Episodes

  • Episode 313: Interview with Matthew Corozine

    Episode 313: Interview with Matthew Corozine
    Dec 4 2024

    About Matthew:

    Matthew Corozine is a multi-hyphenated creative artist. Not only an actor, director, producer, and teacher, Matthew is also the founding artistic director and creator of Matthew Corozine Studio (MCS), which just celebrated its 24th anniversary. He is now one of New York City’s leading Meisner-based acting coaches, teaching and creating opportunities for students to “get outta your head” in order to build a meaningful life with art. Already with an established student base in New York City, Washington DC and internationally (via online coaching), MCS has expanded to Miami .

    Over the years, Matthew has coached actors and performers on Broadway, TV, Film, including platinum-selling America’s Got Talent finalist, Jackie Evancho. Matthew directed the original show “Going Through Life With No Direction” at 54 Below (NYC), produced by Alicia Keys.

    Matthew recently acted in THE NORMAL HEART benefit at the legendary LGBT Center 40th Anniversary with Broadway for Arts Education playing the iconic role of “Ned Weeks”. Having just returned from teaching two sold out Master Classes in Frankfurt Germany, Matthew is looking forward to his 25th season teaching in NYC, Miami and internationally.

    Pick up Matthew’s book IF YOU SURVIVED 7TH GRADE, YOU CAN BE AN ACTOR (Applying the Meisner Technique to Get out of Your Head in Acting and in Life), in paperback, ebook or audio narrated by Matthew.
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    36 mins
  • Episode 312: The Hazard of Making Excuses

    Episode 312: The Hazard of Making Excuses
    Nov 27 2024
    Book a Free Consultation with Peter Today I'm going to talk to you about the hazard of making excuses as an actor. And I'm going to start with perhaps something that if you were like me, or you are like how I used to be the idea of it's only me. So it's only me and therefore it doesn't count or, I'm tough, I can handle it. One of the things that making excuses as an actor does is it stalls personal growth. And anything that would affect me in a negative way, I used to be like, “Hey, I'm young. I can take it. Hey, no worries. I can overcome it.” Until I couldn't. And so the first thing I'm going to talk about in terms of the hazards of making excuses as an actor is just that. Stalling personal growth. See, now, as a middle aged woman, I don't want to do anything that stalls me. I don't want to have any energy that is moving against me. I want everything moving for me. Because you know what? I deserve it. And so do you and this making excuses and stalling my personal growth, what it does is it prevents me from taking responsibility and it also limits opportunities for self improvement and for learning from my mistakes. I've talked about how when we make mistakes, those can be our great learning opportunities. The thing is that when I prevent myself from taking responsibility, what happens is that I'm saying I am not part of the problem. And if I am not part of the problem, there is no solution. I also have to say that when I stall my personal growth, I limit opportunities, because what I do is I'm so closed off in my thinking, and when I'm so closed off in my thinking, I don't know what to do. I'm only seeing that little bit. It's like I'm putting blinders on the side of my face. I can't see anything except what is in front of me. And I want to be seeing everything. I want to be looking at my life and moving things to work for me and the creating the potential for a better result. I want all of it. Not just some of it. It's like when I talk about the two power systems, I have the ego power system, and I have the universal power system. When I am in my ego power system, I have only finite energy. Energy that begins and ends with me. When I am in the universe power system, oh my gosh, it's infinite and what I want to do as a finite human is I want to hook up a a pipeline to the universe to that infinite energy. The other thing is that making excuses does is it damages credibility. It doesn't only damage credibility with other people, my credibility with others, but it also damages credibility with me. One of the biggest things that I have learned in the pandemic and post pandemic is learning trust. And that trust within myself is when I say I'm going to do something, actually doing it. Like today I said, I'm going to record two podcasts today. So today I'm going to record two podcasts. Now would it be a big deal if I only recorded one? No. But the person who I most need to be building that trust with, she would know. And that is myself. That getting trust from yourself is in some ways the hardest person to get it from because it's also the easiest per person to skimp it from. So really, wanting to build credibility with me and not making excuses, even to myself, is so important. Because if I don't do it, I erode trust. I erode my own reliability with myself. And I make others and myself doubt my commitment and my own integrity, building my own integrity with me. It is of paramount importance. The other thing that making excuses does, when I talk about, working for you and getting everything to work for you instead of against you, is that making excuses creates a negative mindset. It creates a negative mindset. Again, I want to have an anabolic mindset, which is filled with anabolic energy that works for me, that that is growing, is healing energy. When I am in a negative mindset, I want to I am in catabolic energy, and that is, I just described it to my weekly class I describe that as being like having a really bad virus. It feels like your body or something in you is working so hard against you and just making you feel so weak. Also, when I make excuses and I create a negative mindset, I rely on those excuses to create something that I don't want to create, which is a defeatist attitude. And that making excuses that create, that creates a negative mindset also it reinforces my own limitations and my own limiting beliefs in myself when instead I could be using it as an opportunity to do the thing that I want to make an excuse about to build trust in myself, build the ability to seek solution, and also build the self esteem that comes with it. And I always talk about how building self esteem, building confidence, what does it do? It improves belief in the self and self esteem. The other thing that making excuses does is it enables you to miss opportunities, and those excuses, what they do is that they feed into that dirty P word of ...
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    14 mins
  • Episode 311: Interview with Tim Phillips

