WEBVTT - 135: Mara Wilson, Acting Cults And Isolation Tanks 0:00:02.160 --> 0:00:06.520 It's two thirty three am at the Kaminsky Method Acting 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:20.119 Studio and you're listening Tonight Call. Hello, and welcome Tonight Call, 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:23.639 a call in show for our dystopian reality. I am 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.720 Molly Lambert and with me as always is Tess Lynch 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.040 and joining us today we have a very special guest, 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:36.640 uh Maura Wilson. MARAA is a writer, a playwright, and 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:39.680 an actor. She's done a lot of voice acting. She 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:42.360 has a sub stack called Shan't We Tell the Vicar 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.160 and is the author of the book Where Am I now? 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:48.680 Welcome to Night Call, Mara. Thank you so much. I'm 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:51.159 so happy to be here. I love this show. Oh 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:54.279 we're so happy to have you on. Um. We were 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.360 going to talk today about a couple of night callie 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:01.360 things isolation tanks which you have variances with, and also 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:06.280 acting classes and how they are like cults with I've 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:11.520 written I've written articles about this. It's that's a real thing, perfect. Um. 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:15.000 Why don't we kick it off with a Nightcall? My Nightcall? 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:18.040 It's Lindsay. Um. I heard the topic this week was 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:21.240 acting classes that are like cults, and that brought back 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:24.720 some memories. I was a high school in college, drama 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:28.039 geek and a drama major in college, and I took 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:32.720 part of some really questionable activities that seemed normal at 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:37.360 the time, but that looking back, I'm kind of horrified by. UM. 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:41.399 Some examples, in high school drama class, we were regularly 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:46.640 made to do stream of consciousness type exercises that ended 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:52.280 with all of us screaming or crying as a group. UM. 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:55.960 And I had a succession of drama teachers who, thankfully, 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:59.840 as far as I could tell, we're not abusive. Some 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:02.760 of them were a little creepy, but I was not abused. 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:05.440 But they were very cult leader like and they often 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:09.400 had inner circles of students who they spent a crazy 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:13.000 amount of time with, and people talked about them sort 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.400 of like they were gods, and you were not allowed 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:19.600 to criticize them in any way. UM. By college, I 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:24.480 felt like acting classes were more like unlicensed therapy, just 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:27.240 a lot of exercises again that asked people to draw 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:30.960 on childhood trauma, and if you didn't really have any 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.799 childhood trauma, you would kind of be pressured to make 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:37.480 it up. UM. I witnessed quite a few full on 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:42.040 emotional meltdowns by fellow students and occasionally professors, and of 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:45.960 course there were no clear rules about confidentiality or anything 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:49.240 like that. Um, looking back, I can't believe that I 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:52.600 just thought this was normal or deep. So I wonder 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:55.680 if mar Wilson or any of you who participated in 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:59.320 any acting classes or theater classes have any thoughts on this. Um, 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:02.680 Should we start regulating this stuff? Should we have clearer 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:07.600 guidelines for acting classes where personal info is shared, or 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:11.720 teachers seem to think their therapists, or maybe since it's 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.080 been like twenty plus years since I did this, maybe 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:18.959 now there are clearer rules or guidelines. Just curious. Marl 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:20.880 Wilson loves your work. Thank you for all You're really 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:24.080 insightful writing about Hollywood and growing up as a child star. 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:27.560 And thank you nightcall as always, nice nightcall. This is 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:30.040 something we've been talking about a lot over the past 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:33.280 couple of weeks, really starting when we kind of launched 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:37.560 into maxium um the acting class as cult phenomenon. Mara, 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:40.840 I'm really eager to hear your thoughts on this. Yeah, 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:43.080 none of the things that she said surprised me. I mean, 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:46.960 I've been through series like similar things myself, especially the 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:52.400 thing about people worshiping a teacher and then um and 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:54.960 and the teacher kind of having an inner circle that 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:57.480 was very much like that happens at every acting school. 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:01.320 I would say, like the favoritism is is absurd. And 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:04.360 I definitely new teachers, Like there was there was a 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:07.720 teacher I knew who would would take a young boy 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:12.920 with him to Europe every summer and yes, and uh 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:16.280 and he would he would there. There would be I 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:20.560 can't name any names because of lawsuits probably, but yeah, 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:23.160 I knew a teacher who would do that. That this 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:26.480 the boys were all over eighteen, but that didn't make 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.800 it any less creepy. Yeah, and and really kind of 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:32.200 nobody commented on it for a while. We were just like, oh, 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:34.440 that's kind of what he does. And then you know 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:37.279 a lot of times the the the the boy would 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:40.320 come back like, you know, questioning his sexuality or something 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:43.480 and um and but at the time it was like, well, 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:47.040 how can you even question this? You know? So so 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:50.520 I've definitely seen that happen. I also think a lot 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:53.120 