NOLA Film Scene with Tj & Plaideau
A podcast about acting, filmmaking, and the improv scene in New Orleans.
NOLA Film Scene with Tj & Plaideau
Ann Mahoney: Rumors and Reality
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A meme tried to tell our story for us—so we brought in the person at the center of it. Ann Mahoney sits down with us to unpack a viral rumor about a Walking Dead scene, why it’s completely false, and what gets lost when the internet mistakes convincing acting for personal pain. From there, we zoom out to the bigger picture: how audiences conflate character with human, how body-shaming takes root in comment sections, and what it actually takes for an actor to cry at the exact beat the script calls for.
Sponsored by Jana McCaffery Attorney at Law. Have you been injured? New Orleans based actor, Jana McCaffery, has been practicing law in Louisiana since 1999 focusing on personal injury since 2008. She takes helping others very seriously and, if you are a fellow member of the Louisiana film industry and have been injured, she is happy to offer you a free consultation and a reduced fee to handle your case from start to finish. She can be reached at Have you been injured? New Orleans based actor, Jana McCaffery, has been practicing law in Louisiana since 1999, specializing in personal injury since 2008. She takes helping others very seriously. If you have been injured, Jana is offering a free consultation AND a reduced fee for fellow members of the Lousiana film industry, and she will handle your case from start to finish. She can be reached at janamccaffery@gmail.com or 504-837-1234. Tell Her NOLA Film Scene sent you
Follow us on IG @nolafilmscene, @kodaksbykojack, and @tjsebastianofficial. Check out our 48 Hour Film Project short film Waiting for Gateaux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5pFvn4cd1U . & check out our website: nolafilmscene.com
Welcome to NOLA Film Scene with TJ Play-Doh. I'm TJ. And as always, I'm Play-Doh. Okay, folks, we're live. NOLA Film Scene with TJ and Play-Doh. He's TJ.
SPEAKER_00:He's Play-Doh. And she's Anne.
SPEAKER_02:Hey Ann, how you doing?
SPEAKER_04:I'm good.
SPEAKER_00:Anne Mahoney. Welcome back to the show.
SPEAKER_04:Thank you. Thank you for having me back.
SPEAKER_02:Our teacher, our friend, soon-to-be co-star, if we can have anything to say about it. One day.
SPEAKER_01:One day. I would love that.
SPEAKER_02:So we've been playing this since we saw Anne at Nola Comic-Con. Yeah. And we love having her on. We love talking to her. And we had this whole range of topics we were going to choose from. Until. Until don't do a new internet rumor started between you and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. To put it dramatically.
SPEAKER_04:Yes. Yes, a new new rumor.
SPEAKER_02:What is that rumor?
SPEAKER_04:So the rumor that was posted along with a little clip from the scene where I slap Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The lines are, I'm trying to remember him. It was like, um, he calls out, he says something about you starving. Um, and then he says, he propositions me, basically. He's like, I'm sorry for having been. So he says, sorry, he says, um, you starving, like, as if to say you're you're fat, so you're clearly not starving. And then I cry. And then he says, I'm sorry for having been so rude. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to screw your brains out. And that's when I slap him, and that's the big, the big scene. And the rumor was that one, Jeffrey D. Morgan improvised that scene. Two, that he felt so bad about his improvised line that he gave me a bouquet of flowers afterwards. And that three, that I was actually crying because of the improvised line and not really crying as an actress. And um, I usually don't engage any kind of internet stuff, especially like trolling. But this was just a little bit too enticing for me because one, all of those things are untrue. The script is the this that scene is completely scripted. Exactly what you hear is how it was written. The only difference is that we taped a version where Jeffrey D used the F word a lot and a version where he didn't, because you're only allowed so many F words per season in a show. Um, that's the only difference. All of it was scripted, including saying in the stage notes, she cries, right? So um, and Jeffrey D definitely did not give me a bouquet of flowers because there was no need to. We were just doing our jobs. And so, and then what was so funny about it and sad is that that was one thing that the rumors were untrue. But the second part that was like disconcerting, and I definitely engaged with people on was then people felt the need to comment underneath that post and say things like, he should have given her a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates, or she probably ate the flowers too, or should have given her a McBurger, or just cut like a bunch of other fat jokes underneath it, which was like I would I usually don't engage with that kind of stuff, but I was like, ah, I'm feeling I'm feeling sparky tonight. I'm gonna go ahead and write back to these people in a very diplomatic way, like, hi, it's me. I'm real, I'm a real person and a human with feelings. Um, not only is this rumor incorrect, but also there are people behind these roles that that are played on television, and we do have feelings. So yeah, there it is.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, when I when I saw the comments when you sent us the screenshots, I I was just utterly appalled, is the best way to put it. Did it did it first start out, did they use AI and recreate the scene with fake dialogue, or was it just still-shot memes?
