Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Hey, everybody. Shelly Hoffman here with one of my absolute favorite people in this world and best friends, Laura Stisr. Hi, Laura.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: Hi. How are you?
[00:00:13] Speaker A: I'm doing well. So even though I've done a ton of these podcasts, this is the first time Laura's actually doing one of the podcasts with me. Thank you.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: Thank you for asking.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: You're welcome. She did ask me if it was live and I thought, do you ever watch my podcast, Laura?
[00:00:26] Speaker B: It's been a while.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: So as most people know, this podcast past about kind of changing and evolving and adapting. And one of the things I always tell my kids is when I was little, I always thought there was check boxes. You graduated high school? Check. You go to college. Check. You get married. Check. Have kids. Check. And I was just checking the boxes. Right. And wow, once I quit checking those boxes, life got a lot more fun. Right?
[00:00:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Yes.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: Yes.
So, Laura, I have been friends for about 15 years. We just figured it out and probably about 10 years ago is when we both kind of had a sit down conversation saying, hey, let's pivot our lives. It was just I started going through the divorce, which, you know, and I'm not really sure what was going on in your mind, so that's kind of the reasons I wanted to bring you in. But you took a turn towards acting, right?
[00:01:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: So your background, if I remember correctly, before we met, you worked for like in a sales position. Would that be accurate?
[00:01:26] Speaker B: More hr, like recruiting? Yep, yep.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: And, and I know you were a, you worked at Price Chopper, right?
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Yeah, my early days. Yeah. I was a loss prevention manager. So that there is lots of stories there that there's not enough time for those.
And there's no wine here. So.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a different.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: We'll do that when we're in our 70s, maybe. Yeah, but. But anyway, so. So your background really wasn't towards acting. So what made you just one day, you know, you were talking to Katrina and I said, this is something I think I want to do.
[00:02:00] Speaker B: I've always loved. I've always loved movies. I've always loved award shows my whole entire life. But I never had like any raw talent. Like, I wasn't a great singer, I didn't take dancing lessons, nothing like that. I painted sometimes.
But then I turned 50 and I had a bucket list. And one of my bucket list was to audition for something. And my good friend Rachel Grange, who used to live here, she did some things at the Red House. She's like, listen, we're having auditions and you need to do this because you said you want to do it now you got to do it. And yes, if I say I'm going to do something, I will do it. It's a fault of mine, unfortunately, and my friends can't forget.
So I actually had my son Ben, who was 14 at the time, do this audition with me because he always had, he always had talent. He always made me laugh. And I asked him to do it with me for.
So I had support, but I also wanted him to do it so he could actually do it because I thought he did have talent. So we went to Bread House and we auditioned in front of 15 people. Like, we walked in our first audition, we didn't have any music. We had to do a 60 second song and a monologue and it was the most horrific, scary thing ever for both of us.
But then we walked out and I said to Ben, how do you feel? And he's just like, mom, I feel like I can do anything. And it was like the best drug in the whole world. I mean, not that I've done a lot, but the ones I did, it was like the best. Just the adrenaline rush, everything. And then we both got callbacks and, and then it just went from there. We. We kind of did some plays together and then I kind of went on my own and took some acting lessons with Tanner Eppinger, who is a staple here in Syracuse. And yeah, I just, I just took off and I had some very, very cool young people that knew the business take me under their wing and tell me the Jews and the don'ts, and there's lots of do's and don'ts.
They pretty much protected me just so I, I didn't crash and burn right away.
And I always said, I'm going to pay it forward. And I have any time anybody asked me for anything, favors how to do this. How do you, you know, how do you submit this, whatever it is, I have no problem doing it.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: I, as you know, I do teaching for real estate and there's two instructors that I met very early into it, and, and they both say, you pay it forward, right? And what goes around comes around. And, and you help people. What would you say? I know you did the audition and you got the callback, but what would you say the first time you thought, oh my goodness, I'm actually going to make it.
I'm gonna keep moving forward, I'm not gonna stop. Like, what was the momentum like that kept you kind of moving towards it?
[00:04:48] Speaker B: I've Never been happier doing anything. Like, yeah, I mean, I'll try anything. Like, I'll, you know, sports or this and that. I don't. I won't ski ever again, but anything else. And I have never been more satisfied than acting. And I can be whatever I want, whoever I want. And when I put a smile on people's faces or I bring a tear to their eyes, it's like the biggest compliment in the whole world.
So that's what keeps me going.
[00:05:18] Speaker A: What's your favorite? Because I know I've seen you in plays, I've seen you now in movies. You did a voiceover, if I remember correctly.
Is it a mix of everything? Is there something you love more? If you had to spend your time doing it, what would it be?
[00:05:32] Speaker B: I.
I love theater. I have utmost respect for theater actors. I think it's a really hard thing to do.
I love it because it's immediate gratification. You know, you're on stage and you have an audience in front of you, and again, the adrenaline is amazing. And you form a family because you're rehearsing for weeks and weeks. And then the worst thing that got to play is that when it's over, you go into the state of depression because it's over. So, like, what do I do now? And that part kind of sucks. But I can't do as much theater as I want because I love doing films.
And films are kind of quick and dirty. You know your lines, you get on set, you film them. But I can't. I have a manager, so I can't say, hey, I'm going to take a month and a half off to do a play that she's not going to make any commission on. And I can't do any films.
