3. Alex Rose Wiesel
Creator's Cafe Episode 3. Alex Rose Wiesel: Acting Authentically - Sexy Sausages and Neck Flashlights with host Jessica Payne of Kika Labs
In this episode, Alex Rose Wiesel examines the psychology of owning a career full of progress and success. She is an advocate for self-directed creative power and inspires me to take a strong point of view.
Show Notes:
Follow Alex:
Alex Rose Wiesel IMDB Reel
@alexrose720
Alex's LinkTree
Follow Jessica:
More info and resources at | www.kikalabs.com
Follow the Show | @creatorscafebykikalabs
Facebook Group | Creator's Cafe by Kika Labs
Alex's Quotes:
"The catalyst for creation for me is a point of view."
On getting representation: "You don't have to force a spark with someone who is not your energy."
Tactic: Create a Google Doc - "Who do I know that could help my representation?"
Creator's Challenge:
A Different Point of View with Alex Rose Wiesel
Take a portion of a piece of work you've made (or a monologue, song, paragraph, scene, dance phrase, piece of art, etc.) and recreate it with a drastically different point of view."
#creatorscafechallenge #cccAlexRose
Mentioned:
Improv Olympics (IO) - Cofounder of Pumps
USC
AMDA College of the Performing Arts
Living Living Donor - UPMC
Easy Red for Anywhere Tools Neck flashlight on QVC
Bio:
My guest, Alex Rose Wiesel is an actor, educator, improviser, and host. You might have seen her on shows such as So Random, Heart of Dixie, Two and a Half Men, House of Lies, and Dexter. Her theatre credits span from Les Miserables to Lucky Stiff and from Disney musicals to Scooby Doo. Alex is a founding member of the first all female main stage improv team and IO West called
Creator's Cafe with Jessica Payne of Kika Labs
Host Jessica Payne of Kika Labs breaks down the subtle and the sublime of the creative process with inspiring artists at the Creator's Cafe.
Find out more info on the show and host Jessica Payne.
Offering digital courses, performance coaching, and more! www.kikalabs.com
Jessica's Featured Course:
If you or someone you know is on the job search, check out her digital course "Level Up Your Video Interviews."
More info and resources at | www.kikalabs.com
Watch the video podcast on YouTube | YouTube Creator's Cafe Podcast Playlist
Follow the Show | @creatorscafebykikalabs
Facebook Group | Creator's Cafe by Kika Labs
Transcripts and YouTube Links at | www.kikalabs.com/creators-cafe-shownotes
Theme Music
Our theme music is composed and performed by Kyle deTarnowsky.
Transcript:
Jessica
Welcome to Creators Cafe. I'm your host, Jessica Payne. I'm a performer, performance coach and multi-hyphenate creator. I'm going to be bringing you conversations with some of my favorite creators where we talk about the sublime, the specifics of the creative journey. So grab a drink, get cozy.
Let's go. My guest, Alex Rose Wiesel is an actor educator, improviser and host.
You might have seen her on shows such as Hart of Dixie, So Random, Two and a Half Men, House of Lies, or Dexter. She has theater credits from Lamest to Lucky Stiff at Disney to Scooby-Doo. Alex is a founding member of the first all female mainstage improv team at Iowa West called Pump's Comedy, which she toured with nationally and internationally. She might have sold you breakfast sandwiches or neck flashlights, and she's going for her doctorate in education. Alex is a ray of sunshine with resting nice face and a passionate advocate for change. Please enjoy my chat with Alex Rose Wiesel.
Alex, welcome. What are you drinking?
Alex
I am drinking a black iced coffee, which is amazing. Sometimes I'll do a little splash of alternative Malcolm there. But today we're just going black iced coffee, and it is delicious.
Alex
Perfect.
Jessica
So how do you think of yourself as a creator? If you had to kind of give yourself all the titles that you regularly go to, what would you say?
Alex
I think my brain automatically always like, Oh, I'm an actor, and then I take a second. I'm like, Oh, wait a second. I'm not only an there are other things and other facets that I think go with that. And I never call myself a writer, but then was on sketch and improv teams and we shot sketches and musical bits that we wrote and I guess so that I can give myself that little credit of some comedy writing.
Alex
I love improv and I call myself an improviser. I was part of the first all female improv team at what's called comedy that I'm very proud of, although none of my girls from home still live in Los Angeles, so they're all over. So we're not really performing with that crew right now, but very proud of that and very excited about all things improv.
Alex
And I host a host on QVC and cell neck flashlights. Very exciting.
Alex
I'll be there this week. Tune in. Wait, I.
Jessica
Have to stop you for that, which shows that we like a head lamp, but it's on. Yeah, it's on your neck.
Alex
I have it in my car. I'll give you one if you'd like.
Alex
I'm so excited. And QVC, neck flashlight.
Alex
Wear, neck, flashlight and jokes are going.
Alex
Oh.
Jessica
Okay, great. Well, since I'm sure we'll talk about a lot of the other things in depth. How did you get the QVC gig? Have you done hosting before and how do you like that?
Alex
Yeah. So this I guess it's crazy because I've always thought I'm like, wow, that's really fine. That's really cool. I would love working on QVC. And you always I would always see the castings, always. I would always do the casting things and being like, Oh, that's how much they make. But you got to live in West Chester and all this kind of stuff.
Alex
I was like, I don't know if I want to move to Westchester and California. I want to stay in California. Over the pandemic, some companies were looking for guest hosts and my commercial agent reached out to me and she was like, Oh, will you put this on tape? It's to be a DIY expert. And I was like, Oh, interesting DIY expert.
