship. But in the context of that, you do need to be prepared because you may you, you may see, you may be able to keep building, but you may not. And so you want to be able to in a way that's relational.
You want to be able to, to get everything out there to them that you want them to know that you need them to know, right. And so you have to be prepared and. Prepared. I actually had to pull it out of him, asking him like what other shows he had been on as a firefighter because he's a, he's a firefighter turned actor, but he's also a producer. He's. He as well, Yeah, some great skills. Yeah, right. He used to be a cop too, right?
You know, and you're starting to think about like how many shows he can be on and you start talking about a client of yours. Yeah, right. So, I mean, I hear everything, you know, I would take in everything that somebody says. And, and I, I don't think it was a good pitch for him. Right, No, that it was it wasn't a good pitch. You know, interestingly, and here's another thing, you want
to be prepared. You have your get your elevator pitch, you know all that stuff, but don't get too like nervous about it because even though, you know, even though he was not prepared, I we're still like I'm still connecting with him. You know we exchanged business cards and we'll talk about that in a minute too. There's. A way. Well, partly because he was there as a producer getting ready to produce a movie that's going into production. So that shows that he was
proactive. He wasn't just some actor. Yeah, he wasn't just like, hanging out, having coffee, like, And he happened to strike up a conversation. Yeah, they were having a big meeting. I probably I maybe would have I probably would not have followed up with him if that was the case, right. So, but this is there was other things involved for SO. Yeah. And then and then and then we're just sitting there and this woman comes up who's part of their group. Sit down.
She comes and talks to us. She goes, yeah, so what's going on? And so so I dropped the fact, but she's saying she's looking for talent and this and that and that. And I dropped the fact that I am an acting teacher and I have thousands of students. I was like, Bam. And she was like, she's like, oh, oh, do you have any up and comers? I said, do I have up and comers? And then I said, well, and also Ophelia's a talent agent. And then she moves on to
Ophelia's side of the table. She went, oh, very literally, physically shifted. And so she's like, oh, you girls, we women have to stick together. We all have to get together and work together. And so we were just so saved. Oh yeah, she was with a a major studio for years and now she's. Yeah, she was with Warner Brothers for eight years. Right, yeah, so, and she's in the middle, she's right. She's about to be casting this
this feature and so she's. And she has like 7 or 8 other features that she's also doing one on top of the other. So this is this is this kind of and and we're getting together again. So this kind of meet like these connections. You can't replicate that on Zoom. You just, it's like you have to be able, you have to be willing to be in person and at least for, for part of your networking, you know, like a strategy. And get out of your house, guys.
Get out of your house. Most get out of film festivals. But you know what I find? Know what I find, though? I find that it's almost like high school all over again. The boys are hanging out with the boys and the girls are hanging out with the girls. What happens is that you guys find other actors at these big events and you just hang out with each other. Don't do that. It's hard to branch out and ask somebody. So if you're at a party. So how do you know so and so?
Yeah. Or, or are you involved with this film that we're about to watch? Or do you have a film in the Film Festival? Yeah, exactly. I just talked to a friend of mine who's the manager and she went to manager. It was like a big showcase, like a one of the really big ones for like print and, and she said she's like, Oh my gosh, she's like, I just went to this and all the managers are in the
circle talking to each other. They're not talking to any, any anyone else, any of the, you know, any directors or producers. They're just talking to each other. She's like it. She's like I, she's I barely. She's like, it drives me nuts. I like, I she's like, I barely talked to them. I went and I, you know, talked to them. Yeah, she did a great job. But you have to be careful with
that. It's a natural like tenants, you're going to be drawn to stick to people that you know, because you know, it's particularly like if your personality is more introverted or you never. But as an actor, it's it's gonna be challenging because, you know, we talk about this. This is one of the foundations of this podcast, right, right. Like actors, you are enough, you know, or there's like a lot this we've brokenness, right? There's broken. You guys are brokenness.
And so there's like all this insecurity and you're not, you're not. Like don't be a moo moo. Do you know what a moo moo is? Tell us what a moo moo is. Tell us. A moo moo is is a bunch of cows that are hanging together in the stable and cows hang together. It's very, very infrequent does a cow unless unless like the gates open or something. But for the most part, don't be a moo moo, don't hang like they're and that's a moo moo
mentality. The. Waste of your night out if you're going to go out like that's a waste, you're wasting your time. You've got, you've got to, you've got and, and we can, if we have time during this episode, we can talk about like some tips for like overcoming insecurity, but I want to make sure we get to do that. Yeah, what we're doing today. Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK. So that's a good segue. So one of the things that the guy should have done was have an elevator pitch.
