Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me
Speaker 1: Tracy Moore. I was a casting director for film and
Speaker 1: TV and commercials for over thirty years. I transitioned to
Speaker 1: a celebrity acting coach after I cast a film New
Speaker 1: Jersey Drive with executive producers Spike Lee and director Nick Domez.
Speaker 1: I auditioned every rapper from Biggie Smalls to Tupac, and
Speaker 1: I realized that rappers and musical artists they needed help
Speaker 1: transitioning to acting. My clients consist of musical artists from
Speaker 1: Buster Rhymes to Eve, Missy Elliott, Angela Yee from The
Speaker 1: Breakfast Club, and Vanessa Simmons, to name a few. I
Speaker 1: also coach sports stars and host as well. I feel
Speaker 1: I have the best of both worlds. As a casting director,
Speaker 1: I know exactly what they're looking for, and as an
Speaker 1: acting coach, I can coach you to be remembered in
Speaker 1: that room. Now I know, I know actors want to
Speaker 1: get the job. I get that, but being remembered by
Speaker 1: casting director that is powerful. And now it's time for
Speaker 1: meditation of the day. Though I am not naturally honest,
Speaker 1: I am so sometimes by chance. William Shakespeare, I used
Speaker 1: to have a big problem being honest with others about
Speaker 1: how I felt. This problem developed in my childhood because
Speaker 1: I was the kid who people enjoyed making fun of.
Speaker 1: I wore a size ten shoe in third grade and
Speaker 1: I was five six. In a strange way, I became popular.
Speaker 1: Instead of letting them know the pain inside of me,
Speaker 1: I went along with them and thought of myself as
Speaker 1: a joke. As I grew older, I realized how important
Speaker 1: it is to be honest with yourself. If you don't,
Speaker 1: you will allow pain and anger to make a home
Speaker 1: in your heart, and they don't make good company. Today,
Speaker 1: I will learn to be honest with myself and express
Speaker 1: my true feelings so I can learn to live in freedom.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore.
Speaker 1: And I can't even tell you how I always tell
Speaker 1: you how excited I am with my guests, and today
Speaker 1: is no exception, and so I just want you all
Speaker 1: to put your hands together for my dear friend and
Speaker 1: director extraordinaire, Michael Boogie. Pick me yeay, Michael, I'm having
Speaker 1: some technical difficulties with.
Speaker 2: My phone right now. Do you guys see me?
Speaker 3: Good?
Speaker 4: You guys see me? Okay?
Speaker 2: Good?
Speaker 1: All right, yay, I see you, Boogie, So Boogie, welcome
Speaker 1: to the show, Welcome to this thank you, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for being on the show. I wanted you
Speaker 1: on the show for so many reasons. Because ladies and gentlemen,
Speaker 1: we go way back.
Speaker 2: They'll tell them how far back.
Speaker 4: I will tell a commercial.
Speaker 2: It was a Spike commercial, I think the first time.
Speaker 4: That's how I was gonna just say that project. I
Speaker 4: wasn't gonna say the year.
Speaker 3: Nothing okay, because we look good, you know, black one crack.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying we have and as you could tell
Speaker 1: with our banter, we've known each other for quite some time.
Speaker 1: And I do want to say this about you, Boogie.
Speaker 1: One thing that I've always admired. I met Boogie doing
Speaker 1: a Spike Lee commercial and Boogie was working.
Speaker 4: At forty acrecent a mule.
Speaker 1: He was already implanted there when I came, I was freelancing.
Speaker 4: He was really working at right.
Speaker 1: And you have always like you know, there's so much
Speaker 1: pressure and energy on a set, and especially when you
Speaker 1: have a crew over fifty and Boogie man like you
Speaker 1: maintain control, you maintain professionalism, and.
Speaker 4: Even when you know like it would get a little tense,
Speaker 4: sometimes you have to use your voice, even when you right.
Speaker 1: But even when you did that, Boogie, it was digestible
Speaker 1: because you know, growing up in this business, because Boogie
Speaker 1: was when I met him, he was a second ad
Speaker 1: second assistant director for actors out there who don't know
Speaker 1: the terminology, and he rose.
Speaker 4: So we're going to talk about his career.
Speaker 1: But there's just a certain way you can handle people,
Speaker 1: and I just always respected the way you handled people,
Speaker 1: and especially I dealt with extras, casting all of.
Speaker 3: Those extras right, and we know the history of that
Speaker 3: and how the AD department sometimes unfortunately deal with actors
Speaker 3: and background actors right, you know, as if they're not humans.
Speaker 3: So that that was always something for me, you know, everybody,
Speaker 3: you know, was important to the sect from my body
Speaker 3: from the top about them. You know, that was just
Speaker 3: my you know, my my my way of looking at things.
Speaker 3: So that's how I poached it well.
Speaker 1: And I think that that was important, you said, teach
Speaker 1: treating them like humans. Because when I was on New
Speaker 1: York and the cover extras were addressed as skins, that
Speaker 1: was the first time I.
Speaker 2: Left us for the right.
Speaker 3: The paper that they named the own is called Skins,
Speaker 3: which is I never knew where it came from.
Speaker 1: Wow, that was I was like, you know, because I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, where do you want my actors? And
Speaker 1: they're like, the skins can go over there, Like oh
Speaker 1: my god.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: So one of the things that I also want actors
Speaker 1: to understand is the power that ads have because as
Speaker 1: a second ad, you know, you have a lot of jobs,
Speaker 1: but I know one specifically, my relationship with you was
Speaker 1: making sure that the actors were in place for the
Speaker 1: day of the shoot.
Speaker 4: All of that.
Speaker 1: But sometimes a director may need someone that has not been.
Speaker 2: Cast right right, he's good for that, and.