So it's. It's hard, you know, unless it's a Broadway thing, which I highly doubt that's ever gonna happen. You never know. You never know. I can throw it out there, but. But, yeah, the films are. They're. They're.
I. I have to say, quick and dirty. Like, it's. You know, you could do multiple films before you can do one play.
And I, And I, like. I'm a very. A type, as you know, so I'm. I'm good with that. I'm really good with that.
[00:06:48] Speaker A: The.
Which, you know, again, I'm learning that business a little bit just through our conversations, whether it's a bunko or a night out with D golfing, whatever we're doing. But I guess I didn't realize that with the play you do. You connect with every single person. But a lot of times you'll tell me, we'll go to watch one of your movies, and you never really met somebody that's on set because they, they were filming on a different day.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Yeah. Different scene. Yep. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: That's. I always thought that was kind of interesting, that it looks like the same as a play. Like everybody's kind of in loops together, but. Yeah, not really that way.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: The difference is like, you know, it's a two hour play as opposed to when we film a feature film, it could take a. A month. You know, it could take. Depending on if it's just weekends or if, if it's during the week, it could take, you know, five days. Usually if it's during the week, they'll take the weekends off. So it depends on the production, if it's a sad production or if it's an indie production, the budget, all that. So.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: So let's go again. I've watched you for the last 10 years, so I know where you started, I know where you are now, and I know where you kind of want to be. Right.
She did, she did threaten to knock me off her thank you list one time when I said something smart.
So I'm tiptoeing around this interview just a little bit, but I would like to hear my name get thanked at least once in a speech. But, but going back to the beginning, I mean, there was a lot of rehearsals. Like Katrina, one of our friends, she read lines with you, right? Like, it's not just. It didn't just happen. So can you go back like eight, ten years ago when. I mean, it was, it was a lot.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: It was a lot because I didn't know what the hell I was doing really, you know, so it was, it was more of taking a lot of zoom classes and reading books and again, just talking to people and.
Yeah, one of the biggest, the biggest struggles is to get a good reader because it's great when you get a, when you get an audition, but unless you have somebody to play against, it's impossible. And, you know, you could do your own lines and your own voiceover and go back and forth, but they always know it. You can disguise your voice. They always know it and just sounds really awkward.
So Katrina would read for me.
[00:08:48] Speaker A: You would.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: You read for me quite a few times. My kids were tortured, tortured for reading for me because they're both still in. They were both in high school, so they. Yeah, and Ben was. Ben was more natural at it because again, he's More of an actor. Shelby would do it because she loves me, but she didn't love it, but. Yeah. And then Mike would try and, you know, he would. He would help me read, but it was just.
It was just he was better doing what he was doing, and I was better than I was doing. And that's. That's the cool thing about it, is that, you know, he's tech and I'm more the art side of it, which is probably why we're getting along so well. I've been married for so long.
[00:09:29] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, another struggle you had, though, was even finding the space, like, to record.
[00:09:34] Speaker B: Right.
[00:09:34] Speaker A: Because you were judged from. From hitting the record button until you end it.
[00:09:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: So if the dogs bark or someone opens the door or, you know, it's like all these little things that you don't really think about that make that audition that tape.
[00:09:47] Speaker B: Well, ye. And, you know, up to 2020, the auditions weren't. I did. I did a couple self tapes in 2018, 2019, but it didn't start to be only self tape until after Covid.
But it really did broaden my horizons too.
And I think I told you the stat before. It's before COVID you know, if you got. If you got a job, you did 25 auditions and you got a part that was good for an actor, which sounds terrible, but that's good now because of self taping, it's 40 to 1.
[00:10:16] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: So it's. It's definitely open doors for me, for sure, 100%.
But it's opened a lot of doors for a lot of other people, too, so. But I. I mean, that's the only blessing about COVID is that it really helped my career.
[00:10:29] Speaker A: You know, when you said that the people that helped you kind of took you in. So a lot of productions that you were doing when you first started, they were student films. Yeah, correct.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:10:40] Speaker A: So with the students, was it people that you met on the student films or.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: Not so much. The students, I think, was just really people that were local.
Like I said, Tanner and Claire Lopez. Claire lives in Florida now, and she has her own. Her own business down there, and she's a wonderful actor.
Those are the two. When I say young people that really, like I said to my other wing, and then rest of it was just zoom training. Like, I have a business coach. Her name is Valerie Hubbard. She's amazing.
And I've had multiple coaches over the years, and I finally found my person. Her name is Cam Monet.
So it's really that. It's really that and then again, my support system here was my friend group and my family. And without that, there's no way I would have continued. No way.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: So two questions came to mind. The first one is networking. So again, I'm in real estate. Any business, it's all about networking, making connections. It sounds like acting is pretty much the, the same. Like you have to put yourself out there, right?
[00:11:46] Speaker B: Yes, you do. You don't have a choice.
Yes, you have to.
You're your entrepreneur, your own, you know, manager, no matter if that's working for you. So.
And yes, I have a manager, but I will say this honestly, 95% of the jobs I've gotten in the last 10 years, I've gotten on my own. And that's just the stat. That's just a true stat. You know, it's nice to have a manager, but you really have to work for yourself and you have to know the business and you cannot be afraid to reach out to people. So one of the things my business coach had said is to start doing pitch videos and send them to not just casting directors, but producers, writers, directors.