And an elevator pitch is really good. When somebody says, So what you been up to or hey, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself? I mean, you don't want to use the elevator pitch. And then there's the interview. OK, The elevator pitch shouldn't be more than a minute. Yeah. It they're like snapshots to whet the appetite of the person that you're speaking with. Like what are the buzzes you know? And then you can wait for them
to explore. Yeah, like I, I, I usually say, well, I, I, they like at the beginning of my pitch, I'll say, well, my family came out here because my uncle made Rocky. So the whole few all of a sudden they're like interested, oh, you're the niece of the guy that made Rocky. So it was, you know what I mean? So, you know, you drop, you drop, you do mic drops, a lot of mic drops so they can go, oh,
that's interesting, right. So when I ask people about their history and stuff, I write it down and then I pitch it back to them and then they pitch it back to me. OK. Because I work on this all the time. When Ophelia came into Actor Club, everybody did their elevator pitch for her. And what was the first thing you said?
I was blown away. I'm like, OK, how did in just like one minute, one minute, 10 seconds, like probably 80% of the people in there, I'm like, Oh my gosh, do they have an agent I'm kind of interested in like repping them and, you know, and without even what? Was your interest What what was it about it about them that interested you? I. Started hearing about like these other languages they could speak. And then I started hearing about, oh, I've done 4 films.
I didn't, I didn't. And at that point you're not at that moment, you're not thinking about, well, what were the films? You're just like they've been done 4 films and three features and they, you know, and, and so it, it's like they're, you're highlighting like this amazing work that you've because you have been doing work. If you're an actor and you're at a place where you need an agent,
you've been doing work. I mean, even if you're at the beginning of your career, you, you still have a pitch. You can say, well, I've been acting since I'm 12. I I've must have done about 40 plays. Yeah, or even. Commercials. Yeah, yeah, I've booked 7 commercials like those are. That's really good to be part of your pitch, but a big part of your pitch is you the person. And that's what made you
interested. You know, like I hadn't realized on that particular day when everybody's doing the pitches and how many people spoke so many languages and, and they were so many people were from such foreign countries. Like I didn't even realize it really. It's it was, I was like, Oh my gosh, like they speak 4 languages. Like what? Fluently Like what? Yeah, Peter spoke 5 languages. That's that's so amazing. Crazy. OK, so I'm going to put Ophelia through the through the mill on
this. And so this is the construction of of an elevator pitch. All right, So I'm going to ask you some questions. I'm going to take some notes and then I'm going to spit it back to you. And then, then I'm going to say, so tell me about yourself and see if you could, OK. Guys I'm I I was not pre prepared with. The I don't know. She's not. Like what this is like this is the real and raw here. So real deal. No, but I'm a coach, so I'll prepare you, OK?
Yes, exactly so so. First off, where are you from? Where were you born? I was born in Northern California in the San Francisco Bay Area. So you you grew up in San Francisco? In in Oakland, in the in the Bay. Or in Oakland. I grew up, I was born there, but then lived on the east in Massachusetts for until I was 9, like from like 3:00 to 9:00 and then back to the Bay Area. Oakland. So what business was your father in? He worked for UC Berkeley doing
what he was. He started out he he and ended up in in admissions, in incentive. The incentive awards part of admissions where he he would go and recruit people all over. OK. So he was a recruiter? He's a recruiter, yeah. Well, unlike you, right? Yeah. So, OK, OK, we're not there yet. I know we're not there yet, but it's it's very magical. It's very magical. Putting this right, like, whoa. Yeah. Very similar to you. OK. So what did your mom do for a living?
What does she do? She she was an escrow, she's retired now, but she was an escrow officer like a high level management in. The beginning, so for like houses, OK, So after they would close, they would need to go to her and to close the deal completely, yeah. In California, I think others other states just use lawyers, but in California you have to have an. Escrow. Yeah, you have to have an escrow officer. So was it mostly for residential? Yeah, it's all.
Residential you have. Any brothers and sisters? Do I have two younger? I'm the oldest. Oh, you're the oldest, OK. And you're younger. Are they? Are they? Do they do anything interesting? I mean, we all like, we all like were homemakers. Like that was what we wanted to do. So before I became an agent, I was primarily homemaker. And so my sister is also, she's also homemaker and she's a lot of volunteers. When you say homemaker, you mean at home raising the kids?
At home, raising the kids, managing the house. I got it. All that kind of stuff. OK, it's making sure everything was working. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, managing. Yeah, yeah, exactly managing. Managing. Yeah, that's why that's the managers. You know managers, when you have kids in the industry, they make the best agents cuz they manage. They already know what you have to do. You were your your kid was in the industry when you would bring them into an office to audition, right?
