Hey:

I want to talk a little about rejection. The big, bad word in our business.

The feeling you get when you've gone out and bought an outfit for a pilot audition, spent cash you didn't have on a coaching session, rocked the audition and not even a callback.

Let me go a step further: once you finished the audition, the network casting director looked at you and said, "amazing work." Like without being prompted or trying to blow you up, A genuine pat on the back.

But then, if it was such a good audition, why in god's name didn't you at least get a callback in front of the director and producers. Seriously?

Think of someone actually passing on Meryl Streep because she was too ugly and actually saying that in the audition room?

Can you imagine that being you?

Did Meryl take that on?

Nope, she handed it back to them because she had a set of standards for her work that defined her success.

Other peoples decisions didn't define what kind of actor she would be, but rather the way in which she valued her work and instinctively knew that what she had to offer was gold. Nothing can stop a force that is that clear, that focused and that assured of who and what they are.

That casting director or director who said that to Meryl can now

Eat. Shit. And. Die.

He missed out on working with one of the greatest actor of the 21st century.

No one. I mean no one has managed to play the breadth and scope of roles that Meryl has played in a career spanning 40 years. At a time, when her counterparts were marrying, having babies and working less and less, she was doing major roles in films that centered around her character. She was working like there was no tomorrow.

Major motion pictures focusing on a strong clear, normal woman are unheard of these days. And Meryl is still playing them. At a time, where botox and fake parts determine a career, Meryl has done none of that. She has broken all the rules and still works more than anyone else. At a time when most women are taking their clothes off just to keep working, starving so they can have child-sized hips, only to play throw-away roles or sidekicks to men; Meryl, fully clothed and a nice size 10-12 is working more than the men and more importantly, she's playing better roles.

How is she doing that?

Well, the secret is in her response to that casting director calling her too ugly.

Notice he did not fuck with her talent. He tried to fuck with her head by calling her 'ugly.' That was Meryl's cue that he wasn't really about shit anyway. The work was great and that made him feel so insecure that he had to bring her down to size by attacking with some male-beat-down-the-woman crap as if her entire sense of worth resides in how she looks. Maybe to him, but that's not real. That's untalented-little-bitch-boy-playground-tactics. And Meryl was/is a grown-ass woman, beast of a artist. He couldn't touch her.

Basically, she was so clear about who she was and what she was capable of, that she didn't need his validation and he, in turn, felt that and just couldn't let her walk out the room in peace and not give her the job.

One of The Four Agreements is to "never take anything personally" and that applies to both negative and positive comments. Because what people say about you is really about them. It's about how your presence makes them feel. And that has nothing to do with you. That's their bullshit and you can hand it right back to them because you are armored with the gift of being a Motherf*cking actor.

The Big 3

Where does that gift come from? It comes from The Big 3

Self-worth.

Self-Love

Real Personal Power

All of those things are created by acting in your own behalf.

And no, that does not mean posting stickies all over your house with little affirmations written on them.

It does not mean taking retreats where you chant 'I'm worthy' for 16 hours once a year.

Those things are only a small part of it, a useful part, but all too often that's where people stop working on the process.

Self-worth, self-love and a sense of power are EARNED.

Each and every time, you set a goal, reach for it and succeed, you're earning THE Big 3.

Self-worth comes from a set of actions you dare to take in your own behalf.

Going to school, learning how to be a genius at your craft. Training privately with a master teacher. Feeding the heart and mind with great ideas, artists and exposing yourself to excellence in everything. Great artists are great thinkers. They are acrobats of the human condition. They are intellectuals of the soul.

And all those things require that you do something to earn the self-worth.

Meryl went to a great school (my alma mater, Vassar College) where she majored in Drama AND English. The latter being the toughest major at Vassar. English majors learn how to critically think outside the box, solve problems, re-imagine the world as writers, are exposed to classical and contemporary texts with characters from all over the world. You cannot argue with a Vassar English major, they will wear you out with the breadth and scope of what they know.

They are brilliant because earning a B in the English Dept is like trying to take a walk on the moon. You got to work for it, baby. The process of working that hard and achieving even small goals makes you a badass. Nothing can touch you especially silly, small notions of what people think of you. Because that process has taught you exactly what you are capable of

Once you know that, you're invincible.

When you learn how to think, the power of the mind is a kind of fuel. It's a self-esteem builder. It's a wall of protection that lesser mortals are constantly banging their heads against trying to unwrap it, degrade it, figure out how it works. But they can't because they haven't done their work so, they haven't earned the knowledge, clarity and sense of power.

It's something no one can ever take from you. And it's something most of the people you're auditioning for don't have. They can't even come close.

Do you have to major in English at Vassar to get it?