    Episode 311: Interview with Tim Phillips
    Nov 20 2024

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    About Tim:

    With more than 60,000 coaching sessions and 40+ years in the business, audition coach and premiere acting teacher Tim Phillips knows what works.

    Audition For Your Career, Not The Job was written after 30 years of teaching and designed as a practical manual for the working actor. What Phillips is after are moment-by-moment, clear, specific, human truths that make you unavoidable on stage and screen, from character.

    Tim Phillips ignited the careers of Emmy award-winning Richard Schiff, Golden Globe nominee Wendy Malick, Nancy Travis, the excellent Robert Wisdom, James DuMont, Bruce Nozick (...) and many others. He's also helped catapult countless actors into more satisfying, long-term, confident careers.

    Today, based out of Atlanta, he brings decades of NYC and LA-based experience to artists of every caliber across the country and now, thanks to Zoom, the globe. He coaches privately over the phone, via Zoom, and through Facetime.

    Phillips' ethic and his teaching is human, individual, specific, and immediately applicable.
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    36 mins
  • Episode 310: Unsupportive Family & Friends

    Episode 310: Unsupportive Family & Friends
    Nov 13 2024
    Try out the weekly class Today I'm going to talk about what I find a sad subject, and it is about unsupportive friends and unsupportive family members. And I'm gonna give you a few points and things to think about. So that you can have the support, at least from me, and I'll talk about getting more support in a moment, that helps you when you're dealing with this. Now, the first thing, and I know because, man, I hated this word when I first learned it, was boundaries. Learning to set boundaries, clearly communicate your goals and values to others, and establish boundaries when necessary. This helps you to protect your energy and stay focused on what matters most to you without having that negativity affect you. Now, I think that's really important, and I'm going to say something about boundaries in a moment, but I also need to teach you this little phrase. Don't go to the hardware store for lemons. If you know that a family member or a particular friend is not supportive of your acting career, here's an idea stop talking to them about it. Stop talking to them about it. You have a choice. Here's another idea. They call, you find them difficult to deal with this particular person. Don't pick up the phone. Let it go to voicemail. And call them back when you feel strong. When you feel strong. There's another great phrase. I just thought of it. I learned this in a 12 step program, which is Don't dial pain. Or don't text pain. If that person, if you know that person, is not going to give you the empathy, the love, the support that you need, go to someone else, and if you don't know who to go to, oh, for goodness sakes, please shoot me an email. Email me The other thing here and it goes right into it, is you want to limit negative interactions. When I go to places where I don't feel that I'm really going to be supportive, I remind myself that all I need to do is be civil and polite. And sometimes if it's like a party, I can ask questions. And just listen to other people. I don't have to be giving everything of myself. It's not required. It's not my duty to entertain people. I can ask them how their lives are doing. And I am going to walk away feeling, one, good that I was there for another person, but two, also that I have protected myself. Limit negative interactions. If there are certain people consistently undermining your efforts, consider reducing the time you spend with them. I always say there's another phrase that is arrive late and leave early, arrive late and leave early. And also, the restroom can be a wonderful place to just reconnect yourself, to gather your thoughts, to gather your resolve. If