
Becoming a professional actor is a bold step, but it is possible to be successful. Alanna and I have fifty years of combined experience in "the business" and we will share with you how to be begin your journey in a very precarious industry.
We teach you how to allow the industry to "brand" you and work over and over again. This lecture is also about how to be comfortable with your "brand" -- even if it ends up being the opposite of what you thought it was!
This lecture is as much of a pep talk as it is an introduction to a necessary part of becoming a working actor. And, even working actors need to keep creating their own content, on a certain level.
Acting is like a muscle. We teach you how to feel good about "working out" as much as possible. We'll also cover the various approaches to acting technique and tell you which one is the best. Hint, that was a trick statement!
A headshot is an essential tool for any actor. It's also something most actors don't like doing -- getting their headshots. So, we'll cover how to prep for the shoot, and, more importantly, how to kill it at your shoot!
A crucial question for the new actor. We'll go over when you should join and also let you in on a little known loophole on getting into SAG/AFTRA now!
You are fortunate here. Alanna Ubach (one of the stars of COCO) is one of the top Voice Over artists in the world. She'll teach you everything you need to start out and how "love" will be an essential tool you'll need to create unique characters and work - a lot - with nothing more than your voice.
This lecture is in many ways the core of emplayment. How to win friends and influence people is an essential tool for any working actor. We'll show how to summon your charm and how to keep summoning it, even on a lousy day.
Here we discuss why "talent" is not enough, and we teach you how to prepare or improvise your way through an agent/manager meeting. You will need to build a team and keep your team happy, and this lecture is the foundation of that philosophy.
The industry has changed and now social media is, in some cases, a large part of being a working. This brief lecture tells you the most important thing you need to know!
As a new or working actor, you will be a professional "audition-er, " and we've divided this lecture into two parts because it's so important. Alanna Ubach has been a successful audition-er for over forty years, and she will lead you through her entire approach and philosophy on auditioning. Did you know your audition begins the moment you leave your house? The kind of stuff only a working actor like Alanna Ubach can teach you.
Even more insider tips on not how to "survive" your audition, but how to thrive at your audition. And how to let it go after so you brain can clear up space for moving on to greener pastures. Easier said than done!
Congratulations, you got the part! Now don't let it get to your head. This lecture focuses on the zen of staying in the game and on how to avoid emotional roller coaster pitfalls. Also, how to prep for the part!
Congratulations, you're at the party. This lecture shows you how to behave as an actor on a professional set or any set.
Maybe one of our most critical lectures. A discourse on how being "nice" can get you very far in show business and how to avoid the pitfalls of your ego. We also discuss the A-List actors Alanna has worked with and what their personalities all have in common.
Having a volatile career like being a working has a unique set of personal, professional, and even mental challenges. Alanna has been in it for about forty years. If there's anyone who can give you a guideline, it's her, and she will impart even more "tools" on how to stay in the game for good.
Sounds easy, but it's the most important lecture of all. Being a working actor doesn't mean you're always working. Here we discuss how to manage your money and give you even more "tools" on how not to be "ashamed" of your day job.
Before I even begin the course description, I'd like to quickly say that when I was started out, I would seek out working actors and ask them questions that only they could answer. Yes, I was in regular acting classes, but I found the teachers while good at teaching "acting technique" weren't able to properly answer simple questions like, "Should you always memorize your lines for an audition?" It's the working actors that are in the trenches and up-to-date with the business and current acting styles (not acting as if you're in, say, circa 1972) that can only provide people with real answers to real industry situations. But how do you go out and find a working actor and get them to mentor you? Well, it's not easy. And, I was lucky because my father happened to be friends with one. Short of that, you have Alanna Ubach right here who is about to share nearly 40 years worth of working acting experience with you, all boiled down to the very essence of what matters. It's impressive stuff, trust me! So read on, and we hope you will take Emplayment. I wish I had a course like this when I started out in ten years ago... --Gregg
EMPLAYMENT: AN INSIDER'S GUIDE ON HOW TO BE A WORKING ACTOR IN HOLLYWOOD AND KEEP WORKING!
If there are corporate training videos for nurses making beds for the elderly why can't there be corporate videos for actors on how to "wait" in the waiting room?
Welcome to Emplayment, an insider's guide on how to be a working actor in Hollywood and keep working! Taught By Alanna Ubach (one of the leads in COCO) and Gregg Brown.
ALANNA UBACH HAS ACTED IN OVER 300 TV SHOWS AND MOVIES
Alanna Ubach is a chameleon-like actress and voice-over talent. She is best known for her roles in "Meet the Fockers", "Rango", the Peabody Award-winning "Men of a Certain Age", "Hung", "Legally Blonde", "Waiting", and her portrayal of Jo Frumpkis in Bravo's first scripted series, "Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce". She was recently seen in the Netflix film To The Bone alongside Lily Collins and Keanu Reeves and has a lead voiceover role in Pixar's upcoming COCO. She has voiced several cartoon roles in series such as El Tigre, Welcome to the Wayne, and Rango! She began acting professionally at the age of five. Quoted as "an exceptionally talented and protean actress" by the New York Times and Variety, Ubach made her Off-Broadway debut at the age of fifteen in Club Soda. She later starred in "Kindertransport" at the Manhattan Theater Club and "Patriotic Bitch," a one-woman show at New York's Harold Clurman Theater. In other words, Alanna has been around the show business block as a working actor her entire life.
Alanna’s worked alongside Robert Deniro, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Streisand, Ryan Reynolds, Danny Devito, John Turturro, Anna Farris, Julian Moore, Cameron Diaz, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, and so many more!
Gregg Brown is an award-winning writer/actor/director who has acted in several national commercials, hosted nationally, and has appeared on television shows including Young & The Restless and Wedding Band. More importantly, he has been operating in the trenches of Hollywood now for a solid decade.
ANYONE AT ANY LEVEL CAN TAKE THIS COURSE, FROM ANYWHERE
We designed EMPLAYMENT to provide the aspiring or working actor with a “toolkit” – a professional way of living and working as an actor and artist in Hollywood. Alanna has the "real deal" knowledge that she will share. The kind of stuff you can't learn in a regular acting class. You will learn absolutely everything you need to have an ADVANTAGE over the competition, and how to stop sabotaging yourself so you can go on to have the long career of your dreams.
FILED WITH INSIDER SECRETS, we will cover starting out in the business with lectures on headshots, unions, agents, and mangers. Give a guide on how to live and operate in an industry town like Hollywood (with charm and sex appeal), through voice-over, through the audition process (We even cover how to "wait" in the waiting room, that's how thorough we are) through how to work on set and money management.
And did we mention it will be fun and entertaining? The entire class takes place in Alanna's living room. You'll meet her dog. Alanna's will even do some of her incredible accents! And we're funny! You'll Hear her phone ring. LOL!
BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, after you listen to these coffee shop talk like lectures you will have learned the kind of stuff that will be essential to starting your career as an actor or improve your current acting career for many years to come.