[00:12:25] Speaker A: What's a pitch video?
[00:12:26] Speaker B: A pitch video is something that you do live and it's like your 60 second elevator speech.
So what your brand is and what you've done. Where you can see me, let's connect. You know, would love to have a meeting with you, basically.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: So I'm assuming you have something that's not Facebook in the acting world, right, where people can see, I think, I think they're called reels or. What did you say you were putting together? You were so you were really excited the first time that you had enough content.
[00:12:51] Speaker B: Oh, demo reel.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So where do you post those?
[00:12:55] Speaker B: I post. That's on my website. I posted it on my Instagram page. It's. It's on my Laura's district acting page for Facebook, on YouTube, things of that nature. And that, that demo reel has changed dramatically over the years.
Like, I would have enough to, to make four demo reels now, but it's just, you know, after a while, you cut out. There's certain things you don't put on your demo reel anymore because you don't need to, because you've grown, you know.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: So when I, when people ask me, you know, what roles have you played and you've played a lot of them, I have to, I have to tell you, I share a zombie in one of the first plays that you ever did as an extra. And then the film that, that actually brought tears to my eyes was the Most recent one we saw the premiere in, and I apologize, I can't remember the name of it.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: 844.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Yes, but you were a zombie in that one. But you were a mom zombie. And I won't give away the ending, but. But I didn't cry the first time you were a zombie. But the second time you were a zombie.
There were tears.
[00:13:57] Speaker B: But, yeah, yeah, I. I was definitely.
I definitely get the Monroe a lot. And for a while there, I was super psyched because I was working. I didn't care what I did, you know, I didn't care if I, you know, had cow dung on my shovel. And I was just like, hi. You know, I mean, it didn't really matter.
But then you do get pigeonholed sometimes. So then it was. It was nice when I started getting different. Different roles, you know, the therapist, the lawyer, whatever.
But, yeah, I'm still. I'm still down with doing the mom, because I am a mom. It comes naturally.
But I've done the psycho mom, I've done the ecoholic mom, I've done the drug act mom. I've done the PTA mom, I've done the helicopter mom.
[00:14:37] Speaker A: So, wait, are we talking about your roles or your life? Yes.
Just making sure.
And headshots come in, you know, because again, you've had headshots, obviously, Katrina does. Grady does amazing photos. She does your headshots. She does a lot of my photography and stuff. But even, like, you've gone to New York City because sometimes the roles you're looking for, you almost need a certain angle or something, you know, that. That's piece of it. That's your marketing.
[00:15:03] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Katrina does an amazing job. In fact, my main headshots right now are done by her and I love them. And nobody said anything about changing them for a while. And I mean, at this age, too, it's nice because I'm not going to change much, you know, so. But yeah, I did go to New York because there are specific headshot photographers that they know that there's a tone, so there's a certain light behind you or a certain look in your face, or you can say they'll say something to you which will get that look in your eye. So, yeah, it's definitely an art form for. For that.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: But, yeah, Katrina did an amazing job the last time we got together.
[00:15:39] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, even you had mentioned Ben. I know Ben maybe dabbled with possibly being model or something like that. And he had had some gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: Yes. That was a. That was a gentleman out of Albany. He did my headshots before Dan Doyle.
He. He did fantastic job as well.
[00:15:54] Speaker A: So the reason I'm asking, is that even a connection, like, you know what I mean? Or is it just too broad?
[00:15:59] Speaker B: You mean for networking? Yeah, not really. Not for the photographer end of it, because they're in their own. Their own business and their own networking. I mean, I will always, like, throw names out of. For people that need somebody because I think, you know, again, pay it forward.
As far as networking goes for me, I would go to film festivals and I would absolutely research the directors that are there and then sometimes even Google their faces. So if I see them in the crowd or at the cocktail parties, at least I can approach them and say, hey, I saw that you did X, Y and Z. I'm really looking forward to your movie today. Or I saw it and I loved your movie, so.
And it's genuine, you know, I'm not going to walk up to somebody if I don't really believe in their product because I don't want to be associated with something I don't like, you know, so it's important that you. You back. You feel like, very confident about who you work with, and that's one thing you always do as an actor. For myself, I research the director, I research the production company because I want to give them 110%, so I want, you know, to see what they got.
[00:17:07] Speaker A: So. And I'm going to say this for you, because you won't say it, but the amount of time, effort, and energy that you put into it, especially in the beginning and then moving forward, I mean, there's so many times you say, hey, there's a concert to go to, or there's this great restaurant. We want to try. And you're like, oh, I'm sorry, I'm headed to New York. Or I want to try, you know, I'm going to go audition, or I have to practice my lines. And a lot of times you squeeze in, you see, let me figure this out. Or we, you know, push things back or whatever to make it. To make it work. But I think sometimes people forget it doesn't come natural. Like it's something you have to work at, stay on top of, and that comes with a price. So I told you I was going to ask you, right? Like, I joke that I can't remember Allison's third grade teacher because I was so busy on my business when she was in third grade that I blossed that in entire year of my. My kids. Right?
[00:17:51] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: So what what were some of the things that you had to give up in order to make this work?
[00:17:58] Speaker B: I, as far as people in my life, my friends are my friends. They, they, they've backed me up 100% and the ones that didn't aren't in my life anymore.
And then as far as what was the second part?
