That One Audition with Alyshia Ochse

  Todays guest has over 100 film and TV credits to her name and a career that began with roles in repertory theatre in Portland, Oregon, and ultimately lead her to Los Angeles where she discovered improv and sketch comedy and became a member of The Groundlings. She shares how her experiences doing improv in LA prepared her for the rest of the business, including joining the cast of SNL for one season, and how her departue from the show, seemingly premature at the time, made way for countless new opportunities to expand her storytelling capacity.  A natural talent with an undeniable energy, Michaela Watkins has made her mark through a variety of impressive and unforgettable roles. Watkins can currently be seen in the fourth and final season of the hit Hulu show CASUAL. The show has received critical acclaim with a Golden Globe nomination and recognition in THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER calling it “funny, strongly realized, self-assured and a joy to watch. After watching an episode, you want another.”  She plays the lead role of ‘Valerie Cole’, a newly divorced sex therapist who is re-entering the world of casual dating.   Up next, Watkins can be seen playing Rob Delaney’s Sister in the new season of CATASTROPHE and playing a tightly wound, full of bravado, federal prosecutor hell-bent on putty Dory (Alia Shawkat) and Drew (John Reynolds) behind bars in the next season of SEARCH PARTY. Watkins can be seen in the first and second season of Amazon’s Golden Globe winning show, TRANSPARENT.  Additionally, she can be seen in the Netflix limited series WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER opposite Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd.  Prior to that, she was last seen playing the eccentric and loveable ‘Jackie’ on the ABC critically-acclaimed series TROPHY WIFE opposite Bradley Whitford and Malin Ackerman. Other past television credits include VEEP, THE GOLDBERGS, MARRIED, THE COMEDIANS, NEW GIRL, ENLIGHTENED, MODERN FAMILY, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, PARENTHOOD, KEY AND PEELE, THE KROLL SHOW, DRUNK HISTORY AND CALIFORNICATION.   On the creator side, Watkins executive produced, created and wrote the comedy series BENCHED with Damon Jones, which aired on the USA Network. This series starred Eliza Coupe.  IG: @MichaelaWat LINKS:  IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1143861/ INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/michaelawat  TWITTER: www.twitter.com/michaelaWat  NBC Article 1: https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/update-arianna-huffington/n12372 NBC Article 2: http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/cast/michaela-watkins-14986 Groudlings Article: https://www.groundlings.com/performer_detail.php?id=343 TVLine: https://tvline.com/2019/03/26/michaela-watkins-the-unicorn-cbs-comedy-pilot-cast/ Deadline: https://deadline.com/2019/03/the-unicorn-rob-corddry-michaela-watkins-co-star-cbs-comedy-pilot-john-hamburg-1202582494/    THUMBNAIL: Actress/Writer   Casual Transparent Trophy Wife  Wanderlust Catastrophe Enlightened Benched

Finding your voice and how you will be representing your artistry through the instrument that YOU are. Branding yourself means to develop a unique professional identity and coherent message that sets you apart from others either in your industry. What is your unique value? How do others see you?

  Today we’re chatting with TWO extraordinary women who took the advice we’ve all heard, “Create your own content,” to the extreme and landed themselves with Series Regular, Writing, and Producing roles on their own comedy show on TV Land. These ladies began performing together in sketch groups in Chicago, where they created their own short-form webseries that ultimately lead them to Los Angeles, where they sold their show TEACHERS to TV Land. 50 episodes later, and they’re here to share what they’ve learned about acting, producing, auditioning, and being a boss! Katie O'Brien hails from Omaha, Nebraska, but is now an actress and comedienne living and working in Los Angeles. Katie has appeared in Nora Ephron's, Love, Lost and What I Wore, Key and Peele, and is currently one of the creators, writers, executive producers and stars in TV Land's hit, underground comedy, Teachers. Katie has also appeared on the Today Show, Comedy Central's @ Midnight and Kocktails with Khloe.  Katy Colloton is one of the creators, executive producers, writers and actors on the TV Land show Teachers.  This year she has developed TV for NBC Universal and a feature with Bluegrass Films and Scott Stuber.  Katy received her B.A. in theater and psychology from Vanderbilt University.  Before moving to LA, Katy performed comedy in Chicago at Second City, iO, and The Annoyance Theater. IG: @thatoneaudtion

Dissecting the EGO and how it challenges creativity. How to create and step outside the EGO (the end result) that inhibits real creativity from flourishing.