you're in situations that you can't get out of your family. For example, I, by the way my parents are the most supportive people in the whole world, so I can't imagine not having supportive family members. But I have had unsupportive friends, so I can relate. You want to support yourself with positivity whenever possible to keep your motivation strong. That's one of the things that is so freaking wonderful about that weekly adjustment class. We are All supporting each other. It's such a wonderful class on that line. Seek external support. We cannot do this on our own. It takes a village. We want to find like minded individuals who can uplift and encourage you and whether that is through an online community or getting a mentor or having supportive friends. Those are the people you want to be support surrounding you yourself with as much as possible because their reinforcement can balance out any negativity from other people. I think it does so much more than balance it out. I think it tips the scale. Also, Remember to stay focused on your vision. Remind yourself of why you are pursuing your goals. And remind yourself that you are worth it. And that you were put on this planet for a reason. And it is worth you standing up for. Focus on your vision. on your long term vision. When you do that, it helps you to remain steadfast, even when those around you may not. Support your choices. Don't abandon yourself, and don't abandon your dreams. You are worth it. You are worth it. Finally, respond with compassion. Oof, this is a toughie. Sometimes, unsupportive friends or families, family, may be acting out because of their own fears or their own misunderstandings. Try to respond with empathy, but don't let their worries derail your progress. Focus on your path, knowing that their opinions do not define your self worth. If someone is saying that I'm worried that you're in a risky job, with your goal of being an actor. Tell them that you can handle it. Tell them how much you love and appreciate that they're concern, but that you've got this and that all you ask is that they love you. They don't even have to support you, but just that they love you. Just that they're your friend. And then you can make the mental note of whether they heard that or not, and of ...
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    11 mins
  • Episode 309: Interview with Risa Bramon Garcia

    Episode 309: Interview with Risa Bramon Garcia
    Nov 6 2024

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    About Risa:

    For the past 4 decades Risa has worked consistently as a director, producer, casting director, writer, and teacher, and is a founder of The BGB Studio, a training space and artistic home for actors. She’s had the great fortune to have collaborated with some of the most talented, passionate, and groundbreaking artists in the world. She’s continued to move successfully from one arena to another – from theatre to film to television and back. With two feature films in her directorial body of work – the cult classic, 200 CIGARETTES, and more recently, THE CON ARTIST, made in Canada, Risa’s also directed in television, including multiple episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE for the WB, and several shows for HBO, Lifetime, and Comedy Central.

    Risa has cast some of the most memorable movies of the past 40 years. Risa’s résumé includes decades of classics such as DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN, SOMETHING WILD, THE JOY LUCK CLUB, TRUE ROMANCE, ANGEL HEART, FATAL ATTRACTION, BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, JFK, WALL STREET, TALK RADIO, THE DOORS, SPEED, JACOB’S LADDER, AT CLOSE RANGE, SNEAKERS, HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT, DEAD PRESIDENTS, TWISTER, BENNY AND JOON, and FLIRTING WITH DISASTER.

    She’s cast numerous television shows and pilots, including ROSEANNE, CSI: NY, all four seasons of the Showtime series MASTERS OF SEX, THE AFFAIR, and SEAL TEAM.