Speaker 1: They go to the the first assistant director will communicate
Speaker 1: that to you, and it's your job if you could
Speaker 1: just explain to actors, you know, because you know how
Speaker 1: actors are, Oh it's just extra work. Oh it's not important,
Speaker 1: but you can tell them the importance of it.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, because sometimes some doing background extra
Speaker 3: workt has led the principal work. You know, if you
Speaker 3: have a right look, if you you know, sometimes things
Speaker 3: are spontaneous.
Speaker 2: Sometimes people have.
Speaker 3: A very distinct look that they want to kind of
Speaker 3: position or place, you know. So it is a living,
Speaker 3: breathing animal when you're shooting, so you know, you got
Speaker 3: to be present at every moment because things can change,
Speaker 3: and you you know, I think actors need to really
Speaker 3: look at the set and really understand what's going on,
Speaker 3: the moving pieces of it, because they are integral part
Speaker 3: of it. They're not just a problem, you know, so
Speaker 3: you can you can take advantage of that, you know,
Speaker 3: and like a collaborative thing.
Speaker 2: With the director and with the ad.
Speaker 3: So if your present, sometimes your presence could be felt,
Speaker 3: somebody else could feel that presence and gravitate to you,
Speaker 3: and then all of a sudden you got upgrade to
Speaker 3: your principle.
Speaker 1: That's great, That's an important I used to stress actors
Speaker 1: on New York Undercover. Don't bring your you know, Joan
Speaker 1: Collins novels, you know, like you know, because you know,
Speaker 1: we didn't have back then, we didn't have iPhones, So
Speaker 1: you know, actors were doing puzzles on set, and I'm like, you, guys,
Speaker 1: every set is the same, the protocol is and the
Speaker 1: process is the same.
Speaker 4: The crew just shifts.
Speaker 1: So understand what that template is, Understand the relationship between
Speaker 1: the ads, and you know, how you can get upgraded
Speaker 1: on a set. What were some of the in situations
Speaker 1: where you, as an eighth an ad did upgrade actors.
Speaker 1: What was this specifically that you were looking for besides
Speaker 1: actors being present that drew you to them and said,
Speaker 1: you know what, let's grab this person to bump into
Speaker 1: Denzel Washington.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know some you know when when the
Speaker 3: background actor is understands that they're an actor. You know,
Speaker 3: some background actors they really focus on the background as
Speaker 3: opposed to the actors. Some background actors are actors, you know,
Speaker 3: the actors. They move Black actors the attention. They pay
Speaker 3: attention like actors. They'll hit a mark like they'll do
Speaker 3: a background action the same every time. You know, they'll
Speaker 3: be present, they're they're paying attention, and they they look
Speaker 3: and see what's needed.
Speaker 2: Before you have to tell them, you know. And that's
Speaker 2: what you want to work with.
Speaker 3: You want to work with people that could speak shorthand
Speaker 3: with you because there's not a lot of time, you know,
Speaker 3: So just be present and be collaborative, be you know,
Speaker 3: see see it.
Speaker 2: If you see a need, you know, and ask questions,
Speaker 2: Hey should I go? You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: Just be communicative and understand that you know, we all
Speaker 3: we we don't know it all as ads, you know,
Speaker 3: we listen to the director with us to the DP.
Speaker 2: There's all this noise going on. We need as much
Speaker 2: help us we can get.
Speaker 3: And if the background actor has a great idea can
Speaker 3: do something to make our job easier, you're going to
Speaker 3: remember them, and we're gonna d if there's somebody that
Speaker 3: could be upgraded.
Speaker 2: They're the first person that we're going to go wow,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: So, but can you share with our audience, like, tell
Speaker 1: us how your journey began and and how.
Speaker 4: You your work at forty acres and everywhere. Lets tell
Speaker 4: us what you've been up to.
Speaker 2: Many moons ago, you know, as you know on the
Speaker 2: Spike job.
Speaker 3: You know, I start out as a intern and rose
Speaker 3: up the ranks through production assistant, you know for many years,
Speaker 3: you know, and then transitioned into being an assistant director
Speaker 3: and joining the director's guild with with you know, director
Speaker 3: and the AD is all part of the same deal.
Speaker 3: And while I was a DING, I was always writing
Speaker 3: and directing on the side anyway, So then I was
Speaker 3: able to kind of transition out of a ding to
Speaker 3: the directing because what I thought when I first started
Speaker 3: was being an AD.
Speaker 2: Next up was being a director. But that's not how
Speaker 2: it works.
Speaker 3: Typically, assistant directors don't become directors because assistant directing position
Speaker 3: is such a logistical managerial position. A lot of producers
Speaker 3: and network execs don't see ads as a creative position.
Speaker 2: It's not a creative position.
Speaker 3: It's easier for a script supervisor or director of photography
Speaker 3: to move into the directing position before an a D
Speaker 3: because the AD is it's in their mind. It's strictly logistical,
Speaker 3: you know, So they don't they don't understand that they
Speaker 3: also can have a creative vision. So that's what I
Speaker 3: thought in the beginning. I said, I'll be an assistant
Speaker 3: director and then I'll be a director. And they was like, no,
Speaker 3: that's not how it typically works. Why are you in
Speaker 3: a direct you know, because so it's different tracks, you know.
Speaker 3: But I thank god I was directing while it was
Speaker 3: a D. I was writing a directing So that was
Speaker 3: when I got to use what I was learning that
Speaker 3: I didn't even know that I learned being on said,
Speaker 3: whether on with Spike or with Lee Daniels on pressures,
Speaker 3: it's like you just taking information and then until you apply,
Speaker 3: you didn't.
Speaker 2: Even know that you have it. You're like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: I've seen that.
Speaker 3: I know how you know, saybe because you've been doing
Speaker 3: it for so many years, you've seen it done that.
Speaker 2: It just it's just instinct after a while, right you know.
Speaker 4: And so while you were writing, you read your first film.
Speaker 4: Let yeah, talk about.