  For today’s conversation, we’re changing things up and taking a look at things on the other side of the camera. We’re chatting with someone who’s made their career writing and directing major hollywood movies for the past twenty years. He’s come a long way from his father’s liquor store in Massachusetts, and he tells us exactly how, after graduating from school and writing a letter to his hollywood idol, he found himself sharing a beer and chatting about his favorite movies with director Sam Raimi! Now, after having directed stars like William H. Macy and Jason Statham, he shares what it’s like sitting in the director’s chair, and how he’s managed to pull off getting films made when seemingly impossible circumstances stand in the way. Tony Giglio is and American film director born in Medford, Massachusetts. He studied and obtained a B.A. at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. He worked his way up from a Production Assistant to become one of Hollywood's most versatile Writer-Directors. He gained experience in the entertainment industry on projects like HEAT, IN ENEMY HANDS, TERMINATOR 2, LIAR LIAR, CELTIC PRIDE, BULLETPROOF, DANTE'S PEAK,  and FEAR. Most recently, he has directed DOOM: Annihilation, set to be released in 2019.  Previous films include CHAOS, EXTRACTION, TIMBER FALLS and DEATH RACE.

There are no small parts, so remember to make it your world. This is a full breakdown of Co-star responsibility in the story. How to handle your one line or a few lines on set.

  Todays conversation is an open, candid, and humorous dialogue with Chris Geere who’s on-screen career began with a Coke Zero commercial in the UK, and ultimately lead him to a series regular role. He talks about getting cut from the final edit of Band of Brothers, how a clever self-tape landed him with an offer to work with M. Night Shyamalan, and honestly shares how even after booking the ever-coveted “series regular role,” he’s finding new depths to what is required of an actor and artist when a life and career changing opportunity comes to an end.  He’s most known for his hilarious and honest portrayal on the hit FXX show, You’re the Worst, as well as his work on Modern Family, After Earth, and in the soon-to-be-released film Detective Pikachu with Ryan Reynolds.  Chris Geere is a British actor born in Cambridge in 1981 and brought up in the Winchester area of Hampshire where his family still lives. He was initially interested in pursuing a career as an artist until a drama teacher encouraged him to play in his school's production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', whereupon he admits that he was truly bitten by the acting bug. He gained a place at the Guildford School of Acting, winning out over nearly three thousand other applicants. Some time after graduation he had a spell as a bit part player with the Royal Shakespeare Company and since then has become familiar on British television, notably in the school series 'Waterloo Road.' In 2017 he moved to the States, appearing in Modern Family and taking the lead in the eccentric comedy drama 'You're the Worst.' IG: @cwgeere

We are all ageless in artistry if we allow ourselves to be. Today I am assessing the experience around T.I.M.E in a creative career. 

Today we have a really special conversation with an actress who has defied what we’re often told is possible in a Hollywood career. She started on stage with the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, but didn’t make it to Los Angeles till she was nearly 40. She is an example of what can happen when an artist decides to be the exception, embrace fear, and relinquish over-thinking.   We also get to chat about failure, how it is a vital part of success as an actor, and how she’s been able to take professional and personal challenges, and turn them into opportunities to tell stories with some of Hollywood’s most innovative artists.  She’s developed an incredible body of work that includes working with the Cohen Brothers, booking 9 (count them!) 9 guest stars in one year, and most notably her role on Amazon’s Transparent. Amy Landecker started her career as a theatre actor in Chicago IL, where she worked with the Steppenwolf and Goodman theaters. A transfer production from Chicago brought her to NYC and the Public Theatre. While in New York, she worked at the Barrow St Theater and Second Stage. She eventually made her way to Los Angeles, where she was tapped to play "Mrs. Samsky" in the Coen brothers' Oscar-nominated A Serious Man (2009). After a long series of guest star and recurring roles in shows like Mad Men, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Louie, and The Paul Reiser Show, she landed her current starring role as "Sarah Pfefferman" in the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning series, Transparent (2014). Amy has also written pilots for FX and Amazon and is a top VO talent in animation and commercials. Instagram: @amylandecker  

Today’s guest is a powerhouse force of knowledge, inspiration, and passion. From her big break on Law & Order, to her work with David O. Russell, she is full of incredible stories that detail her determination and unwillingness to give up. Her approach to her career has been uniquely strategic---she’s made her personal growth just as important as her artistic growth, and through that she’s cultivated a resilience that enables her passion to stand firm through every high and every low that comes with a dynamic Hollywood career.  Elisabeth Röhm is a German-American television and film actress. She is best known for playing Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn in the American TV series Law & Order and Detective Kate Lockley in the TV series Angel, and for her work with David O. Russel in American Hustle and Joy. In addition to her on-screen work, she is also an accomplished writer. As an advocate and voice for women’s fertility issues and heart disease, she is a featured blogger for People Magazine, as well as a published novelist. Instagram: @elisabethrohm