SPEAKER_04:No, it was actually the still-shot memes. That was the scene as it was done. Yeah. So that was correct. It was how it was done and how it was scripted. There was no improvisation. In fact, I don't know. I mean, I worked on three seasons of the show. I'm sure somewhere in there there is some improvisation, but that show in general is very much scripted. We actually start every scene shoot with what we call story time, and everybody gathers around with the script and we talk it through. And if anything's gonna change, it changes at that moment. But there's there's not a lot of improvisation on Walking Dead because we're shooting some pretty complex stuff, and we shoot a lot of it's shot on film, some is digital, but some is film. So we're trying to get these shots quickly. So there's no like ample time for people to just improvise and make stuff up. It's very much approved by the network and approved by the writers and the producers. So that is completely false.
SPEAKER_00:I've kind of started slowing down on social media, and I put myself on a little bit of a self-imposed time out for a bit there because there's just so much toxicity. I just don't want to see it. Not so much directed at me, but just in general. Yeah. And I it makes it even harder when it's one of my friends that is being attacked for no reason. It it doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Except that people are just mean.
SPEAKER_04:Well, I think that you know, people forget the line between reality and fiction a lot, right? It's like when people are like giving death threats against actors who killed their favorite character on a show. And like you do realize that this is fiction, right? This is fiction. Um, so it's the same thing with with Olivia. It's like she is who she is, and she's the size that she is. But the funny thing is, is I'm the size of the majority of the average American woman, right? It's just we've gotten so used to what we see on screen that women are very, very, very, very thin in general, right? That people who are the size of an average American woman suddenly become the butt of the joke. And it's one thing to have it in the script, but it's another thing entirely for people then outside to be like, I'm gonna also go after this character, but it's like there's a person behind that. And would you say that to your, I know that somewhere in your family there's someone who's a size 12.
unknown:It's not that big.
SPEAKER_04:You know, not that it would matter, like I could be a size 30, right? Same problem, right? So I I I dare you to look at your aunt, your sister, your mom in the face and say, should have gotten her a stairmaster instead. I dare you. Anger.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but it it's not only the keyboard warrior mentality of I can say anything and because there's no nobody's gonna get punched in the face because they're on the internet. Yeah, but it's negativity drives likes.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_04:You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, there's also even for this, I kind of alluded. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_04:No, well, I mean, also just this this whole idea of like one of the big rumors was you know, Anne Mahoney, the person, was crying because her feelings were hurt. Like, no, Ann Mahoney is an actress and a trained actress for many years. So if the script says cry, I'm going to cry. And I will cry at the exact moment you asked me to in the script, because that's my job. Right? Am I drawing on personal experiences? Of course. All we are is acting. We're all drawing on personal experiences because it's who we are. And I happened to start my life as a ballerina before I was an actor. So I definitely dealt with a lot of body shaming in my life. But in that moment, I'm doing my job. If it says cry, I cry.
SPEAKER_00:What a lot of people tend to forget when they're watching fiction, you know, you talked about actors getting death threats because they killed somebody's favorite character or whatever. They're doing their job, and if they're getting it to that level, they're doing it really well. And I think people get so wrapped up in the story that they forget that there's a human on the other side of that camera. And from being in the industry, you talk to people, and a lot of times they're completely, especially someone that's a character actor, you're dealing with somebody that's completely different than what you see on screen. Some people are themselves turned up, and other others are completely different. And I think folks lose sight of that, and then time and distance, and like Brian said, keyboard warriors, they there's no consequence when they just clack away on their keyboard and not take people's feelings into consideration.
SPEAKER_04:That's exactly why I decided to engage. I I generally don't, but I decided to engage with these people, and I I didn't call in, I wasn't mean, but I was like, oh, that's an original one, or like, oh wow, it's me, the person you're talking about. I'm right here and I'm a human, right? Because I want you to remember that that's the truth. I mean, to put it on the flip side, like when I was doing, I don't know if you know the musical Sweet Charity, I played Charity and Sweet Charity, and she's this delightful character. She's very funny and lively and kind. And um, this is long. I'm trying to make it short. The bathrooms in the dressing room were broken. So I had to use the bathrooms that the audience used, right? And so I was in there using a bathroom at intermission, and I hear these two ladies talking, washing their hands, and they're like, she's just great. I love her. And I bet in real life she's actually a really nice person, too, right? And I'm like, you don't know. I mean, I am, but like, you don't know. So it's so funny the way that people attach qualities about who a person is based on a performance. Like, that's our job, right? That's that's just our job to embody the character. So who we are, you don't know. You think you know us because you see us on camera, you see us in in movies and on television, but you don't know.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I thought some of your responses to them were pretty clever. They a couple of them made me laugh out loud. And I want to address one not of yours, but somebody replied to your comment. This one just totally set me back. They said, in my defense, I didn't know you would read this. Something all right.
SPEAKER_04:In my defense, I would read this. I'm sure you're a nice lady.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, you're you're gonna read my comment. You're real. My bad.
SPEAKER_05:It was just it was actually delightful. I was like, yeah, I did read your comment. It's me right here, the real person.
SPEAKER_01:Can I have your autograph?
SPEAKER_05:Right.
SPEAKER_01:I'm sure you're a nice lady. Can I get free tickets?