Alex
Okay, I'm not really a big.
Alex
I had just moved into a new place and we.
Alex
Had done some stuff around the house cause it was pandemic and do stuff at home. So I was like, Oh, I can figure out something. And she's like, Here's the list of things that you can like pretend that you know how to use. And one of them weighs a.
Alex
Is a drill. A drill.
Jessica
Don't make a hand drill.
Alex
Yeah, yeah, drill, drill. It was a hand drill.
Alex
And I was like, Great, I'll use it. So I put up like me backdrop in the garage. I had this hand drill. I sat at my fiance's tool desk thing in the garage.
Alex
I know nothing thing. I don't know terms, which was very apparent from the video.
Alex
And I kept referring to this thing as like and this guy like.
Alex
This drill this guy. And then I'm going to put these bits.
Alex
And I opened this thing thinking there was all these like drill bits in it and there was nothing in it. And that and I was like, Oh, this is embarrassing. Like it's just a total crash and burn. Yeah, I'm so I finally got one. I'm like, you know, it's kind of cute, though. Like, it's kind of cute. It's kind of funny.
Alex
I'm going to send it in. And I sent it to her and she was like, Oh, this is really bad.
Alex
Like, it's not supposed to be funny. Like, it's supposed.
Alex
To be informative. Like, you can be like a little cute, but this is like way too cute, like, not into it. And I was like, okay, let me try again. So it back. I, like, researched. I watched some other people, especially from QVC, doing things about tools, and I was like, okay.
Alex
That's the information here. Let me try again. And I did it again.
Alex
And I sent her and she's like.
Alex
Still not good really is like, it's not great. And I was like, okay.
Alex
And I ended up writing back. I tried so hard and I was just kind of like defeated at this point. So I was like, you know, I really appreciate the opportunity and I am trying, but maybe we can wait until there's like something about kitchen tools or like art, like something that I'm more interested in that I feel more prepared to do.
Alex
And she was like, Yeah, that's a great idea. I didn't realize that she had actually sent in the first video anyway, so months later I had a call from this other company that was like, I guess what QVC was doing at the time was they were getting all these videos from actors, so they have a little bank and then they could show their clients the ad products, the possible guest hosts they could use, and they would pluck one and train them on their product and then use them as our guest.
Alex
And this company Easy Red for Anywhere Tools found my video and liked it. And it was the original video that she said where I call them the.
Alex
Tools guys and stuff like that. But I worked on it and I love it so much. I love that.
Jessica
It was just very honest and real and funny and, you.
Alex
Know, and it worked out.
Alex
So it's a testament to authenticity.
Alex
Absolutely. And to me, something else I love that so much of the.
Jessica
Show is that the main company that you work with for QVC.
Alex
Something I've worked with for see, I think technically with their system, it's a little different now because now they really are in the studio. So I have to get like a special permission to go and do it from Skype now and then. I have been going out in October or fall, I guess, once a year to do this like TSB, and it's today's special value and it's where you're in something like 20 different shows throughout 24 hour period of QVC.
Alex
So I did fly to Westchester for like 48 hours in October and did like 20 heads and just slept there the whole night and stayed in the studio the whole day and just did like 20 hits on QVC, live in the studios. That was really fun.
Jessica
That's so cool. MM We find ourselves in very odd situations.
Alex
I think that off and I think to myself, especially like as an actor and going to am there where we met and I went to college there and my brain is always like, Oh wow, this is what I went to school for, I went to school for this. I'm flying that class.
Alex
Like I am very well-trained and I wanted this like I want. That's what I'm like.
Alex
Oh, hey, this is so funny. Like the comedy is who is like, so excited that they get to tell my class? I really am.
Alex
You are.
Jessica
So who better? That's perfect.
Alex
That's right. Okay.
Jessica
I also know that you have a successful commercial career. I my personal favorite is Sexy Cheeseburger. I love it. It's so perfect. If you want to see this, check this out on her IMDB reel.
Alex
Yeah, it's the visceral is amazing.
Alex
I think actually, it's been my commercial agent that got me the QVC side job thing. I'm she. I loved her. I was with her for so long and now she works. I believe in management. So we're not together anymore, commercially or representation wise and she still has the full thing on that agency, YouTube. So you can still find a good Carls Junior commercial, some sausage breakfast sandwich that's a little phallic.
Alex
I don't know if it aged like the best.
Jessica
But I think it's this celebration of sensual pleasure.
Alex
Yes, great leave is easy to.
Jessica
Use in the context of selling a breakfast sandwich. So yeah. No, I love it. That was another like this. Is this is what we train for.
Alex
It kind of totally is.
Alex
And I love that commercials for so many reasons. One, at the time I booked it, it was so iconic because it was Kate and just done one and was like the sexy Carl's junior Hardee's campaigns and Kate Upton did one and it was just like the back seat of everyone's like, Wow.
Alex
She is so gorgeous. So book this was like, Oh man, I'm not going to film this commercial. Everyone would be like, Who? She she's so gorgeous.
Alex
Mine barely ever.
Alex
Ran.
Alex
But I still use it when I'm teaching with our eighth semester students in acting when they graduate, we do a little like a two week section on commercial, which is that little actually it's very intensive and whoever is teaching with me that semester, we usually bring out a couple of our favorite commercials that we've done through the years, and I always share that one with students.
Alex
And I'm like, this line, is everything great and everything terrible all at once?
Alex
Let me share it.
Jessica
It's kind of perfect. You also have one where you're diving off a cliff into the ocean.
Alex
This is. Yeah, So that one.