of the exercises they do, it really does depend on 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:56.920 the school. There's um, there's a lot that's like like 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:00.000 Strasburg based, which was like the very early acting school 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:04.760 has a lot to do with um, the idea of 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:09.159 of like searching through your personal memories and and drawing 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:11.280 on your own traumas to do things. And for some 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:14.560 people that really works, um, you know, and and there's 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:18.080 their substitution where it's like, all right, you're sad on 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:21.560 stage because somebody dies, so you imagine that's somebody close 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:24.600 to you dies. Um. I know that that That kind 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:26.760 of worked for me when I was a child sometimes, 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:29.200 but I was a pretty sensitive child to begin with, 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:31.800 so I kind of withdraw on a lot of different things. 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:34.840 Now I don't like doing that at all when I'm acting. 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:37.840 I I feel like I'm much more like sort of 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:40.080 the Adler school, which is more like, no, build a 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:42.400 character and become them, because you know, you don't have 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:44.560 to be a murderer to play a murderer. So I 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:48.200 do think that there's definitely like, um, there's definitely like 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:50.360 it definitely depends on the ones that you do. I 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:52.520 will say that, like, I had a really good acting 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:55.400 teacher as a child, Like he was intense, but he 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:58.080 was very respectful, and I think that's probably because he 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:01.240 worked with children and he had children of his own. 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:04.159 So he knew he was an intense guy, but he 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:07.120 was very smart and very sweet and and you know, 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:09.000 I loved him and I still love him. I saw 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:11.960 him a few months before the pandemic started and and 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.679 like thanked him for always taking care of me. Yeah. 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:17.839 I mean, it's such a vulnerable position to be, to 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:21.120 be a child actor, and you obviously have to hope 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:25.440 that everybody around you has good intentions and isn't a 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:29.040 bad person, because it would be so easy to manipulate 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:33.080 that situation. Yeah. Um, I feel like you always hear 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:36.880 stories about kid actors being you know what you were saying, like, 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:38.840 you know, hey, think of something really sad. And I 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:41.240 feel like there's a bunch of stories about like telling 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:43.440 some kids like, hey, your dog just died, just to 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:47.000 get them to cry, just kidding. That's that's something that 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.120 they don't do anymore, because they did that a lot 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:51.440 in the early days. I mean there's stories of you know, 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:54.800 um of of Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien and all 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:56.719 of these people being taught being told like we're going 0:06:56.760 --> 0:07:00.279 to kill your dog, um things. Oh my god. Yeah, 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:02.359 there that that happened a lot. And I think because 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:04.200 of that people have been a lot more careful with it. 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:08.520 But so so I think that, and I do think that, 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:12.880 like by the time that like that the seventies and eighties, 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:15.720 we were fucking terrible for child actors. There was just 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:19.240 all kinds of unregulated nonsense. And and I can tell 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.520 because when I talked to to child actors who are 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:24.600 even five or ten years older than me, they have 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:28.800 stories that I do not. They definitely have stories where 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:32.480 where they're like, yeah, I was definitely abused, or I 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:35.360 was left to do really dangerous things, or you know, 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:37.680 they had me running through a minefield with no protection 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:39.640 and they had to do these things and they had 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:42.600 me up late at night and all of this. And 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:46.560 whereas whereas I was like, my most uncomfortable moments did 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:50.960 not come on filming on sets. They came from, uh, 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:55.640 like creepy men writing me messages and and things like that. 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:57.600 Like that's something that people don't understand. People be like, 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.360 Hollywood is so bad to children, and I'm like, yes, 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:02.480 it is. But you guys also need to take responsibility 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:05.040 for the general public too, because the general public does 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:07.400 a lot of things. Yeah, I mean, I have to 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:12.640 imagine that after the John Landis Twilight Zone movie where 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:17.240 he murdered two children and tomorrow because of lack of 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.880 regulation and because of like working them more hours than 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.040 you're supposed to do and that kind of stuff, that 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:26.200 there had to be some kind of a clamp down of, like, yeah, 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:30.320 we actually do have to. Like, well, somebody who was 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:32.319 who is related to that man was very rude to 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.360 me a couple of years ago. And I remember thinking 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:37.559 to myself, and I actually met him when I was 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:41.960 a child, and um and and uh, I think like 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:43.960 at the time, I thought it was because like a 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.920 director I knew, not Danny DeVito, guys, a director that 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:48.880 I knew was like friends with him. But I'm pretty 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:50.720 sure that that director was only friends with him because 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:55.400 they worried about his children and they wanted to make 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.320 sure that like the children were going to grow up okay, 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:01.720 and uh, you know, I don't know if that happened, 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:05.280 but um, but yeah, but somebody who was related to him, 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:08.920 and I remember thinking to myself, like, if if he 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:11.800 ever pulls they well now I'm just totally revealing who 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.160 this is, but everybody already knows anyway, if he if 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:16.760 he pulls the don't you know who my father is. 