SPEAKER_04:Hilarious. Thank you for talking about this because it's just a really hilarious moment.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Oh, no problem. It it's I think as a woman it's highlighted more for you, and no one's talking about my weight, but that is one of my not self-doubts, my not even fears, but you know, one of my weak points. You know, I get defensive about it. Not enough to do anything, but I'll get back to that soon. But my voice attacks me more than those keyboard warriors ever attacked you. You know what I mean? And that's where I really have to struggle with it. But you're also talking about like us people assign things to us. In real life, I'm a pretty nice guy, I'll admit that. And I try to respect everybody and I'll have fun and you know, blah, blah, blah. But I really enjoy playing some skeezy guys.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And that's we have to access everybody could be skeezy, everybody can be every worst thing, it's all in us, and you have to access that and let it go. But things you wouldn't do in real life, you know. So we find the truths and share them with people, and like you were saying, TJ, people get mesmerized. I'm not saying by my performances sometimes, but that those emotions we share, that truth touches people, and that's what brings them in. And so then when we hurt their characters, now they're pissed. We've hurt their family. You know, not that that applies to the people who are attacking you, but you know, we blur the lines of reality with reality.
SPEAKER_04:I always say when I teach that the truth, and this is the absolute truth, and I believe it in my heart. You have everything that you need to play any character you will ever need to play in your life already inside of you. It's just having the courage to access it. And, you know, part of that is training, right? Like for me, like training and continuing to train was how I keep myself ready to do whatever comes across my way, right? So if I can be prepared, the only way I can really be prepared is to train, to be available to the work and to be courageous enough to go, I can I can play this character who I disagree with and then not judge them, right? Come from a place of non-judgment, which is really, really critical, right? Especially when you're playing someone who you like violently disagree with, right? If you if you come from a place of playing that character, uh, if you come from a place of judgment, you're sunk. Because that person certainly understands exactly why they are the way they are, and they know their history and why they've become that way. And their values are very clear to them, and you have to be on their side, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And I often find that, like, I was just talking about this um on Saturday with my Suzuki Method of Actor Training class. Um, I actually find that joy is harder for a lot of actors than any DARF emotion to like realistically play joy or laughter is much, much harder. Um, because in a way, we all kind of love the idea of digging into these like characters who have trauma or have um violence or villains or have darkness. And so we like to go to those places, but to access joy, true joy and happiness and make it truthful in the moment, I find a lot of actors, myself included, really struggled with that.
SPEAKER_00:So I do, for sure. I do. That's the hard that's harder for me than than getting angry or getting sad.
SPEAKER_04:Yes. Yes, and I think it's harder because in real life, a lot of us have what we call, I think this is a Brene Brown term, but foreboding joy. Like when good things are going well in our lives, we can't just sit back and enjoy them. We kind of have this like, okay, well, this is great, but when's the other shoe gonna drop? Right. And so even in real life, we can't invest fully in joy. Um, and so then we have to play joy. It's it's it's hard to, it's scarce, it's hard to attach to, right? So um foreboding joy. So, like in all of your life as an actor, the best thing you can do for yourself is to live your life fully and in the moment and know that everything has a cycle, you know, everything has the praise and blame, you have joy and sorrow, you have life and death, and and and that to embrace those equally so they're all available to you when you when the work comes to you to draw from.
SPEAKER_02:Right. Yeah. When I took your virtual class, we would we would do a self-tape and we would send it in and would critique it and say, you know, not not like meanly, but this is good. What about this point? What were you thinking here? Yada yada yada. So one of the times I wasn't getting into it and I started running in place to get my body involved. And I remember your response to that, and that kind of leads me into the question, and I think it sure does. Let's talk about your Suzuki method of training. Because I believe that kind of fits in with that. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely, yeah. So one of my favorite books in the world is called The Body Heaps the Score. Um, so it's just something I talk about with class two. So I'm I may get the numbers correct here because I'm not great with numbers, but I don't know if people know, but you have the same thinking enzymes in your gut as you do in your brain. So, but your brain can only process 40 pieces of emotional information at a time. Your gut can process 11 million at a time. So the old adage of trust your gut is very real. And so to me, the Suzuki method of after training specifically addresses the gut, which is being in the body and the breath, not in the cerebral place. Um, I think anytime you can get yourself into your body and your breath and ground yourself there physically, you're going to be in a more real place as an actor. How do we get there, right? Because on camera, we can't obviously be jumping all around. We cannot push things out in the way we do on stage. On stage, we project things for an audience that is far away to be able to have them understand what we're feeling. But the camera, the camera sees what you think, right? It's close, the framing is small, but the body is still involved. So if we can do the Suzuki method of actor training was created by Japanese theater master Shizu Suzuki in the 1960s, and my teacher at the University of Connecticut studied with him at that time. What it does is it's a series of exercises that are all focused on centering yourself into your gut by way of very difficult physical and vocal training. Um there's a lot more to it, but I have found, although originally that training was uh paired with Greek tragedy and Shakespeare, I have found it indispensable as a film actress because it also incorporates a lot of stillness and centered in the core. And so I have been able to actually use that training as an actress more than any other training I've had. Um, because it instills core strength, gut response, instinct, and it also gives you courage because you think like if I could do this training, it's so difficult, I can do anything. I can access this, I can access anything. So anytime you can get yourself physically involved, and by that I don't mean action, I mean your actual body and your gut being attached to something instead of your cerebral brain, because the brain can get very critical about a lot of things. The brain sometimes heard my nose, sorry, the brain sometimes stands outside of us and talks and says awful things, right? I don't, I don't believe you. Yeah, right. What are you doing? This is not what we practice, right? The brain is great for research, it's great for memorizing lines, it is terrible for being engaged one-on-one and shadow boxing with that partner moment to moment, because acting is what? Living moment to moment in imaginary circumstances, living truthfully with moment to moment within imaginary circumstances, right? And that is not of the brain, that's of the gut. So, how do we memorize lines? How do we know how the story ends, right? But still live it moment to moment and not project, still allow it to unfold in real time. That's when that's how you train the gut, because then the gut is courageous and it does, it's available, it still knows all the lines, it still is it's all available to you, but almost in the subconscious, so you can actually live it moment to moment, right? Because if you walk on stage as Juliet in the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, you're like, the way this is gonna end is right, it's gonna be a real bad day. We're gonna all die, right? Then you then you don't allow the audience, the the beauty and yourself as the actor the beautiful experience of watching how you get from point A to point Z. And there's so much beautiful stuff in there that cannot exist if you're in a cerebral place instead of in the moment with the people you're acting with, and and reacting literally off of what is happening at that moment.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:You stunned me into silence, which is a real- I hope not just like stunned you into sleepiness, but no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00:Not even a little bit, no.
