Phoenix Castings: How a Casting Week Really Works, Hurry Up and Wait, and Auditioning for Yourself on the Fourth Day

This is the Dearing Acting Studio Podcast, where we discuss the connection between life and acting. All righty, welcome back everybody to the Dearing Acting Studio Podcast. I am Matthew Dearing here with the Guardians, Shea Toepel, Brian Sweeney, and Joey Sweeney. What's going down, everybody? Hello. Not much, just crushing the day. You married somebody this morning, right? I did. That was so weird. It was so awkward the way.

It was awkward the way I said it. I don't know how it sounded so awkward. It was in my brain even awkward, I feel like. I think it was like a beg for Joey to ask you about marrying. You wanted us to ask you, how are you crushing the day? Maybe that was it. You know what I mean? Maybe that was it. Just ask me about my day.

That might be it. That might be it. I just already married someone, and it's only one. It's only one. I got two more left. On Valentine's Day. On Valentine's Day. I didn't even think about that. Yeah, that was cute. In their backyard, right? Yeah. Yeah. So when you, because Brian officiates weddings, that's kind of like something that he does like kind of frequently. Like I feel like you.

I'm not super frequently. How many have you done? Like more than other people. Four. Four weddings? Yeah. I feel like that's a lot of weddings. Four weddings is a good amount of weddings. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So not a ton. It's only like if I know somebody and like they'll usually ask and then I go through a process with them where I just like talk to them ahead of time and kind of do like mini marriage counseling.

So what's your track record? Track record like still married? Yeah. Like who stays together? Like one in four? Wait, what's the word? One in four has stayed together? No, three still together. Oh, I was going to say that's a losing record there, bud. Three in one. Three in one. That's what I meant. That's like bottom of the division. Three in one. But you were two in one.

Now you're three in one. But technically this is like the day of. Yeah. So, you know. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's always promising the day of like, let's, let's wait a little while. Hurtful. When you, when you do these things, like, do you feel like you're performing in some aspects? Kind of. That's a good question. Does your energy shift? Cause I know like when I got married, I had this whole vows, right?

And, and people kind of joked with me like, Oh, you'll have your vows memorized. And of course I didn't because I wasn't, I obviously I didn't want to be performing when I'm saying my vows. I was just being real and being truthful. And I just wonder because you kind of have a script as an officiant, like, do you, do you feel like eyes are on you? Like, do you feel like there's some sort of performance aspect there?

There's a performance aspect, but it's kind of like when we go to speak, like there's like a loose script. Like ideally it's kind of loose. Yeah. But let me, let me jump in here. It's a, it's a performance, like 100%. Yeah. Cause when you're speaking and it, it is about you, but when you're an, when you're an officiant, it's really not about you. But yeah, but you're the entertainment.

Yeah. Yeah. And people like, well, that's, and that's why I was saying it depends on kind of situation. Like this was very small. This is like six people, like very intimate. It doesn't feel that way. But like when, when I did, um, like somebody else's that's like bigger group, like a whole audience, you definitely feel that it's like a whole different deal. So, yeah. Which is funny because no, like nobody is really thinking about you at all.

Like, it's not about you at all. But at the end of the day, like, I can't tell you how many weddings I've been to where people have commented on the officiant. Well, I feel the pressure. I feel like, yeah, I better do this right in the right order. And, oh my gosh, like, I feel like it's on me. Yeah. 100%. I officiated one wedding in my life.

You did? Yeah. He did. Yeah. And he crushed it. Oh, it was a friend of yours. Yeah. But he crushed it. But it's totally a performance. Yeah. Yeah. And I wrote it out and I had the whole thing thought through and I had a couple of jokes lined in there. And yeah, it's, it's like hard though. I, so my, my dad has been kind of, kind of got accidentally into the officiant business and he had a friend who had asked him.

And then once people found out that he was an officiant, we had other very close family members ask him and he is, um, unfreaking believable as a speaker, but he gets so nervous when he has to officiate weddings just because of the pressure, you know? And it's not something that he, it was not like something he went into like wanting to do it. Yeah. Right. You know, but you do it because you get asked by someone who loves you.