Alex
I love that one too, for a whole different reason. These are like the two that I share with students because they're just to me, my favorite story is back commercial. And that one I love because the only reason I booked it was because I matched the girl that was actually jumping into the ocean is not me. It's another woman.
Alex
Okay? And they were looking to like picture match someone or the like close up parts. So we filmed walking to the edge like you're about to jump in and we just went to a random beach at 6:00 in the morning and they were like, Great, go in the water. And all these people that we're filming how to get see, it's on.
Alex
And I was in this little bikini. It was so cool. I really do think they are in the ocean and they're like, okay, now just pop up.
Alex
Pop up like you just like jumped in the water. And I'm like, Oh, man.
Alex
I don't feel any part of my body like, cool. So cool. Wow.
Alex
Yeah, that was that one.
Alex
Well.
Alex
And it wasn't like a cool rock that on a great day, it's sort of the guys being in, like total wetsuits filming. And they were like.
Alex
Okay, one more time. And they're like, Well, it's really cool. And there was like, Oh yeah, yeah. They obviously. Wow.
Jessica
Perfect.
Alex
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. This is what we do.
Jessica
Yes, exactly. So you mentioned MDA. Yeah. So we met at MDA and I have to say, this is a really special day we're recording. For me personally, I am a living liver donor, which means I donated two thirds of my liver to my mom four years ago. Today was.
Alex
So cool.
Jessica
And it gave her an extra three years of life and it was beautiful and amazing. And if anybody ever wants to talk to me about it, I'm I love to advocate for it. And you were the person who covered for me while I was out in all of my classes. And it gave me such to know that I had someone so excellent and amazing with my students because we were both teaching acting at MDA College of the Performing Arts in Hollywood.
Jessica
And I could just hand over my classes and we co-taught when I got back and I couldn't.
Alex
Really see her, really.
Jessica
I look forward to getting to make things and do things with you again soon, but I just had to say thank you because it's really crazy to me that this is the day that we were able to record. It's such an important and special day in my life, and you were such a part of that. So thank you.
Alex
That means so much to me. And I don't I guess I don't even know if you know, but that is the whole you deciding to do that and being so generous with your mom and your life and all that. And that was how I got to teach it. And I wasn't teaching an hour to before that. So you were the entire reason that I'm teaching there.
Alex
And I tried for so many years to come back and teach there, even to the point of really getting my master's. And after I got my master's, I was talking to the dean of the college and say, like, I really want to teach her. And he's like, Oh, when you graduate, let us know. And there was never an opening and there was never anything than randomly got an email.
Alex
And they were like, Well, we have a teacher that's going to leave for a.
Alex
While to do that.
Alex
Would you maybe meet with her and like, she'll fill you in and you can cover? And that's how I started teaching it.
Alex
I was so excited, beautiful. It was a.
Alex
Very I'm very thankful for all the good things that you did, too, because it was so it was such a gift for me.
Alex
That's so beautiful. Yeah, I have to stuff. That's nice. Oh, and that's so perfect.
Jessica
And I'm, you know, I stepped away from teaching there last year, but you're still there. You're still in it. And we were. We were there before the pandemic took. The students remote through the pandemic figured out how to do that. And now you're back in person. What is it like teaching, acting right now? Because we're in the middle of the strike in Hollywood.
Jessica
It's such a weird inflection point immediately right now, but also just it's been a weird couple of years. What is teaching acting like? What do you like about it? What's good? What are some of the challenges?
Alex
Yeah, so.
Alex
I think what I love.
Alex
About it and what I love, especially teaching I am, that is the community that is that. And I've taught in other colleges as well. I taught at Cal State Northridge, I got my grad degree and great schools, so fine. But it and everyone wants to be doing what you're teaching. They're very into you. So teaching acting at a Cal State.
Alex
School, while it was cool.
Alex
I would say like 90% of my students in class had no interest in like being a professional actor. They just want to take the class for an elective or to be better at public speaking or what valid reasons, but much more exciting when everyone in class is just so into the art that I'm passionate about too and that you're passionate about.
Alex
So it's really cool to be in that community. That's my favorite thing about teaching. They're one of the I guess the biggest struggle for me is going to a school in which I was taught in a time and in a way that doesn't really align with how I see art and how I see the world and how I want to teach.
Alex
So I think that was the biggest struggle for me is going back to syllabi that don't necessarily, I think, honor the community of artists, but we teach in the way that maybe we both would like to honor them. And I think that problem is solved by giving students more choice and focusing less on, I guess, less broad strokes, but focusing less on typecasting and saying, Hey, you look like best.
Alex
I know what you should be doing in class. I think that's kind of a poor model for a conservatory college. And a better model is, you know.
Alex
Who you are.
Alex
You're growing into an artist and you're going to have to define that for yourself and run this artistic business as an individual. You tell me what you're interested in and let me help you hone into something that's going to be useful for you. So I think that's that's the biggest problem that I see. I think in conservatory arts teaching that I like to not solve, but try and offer opportunities that go further away from that.
Alex
Everyone is doing this kind of work. Absolutely, but only serves people right.
Jessica
And I think that's something we both consistently advocate for. And it's powerful to have you in the classroom doing that. So that's a big deal.
Alex
Same. But it is hard because I think we where you were teaching and where I teach is it's has such a great history and such a long history. And it's hard sometimes to change things that have been seen a certain way for so long. Yeah. So it's it's difficult, right? Change is hard.
Alex
Right.
Jessica
And especially when you're teaching something that does have this is the way we do it. There is a system, there is a tradition, and some of that works really well and some of that is can be damaging or limiting and having to kind of deconstruct.