SPEAKER_02:It it was a beautiful thought, and I totally agree with it, and I didn't want to mess it up by talking. So we will give some contact information. So if people want to learn some acting from you at the end of the show. And one of the topics we had discussed at that con was the current state of filming, not only in the New Orleans area, but kind of all over.
SPEAKER_04:Yes. Discuss so um it's bad everywhere. And you know, I love I love to read the articles about the things that are coming and and and you know, uh what my experience and the experience of I have dear friends on major shows out of LA and New York and Atlanta, it's not great anywhere right now. Um, and and you know, in a way it's comforting because I'm like, oh, I haven't had an audition in a blank amount of time. And my friends who are like at this moment more successful than me in many ways, right, or like me either. So one of the things like I saw is that, you know, Louisiana is the home of the indie film. That was one of the articles I read. And I actually didn't know that. So it shows you like my own knowledge about the industry. But I'm like, way back, I want to say when I first started doing film and television acting, because you know, I'm a theater actor, classically trained. I sing and dance too. I never intended to do film and television acting. I straight up wanted to be on Broadway. And then it happened to me. And here I am. So way back when I first started doing film and television acting and understanding the film and tax credits, I said out loud so many times, I said, we need to figure out, we keep calling ourselves Hollywood South, but we need to figure out how to invest in Hollywood South so that we have our own TV channels, TV stations, or streaming services. At that time, that wasn't a thing back in like early 2000s, but we need to have our own movies being made and distributed. Like I love that big stuff comes into our state and takes advantage of our attack credits. I've worked on it. I'm glad that I got those opportunities. But on some level, if we don't start investing in our own industry, we're gonna completely be beholden to things coming into the state. So I was I've been saying this for years. And I even said this as recently just to to someone high up, like in I want to say it was 2019, and things were good. They were like, Yeah, we're good, we're good. There's all this stuff coming in. Well, here we are. Here we are. Um, and I really wish that back and not like they should have listened to me or anything like that, but I wish we had gotten more proactive about that as a community. Because imagine if right now we had our own version of like SCTC, SCTB in Canada, right? That that is like that's the home of all kinds of people you know, Catherine O'Hara from Shits Creek, um, Martin Short, uh like Eugene Lee, John Candy. All these people you know, they started in this dinky, dinky, precious little studio in Edmonton, Canada. And now you see them everywhere. And if we had back in the early 2000s bond, yeah, this is great, this outside work is great, but what are we doing with the local talent that we have? And now we have an Indigenous writer credit ever since the the credits were revamped. And what are we doing with it? Right. So something that I've been pitching for years and would like to pitch again is why don't we have a board of people put together that are some of them are local, um well-known people, like maybe we ask a Patricia Clarkson, maybe we ask ask a Brian Bat, maybe, and then the maybe the rest of the board is made up of local folks who work in the industry. And why don't we get, you know, Hancock Whitney and Gulf So Gulf Coast Bank and Auctioner and whoever to put money into a fund that then local writers can pitch their projects to and get at least starting funds for. So that we start to put that money really back into the state where it where it really like imagine trying to convince legislature then when we're like, look, we've got these 10 projects that are all written by local people that are that are get going forward and they have funding and they have distribution. So that's that's a big thing, is I think that we have not invested in ourselves in the way that we need to.
SPEAKER_02:That's awesome. I like that idea.
SPEAKER_00:I need to interject for just a second. Does my video look weird to y'all?
SPEAKER_02:You zoomed in for some reason when you came back.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know what is happening.
SPEAKER_02:Let me try to get that fixed, y'all. Y'all keep going. We'll just keep talking. If we didn't have a tech problem, it wouldn't be our show, folks.
