10-1

We all know individuals who are good at a skill without even trying. They can write, play a sport, or play an instrument with seemingly no effort. Is it possible that some people are just more talented than others? If so, does that apply to acting as well?  Today, acting Coach Matthew Harrison and I delve deep into the concept of talent; where the idea came from and why society is obsessed by it. We discuss why Mozart had no talent and how some actors can give incredible performances without any prior training. Our conversation references some of the celebrated neuroscientists and psychologist listed below: Anders Ericsson - PEAK: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise David Eagleman - LIVEWIRED -The inside story of the ever changing brain David Eagleman - THE RUNAWAY SPECIES- How human creativity remakes the world Brene Brown - DARING GREATLY Other books of interest: Yuval Noah Harari - HOMO SAPIENS Gabor Maté - IN THE REALM OF HUNGRY GHOSTS Gabor Maté - WHEN THE BODY SAYS NO Daniel Kanneman - THINKING FAST AND SLOW Brene Brown - THE POWER OF VULNERABILITY Oprah Winfrey - WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing

Today on 10-1, I meet with actor Mackenzie Davis (Terminator: Dark Fate, Happiest Season, Blade Runner 2049 etc) who has been working in Toronto for the past few months while shooting Station 11. We graduated from The Neighborhood Playhouse 10 years ago, and thanks to the pandemic, we've had a little bit of time to sit on my front porch and discuss life, the business, and parse through the lessons that we learned in theatre school a life time ago. Here we are, Inside Mackenzie Davis.

Katie Nolan had set her sights on becoming an actor early on in her career. As she slogged through the endless auditions, a producing opportunity fell into her lap. At the time, she didn't know that she was already on her journey to being one of Canada's most successful indie producers and being a TIFF darling. We discuss at length her very first professional producing project Ghost BFF, how she got involved, how she raised money and how it got purchased by Elizabeth Banks' production company. We also speak about Katie's first feature starring Heather Graham, and how she was able to raise money, bring on broadcaster's and find distributors for her project, oh ya, and how all of her feature get into TIFF. We also get a little preview about her newest film that will be debuting at TIFF 2022 called Alice, Darling starring Anna Kendrick.

Renuka Jeyapalan didn't know anybody in the film industry. She was a student at University of Toronto studying biochemistry when she took a film studies class for fun and GOT HOOKED. She enrolled into film school and wrote and directed an award winning short film called Big Girl. Although her career started out on a roll, join us today for a conversation on how her career hit a major speed bump, and how she made it back into the game and started directing for Netflix. We also chat about why she hates auditioning actors, and why questions, are the greatest gift an actor can give her

Andrea Kenyon has been a casting director since the early 1990's and has cast some of the biggest films that you've definitely watched like, the entire Xmen franchise, The Smurfs, Moonfall and White House Down. She has worked with actors big and small, and has watched careers being made in front of her eyes. Join us in a discussion with Andrea about what makes an audition/actor/performance memorable and what she wishes that all actors knew.

It's no secret that often childhood stars struggle to maintain their careers as they grow older. In this episode, I speak to former child actor Charlie Plummer (All the Money in the World, Boardwalk Empire, Moonfall) about the major pitfalls faced by child actors like ageing out, never properly learning how to act, as well as the dangers they face from addiction. We also discuss the lessons he's learned from his extremely close call to becoming the new Spiderman, and what he is doing to build longevity in the business.

I always thought lawyers were scary. But what a delight it was to chat with David Zizterman from Goodmans Law firm in Toronto. David Zizterman, voted entertainment lawyer of the year in 2020, so graciously shed some light on how to option a novel or any kind of intellectual property. He also gave us some really important tips on how to legally protect yourself and your projects in the entertainment industry.

Emma Laird and Michael White are two very prestige agents. Emma is an agent at Gary Goddard Agency, a boutique agency that represents some very impressive talent such as Annie Murphy from Schitt's Creek, Scott Speedman from Grey's Anatomy and director Sarah Polley. Michael White is an agent at The Characters, a large agency on both coasts that represents people like Donald Sutherland, Jason Priestly, and Tatiana Maslany. Emma and Michael, are in the big leagues. They both have had clients jump from obscurity to success, and have watched those actros who were able to maintain long and successful careers, and those that haven't. So, join us for a chat about agent pet peeves, and what to do build a long and successful career in the industry.

It's not every day that you get to witness a friend get really friggin famous. Antoni Porowski was a struggling actor in New York when he went out for an audition for the Queer Eye reboot. No-one could have predicted that the show would become the global phenomenon it is, catapulting the fab five into the stratosphere of fame. Since then Antoni can add New York Times best selling author, People's Sexiest Reality Star, and multiple Emmys to his list of accomplishments. I got a front row seat into Antoni's journey into fame. So today we explore some of the challenges of becoming famous and successful quickly, and we do a deep dive into what that means, and advice that Antoni has for others who embark on the same journey. ...and why he almost didn't go back to his Queer Eye callback.

This episode welcomes Jenny and Sara from Lewis Kay Casting. These two are both firmly entrenched in the Canadian and American Casting Scene. Their expertise is in indie films but they also continue to spend a lot of time on their series and feature film work. Recent credits include the Amazon Prime hit “The Boys”, the Amazon series The Lake, the award winning cult hit, “Letterkenny”, and Taika Waitit's “What We do In the Shadows” to name a few. They both love what they do, and they both really love actors. Today we're going to take a look at the questions that casting directors get asked the most and some tips to make casting directors friggin' love you.

Welcome to 10-1 the podcast!