In the middle of his busy international book tour, Jeff Seymour spoke with us about The Real Life Actor, his history in the entertainment business, and his advice for new actors.

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Can you start by telling us a bit more about you and the projects that you are involved with at the moment?

Currently I’m on a book / seminar tour. I was at Second City in Chicago on June 16th. I’ll be at The Triad Theatre in NYC on June 30th. Then I’m off to the UK, Austria and France. I’m looking forward to seeing how they respond to my book and approach across the pond.

How did you first become interested in acting and what steps did you take to get there?

I was a latch key kid so I was always alone in front of a TV.  I loved television. I’m sure it was something I always wanted but I didn’t say it out loud till I was 18 years old. I left Virginia, where I grew up and headed to a theatre school in L.A.

Who were your greatest influences when you were starting out?

Believe it or not, Al Pacino and Dick Van Dyke.

What have been some of the most memorable moments in your career thus far?

Running my own theatre for 10 years in LA. Working on The Eleventh Hour in Canada. Creating my own TV series, JeffLtd and getting to do whatever I wanted for 2 seasons. Winning a Gemini and receiving multiple nominations is always lovely. Going to Morocco to shoot an episode of Homeland and work opposite Claire Danes. Doing Speed the Plow by David Mamet in a small theatre in LA and having Quentin Tarantino show up.

Let’s talk about your book, “The Real Life Actor”. What inspired you to write this?

35 years of teaching and in that time developing an approach to acting that I feel is as unique as it is highly effective. It was something I wanted to do after 15 years of teaching. It took me another 20 years before I finally got around to doing it. When I finished the last words of the final chapter and knew that my 20 quest was complete, I started blubbering like a baby. I was so relieved I had finally finished it.

What can actors expect to gain from reading the book?

Hopefully the clearest explanation of what great acting is and the most straightforward, effective way to attain it. It also outlines and shares the winning professional attitude needed to persevere and succeed in the business. The book is also meant to inspire.

From your standpoint, is it easier or more difficult for new actors to “break out” in the industry today than it used to be?

It’s probably a wash. Whereas it might be harder to get to agents and be seen because of the overwhelming amount of actors vying for a chance, there is now electronic media. Nowadays with a good idea and some initiative, actors can leap frog ahead and make some serious noise on their own.

Overall, what is the most rewarding aspect of your work?

All of it. Any of it. In the thirty six years since my first professional job, I’ve never had to make a living doing anything else.  It never feels like work. Like the saying goes, “Find something you love doing and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

As an actor, you’ve had a number of roles on television and film. Do you prefer one over the other and how does your creative process change if it’s a film or television role?

The only difference I see between the two is that they take a little more time when they make a film. My process is the same, I just have more time in between takes.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to pursue a career in acting?

Take the time to acquire ability before you market yourself. Agents and casting directors have long memories. A bad first impression may be the only impression you are ever afforded. Make it count.

What books have been influential in your creative journey so far?

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I can not recommend his book enough. It is life changing!

Where can people find out more about you and keep up with your latest projects?

You could go to my website at RealLifeActor.com or the Real Life Actor Facebook Page.

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Our thanks to Jeff Seymour for speaking with us! You can check out his book right here!

The post The Biz Interview: Jeff Seymour appeared first on Biz Books.

With the contest winding down and “When Pigs Fly” holding steady as a prime contender, we spoke with Brendan Taylor about how the commercial came to be, what goes into a successful commercial, and what else he has in the pipeline.

Tell us about the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest and your commercial, “When Pigs Fly”.

The contest is open to anyone who wants to make an ad for Doritos; they don’t have to be filmmakers necessarily, they just have to have a good idea. The winning ad is shown during the Super Bowl, the filmmaker gets a job at Universal in LA, and they win $1 million! Graham Talbot and Nelson Talbot happen to be great local filmmakers, they are SFU Film Alumni and aspire to work on bigger projects. They entered the contest last year and made it to the Top 25 semi-finals, which is already great. But this year they made it to the Top 10, out of almost 5,000 submissions. But I didn’t know it would get there when we shot it in October! It turned out amazing, and of course I’m biased, but I actually do think it’s the best one out of the 10 finalists!

In the ad, a young boy approaches his neighbour and casually asks for a Dorito chip. The grown-up says to him “When pigs fly!”, and the smart young boy takes it literally; he comes back the next day to surprise his neighbour, with a fly-by pig with a rocket on his back. The neighbour concedes and gives him the whole bag.

How can people get involved to support it?

Please go to Doritos.com and click ‘VOTE’ under our video “When Pigs Fly”! We are 1 of 2 Canadian teams this year, and would love all the support we can get to win this thing! It’s real easy, no sign-up, just visit the site and vote! You can vote every day until Wednesday, January 28th, once a day on your computer, phone, and tablet!