Speaker 3: That, well, my first feature, you know, yes, yeah, I
Speaker 3: was writing short films leading up to that, and then
Speaker 3: I wrote my first feature film. You know, nobody said
Speaker 3: somebody kills Me and I was working on Inside Man.
Speaker 2: I finished the script. I working on Inside Man at the.
Speaker 3: Second ad and Uh, Detective Neil Carter restling Wrestling Peace
Speaker 3: he just passed last year. He was a technical advisor.
Speaker 3: He was a homicide detective. That was, he was tasked
Speaker 3: with teaching Denzel how to be a detective, basically how
Speaker 3: to do so. And I gave to Detective Neil the
Speaker 3: script and I was like, hey, just read this. I
Speaker 3: want to make sure my detective verbiage is great. He
Speaker 3: read it, He's like, I love it. I love the script.
Speaker 3: I want to help you get it made. And we
Speaker 3: raised the money and that's how it happened, you know,
Speaker 3: and Spike came on to EPA and it just you know,
Speaker 3: and that's that's how that that happened, you know, that
Speaker 3: feature journey.
Speaker 2: You know, you're doing your first feature. You have no
Speaker 2: idea what's.
Speaker 4: Happening the whole time the audience.
Speaker 1: Let me just say, because there's some humility here, Michael K.
Speaker 4: Williams was in this as.
Speaker 3: The star, so you know Nick Shawn Curse, Yeah, McCullen,
Speaker 3: you know, Daniel was is a great cast. You know,
Speaker 3: we didn't have a ton of money, but it was
Speaker 3: a great cast, and it was it was my first feature.
Speaker 3: I'm still working on the second one. The first one
Speaker 3: is always the hardest, you know, and coming from the
Speaker 3: world that I came from, unions and big movies and
Speaker 3: having to kind of skim down, you know, was what's tough,
Speaker 3: you know, just because unions. I'm a DJ, we got DJ,
Speaker 3: we got sad people, we got at union, you know,
Speaker 3: say so but kind of you know, gets used up
Speaker 3: really quickly. Yeah, So that's why I'm a lot meaner,
Speaker 3: leaner and meaner now.
Speaker 1: M after that experience, right, and and and working on
Speaker 1: such amazing films. He just he mentioned Inside Man you
Speaker 1: worked on.
Speaker 3: Malcolm, I'm best man. That's the first best Man. Yeah,
Speaker 3: addition to second second. That's when I first joined the guild,
Speaker 3: you know, around that time.
Speaker 1: And I didn't work with you on that, but I
Speaker 1: coached Monica Calhoun on Best Man.
Speaker 4: But you know, I mean, like I always.
Speaker 1: Encourage, I don't even encourage, I stress my listeners to
Speaker 1: go to IMDb dot com and to do their due
Speaker 1: diligence on you know who you are in terms of
Speaker 1: I have so many questions, but I want to zoom in.
Speaker 1: I do, because, like you, there's just so much you guys,
Speaker 1: please go to IMDb dot com and look at his credits.
Speaker 4: Because we I want to talk.
Speaker 1: About, like, you know, the Denzel Washington and working with
Speaker 1: such a great.
Speaker 4: Actor, and what is it that.
Speaker 1: Because I I've never worked with Denzel before, and I've
Speaker 1: had the pleasure of working with the Viola Davis. So
Speaker 1: what is in the beginning of perfect what is what?
Speaker 4: What do you walk away with on a set?
Speaker 1: What do you learn about watching such a phenomenal actor?
Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's crazy.
Speaker 3: You know, I worked on He Got Game with, then
Speaker 3: Zel's First Time and then Inside Man.
Speaker 2: But what I walk away is that you know his preparation, that.
Speaker 3: He's always ready, he can he turned it on so quickly,
Speaker 3: you know, laughing and talking in one minute. And when
Speaker 3: you're ready, he's it's like so quick, it's so so
Speaker 3: much Shorthand's sout on. He just so present and intentional
Speaker 3: that like he's like surgeon. He's like a surgeon. And
Speaker 3: it's like it's kind of like when you you're watching
Speaker 3: a ball player just play and they just they move
Speaker 3: with such face, you.
Speaker 2: Know, and it's and it's easy.
Speaker 3: You know, people are yelling his name, Hey, come run,
Speaker 3: making hugs, turn around, boom now the scene. It's like
Speaker 3: it's it's he can just turn it on and it's
Speaker 3: and he's just such a given spirit, you know, it
Speaker 3: doesn't he'll make them in. He'll make them in to
Speaker 3: greet somebody, just he'll make them. And he's so humble
Speaker 3: and it's so seamless. It's just kind of like, you know,
Speaker 3: and I've worked with actors that are not as successful,
Speaker 3: that aren't that giving and don't have a bigger heart,
Speaker 3: and you you know, and you you're like, he has
Speaker 3: a big such a big heart and he's so giving
Speaker 3: and he's so amazing, you know, and.
Speaker 2: He doesn't have to be He's Donzel, right, but he is,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: So it's just it from what I got, it just
Speaker 3: it made me step up my game to know that, Okay,
Speaker 3: I can be who I am. I could be Bookie,
Speaker 3: I could be giving. I don't have to be someone else.
Speaker 3: I could be however I am and excel and do
Speaker 3: it how I do it and be successful. I don't
Speaker 3: have to imitate someone, you know, because and if I'm
Speaker 3: a given person, if I'm a soft spoken person, whatever
Speaker 3: that is, I can be me and be successful.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: That's what I got from it because it was just
Speaker 3: it was unlike any other actor, because the room changed
Speaker 3: when he walked in it, right, you know.
Speaker 1: Well, I can honestly say that, I mean, you've been
Speaker 1: consistent you you are. When I met you, I felt
Speaker 1: like and still feel like, you've always been yourself. But
Speaker 1: that's what I have respected about your work. Even like
Speaker 1: I said, like, I mean, I've worked with yellers. I
Speaker 1: came in this industry with your what and so to
Speaker 1: work with someone who's still you know, who engages with
Speaker 1: you one as a human being, but you know you
Speaker 1: have that power and force and assertiveness, but you don't.