[00:18:13] Speaker A: Just time. Like things that you don't have enough time for anymore.
[00:18:17] Speaker B: Oh well, I did the one thing I have not done in two years actually in September. It's been two years since I painted and amazing painter.
[00:18:26] Speaker A: Oh I have, I have two of your.
[00:18:29] Speaker B: Yes you do.
I, I was painting for years. I painted 10 years before I even had an audition and I did it the last eight years and then after a while I am going to my friend's studio, Sandy.
She's an amazing studio and an artist, Liverpool Art center.
[00:18:49] Speaker A: Just so you know.
[00:18:51] Speaker B: And I was kind of dreading in my head what am I going to paint? What am I going to paint? Because I had this audition on my, on my brain or I knew I had something coming up that I had to act in and it was just kind of my creative part here, the brain to process was just being too challenged and I wasn't enjoying the painting anymore.
And I, and I told her that and she completely understood and I miss her deeply and I miss all the friends I had in art class.
But you have to come to terms when you know and too much is, is too much and I don't, I don't regret it.
I do want to paint again someday and maybe one day I'll just take my paints out, who knows. But for right now I'm really focused 100 on the acting.
[00:19:34] Speaker A: That is true if you have.
And I'm guilty of this all the time. Like I have a lot of balls up in the air and then all of a sudden they're all falling around me and I have to pick which, you know, which one am I going to catch and focus it on again.
[00:19:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:45] Speaker A: But I was wondering.
I think the last thing I really remember you doing with your art was you were teaching poor classes, you know, to pour.
[00:19:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:53] Speaker A: And you hadn't, you haven't really talked about art as much. And I'm thinking when on earth do you have time to, to do it?
[00:19:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:59] Speaker A: So, so again that was probably hard but.
[00:20:03] Speaker B: Yeah, it really was. It was definitely a hard decision to make.
But I think again it was, it was. Sometimes you just gotta, you know, you gotta make that break.
[00:20:13] Speaker A: And so going through the 10, almost 10 plus years now that you've been in acting, when are times you thought you were gonna quit or it, it wasn't going to work out or maybe the money wasn't going to be there. Right. Because you spend a lot of money for the classes and you know, and all the different things that you do. Right. There's gotta be this breaking point.
[00:20:32] Speaker B: So, yeah, I, I, first of all, I would not be able to do any of this unless I had my husband's support.
He is my sugar daddy when it comes to this. And I love Mike, I do. Yes, everybody loves Mike. He's a fantastic person.
So financially he has helped me get the training, you know, do the classes, etc.
I can say the year before. Last year was the first year I made money.
So I've made money the last couple years and this year is better than last year was. It is a very slow process.
It is, it is not Hollywood glitz and glamour. I am a working actor. I'm a full time working actor. It means every day I do something to help my career, but does not mean I get paid every day.
But I, like I said, I did bring more income in than, than was going out. And I was very, very proud of that and very happy about that. And I felt like I was contributing to the family because I hadn't had a full time job in a very long time. And it mean, it meant a lot to me to be able to contribute financially.
[00:21:38] Speaker A: And you are right. I mean, Mike has been at every premiere that I, you know, every time I'm there, Mike's there.
[00:21:44] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:21:45] Speaker A: Supporting. And he is super proud of you. But, but that's the other thing. People see it and they think, oh, that person must be making a ton of money. And you, it's like the, the grind you have to go through.
[00:21:54] Speaker B: Yeah, right.
[00:21:55] Speaker A: Until you get to that, to that point.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: Yeah. And I, you know, in the beginning you don't, you don't get money because you're doing it like you're doing a lot of student films and students don't have money to pay you.
But I don't work anymore without getting paid and I've have not done that in years because I'm, I know my, my worth, which is a hard thing to say, but I know, I put into it, I know how much work it goes into, goes into it and how hard it is. And people see that now. People don't even, don't even ask me to do anything for free.
And I will not answer an ad unless it's with a director that I've not met before, but I've seen his work and I really love. There's, it's like a, it's like a factor of three things. It's. Is the director great? Is it organized, does it pay? Or how is it going to, you know, do I have something like this in my reel already? So if I can hit three out of five buttons, then I will look at the project, but probably 9.9, 10 times now. It's, it's. I will not do it without getting paid.
[00:23:01] Speaker A: So you had said, you know, knowing your worth. So I'm going to take you back to this beginning when a lot of our conversations were about confidence and stepping forward and, you know, and, and learning your worth. And my eyes are watering because these are conversations that there was three of us in those group conversations, right?
[00:23:18] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: About knowing that. And that's, that's part of the reason of this podcast I want to do is because people see the success. They don't see what it took emotionally, mentally, spiritually for some people to get to that point.
And that's what I mean, even if you can like hone in exactly like that, that feeling of, am I going to be enough to get there?
[00:23:38] Speaker B: Yeah, you asked me that question. I just completely screwed it over by accident. I did.
So, yes, there's, as an actor, you're, you're always, always going to be like, can I keep doing this? Can I keep doing this? Can I keep doing this? And I said before, I'm doing it because I, it makes me so happy. But when you get to the point where I'll give you an example, there's, there's so many parts that I've had to audition that I did not get. And I cried over them. I'm like, oh my God, I wanted this so bad. I, so, so bad. And then probably like five, six years ago, I, I came up with this system. I have a recyclable bin under my computer desk. And when I get done self taping and sending my addition in, I take those sides, they're called sides, by the way, and I put them in the recycle thing underneath and I don't see them again.
