Acting

I think you are looking at this backwards Alexandra. "Leap, and the net will appear."

Suzanne Bronson i likes this re-frame and admire the leap you have taken

Juliana Philippi that's great. What would you says is the 'why' for your acting?

Stephen Folker that certainly seems to work for you!

Alexandra Stevens My why, in acting, is to feel what others can't... It's...expression. Feeling, embodying a person who's story is being told, is my why. A service : )

Even though I don’t have any holidays, I am still working on a thriller movie script whenever I get some free time. For now, I am not thinking about investors. I have full confidence that whoever reads this story will definitely like it.

Brandon Keeton, this is such a grounded and motivating perspective, and the Marine Corps wisdom is spot-on. There’s something powerful about using the quiet seasons to move with intention, even if the industry itself is catching its breath. I love your reminder that this season can be both restful and productive. There’s real value in taking a breath, but also real momentum to be found in working while everything is quiet. Your projects sound fantastic, and I hope your meeting with the investor goes incredibly well.

Ray Watters THAT'S AWESOME!

It's a good time to watch some webinars, and work on monologues or scenes. To apply that Marine Corps wisdom Brandon Keeton

Brandon Keeton I agree with you. I will be working on developing some digital products which will hopefully provide the income so that I can devote more time to acting next year.

Hi hun, I didn't know how to answer this one at first, and I am bumping it for you. I have not been in the position where I feel I need to reinvent or overhaul aspects of my identity as actor. I suppose that is the upside to moving to another state, no one knew me here. So I could just be me and put the LA baggage behind me.

Thanks for answering Suzanne Bronson Yeah i'm not reinventing my craft or creative identity either but i am reinventing my 'brand' with regard to therapist-coach for actors and others. For me it's about daring to be more visible and show more of myself.

Hopefully I will be going to Colorado to see my family. I just need to buy those plane tickets.

Mostly I will write my script, give a motivation, celebrate my birthday and write my character’s struggles.

Brittany Christine I'm looking forward to fly to the south of France to spend Christmas with family

I am going to be a stow away Alexandra Stevens

Suzanne Bronson that would be cool :) See you there!

Congratulations on making the bold move, Suzanne Bronson! I used to be a lurker on Stage 32. After RB gave the community a challenge to be more active, I started being a lot more active. I've had a lot of success on here since. Meeting people, learning about different areas of the industry, getting script requests, paid jobs, and more.

That's great Maurice Vaughan see my comment to RB's blog. Similar to what you just said.

Suzanne Bronson I know the money is on its way to you! For me, it is deciding to get back to acting classes in January to continue my training at a time when time-wise it is really not practical due to my two young kids. However I realise that I need to honour it no matter what if I want something to come of it and also because it has brought me joy so i need to honour the joy too.

Hi, Suzanne Bronson. I've always done what I loved on the side while completing a 42-year career as a clinical social worker. I wrote for myself, poetry for self-therapy, short stories here and there, and I had a monthly feature article in a regional magazine for a few years. I finished my first novel by accident, kind of, when I stumbled onto writing from first person which seems to work for me. I started screenwriting last year and retired from social work in 2023. Now, I do what I love as often as I can which us usually several hours a day on most days. I, too, am still waiting on the money but I declared writing as my retirement career and I plan to do it as long as my fingers will move. Maybe with voice recognition after that. A former coworker came to one of my book signings and told me that I look younger than I did when I was working. I attribute that to two things, less stress, and doing what I love. I think a more accurate statement might be, do what you love and the happiness will follow. If money comes, that's wonderful. If it doesn't we are fulfilling our passion, and perhaps our destiny. Blessings!

Bumping this up

Hi, Brittany Christine. One of my favorite Christmas movies is Home Alone.

Maurice Vaughan YES it never gets old! Solid pick! A fun time watching, every time :)

Did you see this, Brittany Christine: https://variety.com/2025/film/news/macaulay-culkin-home-alone-sequel-kev...

Die Hard!

Home Alone and Die Hard are movies that happen to take place at Christmas, I am on the "not-a-Christmas-movie" side. For me, my favorite Christmas movies are: A CHRISTMAS STORY, and THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

I'm gonna do another rewrite on my feature script, Suzanne Bronson. What's a step you’re taking?

Suzanne Bronson thanks for the invitation. Hmmmm......a good question. I immediately think, eughhh....my life is so full at the moment, how can I possibly find the space or time for a small step ? Well, as you know, i think the step will be finding some scenes to work on with you. 'Especially since my training starts up again next year.

And going off of that, Maurice Vaughan I WILL find a monologue or two. I have a book that was recommended in the Audition Intensive Lab I took and I have nothing but time. Alexandra Stevens

Great, Suzanne Bronson. I like the "WILL"! What's your favorite type of monologue?

