Brian Breaks Character

I'm giddy about today's guest on the podcast: Broadway Music Director BRAD HAAK. Why??? Original Music Director for Broadway shows like Mary Poppins, An American in Paris, and Lestat… He continues to create world-class musical theatre through arranging & conducting. He's my best-est friend. We met at Northwestern (I've known him for 28 years) so you know I get him to spill allllllll the tea on the...

Anthony Meindl thinks a lot like me: creativity is your birthright, ignore it at your own – and the world's –  peril.  We both believe creativity is by no means monolithic, but the painter and the actor, the writer, and the photographer can suffer the same setbacks and upside-down thinking that might inspire an artist to think they are not important. Touché I say to the itty bitty sh*tty committee...

This week's guest on the pod is TV writer & author Robert King – his latest book  No One Here Is Like Me dropped just two weeks ago. A searingly honest, hilarious, and vulnerable look into what it means to be Black ( and Black-ish ) in America, Robert's memoir uses social commentary in a storytelling style that makes you feel like you're chilling with your best friend. If your best friend was a pr...

This will be the last episode in our series this month devoted to getting you more auditions and this one is a doozy because I have 2 very special guests, Alyshia Ochse ( That One Audition) and Anna LaMadrid (Put Me On Self-Tape). These two powerhouses are the co-founders of The New Triple Threat - the FIRST online holistic actor training membership program. A program designed to help you with the...

If you want to know a verifiable way to get more auditions, grab your notebook for Part Two of my interview with Blair Hickey and Brian Wold, the Co-Founders of CastingAbout and Consultants for Breakdown Services.  I locked them in a Zoom room and forced them to tell me ALLLLLL THE INSIDER SECRETS of how actors can make themselves unforgettable on Actors Access… and there were just too many juicy...

Your Audition Magnet questions answered!  If you're tired of not seeing the kind of auditions you want from your casting, profiles or representation, this program is designed to help. But I get that you might have some questions… so I gathered together the questions I hear most often, and answered them in this video. First of all, what IS Audition Magnet? My understanding is that the course is vid...

I'm gonna guess you have an Actors Access/Breakdown Express profile so Casting Directors can find you. And even though the site has *some* free functionality, I'm also gonna guess that you plunk down $68/year (plus any other fees) so you can host your video files and get access to the best auditions out there. YOU AND 1.3 MILLION OTHER ACTORS USE ACTORS ACCESS. I'm sharing that BIG number so you m...

Any chance you were super freaked out by the Casting Networks' update? It was a doozy. And whether or not you think the update is good or bad, it doesn't matter, change can be HARD. So I'm here to help... On this episode of Brian Breaks Character, I sat down with the powers that be from Casting Networks, Katie O'Connor Enterprise Sale Manager for the West Coast and Scott Madej the Manager of Globa...

Episode 81 of Brian Breaks Character is the 3rd episode in our September Series devoted to helping you get more AUDITIONS. So, I invited Cesar Ramos from my team to the pod because he's a working actor (out there doing the thing & facing the same challenges you are)... and because he asks the best questions!  Listen for These TAKEAWAYS: Use your casting profile to tell the story of where you're go...

You signed up for Actors Access and Casting Networks… And maybe you've got a Casting Profile on 3 other sites too! Maybe you even have reps submitting you in addition to submitting yourself… And maybe it still feels like you're not getting enough auditions?! And the first place you MIGHT look is your headshots… or maybe your reel? Did you ever stop to think that it could be your casting profile? W...

School is back in session and over here at Brian Breaks Character we are celebrating with a month entirely devoted to helping you get more auditions because this is the time of year when you need to be locked in on driving on the (school) bus to getting great auditions.  To kick off this month, ask yourself this question - How do I know if my online casting profile is working? Your casting profile...

Have you ever wanted to get reps in London or Europe? Or just another dang city where you DON'T currently live? This week's episode of the Brian Breaks Character podcast is a MUST-LISTEN . Ditte Maria le-Fevre got her fair share of auditions in Denmark, but had a feeling there was more out there for her (sound familiar?). She was already doing all she could to get auditions on her home turf, so sh...

You know when you see something on Instagram and you simply HAVE TO forward it to a friend? Or 10 friends? Yup, me too. And that's why I'm giddy to share this interview with the creator of my most-forwarded IG posts LaNisa Frederick. LaNisa Frederick & Danielle Pinnock are the creators of Hashtag Booked – the Instagram ​sketch series​ that set the internet ablaze. In 50-seconds or less, they captu...