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:18.679 Card on me, I can say, yes, he's the reason 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:22.000 that we had child labor laws. He's the reason I 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:25.040 was safe on sets. Right. My dad told me some 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:28.240 story I've never heard recently because um, you know, I 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.000 was like a little ginger kids. So people would sometimes 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:33.240 be like, hey, you want to like come do some acting, 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:36.760 and I was not really interested. Um, but there was 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:39.400 a time when like I saw John Landis at a 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:42.559 deli and he was like, oh, you know what beautiful 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:45.000 hair you have. And my dad just like grabbed me, 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:48.720 pulled me away and was like that's John Landis, Like 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:52.960 he can't be in your children. Yeah, yeah, it's I mean. 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.720 The thing is that that as you get older, though 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:58.000 it people don't think about the well being of actors 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:01.000 as they get older. And I do know definitely several 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:04.720 people who have taken acting classes that were from sports 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:08.440 cults or religious groups. Yeah, so let's talk about that, 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:12.000 because I heard about this from tests a while ago. 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:16.319 So definitely, acting teachers all have this kind of guru 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:19.480 for sharing about them, but some of them really are 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:24.959 gurus and are trying to get people either into cults, 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:27.520 are sometimes just like an MLM. I know, some people 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:31.240 who went to an acting class that was run by 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:35.960 a very shady organization that they knew about, and they 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:37.720 knew that it was there, and I'm not even sure 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:40.200 how they got into it in the first place, but 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:43.360 they I think maybe they assumed that they wouldn't feel 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:45.920 obligated to join, but by the end of it, they 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:49.640 were so exhausted and so broken down that they almost said, okay, yes, 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:53.320 we'll join just again. And that happens in cults more 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:56.360 often than you think, where people are I don't want 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:57.880 to do this, and then they do, and then they 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.320 end up justifying their decision later on where they're like, well, actually, 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:03.160 I'm glad I joined. I mean, I know I joined 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:04.640 it in a moment of stress, but I'm glad I 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:07.160 did it. I was so tired and and you know, 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:08.680 I was so tired, and it was this but but 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:10.400 it was actually a good thing, because that's the way 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:13.640 human beings work. And we tried to reduce cognitive dissonance, 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:16.720 and you know, we try to get rid of anything 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:18.720 that is isn't in sync with our ego, you know, 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:20.720 in our self concept, and that's and that's a really 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:22.280 hard thing to do. So I think there's a lot 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:25.720 of self justifying. I think there's something also that's interesting 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:28.040 that happens in acting classes and also kind of the 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.280 improv community and stuff like that, where it just be 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:33.400 it takes over your social life if you're really dedicating 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:34.920 a lot of time to it. It becomes such a 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:38.040 tight community. And you've been so vulnerable in front of 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:40.920 this community that you kind of believe they're your friends, 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:43.440 even if they're not actually your friends. And this has 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:47.839 happened to me like nothing something that shouldn't happen. It's 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:50.040 a natural kind of occurrence. But then I think that 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:54.040 makes you extra susceptible to you know, having boundaries be 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:58.640 crossed or in the instance of UM acting coaches for instance, 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:03.480 who are affiliated with like religions or organizations. Eventually, yeah, 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.600 like you said, you kind of feel like beaten down 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:10.720 by the fact that everyone around you is normalizing something 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:14.120 that's that's not normal, and it kind of it's hard 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:16.720 to resist that after a while, right, And also like 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:20.240 thosen't it it must be like seductive to be like, oh, 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:22.520 if I were part of the inner circle, like maybe 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:26.080 I'd book a bunch more work because I'd be you know, 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:29.400 I mean they're there are acting schools out there where 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:32.720 they have people there who work like who work for casting, 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:35.520 like some of the best acting schools. So so there's 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:37.840 a reason why. I mean, most of these actors that 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:40.920 come out of these schools are are wonderful actors, but 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:43.760 there's a reason that they're getting booked over people who 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.440 went to other schools who are also wonderful actors. I 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:49.120 think another thing is that acting, for so many people 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:52.600 is all about truth and it's all about authenticity, and 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:56.360 you spend so much of your