SPEAKER_04:I could I didn't even I wasn't even sure how to get on here, so I can appreciate all the technical issues with everything.
SPEAKER_02:You shared the private link to promote the episode.
SPEAKER_03:I was like, sorry, it's just like we almost had anybody just walking in the studio.
SPEAKER_02:So I I like that. I think the United Artists of the last century will be what you described, you know, independent filmmaking and making their own streaming. And I like the distribution links, like setting that up, not just to like if we made a streaming service, but we create the pathways because I've done a couple of indie movies. I haven't been like the director, I have been like producer because of Kickstarter, yada yada. But I would not know how to contact to get distribution to the big boys, to the theaters.
SPEAKER_04:Precisely.
SPEAKER_02:So I like making the path so that we we if we were the board and someone approached us and we just went, boom, you know. That's uh TJ, I think you're on there twice now.
SPEAKER_04:Got you on there twice, but hey, double the TJ, double the fun.
SPEAKER_02:Uh well, now we got just oh wow, we've got technical stuff. I get distracted by all the bright and shiny things.
SPEAKER_04:Well, look, and I want to just say, like, I'm not clueless about the fact that things have to make money. So, so in my mind, if we had this pot of money, let's say$10 million, because let's just dream, you know, why don't we make it a uh a selection of things? Why don't we have a horror movie, right? So, so local writers, let's let's have horror, a horror movie because we know that those generally make money. Let's have like a holiday film because those gener, so those would be like if you want to talk stock stock market, those would be your blue chips, right? Like have five projects we're trying to produce with$10 million, like two or three of them are blue chips, and then we have like an indie film and a television series, right? So that the risk is spread around as opposed to it just being like all indie stuff that like we know it's tough for indie stuff to take off and get distribution, but let's let's and then you know, maybe part of the cause is as the filmmaker, if you get funding, you have to put two percent of what you make back into this fund. So it's so it feeds back into itself. And the people hearing these pitches are people who are experienced in the industry, but are local, right? So I just think that there's there's a way to do it, and um I I'd love to help do it, but I you know, I I I want to be clear, I haven't been listening to about this, and I've talked to it, I've talked about it for 20 20 years now.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So what's the we listened. Now let's see what we can do about it. Yeah, what's I mean, what's the answer? TJ? TJ I'm here, I'm not sure what the problem is. Are you muted? Uh again, tech issues. I didn't know if you want to flip off and come back on. We're coming close to that time. Keep going? Okay. I wasn't doing it because of that. I was looking at the how long we've been recording. And it's just wearing me out. Just all these big thoughts. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_04:I'm sorry. I was like, it's um I have I don't get to talk about this as as much as I like to. And I'm I'm passionate about it. I'm passionate about I love my I love my state. And I love our local talent. And I think it's second to none. I really, really do. And I I want us to I want us to start seeing opportunities that are bigger for the local actors, for the crew, you know, for people who want to produce. Um, that's what I want to see. So I'm I'm passionate about it. And I if people hate me for saying we need to do this, and I've been saying it for 20 years, then they're gonna hate me.
SPEAKER_02:And yeah, I don't think they'll hate you, but the uh the apathetic nature of humanity will we've got a lot of light of fire under ourselves and other people because I want this to be my career. Podcasting be alright, but I'm talking about acting, you know. Yeah, I'm tired of being a janitor. It's all right, but it's a shitty job.
SPEAKER_04:I understand. Cool. Oh, TJ, anger.
SPEAKER_00:The so unless Anne.
SPEAKER_01:I'm good. We're back.
SPEAKER_00:Sorry, we slipped into the twilight. Water glitch, time, uh, what's it called? Space-time continuum shift didn't.
SPEAKER_02:We actually had a freaky Friday and a time lapse, so we all switched bodies, went back to 1942, we're back and in our own body, so let's continue the show.
SPEAKER_04:You were saying something, TJ. You had something to ask.
SPEAKER_00:I yeah, I was I I was asking, so how? How do we how do we go from there?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:How do we kick that into gear?
