Tag: actors

Maintaining Healthy Agent Relationships

Chasing The George

I wanted to share some cool advice on what I do to maintain a healthy relationship with my agent. I hope this advice will be helpful to you!

Maintain consistent communication with your agent. You and your agent can determine the frequency with which you both communicate because each agency is different. Also, find out what their preferred method of communication is (email, text, phone call, in person) In my case, it’s through email.

Please know that agents are incredibly busy people, so make sure that your communications are clear, to the point and not filled with filler and bullshit. Don’t waste your time, don’t waste their time. Make the communication effective and business-focused. This is your agent, not your best friend from college. The communication should be about something that can move your career forward (e.g., you signed up for a new improv class; you are taking new headshots; you updated your reel and are providing a link for them to watch it; you are taking a casting director workshop; you took a casting director workshop and you are providing your agent with quotes that the casting director said about you; you are reaching out to see what materials they need from you, etc.)

Use communication to work together towards the realization of your dreams. Is there a series you’re passionate about and can see yourself on? Let your agent know and have them keep their eye out on the casting breakdowns for that series and possible characters on it that they can submit you for. If your agent knows you’re passionate about a series, then their attention will be on it. They may even encourage you to target the series as well!

Return their communications in a timely manner. Don’t have them chase after you. If they ask you to do something that could benefit your career, consider it and do it. The relationship between you and agent is a dance partnership. Present your viewpoints and listen to their viewpoints. Fight for the stuff you believe in and consider their ideas as well. Be open and “yes, and…” The cool thing about this dance partnership is that when you first interview with an agent, be clear about what you want for your career and how this partnership can support that. Be clear about what you want from jump street so that all communications and actions can be in support of your dream.

Update your materials on a consistent basis and send to them. Headshots, reels, etc. In addition, email them auditions you’ve done in your on-camera audition class. Email them links to projects you’re in. In this way, you’re giving your agent tools that they can work with and pitch you with. In addition, they’ll also see that you’re active about your career. Keep them excited and invested in you by involving them in your journey. Make the effort to stay in their minds.

Be in a good acting class to continue training and growing as an actor. Scene study, improv, on-camera audition class, etc. I don’t care what it is. Be in class and stay sharp.

Be prepared for the auditions you are sent on. Prepared from confirming the audition with your agent to knowing what the project is about to being off book to getting there on time to sending thank you cards to the casting directors afterwards, etc.

Be enthusiastic about your career and be committed to it! If they see that you are enthusiastic and committed to your career, then they will be more inclined to go to bat for you and prolong the business relationship longer.

Thank them for the work they do for you! Whether it’s in the form of words or gifts, appreciation goes a very long way! Agents do a lot of work and don’t get paid until their clients book work. Show them that you appreciate them. Thank them every time they secure an audition for you. Thank them for going through the casting breakdowns every day for you. Appreciation goes a very long way!

Understand that we have to do the majority of the work in this business relationship. It’s your career and so it’s your responsibility to put in the hours and work. Don’t rely on your agent to do it all for you. That’s not how this works.

Leave me a comment and share what you do to maintain healthy relationships with your agents! I’d love to read them and possibly implement them as well!

How To PICK Your New Headshots

Chasing The George

Okay! So you’ve had a successful headshot shoot. Hooray! Congratulations! You did it and you’ve celebrated all the hard and fun work you put into having a wonderful headshot shoot experience.

So, now what?

Depending on the photographer you’ve shot with, the length of time you spent shooting with them, the number of characters you shot, etc., you could end up with anywhere from hundreds of shots to choose from to over a thousand to choose from.

For a lot of actors, this is an agonizing process. How do I choose my favorite shots out of hundreds? Out of thousands? YIKES! YIKES! YIKES! The horror! The stress! Bite your fingernails, tear your hair out, run to a corner and sob violently!

“Not today, Satan, not today!” (Thank you Bianca Del Rio for creating that phrase!)

Actually, this process doesn’t have to be agonizing or painful. It doesn’t have to consume weeks of your life. Choosing your favorite shots can be a very easy process.