Alex
The ship.
Jessica
While it's going.
Alex
And yes, he can.
Jessica
Keep the good but let go of the outdated is such a important challenge. But it's it's real.
Alex
It's real is.
Alex
It really is And there's I think that's that's the biggest challenge of what we were doing and yeah yeah.
Jessica
So since we're talking about this, if you could reimagine Hollywood, the entertainment industry, where would focus first? What are you the most passionate about? What would you like it to feel and look like?
Alex
I think what I want in my very logical kind of not mathematical, I'm not a very mathematical person, but very logical brain is that I want the career itself to make more sense.
Alex
I think for me, like, Oh my gosh, I think for a lot of us.
Jessica
I never even considered.
Alex
What you.
Jessica
Just said.
Alex
The way that you said it sounds.
Alex
I want to be like, Great, you've been here. You've been doing everything right for this amount of years. You're at this level. These are the opportunities you're getting. Once you get these opportunities, you'll be at this level and independent of your gender, your age, your ethnicity. None of it matters. It's you put this time in, Here you go, you put this time in here, you go next level and you're kind of like leveling up like in a video game.
Alex
So you're like, Oh, cool.
Alex
I'm here. I've joined the union, I've auditioned for two costars. I worked two costars. Now you can audition for guest stars. I wish it was like logical like that.
Alex
And I think.
Jessica
We both were kind of raised and trained in of that is maybe how it used to work or used to look more like that. And it it doesn't.
Alex
It doesn't at all.
Alex
So it's so doesn't. I think that's my biggest my biggest gripe and that's why I would change because I think it resonates with anyone. No matter who you are as an artist, you're kind of sold this.
Alex
Oh, yeah. Well, you know.
Alex
You got to do these things and when you do them right, that's that. You got to be in class all the time. You got to do this. You got to show up early to that issue and you got to network. You have to do all these things. But the reality is you could be doing everything so right and it could just not be the time for you.
Alex
And there is and that's such a hard.
Alex
Pill to swallow.
Alex
And to be like, okay, so it's not my time. I'm going to keep doing all these right things that gave me such a feeling of rejection. I'm going to swallow it and do it all again to maybe be in the same place again. It's like such a hard. So yeah, yeah, I would just change it that we all kind of if you do the work you get the, you get the pride.
Alex
Yeah.
Jessica
Kind of in martial arts earning the next belt you. I wish it was like that. You need to earn it, you need for the work and you also need to have the skills. Yeah, but if you do it, go somewhere.
Alex
I would. I would love that. Yeah, I would love that.
Jessica
So how do you deal with that? Because you specialize in the classes for the students who are about to graduate, who are. So you're bringing in agents and you're bringing in managers and you're talking to them about how to best prepare. So I guess part of my question is how do you do that for them? But also how do you do that, knowing how hard it is yourself?
Jessica
Because that's so hard to stand behind that. And and honestly, you've had beautiful career successes, so you've got wonderful things to stand on. But how do you navigate that day in and day out?
Alex
I think what you're saying is kind of a it's that you we get like these little wins, not little wins, and then we're really big wins, but you get these wins and that kind of for policy forward for all the times that you're not getting wins. So there's a couple stories that I like to share when I teach.
Alex
And one of them that I think kind of resonates with this is. And so for season one, I got an audition for a one line costar where the casting assistants were putting people on tape and it was just one line and they had like a little flip camera ask thing. Back in the day they were taping People line and it was like one line, do it twice, leave like slit your name to take the line.
Alex
And I remember being like.
Alex
Oh, I think of it like a little Southern twang.
Alex
On my name, like just a little, because I were in Alabama and I felt so good about the audition. I was like. That's going to be my first.
Alex
Really cool role and ready for this.
Alex
It's such a big deal. Drove up to Warner Brothers to audition and you never heard anything. And five years later, for four or five years later, you're on. They're different reps, different heads. I was so young at the time the first season came out. So I think that the final season of that show that I worked on was in 2014 or 2015, so it had to be like 2010.
Alex
It was a baby. So right this time I'd have like new headshots, new representation. Everything was different about my career was much more settled and I got called in for the last season and I left. And it was different casting than was casting the first season. So I was like, Oh, they've never even met me. This is just, you know, I'm getting called in for a role.
Alex
So cool, I have a great representation. And that's probably why and I got to Warner Brothers, it was a different part of the studio. There was a long line of girls, women standing outside that we're all kind of short brunets and I'm tall. I'm like five nine and blond too. Funny. No one looks like me. And as I'm waiting in line, I'm realizing that they're all talking about all these callbacks that they've been to for this role.
Alex
They were like, Oh, I've been like, this. The third callback I've had. I wonder if, like, they've got to pick someone soon because it's supposed to start filming, like all these kind of talks. I'm like, That's so interesting. I was the last person to go in, and I went and I brought my hard copy headshot and we're still doing that back then.
Alex
And I tried to give it to the casting director and his associate or assistant that was with him, and she goes, No, I don't need your head shattering habit. And I was like.
Alex
I don't audition for this.
Alex
And that associate for this new casting that was doing this. See the final season of the show, which they didn't know was the final season at the time. She had a computer print out of my head shot from five years ago in black and white. Wow. I was like an old headshot. I was like, Oh my gosh, Actually, I put it together and everyone is like, That.
Alex
Girl.
Alex
Did think I did a good job back then.
Alex
She had like booked.
Alex
Mercury somehow and taken that to the next casting office she was at. And then something happened where the director of that episode, I was like, Ooh, I think this person should be tall and blond or a different look or a different vibe for this character. And she had me and pulled me into this final callback about it from that one audition.