And I delete.
After a couple days, I'll delete my tapes because I have to transfer the tape from my phone to my computer, edit the, edit it with imovie, and then I send it out.
So I get rid of those as well. So it's like out of sight, out of mind. And as an actor, it really helps. It helps me very much because then I'm not dwelling on it, you know, and then I just focus on the next thing. And if you have to focus on the next thing, you have to constantly just want it to make it work and you put it behind and then the hurt goes away after a while and you know, you can't swallow. You can't. No, you cannot. It's not, it's a dog eat dog business. It's. It's not a kind business.
Especially with self tapes, you don't get any feedback. At least when you went into the room to audition, they would say, okay, can you try it this way? Or thank you very much. You would get something or next, you know, but at least you had something.
With a self tape you don't, you don't hear back unless you get the part or you get a call back.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: Do they have to give you a time frame so that you know when to expect?
[00:25:32] Speaker B: No, no. If I have a really good, like sometimes I'll have a zoom audition as opposed to a self tape, which is, which is cool because you get to meet the producer and director and then sometime I'll say, hey, any chance, like do you know when you're getting decide and they're like, oh yeah, probably within a week or two. So then in my mind I'm like, okay, if I don't hear from them then, you know, or I'll say, will you let people know? Either way, I'm not really sure. A lot of people or. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, it really depends.
[00:25:59] Speaker A: I just remember, you know, when we used to do like movie nights or whatever and you just got started one though one of the roles you always wanted to play was in Still Magnolias.
And one of my favorite productions that I watched on stage was Still Magnolias. And I don't think it was the part that you thought you wanted.
[00:26:19] Speaker B: No.
[00:26:19] Speaker A: Because who did you want to be in Still Magnolias?
[00:26:22] Speaker B: I want to be Weezer.
[00:26:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:24] Speaker A: She would have been an amazing people.
[00:26:27] Speaker B: Like you're not old enough, Weezer. I'm like, I could, could be.
I could be.
[00:26:31] Speaker A: Maybe you can circle back to it.
[00:26:32] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:26:33] Speaker A: But, but you know, so to, to watch you. Right. To, to be. And even though it wasn't the part that you wanted, just that whole production was probably by far one of my favorite, like as far as uplifting. Already knew the storyline, you know, there was no surprises in it for me because you guys, you know, you did it the way that it was.
But it was just, it was a joy for me to Watch you be part of something that I knew you always wanted to be a part of.
[00:26:56] Speaker B: Yeah, I absolutely love the film. I love the story. I love the camaraderie with the, with the women and friends and, and I did play the part of Malin and that was a pretty dramatic part.
And I just really loved the family unit. That is one cast that we still will get together and have lunch or dinner. Not now, me. Not all of us can get together at the same time, but we will try to get together. And that's, that's Marsha Melly. She played Weezer, actually.
She's a lovely woman and a great actor. And so that's what I mean about the camaraderie and everything.
[00:27:37] Speaker A: And that was at the Red House. The new location.
[00:27:39] Speaker B: The new location, the big theater. It was very frightening for me.
It was a last minute. I was a, I was a recast.
So it was a last minute thing. So everybody had gotten together like a month before.
I was terrified as hell. And, and the one review I got with that showed it and that was. And, and I, I'm. I know I deserved it, but then I thought I learned a lot from it as well. And I think that my performances after that were better. But I was just telling somebody of the day that I always say that my, my most like PTSD moment was reading that review, which was stupid. Don't ever, I won't ever leave reviews if you're in production. That's dumb. Okay. But because of how successful I've been lately, I can actually talk about it and not cry, which is really Sad. It was2018.
[00:28:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:29] Speaker B: Yeah. So.
But I, again, I've learned my worth. I've learned that I am, I am talented and I have a lot to offer.
And you know.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: Yeah. And you know, just life in general is just talking to my girls about this because they both went off to college. You're not going to be everybody's cup of tea. And it's okay that you're not everybody's cup of tea.
[00:28:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:48] Speaker A: You know, and I think, you know, I'm now. How old am I now? 50. Holy cow. I'm 50.
But it probably took me 40 some years to remember that. And I think about that in my, in my industry, you know, I'm going to go on appointments and not everybody's going. I'm not going to be the person that they necessarily want to work with. But what I learned is, and I tell my agents this and I tell my friends in the real estate industry if it, if they don't choose you. It wasn't the right fit anyway.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: Right.
[00:29:16] Speaker A: So you are constantly putting yourself out there. I mean, if you're talking about 40 different auditions to get one, I mean, that's a lot of times putting yourself out there. But the rules that are meant for you, they come to you.
[00:29:27] Speaker B: They do. They come to me 100%. And if. If you get the role, that means there's thousands of other people that didn't. And, you know, it's. It's tough. It's just tough. It really is. I mean, on the. On the average for a.
Backstage and actors Access are the two platforms that actors use to get auditions besides their managers and such. But the.
I just lost my train of thought.
Backstage actors access. What was the question?
[00:30:02] Speaker A: Well, I was just talking about, like. Well, you had said that for every.
[00:30:05] Speaker B: Role that you got there, average is 3,000 submissions. Really? Per role? Per role.
