Actors, Where Are You Going...

Emily:
Do you ever look at an audition posting and just think, “Yes, I know I can do this role, this is perfect for me!” Where does that gut instinct come from and why are we drawn there? You might think it is simply because you match the vocal type or style, age, height or any other “quality”. But there are other forces at work…forces that drove you to be an actor in the first place, deep inner feelings that give you personal bliss and satisfaction to create and explore and express.

So many times we can feel exhausted pushing those great instinct’s aside and thinking foolishly that because we’re an actor, we have to be able to play anything and everything to get the job. And then we also think to ourselves, “What sets me apart from all the other thousands of actors striving to get jobs?” Yikes! It’s mind blowing!

Still a secret resource in the city!!! John Dapolito’s-AWG (Actors Where Are You Going?) Program (www.johndapolito.com), is pioneering new psychological profiling technique’s to help actors understand how to market themselves. You are the product you’re selling in the acting world and John’s program helps the actor uncover their personal niche (product) for individual success.

An established actor, playwright, director and acting teacher himself, John has an instinct for revealing actors to themselves like no one I have ever met. He addresses all of those haunting acting questions during his eye-opening seminars, which then sets the tone for the one-on-one private session. I recommend both HIGHLY. For one of the most useful things I have ever given myself is the AWG-Program. It has added new direction to the way I work my craft and see myself as an actor. Check out the website!

Because.....if you don’t know where you’re going….
…..it’s much, much harder to get there.

WEBSITE SPOTLIGHT: Hopstop.com

Eric:
We've all been there...Your friend's band is playing at that bar in the east village, but you have no idea how to find it. The movie you're doing background on is meeting on location in Inwood, but you've never been past 96th St. Check out www.hopstop.com found under or Maps & Direction heading.

I personally love this website because it continues to give me detailed directions and maps of catering locations in the city. The traveling time estimates are so accurate that I've always been on time for my events. It will even ask you for the travel day and time so that it can calculate any weekend subway changes! Hopstop.com's directions can vary from the fastest and most direct to subway & bus combinations. If you ask it to map out an address you will see cross streets and the neighborhood. Or if you just have an idea of the location and want to check out the scene you can "Point to Location on a Map." And just when you think they're done, you can even request subway directions on your mobile phone! Ain't technology grand? Happy traveling!

Money in the Bank! (Fidelity Investments)

Stephan:
Do you have extra money that you don't need for another couple of months that's just sitting in your checking account? This is a conversation I've had about 4 times this week and since a lot of us are actors with fluctuating accounts, I thought I'd pass it along.

It started with a question from one of my roommates, Sonja, "I've got this money just sitting in my account and I don't know what to do with it. Do you have any ideas?" She came to me because I'm something of a nerd when it comes to reading books on money management and doing research on investing.

"Sure that's something I was dealing with in August" I said, "I can't guarantee this is the best answer for you, but I've found something that works for me." I went on to tell her about my accounts at Fidelity Investments (www.fidelity.com). I started an account there for my Roth IRA right after college (thanks to my Grandparent's wisdom), but more recently I started an account there for an amount of a few thousand dollars that was just sitting in my checking account waiting to be used. They have a money market account that right now is getting about 5% interest and you can link it to your checking account at your bank to get that money back into your checking account the next day if you needed to.

The best part about it is that you can go in and talk to somebody at Fidelity for free and they can detail all of your options and give you other great ideas, even if you don't already have an account there (check out their locations). Sonja and I went in yesterday and met with one of the guys there and it looks like it's exactly what she was looking for. The funny thing was that while I was there I ran into a friend of mine who was in a commercial class I took a couple of years ago. When we started talking about it, he realized that he could use something like that too. I thought I'd pass it on to you!