I want to share with you my process for how I made my final selects from the headshots I took on February 25th.

1) I go through each photo with a forward and intentional pace. I don’t linger on each photo for five minutes. Move with intention because the photos will either hit me on a gut level or not. Our instincts are incredibly powerful. We know what we know. A photo either hits me or it doesn’t. Those that hit me, I move them over to a new folder. I continue this process until I get to the last photo. Once I get to the last photo, see number 2.

2) I repeat the process to see if there are any other possible photos that hit me on a gut level.

3) I go to the new folder and call it “Selects”. I then go through each photo a little more carefully and make note of things that would disqualify the photo from making it into my final selects. For example, is the photo blurry? Do my eyes look a little dead in the photo? Is there a shadow across my face that maybe can’t be fixed in Photoshop? Am I blown out? I go through this folder to examine mistakes.

4) I weed out the photos that contain mistakes and I’m left with 56 photos in the “Selects” folder (By the way, we shot a total of 463 photos.) I go through the 56 photos to start narrowing down my personal favorites. I look at the subtext of my characters. I look for a secret in the characters’ eyes. Whenever I choose a favorite photo, I tag them (I work on a Mac, so I right click on the photo file name and choose “Tags”. Then, I choose a color to go next to the file name. I chose red.) The photos I don’t tag as my personal favorites are still kept in the “Selects” folder because they are still strong contenders and I want to have options to present to my community and to my agent. They may see something I don’t see. Once I’ve tagged my personal favorites, see number 5.

5) I present these 56 photos to my small group of classmates (These are people I trust and respect.) It’s important not to have too many cooks in the kitchen because you will only become confused!!! So find a handful of people you trust to share your photos with. When I presented my photos and went through each one, I took note of the photos that received the biggest reactions. If my community was responding powerfully to certain photos, then those were keepers and I later tagged them in red as well (and it was nice to see that my class and I matched on several photos I already tagged.)

Now, for the photos I already tagged as a personal favorite, but didn’t receive as big of a reaction as others, I looked them over to see why they didn’t impinge my classmates. I ended up removing 4 personal favorites from the “Selects” folder. So now, I have 52 photos left in this folder. Again, some are tagged as my personal favorites, while the rest are un-tagged photos that are still strong contenders.

6) I sent the 52 photos to my agent to see which ones he liked. When he emailed me his list of favorites, I tagged them in a different color. I chose blue. And it was great to see that he and I matched on several photos. He also chose a few photos that I didn’t tag as a personal favorite. However, I took those photos into consideration because his job is to field the entertainment market place 24/7. He knows what’s out there. He knows what’s selling and what’s being bought. I want this to be a collaboration between the two of us and include his picks as well.

7) The photos where he and I matched (Red and blue tags) were definite keepers. For the photos where he and I didn’t match, I chose a few photos that had a blue tag (his personal favorites) and a few photos that had a red tag (my personal favorites) In this way, I’m including both of our personal favorites and respecting both of our opinions. I create a final folder called “Winners” and put these final photos in it.

And that’s it! A pretty easy, painless process!

I have 20 photos that I will upload across Actors Access, LA Casting, IMDB, etc.

Let the new chapter of submissions begin!

See you all later!

Let’s Recap

Chasing The George

Hey everyone! I thought this would be a great moment to recap the blog entries I’ve done so far in 2017. Enjoy!

Follow Your Genius: http://wp.me/p8uI5M-19

Taking Headshots Part 1: http://wp.me/p8uI5M-18

Taking Headshots Part 2: http://wp.me/p8uI5M-12

Taking Headshots Part 3: http://wp.me/p8uI5M-Y

Bad-Ass Women In A Trump Era: http://wp.me/p8uI5M-17

I’m The Artist Of The Month!: http://wp.me/p8uI5M-13

Why Training Is Important: http://wp.me/p8uI5M-11

Taking Headshots Part 3

Chasing The George

Taking Headshots Part 3

Happy Oscars day! Congrats to all the nominees! I’ll be at a fabulous Oscars party to celebrate my fellow artists.