time obsessing about being fake, 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:59.920 and you spend so much of your time obsessing about 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:02.480 what is real and what isn't that after a while 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:06.160 it's kind of like you have no idea what you 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:08.360 have no idea what real is anymore, and you don't 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:10.240 know if the things that you're doing in class are 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:12.120 real or not. And people will always accuse you of 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.400 being fake and phony and phoning it in and uh, 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:17.440 and that's a really big thing. That's like one of 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:20.520 an actor's biggest fears is being phony. So there's this 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:22.600 idea that you kind of need to break yourself down, 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:26.160 and you need to break yourself down and and try 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:28.360 all of these things until you're really authentic, until you're 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:30.679 really real. That's something that you saw a lot with 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:34.600 Alison Max from Alison Mack in Nexium. Yeah, I think 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.880 that's how we got on this topic. Is definitely just like, oh, 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:39.920 you know a lot of these people are actors that 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:42.440 are in Nexium, and they're actors who are like not 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:45.320 fully fulfilled in their careers and want something and this 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:48.320 guy is like promising it to them. Well, it's uh, 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:51.400 there's so much talk about being real and being authentic 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:55.040 and really accessing your emotion and and that is something 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:57.280 that is incredibly important to an actor, and being being 0:13:57.280 --> 0:13:59.280 an actor is really like it can be a really 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:01.800 ascetic thing. Like we actually had a class at my 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:03.439 school and there was a teacher there. I don't I 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:05.720 don't know if he's still working there, but I was 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:07.640 not a big fan of his because I did a 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:09.920 project for his class and a bunch of us did 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:11.840 projects and at the end of the class he was like, 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:13.360 I was a little disappointed in the quality of the 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:14.960 work guys, And we were like, Okay, well, we'll step 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:18.040 it up next time. And then apparently the next class 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:19.480 came in and they were like, oh my god, the 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:22.360 previous class was so shitty. The work they did was 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:24.520 so bad, and the other teacher was like, I wanted 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:26.360 to throw myself out of the window, it was so bad. 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:30.160 And after that, I was like, oh, clearly I can't 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:32.320 trust you because you're talking shoot about us to your 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:34.880 other classes. But other people looked him, and he had 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:36.920 a class that he would teach that he said was 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:39.960 taught was was based on like Russian and tie and 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:44.440 like very sort of like Eastern oriented, you know, kind 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:49.440 of kind of classes. And he um, you had to 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:53.000 wear all white and you weren't allowed to eat, drink, 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.520 use any drugs, or have sex twenty four hours before 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:59.560 the class. And he had this class, yes, and you 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.280 had to in the floor beforehand, like like a you know, 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.520 like a Japanese monk. You had to clean the floor beforehand. 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:07.560 And I was supposed to be put in that class 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.520 my senior year, and I was like, no, funk that, 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:12.480 I'm not saying this. This is my senior year. Put 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:13.800 me in the classes that I want to be in. 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:16.160 So I think I took like a I think I 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:18.800 took like a voice lessons class instead because I was like, 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:21.000 I was like, I'll just get my I'll just sort 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:23.360 of sing better, like that's gonna be I think that's 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:27.080 that's a practical skill instead of making making artwork that 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:29.080 like probably not a lot of people want to see. Anyway, 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:31.240 you saw everybody wearing all white, and you were like, 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:35.160 m I don't know if Yeah, actually this does look 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:37.240 like a call. And then I know so many people 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:39.280 who were doing his shows and we're not getting paid 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:42.280 and and we're not We're putting in so much work, 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:44.040 and I remember thinking to myself, what do you get 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:45.720 from it? Like I had a teacher there who I 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.960 really loved, but like she had a life that was 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:52.400 separate than ours, you know, and she she she we 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:54.760 didn't consider like and I used to jokingly call her 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:58.080 like the Guru, but she wouldn't have liked that. I 0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:00.720 don't think like she she very much had her own 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:02.800 life and she lived she didn't live in the city, 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:05.920 she lived outside of New York. And she was really wonderful. 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:07.400 And the thing is, like I had a really great 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:09.560 time at my acting school, and ours was so much 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:13.320 better compared to so many of the other schools there. 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:16.120 But there's still are these issues. They're still still are 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:19.160 these problems. Yeah, really quick. I think we should take 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:21.840 an excerpt from a night email. This one comes from 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.680 Peter and it's just following up with this topic. He says, 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.160 my question regarding acting classes as cults is if acting 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:31.480 classes are easily susceptible to cult late practices because of 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:35.720 the vulnerability of performers. It's hierarchical design and wise leader 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:39.800 status of acting teachers legitimized by IMDb credits. For example, 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.200 how do you think these types of acting groups can 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:45.440 avoid such cult like tendencies and be healthy environments to 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:48.880 grow and learn. I mean, that's a really good question. 