Alex
So I guess that was a long story to get to answer your question, to say, that's kind of what keeps you going and or me going and those stories are what I like to tell students in classes like this. But preparing for the industry is like you're always planting seeds. And every time you tell yourself that, like, Wow, that's such a rejection.
Alex
Like, I can't believe I didn't book.
Alex
You don't know, You don't know. Like, there's such a.
Alex
Better thing down the road for you and I still and that's where I try to live and try to live. That's where I do live every day because obviously my career is not where I want it to be. I don't think most people's careers are where they want it to be. So that is. But Propellor is like, Oh, you know, I've been here for a while and there's a lot of scenes that I don't know what's going to sprout.
Alex
Absolutely.
Alex
Any day something can happen that will change the whole game.
Jessica
Yeah, there's the story of I think it's bamboo. It actually roots for about five years and you can't see it. And then all of a sudden it will shoot up.
Alex
That's, that's acting career for me. My brain. I'm like, this is. We're bamboo. Yeah.
Jessica
Yeah. Planting the seeds, trusting.
Alex
We keep on keeping on. Yeah.
Jessica
Okay. Beautiful. When you're talking to students about getting representation, what are your top hits? Because I know you.
Alex
Have you have.
Jessica
Had really great representation, which is not true for everyone. Yeah. And you've been doing this a long time, and you kind of have been doing everything right, and that's not the answer. But that is an important step for a lot of people. Yeah. So what do you what did you do and what do you recommend?
Alex
So for really long.
Alex
Time I was just kind of throwing spaghetti on a wall and see what stuck with representation. And I explain it to students like this to you. Like it's like online dating. So which is really, really cool right out of college students. So it's very, you know, we're all kind of in this world.
Alex
Where.
Alex
You've been single in the last ten years. You've probably tried to online date. So I kind of talk about it similarly is that you, when you're starting out especially, you don't know a lot of people and you kind of just have to put your best foot forward, your best headshot and your resume and see if there's any interest.
Alex
And I don't think it's so fruitful to go after things that are interested in you. So if you're not getting any response, you can kind of let those doors closed for a little while. And what I tell students to do is in my throwing spaghetti and so all tactic now especially, it's free to reach out so you can send emails.
Alex
Whereas when I was doing it, it was.
Alex
Very expensive and you put them in, you know, envelopes.
Alex
And. You want to get clear envelopes and see your headshot and open it up. It's all such a game. So for this play and the costumes, it's cheap. So do your research, get on whatever you use. I use I do pro at the time, especially then and still now. If I need representation, I'll go to people that are like one level above me where I want to be so I just graduated college.
Alex
Maybe I'm looking for people that have like one episode on certain shows, but they've worked a couple times in the last year and who's wrapping than? Ideally, I'm finding people that don't look exactly like my type, that look a little different, that are working often and maybe I see on a especially theatrically commercially film, but theatrically, I want to see that I'm kind of not like a big fish in a small pond, but I'm like the only fish that looks like me.
Alex
Yeah. So you stand be brand of this, right? Absolutely.
Jessica
So you stand out in that audition line? Yeah.
Alex
So when they're.
Alex
Submitting for something, I want to be the one that you think of for that. I mean, I think even if not everyone's so different and my girlfriends that we look the same and headshots, we are such different energy and we're different. But the right role for me won't be for her. So it's like that's kind of irrelevant. But yeah, so that's what I'll do.
Alex
I'll send out all those emails and whoever responds, put them in a little folder, even if their response is like, Hey, our roster is full, but thank you for sending. If I got any sort of nibble on the real, they go into a different folder in my. So next time I'm looking at a couple of months, six months, a year, whatever I'm like, oh that person was at one time interested.
Alex
Maybe the spark ignites or maybe now is the right time. So that's the way that I find representation. And I think the dating metaphor analogy goes back to I just that's the best way to find someone. The best agent I ever had was another friend went into agent dating that I had known for a long time and he would interrupt me because he was like, like, I don't want your look.
Alex
Like it's not a great look for right now. It's okay. Like, I get it with this, but this person gave me a referral to one of the top five agencies in Los Angeles that someone that he knew there. And she is a big agency she was working on at the time. And we just met for drinks like a happy hour.
Alex
And it was like a date and it was like an agent actor date, and we just totally hit it off and became good friends with each other's birthday parties that you're like and just became like buddies. And she was the best agent I had ever had. I But she was such a good agent, not just for me, but for a lot of people.
Alex
And she got poached by an even bigger agency that took her, and she couldn't take her clients but loved her. So I think first spaghetti against the wall. Next try and find that, like, connection. Just, like. Just like when you're dating, not everyone is a spark. So you're not just, you know, you don't have to force a spark with someone who is not your energy.
Jessica
One of the things I like to ask is I think all of us as artists can times where we feel really vulnerable and it's easy to play small. So what scares you on a regular basis? It could be sharks or anything. What scares you on a regular basis and how do you choose to kind of find the courage to work through that and keep creating?
Alex
I love that question and I wish it was as simple as.
Alex
Sharks.
Alex
Will shout out my fiance, Chris, because he's very afraid of sharks.
Alex
But we love.
Alex
Him and his fear of sharks. He starts my fear like really pertaining to art. And I think as an artist it has to do with, I guess, the concept of shame. And I'm how to maintain a quality of life that is aligned with how I want to live in the age that I am, that sacrifice or doesn't feel like it's sacrificing my art.