Here’s a picture of the fabulous photographer Marisa Leigh and I after we wrapped our amazing headshot shoot. It was an incredible and fun experience. Everything flowed so beautifully and I can’t wait to see the pictures online on Monday, February 27th! And I love that I took new headshots the day before the Oscars. Talk about a powerful, mother fucking postulate!

The shoot was such a success because I spent over a month preparing for it. Pre-production is everything! Everything ran smoothly because of all the prep work I did beforehand and I had so much fun during the shoot. It also helped to have a photographer who was open to collaboration and play and who makes you feel at ease (which was part of my pre-production process of researching photographers) And it helped to have someone on set with me from my artistic community to be such a vital support system (Reed Iacarella) And a special shout out to my partner Chris Beber for the support you flowed and for making this a reality.

To catch you up on my headshot process and journey, here are parts 1 & 2 below:

Part 1: http://wp.me/p8uI5M-18

Part 2: http://wp.me/p8uI5M-12

And here are the final steps of my headshot preparation…Part 3:

I got a good night’s sleep.

I ate a good breakfast.

I arrived early. This is something many people take for granted. ARRIVE EARLY GOD DAMMIT! I always arrive early so that I can get settled and get present.

In the week leading up to my headshot session, I created a music play list for each character (Thank you Reed for reminding me to do that!) I created music playlists that put me in the zip code and vibe for each character. Some musical choices were literal. Other musical choices were not, but still put me in the zip code and vibe of each character. Here are my playlists below:

Fashionista/Interior Designer (I wanted fabulous, cunty music)

RuPaul feat. Ab Soto “Cha Cha Bitch” (Ralph Rosario edit)

Erika Jayne “How Many Fucks?”

RuPaul “Cover Girl”

RuPaul “Sissy That Walk”

RuPaul “Supermodel (You Better Work)”

RuPaul feat. Dave Aude “Step It Up”

RuPaul “Glamazon” (Gomi Tribalistic Remix)

**Okay, okay, I’m obsessed with RuPaul and his empire!

Public School Teacher (I wanted music that was positive, inspirational and a little unconventional)

Andy Grammer “Keep Your Head Up”

Sara Bareilles “Brave”

Us3 “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)”

Len “Steal My Sunshine”

Office Worker (I wanted music that gave me this feeling of What The Fuck?)

Madness “House of Fun”

The Proclaimers “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”

Stealers Wheel “Stuck In The Middle With You”

Capital Cities “Safe And Sound”

 

Hacker/Hacktivist (I wanted music that was industrial, dangerous, hard, subversive)

The Prodigy “The Day Is My Enemy”

Rob Zombie “Reload”

The Prodigy “Smack My Bitch Up”

White Zombie “More Human Than Human”

 

Nurse (I wanted music that had a certain sexuality to it. A secret. A mischievousness to it)

Miguel “Adorn”

Alex Clare “Too Close”

 

Last, but not least, the minute I got to set, I let it all go. I trusted that all the work I did was in me and now it was time to play. I was focused and made sure to follow my headshot template, but I was also open and present to impulses and ideas that Marisa and Reed gave to me on set. I sent Marisa my headshot template on February 2nd and Reed my headshot template the night before. Marisa was on the same page! Reed was able to build upon it and feed me other lines of subtext for my characters. I was prepared and able to let it go. I was able to get what I want and more. I was like, “Yes, and…” “Yes, and…” “That’s great, I love that idea…” “Great, let’s also try that…” I wasn’t locked and rigid in things going my way. I wasn’t unmalleable. I got what I wanted and more! Marisa would show me various takes with each character to make sure we were getting the product I wanted. I was incredibly happy with the work that was being created!

After the headshot session was over, I celebrated! Celebration is vital because it cements the win. It locks in the achievement.

I’m truly happy with the work I put into getting my headshots and the support I received. I can’t wait to look over the headshots online on Monday!

Happy Oscars day!