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:52.440 I think that I think that the students need to 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.240 make sure that they're safe. I think that they need 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:58.160 to agree on rules beforehand. Uh, and that I think 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:00.800 is very good. Like, I think that sort the the 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:02.760 the issue of consent is something that comes up a 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:07.000 lot a lot enacting classes, Like I had. I remember 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:08.680 in high school and I went to I went to 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:12.159 an art school. We had we had some kind of 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:15.399 class and uh, maybe it was a mass class or something, 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:17.640 and we had to like a sema character. And there 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:20.040 was one kid in there that was getting like really 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:24.160 violent and shovy, and and we told like we told 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:26.359 him afterwards. We were like, dude, you need to stop 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:29.399 shoving people. You need to like be really careful and 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:31.920 he and he would just say, well, I can't change 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:36.080 my character right totally. I've heard about very I've heard 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:41.240 about similar situations where people are shoving people or getting 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:45.600 violent or getting kind of like overly sexual somebody and 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.360 then they're like, it wasn't me, it was the character. 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:51.040 The emotion came over me and like what am I 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:55.680 to do? And there really is no framework for regulating 0:17:55.760 --> 0:18:00.320 something like that, because uh, yeah, what do you do friends? 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:02.240 I've had friends, Yeah, I've had friends also say like 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:03.959 we were doing this scene and then I was like, 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:05.359 this is kind of hot. Do you want to have sex? 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:11.000 And the other actor was like no, this is acting, yeah, 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:13.040 And I remember them saying that, me being like what, 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:16.640 like that's not that's that's not appropriate, right. And you 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:20.879 you saw that with like the James Franco Acting School, um, 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:24.959 which was everything bad. We've been talking about sort of 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:29.200 being used to manipulate people that are going in actually 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:31.680 like genuinely hopeful that this is going to help their 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:34.400 acting careers and make them better actors. And then if 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:37.960 somebody just wants to use it for their own personal 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:44.359 narcissism to be abusive. It's it's not hard to do. 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:47.680 Their intimacy coaches now one which I think is really good, 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:49.560 and I think that there should be something like that 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:52.359 for for child actors in general. There should be like 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:55.119 an onset psychologist. There should be something like that. This 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:57.080 has been something that I've been talking about for years now, 0:18:57.320 --> 0:18:59.240 to to make sure that children are okay. But I 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:01.240 also think that there probably does need to be some 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:05.920 kind of regulation involved with with acting classes. Um if 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:07.880 I don't know if like actors security or SAG wants 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:10.320 to do this or something, but she's making sure that 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:14.119 that people are not getting horribly abused. I think that 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:16.879 there also needs to be rules agreed upon beforehand, you know, 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:19.760 the guidelines there. I had a teacher in college who 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:21.960 said that her whole thing was thou shalt not get hurt. 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:26.119 So if anybody was was physically hurt, like we had 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:28.080 to stop and and and do the you know, and 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:30.120 and completely make sure. Like I did one thing where 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:32.480 I was like where I was like upside down. I 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:35.320 was trying to to like, uh, I don't know, do 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.119 like a yoga post or something, and um, and I 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:40.320 and I fell back and I fell onto my head 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:42.240 and she stopped everything and was like, oh my god, 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:45.000 let's make sure that everything is is here, like everything 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:48.080 is safe here, and that's great. But I also think 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:52.400 that we need to make sure emotionally that everything is okay. 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:54.879 And I do think that a lot of times actors 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:57.919 will volunteer personal things about themselves because they feel like 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:00.920 that's more, you know, like like that's like the better 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:03.560 thing to do. There's, um, there's a lot of like Okay, 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:05.199 I need to overshare, I need to be myself, I 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:07.720 need to do these things. I have to do this, 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:10.879 And and I think that actors need to know like no, 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:13.399 you don't. Yeah, there has to be like a boundary 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:16.760 of like actually, like if somebody's hitting you during a scene, 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:19.240 like you can stop the scene and say like that's 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:21.240 not okay. Marra has a good point that it's not 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:23.840 just about like physical acts of aggression. I think that 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:26.879 unless there are parameters in place, at least, something that 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:30.920 I've heard of happening, especially recently, is like you if 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:33.440 you don't really know what the boundary is, and if 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:36.040