[00:30:12] Speaker A: Do you think that increased with. With COVID Because I know one of the benefits you told me was you were able to work with instructors that you would have never met in person because it was in California or, you know, across the country somewhere, and because everything went to Zoom during COVID So do you believe that Covid opened up those doors?
[00:30:29] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. 100.
It was. Like I said, it was definitely a blessing for me. I know it was a tragic event in everybody's life, but that opened doors for me, and I did. I had. I had coaches in California, and I did improv with Second City in Chicago. Like, I. You know, these are things I never would have had the experience, acting coaches in New York City, you know, and for me, and go to New York City is not a problem. Like, you know, I love to drive like you do, so, you know, I'll drive to New York or Long island or Buffalo for jobs all the time, but would I have done it to be coached by somebody, like, every week?
No, it's. I mean, it would have been lucrative for me. I would have gone broke first. Yeah. So. But yeah, it's. It's. Zoom is a great platform. I should have invested at the time.
[00:31:16] Speaker A: Well, and let's go back to the fact that you didn't. Those things just didn't come to you. You researched. You found people.
[00:31:22] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:31:22] Speaker A: You've done email after email after email. Just kind of getting your foot in the door.
[00:31:26] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:31:27] Speaker A: Right. And that. That's no matter what the industry is. There's so many people that just sit back and wait for things to come to them.
So, you know, I say ever changing and Evolving. But you know, people resist change, but then there's also people that hide from it, you know, and they don't go out and get it. So I surround myself and people say this all the time. Surround yourself with five people, you know, that you most admire.
[00:31:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:49] Speaker A: And, and I definitely do. And as you know, you're, you're one of them because it's just in awe of everything that you've accomplished. And we were friends and we had a lot of fun and our kids grew up and you know, we have stories that are not appropriate for this podcast of things. But it, and I, you know, I love you as a friend, but as a someone who watches you and watched you grow, just thought it's just odd. Like you just kept putting yourself out there. And we talked about, you know, the confidence that it takes and the confidence you had to build in yourself to, to be able to get to where you're sitting now. And, and I do remember that bad review and I do know that it hurt and I was hoping you wouldn't kick my camera over when I brought it up. But, but at the same time.
[00:32:27] Speaker B: But it's important.
[00:32:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Talk about it is, because it's, it's those things that people don't see. We don't put that on, on Facebook. We don't, you know, we don't brag about the times that got, you know, that we got hurt or something didn't go our way.
[00:32:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:38] Speaker A: Right. Those are private conversations that you have with your friends.
[00:32:40] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:32:41] Speaker A: You know, so we talked about you growing as an actor and what that means, but it also has affected you as a human being. Right. And you've changed and you've grown in that direction. So, like if you could go back to the 39 year old self, you know, what do you think that this industry and what you went through, this industry has done to that, that person in making you who you are now? What do you see the biggest difference?
[00:33:05] Speaker B: I think I'm definitely more patient.
I am more tolerant, I am more understanding.
I don't laugh too hard. Shelly.
But, but yeah, I, my patience has definitely grown because I have to be patient. It's not a hurry up thing. It's you do it and you wait and you wait and you wait and then you don't hear anything and then you get the next one and you wait and wait and wait. So again, it's, it's. My patience level has definitely gone up.
My tolerance for certain individuals, I think I'm more open.
And you meet a lot of different People in this business, and the majority are wonderful. Because if you ask any actor, if you say, hey, have you always been confident they're gonna be like, hell, no. I'm the most insta person you've ever met in your life. Like, every actor I know has issues of some sort. Okay, so it's just so amazing me that I can be in a room full of so many wonderful, talented people. But then we'll talk about. Holy. That's. I'm sorry, was there a bleep button?
[00:34:13] Speaker A: No, actually, I. I almost put in, like a little thing that said, hey, we're going live is there may be F bombs. I've been kind of impressed with.
[00:34:22] Speaker B: I'm impressed too.
[00:34:24] Speaker A: I am.
[00:34:24] Speaker B: I'm very impressed with me. Thank you. Thank you.
But, yeah, so anyway.
But, yeah, yeah, the. The amount of. See, I left my chance out again. Apparently acting really makes your brain go nuts.
[00:34:38] Speaker A: Well, you were just saying about the rooms and the confidence.
[00:34:40] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:34:41] Speaker A: Human. At the end of the day, every single person I remember, I go to a lot of conventions and I look at people standing on the stage and I met somebody about five years ago, and you would have never known the first talk that she gave. And then I, you know, I met her recently again in D.C. and she said I had. I have no recollection of what I said or how I said it or how it went. But you. You got it. Like you said, you and Ben went to that first audition because it was on your bucket list. And you had Rachel, who, you know, she's. She's amazing. She's all kinds of things like.
But who encouraged you. So sometimes it's just that encouragement, you know, that helps you get to where you need to be. Sometimes it's the fear, sometimes it's. Sometimes it's bad things that push you out the door. Right. But sometimes it is good, good things. And it's support.
[00:35:28] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:35:28] Speaker A: You know, and that's. I think, you know, in looking at the family support you've had and your family has grown since we became friends, and whether it's, you know, blood relations or friend relationships, they do. They support you. I don't know if you have or anybody else that you do a role with has as much support sitting in the audience as you do.
