Acting v Survival Job with Two Unemployed Actors - Episode 91

Max Belmonte 00:12
Welcome back to Two Unemployed Actors. I'm Max.

Sam Folden 00:15
I'm Sam.

Max Belmonte 00:15
And you've actually got us together today, this week, this episode. We've survived the plague.
We've survived our survival jobs. Were still talking all things acting in between interviews, and
there's some more exciting guests coming up, which is fantastic.

Sam Folden 00:35
Super exciting. Can't wait with those interviews. Yeah.

Max Belmonte 00:39
And really learning. I know, next week's episode is Chris Corbett, where we talk specifically
about writing for actors, which fits exactly with what I need to know right now as an actor trying
to write some stuff. Because you know, sometimes you got to create your own opportunities.

Sam Folden 00:57
Yeah, he was great. He was great. And I actually I learned friend slash colleague of mine at the
cafe met him when he came into the cafe before I started working there. So there was that
weird, right. And he said, he was awesome, and really nice. And he met him on set for the first
time before the cafe visit,

Max Belmonte 01:15
You can see how he's, he's a really good teacher, as well. So look, it's a huge episode really
insightful. I'm not going to diminish it by talking about it now. Make sure you listen, subscribe,
download and enjoy it next week. But this week, semi interestingly, everything's changed now.
And you sort of better down into your change of you've moved out of home, you've got your
survival job in full swing, and maybe acting doesn't represent the same size of the pie the same
slice, as it did prior.

Sam Folden 01:54
I mean, I wanted to talk a bit about that, because, you know, I've gotten to early adulthood.

Max Belmonte 02:03
And you've made it just.

Sam Folden 02:04
Yeah, we made it finally, no, Jess, and I moved out of home. And it's been awesome. And then I
got like, a proper job and all that stuff. But still, for me, acting still represents that creative part
of my life.

Max Belmonte 02:22
So it's still your passion.

Sam Folden 02:24
Oh, 100%. And I still would love it to be my career. But at the same time, Jess, and I watched a
great interview by an author that I've actually forgotten. She wrote, she wrote, eat love, pray,
Oh, yeah, that one. And but she also wrote another great book about your creative passions
and career paths. And she was saying that how you can't let it you can't throw everything at it.
And, you know, take out another mortgage on your house to fund it and do all this stuff.
Because then when you crash and fall, you won't get back up. And it's that really opened my
eyes to, to separating those two, I'm happy in both sides of my life at this point one does affect
the other, but

Max Belmonte 03:08
it's kind of like you have your foundation is your is your survival job or your you know, your
hospitality, world. And because you've got that foundation, you're able to spend time doing
Acting. Let that fund your passion. Yeah. And your creative endeavors.

Sam Folden 03:28
And, you know, don't beat yourself up, if you slack off a bit on those endeavors for a little while,
you know, then you can jump back on board. And recently I got more and more motivated,
doing different things trying to push, push my career forward and in multiple ways, and
changing things up a bit. But you just got to make sure that you, you're happy in both sides of
your life with both sides. And I mean, that's all that matters. And I am I'm content and I'm
happy with it.

Max Belmonte 03:59
And how are you finding because it's great that you're happy with the fact that you're still able
to pursue acting, you've still got representation, you can still do auditions and all that. And
that's great that you've got an opportunity to be have flexibility in your workplace to do that.
But you sort of gone from obviously, a large part of your your week was acting, whether it be
workshops, or, you know, going through scenes with a scene partner or you know, to stay at
work fit in other ways. Yeah. And then all of a sudden, you know, you're getting home from
work and like probably the last thing you want to do sometimes is put on your creative hat.

Sam Folden 04:38
Yeah. And I mean, that's where the self motivation comes as we both know. This industry is a
lot about self motivation, nothing, nothing else is really gonna motivate you. So yeah, Just, I've
been trying to find the time to do more self tapes, you got to kind of set aside time and do that.