It's the same. Yeah. You know, not like, Hey, I love marrying people. Like, let me know if you got a wedding. Well, I mean, that was not with a losing record. Here's my business card. That's super funny. Well, I'm glad you've been crushing your day. Now this was a small wedding. Is, is it a secret wedding? Like, or are we allowed to talk about it? It's not secret.

I mean, we've already talked about it. But we didn't talk about specifics. Oh, okay. Okay. It was Lance Brown. Lance Brown. He's a performer. Yeah. Who was a chaos comedy performer. He was telling me that yesterday. Yeah. Yeah. That's really cool. Love Lance. He's amazing. Yeah. And he's marrying another goofball who's just like him, just as silly and, and can handle his craziness, which is amazing. Cause Lance is like, you never know what Lance is going to do.

Like he's a clown literally. And so he can like, wherever he's at, you never expect what he's going to do. And Courtney, um, his now wife is, uh, this very similar. Yeah. So Lance is one of those guys where when he walks in the room, you can't help but know that he's in the room. Oh yeah. He brings this ball of energy and he's, he's very giving too.

I think that comes from his profession, but he's like, he, he wants you to feel good. He's not trying to get attention, but he does get attention by trying to like make everybody in the room feel good. And so, yeah, this ball of energy. So she's just as energetic, uh, energy wise. I'd say I'm not as energetic, but she's as weird and silly and quirky and she can like, she can keep up, I guess is the best way to put it.

Yeah. Very cool. Well, I'm very excited for, uh, Mr. Lance Brown and way to go, Bri, way to marry some more people off, dude. Thanks for marriages under your belt. So I just need to tell everybody that I'm not being rude and texting. I'm trying, I'm trying to talk to my sweet mom, how to, how to figure out how to watch us on Facebook. Oh, she wants to be on the live.

She can't figure it out. It's, it's down. Oh, it's not. It's not. Okay. Oh, no wonder. Internet is not being kind to us right now. Tell your mom. I will tell my sweet mom that she, she just, she said, I'm, I'm, I'm listening on podcasts. Is this live? And I said, yes. On Facebook. She goes, not sure. This is the one. Leeann just came in. And I was like, mom, it's not.

Yeah. We appreciate you, Shelly. She's probably listening to the one last one. Yeah. Leeann just showed up. Hey, but at least, um, you know, our podcasts are being listened to. So that's why. Hey, so I just got back in town late last night. How was the, uh, how was the studio for a week without, without the old MD? It was great. Yeah. Yeah. It was really, really, really good.

Yeah. I mean, just totally blew expectations out of the water. Like there's a little bit of fear that came with like you leaving and not having you there as a safety crouch in like an emergency situation. And so the fact that we were able to just like come together, overcome that and make it seem like there was nothing that was different than the week before was pretty cool.

Well, not only that, but we, I threw a couple of curve balls at y'all. Oh yeah. One of which, so we know we had this, this big national casting, um, for a SAG job. And then the callback was, was while I was gone. And then all of a sudden we get this other casting and I was sucked into the old Disney vortex there. And so I was, I was with it enough to land the casting, but not with it enough apparently to tell you guys about it.

I mean, I mean, it's not like you told us the day of, it was the day before. Right. And, and, and to my defense, I only knew about it maybe eight hours before that. But still I did forget actually completely until I got a text message from Shea being like, Hey, so pretty sure we, we, we got a group text, like all of us, like, Hey, this is, this is casting is happening.

And you were like, Ooh, yeah. Well about that. So, and business, we got great, great reviews from, from, uh, both casting. So well done team. Well done. Well done. And, uh, I want to say well done to the agents locally and well done to the actors locally as well, because I've been super impressed with how the agents have been jumping on things and the, the amount of work they do for their talent, it goes, you know, like it doesn't, they don't always land the gigs, you know, and, and they put so much effort in for their talent to show up and to be there and to communicate.

It's really hard. I mean, Shea can talk into this more than I can. We, we have such a great relationship with the local agents here and there. Um, what's so cool is they're always down to, because if, if I'm in it, they're in it too. So, um, me and the agents are constantly communicating, whether it be via email or phone or text or whatever. And this is through the night, ladies and gentlemen.