[00:35:49] Speaker B: I don't disagree with you. I don't. I think my friends are just amazing people and they've always been there for me, but I've. I try to pay it forward and go to their kids things, you know, or go to their meetings or Open houses, you know.
So, yeah, it's like. And I wish I could go to all of them because I'm. That's me. I'm social. And I love being with a group of people, especially with a group of women.
It's fun. And.
[00:36:18] Speaker A: Wow. And. And the reason people. People come up and support is because you do support. Right. Which brings me to the last topic. I mean, not that we can't talk about other things, but I think it's important to put it out there. And you're gonna have to explain it to me, just like explain to everybody else, because I don't fully understand. But you talk about paying it forward, and you started a group here locally, or you're part of maybe a founder of the group locally that is really there to bring people together in education stuff. So can you talk a little bit about your Monday group that you help put together?
[00:36:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I would love to. It's called Circus Acting Studio, so SAS for short.
My very good friend Joe Cunningham, who is a director, producer, writer, actor in Syracuse, he asked me to be in his film the Sentinel three years ago, and we became friends. And then he. He had a dream of doing an acting student here in Syracuse, like some. Like. Like the one in New York City.
But not to teach. More to gather, because he's not classically trained. I'm not classically trained.
We're never going to say where the school of acting ever. It's really just a. It's a place that people can meet. We do it once a month on a Monday at our new location at the Mercantile Market at.
In the lower level of Wildflowers downtown.
And thank you, Michael Hagarty.
We get, on average between 40 and 50 people.
It is a big, beautiful, huge location. Now, we started at a small location for a place called Safe Space.
It was beautiful. Tracy Dando was the person that led us up there. And unfortunately, they lost their grant, so we had to relocate and. But we always remember her finally for that and to support us. But, yeah, it's.
We've been doing it straight now for a year and a half. We have not missed one month.
It's. Every month's different. So one month may be scene study, one month maybe improv, one month maybe guest speakers, you know, where we'll do a panel, you know, of actors or directors.
And then a couple times we've been at American High, which is the production company here in Syracuse. They are wonderful. They're so giving of their facility, and people love going there because it is a, you know, production Studio, so we can't thank them enough. But yeah, we, you know, if you ever thought of acting, if you're a phenomenal actor and you have something to bring to the group, if you're just curious, if you're a writer, a director, a producer, please come because it's free.
We do ask if you could just give a donation at the end of the night and that helps us with supplies, with paper, with snacks and water. But it is free and you do learn a lot. And we've definitely created a family. Definite family. With us. With us. And we're very happy about it.
[00:39:11] Speaker A: And that's the.
That's the piece when you were talking about paying it forward.
[00:39:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:15] Speaker A: Whether that's where you were thinking about going, but that's where my mind went to. Because I just remember when it was a thought and you mentioned, hey, we're going to do this, and then I do follow it on Facebook. Obviously, you share it a lot on your personal page. And also when your Laura sister acting page and the most recent one, I was just. Again, it had to be 40 plus people.
[00:39:36] Speaker B: Yeah, there. Yeah, it was great. And. And Joe is.
He is the. He's the mastermind of this whole thing.
I was honored when he asked me to do this with him, but he is. He's the grand poobah of this. And he will always be very humble and say, no, no, no. And. And I will always say, yes, yes, yes.
But I, you know, we have an amazing relationship, a great bond, and we're going to continue to create things in the future as well.
We just did, actually. We get to a movie together called Amariah.
[00:40:08] Speaker A: Actually, I am going to share something real quick.
[00:40:13] Speaker B: Oh, look at you being all prepared.
[00:40:15] Speaker A: So I have to share this funny story. Oh, there's a group text because as we've mentioned a couple times, we're friends and I can't even remember what the verbiage was in the group text, but I didn't see it right away because I probably had an appointment. But I popped over my phone and said, ignore the image. And the image that was in this group text was actually this picture that you're looking at, and it was in color. And I thought, oh, my goodness. I showed it to my boyfriend, Jamie, and I said, jamie, I think Laura's having a really hard time.
It was by far the worst photo. I'm like, because she's beautiful, right? It was the worst I ever saw. So when this poster came up for this movie and I thought it was the exact same picture, I realized that she was intending to look like she was stressed out. The cigarette did not surprise me. Not that she was smoking did not shock me. So. But what is this movie about?
[00:41:04] Speaker B: So that. So I will say that Joe wrote this. He wrote this literally in one night. He had me in mind for the lead the entire time.
It is a long, short, so about 30, 35 minutes. And it is about an ex CIA operative, which I play. My name is. My name is Rose.
And something happens, tragically, with one of her team and she loses it and leaves the organization, or kind of asked to leave the organization, and becomes addicted to alcohol and certain pills.
And so this is something that happens five years in the future, five years later, where now she realizes that what happened to the operative wasn't.
It was something that happened on the inside, on her team, and now she's looking to get revenge on that because this person was like a daughter to her.
So. So, yeah, it was. We did it in three weekends and we had a lot of extras, yours truly included there.
And, yeah, it was fantastic. We did it all over Syracuse. So a lot of people are going to recognize a lot of the landmarks and things.
But, yeah, we're. We're waiting for the soundtrack to be finished and hopefully that we'll have it all edited and produced by the beginning of next year. Probably. Hopefully.
[00:42:28] Speaker A: So, again, talking about patience, because I can't remember. I mean, it was a while ago when we got together to help you out.