    Risa served as a Producer on Oliver Stone’s films HEAVEN AND EARTH and NATURAL BORN KILLERS, movies she also cast.

    Risa’s directed dozens of plays in New York (The Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Second Stage, Manhattan Theatre Club) and in Los Angeles. She calls The Ensemble Studio Theatre her original artistic home, where she’s been a member in NY for decades, producing and directing several years of the flagship festival MARATHON OF ONE-ACT PLAYS. And she founded EST-LA, a thriving Los Angeles theatre company.

    Read her full bio HERE.
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    34 mins
  • Episode 308: Don't Quit 5 Minutes Before the Miracle

    Episode 308: Don't Quit 5 Minutes Before the Miracle
    Oct 30 2024
    Get a Free Month of The Weekly Adjustment A subject that has come up with private clients of mine and in my weekly group class has been the subject of discussion of quitting. And the phrase that I have been coaching on, is don't quit five minutes before the miracle. Don't quit five minutes before the miracle. And I get it. Especially for those of us in the U. S. who have been struggling with the industry this year. Let's just be blunt. It's a bitch, okay? It's just been awful. I have a friend of mine who's a producer and he says the word he keeps using is brutal. It's been a brutal year. But here's the thing. We're not gonna quit. There is no plan B. So let's talk about the things that we need to do to motivate ourselves to not quit five minutes before the miracle. So I'm going to have five points that I want to make and I'll coach a little bit around each one. So the first one is, and this is really true for someone who has been in this business for 36 years. Progress happens over time. And often it's that level of you work, you grind, and then you get to the next level. And then you work, you grind and you get to the next level. Now, something I've noticed with me is right when I'm about to get to that next level, whatever level that may be, that is when all my limiting beliefs come up. My self-doubt comes up, all like my demons as it work come up. But here's the thing, through coaching the principles and through this core work, I can go, oh, it's you again. Look at that. Oh, there you go. You may feel like you want to give up. But if you could just persevere for just a little bit longer. What you may discover is that you may discover you're having a breakthrough moment. And then you get to that next level. But understand that, it's darkest before the dawn. It's the same thing with not quitting five minutes before the miracle. It's when, it's those moments when you are just about I cannot do it another second. Those are the moments. When you need to keep going, those are the moments when you need to keep going. I know something is about to happen when I start getting really squirrely, or my thinking starts to get really stinky, that means I'm on the verge of something. It's so funny that we actually think it's negative. But what if it was positive. Again, I go back to one of my favorite quotes, “change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” So remember that progress happens over time. And again, you work, you grind, you get to the next level. And right as you're about to get to that next level, don't forget to keep on going. Don't forget to keep on going. Even though every cell in your body may be going, What the fuck? I wanna quit. Keep going. Keep going. No matter what. Okay, next one. Patience. Patience pays off. I just have to say, Peter Pamela says, patience pays off. Success requires consistent effort. One of the things I talk about with my clients is consistence and persistence and tenacity. Quitting too soon could mean abandoning all the work that you've already invested. And I'm sorry, no, no effing way, okay? No fucking way am I quitting after I've put in this much work. And that next step might be the one that creates the shift you need. Again, don't quit five minutes before the miracle. Continue to wake up, suit up, show up, and report for duty. And report for duty to what you are meant to do on this earth, whatever your dream may be. The next one is that keep in mind that challenges build resist resilience. Challenges build resilience. When things get tough, it's easy to want to quit. It's what I was talking about in that first point. All that stuff comes up right as something is about to break. However, pushing through strengthens your ability to handle future obstacles, making you more resilient and prepared for greater opportunities. See, one of the things I talk about is that fear of success. And when the thing about the fear of success is that at some point, what happens is that we have that fear of success because we realize that fear of success will mean that we will have more responsibility and more And that freaks us out just a little bit. And what happens, our negative thoughts come up, because it tries to protect us. It tries to keep us the same. It tries to keep us stagnant. Not because it doesn't like us, but because it wants us to stay the same. Remember, handling obstacles makes you more resilient and prepares you for greater opportunities. Number four, success is not linear. OMG, can I tell you about that one? I find that this business is cyclical. You'll go through the biggest drought and then you'll be so damn busy you won't know what to do with yourself. This business is cyclical. So is life. Progress can feel slow. And sometimes freaking invisible, or as I like to say, go is at a glacial pace and staying the course, even when you can't see the immediate results ensures that ...
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    13 mins
  • Episode 307: Making a Pivot In Your Acting Career