So this is, you know, can be at midnight when I'm texting a local agent, like, Hey, did, did Sam Smith get in or, or whatever? Like there's, there's all these different things and they are so down to, to do that with me on, you know, and, and I always make a joke because it never fails that we get a casting at about 4 PM on a Friday, every time.

And, you know, and you expect that it's, it's going to be harder to, to communicate and all that stuff. And the agents are, are there and they're down, you know, and even one is like, Hey, I'm, I'm grabbing lunch for, for my mom. You know, let me email you in a second. Or, Hey, I'm at the grocery store. Let me pull over in the bean aisle so I can get this done.

And they do that. And, and that's, what's so cool is just, um, they're so down for their talent and they're so down for us. And some of them are, there's such a quick turnaround too. Like this one, this one, Matt gave it to us. And then at noon on Monday. Right. And then it was on Tuesday was the casting itself. And on Wednesday was the callback. Yeah.

So it was just like nonstop. I mean, it's crazy. Well, Shea talks about this. It's a very much a game of hurry up and wait. A hundred percent. Yeah. So, so. Well, and that's our industry in general is hurry up and wait. And I think that when you deal with that mentality, it's, it's cool because you're training yourself on all areas of life. It's this idea of this willingness to say yes.

Yeah. Right. Like when, when something comes up, I'm going to say yes. I'm going to go all in as hard as it takes till I get through it knowing that, yeah, we'll take a break on the other side. But really, you know, I, I just going to say yes. That's what I'm going to do. Matter of fact, I heard some stress. I felt some stress in your voice, Shea.

Yeah. But you were calm and you just said, I think your words were something like, well, well, we're just going to do it. And I was like, are you okay? And you're like, well, we're just going to do it. And I just figure it out. And I love that. I mean, it's so, it's so great to just have that mentality and say, okay, like, I don't know how, but we're going to do it.

We're going to find a way. Well, and I think a huge part of that is having each other too. Yeah. Yeah. Because I mean, we felt that too with you gone. Like it was so amazing to have each other to, to really build the other person up. And you're really great about that. You're doing that constantly. So not having you here, we were forced to do it more than even we're used to.

So like you'd notice Shea would get stressed and we would come relieve her stress. I would be stressful in the morning, like right at the beginning, trying to think of something and Joey would come grab me and relieve my stress. Like we would just like, you're probably worried about your, your next marriage. Yeah. I was thinking about marriage all the time. He's singing about it. I was like, how am I going to build up my marriage business?

I mean, between that and funerals, he's just, I'm just, I'm going up. I'm just trying to get some more good photo shows of myself. I need to get you some bar mitzvahs, man. Right. Yeah. Bar mitzvahs would be great. That's a really good one. La chayim, my friend. La chayim. Oh, that was great. Thank you. No, but he's, he's right. And it really does take a village.

And I think that's what people, um, is a, it's a very common misconception with casting is that, um, they think there's this, this team of people and yes, there is, but there's also eight other teams that are part of the same project that, um, are involved and, and well, I think it, I think it's even less like people think it's just one person. Yeah, exactly. I think there's the casting director and then that's it, you know, and really, at least that's not the way we do it.

I mean, maybe it's the way other places do it, but for us, we have a team, we have, we each have a position and we, and we, we execute. And the whole idea is it doesn't matter who takes what position. What matters is that client is happy that the talent have an experience at our place. That our clients have an experience that they come here for the callback and, and we, we want it to be special.

We want everyone to be special. And then that's a hard to do because each one is unique and you have to, you have to treat it like it's its own thing. Yeah. I think it's really cool. Like to see actors come in for multiple different castings, like within a couple of weeks. Oh yeah. Because they get super hyped and then it's like, it's like, I literally just saw you yesterday for like a different casting and you're back in it today.

Like you're back on your grind. You're auditioning just like we're working. Well, and what's hard for them is the same as what's hard for us. So if you think about today, it's, it's probably a little harder for you guys to get motivated, to be actively into like the work and the grind and whatnot, because you're not forced to, right? So think about for an actor when they're in the grind of the auditioning, it's like, yeah, I got two in a row.