Speaker 1: You just don't have to yell you know, you get.
Speaker 3: It, you know, just to say the a D. I
Speaker 3: worked with an ad call named Joe Reading.
Speaker 2: I was a PA.
Speaker 3: I was an additional PA on this film called Sleeper
Speaker 3: for Brad Pitt.
Speaker 2: Was My job.
Speaker 3: Was to be on the roof and let them know
Speaker 3: when helicopters are coming and no helicopter coming, we can
Speaker 3: shoot in helicopter because we're near a heliport.
Speaker 2: And he was the most.
Speaker 3: Soft spoken and he he ads for all scort safety films,
Speaker 3: you know, Causina.
Speaker 2: He was the most humble and soft spoken from safety.
Speaker 2: And I was amazed.
Speaker 3: I was just like, very gracious, thank you very much, guys.
Speaker 3: And I was amazed because I came from a world
Speaker 3: of screamers.
Speaker 2: I was like, this work and there's two hundred people
Speaker 2: on the crew.
Speaker 3: And that was when I was like, Okay, you know,
Speaker 3: there's so many different ways to do it.
Speaker 2: You just have to be you in the midst of it.
Speaker 1: I you know, because I thought, in coming into this
Speaker 1: business initially that that's what the process was. They're just yellers.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't until I was on Kiss of Death
Speaker 1: and I worked with the a D and her name
Speaker 1: was Marlene.
Speaker 4: I don't remember her lassing.
Speaker 1: But same way, same way. And I was like, oh wait,
Speaker 1: you don't have to yell all us out.
Speaker 2: You don't give me.
Speaker 3: Let me tell you another story I worked on. I
Speaker 3: forgot the name of the TV show. The TV show
Speaker 3: that came to New York from LA and so I
Speaker 3: first died the five days in New York.
Speaker 2: And so we're shooting.
Speaker 3: We shot in the studio and the key grip came
Speaker 3: up to me one day and he's his father was
Speaker 3: the key grip on the Honeymoons.
Speaker 2: That's how long his lineage. You went.
Speaker 4: And he told me he loved me.
Speaker 2: He said, you know the A D.
Speaker 3: I love how you ad because people don't understand that
Speaker 3: the AD's voice shouldn't be the loudest in the room
Speaker 3: because once the.
Speaker 2: AD goes loud, everybody else goes loud, you know.
Speaker 3: And he says he liked how I managed the room,
Speaker 3: and I just you know, So it was just interesting.
Speaker 2: I was like, your dad was the key grip on Honeymoon? Wow,
Speaker 2: what the hell?
Speaker 4: Crazy?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: So that was funny.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So in terms of your relationship with actors as
Speaker 1: a director, you know, we're moving more and more out
Speaker 1: of the live auditions and you know we're on the
Speaker 1: self tape.
Speaker 4: What advice can you give actors.
Speaker 1: To stand out you know on those because I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm always.
Speaker 4: Honest with actors.
Speaker 1: And if I'm getting you know, six hundred to seven
Speaker 1: hundred submissions per character, and I got ten characters.
Speaker 3: Right right, So I mean for me, it's almost the
Speaker 3: same as when they come in the room. Just be present.
Speaker 3: Just you know, nothing matters but that moment, you know,
Speaker 3: to me, I find actor to be so distracted, just
Speaker 3: it's just so distracted. It's like you had you work
Speaker 3: your whole life, you paid money for headshots to take
Speaker 3: classes off of this three minutes and you can't shut
Speaker 3: the world off for three minutes. Wo I find myself,
Speaker 3: you know, watching self takes and not and they're.
Speaker 2: Not even there. They're auditioning, but they're not even there,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: So to me, just be present, just be intentional about
Speaker 3: how present tract and just really connect with the person
Speaker 3: that's going to be on the other side of that
Speaker 3: self taping because somebody's gonna be watching it, you know,
Speaker 3: And and and really give and become something and get
Speaker 3: and give up yourself, just give up yourself and stop
Speaker 3: being in control. They just want to control everything, and
Speaker 3: they don't realize, you know, sometimes you trying to control everything.
Speaker 3: You don't realize some people, how many people can see
Speaker 3: that you're not in control, you know, and really just
Speaker 3: be vulnerable and just you know, show show your passion,
Speaker 3: show your love for this, you know, and just kind of,
Speaker 3: you know, just give it your all, you know, not
Speaker 3: just enough that you think is good enough, give it.
Speaker 4: You all, right, And you know, I'm so surprised. Well, okay,
Speaker 4: let me just say this.
Speaker 1: I'm surprised that you're saying this because are we taught
Speaker 1: talking about a certain generation you know, yeah, we're talking yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: can you speak on that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because you know, there's some actors that you know
Speaker 3: of over the older generation that a season that are
Speaker 3: theater actors that are just they get it. It's like
Speaker 3: it's like Denzela's second nature. They just they know how
Speaker 3: to turn it on. But this generation, a newer generation,
Speaker 3: they don't really know how to turn it on. It's
Speaker 3: kind of like you know, Alan Irrison back in the
Speaker 3: days where it's kind of like he didn't want to practice,
Speaker 3: you know, but you have to practice like you're playing
Speaker 3: in the game, right, and they think that they can
Speaker 3: turn you ain't there yet to be able to turn
Speaker 3: it on. You know, if you're doing the stuff tape
Speaker 3: in ten minutes, you better be getting ready for it
Speaker 3: in a half hour. You know, you got to get
Speaker 3: ready for the game. Don't just turn the camera on
Speaker 3: and now you're ready.
Speaker 2: You're not, you know.