Yes, they were still in person, Yeah. When it was still in person, yeah. Which is different back then because you had to drive. Oh yeah, we drove down to LA. It's like a six hour drive, you know, for like a 510 minute audition and we'd turn around and go back home or we'd make a week or, you know, spend the night making like a little mini vacation. Wow. That's dedication. A lot. We're doing that a lot. That's where we end up moving down eventually to LA.
Yeah, and how long have you been married? Oh my gosh, 3033 years. That's stabilizing. These are important things. You know, it's people want to be in business with people that they can count on. Yeah, yeah, that's so. Yeah, and that's why a lot of times I'll ask actors if they have any competition experience, OK? Because agents are looking for people that understand the art of competition.
But for you, you're if you're looking to work in a very high level agency, they're looking for somebody that's that's not flaky. Right. And that's not you. Right. So what are some of your hobbies? Oh. My gosh. I mean, you guys, you see, I never, I didn't talk about, I talked about her personally, you guys, so that that would be for you guys too. You talk about your home life. If it's boring, don't mention it, but sometimes. Your parents lives are interesting.
Yeah, my mom before my mom did. I mean, right until up by like the year after I was born. She was a professional ballet dancer with the Oakland Ballet. Oh, see, that's interesting. Yeah. So it's kind of like in my family, like the entertainment, you know, like, yeah, it was like, I mean, she. Yeah. So it wasn't completely foreign to you, is what you're saying. So what do? What do you you and your husband like to do together? Like what kind of fun things do you do? Your foodies.
Great, great. What's your favorite food? Oh my God, I don't. I don't know if I have a favorite, but probably if I had to pick one I would say Italian I would. Say, what do you would it like Chicken Parmesan? What do you order? Spaghetti like just super traditional like spaghetti meatballs or like the the pizza that's like the the. Yeah. It's like the Naples style. Yeah. Yeah, just like the like super like home cooking feeling authentic? Authentic. Valiant, OK, I want it right
now. If you want. Yes. It's. Very good. And do you, do you guys want to volunteer anywhere? Do you do any kind? Of when I mean one of our passions is I just say one of my passions is like adoption in foster care. I have an adopt. My oldest child's adopted. And wow, very interesting. It's yeah, that's kind of like a We just always have been like that. My husband grew up with his parents doing foster care. They had over 100 foster kids. He's he and his.
He and his one brother are biological. And then all of the rest were Foster, and then they adopted. Like, wow. Yeah. So that's. How old was your your child before you? When you were before when you adopted him? How old is he? 3 She was a girl. Oh, she OK, so when did you So you found her when she was born? No, we didn't found find her until she was until she was 2 and then. So it took a year. So you fostered her, or you or
you were gonna. Her for should we met her when she was like 2 1/2 and then she turned 3 when she was 3 she and she was able to come and live with us and then it took like a year for all the legal stuff to go through. Yeah, yeah. Which usually does. Oh, you, you see, isn't she becoming really interesting? Oh no. But for you guys, how this translates is when you're in an interview or you're doing a a pitch, you don't want to be talking about acting 'cause it's
really boring. You got to look at your meetings, interview meetings as like a second date. OK, yeah, because they already saw your package. They already. Or like now, they just want to see if you're insane. That's 100%. Do I want to work with this person? Like are we going to be a good fit for each other?
Then that's a huge part of if I rub someone, you could be, you know, you could be a recognizable actor, but if you're a diva or in a hole like I'm, I'm like, it's not worth it to me. I honestly. Yeah, it's gonna disrupt everything. Yeah, it's disruptive. It really is like. When you manage, you know. And you ever find out, you'll find out during the meeting. So don't don't talk about acting because it's only going to leave you way open to be stomped on.
So if you start talking about acting, they're going to be like so, so how many agents have you had? How many managers have you had? So did you go out on any Co stars did? How come you haven't booked any, right? Why don't you have any credits? Why don't you have any credits? So it's going to lead down that rabbit hole. You don't want to go down that rabbit hole, but you did it by talking about it.
They need to fall in love with you, the person, which is why I'm asking Ophelia all these personal questions because we're going to put together her pitch. Yeah. OK, so just don't go there. So first it's going to be about your home life and then it's going to be about, I mean, in your case, it was like what your parents did and your, your marriage, your hobbies and, and, and your, your life as a momager. And then the the adoption, which is very interesting to a lot of people.
It is, it is interesting to people. Yeah. We we found that over the years that. People very interesting to people that we don't know, a lot of people that have adopted or have fostered. Right. Yeah. And you guys have come from that? Yeah. But it could because you're from Northern California too. It's a hell. Because no nor Cal's up there. Yeah, I mean, Northern California, they're a lot more,
you know, socialized. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's just like narcissist, you know, they're like, why would I bring another person in the house? Like, why would I open that another mouth of feet, you know, party was expensive. Exactly. This is going to get away with my career. Yeah, exactly. Like man, I'm not interested in one more person messing up myself. Tape. Yeah. So all right, we're moving forward. So, so we now we're up to the point of you being with your agency right now.