I got three days in a row of, of, of castings where I get to go and audition. Well, what are you doing on that next day? Yeah. Yeah. And you should be auditioning for yourself at your house, scheduling something in to better yourself in some way. That way, if you're doing that every day, when the audition comes, you're totally prepared for it. Yeah, absolutely. That's interesting that you say that I just had a student call me the other day and I was stuck in traffic on the 10 and, um, Oh good.

You were answering. Yeah, I was about to say, didn't you just say in the last podcast that you don't answer your phone? But I needed, I had, I had made it a priority to call her and, um, and I was in back to back traffic. I was like, all right, let me stick on the Bluetooth. And we talked and it was so interesting cause she asked me, she had already made the decision to do something about an audition.

Um, and then she said, what would you give me advice for to do next time? And I thought it was so cool cause it was like, she had made the decision, was happy with the decision, sent in whatever she needed to send in. And then I was like, okay, so this is the stress that I was going through dealing with this certain circumstance. And I told her about, um, the recent experience I had with a, with a voiceover audition that I did.

And it was so funny because I sent in the audition and we came in here to do a podcast and Matt said, okay, let me hear it. And we, we went over it and he said, okay, good. Now let's talk about what you could have done better on that take. And it was like kind of funny because you're going, I just sent it in. I can't, but what was awesome is it didn't matter what the audition script was.

It didn't matter what it was, but I got to go back through it and we did find something that would have made it better. And, and it didn't, it wasn't like, oh man, I should have done that. It was, oh, how great that I can take what, you know, cause I made the decision to send in what I had and then how can we make it better for next time?

So I can take whatever script and, and evolve it and whatever. So it's just always, it goes back to that. Okay. You've got these great couple of days. You've got these great auditions. You turned in that great paper. Now, what are you going to do on the fourth day when you don't have anything to do when you're not forced? Well, and I, I talked about this to the teen class specifically.

Um, I was like, you, you don't understand how lucky you are to have all the technology you have. Like literally you can do self tapes on your phone or ring light. Isn't that expensive if you really want a nice light, you know, and you just get a little tripod. You should be filming stuff every single day, like every single day. That wasn't an option 10 years ago.

It wasn't even an option. And now it's like, you can literally do like the newer phones. It's like the, the picture's crazy good, like insanely good. And you could just learn how to do that and be pumping them out continuously. And it's really, it's really not even technically about the videos. No. Like you could put up a piece of cardboard that's shaped like a phone or a camera and hit the imaginary record button.

And if you're doing it every day, it's really the process that's making you better. Yeah. It's not even the video quality. Yeah. You're right. A hundred percent. So, um, as I said, I was in Disney World. Disney World. And it's pretty, uh, pretty great there. Happiest place on earth. So they say, this is a crazy stat. They put in these new, um, people movers. It's called the skyline.

It's basically like a, uh, ski lift. Oh, okay. You can get on and off. And in six months, since it's, since they've opened this thing, they have moved 7 billion people. Billion with a B. 7 billion people in six months. Hmm. That's crazy. That's how many people are on the earth and they have moved that many people. I mean, of course, some people multiple times. Yeah. They've moved people 7 billion times.

It's still insane. It's insane. Insane. How do they even tally that? They, they, I watch them click every time someone gets on, click, click, click. I mean, they, you think about it, a business like that, they're in the, they are in the business of moving people. That's really what they're in the business of. So the more people they can get inside and keep occupied and entertained and moving from one thing to the next, the more money they can make.

I mean, that's really what it's all about. So, yeah, so, so the analytics on that thing is huge for them. They want to know how many people can I get from one park to the other or from one resort to the park or whatever. That's nuts. Nuts. Like crazy. 7 billion people. And it hasn't been open that long, that one, right? You said like six months. Six months.

That's, that's just like, where's it going to be in another, like, ah, I can't even. 14 billion. Probably 14. Probably. In another six months. If, if they're doing their stuff right. I mean, you never want to go down. That's true. Yeah. And, and it doesn't, it doesn't even connect all the parks yet. That's the other thing. Oh, wow. Oh my goodness. Yeah. So, I mean, it's. Is it like a tram?