Speaker 3: So I think this generation thinks that they're ready when
Speaker 3: they're not ready. You know, they have to you have
Speaker 3: to practice and you have to turn it on before
Speaker 3: it's turned on.
Speaker 1: So those are type of those are that's information that
Speaker 1: these actors would getting classes. Do you stress classes, private session?
Speaker 2: I mean whatever you can afford classes, private session? You know.
Speaker 3: I remember Denzel all have always having the having the
Speaker 3: coach have you know what I'm saying, sharpening, sharpening, sharpening,
Speaker 3: Michael Jordan in the gym shooting free throws that go
Speaker 3: win in four rings, Like like what right, he never
Speaker 3: stopped training, right, he never stopped training, you know, so
Speaker 3: and let and tell you and let's until you get
Speaker 3: out of the business. You know. So if you can
Speaker 3: afford it, train and get ready what they say, you
Speaker 3: get ready, you stay ready, so you don't got to
Speaker 3: get ready, you'd be ready, right right.
Speaker 1: I just feel like there is in my experience within
Speaker 1: I would say the last six to ten years, there's
Speaker 1: this arrogance in actors. And first of all, they don't
Speaker 1: do their due diligence right, And so I'm not asking
Speaker 1: for a parade or any type of accolades.
Speaker 4: But I do want you to be familiar with.
Speaker 1: My credits and what I have accomplished and I and
Speaker 1: as a casting director, I would be so you know,
Speaker 1: I had to wean myself, but I would be insulted
Speaker 1: by the fact that the actors didn't even take the
Speaker 1: time to research the director, you know. So, do you
Speaker 1: find that there is this arrogance, this attitude of immediate
Speaker 1: gratification that I don't have to work as hard?
Speaker 2: Yeah, because they You know, the thing is when we came.
Speaker 3: Up, we had to really in order to get the knowledge,
Speaker 3: we had to learn it, right, couldn't google how to.
Speaker 2: Be a peer. I had to I had to be
Speaker 2: in a feeling.
Speaker 3: I had to learn this stuff real time right now,
Speaker 3: you know, the information is so available.
Speaker 2: They think that they know there's no substitute for experience.
Speaker 3: There's exactly you know, So you know you don't know everything,
Speaker 3: you know, so they had real life experience and then
Speaker 3: the book in Google experience.
Speaker 2: You know, so they and they don't equate. They're not equal,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: So just because you know, you know some of the
Speaker 3: verbiage and you you know what I'm saying, you just
Speaker 3: really have to They need to respect the people that
Speaker 3: came before them and respect the work, you know, and
Speaker 3: and that's the I, M. D. B. And and people's journey.
Speaker 3: You have to respect that work because you know, and
Speaker 3: they and they eventually get it, you know, but we
Speaker 3: want them to get it sooner. You know, they get
Speaker 3: it once they really like, Wow, this isn't easy, you know,
Speaker 3: but they have to you know, it's important that that
Speaker 3: that they understand that you know that this isn't easy,
Speaker 3: and that it takes time and it ain't gonna happen tomorrow,
Speaker 3: and in the fact, you don't really want it to
Speaker 3: happen tomorrow. It's kind of like, you know, the journey.
Speaker 3: The bulk of the bulk of it is the journey.
Speaker 3: The destination is going to be like that, you know,
Speaker 3: so enjoy this journey is a it's a long journey.
Speaker 3: But I wouldn't I would I wouldn't rather do any
Speaker 3: other journey, but you know, and that's just what it is.
Speaker 2: It's a beautiful journey, So enjoy it.
Speaker 3: That stop focusing on where you trying to get, because
Speaker 3: once you get there, you're gonna be trying to get.
Speaker 4: Somewhere else exactly.
Speaker 1: Oh, such great jewels, you guys. I pray that you've
Speaker 1: documented this in some way, write it down recorded, Boogie,
Speaker 1: we know what work ethic is about.
Speaker 4: You know, I know I have, and I'm sure your experience.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, I've been on a set for twenty four
Speaker 1: hours literally a video.
Speaker 4: That's a video set, right.
Speaker 1: I'm a little older than Boogie, so on a music
Speaker 1: video set with Lionel Martin.
Speaker 2: Do you classic concept?
Speaker 4: There you go?
Speaker 1: Okay, plastic classes. So I'm saying that to say that
Speaker 1: when I speak to this generation about work ethic, even
Speaker 1: how you say, oh, I don't want to sound like
Speaker 1: my parents, But there's a part of me that feels
Speaker 1: like I.
Speaker 4: Sound like my parents.
Speaker 1: But it's like, I know what it's like to stand
Speaker 1: next to a propane heater and negative fifteen degree weather
Speaker 1: and Chicago shooting exterior barbershop on the Thirteenth Hour with.
Speaker 4: Tim storm mm.
Speaker 1: But if you say to these kids, you know, well, listen,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to simulate winter in summer, so you
Speaker 1: can wait, I have to wear a Parker how many wait?
Speaker 2: How do you this entire three twenty three?
Speaker 3: But I mean, and that that's just that's just you know,
Speaker 3: I feel like that's just what it is. You know,
Speaker 3: they can't really you know, we we came up in
Speaker 3: another time, which I remember standing on the corner I
Speaker 3: worked in the film. I forgot the name of the
Speaker 3: Devil's Advocate. I was an additional advocate. I was in
Speaker 3: additional PA starting out and Wow, the ad were the
Speaker 3: Screamer and Cold Time at six am. The pas had
Speaker 3: to be on set at five am on the corners
Speaker 3: that they were locking up in the truck didn't even
Speaker 3: arrive yet. Wow, in the dark on the corner standing there, Yeah,
Speaker 3: no bag, nothing in your hand. But like it is,
Speaker 3: like it was real deal. But it builds character. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's her abuse now. And the thing is that is
Speaker 3: a different time overall. So nobody's doing twenty four hours.