So you've never been an agent, but but your kid was with the agency that you're working with now? Yeah, Yep. They found him when he was, I think in 9th grade. He's, he's almost 22 and yeah, they found him and he went in audition in person. Right in person. Then and then we heard back like I, I, I might wasn't, you know, I was like, oh, we meet me. If, if we hear back, you know, we may be holding her back like
in a few days. And then that a couple hours later they came back and said, we, we like to, you know, represent him. Yeah. So this began this journey and. Yeah. So then you became you decided that actually she asked you. Didn't she ask you if you you wanted to do this? Well, like a year before I started, she was like, OK, we're we are going to, we're expanding. And so we're and this is during this was during COVID like at the. Yeah, it was 20.
You told me it was 21/20/21. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and so she, yeah. So she's like we, we, we are expanding. We, we make sure that because we're, we take agency, we are very committed to keeping our rosters small. So we we're looking for another agent and, and that and we had moved down to LA at. That yes, we so and it made sense that you could handle the LA territory, your company also your company's also in Texas and
Atlanta, right. In Texas and San Francisco, we are in commercially in Atlanta, in theatrical, but we are in San Francisco commercially and theatrically in San Francisco, LA and and Texas, Texas and in there's. A lot going on in Austin right now, so. Oh, yeah. Oh, there's a lot going on. Stuff, Yeah. There's a lot going on, so why, why hasn't the company opened up in New York and Atlanta? We're commercially in Atlanta, but we just expanded into Texas
like a year ago. OK, so it's slowly happening. Yeah, we're moving towards that, yeah. So this is where we are now is that you're at the agency. So it's been like 5 years, six years. With is it is it? We've been with the agency for five or six, but I've been an agent, like a formal, formerly an agent for the agency for 2 1/2 years. Wow, it's only been 2 1/2 years and what do you love about? Oh my gosh, I love matching talent with opportunities.
I mean, that's, that's kind of what I, that's like my, my favorite thing about it that I'm the most passionate about is really knowing my talent and I'm able to know my talent in a different way because we are smaller and that's kind of part of. And you're more of the manager agent than an. Agent, manager, agent for sure. And so I really, I really like, I really enjoyed, like really knowing my talent, knowing exactly who they are.
Yeah, exactly what they do, what their skills are, what their, what roles they play the strongest. And so when I'm coming, you know, I'm submitting. I'm, I find a role like, Oh my God. Like right away without having to look through my roster, I'm like, oh, I know, I know who's going to do that. I know who can play that. I'm going to pitch them right now. They can. I just had someone audition for a big role in In the Last of the Prairie. That was she just did it.
It was like they needed someone who could speak French, who was Canadian. But see, that's the difference, you know, You know who's in your, who's in your store, You know what I mean? There's agents that don't know what's in their store. They just get a hit on you when they first meet you. And that's pretty much the last time you're going to talk to them until like, Christmas. That's the that's more common than it's not common. Yeah, these for sure or they just.
Think that you knowing your your clients would be better for them and better for you in the long run. Oh, yeah, because you're gonna, you're we, we every single talent that I have at some point if I will pitch them at some point. I mean, you know, as long as, as long as they, they continue on like with their training and developing their skills. And I know if I pitch them and it's like they are like they're, I know they can.
They're really good actors. Yeah, you know, you have faith, you have faith in OK. So let me let me be you, OK? Let me get get my glasses. OK, oh, I. Want to marry you? It's because it can't. It can't read the damn thing when I wrote down. OK, OK, so do what? Tell me about yourself. Just ask me. Why don't you tell me about yourself? Oh, Amy, can you tell me? About yourself, No, no, you have to see Ophelia because. Oh, OK, Ophelia, tell me about yourself.
Ah, OK. Well, I'm originally from Northern California. It's Lake Oakland actually. And then my family moved to Massachusetts, but then we moved back there. I've kind of very fascinating. My father is an admissions recruiter, which is why it makes sense that I recruited talent. So my mother was a professional ballet dancer. So, you know, she understands the the the art of, you know, discipline. You know, she ended up to be an escrow officer, but but she was
a professional ballet dancer. So this is in my blood that I was around this and even when I had my child, my child got into the business and I became what is known as a momager. But he was he wasn't my only child. I've been married 33 years and my husband and I, we have adopted first, we fostered a baby and she is just fantastic and she's ours and she's our oldest. But you know, I have been just loving. Matching talent with an opportunity is my jam.