Why Training Is Important

Chasing The George

It keeps you sharp.

It keeps you fluid.

Stay ready so that you don’t have to get ready.

There’s always more to learn.

There’s always something to learn.

Dancers train. They go to class consistently and work out on the dance floor. The best ones make it look so effortless because they train.

Athletes train. Athletes train. Athletes train. They train so that they can compete and perform at the highest level possible. Optimum. They make it look so easy too.

As an actor, I always want to stay sharp so that I’m not relying solely on my persona or tricks. I never want to feel like I’m rusty or catching up. Training allows me to have a system in place to get the job done. And then to repeat the work over and over again. No guessing work.

Training is also important because as we get older, our casting changes. So we need to start understanding those new characters and how to now play them. We have to step into the shoes of these new characters and understand who they are. How they behave. Training will help us to do that.

Training is fun!

Training gets you to a place where you don’t have to think so hard or work so hard. It’s in you and you work more efficiently.

Training keeps you on the artistic path when the bullshit of life and the naysayers of life want to take you off of it. This is a fucking tough business. No mother-effing bullshit. When I come into class every Thursday night or every Friday morning, I’m re-charged and re-inspired to keep going.

Training allows you to make mistakes and figure out the answers to them. Make the mistakes in class. Fail forward in class. Now, mistakes happen in the outside world too. However, with training, you can manage those mistakes like a pro! And they’ll appreciate you very much for it!

My ideal situation is to be a working, professional artist (actor and writer) working on set and then coming back to class whenever the project is wrapped or whenever we have a break in the shooting schedule. Come back to class. Come back to ground zero. Come back to where it all started. Re-energize and then head back to set.

Train.

Find a class that speaks to you, that challenges you and that has a great, supportive community. Train and take your craft to a higher level of creation, output and experience.

Train.

Cool true story: I was at a small focus group recently and they asked us if we wanted to make an extra hundred dollars. We all raised our hands immediately. The moderator said, “Great! I just need one volunteer to sing a full pop song in front of the group.” Everyone put their hands down except for me. I quickly said, “I’ll do it!” Because of my training, I jumped in and was on “go”. Because of my training, I didn’t question myself or judge myself or be self-conscious any step of the way because I followed my first impression with good-humored inflexibility. I’m a genius unti proven otherwise. Because I work hard and put many hours into everything that I do, I was able to deliver on the spot. Cold. No preparation given. I didn’t have to warm up or make excuses. I started singing “Like a Virgin” by Madonna. That was the first song that popped into my head and I didn’t judge it. Everyone was impressed as soon as I started singing. I connected with each person and sang to them. After I sang only the first verse and chorus, the moderator stopped me and gave me the extra hundred dollars. He jokingly hated the fact that I could actually sing.

Training paid off in this situation-which had nothing to do with acting or an audition…this was a focus group. Training put me on go and I sang really well and I connected with each person. I delivered at a high level and impinged every person in the room.

I’m The Artist Of The Month!

Chasing The George

Happy Sunday! Hope you’re all well and having a great weekend.

Just wanted to let you know that I have been selected as the artist of the month. Honored and pleased to be part of a wonderful community of artists at my school, the Richard Lawson Studios. Read my interview to find out how and why I received this distinction:

http://studio.richardlawson.net/featured-rls-student-jorge-ortiz/

Chasing The George

I’m taking a quick break from:

My feature film re-writes, the pre-production work I’m doing for the new headshots I’m taking on February 25th and the work I’m doing with my team to get me a pitch meeting with Netflix to say:

CONGRATS to all the 2017 SAG Awards nominees! I’ll be tuning in today, January 29th, to root for all of you. It was an honor to be able to cast my vote in every single category and to be a part of the process. It won’t be long until I am sitting there with the rest of you.

I love awards season and I am totally in my element (Golden Globes, SAG Awards, Producers Guild Awards, Writers Guild Awards, Directors Guild Awards and the Academy Awards)

Week 2 Status Report!

