Mouthing Off

I got a request the other day to do some additional dialect work on my podcast.  Well, it's been a while since I switched over from prerecorded podcasts to live radio shows and I'm not positive that this new format is conducive to dialect training.

But so what?

One of the things I talk about all the time is that we should step outside our comfort zones.  So, I'm going to put my money where my mouth is.  I'm going to try something that I'm not sure will actually work.  In fact, it may fail spectacularly.  But if it does, who exactly gets hurt?  No one but my ego, and he and I aren't really on speaking terms much these days anyway.  I kinda blame him for the vast majority of the stupid mistakes I've made over the course of my life.

So, this Thursday at 8 pm PST, I'll be talking about dialect training on my internet radio show.  I'll start with some general tips on dialect training overall, and then if there's time, I'll talk about the specific changes for what's called RP.  RP stands for "received pronunciation", by the way, which is itself a shortening of "received in the best society pronunciation".  We'll talk about that, too.  :)

Therefore, I request the honor of your virtual presence, this Thursday at 8 pm Pacific Standard, for my grand experiment.  Who knows?  If it goes well, we may do multiple sessions.

That Was Fun... Let's Do It Again!

I had so much fun talking with you guys this last Thursday that I thought we'd do it again.  We only just scratched the surface of the topic of marketing, because (let's be honest) there's lots to talk about when it comes to self-promotion.

I loved so much of what came up during the last show.  Yehuda and Stephy had wonderful questions and comments and it was great to get to the core of what ends up stopping most of us--self-sabotage.  Remember always that there are two sides of the coin of fear:  the fear we won't live up and the fear that we will.  We generally discount the latter, but I've found that it can be the more powerful of the two.

It doesn't seem to make sense.  I mean, who doesn't want to be fabulously successful, right?  Turns out in practice that most of us want success and fear success in roughly equal measures (usually weighted a little towards the fear).  Change... even good change... is scary.

So, let's embrace the discomfort.  And let's start this Thursday at 8 pm PST.  I know that there are many of you out there that want to call in but are afraid.  This is an excellent time to get over those fears.  I don't bite.  I promise.  :)  You can find my show here.  Go there now and set a reminder for yourself.

And for those that are afraid to start training--now's a good time to get over that one too.  Sign up for my classes at the top of the blog!  You won't regret it.

Brainstorming Session

We've all done it in other areas of our lives.  Gotten together with friends, family or co-workers and come up with ideas.  So, I thought it might be a good idea for us to try it this Thursday at 8 pm, Pacific Standard Time on my internet radio show.

This is a session that's open to actors, filmmakers, writers, casting directors, artists in general.  The point is to come up with ideas to help one another self-promote.  Whatever our artistic bent in life, we need to put our services out there for public consumption.  Unless we've already "made it" and our phone is ringing off the hook, all of us could use a leg up, or at least some great ideas on how to pick ourselves up by our bootstraps.

I've certainly given out a bunch of my ideas on what we can do to be marketing ourselves, but I want to hear from YOU!  The collective mind is always better than just one person in the dark, blindly trying to come up with good stuff.  Let's come together and help each other out.

Don't like to call in live to a radio show?  'Sallright.  As much as I would love to hear from you, it isn't necessary.  Leave a comment here, @ or DM me on my Twitter stream or send me an email--actingwithoutthedrama (at) gmail (dot) com.  Let's figure out innovative ideas to connect with others in the industry.

An example of what  I'm talking about?  Kristy Hatsell (@Kristi_Gail) put together something called Actors Supporting Actors on facebook and it looks to be a really excellent way to network with other actors in the Los Angeles area.  If you're in that area, you should check it out.

So, get those brains a-hummin', folks!  I want to hear from you.  This will only work if we step outside our comfort zone and participate.  #callme #Iamlonely  :)