So being an agent is the perfect place for me. And so that's. I love this about myself. I I mean wow, this is OK. So from another person like oh listen to this. Yeah, it's. The talent, I bet it when talent do their pitch and and they put all together like, Oh my gosh, this is this is who I am. This is so fun. That's who you are. OK, so I'm going to repeat it back. OK, So Ophelia, So what do you do? Like what's your deal? Oh well. So I'm supposed to do my pitch? Yeah, yeah.
Just stay, you know, just. Great, SO. You have the. From from Northern California, from Oakland. Was in Massachusetts for about 6 years until I was 9 and then we moved back to Oakland and my dad was an admissions officer for UC Berkeley. OK, bring it back to you, the agent. And so now as an agent, you know, it kind of it kind of makes sense to me. This is what I grew up with. And I'm, you know, I recruit talent. That's one of the biggest parts of my job.
My mom was the ballet dance, professional ballet dance for looking ballet. So again, entertainment industry entertainment, very familiar, very, you know, very, very much in my blood. Yeah, her being a professional, her being a. Professional dancer and even it's that's even been passed on to my kids.
My, my kids got into the industry of their, of their own volition, their own interest, and I started managing my son who's, who was he started becoming represented by the agency that I'm not working for and did that as a momager for several years before I jumped in as an agent. And one of the my favorite things about being an agent is that I get to match talent with their gifts and their training with amazing opportunities and. Yes, that right.
That was great. It's. Virtual High 5:00 Nice. That was awesome. Well, that was awesome that you just so quickly put that together. I've never, I've never really done an elevator pitch for this job. I've done it for the jobs, but I haven't done it for this. And it's like, oh, that's not that hard to do. No, no, it's just, it's, it's a, it's like a template, OK that I
created. And so just to reiterate for you guys, you start out with where you're from and if there's maybe anything interesting about what any of your siblings do. I mean, sometimes it can add to us understanding you. But if it doesn't, you could just say I'm the I'm the oldest of five. And then you can say, and then you go into like, like what what, what your hobbies are. Oh, I didn't even mention. I didn't even mention that. It's OK, you had a flow on. I did, yeah.
Flow on. You didn't need to do the foodie thing. I didn't say the foodie thing. Yeah, that's true. I didn't, I didn't do that. I. Didn't say the foodie thing. You were you duplicated me perfectly. I didn't say the foodie thing. So, but in terms of hobbies, I mean, and that's what you drop in. I, I speak Spanish fluently or I'm really, I really love Spain. I went there as a child. And you know what I mean? You throw in stuff like that or I was a professional hockey
player. Yeah, anything or I won awards and awards are good guys. Even if you won awards, if you won awards as a child, like when I was a child, I won all around camper. I can't even tell you how many times I won which, Which showcases leadership. Yeah, that's even as a young child. Yeah, that's that's a great I that's great. I love that. Yeah. And that would keep my attention.
Yes. So you just talked about like and there are some people that that was training for the Olympics and these are people that we want to be in business with because they already understand how hard it is and how how much discipline it takes. So interesting that you're saying this because I had we've had talent that one of our talent asked US1 time. Hey, I was I'm I'm a trained esthetician. Do I need to put that down as one of my skills?
I probably don't, right? And we said, no, you, you should and I don't whether or not this is an elevator pitch, Maybe, maybe not, but just to even thinking about your skills when you put a package together, But sometimes you're going to think of like, why would I put this in here?
But we do know someone, we had someone on her roster that she knew how she was, she knew how to do eyebrows, you know, and there was a role, it was like a coaster role that they wanted an aesthetician and they they were going to be working on the, the lead, then a Lister lead. And I'll go under additional on
your resume. Yes, it would say professional esthetician, the first credit or lower or you know, licensed, I don't know, pilot, you know, like like these are important things because like Ophelia is saying you could get a job doing that. Yeah, exactly. So don't discount, you know, even even in an elevator pitch, don't discount. No, it's interest relevant. Yeah, it's part of who you are. Yep, exactly. And everybody could relate to facial care.
I mean, especially if you're talking to a woman that goes and does spa treatments and maybe she does anything, maybe she does Botox, I don't know. She'd be interested that you're an esthetician. Yeah, at 100%. I mean, she'd probably be thinking, oh, I could get some discounts on my eyebrows. Right. Yeah. I mean, you never, who knows, you know, like, yeah. Yeah, but you know, you don't know. But but it, it tells the story of who you are as a person. They're getting into business
with you, the person. Yeah, exactly. So when you're at a Film Festival and you're bumping into somebody, you know, this is a different kind of a pitch that what we just did was in the pitch for the agent cause Ophelia's the agent. But if Ophelia was the actor and she was done with the adoption, then I would drop down. Yeah, I got a movie coming out. It's playing at this festival. I'm a lead and it's winning all awards. I just finished a, a national commercial that's playing
everywhere. People in junior high are hitting me up, asking me if if that's me. And then, you know, I'm just throwing in and, and the last three years, I, I booked and shot 15 films. And that's when you drop down numbers and and interesting things. Exactly. OK, so where do people use these elevator pitches? Where where do they go and find people to use them with? Let's let's talk about. Film festivals. Film festivals, yes. Parties, Yeah, parties.