Chasing The George

For a second week in a row, I stepped up my awareness in certain areas of my personal and professional lives so that I can be in alignment with my career postulates. With this increased awareness, and by taking a set of actions, I am stepping into the light and power of my postulates. If I see and want these things for my career, then I need to behave and act in accordance with the things that I see and want. For example, one of my postulates is:

I am a household name infiltrating and conquering mainstream Hollywood through my film acting work and by creating TV and Film content that is just beyond the margin of comfortability (Daring and artistically free content that falls within the wheelhouse of HBO, Showtime, Netflix, The Weinstein Company and other powerful indie studio houses)

I see this postulate. I just have to fill in the blanks to get there. Take the actions to get there. So that when I do become a household name, it’s déjà vu because I already saw it X amount of time ago. But in order for me to get closer and closer to achieving this postulate (and other postulates), I need to have an increased awareness of how to live and operate my life in certain areas. For example, I have to be a leader. I have to be in the front. I have to speak my mind. My viewpoint must be unyielding with good-humored inflexibility. I have to ask for what I want from the people on my team, etc. I have to take actions and vibrate at the same frequency level of my postulates.

So I tackled the same list of actions again from my October 16th blog entry. Again, some of these actions are already a part of my everyday routine. A few other actions are a little more challenging and I need to lean into them more. That being said, I had a little more ease with tackling the challenging actions in the second week than I did in the first week. Moving forward, I have to continue tackling these challenging actions until they become a way of life for me, a part of my routine.

So without further delay, here are the list of actions I took again. This is not a final, comprehensive list of all the actions I take for my life and career. This is just a small sampling of my career administration, with a focus on challenging actions I need to step it up in. The asterisk (*) indicates a challenging action.

To sit in the front row. (Yes. In both of my acting classes)

**To speak my mind immediately. (Yes. Better. Improved.)

**To follow my impulses and instincts. (Yes. Better. Improved)

To lead. (Yes. Taught my ass off in the PDP 1.0 and PDP 2.0 classes.)

To dance while in the passenger seat of a car when a good song comes on or when the driver dances. (I did not ride shotgun this time.)

To spice things up. (Yes. Sunday night.)

To dance in the streets. (Yes.)

To make extra money. (Yes. Two times.)

To be myself without apology. (Yes. In terms of the way I laugh, the things I say, the jokes I say, the way I dance.)

**To hold my own space. (Yes. Much better. Improved)

To dance without consideration at the top of acting classes. (Yes.)

To continue administering my acting and writing careers. (Yes! Yes! Yes!)

To engage in conversation with a new person (Yes. I engaged with a customer at the smog check station, with the tech assistant at the smog check station and with two people at a Halloween party.)

To ask various industry people for something I want. (Yes. I reached out to two TV showrunners to be their assistant.)

To excite my agent again with a new piece of administrative evidence that will push my career forward. (Yes. I sent them my commercial headshot template.)

To be submitted on 3-5 TV series and 3-5 feature films. See below:

TV Series: The Fosters, Silicon Valley, Counterpart, Grey’s Anatomy.

Feature Films: Happy Anniversary, Willie and Me.

To impinge! (Yes. I stood by my Halloween costume concept and didn’t yield from it at the Halloween party. Also posted my concept on Facebook. I also impinged when I taught PDP 1.0 and PDP 2.0. I impinged with an audition I did. Etc. Etc. Etc.)

Here’s What Happened!!!

Chasing The George

So last Sunday, October 16th, I made a commitment to tackle a small list of actions that would help and push me into being the living embodiment of my postulates (The blog entry was titled, “This Week, I Commit Myself”: http://wp.me/p8uI5M-1u)

A postulate is something I see for myself and claim. A prediction. A proposition that requires no proof. Being self-evident. You see something, you work towards it and when you achieve it, it becomes déjà vu. A postulate is a way of life. I have to live my postulates and be them. Currently, I do a pretty good job of living and operating within the realm of my postulates, but I know I can step it up even more.