SPEAKER_04:Um, I hate to say it this plainly, but I just need someone to take me seriously that has some kind of influence, right? Someone to take me seriously and go, oh, you want to do that? Okay, let's do it. And then someone who has connections to go, let's let's create this board. Let's approach, you know, these local banks, let's approach these local businesses and be like, hey, there's a tax credit for you too, right? Like, let's put this pot of money together and then let's put the parameters together, right? Just like any grant you would apply for as a theater artist, for instance. There's grants out there that you apply for to do projects. So just create the, I'm like, just create the board. But create the board, ask people that you think are gonna really have a good idea about what is a viable project, create the board, get the money, set the parameters out there and have people apply and have them pitch, right? Set that up. And then when the money's gone, the money's gone. And then we move to the next cycle, right? But then I just think that it just means someone has to believe that this is important enough to to help connect me and other people and and get that board off the ground. I can't do it myself, right? I don't, funny enough, like you'd think I have the connections, but I don't. I don't have the connections to the people who would who would a Hancock Whitney, an auctioner, a Gulf Coast Bank, uh, I keep saying them because I can't think of other people. Um, the Bensons, right? Might go, oh, if the board is made up of these people, I feel very confident in investing my money in this and having them be the go-between between me and these projects so that I can invest in something. And most of them need a tax write-off anyway. Right? So it's just they just need to trust the people that are vetting the projects. It's much harder for, you know, I I do I have a lot of writing. It's much harder for a writer to go to find these people and then be like, hey, um, I want to make this movie or this TV series. Can I have some money? It's much easier, I think, to have a board of people who are credible, who have connections to those people already to say, hey, we're trying this thing where we're really gonna grassroots launch Louisiana film, actual Hollywood, frickin' South film and television. And these are the people who are on the board and the people who are gonna take your money and listen to these pitches and invest it well. That's what we need. I I would be great at putting together parameters and how to apply in that, you know. I think if you're applying, you need to have not just a script, you need to have a pitch deck and you need to have a budget, right? Because we don't want to invest in things that they're like, I think it's gonna cost. It's like, no, what is it gonna cost? Right? Yeah. So I think I would be great at that part of it for sure. But I need the people who have connections to people with money to go, hey, we're gonna put this board together and we're really gonna invest in Louisiana film for real. For real.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. We need we need to bring together people that have the skill set. I I mean, I know people, we all know people, we just need to bring the right people together. You know, if you're maybe not as good at pitching maybe this person is, and maybe this person has the connections, and this person has the scripts, and this person knows how to bring a project together. I I I think I'm seeing what you're putting down there.
SPEAKER_04:Well, like, what's the main problem that everybody has with making a film? What's the number one problem?
SPEAKER_02:Money.
SPEAKER_04:What's the number two problem? Distribution. Right? So if we can like if you have money, and I won't say the film that I worked on, but I worked on a film that was a first-time director writer, okay? Yeah, and got really famous people to do it. Why? They had their own money. Right? So, like, what do we all need to get distribution? We need a couple ringers, we need some famous people in some roles, right? How do we get famous people? Money. Right? So if you have the money to do the project, then you can reach out to the agency and say, hey, I'm funded for this project. Will you have Kristen Wig read it? Will you have Sean Aston breed it? Right? But you can't even begin. And then maybe the distribution piece happens then, right? Because you're like, we've got Kristen Wig and Sean Aston starring. And then the distribution people go, ooh, okay, right? But you can't come in. I know those names. I know those names, right? And then the rest of it is populated with local people. We have that talent, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:So it's just a matter of someone taking me seriously and going, yeah, we really do, we really do want to invest in Louisiana film and television. We want to invest in it. We want to make it happen. Um, yeah. I I'm ready. I'm ready for someone to take me seriously and be like, let's do this. And I've yet to find someone to do it.
SPEAKER_00:Do we do it as SAG or as indie?
SPEAKER_04:I mean, I think you would want to do it as SAG because you know, the people that would probably be on the board would be in that industry.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I want to like Because you would want you would want the big SAG names.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, look at what Reese Witherspoon has been able to do with like Geta Davis and her, right? What I'm talking about is that, but on a local level, which is like all those women know each other and have worked together and trust each other. And so they bring projects to each other and they are producing this great stuff. They also happen to have crock tons of money, right? So why don't we locally find those people who have connections to people with money and bring crap tons of money in and then distribute it to projects that are ready, worthy, pitch ready, so that then they can go and get distribution. They can get those star names and we can bring more work here ourselves instead of waiting for things to land here. I'm available for all things that land here. But I also want I want us to have our own thing. Because then when these, it's like any business, right? If you are relying on all outsource stuff for your business to run, when the world tips, you tip. If we are our own business that has our own mechanisms in place to continue the industry, we're not gonna hit the, we're gonna have like a slope instead of dips. Right? If we're completely reliant on outside projects coming here, every time the industry has a crash, we're gonna crash. And then eventually people are gonna leave the state. And then eventually you're not gonna be able to promote the tax credits because nothing's happening.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:If it goes on for years and years, and I think for the foreseeable next couple of years, we're gonna be in a tough spot. So now is the time. Now's a great time. I mean, five years ago would have been a better time, but now is a great time.
SPEAKER_00:So one of the one of the things I wanted to touch on, what is your take on and you might have covered it briefly when I stepped away for a second, but what why have we gotten to this point? What happened? Uh people keep saying, well, it was the strike. I I don't think it was. I I don't think it was just the strike. Something shifted and things have changed, and I've been trying to wrap my head around it, and I can't figure out why.
SPEAKER_04:So um, again, I'm not gonna make any friends here. I'm not gonna quote the exact person, but a pretty well-known casting director said back in 2005, 2005, wow, that the whole working as a local hire thing was a slippery slope. Right? And I completely understand as an actor trying to get a leg up, wanting to get a job. I have done it. No, that's not true. I've only ever worked um SAG modified local hire, which by the way, it's not a real contract, in case anyone didn't know. That's not a contract. You are still working local hire, they're just paying you per Diem hotel and travel. Just so you know, it's not a contract. That's something I didn't learn until I'd done it for several years. But I think that um increasingly we have continued to travel to wherever for whatever job because we want to get the work, right? Simultaneously, producers have gravitated to that and are trying to get the job done cheaply. And they're not totally to blame because the industry wants the jobs done more cheaply now, too. The problem is the slippery slope was it was cheaply done in the United States, and now it's being cheaply done overseas or in other countries because it's always going for the lowest bean counter.