    Episode 307: Making a Pivot In Your Acting Career
    Oct 23 2024
    Book a Free Consultation with Peter So today's podcast is going to be about making a pivot in your acting career. The first thing you want to do when you are making a pivot is you want to clarify your new career goal. I understand that the goal may be to be a working actor, but what exactly does that mean to you? And when you've made a goal, asking yourself that follow up question, that empowering question, what does that mean to you? What does that look like? How will it feel when you achieve it? You want to take time to identify exactly where you want to pivot, and I think those questions can really, truly help you. Now, whether that is in a new area of the industry, or maybe with a new renewed energy towards a different area or a renewed energy towards an old goal? That is fine. The big thing I want you to think about is being specific. Really setting a clear goal for yourself of what you are looking to do. Now one of the things that I always talk about with my clients is, and if you can put this on a piece of paper, make three columns. In column one, I want you to put goal. In column two, I want you to put thought and in column three, I want you to put action. So whatever in life your goal is, you need to keep in mind that your thoughts must be aligned with that goal, your thoughts, and that means what you think and what you say, your vocabulary. I've been talking a lot in my weekly coaching group about vocabulary lately. So what your vocabulary is around that goal and also what your actions are around that goal, making sure that those actions are alignable actions. The other thing you want to do is really look at, and I'm all about the training. You really want to make sure that your training as an actor is where it needs to be. Now, that again, click on the link in the show notes, that again, I am willing to help you with. Send me your picture, send me your resume, tell me what kind of class or what kind of skill you are really looking for. Looking to work on with your new pivot with that. Let me help you. I'm offering this to you for free. So let me help you because this business is so tough. It is so important that you stay on top of your skills that you stay on top of them. Don't ever underestimate how good you need to be as a casting director, I need you to be good at your job. Now that may involve you taking new classes or gaining experience in some other way. But this is the thing we want you to be competitive. And therefore we need your skills to be at the level that other working actors are at. The next thing I want you to think about is leveraging your existing network. In my signature course, The Working Actor Road Map, and in my weekly class, which is the Weekly Accountability Group, I talk all the time about a follow up list and staying on top of your follow up list. Because you really want to be reaching out to those connections. Now the thing is, you may not even realize that you have valuable connections. Again, I can guide you with this, networking and making relationships with casting directors, with writers, directors, film festivals at film festivals, these are all things that you can do. Again, this business is a lot about letting go of the things you cannot change or control. And really embracing and handling and managing and changing the things you can. So I want to help you to get really clear. And in this step, I want you to look at what are the things in this business that are out of my control and what are the things that I want to change that are in my control. And I want you to put that here when you're talking about your networking. How can I network more? How can I get myself out there more? Again, if you need help, click on the link in the show notes and we will talk about it. The other thing is as I want you to look at, and this is again where I get very woogie about putting this in a podcast just for general consumption, because I have a theory about your materials. You want to be going over your materials. That's the next step here. But this is the thing. The biggest mistake that I feel actors make is that their materials don't speak the language of the agents and the casting directors. And I want to put it to you this way. If let's say you have a day job. Okay, I want you to think of certain jargon that is spoken in your day job, or maybe your hometown, or maybe at your college, or your acting school. A jargon. And I want you to think of three words, like three big words, that if somebody brand new came into your university or your day job and they didn't speak those three words, what would you know about them? One, that they're new. Two, that they're not really in the know. And three, if you're gonna be in charge of them, you're gonna have to explain it all to them. That's how it is for casting directors and agents and managers. We want to be working with people who are, who already know the jargon, who are ...
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    13 mins
  • Episode 306: Reframing Disappointment as an Actor