Of course, not. My dad barely finished college and is the sharpest organic intellectual I've ever met. If you've ever heard him lay out an argument, he could easily be mistaken for a pimp with a congregation. He can backtrack your line of reasoning and hear the places where the critique is not clear and where you're bullshitting. He can argue you into a corner with facts cause he did the work. If you want to hear his voice at work, feel free to check out the first few minutes of my solo show Liberty City here.

It is from him that I learned that success at anything requires that you define yourself for yourself. You never work for anybody. You work for you. You set the standards for success, create a business strategy that puts you in the power seat in all of your professional relationships.

He taught me to aim high, not just what people thought I could get. And as I aimed and won; the confidence, the knowledge grew. I went to public school for elementary school and after graduation most kids were going to the public junior high. But he asked my 12 year old self,

Dad: "Where that smart motherfucker can do the math going for 7th grade?"

Little April: He's going to a private school. One of those rich ones that cost a lot of money, like, like--

Dad: I ain't ask you how much it cost. I asked you where the smart motherfuckers are going to school next because that's where you going.

Little April: Daddy, you got to be way super smart to get in that day school. That white boy got in, but he has tutors and is already doing algebra in the 6th grade. Plus the school is like $6000, we aint' got no money.

Dad: If you was smart enough to know all the statistics about the white boy, then you smart enough to get in the damn school. And that's all I'm concerned with. You going.

Everyone else in the family was in an uproar. The private school had been called and it was indeed $6000/year and that didn't cover books and uniforms. Plus the entrance exam required me getting some expensive tutors from the University of Miami. We lived in the pork n'bean projects. How was this going to happen?

Suffice it to say, I got in and someone paid for it all and it wasn't my family. I got in because my father had decided I deserved it. That prep school is now the number one prep school in the country with a $50K annual tuition.

And you know why I have $5 million education? Let me say this one more time: Because my father thought I deserved it and it has served me in the business royally.

I never question whether or not I can do something.

I just do it.
And the rest will come.
And that is how you thrive as an artist.

My Dad told me once that he understood that acting was a craft because the only way he could read books and understand is by writing down what the book was saying paragraph by paragraph in his notebook. He's done that since I was a child. He's fearsome. Everything he's ever learned, he learned that way. I always wondered why he was like that. Well, in researching my play, Good Bread Alley in Miami's Black Archives, I learned that there were no public schools in Miami until the 1950's. My Dad graduated from the 8th grade in the first public school built for black people in Miami.

Can you imagine the pressure? Can imagine what a huge deal it was for his family to walk him to school that day and then to finish?

When you have to work that hard for something so rare, it makes you fearsome. It makes you a badass that no one's opinions can touch.

It makes you sort of invincible, because if not this audition, then the next because you now know how hard it is to win and you're ready to take on the work of reinvention, of getting past obstacles.

That's what intellectual curiosity gives you. It makes you a bad ass. And all you have to do to get it is to expose yourself to excellence. That generally means whatever is not in popular culture. Popular culture is about whoever can sell a brand make money. Popular culture is about dumbing down and the artist roles as James Baldwin wrote

“The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.”

Popular culture's guiding force is not excellence or intellectual prowess. But these are the things a great actor absolutely must have to be a great artist. To be the one who lights the path. To be the one who reminds society to have a conscious. To remind us to find compassion for one another. That is the role of the great actor.

My first day in acting class at Rutgers MFA program, the great Meisner teacher, Maggie Flanigan said, "Great actors are great artists. Great artists know a lot and are thinkers."

They know about all of the fine arts from writing, to classical music, jazz, poetry, history. They are curious about the world and it's landscape because they will constantly be called upon to recreate worlds and people that they no little or nothing about.

At least, that applies to great actors, or those aspiring to be great actors. If you just want a job for a few years, then you can stop reading now. This post is about the search for excellence and a lifelong career as an artist.

How can you play the ins and outs of the human condition if you haven't analyzed the human condition?

I'm going to tell you a secret that's different from all the dumb shit people have ever told you about acting on camera.

Acting for the camera is not about just being still and doing nothing.

▪ Is Meryl Streep doing nothing in the Devil Wears Prada?
▪ Is Denzel doing nothing in Glory?
▪ Is Anthony Hopkins doing nothing in Howard's End or as Hannibal Lecter?

No, they are doing a whole lot that feels like nothing to us watching. The work is seamless, effortless and it is full of emotional and psychological activity.

TV & Film acting is all about the psychology of a character.

If you don't know that, then you can't act for the camera and that's why you aren't getting callbacks and booking.

Have you read Freud, Jung?

Do you understand the role of the subconscious, the ego/id in characters?

If the answer is no, then you're probably not much of an actor.

And here's why: Method Acting is based primarily on the work of Freud and Jung. Stanislavsky took their ideas and created The Method in Russia. Then folks like Meisner, Hagen, Strasberg brought it to America and created method acting. Method acting is what Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, Marlon Brando and every great actor that's managed to have 50 year careers have studied.