[00:42:33] Speaker B: It was March.
[00:42:33] Speaker A: It was in March. Yeah, I remember we had to decorate for a different holiday.
[00:42:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
Pizza man. So Jindelia, who I love, he donated his space for us for this film.
It was actually St. Patrick's time, but I said, is there any way we can bring Christmas decorate? Yeah, bring it in and let me go in the face and I can get some for you. I'm like, no, you're doing enough. We'll be fine.
So Joe, being Joe, had a tree. You know, we had lights, and it was. It was cool because it was Christmas. So the green on the St. Patrick's Day stuff kind of blended in.
[00:43:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:05] Speaker B: But was also a dream sequence. So, you know, dreams are kind of wonky anyway. So if you see a Christmas tree and then you see a clover leaf, it's just a dream.
[00:43:13] Speaker A: It's just fine.
[00:43:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:16] Speaker A: Well, I was. I had asked Laura to be on the podcast with me over a month ago, just because of the way our schedules were. And when this poster came up and I saw the picture, because, again, I was worried about her when I Saw the picture in the group text, and I thought, this is perfect, because again, we're going back to the bucket list. You know, just over 10 years ago and now to see your face and, you know, on a poster promoting a movie that you were just a part of that I didn't even realize that was the movie I was the extra in. She just said, you want to be an extra? And I jumped at the chance.
[00:43:45] Speaker B: Yeah. And I co produced it too. So I asked Joe. I'm like, can I help? He's like, you want to co produce? I'm like, sure. I don't know how to do that, but I would. Yes, I want to do that. So.
And, you know, I looked, what's a producer do? And, you know, what are my functions and things like that? So.
So that was. That was interesting. And I've helped Joe with his Sentinel movie. I helped assistant direct with that too. And that was.
We did a huge scene at American High, and that was like 30 extras there, and we were filming all day long. So that's good experience for me. I mean, the behind. The behind the camera is just as hard.
Just as hard as it. As it is in front of the camera. So more labor intensive, you know.
[00:44:24] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I'll be curious to see where the next five to 10 years takes you, because you are always growing and change, like challenging yourself to something else.
So just to kind of reflect back to again, the. The meaning of this podcast, you know, always evolving and changing and then reflecting back, like, what do you have to say to somebody who. Even if it's not acting or it's not real estate. Right. But it's something that's on their bucket list, or they're just caught in this, like, infinity cycle of every single day is exactly the same, and they want to branch off and do something different.
You know, what kind of advice or, you know, what could you offer to them that maybe help them break that cycle to try something different to make a change?
[00:45:06] Speaker B: This is cliche, but you can't be successful unless you fail.
So you have to really throw yourself. You just have to take that first step and maybe do it with somebody else maybe. Like I said, I grabbed my son.
[00:45:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:18] Speaker B: And we did it together.
Just.
Just take that first step and you'll be surprised what you can do.
Yeah, I'm. I surprise myself every day.
[00:45:31] Speaker A: I was talking to the other day, too, about, you don't even know the people that are supporting you until you fall, and they're the ones that start to lift you back up. They Just keep going. It happens.
[00:45:40] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:45:41] Speaker A: Right.
[00:45:41] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:45:42] Speaker A: But, no, I guess it is cliche, but that's really, really good advice because if you fail and you quit it, you didn't learn anything.
[00:45:48] Speaker B: No, you didn't.
[00:45:48] Speaker A: You know, and then you're right back in that cycle that you were before.
[00:45:51] Speaker B: Absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:45:52] Speaker A: I love you. Thank you for doing this with me.
[00:45:54] Speaker B: Thank you. Can I. Can I plug a couple things while I'm here?
[00:45:56] Speaker A: You absolutely can.
[00:45:57] Speaker B: Okay.
Please watch Dogs on the Sendero. It is now streaming on Apple TV and Prime. And then my other movie, A44, which is more the horror, if you're into horror, which is phenomenal. And both of these movies were filmed locally that you can see on Google Play and YouTube TV. And I am also in a Christmas movie that will be out, I'm hoping like November, that will be on the Great American Family channel called Homes for Christmas.
[00:46:26] Speaker A: So.
So I am that cheesy, you know, love story kind of thing.
So of all the things she told me she had coming up, that is the one that I'm really looking forward to. Forward.
[00:46:39] Speaker B: Yeah, so did most of my friends. Yeah, most of my friends are all into that. And I'm more into the dark thriller type horror stuff, but I love all genres. But this is definitely a switch for me, so. And I'm very happy to do so. The production company in Buffalo were. Were amazing to work with.
[00:46:55] Speaker A: Nice. And when did that one come out?
[00:46:57] Speaker B: I'm hoping by this Christmas they're supposed to put like 20 films out in the next five years.
[00:47:03] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:47:03] Speaker B: So I don't know if they're going to save it for next year, but I'm hoping it's Christmas.
[00:47:06] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:47:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:07] Speaker A: Well, when that happens, believe me, I will be broadcasting it all over social media so we can all watch it. So I am going to end this podcast with my. One of my bestest friends. But please, any of the things she just mentioned, look for her out there. Follow her Facebook page, which I'll have in the post. But it's Laura St. Actor, it's easy to find.
And then show her support and some love. So everybody have a great day.
[00:47:29] Speaker B: Thank you so much, Shelly. Appreciate it.