    Episode 306: Reframing Disappointment as an Actor
    Oct 16 2024
    Book a Free Consultation with Peter Today I'm going to talk about reframing disappointment. One of my favorite quotes. It's from Dr. Wayne Dyer, he says “Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.” And in reframing disappointment, we need to look at it in a different way. So I'm going to give you a few tips. I'm going to give you some Action steps to do when you face disappointment and hopefully that will help you to move through it because again, another one of my favorite quotes, again, a top five is Robert Frost, which is the “best way out is always through.” So this podcast is about moving you through disappointment. Number one, acknowledge the disappointment. And this is so important. One of my phrases that I teach is awareness, acceptance, and action. Obviously, you are aware of the disappointment, but you really need to accept it. And acknowledge it so that you can then move on through the rest of this podcast to take action to reframe it and also learn from it and move on from it. So it's important to first allow yourself to feel disappointment, rather than suppressing it. Another one of my little phrases is, feelings aren't facts. And also, feelings aren't going to kill you. And also, this is survivable. Whatever happened that's disappointing you, it is survivable. But it is important to feel your feelings. One of my favorite ways to feel my feelings, especially when they're a bit confused or jumbled, is to make a cup of tea and to start writing it out. And I just literally do stream of consciousness. And it can be even, I don't know what the hell to write, I don't know what to do this is what happened and then I describe the whole thing and as I'm describing it, the feelings come out and hopefully some tears come out or some anger or I do a run or something like that. But it helps me to feel those feelings because suppressing it is not going to help. Recognizing your emotions helps you to process them in a healthy way. Everything I just talked about is processing your emotions in a healthy way, which is the first step towards reframing the situation and moving forward. So our first step is to acknowledge the disappointment. Again, awareness, acceptance, action, journal, those feelings out. Exercise those feelings out, but feel those feelings so they don't get suppressed. The second one, a personal favorite of mine, although it's not very pleasant while you're going through it, is to identify the lessons learned. I have said so many times that my biggest mistakes have been my greatest teachers. Every setback is a learning opportunity and has a learning opportunity, take the time to analyze what went wrong and what you can gain from the experience. You could've done that audition, did it to the absolute best of your ability, and still not have gotten the part. And you're like, you know what? I left it all on the floor. I did everything I could, and yet I still didn't get the role. Maybe what you learned is, that's the level you need to be performing at because you know you can perform at that rate. One of the things I think is so painful is living with the knowledge that you could be doing so much better, that you could be doing so much better. Trust me, that feeling is so much worse than walking through your fears to reach your full potential. That's so much more painful than being brave and best way out is always through walking through your biggest fears, because once you've conquered those biggest fears, then there is absolutely no limit to what you can achieve. So that is why it is so important to take the time to analyze what happened and what you can gain from the experience, understand how you can grow from this disappointment or this setback really helps you to shift your focus from this being a failure, to actually an incredible growth experience. And I know that's distasteful and makes you have just a little bit of bile in your mouth. But it's the truth. It's the truth. Your biggest mistakes are your best teachers. But take the time to learn the lesson. So you don't have to go through it again. Focus on what you can control. Now big thing I talk about is the serenity prayer. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. I cannot change other people, places, things, or situations. Courage to change the things I can. I can only change myself, my attitudes, my thoughts, and my actions, and wisdom to know the difference between what I cannot change and control, which is other people, places, things, and situations, and what I can manage and handle, which is myself, my attitudes, my thoughts, and my actions. Disappointment often stems from outcomes outside of your control. That first part that grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Other people, places, things, or situations I can't change or control them. What I want to do is to refocus my energy on what is within my ...
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    17 mins