Run, Don't Walk To Get the Survival Guide that accompanies this very special 2-part episode: https://actorsurvivalguide.com This episode of Brian Breaks Character is part 2 of a special 2-part episode where I joined together this squad of super coaches - Amy McNabb, Jodie Bentley, Nzinga Moore, Shannon Bills, Tony Rossi and Wendy Braun to help create The 2022 Official Actor Survival Guide vol 2– a...

Run, Don't Walk To Get the Survival Guide that accompanies this very special 2-part episode: https://www.actorsurvivalguide.com/ Does PUTTING DOWN your to-do list spark anxiety? ← if so, you're not alone. After 2½ years hunkered down staring at Zoom screens, and doing at-alone self-tapes, you might feel like sitting in front of your computer is what it means to live a creative life.  SPOILER ALERT...

Run, Don't Walk to get the download that accompanies this episode: www.brianbreakscharacter.com/74 I believe the world is a better place when we acknowledge the people who have helped us along the way, but too often gratitude ends up on the cutting room floor because we get lost in a flurry of  "how do I say this," "is it too late to send this?" and "does this make me sound needy?" So… you never c...

Today's guest is Jo Kelly - She is a 4x guest on Brian Breaks Character, so you know I trust her! Jo joins me to drop some incredible truth bombs about: The mistakes actors are making What gets in your way How to truly embody the freedom and instinct you want when you're acting (sounds like a dream, right?) I encourage you to listen to this mind-blowing chat (no, literally, we talked about neural...

We at Team BKP are on a journey to create safe spaces for everyone in our community. Today's show is part 2 in a series where, with the help of anti-oppression business strategist & inclusive leadership coach Nadi Fantastic, we take stock of how we're doing.  And at the center of this work is YOU; your feeling of safety in our spaces.   The conversation across these 2 episodes is vulnerable, stick...

Over here at Team BKP, we've been on an anti-racist and anti-bias journey since July of 2020. Inclusion and belonging are two of our company's core values and w e are committed to foster diversity in our programs and create a safe space for all. But doing this means we have had to educate ourselves.  Our team is primarily white and cisgender so that means we inherently do not have the lived experi...

H ave you ever wanted to get inside the mind of an agent? Well, my pretty, your wish has been granted: Today's guest on the show is the supremely generous, Blair Taylor. Blair is a fabulous talent agent who has been working in the entertainment industry representing actors for over two decades. FULL DISCLOSURE: He's also one of my best-est friends so you know I got him to spill the real tea!  In t...

Today's episode is meant to inspire you and remind you that your gifts and talents were given to you for a purpose. And today's guest, Michael McElroy is a prime example of someone who truly uses their gifts and talents for a greater purpose. You've probably heard of Michael as he has been on Broadway for many many years. He is a Tony, Drama Desk and Grammy Award nominee. He has also accepted a To...

It seems like no matter how many times you take headshots (and I know you've done them more than you can count on one hand!) the same exact 3 questions come up:  What 3-5 types do I need to cover? What should I wear? How can I make sure that my headshot pops? …Maybe you've also hemmed & hawed over what to wear for your self-tape auditions?  Or maybe you wear the exact same thing every single time...

If you don't feel 100% connected to your why, today's episode with Spiritual Practitioner Sonia Jackson is a must listen.  So… Grab a mug of tea and get cozy as Sonia lights up your spirit with her Visions of Possibilities (also the name of her non-profit edutainment organization that produces projects that challenge audiences to live in unlimited possibility). Sonia is a spiritual practitioner, m...

We are doing something a little different on this episode of Brian Breaks Character. Last summer, Lola Rufai of The Helping Actor invited me to her Breakthrough Actor Summit to talk about finding representation and specifically to share more about embodying the CEO when it comes to agent and manager meetings.  Now, I don't know what kind of magic this woman weaved, but she got me to have a very di...

Anyone else triggered by the word L A Z Y? WARNING: I am a megafan of Sam Valentine and in this reunion episode we get to the juicy stufffffffff! We're coming up on a year and Sam was my very first-est guest! In today's episode she shines a bright light on the journey of her legendary podcast One Broke Actress. Sam openly describes how she's re-defined productivity in her own life and career (and...