Or do you get in a ski lift? You get in like a ski lift thing, but it's nice. Oh, wow. You FaceTimed me when you were in it. Yeah. Yeah. I remember. Well, it's funny because everybody's mind works a little differently, you know? And it's really easy to, I used to do this. I would just straight up shut down anybody who wasn't the same, like, kind of mindset as I am.

Like, the silly or, like, empathetic, loving, whatever. And I forget that there's other people's. Awesome, handsome, good looking. No, but. You know, they officiate. It was not exactly like me. No, I just mean, like, outgoing. All right, that's not what I mean. No. Fantastical. Like, dress shirt. Like, magical. Like, like the. Like-minded. Energy, like, I don't know, like, like, wonderfulness. Yeah, you're killing me. Like, like, like dress shirt.

Outgoing. Outgoing. Big smile. Full of joy, buddy. Outgoing. All right, go ahead. Matt's back, everybody. The people who are internal and, like, just because their brains operate at different levels and, like, this, like, the engineers, they don't operate that way. They don't act that way. And so I'd just be like, well, that's not. Like, you must just be boring or you must, like, whatever. And I'd write people off, like, honestly.

And you helped me through this with the kids' class. Like, there are certain kids, too, whose brains are that way, who just, like, think differently. Yeah, and what's cool about the kids' class, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but the kids turn into adults. They're the same people. You can see the same types. Yeah. You know, you're like, oh, you're going to be this kind of person. Yeah.

Like, I can already see you as the adult over here. It's interesting. Absolutely. But they all have their own backstories, right? Is that what you're going to say? Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. Like, everybody's got their own thing that's led them to who they are. And if you can remember that, like, you don't know what theirs is and you can just love them anyway, then it's going to be okay.

And you find a way to tap in. Yes. Because if you can tap in the way that it works with them, you finally get to their center, which is also love. Yeah. It's just a different way in. Yeah. Cool. I love that, Bri Guy. Thanks. Can I, um, I really want to bring this up because it was something that, like, hit my heart and we were talking about commercials.

Something hit your heart on Valentine's? Yes. Yes. Was it Jake with an arrow? So, oh my gosh. He's so great. I got home to, I, so Shea brings in these Valentine's things for all of us. And of course I'm like, great. I didn't do anything for anybody. And we just looked at each other and she's like, happy Valentine's day. And I was like, you too, babe. And she's like, can we just take a knee this year and we'll just go out to dinner next week when there's no crowds.

I'm like, babe, you were speaking my language. We've had so many crowds in the last week. Okay. Sorry. No. And, and that's, what's interesting about Valentine's day. I'm sorry, but this is what I was going to ask you. So because of that, I was actually curious, is there a lot of pressure on Jake for Valentine's because you, you apparently love Valentine's. I love Valentine's day. And I was talking to my mother about this this morning because there was a couple of years ago where I was the most ungrateful B word and I, um, we were in college bird.

Yeah. I was an ungrateful bird. And, uh, I was in college and, and Jake didn't do anything that day. And I was so upset for some stupid reason. And I was crying in my car on the way to his dorm room. Mind you, we had no money. We had no money. And, um, on the way to his dorm room and I was sobbing and a guy next to me on university and Tempe rolls down his window and he goes, are you okay?

And I was like, Oh yeah, I'm fine. You know? And I get to his dorm, whatever. And I just like happy Valentine's day. Yeah. I just made the biggest fit over it. And I, and I, it's one moment in our relationship. I mean, I'm sure there's many where I was wrong. I often am, but I thought I was so wrong and so rude. And so ever since then, cause Brian brought it up yesterday, he goes, you buy gifts for Jake for Valentine's day.

And I said, yeah, I do. And I always go overboard because I love this day to celebrate how good he is to me and how much he does for our family. And it's unbelievable the amount of, of, of love and, and things that he does. So what did, so what did he, what did he do for you this year? I don't know. I don't know. But I did get home last night to two dozen long stem roses.