Like when you meet people at parties when they're just going up to the bar waiting for your drink. Yes, that happens a lot. Go find that. Yeah. Go go like, like once or twice a week. Go get coffee somewhere that, you know, are like popular industry. Go hang out at the Grove. Oh, we did, you know that? Yeah. Roma like go to like, you know? Don't shut yourself off. Don't be like this with everybody just talking, you know, like leave yourself open. Say hello to people as they walk by.
Get used to doing that. I think we've become so deep socialized, you know, or sensitive. So we're just not it's like like you want to specialize a dog, you bring them to the park. OK, So I'm asking you go to the park. Go to the park, I mean, whatever you need to do. I mean, I think part like we're trained like from children, like don't talk to strangers. So it's like everyone is like stranger danger, right?
And so you have to you have to like and even even if it doesn't lead to anywhere, even if there's never an opportunity or they have nothing to do with the industry, it's just good practice to talk to strangers. You know, I mean, be like, be discerning if someone looks, you know, like something's off, like don't you don't go up to them, but you know, you want to make sure that you are just practicing that even if it doesn't lead to anything, at some point, it will.
If you and I, you know, I know people that have what they call a nose list and they keep track of and they celebrate it every time they they try to talk to someone. If someone's like doesn't is not responsive or they, you know, they do look for opportunities to get the pitch and they give it and the persons like, oh, okay, thanks. I gotta go. You know, there's not any reason like like keep track of that, mark it down. And like every five times that happens, like like do something
to celebrate. Because all that means is that you're getting closer to your yes, you're getting closer to an open door. Because if you're not doing it at all, if you keep, you get shut down and you're like, I can't do this. You know, you're just, you're never, you're never going to do it because. I do want to, I do want to reiterate something, OK, because what we did with you was the interview.
We didn't do the elevator pitch. Your elevator would pitch would be oh, this is yeah, yeah, we did the interview. So the elevator pitch would be I'm ready. Hey, how you doing? Is the bartender ever going to come by? So why are you here? Are you here for the Film Festival? I am here for the Film Festival, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. My friend has a film in the festival. Are you from here? I mean, I'm from, I'm originally from Colorado.
Oh, yeah. Well, I'm from Oakland and you know, I'm, I'm here in Olive. I'm an agent now. We have several people in series and I'm actually scouting talent and that's why I'm here. I have, I have. I go out a lot to different places and and and what do you do? Oh, I'm a, I'm a director. That's fantastic. Are you working on anything? Yeah, there's a couple of the films here that I, one of the films here I'm directing, remember. Do you have a card? OK.
Do you see them closing you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, so I. Think that we can do some business together. Yeah, right. Yeah, I'm closing you so it's sales. Sales. It's sales. It's sales. If you're an actor, you you might say yeah, yeah, I'm a lead in this movie. OK, do me and I'm I'm at a film. Festival OK, OK, so let's so yes, gosh, this is man, our drinks are taking a long time.
No, I'm really, you know, I've been, I've been thinking about this cocktail for a while, so they better get here. That's right, That's right. What are you? What are you here for? I'm in a movie. Oh, a lead role in a in a multi award-winning film. Oh wow. And I'm just thrilled that it's playing in Los Angeles. Oh, that's. Awesome. They've got a lot. Oh my God, they've got so many people interested in distributing this movie, it's not even funny.
I just won an award for another movie that I did. I beat out Javier Bardem's sister. My goodness. Looking at everybody's speaking Spanish and I'm the only one speaking English. That is, that is, that's so impressive. And I just shot another movie that it's great. I'm I'm playing a woman in in a go fund yourself office. It was really very yeah, they're trying to get COVID just to get their money out of me. You know, it's really funny.
And then maybe you saw me in OK, you see what I'm doing. Yeah, Yeah, You're just looking for natural opportunities to. Yeah, I'm. I'm dropping down strong, strong things that they might be interested in to hire me. Yeah, Yeah. You're getting your credits in there. You're getting, you know, like awards, you're getting experience and the kind of the like the kind of little bit like even the role kind of role that you might strength. That's really good.
Actually, what I should have said was, yeah, everybody thinks it's Jennifer Coolidge and my commercial. Yes, I wanted her commercial. She's got, yeah. You're getting them, you're helping their imagination. Yeah, yeah. Which is very, very important. That's so, so good. That's actually really great.