A prepared actor Maurice Vaughan to has both a dramatic and a comedic at the ready, and a classical. Depends on the show you're auditioning for.

Suzanne Bronson personally speaking, I think we need to stop using ‘rejection’ as it’s such an emotive and personalised term. It’s just a ‘no’.

We need to take the emotional baggage out of the process, whether that’s auditioning, pitching or working on the finance side of productions.

I have just had a ‘no’ from a financier and it isn’t that there’s anything wrong with the project. They had actually contacted me about investing in the film and during the ‘dating’ process, their economic situation suffered a downturn in their business. This is not rejection, it’s just a no.

The no in auditioning was that the director didn’t think we were right for the part. In pitching, well, it could simply be that we had chosen the wrong producer to look at the project. With finance, as cited above, it had nothing to do with the film and everything to do with their economic position. As devastating as that was, we move on, brush the ‘nos’ off our feet and walk a few more miles to the next investor.

Thank you for your thoughts Geoff Hall I totally understand what you're saying. For me, it's easier to see that for film and TV why I wasn't cast. I know it has nothing to do with me. But it's harder for me to take a no in theater. Especially community/college theater. I have not been cast, seen the play, and been like, "what the hell?"

Turns out, I have learned, there are a lot of politics when it comes to community theater. A person may be the better actor, but the company is most likely going to cast someone they have worked with before or they are friends with regardless of talent.

Suzanne Bronson understood. Community theatre can be a viper’s nest of political intrigue.

My rub with ‘rejection’ is that we tend not to weigh up all the factors of a decision and take it purely personally. For me that is bad emotional intelligence and tends to undermine our confidence and self esteem. We become unsure of our talents and such negativity loves to hang around for the next audition or pitch.

Suzanne Bronson at the risk of sounding superficial, recently I am experimenting with telling myself repeatedly like a mantra 'this or something better' when I experience rejection. I know it is easier said than done but it helps to uplift me a little.

That's a good way to look at it Alexandra Stevens not attaching to the end results.. Something Mike Dooley would say. "This or better"

Amanda Toney "Whooooahhh" was my first reaction, but then, of course, this is how it works. People will have so many incredibly differing opinions of performances, but at the end of the day, my reaction to this: ok, that's yours to have, but will it keep me from acting? Nope. It will probably fuel me to go on. If he's having such a strong reaction, I mean, there's something there. A truly "weak", "non entity" performance, usually elicits…nothing. But, to each their own, and people also speak from where they are, having a bad day, or something happened int heir life, or they had a falling out with the person they are trashing. It says a lot more about this director, than it does about the actor. But, all with objectivity, and distance, thanks, and a pinch of salt.

Shots fired!

Oh man. This ties in with another discussion about Rejection. Amanda Toney the best actor isn't always cast. In this case, it seems to be one of convenience and necessity. Recasting would be timely, easier to double cast. Makes sense.

I wonder how Dano feels though, hearing that. Mark Tarantino off as a director he's not going to work for. "the weakest actor in SAG AFTRA" that's harsh. I would be devastated as an actor to have someone say I gave a non entity performance. I am sure DDL is hard to keep up with and may be Dano did feel out of his league. I am sure he came a way a better actor because of it.

Amanda Toney ooh his words are harsh! Personally I would feel completely humiliated but I guess as an actor in the public eye you have to grow a bit of a thick skin. And Tarantino is entitled to his opinion

That was fun to watch, Pat Alexander. I'm always amazed at what actors do to prepare for roles.

Pat Alexander wow, how exhilarating to watch! And Brad Pitt still looking good\1

Alexandra Stevens, this is such an exciting topic and honestly, the rise of micro-budget filmmaking feels like one of the most hopeful shifts in the industry right now. When resources expand at the smaller scale, opportunities expand with them, especially for actors who are hungry to build credits, stretch creatively, and collaborate with emerging filmmakers who are telling bold, personal stories. And your timing couldn’t be better — we actually have a brand-new webinar kicking off next week on How to Write Vertical Micro Drama Scripts (https://www.stage32.com/education/products/how-to-write-vertical-micro-d...). It’s a great entry point for anyone curious about creating short, impactful stories that can be produced quickly and affordably.

Tony Fisher have you had experience of i.e seen any where the writing wasn't good?

Ashley Renee Smith ooh how exciting!!!! I am very tempted. I think there are so many possibilities for vertical dramas. I'm just so overladen with the projects I have got going that I just don't have the capacity for more. However I believe if I buy i can come back to it later when i have more time.

Alexandra Stevens, absolutely! It will save the webinar in your education library, and you can jump into it whenever it's convenient for you.

Alexandra Stevens Hi Alexandra. Yes I had a bad experience with bad writing a few years ago, that was a micro budget project as well. From what I recall it was styled as a political comedy but reading through it there didn't seem to be anything comical about it.