Max Belmonte 04:56
So it's forced you to be a bit more organized and plan a bit more.

Sam Folden 05:01
yeah. 100%. And

Max Belmonte 05:02
Its good that Jess is there to be able to do it with you. That's, that's great and share that
passion.

Sam Folden 05:07
Yeah, exactly. And I would, you know, I drop everything. If I got a role, or every time I get an
audition, I find that time whether I have to memorize a monologue while I'm at work, it doesn't
matter when something comes up, it comes up. I do it because I want to want to do it. But
yeah, it's just it's those times in between that you've got to work harder at, at putting putting
aside to actually keep pursuing.

Max Belmonte 05:37
So you mentioned that you, you've taken a step back almost, to look at where you're at, in your
journey as an actor, and where you're headed and what you need to do. Is that something that
you always do, or is it this new thing that in order to stay motivated, I need to make sure I have
the time to step back and well, change things up.

Sam Folden 06:01
Well, I mean. so throughout the years, there have been every, I'd say, every six months or so
I'd have a mental breakdown about "is this all right?" Nothing's coming out of it. And, you know,
I literally just cry

Max Belmonte 06:15
We all have, we all have our moments.

Sam Folden 06:17
Yes, absolutely. 100%. And it doesn't matter what industry you're in I guess.

Max Belmonte 06:21
Its like, we're the best artists in the world. And then we're the worst artists in the world.

Sam Folden 06:24
And at those points, I then step back, and reassess and look at what can I do to keep
motivating myself. And for 10 plus years now, I've been doing that. So COVID has affected this
a lot well, as as we know.

Max Belmonte 06:41
I like the fact I like the fact that you've developed the habit, you've developed the habit to do it.
So rather than waiting for crisis moment, yeah, you've sort of got that habit now to regularly do
it. So instead of waiting for the world to fall in and feel absolutely miserable, because you've
got, you know, because of something that's happened on the creative front, you're actually
regularly doing something.

Sam Folden 07:03
There were plenty of those breakdowns more than usual. Because you weren't doing anything
with Covid. That's right. That's right. That just help motivate a bit more. And like I said, Yeah,
I'm doing a lot less acting than then I have been. But for me as a person, as soon as I'm an
unhappy with something in my life, Yeah, completely change it, I drop everything, and I change
it. At the moment. I'm happy. And that's, yeah, I keep going to the word happy because that's
all I truly believe. That's all it really matters.

Max Belmonte 07:32
Indeed. And I think so when it comes to planning now, like you've got to plan time to do self
tapes and plan time to do like, monologues on your own or whatever it might be. Do you find
that you're really working on the quality rather than quantity with time? Like, you're sort of
going well, I've only got a couple hours a week to do this type of work?

Sam Folden 07:56
Yeah. 100% I recently added to my showreel, an American accent piece. And I wasn't just trying
to pump one out, I chose a monologue that I had actually looked at a couple years before and
familiar with it throughout the years, right. So I could learn it very quickly. So I use everything
that I I learned from Danielle Roth to perfect, and do the best American accent that I could do
at that time. And the performance was great. But the focus was the accent because as I was
putting it in. And I showed it to Jess, and she said that was the best accent I've seen you do.
And I was like, great. So yeah, we're focusing more on I guess, because of time quality over
quantity. And I guess that should be the focus most of the time anyway.

Max Belmonte 08:44
But it's funny, isn't it? How all of a sudden when you're under pressure, and you've got the
same amount of time in a day. It's funny how what you thought was important, isn't that
important, really. And you start to realize, you know, like, what was I spending all of my acting
time on when you know, I could be doing this. It's amazing. So that that layer of pressure, that
real world pressure is kind of great fuel in some way. I mean, you know, we've got to get used
to working under pressure. So it all helps.

Sam Folden 09:17Yeah. 100% and I think yeah, like, it's, I think it's a much better way to show yourself off quality
over quantity because yeah, they they're not going to watch, all the casting agents not going to
watch all them and if they see one shitty one.