SPEAKER_00:And that's why a lot of stuff's gone to Canada.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, like in the last year, I've been pinned for a series in Hungary, Canada, and Mexico, all of which I was pinned for and they checked all my availability and I didn't end up booking. Because I'm sure they found someone in Canada or Mexico or Hungary who could do a great American accent, and they did that job. And they should, because it's gonna be cheaper than flying me there and putting me up, right? So um I think we've gotten here because of because of the strikes, yes, but but also because I think that the money is not we're not putting money in our own communities. It's exactly what I just said. We're not investing in our own film community. If Atlanta did what I'm talking about, they would have their own ecosystem. If Louisiana did what I'm talking about, you would have our own ecosystem, right? That would be able to weather the storm of the greater Hollywood industry. When I say to you, okay, I'm gonna, I'm I I'm trying to like figure out how to say this without revealing. Uh, I was pinned for a series, I won't tell you which one, like seriously pinned. And um, the person that got cast in the role of ultimately that I was pinned for is very, very famous. Did many, many seasons of a show on a network television station, right? And I thought to myself, poor that actress. She just came off of five years of being the star of a series and she's playing this recurring character on this television series that she could do in her sleep, right? And that's because there is so little work. And so now all of the people who are more famous are coming into the roles that more blue-collar actors like me traditionally would do. Because there's just not as much work for us here.
SPEAKER_00:So that makes sense.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. I mean, I don't know if that's a good idea.
SPEAKER_00:And that was the piece, that was the piece of the puzzle that I missed was the the traveling for the uh working for local hire.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. I mean, it's it's wild because instinctually, because I think I was fortunate that I started in film and television in 2005. And so I hit some golden years there where no one would ever ask you to be a local hire if you weren't. So when I booked some things that I won't talk about, there was a like, we won't even look at your tape unless you work as a local hire. But because I had those golden years in the early part of my career, I was like, I'm not a local hire. I don't live here. And then suddenly I was cast and I got the better deal. Right now it's like just assume that you work local hire. You must. And um, and I think that that weakens the union, right? Because then when we're everybody can compete now, right? If I can, and and you know who can really compete? People with money. If I'm a person who has is of means, I can be local wherever I want. With me when they're like, you need to be a local hire. I'm like, this shoots in I'm making this up. This shoots in New York. I have two kids and I'm a single mom. I am not working local hire. I'm not coming out of pocket, leaving my children at home to come and work local hire. I love what I do, but my kids are more important. I got to pay my mortgage, my my mortgage, my rent at the end of the month. And I can't do that if I work full-full hire. I'm gonna walk away from this with like$5,000 if I work a week because you're also doing only scale, right? And I'm gonna pay$600 to$800 in plane tickets in New York City. This is not a real job, by the way. And I'm gonna pay$1,500 for my hotel. I can't do that. I got I've got two kids. One is about to go to college. God bless me. Right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:So, and I'm not, I'm not at all like looking down on actors who work global hire. I get it. I get needing to get the credits and wanting to be available. But the industry increasingly bends towards people who already have the means to do it on whatever terms. So it's actually socioeconomically awful. It's the opposite of what the American dream is, right? That if you have the talent, you can do it. Like, not anymore. You better have talent and you better have money to get yourself to and from set so that the money that you make doesn't matter. And that's boy, what are we missing out on? The actors that you think of in our lifetime who were not wealthy, that we would have never known if they were coming through the industry at this moment because they wouldn't have been able to afford to be seen. Anger, anger. I don't like it. Yeah, it's not cool.
SPEAKER_00:Well, but it's uh it's brilliant insights though, and it's answers to questions that I've been having for months uh of trying to figure out what is happening all of a sudden. But I I've got, I mean, just like you, I've got friends that are more successful than I at this, and they're telling me the same thing, it's slowing down, but then again, I also have friends that are getting auditions every week. Uh a lot of it they're they're self-submitting for, but still they're they're at least getting auditions. And man, that's a lot of stuff that's happening that's causing this industry that we love to tank.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and and and I'll just come full circle back to the industry is tanking, and we do have control if we invest in ourselves. We don't have control over what Hollywood's gonna do. I have a feeling that's gonna take some time for that cycle to play itself out, right? But what we do have control over in the in the current moment is what we're doing about it locally. We do have control over that. It's just a matter of people going. I believe in us, I believe in our writers, I believe in our stories, and I believe that if I invest money here with a good board of people to oversee it, we can make some incredible stuff happen while we're waiting for Hollywood to figure out how many AI actors they want to cast.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:That that's even a discussion is wild.
SPEAKER_02:I'm I'm biting my lip. It's like they're not actors, but I know you're not gonna be able to do it. Oh, they're not actors.