Another, you know, another way, another way to look for network opportunities is to like look for casting director workshops because even though you're not like most of the time they're like on Zoom or they might be some in person, but there's always opportunities to, you know, to chit chat a little bit. Yeah, but I have a couple of notes about those guys. OK. The first note is don't go to a workshop if you don't have an agent. Yeah, yes. Who are they going to call?
I mean, unless, unless you have one eye or you're missing a foot or you have like something where you're, you're an interested ethnicity that they can't find at an agency. But for the most part, if you are not represented, you're throwing your money away doing those workshops. Yep, exactly. And the second thing is don't
just take any workshop. Do do like a a game plan of who you're targeting of shows that you believe that you should be on. And then when you do the theme for them, make sure I always have people bring their scenes into class. And inevitably the casting directors never have any notes. So they always look like the best in class. So don't try things out on them guys. Casting directors don't forget. Yes. Exactly. Don't forget and make sure you do your research on the kind of
actors that they hire. Yes, definitely. And also you want to make sure you know, this sounds like it would be obvious, but it it's not there's you have to make sure the cast Rangers are actively casting. Go look at their IMDb. When's the last time they cast something? If they're doing workshops, but they're not actively working right now that you, you want to kind of rethink this because it's like they're not, if they're not working there, they've nothing to cast you in.
And, and also make sure you're keep in mind that if you go to something like this, it's not like a, it's not like an agreement to cast you in something, you know, they, they, there's, it has to be, they have to have something that's right for you. Which is why I said make sure that if you, well, OK, let's say people have been telling you, you know, you should be on Yellowstone.
Well then, then to anything who's casting Taylor Sheridan stuff, you know, like find out who's casting Taylor, Taylor Sheridan stuff, like be smart about it. Like you're just going to be throwing money away. And finally, do not do workshops unless you're you're brilliant. Yeah, that's a, that's a good. Word. It has to be said. It has. To be this is the No BS podcast and that just has to be said.
And I said it I. Said you said it so so can now I the other thing is if you, you have that all in place and you're like, OK, I'm a good candidate for, you know, for a casting nerd workshop. The other way you can kind of get a like a little bit of a package slash pitch in there is after you do it, if they have, if they've offered an e-mail to to the to the class, follow up with an e-mail and do like a three sentence package slash pitch type of thing.
In there and I just gave it to you guys. I just gave you the pitch. Yep. That is so great meeting you. I, I, I'm going to be at this, this and this. You can catch me on this, this and this and I just signed with this person and I just booked this. Do not talk about callbacks or pins. You didn't book it. Don't ask to don't ask to get together with them for coffee. No, don't ask to get together with them.
I there's, there's very, there's some rare exceptions to this, but the the the rule of thumb, don't, don't ask them about getting together. Yeah, but what you can say is I'm. It was a thrill to meet you and I hope you keep me in mind when casting. Exactly. And, and talk to your agent, but you can also, you can also CC your agent. I also want, I just want to introduce you. I just wanted I'm CC my agent on here as well. And then like for me, lady, I did ask your agent about this
obviously first. But for me, I will have, there's some situations where in a lot of them that I'm like, yeah, go and see. And they'll say that and then I'll follow up and hey, thank you so much for offering your time and talent. And so then they're connecting with your agent also. So because they're the ones who. Yeah, I really love that. That's a great component. That's lovely. Yeah. But if it's an agent that's not like Ophelia.
I mean, if your agent, if you haven't had a conversation with your agent, don't don't CC. Don't do it. Yes, exactly you can. CC your manager. Yeah, yes, 100. Percent they're there for your manager is supposed to help you breathe breathe into a bigger career, and so they'll love that you're doing something proactive. Oh yeah, no, they should well be welcoming that, and that's very normal. Yeah. And then, you know, finally go
to parties. And you know, even though you don't want to show up at that Super Bowl party where you don't want to go to somebody's birthday party or you don't want to, you guys go to the party. Go go to it start when you go to workshops or classes or coaching, make sure you're connecting with the other actors. Don't just go and leave. You want to make sure that you're that you like develop relationships with them and.
You know, in my class I have everybody put their emails in so they could be readers for each other. Oh God, that's so. Smart. Yeah, because they all understand the technique and they leave each other alone. They won't be directing each other, you know what I mean? I don't understand. I have we have actors that are fully in classes and they've been, they've been in like conservatories for like years. And they have a addition come up like I'll have them do retake.
Shoot. My roommate just laughed. I don't have anyone else to read with me. It's gonna be like another. I might have to wait till tomorrow. I'm like, you're in, you're in a class, you're in a studio where what do you what are? There also a lot of people that record by themselves and then they read and then they put it together. Yes, I mean, there are people that do that, that they get Pro Tools or like they do that, you know, right.