Alex
So I think for myself, I struggle with this idea that, like, what is an artist mean? What does it mean to be an artist and to be called an act or to call myself an actor when someone asks me what I do? And I think the irony is that while I do sometimes post on QVC and sometimes work commercially and sometimes work theatrically in TV and film roles and teach it and die and going to USC for education, what pays my bills?
Alex
I sell medical equipment with my family and my brother, who runs the company. Now I purchase them, purchase medical equipment, but they never talk about that because I feel like that is a whole other world and it feels so far from this other career that I've dedicated my life to. But I'm still good at this other thing and it's still offering me so much.
Alex
So I think my fear is that if I give up some of these other things that are occupying this time, then I just have to sit in this lack of my acting career doing medical sales, which is honestly, it's a blessing that I get to do that. It's a blessing that all these things, I get to still act and do this.
Alex
How Cool. Is that anyway? I think the idea of lack and sitting with that lack is scary because I don't know when the next time I'll get to work on QVC again. I don't know when the next improv show is that I'm going to do again. So I think holding on to teaching I am is.
Jessica
Like, Well, now I have one foot.
Alex
In this like acting door. So even if I don't necessarily need that job financially, I feel like I kind of need it emotionally.
Alex
To an emotional city where acting, career, emotional support.
Alex
Jobs and I don't need that to still feel like I'm involved. And I think my fear is not having that, for lack of a better term, a crutch to fall back on, to say, Hey, I know, and I'm still relevant in acting. And I think I had that with improv for a really long time with my girls, with pants.
Alex
And that was my way to be like, Oh, well, if I don't have auditions, I have an improv show this week on the main stage, so, hey, you know, I'm still doing something. There's still something to promote artistically. You know, I'm not on Instagram saying how good I am at purchasing medical equipment.
Alex
So it's just not something that I really share with the world. Yeah.
Alex
Which is interesting and I guess from where we're both coming from and how we met and coming from, and then thinking about what I teach students, especially in that career prep class, is trying to maybe and maybe I'm trying to convince myself too, that it's okay to be proud of these other skills that we have and abilities that we have to care for ourselves and to give ourselves a good quality of life.
Alex
And when I talk about that with students a lot, and I guess the kind of darkly funny part about it is in here, we're talking about it, and I'm realizing that it is something that I'm not, not that I'm ashamed of it necessarily, but I don't share that with people, which is so interesting. And I bet there's a lot of people in that position as artists, as actors that are really wild, successful and capable and competent and do other things great in their life.
Alex
And they probably don't need with it because we're so attached to it.
Jessica
You never talk about it. Yeah. Thank you so much for talking so vulnerably about this, because this is kind of the dirty little secret of Hollywood, is that every actor you see probably 90% of them is paying the bills with something other than acting. Yeah, and I've met a.
Alex
Couple of people. A couple of people.
Jessica
In my life that are paying the bills with acting for multiple years at a time. Some people have a great year. Some people have a great commercial that takes through, but that's just happening less and less and less. Yes. And so it's you know, when when somebody who is not in the industry hears that, I think there's a disconnect with the reality day to day for most of us is that you might be doing something that's industry adjacent and those we're more likely to talk about.
Jessica
But reality is most of us have other ways to pay the bills, which I think is like you're saying, it's something to be proud of that we have all we're multi passionate, we have all these other capabilities also, let's be real. Most art is about life and having all of those other experiences explaining. We're happy. Yeah, it keeps us grounded.
Jessica
It helps us meet interesting people. It helps us to be interesting people, but it is not something that people know. And I think that a lot of my favorite artists carry this burden of shame. So thank you for talking about that because it's very easy to get discouraged and scared. And you've talked in the past about filling up your calendar with the Yes, there aren't acting, so you don't feel the void of not acting.
Jessica
That's real is so real. And I completely, completely understand and feel that from you. And it is interesting. We kind of create these other opportunities so that you have the thing to talk about. And sometimes I think it comes from a really great place where where we're creating because we are creators and that's who we are and it's just going to happen.
Jessica
But then it's sometimes easy to be busy from fear and lack.
Alex
100%
Jessica
You recommendations. What do you do to keep yourself full and kind of your bucket full? And when you notice that's happening, what do you do to kind of honor yourself as an artist and just be real with yourself? I think for.
Alex
Me, part of that is acknowledging how I feel. Kind of like we were talking about scenes and how you break down a scene and having that universal baseline of emotion. So what is the universal baseline of this feeling of black? I think for me a lot of it is I really like my life to be structured. I like to feel like there's some sort of consistency, control.
Alex
I think I'm a very type, logical person, so when I feel that I have to find something that makes sense that I can accomplish logically, that I feel like will add to my self-worth. So kind of like when you're talking, I'm like going back to USC and getting a doctorate. So to me, that's something if I feel a lack in my acting career, well, this is something that I know I can feel successful and I know I'll be proud of myself for accomplishing.
Alex
And if I do X, Y, and Z, the accomplishment will 100% be there and no one can take that away. Whereas in acting, I could hope and pray to get a series regular audition this year. And even if I do, and it's a perfect audition and I do it perfectly, I could still not get that that role and have that come to fruition.
Alex
But I feel like with a degree or with a part time job or with a program at the gym or whatever it is, I want to dive into something that works more like a math equation and that says, Hey, if you show up and, you do this like this, you will get this. And I have to give myself a piece of that because too much I think of our lives as artists is so inconsistent that I have to find some sort of consistency to hold on to to keep myself able to not burn out.
Jessica
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And giving yourself those goals that are predictable but also are in your control. Yeah. Control of arc over time and make a predictable progression on that.
