We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Samantha Stiglitz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Samantha below.
Alright, Samantha thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?
The most important lesson I learned as a casting director is that all actors bring something different and special to a role. It’s not a guessing game. Actors are not expected to guess what casting wants from a role, rather bring in their own unique, risky & disruptive take. As a casting director, my favorite actors were those who thought outside the box. They may not have been right for every role, but they were memorable and exciting.
Samantha, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am an acting and audition coach in Los Angeles, CA. My clients range from movie stars to TV actors, world class athletes, social media influencers, models, and CEO’s. After graduating from a theatre conservatory and studying with one of the founders of the Royal Shakespeare Company, I left acting to become a casting director where I cast such shows as Burn Notice, Graceland, Pretty Little Liars, School of Rock, Body of Proof, as well as numerous feature films. I also co-created the top pop culture podcast “The Viall Files,” recently #1 on iTunes. In casting I discovered my passion – working one on one with actors. This led me to my life’s purpose – coaching. I have seen thousands of auditions and know what makes an audition stand out. As a coach, my gift is finding the unique, unexpected, and exciting side of the individual, and helping to craft a one-of-a-kind audition. I know that no two actors work the same way, and help my clients to create their own process that will carry them from the first audition to the first take.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I built my social media presence by accident! I never wanted to post publicly on social media. I had a private account and my business is referral only so I was basically undiscoverable. Then, the pandemic hit and actors were feeling defeated and isolated. TikTok approached me about creating educational content for their platform.I first said no, but then one of my influencer clients talked me into it. I posted with the intent of only doing it for 3 months. However, something interesting happened. The more I was on TikTok, the more I saw other content from uninformed, unqualified creators misleading actors with their incorrect information. Actors have so many options of “educators” now with the internet and I wanted to intervene. I started duetting these incorrect creators to ensure no actor receive incorrect information and haven’t stopped since!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Originally I was an actor. I graduated with my BFA and moved to LA full of process and no fucking clue how the industry worked. I floundered and struggled. Waiting tables and not knowing how to navigate this industry. After a few years I had to face the fact that acting was not the career for me. There’s a lot of shame thats attached to quitting acting: you didn’t try hard enough, you didn’t love it enough etc. For me, I knew I wanted to stay in. the field I loved but find structure. Casting provided that for me. I thrived in casting and found my ultimate purp0se: championing and supporting actors which I do to this day as a coach and educator.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.auditionprola.com
- Instagram: @auditionprola
- Other: tiktok @auditionprola
Image Credits
Dana Patrick