Max Belmonte 09:37
Exactly. And I use that analogy a lot because you know, even when it comes to like doing a self
tape for an audition, you know, instead of having the luxury of doing 20 takes you know, you
might only have the time to do a few, two or three and you just got to be so much more
focused. So it's sometimes that produces the that pressure produces the Better Work Yeah, it's
really interesting. And look, I mean, for me, too, I haven't been on set all year we're what are
we now we're end of April. It's May next week. I haven't been on set as an actor all year. I've
only done one voiceover, it was actually today by sheer coincidence, because a client that I
worked with previously reached out and said, Oh, but can you please, you know, because I
wasn't making it a priority, because I'm focusing on my little passion project in getting the TV
series up and running. So yeah, it's like, I feel it because the reason I'm doing the podcast, the
reason I'm doing the television show is so that I can have more opportunities as an actor. And
yet here I am, actor Max is sort of pushed into the corner, because I'm doing the podcast and
the car went overseas, went to the podcast conference in LA, and all these sort of one off
things that are that suck up a whole lot of time.

Sam Folden 10:52
Yeah.

Max Belmonte 10:53
But, and are really good, but they've all sort of come at once like, you know, setting up the
production company I've set up production committee last week, you know, I mean, talking to
lawyers talking to my accountant, these are not fun conversations for an actor, really, they're
necessary.

Sam Folden 11:10
Yeah thats tries.

Max Belmonte 11:11
But they're not fun, talking to a trademark lawyer and then talking to my accountant. And I
mean, you know, it's what I got to do to be a creative producer and set up production company
and job done. Thankfully, I dont have to do that again for a long time. But But yeah, like, I
suddenly thought before today's episode, just how little I've spent doing what it is, I'm doing all
this other stuff for?

Sam Folden 11:36
Yep.

Max Belmonte 11:37
The irony is, is real.

Sam Folden 11:38
It's, uh, yeah, I mean, it's, it's a business as well, which is, that's the annoying part. For actors,
we just want to be creatives. But in reality, it's, it's a lot about, it's, it's a business, you're your
own business. Yes. And this stuff is annoying.

Max Belmonte 11:58
So many moving parts to it, you just try and put yourself on all the moving parts to make the
most of any opportunity. It's hilarious to the point where I'm even thinking about putting my
hand up for a few student film auditions again.

Sam Folden 12:14
Righ oh yeah. And just to keep keep busy. Yeah.

Max Belmonte 12:17
Yeah. Because... just to keep fresh and work fit. Because I just don't, you know what it's like,
when you're on set, you know, it's just, it's, it's, that's what, that's what I'm, that's when I'm
working, you know. So and I say that with some trepidation. Because I know last time I said, I'd
love to do some student films ended up with five...

Sam Folden 12:35
You had some great experiences.

Max Belmonte 12:37
There was a couple of dodgy ones. But I ended up with a character a week for four weeks. And
it was just this intense, like, month and a half of living in all these different characters. fantastic
experience. And, and great fun. I didn't expect to get all of the roles. But it was it was a lot of
fun. I think I say it tentatively this time around because it'd be great to get a couple where I can
really sink my teeth into the character and play a lot more now that I'm a bit more experienced.
Yeah, yeah. And student films are great, because you get this, you get a bit more opportunity
to play a bit more, you know, you can take the character into different places and see what
works doesn't work. Okay, we'll try something else. It's not so much. You know, we must copy
the rehearsal and do that in the front of the camera. And there's 1000 people waiting for, for
you to do exactly what you said you would do. Yeah. So I kind of love all kind of like that
creative environment. So I think I might, I might actually, I might actually untick my 'paid only'
on one of the online platforms and see what happens. See if there's any Juicy, juicy scripts
floating around student student space.

Sam Folden 13:55
There are a lot of students like projects out there that are really good.

Max Belmonte 14:03
And so and we know from a lot, I mean, you don't have to be a regular listener to realize how
many different film schools there are of varying qualities.