And more importantly, the study of how the subconscious works, particularly how it creates character is the basis for all on-camera acting.

On-Camera acting, unlike theatre acting has a lot less words and a whole lot more stillness.

Do you know why?

Because the camera is less interested in what you're saying, but rather what the character is thinking: the character's unconscious thoughts that drive their behavior.

And since the camera is interested in what you're not saying, the actor's work is subtle and internal. And for an actor to do that, you have to understand how to analyze characters' inner dialogue and then translate that into acting for an audition.

Yes, sounds complicated?

A little, but not in practice when you're on your feet. But the key is you have to understand this process. Then learn all the steps to implement it.

That's the big thing I'll be talking about in the FREE Pilot Bootcamp class.

Acting for the camera and how using the subconscious is the key to amazing auditions.

Right now. You're probably just getting over by playing yourself over and over again or stereotypes.

How's that working out for you?

You're probably unsure of how long your career will last because the scope of your skills set is limited.

You know what I'm thinking?

F*ck. That.

The Pattern of Rejection

The next thing I'll be talking about in this class is rejection. Rejection is a part of our craft. It's the business. But how you respond to it defines what kind of career you will have.

So, you just gave the audition of a lifetime. You know it, casting knows it and all they say is 'thank you' and you leave. No callback, no positive feedback. Nothing.

Or you get negative feedback like Meryl got. "You're too ugly."

"You're too old."

"Your look is too contemporary."

"You need botox."

"You're fat.

Blah, blah, blah.

F*ck. That.

When you concern yourself with all that bullshit. That's when the work starts to suck.

Repeat after me:

IT DOESN'T MATTER ONE SINGLE F*CK WHY I DIDN'T GET THAT JOB. THERE WILL BE ANOTHER BECAUSE,

(get ready for it)

_Because I am a MotherFucking Actor with a strategic plan in place. _

That will not happen to me again this pilot season. That will no longer be my story. I'm going to change that paradigm. I want to be on the side that gets results: callbacks, screen-tests, the actual acting job.

Well, a few things have to happen in order to change that paradigm

A paradigm is defined as "a typical example or pattern of something; a model"

Is not getting the job even though you do good work, the "pattern" that you'd like to continue?

F*ck. That.

Seriously, just like patterns can be created, patterns can also be smashed, re-created into something absolutely new, different and better.

I know what you're thinking

How, April? I have no control over what the casting director, director or producer thinks about my work, so how do I change this pattern?

Changing what's 'always been' to your new, 'always will be' is what's needed.

Well, let's start with the word control.

Instead of focusing on what people on the other side of the table are controlling, let's focus on what you control.

What things are completely within your control that you're forgetting?

Okay, my private coaching rate is $316 per hour. So know, that I'm about to give you $3000 worth of FREE private coaching, so pay attention, dammit.

The New & Improved Actors Arsenal

Your Actors Arsenal is the place to start.

The Actors Arsenal is your full set of tools you need to be a professional actor.

The Actors Arsenal consists of everything that is within your power to control in your career. And that's a whole lot o' shit. Far more than CD's, Agents, Managers, Directors have to worry themselves with.

What is the Actors Arsenal and how do I get one?

The Actors Arsenal is:
1. Headshot/Resume
2. Reel
3. Press Kit
4. Physical Presentation (hair, make-up, clothing)
Auditioning Skills Set (memorization, understanding the acting style of each genre, as well as the writers's style)
5. Your Brand (physical and emotional types merged into something uniquely you that you can sell to industry folks to get the auditions, but also to nail them)
6. A strong fluid relationship with your agent/business manager
7. A Business Strategy (relationships with casting directors, directors and producers, as well as a strategic plan of who to target in your region based on your brand)
8. A strong social media presence that begins with your IMDB page (and how to get some IMDB credits if you don't have any)
9. Standards for Success so that you take back the power and define what success means to you with each audition and every other move in your career.
10. Fall in Love with Acting: This is a biggie and I've got just the video to walk you through the process.

These are the things I'll be covering in
How to be a MotherF*cking Actor this Pilot Season class:

1. How to become a Motherf*cking Actor by getting a strong business strategy
2. Build Self worth and power to audition like a pro
3. Turn down other peoples voices and trust solely in your artistry
4. How to deal with Rejection
5. How to act for the camera using the subconscious as the fuel for the character

Be there or be square in the next 2.5 weeks.

Because that's how long you have until pilot season begins.

Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Let's. Do. This.

Love, Light & Power,

April & TheDreamUnLocked Team

P.S. REGISTRATION ENDS TOMORROW, MONDAY, AT MIDNITE OR ONCE THE CLASS IS FULL

P.P.S. Did you know that you can buy the recording of this class as well? Click TheDreamUnLocked.com now!