Alex
So yeah.
Jessica
It makes a lot of sense. Okay I'm going to the creative process. How do you get from 0 to 1? So this is not somebody handing you sides which if someone's not in the industry who's listening sides are. When we are auditioning for a role, we get a piece of a scene or many scenes and we have to memorize that and do our audition is like a shot, our take on the character.
Jessica
So we had talked to that about that previously. But when you're creating something from nothing 0 to 1, so this might be in an improv scene, how do you go about that? What are your first steps and what does that feel like for you?
Alex
I had a light bulb moment in improv when I realized that every scene could be successful if just decided a point of view of how I felt in that moment. So I think that applies to what you're saying. And from getting to 0 to 1 is just having a point of view. Because if I have point of view on something I can write for a long time, I have a lot of mileage on what I'm going to write.
Alex
I have a lot of mileage on what I'm going to say, but if I don't have a point of view, there's for me to go. So I think from 0 to 1, it's just deciding how I feel because I think even like in what we're doing and doing this podcast and having this conversation, if I gave a different point of view going into this, it could be a very different conversation.
Alex
And that's how we create everything I think is the catalyst for creation. For me as a point of view about something, or every time I sit down to write something, whether it's comedy or not, it's a point of view. Oh, this point of view is funny. Oh, this take funny. Oh, I am inspired by this kind of. Yeah.
Jessica
I really love that. I feel like I had a light bulb moment.
Alex
There it was again. Yeah, I'm from Groundlings.
Alex
So yeah.
Jessica
I really love that. How do you deal with being, as you said, a type A person who wants have control, who wants to have structure, who excels in improv. That doesn't sound like the typical recipe for me. How does that work for you?
Alex
I love that.
Alex
Question. I had no interest in doing improv ever, and I only did it as a means to an end because I was told, Geez, like almost ten years ago or over years ago, I was told that I would get more commercial auditions if I had improv on my resume. So I was like, Well, I'll take an improv class.
Alex
I took it with a friend and it was just everything. It was so good. I think it's it's because and I'm not diagnosed with anything currently, but maybe will be one day about I'm referring to the order in which I like to get things done. Maybe a little OCD when they and things get very overwhelming for me and the.
Alex
Idea of.
Alex
Being a logical type a person means that there is a result that would be the most perfect result. And I think sometimes that can be overwhelming for me when it comes to auditions cause I'll get an audition and there is there is a correct way to memorize those words and it's to memorize and word perfect. And there is a correct way and maybe there's even a correct way to hold my face or a correct moment before or correct choice to make in those scenes.
Alex
And I think for improv, for me, I was able to dive in and really invest in it because I think I'm able to let go of those things. There isn't a script, so I really can't do anything wrong. Plus, I have in the scenario of poems, three really talented, amazing women that I trust on a deep friendship level to have my back.
Alex
And even if I was to make a quote, mistake, they could help make it and created something to create something beautiful and kind of help me there and I can do the same for them. So it's it's nice to feel like I can't do anything wrong here. Like there's no there's no rules. So I think the lack of structure is actually very freeing.
Alex
Great for someone who wants that structure, great.
Jessica
So you're finding the courage to be wrong, to be messy by the lack of rules. Yeah.
Alex
And I think the validation you get from improv is sometimes when you go into things with maybe just a strong point of view and nothing else, the validation is, Oh, that scene turned out amazing. Oh, I was able to let go and that turned out so good. So it's kind of this conditioning of, Oh, if I let go, it actually is better.
Alex
Yeah, it's better to let go of the reins. So I think that's why I like it so much. It's very freeing to be like, okay, cool. I don't have to prepare anything in the same way, like commercial auditions by dialog. Yeah, I went to one today and it's so great. You just go in and whatever, wherever you are, whatever you're feeling, you can just do.
Alex
And it's perfect, right?
Alex
I love that.
Jessica
A lot of. People don't realize how much work we put into prepping for auditions and how many auditions you do to get a callback and how many callbacks you do to get a role. That might be one might. So to have that freedom of just being present and responding is so beautiful.
Alex
Yeah, that's cool.
Jessica
Nice. Okay. On a very technical level, this is just super specific in your day to day creative career. What are some of the like programs, applications, tools that you love and go back to and use all the time?
Alex
Oh, that's such.
Alex
A good question. I mean, one definitely improv. I think there's so much from improv that has allowed me to still be doing what I'm doing. I think if it wasn't for that, I don't think I'd still be acting. I think there's no way to sustain with the brain that I have. If I didn't have that freedom, I think I'd just be white knuckling everything.
Alex
And that's such a burnout. I'm so I think the ability to be okay with taking things from where I'm at and we talk about that a lot in class is the ability to be like, if you're going in for some hilarious side and you have an in-person audition, but you just got the news that your family pet passed, like how do you how are you going to muster up enough to I just act like that didn't happen, something that would affect you so deeply.
Alex
So you have to take things from where you are and the kind of beauty that happens from taking something from an authentic place. So the beauty that happens from if you're sad about a family pet passing and you're doing a comedy scene, that might be the funniest freaking scene, but you're like, working through here, like, that would be amazing in some way.
Alex
So the ability to let go of there's a right way to do this and to try to achieve the only right way to do this is what's going to come out right now. If I can just let go of those things very hard, I don't know if anyone really fully gets there. If you have let us know. But I, I think that's a good goal and a good way to kind of technically sustain myself is to just constantly whatever I'm doing, that if I take this from where I'm at, I can't do anything wrong.
Alex
Nothing's going to be wrong. If I can just take this, if I'm really authentically where I am right now.