Sam Folden 14:12
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Max Belmonte 14:15
Yes. But I think I think that's one way for me to keep fresh without having to worry about all the
other stuff in the business, you know, just to be focused on on developing a character and
running with a character for a bit.

Sam Folden 14:30
Yeah, I agree. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I'd love to get back into those actually. Especially as
we've spoken about before AFTRS it's, it's awesome.

Max Belmonte 14:39
Yes. I don't know when they do their... The last one I did with them was their first year students
actually, they were more professional as a group than most film crews.

Sam Folden 14:51
It's definitely the future of Australian crews. They, a lot of them come from that.

Max Belmonte 14:58
I really enjoyed that last role. So yeah, so I might, I might stick my little radar up and see
what's out and about

Sam Folden 15:05
Stick your little radar up.

Max Belmonte 15:06
Stick little radar up.

Sam Folden 15:07
Sounds very sexual.

Max Belmonte 15:09
Indeed, well, on the other front, on the other front, the passion projects moving, I've got the
pilot script done, I've got an outline somewhat of a show Bible, like all the characters arcs and
stuff, but it's still fairly loose. And I'm now looking for and I've reached out to a couple of writers
who have worked on either script supervisor or writers, for some television shows in Australia in
the past, to try and bring someone on board to just, you know, vet it with that authority have
experienced kind of hat on to sort of finesse and polish it a bit. Because I think then I'll be in a
better place to then approach a production company and go, I'm creating this some writing it
I'm, it's my baby, but it's with input from so and so in the industry. And you know, it'd be great
to see it come to life. I think I'll get it further that way. Or at least I'll get further in the door.
Hopefully, with that in mind. So I've put that in play. And I've set up a production company for
the podcasting world for the television show that I've got now that I can officially say, ' in
development'. It's called Add Kulcha Productions. K U L CH A culture. I wanted one, I wanted a
name that sort of ended with the same letter. So I can play with it a bit with a little, you know,
the logo is what I'm trying to say. But typically, now, when you when you go to register a
business, obviously, you check the business registry to see if there's someone else who's
already got the name. Yeah, you also check all of the social media, can you get the URL like it's
like, it's, I had to, I had to, I had to kill a few pet names, but, but ya know, Add Kulcha
Productions is born.

Sam Folden 17:08
Good.

Max Belmonte 17:08
And that's where all the IP is gonna sit. And hopefully, help me get a step closer to reality.

Sam Folden 17:16
Yeah awesome.

Max Belmonte 17:17
But meanwhile, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm going to put my toe in the water and see what's out there
in the world of student film scripts, and even just to do a few auditions, you know, just to keep
work because like, I haven't, it's just hasn't been a focus in a while. And yet, that's what I'm
doing all this stuff for, to be more ACTORY. Sure, it's crazy. It's crazy. Anyway, well, well, a
short episode, but nonetheless, an update. And it's great to get inside your head, Sam, on on
where you're at now with your whole world literally changed. It's a it's a massive change. So
and I know what it's like when you're trying to push something on the side while you're
'working to live'. So it's in this great that you're happy in both jobs in both worlds. So which is
also good, and you've got a supportive partner who also understands what it's like to be an
actor.

Sam Folden 18:13
Yes, yeah. It's very, very awesome.

Max Belmonte 18:17
It does help. Fred Unfortunately, he's just actually taking his dog bed apart as we speak he
waits until we're interviewing someone, and then he barks.

Sam Folden 18:32
Yeah, or we're doing the outro.

Max Belmonte 18:34
Yeah. Thanks for it. Alright, well, make sure you subscribe. Follow us, Download and Listen,
because next week, we've got Chris Corbett, on writing for actors and lots more guests coming
up. You've been listening to Two Unemployed Actors. I'm max.

Sam Folden 18:54
I'm Sam,

Max Belmonte 18:55
And you can hear us next week. Bye.