Speaker 3: Nobody's gonna even be doing fourteen hours anymore. In my opinion,
Speaker 3: behaved all the the call that came from the DJA
Speaker 3: is like, Yeah, a lot of things are gonna have
Speaker 3: to change, you know. So that's that's the new world,
Speaker 3: and we got to relearn what we've learned, you know,
Speaker 3: and then pivot.
Speaker 1: So that's actually a great segue because actors are going
Speaker 1: to have to make some major adjustments. I have a
Speaker 1: friend who I spoke to the other day and said
Speaker 1: that she was interviewed as an intimacy coordinator. That's a
Speaker 1: new job that they're going to have, you know, So
Speaker 1: what what are some of the changes that maybe you
Speaker 1: can speak about now that actors can start to mentally
Speaker 1: prepare for.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, some of the protocol they're
Speaker 2: talking about it.
Speaker 3: You know, everybody that's not on camera wearing masks, you know,
Speaker 3: just the ppe that available on set, and a couple
Speaker 3: of like you said, a couple of new crew positions,
Speaker 3: you know, that are paying attention to self distancing.
Speaker 2: You know, all the prepackaged food.
Speaker 3: You know, you already talked about the auditioning remotely, you know,
Speaker 3: and the rehearsals remotely. You know, just imagine zoom rehearsals,
Speaker 3: you know, right, and then you know, just having you know,
Speaker 3: on site departments where the hair, makeup and wardrobe never
Speaker 3: come to set. And you know what I'm saying, because
Speaker 3: they just and then when at three actors come on
Speaker 3: the set, three crew members leaving just this kind of
Speaker 3: thing that they have to move, you know where you
Speaker 3: everybody in the monitors director like three monitors, one for
Speaker 3: the director, one for the scriptural visor, and one for
Speaker 3: the producers.
Speaker 2: Like never remember the day with d no video village
Speaker 2: is you know.
Speaker 3: It's going to be social distance and it's nobody other
Speaker 3: than those three people, the DP.
Speaker 2: The director, But remember the days twenty amount.
Speaker 1: Looking Well, that's where I mean as an acting coach,
Speaker 1: that's where I am.
Speaker 2: I'm in that well you're gonna be and they might
Speaker 2: have room.
Speaker 3: They talked about having remote like say bigger films like
Speaker 3: if they're the trailer with you know where where you
Speaker 3: can watch video village, so very visit's gonna be kind
Speaker 3: of transmitted places you need to see it. It's gonna
Speaker 3: be where you can have see right, you know. So
Speaker 3: they and all of this stuff is gonna cost more
Speaker 3: money budgetary, yeah, yeah, might.
Speaker 4: Be shorter hours.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So now these actors better know that they better hit
Speaker 3: it there ain't no time to be flowbing lines, don't
Speaker 3: coming unprepared.
Speaker 2: We don't want a lot of time.
Speaker 3: So now they're gonna cut the number of hours that
Speaker 3: that we're gonna shoot eventually, because you know, the longer
Speaker 3: people say around each other, the higher the risk of.
Speaker 2: Right of comamination.
Speaker 3: So they don't want And the thing is with what
Speaker 3: they also said for that is that after the fourteenth,
Speaker 3: after a certain number of hours, your resistance is is weaker.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I said for sixteen hours, their resistance is
Speaker 3: week So so.
Speaker 2: It's all all of these things are going to affect.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you have to be leaner, we have to be tighter,
Speaker 3: we have to be more intentional and laughing. Hey, just
Speaker 3: you go there and you do your business right and
Speaker 3: you be about it and that's it, you know, well serious, no, no.
Speaker 1: You're right about the hours because you know a barbershop,
Speaker 1: I did sixteen hours sixteen days and you can see down.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it diminishing returns and then what happened to your
Speaker 3: immune system is is jacked up. So they so they're
Speaker 3: gonna be shorter day, shorter page county. So it's not
Speaker 3: going to be shooting seven page if you can't do
Speaker 3: it in ten hours, all this coverage.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's two cameras shooting all the time.
Speaker 3: It's just, you know, nobody wants to spend as much
Speaker 3: time as we used to spend on set anymore. Nobody
Speaker 3: wants because there's a lot of people, so they want
Speaker 3: to get in.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't even I'm not used to. I'm used
Speaker 4: to being on a cruise one hundred and that. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, fifteen.
Speaker 1: People, that's a small crew. But I don't know a
Speaker 1: crew that's less than two hundred.
Speaker 4: So you know, we boggie.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna invite you back on because I told you
Speaker 1: twenty eight minutes was gonna fly by, and I'm getting
Speaker 1: warning signs I did want to make I did want
Speaker 1: to give clarity to video village for actors who don't know,
Speaker 1: that is the space in which the director where you
Speaker 1: see the director chairs for the director, the DP, the
Speaker 1: script supervisor, all of the producers, writers. It's sort of this,
Speaker 1: you know, we huddle around the monitor. I'm usually sitting
Speaker 1: on an apple box in front of the monitor, try
Speaker 1: to get distanced.
Speaker 4: But they always they're very gracious on set, and they
Speaker 4: give me a director's chair. So that's our video village.
Speaker 1: I just want you, and I got a minute left,
Speaker 1: if you could just give actors what is the best advice,
Speaker 1: because you've given them some amazing nuggets.
Speaker 4: What is your best advice that you want to give them.
Speaker 2: I mean, I would say, just continue to work and
Speaker 2: stay sharp. We're going to come out of this. You know.
Speaker 2: Are you gonna come out of this better and sharper
Speaker 2: or not? You know? So continue now.
Speaker 3: You got time to get that monologue tight, You got
Speaker 3: time to work on stuff because once things open back
Speaker 3: up or things want to get back to whatever normal,
Speaker 3: we find that time is lost.
Speaker 2: So use this time.
Speaker 3: Why is it you know, read some scripts whatever, if
Speaker 3: you want to write, Just just just utilize this time.