SPEAKER_00:Like I saw Brian's face twitch.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. AI bots they're gonna use. Let me correct myself because that's what it is. Like while Hollywood decides how many AI bots they're going to use to replace real live, grieving people, why don't we go, okay, y'all, y'all are clearly having a moment over there. We're gonna invest in Louisiana, my home, yeah, where I am a native, surrounded by brilliant actors and actresses, brilliant crew people, brilliant writers, brilliant directors, brilliant producers, brilliant studios with everything you need. Unfriend, unfriend, unfriend, unfollow.
SPEAKER_02:That's all right. I don't care. Cut the week from the tenth. Look, I'll be 50. We don't need it.
SPEAKER_04:I'll be 50 in April. And I don't know if you guys have heard of the uh We Do Not Care Club, the woman who's like talks about being in perimenopause and menopause and putting the world on notice that we just do not care. I'm just so there right now. Just so like, I mean, it can't get worse. Like, it can't get worse than it is uh right now with like very few auditions and everything local higher and everything scale, no matter if you're a guest star or recurring, or I'm like, it can't get worse. So I might as well just be honest. And that's that's my policy. I and I've always been very, very honest about this journey. And don't I don't sugarcoat it. I love it still too. I love it deeply. I love it from the bottom of my heart. It's what I was born to do.
SPEAKER_00:I've heard there's there's no negotiating either. Yeah. If if you book something, if it's scale, there's no negotiating. They will poop, they'll go right to the next person. They don't even they don't even care anymore.
SPEAKER_04:Yep. It's that baseline love of integrity that I feel is missing so many places, like just integrity of of the human spirit and um love of other people and care for other people. I mean, going full circle back to the beginning of this conversation of people feeling like they can say awful things about a real human. Why? Why are you why are we doing that? Well, to what end? Right? Are we gonna just like fight each other until this this you this team got this many, this team got this many, to what end, right? We've we've killed, we've hurt, you've maimed over here, we've killed, we've hurt, you've maimed over here, and now let's sit down at the table and talk. That's not how it works. We'll never be even. We'll only ever love and care for each other, speak to each other everybody that you can that isn't actively hurting you, let me be clear. With with the knowledge that they're a human with a with a life and an experience that you don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I think we're all spent after that.
SPEAKER_05:I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00:No, don't apologize. We it needed it needed to be said. Yeah, it really did.
SPEAKER_04:You can stand for values and you can still we can still promote ourselves, we can still take care of ourselves here in Louisiana. We're an amazing, amazing place with amazing people. And I really believe in us. I really do.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah, me too. So if people want to take your class, how do they find you?
SPEAKER_04:So you can find me on all social media at at Andy Moho, A-N-N-I-E-M-O-H-O. Um, and if you just look, I'll I'll repost again. But if you look at some of my past Instagram posts, it has um an email address that's very hard to say on air, but I'll say it. It's a mahoney at plainairactingstudio.com. Plainest bell P-L-E-I-N. There's a long story behind that name. But if you look in my Instagram posts, you can find that email address so that you don't have to try to remember. But Annie Moho.
SPEAKER_00:Um we'll pin it. Great. We'll pin it in the comments.
SPEAKER_04:Great. And I have a wonderful class right now. Um, 10 folks right now um doing the Suzuki method of actor training with me. And I'm hoping to continue booking for the foreseeable future and teach every Saturday because it's um I love teaching it and I do it with the class too because it's it just grounds me. I call it my actor reset button. It brings me back to home.
SPEAKER_00:Is it a series like you have to a course, like you have to start start to finish, or is it are they standalone classes? How how is it set up?
SPEAKER_04:So it it it you can you can drop in and and take, I would always can I would always say don't just take one, right? Sure. Um obviously the more you take, the the better I can get at at helping hone the things that you need. Um, but if you come in and we or three classes in, I know how to I've been teaching it for 20 years. So I know how to pull you aside and help you get caught up. Also, um, there's a gal in my class named Nicole Miller, who is a student of mine at Loyola, who's been with me for 10 years, who is taking the classes with me, and she's there to kind of help with catching people up where they need to. But the training is the training, and um, I'll always be able to get somebody in there and get them at their speed to line up with the rest of the group. So um my hope is just to continue and make it a little culty, a little like culty, a little bit every Saturday. Everybody comes and does Suzuki, including me.
SPEAKER_00:Sweet. Sounds good. Well, Ann, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you.
SPEAKER_05:I feel like it's been like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_00:No, we like blah blah. That's that way. I don't blah blah. Yeah, the these these podcasts are about the guest. And yeah, you had a lot of really important things to pass on, and I'm I'm grateful. I'm grateful that you came on and cleared some stuff up. I'm sorry that you had to go through uh uh trolls. I hate that we had to address that, but I'm glad we did.
SPEAKER_04:Me too.
SPEAKER_00:So thank you so much for coming on, Ann.
SPEAKER_04:Thank you for having me, TJ and Brian. You're doing really, really important work. This is this is this is the epitome of Louisiana investing in itself right now. Yeah, I know. I got scut. This is Louisiana investing in itself, right? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, thank you. Thank you for that.
SPEAKER_04:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:All right, folks.
SPEAKER_02:I keep telling TJ how important we are, but he doesn't believe.
SPEAKER_00:All right, we'll see you next time.
SPEAKER_03:All right. Bye bye.
