10,000 NOs

“You can cry, you can cry all you want. By the way, it's great to cry; but we're going to do it anyway.” Today’s special episode is a sit down with my old friend, colleague, & Oscar winner, Will McCormack. Will, a talented actor/writer/director, shares with us the details of his latest short film doc, that he directed alongside his long time friend, Rashida Jones, A Swim Lesson (on the...

“And that's what I want you to do in 2025: Build trust in yourself that when you say you're going to show up, you show up. When you say you're going to go work on your lines, or work on the character, do some research, or go to the gym, or do whatever-- you actually do it.” Today’s episode is a direct address to you, our viewers and listeners, to hopefully inspire you to kick off the n...

“ You may have something that’s hurtling through the universe on its way to you right now and you don’t know it, so don’t assume the worst. Don’t assume the best either, you know, you’ve still got to keep working, no matter what. Whether the jobs come to you or they don’t .” Today’s episode is a direct address to you, our viewers and listeners, to thank you not so much for watching and listening a...

“The people that have shaped history… they weren’t lucky. They were willing to go through way more sh#t than you and I.” Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community weekly zooms where Matt addresses the challenges that face our members. Today, we talk about perseverance and drive and the willingness of people that have achieved great things to put up wi...

“Make it your own: trust your instinct, trust your intuition and take a chance that they may cringe.” Today’s episode is a rare straight-to-video solo rant, unlike our normal “ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community zooms”. Matt shares a tape he made exclusively for one of his private clients about how to approach your audition with truth, honesty and your own unique i...

“Can you deal with it? You should talk to that person and confront that person, but was it too much of a breach of your trust that now you feel like you can’t do your work with that person anymore because now you feel like, ‘do they have an ulterior motive?’.” Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community weekly zooms where Matt addresses the challenges t...

“How can we take these things that are in our head that we want to do , not beat ourselves up for not being there yet, but just meet ourselves right where we are and say, ‘hey, it would be really cool if, in a year from now, you’ve done this thing.’?” Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community weekly zooms where Matt addresses the challenges that face...

“I had to start asking myself how could I get more intentional about where I show up, where I give my energy? And now, let me restructure how this is going to go, moving forward in my life.” Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community monthly VIP zooms with industry insider, Ali Levine. Ali brings her experience as a certified breath coach and celebrity...

“Making strong choices never means doing something just to be memorable or just to stand out. It just means grounded in reality. It always has to be something that you’re finding truth in the scene for yourself.” Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community monthly VIP zooms with industry insider, Casting Director Stephanie Holbrook. Stephanie has joined...

“And that’s a little bit of our conundrum: Acting is our number one thing, but that’s very up and down. So how much do you just wait and put everything into Acting? And how much are you doing things with the down time? And can those be the same thing?” Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community weekly zooms where Matt addresses the challenges that face...

“There’s nothing better: you negotiate the deal and you start thinking and planning your life… and about two weeks before I was meant to go, I get the call: the European studio backed out, they’re scrapping the entire project, it’s over.” Today’s special episode is a sit down with my old friend and colleague (from Wind River and Teen Wolf), Ian Bohen. You may know him as Ryan from Yellowstone, but...

Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community weekly zooms where Matt addresses the challenges that face our members. Today, we discuss the stoic philosophy of keeping death in mind so that we live each day to its fullest and avoid being surprised when death comes our way. But we also talk about the fact that good things can come our way too, citing examp...

Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community weekly zooms where Matt addresses the challenges that face our members. Today, Matt shares some of the inspiration he received from a podcast that he has become obsessed with: Founders. Drawing from stories of great filmmakers, entrepreneurs and athletes, Matt discusses the parallels between the attributes of...

Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community monthly VIP zooms with an industry insider. Casting Director Stephanie Holbrook (Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, John Wick Chapter 3), who has been featured in other episodes of the show, asked Matt about how he wraps his head around playing unlikeable characters, like the one she cast him in Long Bright River...

Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community weekly zooms where Matt addresses the challenges that face our members. Today, we discuss the fact that there is a certain stubbornness required in following our own path, it is also necessary for us to constantly assess what we are doing and get honest about whether those actions are the best way for us to re...

“I had to sleep on people’s couches for a while, because I had no money. And I remember saying to God or whoever… ‘if I can make a living as a writer, I promise you I will write every day.’ So I made this deal with the universe and now I’m stuck with it.” Today’s episode is a special, old-school 10,000 NOs format longform sit-down conversation with legendary television writer and showrunner, Tom F...

Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community weekly zooms where Matt addresses the challenges that face our members. Today, we discuss the discipline required for anyone pursuing a career in the Arts. It’s easy to talk about it in generalities, but tougher to do when surrounded by friends and family members who are not on the same path. This conversation...

Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community monthly VIP zooms with industry insider, Casting Director Stephanie Holbrook (Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, John Wick Chapter 3), who cast Matt in the limited series Long Bright River, as well as a few other projects. She offers advice to actors about how far to go in forging relationships with casting direc...

Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community weekly zooms where Matt addresses the challenges that face our members. Today, we discuss the possibility of not doing those things that everyone tells you “you should be doing”. Is saying No lazy? Or is saying No an extension of figuring out what you really want to do with your life and then doing, or not doi...

Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community weekly zooms where Matt addresses the challenges that face our members. Today, he questions whether his constant advice to members to “bet on themselves” is great or dangerous. We discuss the inherent risks in betting on yourself but also how perseverance and refusal to quit almost always pay off over the long...

Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community weekly zooms where Matt addresses the challenges that face our members. Today, we discuss the importance of the people we include in our inner circle. Matt’s entire motivation for creating Insiders in the first place was to give others the benefits he had from his tightest friendships within the industry: how...

Today’s episode was ripped directly from one of our 10,000 NOs Insiders Acting Community monthly VIP zooms. Casting Director Stephanie Holbrook dishes advice on self-tape auditions and more. If you’re an actor, writer, filmmaker or anyone struggling to overcome rejection in your career or life, 10,000 NOs is here inspire you and help you realize you are not alone. So, if you like what you hear in...

"I was so beaten down by the system. I remember thinking I need to rethink this whole thing. I'm just gonna be honest, I'm just gonna be real, I have nothing to lose at this point.” - John Magaro TODAY'S EPISODE OF 10,000 NOs Podcast is rife with takeaways for actors, from the craft of acting to the approach to auditions to the ups and downs of a long career, even for someone as we...

"I really just decided with this one that it was going to happen... if I had to shoot it on my iPhone that's what we were gonna do.” - Shane Atkinson    TODAY'S EPISODE OF 10,000 NOs Podcast is pulled from one of the 10,000 NOs Insiders Community’s monthly VIP Industry Guest Zooms, where we bring industry winners in to help our members navigate their acting careers. Perhaps the biggest...

In TODAY'S EPISODE OF 10,000 NOs Podcast , a solo riff, I talk about the social experiment known as The Metro Experiment , where world class violinist Joshua Bell was observed playing his $3.5 million dollar Stradivarius in disguise on a subway platform, wearing a hoody as commuters waited for their train. The results were astounding. And they shine a light on artists who have been devaluing t...