Speaker 3: You know, take yourself and critique yourself, and you know,
Speaker 3: just just do that work you know that you always
Speaker 3: wanted to do in this time and shopping your tools.
Speaker 1: Wow, it was an excellent twenty eight minutes. I'm holding
Speaker 1: on to all of that. I want you guys to
Speaker 1: put your hands together for a director extraordinary mister Michael
Speaker 1: Boogie Pigney, thank you for.
Speaker 2: Having me, Thank you having me so much for coming.
Speaker 4: I really really am grateful to have you here. So
Speaker 4: we'll be back on.
Speaker 1: The Spirited Actor Podcast with you know my favorite segment
Speaker 1: class in session.
Speaker 4: Welcome back to.
Speaker 1: The Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore.
Speaker 4: And we are still blessed.
Speaker 1: To have Michael Boogie Pinckney with us Director extraordinaire. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're applauding him. He gave us some great nuggets.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 1: I feel like I need to just saturate my mind
Speaker 1: with all that he gave us today. So embrace it, actors.
Speaker 1: I have Miss Julisa Capri spirit Actor Alumni on with us. Hey, so, hey,
Speaker 1: I know my listeners know that you know this is
Speaker 1: my favorite segment to high light specter alumni, give them
Speaker 1: a platform, an opportunity for our guests to see their
Speaker 1: talent and give constructive criticism. Soter Lisa, you can tell
Speaker 1: us the title of the monologue and then whenever you're ready,
Speaker 1: we still have book.
Speaker 5: It's called Nuts and so I'll just get I'll get
Speaker 5: right into it.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 5: When I was a little girl, I used to say
Speaker 5: I love you to the moon and down again, around
Speaker 5: the world and back again. And she used to say
Speaker 5: to me, I love you to the sun and down again,
Speaker 5: around the stars and back.
Speaker 4: Again, And I used to think, Wow, I love Mama
Speaker 4: and Mama loves me. What could go wrong? What went wrong?
Speaker 2: Mama?
Speaker 6: I love you and you love me, and what went wrong?
Speaker 2: You see?
Speaker 4: I know she loves me and I love her, so
Speaker 4: what so what? She's over there and I'm over here.
Speaker 4: She hates me because of the things that I've done.
Speaker 6: To her, and I, hey, y'all, those are the things
Speaker 6: that she's done to me.
Speaker 4: See, he's staying in.
Speaker 6: A bad Ask and do you love your and.
Speaker 4: Then they say yes.
Speaker 5: You think you've asked something real, and they think they've
Speaker 5: said something real.
Speaker 4: You think because you tossed the love. I'mund like a
Speaker 4: frisbee that we're all supposed to get old running.
Speaker 5: Oh, something happens to some people. Sometimes they love you
Speaker 5: so much. There's something noticing you're there because their teo's
Speaker 5: loving you.
Speaker 4: They love you so much.
Speaker 6: Your love is like a gun and they just keep
Speaker 6: fine and straight into your head. I mean, they love
Speaker 6: you so much to go straight into the hospital. M Fama,
Speaker 6: I know that you love me. There up, the love
Speaker 6: is too much. It's too much, you're not know.
Speaker 1: H see, Okay, all right, So it was a little
Speaker 1: choppy for me, I don't know how it.
Speaker 3: Was for Boogie, just a little choppy okay for me also,
Speaker 3: but you know.
Speaker 5: My connection is that unstable on the thing across the screen.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's fun. You know, I got it, I
Speaker 2: got I got it. Though he's a professional, that was
Speaker 2: an interesting monologue. It was an interesting monologue. Who are
Speaker 2: you talking to? Were you talking to someone that? Were you?
Speaker 5: So she's on a stand talking to her mother's across
Speaker 5: and then she's trying to convince them that she's not crazy,
Speaker 5: even though she's been brought to a crazy house and
Speaker 5: her mother is the impetus for a lot of stuff
Speaker 5: that's going on in her life. And so her mother
Speaker 5: is there, she's confronting her, but she's also trying to
Speaker 5: let them know, let me out of this space.
Speaker 2: I'm not really crazy.
Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, interesting because I was trying to gauge you
Speaker 3: and I knew it was a lot going on, you know,
Speaker 3: So I'm you know, trying to follow the story, which
Speaker 3: in which I feel like, you know, sometimes I feel
Speaker 3: like actors. It's just like kind of like those singing shows.
Speaker 3: It was like all better song selection. Sometimes I feel
Speaker 3: like I active picked them monologue that because if for
Speaker 3: me it kind of because there was so many moving pieces,
Speaker 3: it kind of distracted me a little because I'm trying
Speaker 3: to follow the story versus zeroing in on your acting ability.
Speaker 3: I found myself kind of like getting the gauge because
Speaker 3: it was it was kind of dense, you know, the story,
Speaker 3: the story of the monologue.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: That's just that's just why I found myself trying to
Speaker 3: really follow and make sense of this story, and that
Speaker 3: took too much of my attention, you know.
Speaker 2: What I'm saying. I don't know if you ever experienced that, Tracy.
Speaker 1: Yes, I mean we don't see a lot of monologues,
Speaker 1: but I think that this monologue is from the film Nuts.
Speaker 1: Barbara Streisam was the one that was in the stand,
Speaker 1: and I think for me it was more of the
Speaker 1: jerkiness because I do know them monologue, so I can't
Speaker 1: really I don't care. But you know, one of the
Speaker 1: things that it is going to be challenging, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: is the technology because we're all going to be audit
Speaker 1: when we get back in, so I don't know how
Speaker 1: that's going to be. Because casting directors are saying to
Speaker 1: me now that most of the auditions are going to
Speaker 1: be zoom.
Speaker 4: Callbacks are going to be zoom.