Jessica
I love that so much.
Alex
Okay.
Jessica
So as an actor, what are some of the.
Alex
What.
Jessica
Are some of the tools that you use either to get jobs or to send information out? Things like that? Like define yourself mostly to, for example, casting networks or using Google Docs or what what are what are the things that you like and tend to use a lot that way.
Alex
Amazing. After I moved to L.A. in 2006, so after quite a few years, I for the first time put a Google document together of people that I knew in the industry that might help my representative, like casting directors that are fans, showrunners that I know personally like, stuff like that. It took me such a long time to do that and all of my reps like this for most tool.
Alex
Thank you for doing this. And I'm like, Well, I'm such a turd. That's a real.
Alex
Song. So that's a tool that I really just started using. How many actors.
Jessica
Haven't done that Raise Your Hands?
Alex
No.
Alex
Me forever. Yeah, I'm. Oh, what else?
Jessica
Like that? Yeah. What are the things that you do that have helped you over the years.
Alex
So the things that I do that help me most, my acting career, either I'm kind of ways that I can make things consistent for myself and almost like apply rules on my situation to have some sort of structure. So you're.
Jessica
Creating system.
Alex
Yeah, system for me is I need someone to have said on the app clubhouse, I was listening to casting directors speak and one of them said that her husband is an actor and he will set up his self tape area and rehearse a scene like he would if he was going to an in-person audition. And he'll do 2 to 3 takes of that of tape.
Alex
And if it wasn't good or he couldn't get the lines, then he's just not ready to tape it. And he has to go back and rehearse and then come back in that way, he's not sitting there doing a self tape for 50 times, trying to force like a square peg in a round hole. And instead he's like, Oh no, when I get it, I'll come in here and I'll do it twice.
Alex
And that's my good audition and going and I'm like, Oh, that's a good system. I'm going to like mine for gold and pick that one. That's a little golden nugget from that. I'm so for myself kind of the same, like having a system that I know cool. If I have this amount of material, this is the time that I'm going to spend rehearsing structure this time out for myself in my day.
Alex
Put it in my calendar and say, Great, this is kind of a long scene. I'm going to take an hour and a half where I can just block my stuff off. I'm not going to take work calls on my phone. I'm not, you know, I have not a gym class. No one's going to bother me. I can lock myself in this room, work on this material, and then give myself the structured time to film it as if it was an audition.
Alex
Because I think if I just let everything just live in this, like, murky world, it's overwhelming to my brain. So it's too overwhelming to say, when am I going to memorize ten pages of dialog and put this all on tape and edit it all? But if I give myself the structure almost like I was booking time out of self take place, it's a lot easier for me to navigate and I think it's a lot burnout if I can structure it that way.
Alex
So if I say, Hey, great tonight, an hour and a half on the sides, tomorrow at noon, I'm going to start filming. I know I need to start doing my hair and makeup at 11. I need to start and book my person to read with me at this time or make sure someone's free to come over whatever it is.
Alex
So I think structuring things out really helps.
Jessica
Perfect. Okay. One thing I'm going to do with this podcast is I'm going to ask my audience to do kind of their own creator is challenge. And so your guest, I'm going to ask you to kind of brainstorm if somebody spent 1 to 10 minutes going 0 to 1 with something that you love, what would you do? So an example might be you're going to create an improv character and you're going to film it on your cell phone and you're going to just make up a story really quickly or something.
Jessica
So it could be anything where where somebody is not trying to get this beautiful final project. Yeah, just going from nothing to something and creating. What would you do? What would you suggest someone does?
Alex
I think after what we've kind of talked about in this podcast, what I think would.
Alex
Be really fun to do is picking some piece of as an actor that you're comfortable with. Maybe it's a monologue that you've done or a self tape that you did recently, something that you're comfortable with and just playing with point of view. So changing the point of view to something drastically different than maybe what was written or intended and seeing what the final project or product is.
Alex
So if my point of view is I'm not being treated like as well as I deserve to be treated. So if that was my point of view for that audition scene, but I wanted to do this experiment, I would change it to something different. So maybe my point of view is like I give zero FS about what anyone says about me.
Alex
That's going to be a very different treat of that scene. Then I deserve to be treated better than how being treated. Yeah, and just kind of seeing what comes out and what kind of discovery. I love that. Okay, perfect.
Jessica
That's the challenge. I like that.
Alex
Challenge. Yeah.
Jessica
Thank You so much. This was such a great conversation. Thank you so much for coming, you guys.
Alex
This is so fun.
Jessica
So vulnerably, so open, so real. Thank you.
Alex
Thank you. Jess.
Jessica
Where can people follow you and find you?
Alex
I really am dedicated to.
Alex
One social media outlet and one social media outlet.
Alex
Only. It's Instagram. So this is the only place I really post anything or do anything or follow anyone. And it's Alex Rose 720 which is my birthday.
Alex
Oh nice. Happy birthday.
Jessica
Okay, so I'll have that in the show notes and I'll have your IMDB so people can come see. Yeah, Sausage eating and all of the.
Alex
Time, you know.
Jessica
It's fantastic. I definitely recommend it. And if you’re just listening, Alex is gorgeous.
Alex
She's a top girl. I'll take it.
Jessica
I look forward to all the things you'll do in the future. And you know, I'm so glad to be part of the ride with you.
Alex
Ditto.
Alex
Nice.
Jessica
Thank you so much.
Alex
Thank you so.
Jessica
To join the community and share your creative challenges on Instagram and Facebook at Creators Cafe by Kiko Labs. And also check out my website www.kikalabs.com.