And find Vote4whenpigsfly on Facebook for all the latest news and extra behind-the-scenes stuff! We find out who won the contest DURING the Super Bowl on February 1st; they will air it live, so we will all find out at the same time!

How did the idea for this commercial come about?

Graham Talbot and Nelson Talbot just did a brainstorming session and built on what they learned last year, got an idea, and ran with it. Raw creativity based on experience! They knew kids and animals were popular in ads, so they worked from there. They have a good friend who does most of the post-production CGI effects. You can find a great little video on the visual effects on our Facebook page.

What can you tell us about your creative process in putting it together?

There were many factors, the Talbots will tell you: working on a budget, calling in favours and finding the location, and the actors: Keegan Turbitt, the perfect young genius boy, myself for the ‘simple’ farmer, and Bernard the Pig, who is a local pig actor! I got a call randomly from a mutual friend who was helping them find cast. I looked at the Talbot’s previous work and really liked it. I decided to jump on board, thinking at the very least of having something cool for a demo reel. The rest is history!

What do you enjoy about doing commercials vs. theatre, television, and film?

Commercials have been great for me not only for on set experience, but as an outlet for comedic acting. I love comedy, but there’s not a lot of comedy that shoots in Vancouver, just mainly dreary sci-fi stuff. But I do love TV and Film, more so in fact because I get to dig into a real story, and not just a fleeting gag or idea from a 30 second spot. And I love theatre: I was trained in theatre, and firmly believe it makes the actor great. Name any famous actor you enjoy, and chances are they grew up on the stage. Overall, I just love being immersed in storytelling. In a perfect world, I would balance my time shooting TV in LA, traveling abroad and shooting a film on a remote island somewhere for 6 months, then hunkering down in NYC for a few months to work on a Broadway play.

What would you say are the three most important things that every successful commercial needs?

Hmm, tough question. I’m not a marketing person, but from my own experience I would say: know your market, think outside the box, and…hire good actors? I find advertising fascinating, but I think it’s a lot of pressure to constantly come up with good ideas! Often times I’ve found myself improv-ing something in an audition and they end up using my idea because it was better than their own!

One of my favourite recent gigs I had was a singing voice-over gig for Old Spice ‘Dadsong’, once of the most unique and creative ad campaigns out there. The song was written by Bret McKenzie of ‘Flight of the Conchords’. So bizarre, yet very high production value and and you can’t help but laugh and sing along. Check it out on Youtube!

What other projects are you involved with these days?

I have a few projects coming out very soon. I was on an episode of the CW’s Arrow, which will be airing in a couple weeks, and I was on a new show called Olympus on the SyFy Network. I have a few commercials airing right now, and couple more on the way. I was also a lead in a feature film that shot last summer called Charlotte’s Song, which will be in festivals this Spring. It’s a supernatural period piece set in the 1930s Dust Bowl based on the fable of the Little Mermaid. I’m very excited for people to see it.

I’m also in the midst of co-producing an original play with some friends from my theatre company. We’re still in early stages, and it’s scary to dive into something original, but it’s exciting.

Who are some of your influences in film, television, and theatre?

I’ve found my tastes and interests have changed greatly over my life, in terms of who I like and who I think is good. But I definitely have some role models: In dramatic acting, I look up to Daniel Day Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, Michael Fassbender, Michael Keaton. In the world of comedy, I love Ty Burrell, Patrick Warburton, and Larry David’s brilliant writing. I’m fascinated by Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction era. In theatre, sometimes I’m in the mood for William Shakespeare or Tennessee Williams, but then I’ll play with David Mamet or Martin McDonagh.

What books have been influential to you in your career so far?

As I mentioned, I like a variety of theatre, so I love reading plays. Actual physical plays, not so much online. I’d love to have a huge collection of play books that I could chip away at. I find they’re very useful to have around too, if you’re an actor in training, which you should be. It’s so easy to be lazy as an actor, so at the very least you should be reading plays, thinking of monologues, reading up on playwrights or directors, reading or watching biographies… do something to further your craft if you’re not taking classes. Which you should be.

Where can we find out more about you and keep up with your projects?

You can check out my website at Brendan-Taylor.com. I try to keep the blog up to date with my latest gigs. You can find most of my commercials there too, and plenty of photos from past projects, including several plays with Blind Pig Theatre. And you can follow my Twitter @bdog_taylor and Instagram @dardaboy. In the coming weeks I will have a new demo as well as a voice demo up on my site, so stay tuned!

The post The Biz Interview: Brendan Taylor appeared first on Biz Books.