Speaker 1: When some Sinclair was on and she said that she
Speaker 1: did a Zoom callback with a director, So you know,
Speaker 1: we are going to experience some of these glitches. You know, prayerfully,
Speaker 1: you know you'll get another chance to do it again.
Speaker 1: But that's something that I think is really going to
Speaker 1: have to be a discussion because zoom is not flawless
Speaker 1: unless there's another platform that is created specifically for this.
Speaker 3: That's a good idea for something, some technology to come
Speaker 3: from casting directors for it, because you know, Zoom is
Speaker 3: all we got, That's what everybody has.
Speaker 4: And everybody's on it. Everybody's been on it since we've
Speaker 4: been down and even before that.
Speaker 1: But I think that their needs because I really feel
Speaker 1: like the challenge is going to be.
Speaker 4: The challenge is really going to be, you know, the.
Speaker 1: Fluency that you have of course in the live one,
Speaker 1: didn't you know, and being able to and then you freeze,
Speaker 1: you know, when you were talking about rehearsal, I watched
Speaker 1: a rehearsal a couple of weeks ago and it was great,
Speaker 1: but then it was freezing, and you know that causes thing.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna have to work out those glitches. But
Speaker 1: you know, overall, like I love this platform to be
Speaker 1: able to do this.
Speaker 4: You know, and you know her from the neighborhood. You
Speaker 4: may not know her talent, but I knew.
Speaker 2: I came to the showcase I saw you did. I
Speaker 2: was already talking about it. Are you sitting or standing?
Speaker 5: I am because I was just short sitting monologue.
Speaker 2: Okay, the sitting monologue, Okay.
Speaker 4: It's she's sitting in the witness stand.
Speaker 2: Uh see.
Speaker 3: I guess you know the thing for me a lot
Speaker 3: of times the monologues that have a lot of components
Speaker 3: from films to help it along.
Speaker 2: If you don't have it, you know, the witness you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: So it's like, because now we it's hard for me
Speaker 3: as the viewer to visualize what the world is. So
Speaker 3: if you pick a monologue that you know, you're doing
Speaker 3: things based you know, creatively and as for the monologue
Speaker 3: based on the context.
Speaker 2: But I don't know the context, I'm not gonna really
Speaker 2: get it.
Speaker 3: So I you know, so whether it's good or bad,
Speaker 3: it's kind of like I'm kind of lost in the context.
Speaker 2: Of where you know.
Speaker 3: So so for me, I find you know, monologues that
Speaker 3: work best are ones that don't that kind of our
Speaker 3: standalone you know, if you really you know, you're familiar
Speaker 3: with the film nuts and you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: If you aren't familiar thing, you're not going to be
Speaker 3: as moved.
Speaker 2: You know. It's kind of like a song people sing
Speaker 2: a song on Oh.
Speaker 3: I really loved that song, whether they did a good
Speaker 3: job or not, I love that song, and that's the
Speaker 3: focus versus somebody that picked a bad song and your
Speaker 3: voice is amazing and you're like, all right, you know
Speaker 3: the song and great the voice, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: So it's hard to kind of separate and kind of
Speaker 2: decide which is it.
Speaker 3: And if you're doing a self tape, you ain't. There
Speaker 3: ain't no time to figure out which is it. It's next,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying. So it's kind of like,
Speaker 3: really see, you know, step outside of what what monologue
Speaker 3: you're doing, to see if it makes how how would.
Speaker 2: The viewers see it?
Speaker 3: Not how you feel about it, because you probably like
Speaker 3: I love this mylog, but sometimes actors tend to make
Speaker 3: it more about them than anybody else when it Unfortunately,
Speaker 3: it ain't about you when you're doing the audition. It's
Speaker 3: about what you're given to the person watching. So so
Speaker 3: that's that would just be my note in terms of
Speaker 3: figuring out is there better monologue for me to see
Speaker 3: only your talent and not try to suffer with the
Speaker 3: context of what's going on, you know, So that's all
Speaker 3: I can focus on, you know.
Speaker 4: Okay, Wow, that's a great point. I've never thought about
Speaker 4: it in that way. That's a great point. Thank you
Speaker 4: so much.
Speaker 1: So, and I always ask because yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: definitely want to have you come back on in class
Speaker 1: and session and see a scene and see the work
Speaker 1: and yeah, because that's all original work as well.
Speaker 4: But everybody puts your hands together and send virtual hugs
Speaker 4: to our guest, mister Michael Boogie Pinkney. Yeah, and we
Speaker 4: recorded this.
Speaker 2: That was fierce.
Speaker 1: Okay, So we will be back with the Spirited Actor
Speaker 1: Podcast with me Tracy Moore and I will be giving
Speaker 1: you love. And now it's time to give love. If
Speaker 1: you want more trust in your life, you have to
Speaker 1: be more trustworthy. If you want love in your life,
Speaker 1: you have to be of love. Whatever it is that
Speaker 1: you want in your life. You have to be of that.
Speaker 1: If you want people to trust your word and be
Speaker 1: of your word, you have to be of your word.
Speaker 1: Whatever it is that you want more of in your life,
Speaker 1: it starts with you, and it starts with your thoughts,
Speaker 1: and it goes into your words and it manifests into
Speaker 1: what it is that you want. You must learn to
Speaker 1: trust your thoughts, you must learn to trust your words,
Speaker 1: and you must learn to use the words that are
Speaker 1: going to manifest what it is that you want. If
Speaker 1: you want abundance, you can't speak of lack. If you
Speaker 1: want happiness, you can't speak of sad. This the things
Speaker 1: that you want, the things that you will manifest in
Speaker 1: your life, are the things that you speak clearly and
Speaker 1: stay focused and hold that vision. Whatever it is that
Speaker 1: you want in your life, be of it. Thank you
Speaker 1: for joining us on the Spirited Actor podcast with me
Speaker 1: Tracy Moore. I look forward to our next Spirited podcast.
Speaker 1: Thank you