Okay. So there's a lot of pressure on Jake. There's a lot of pressure on Jake. Cool. Whether you realize it or not, there's a lot of pressure. But I felt, when she said that to me though, I was like, I was like, wait a sec. Like you, you, you're getting him things? Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know that was a thing. I love the opportunity to, like last year I decorated our whole house.

Right. And I love the opportunity to just give to him as, as much as I can and make it a big deal and get the, cause you guys know, I hate buying cards because they're so expensive. And I love buying the $9 Hallmark card that he's going to read and throw away. Like it's just a beautiful day. And then today was such a cool day. Cause I went to go get all, I had so many errands to run.

I had so much stuff to do this morning and I go to this one place and this guy gives me a flower and he goes, happy Valentine's day. Just want to let you know, gives it to me. I see the UPS guy outside. So I run and grab my flower. I want to clarify this for Jake. If he's listening, the guy, the guy was giving flowers to all the girls who buy food from chop shop.

He wasn't like, Hey, you're cute. Here's a flower. Yeah. No, this was like something that the business was doing Jake. So yes. Yes. And so the UPS guy comes in, Jeff, who we finally figured out his name, um, with the, with the blonde Mohawk. Oh yeah. Cause he came in the cast. We had to earn that relationship with Jeff. We really had to earn that. Cause he's, he was a tough, tough nut to totally a tough cookie.

And I said, here you go. And I give him a flower. And he said, he was so taken aback. And I said, you can get, you can keep that or you can gift it to somebody who needs it today. And he goes, cool. He goes, are you single this Valentine's day? And I said, no, I'm not. My, um, I have a husband. That's exactly what I said.

And he goes, Oh, cool. He said, I was just asking, cause I've been giving roses to all my, um, my nice women single clients today. No, but it was so innocent. You guys, this guy can't give it to the old married women. I don't know what's going on. This guy can't be more than like all the single women, but it was so cute. Every single girl that's out there.

No, it was cute. I'm just curious what your, what your response was to that. I said, I said, Oh, that's so nice. I hope, I hope some lady takes that rose and, and you have a Valentine's day date tonight. Yeah. And he says, me too. And then we ended that conversation. I'll tell you, it was cool. Sorry. I'm sorry. I was going to wrap it. Go ahead.

Okay. You can wrap it. I just want to say for him, it was cool to watch him get clapped. He came in and the casting was happening and everybody clapped for him. Yeah. All the actors. All the actors. So that's, that's all I wanted to say, but it was cool to watch that happen. So it was cool. Cause I think he realized, okay, it's not just us.

Yeah. It's like, this is a real thing that we do. And you know, they just, he just, and it's not just him. Actually, I think people, they like it better when they realize it's not just them. Oh, exactly. When they realize it's, it's who we are and that we're not doing it for you. Cause when, when, if they feel like we're doing it for them, they feel this sense of pressure.

It's like getting a Valentine's day card on Valentine's. You didn't give anything to anybody else. See, but okay. I want to, I want to touch on that. I didn't get one. That's good. No, I'm not feeling bad. I'm just saying at this point in time, I feel a little bit of pressure for either this year or next year. No, no. To make sure I remember Shea. Cause I don't.

And I want to touch on that. At least you got one. That's really nice. I want to touch on that. I haven't given them yet. So hold on. But I want to touch on that before we wrap, because it's not about that. I know it isn't. That's the thing. I know, but it's hard. And I know you think that. And I thought, you know what? It would be so cool.

I should let the boys know how much they're loved and that they're my Valentine's too. I mean, was there any guilt because I got you a bear last year? Is that, is that worth it? And who ended up with the bear? Brian, probably. That's a good question. I think I have a bear sign. I thought you, oh no, you bought yourself. Do you have a bear? I bought myself one and I bought you one, which is hilarious.

That was my bear. What? You didn't get one. You didn't get a bear. I just remember coming home and going, who got you that bear? And he was like, he was just a big pause. He was like, I did. Can I please end the podcast? Yes. All right. We'd like to give everyone a big bear hug here on Valentine's Day. Oh wow, that was just. That is the end of our podcast.

Thank you for listening. Happy Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day. February 2020. And have a dearing day.