In other words, if I want to achieve certain things in my life and career, then I need to start living them even more so. Behave as such. Behave as if I already have them and achieved them. So I created this small list of actions to start moving faster towards the completion of my postulates. I already execute some of the actions on this list on a daily basis, while other actions on this list need more awareness and attack.

I committed to doing these actions for a week, and man, what an experience. Many of the actions on this list were easy to complete, but a couple gave me a challenge and I found myself flinching from them.

The areas I flinched on (flinch: to back away, to retreat) was speaking my mind immediately and listening to my impulses and instincts. This is the people-pleaser in me. This is the person who wants to run for mayor and be liked. Many years ago, I was running for mayor big time and trying to please everyone. That shit was so fucking exhausting. It was not fucking realistic. Who has time for that shit? As Bianca Del Rio says, “Not today, Satan, not today.” I’m not about that because it makes me weak and puts me at affect. I have come a long way from that person I used to be.

However, there is probably 9% of that people-pleasing aspect still in me. And that 9% held me back from speaking my mind immediately this past week. I spoke my mind in certain situations, but not in others for fear of rocking the boat and disturbing the waters. That 9% also held back my impulses and instincts in a few situations. Again, to avoid getting into “trouble”.

When I flinched, I immediately busted myself and asked, “Why did you flinch on that?” “Why did you back away?” “Why did you look the other way?” “Why didn’t you speak on that?” “What do you think is going to happen?!” Because when I do speak my mind and when I do follow my impulses and instincts, it’s fucking liberating!! So, I kept calling myself out every time I flinched.

It takes a lot of energy to be a star. To be a leader. To see and be seen. To perceive and take responsibility for what you perceive. To just be. To not fidget. To hold your head up. To be the example. But I want to achieve what I see for myself and so I have to work at it.

The more I do this, the more manageable it will be. So, I will repeat the same small list of actions this week–and beyond–so that the challenging actions become second-nature. A way of life. Again, some actions on the list were easy to complete and is a part of my everyday routine, while a couple of actions were challenging.

Below is the list of actions and my status report for each line item:

To sit in the front row (Yes. I sat in the front of my acting classes. I must always sit in the front row or be in the front of a group.)

To speak my mind immediately (Yes on certain topics and no on others.)

To follow my impulses and instincts (Yes on certain things and no on others.)

To lead (Yes on certain things and no on others.)

To dance while in the passenger seat of a car when a good song comes on or when the driver dances (Yes. This pushes me to be the fool. To be present. To loosen up.)

To spice things up (Yes.)

To dance in the streets (Yes. I danced and skipped down the streets of Sherman Oaks. I also danced while holding 5-pound weights inside of Target.)

To make extra money (Yes. I made extra money on three different occasions. The intention is to create a state of affluence and financial abundance. To know that I can always create money for myself.)

To be myself without apology (Yes. In terms of my point of view, in terms of my laugh, in terms of my reactions to things, in terms of how I dress, in terms of the stand up comedy I recently did, to dance how the fuck I want to dance, etc.)

To hold my own space (Yes and no. Yes in terms of allowing myself to hold space at Queen Mary Dark Harbor Nights, holding my space on the trains and buses, at Trader Joe’s on Sunday during peak hours when the Brooklyn in me went in and out with groceries in FIVE minutes. No in terms of fidgeting. No in terms of looking the other way when a few people looked at me throughout the week. No in terms of not speaking my mind immediately.)

To dance without consideration at the top of my acting classes (Yes.)

To continue administering my acting and writing careers (Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!)

To engage in conversation with a new person (Yes.)

To ask various industry people for something I want (Yes, yes, yes! I asked for advice and leads on self-publishing a book.)

To excite my agent again with a new piece of administrative evidence that will push my career forward (Yes. I emailed him my theatrical headshot template.)

To be submitted on 3-5 TV series and 3-5 feature films (I was submitted on several TV series including: Criminal Minds, Speechless, The Real O’Neals, Master of None, Dear White People, etc. I was submitted on 3 feature films: Skin In The Game, Patriarch, Killer Complex.)

So, here we go again for this week! Round two!