I mean, like, where's all the people that you went to school with? That's why I'm like, so it's such a mystery. So I love that you do that, that you like, you encourage. Yeah, it's it's an encouragement because they all wanna be there for each other, all in the trenches together. Exactly. And then stay connected because you don't know where that other person is gonna go. Yeah. And that's what's what I'm saying. They'll develop connections and then go to their parties.
And we don't, we're not telling you to use people, but we're just saying take advantage of building the relationship for the sake of. Yeah, you got to build your village to have your. Village. Exactly. Yeah, of people that all help each other, you know. Yep, and if they if they win, celebrate their win, don't get, don't feel hurt and rejected. And why? How come they're, you know, getting jobs and I'm not getting jobs? And start comparing yourself in a in a negative way that it will
never serve you. That will never, never serve you well. First off, you know, like, people say that all the time. Oh, yeah, my friend's getting older. I'm like, well, what ethnicity are they? Are they taller than you? Shorter than you? Fatter than you? Better than you? Are they all than you? Younger than you? I mean, you can't. Guys, just stop the madness. Stop it. There's what is, what's trending right now, certain madness.
It's not the madness. It's. Just. The decent, it's not going to serve you. You need to, you know, you need to focus on being excited for them and cheering them on and. Run your own. Run your own race, yeah. Run your race. Run. Your own race. Your advantage, find out what do you OK, so tell me about your process. And there may be nothing different that they're doing, but what if there was once one thing? What if they took Amy Linden's classes?
Learn how to do a pitch like I never knew how to do that. I mean, use it like, so they'd be thankful that they're ahead because you could learn something from them, you know? Although I have a lot of people that want to keep me quiet because they don't want them to learn my technique. So then if they're up against each other, it's it's a thing. You need to tell. They need to tell them. Go get a class I. That's so funny.
Good. Thing so if you guys are doing nothing, you're not telling people about me, stop it. It's a weird help you, but it doesn't help me. So stop it. Speaking of which, you guys, if you want to jump in on my intensive, it's coming up. It's it's unintensive for brand new people every second Sunday of every single month. Wait, I do have it in December.
So jump in, let's get you going. If you wanna just study at home, I have an online course through Udemy and if you DM me and follow me on Instagram, DM me and say send me your promo link 'cause I can give you a discount off that course, OK? And I'm, I mean, you guys follow Ophelia. Ophelia, do you have your follow Instagram? ATA under score Ophelia. No, no. Like what? What about them every time. JTA Oh my gosh. JTA under score agent under score Ophelia. There you go.
No, it's just. Instagram, Yeah, make sure that's a fact. And you know, again, if you really like what we're doing, it lets us know If you click like or you tell people or you, you know, hit us up, write to us. Yeah, absolutely. Tell it. And also if you have things that you want us to talk about, tell us. Just put it, put it in the, you know, message DMS, you know, whatever. And yes, I fact checked. It's JT under score Agent under score Ophelia. That's the truth of the matter.
Yeah, if you think that you are ready, and I'm talking about your package matching your talent, yeah, then you could submit to Ophelia. By doing what? You can e-mail me at [email protected]. It's OF as in Frank Elia. It's not pH, it's OF and you want to we talked about this in other one of our other podcasts
of how to e-mail an agent. So I think it's in the first one, agents, managers, OMI, you should go back and listen to that and listen to How to Get and then also the last podcast, the last. Podcast on social media we talked about that. Yeah, well, the last one is how to stand out to an answer. So that was the last episode before this. This is a four, so it's episode 3, so you should go back and listen to that to know how it's. All of them. It's all of them. Exactly. Take notes.
Take notes because you want to if if I if I you want me to to open your e-mail. Yeah. So if, if, if it's not looking the way we talked about, she probably won't open it. But first and foremost, guys you know, as, as a person that does like I've probably done 1000 career consults in all the years I've been doing it. Your package has to match your talent. And so if you're not happy, it's because you're you're the level of your package is getting you the level of your RAP.
That's a good word. Anyway, we love you guys. It's fun to be with you guys today and go find someone to practice your pitches and your interviews with. It's so fun. Is that was that was that so fun? It's you did a great job. I mean, I would hire you. Thank. You, you did a great things to you. Get out there, go talk to people. Don't stay at home, go talk to strangers. You can do it. You can do it because you are enough. You are enough. You can do it and go buy. Go buy a T-shirt.
Remind yourself. I am enough collection. I am enough. Yeah. Where's your T-shirt? Well, you you got to wear it on the next podcast. Yes, I will the next week. OK, bye guys. I love you.