How We Role: A Podcast for Actors by Casting Networks
How We Role: A Podcast for Actors by Casting Networks, breaks down an actor's journey, one topic at a time. Join award-winning actor, writer and host Robert Peterpaul alongside industry talent and experts as they discuss how to build a successful career as a performer and beyond in the entertainment industry. From inspirational casting stories to practical advice on the craft of acting, tune in to expand your skill set and book that role.
Get cast today at castingnetworks.com.
How We Role: A Podcast for Actors by Casting Networks
Crafting Standout Acting Resumes & Materials with Actor Reboot's Phil Sloves
How We Role with... crafting a standout resume and acting materials! Actor Reboot's Phil Sloves (Law & Order: SVU) shares tangible tips on tailoring your resume for success across the diverse landscapes of theater, TV, film, commercials, and voiceover work.
Phil Sloves is a multi-hyphenate performer who you may have seen playing Ronald Givens Jr. on Law & Order: SVU or perhaps in SpongeBob SquarePants, the Broadway musical. Phil has kindly dedicated his life to helping performers with his company Actor Reboot, an all inclusive, safe space that helps you prepare for auditions, fine tune your branding, and allows you to find your true self through it all. Actor Reboot does everything from hosting classes to creating new resumes that stand out.
This is - How We Role. Get cast today at castingnetworks.com.
Follow Host, Actor and Producer Robert Peterpaul (Amazon's Sitting in Bars with Cake, The Art of Kindness podcast) on Instagram @robpeterpaul and learn more at robertpeterpaul.com.
Follow Casting Networks on social media for casting news, interviews and more:
Instagram
Threads
Facebook
LinkedIn
YouTube
Actor friends, today we have on the pod one of us. Actor Phil Sloves is here to talk about crafting resumes and beyond. So whether you need a resume as an actor or you feel like yours could use a little freshening up, spritz, spritz, there are some golden nuggets of wisdom in here for you. Please welcome my friend Phil. Thank you.
Phil Sloves:Robert, I'm so stoked to be here. Please welcome my friend Phil. Thank you.
Robert Peterpaul:Robert, I'm so stoked to be here Now. I know you're from Jersey, you've been an actor for a long time, but I guess, to start out, when do you feel like you first started to realize you wanted to give back to actors and actually help your fellow actors book the job?
Phil Sloves:Yeah, I have always sort of noticed that people come to me for advice, whether it's business related or not. As I started excelling in my acting career, I noticed a lot more questions coming to me in terms of hey, how is your resume formatted? Hey, how does your website look? Hey, how did you walk into that audition room without throwing up all these questions? And that's just been sort of my intro into it all.
Robert Peterpaul:Yeah, it's hard not to throw up. You know we need little doggie bags sometimes, but I feel like the best person to help other actors is an actor. Well, if you could please just give everyone a little rundown of Actor Reboot, can you take us through why you started that and what you're doing over there?
Phil Sloves:Yeah, I started at the reboot, um, actually about a month before the pandemic hit a friend of mine and, uh, the original intention was a little different than what we've turned into. Actually, it was originally just supposed to be small packages for cheap headshots and audition coaching and resumes, to give you like a whole new audition packet. And then, coming out of the pandemic, you know, needs were a little bit different. People were rusty, people needed, you know, to get in a room and sort of brush off the cobwebs, and I've seen more and more that people just more than anything want to exercise their audition brains and make sure they're reentering the world with the right tools and the right confidence and the right mindset, because a lot of that was skewed during the pandemic. So, sort of my goal with the reboot of Actor Reboot, to make sure that I was able to assist as many artists as possible, just to regain the crazy normalcy that is, uh, being a performer.
Robert Peterpaul:The crazy normalcy. I'm going to put that in a t-shirt or something or a calendar. I feel like you also exercise people's demons. You know the mindset thing is so important because I don't know about you, but I feel like they didn't ever teach that really in acting class and that's one of the hardest things to grapple with.
Phil Sloves:Yeah, I um. I grew up in Jersey, so uh we're very uh represent.
Robert Peterpaul:Uh, we're a very, we're fist pumping y'all. You can't see, but I'm doing it.
Phil Sloves:We're a very blunt people in New Jersey, um, and I have somehow figured out a way to be both extremely brutally honest but also kind and and earnest in my delivery of that, so that it's not no one's feeling judgment from me. It's more so me just truly telling them what they need to hear in a way that's not going to hurt or break them. And I don't know how I found this. It's sort of just through my years I've figured it out and, yeah, I think that's like my biggest strength when it comes to all this.
Robert Peterpaul:Yeah Well, because you're knowledgeable, but you're also a good dude, You're a good person, and I think that's such a oh you know, I could go on and on. Let me pull out my compliment list for Phil. I feel like it's important to come from that place. One thing for you in particular that we're really excited to talk about today is resumes. We're going to go through all things resumes which might be tough in the audio space, but we're going to try and tackle it, even though it's a visual medium. First of all, phil, I'm sure this is an obvious question, but just for context, what do you think the point of a resume is?
Phil Sloves:Well, I think the point of a resume, the entire point of a resume, is to highlight your accomplishments, your strengths and your achievements, while giving casting a sense of who you are, not only as a performer, but as a person.
Robert Peterpaul:That's also a hard line to ride, you know, when I feel like it is a resume that's structured. But I want to break down with you little ways. We can all hopefully infuse our personality into this and not by maybe like putting exclamation points after every credit, even though that's how I feel on the inside. We're going to find other, more professional ways. So the first thing I thought of when I was thinking of questions to pick your brain about is you know, I was always taught you should have one main resume with as many credits you can cram in there as possible, but also highlighting sort of the train that's pulling in the station for you. So if you've been booking mostly theater, obviously that's going to be the bulk of your credits. But then at the same time you want some separate resumes for TV, film, theater, commercials, voiceover. Does that sound about right? What's usually your recommendation?
Phil Sloves:Yeah, I mean, it sounds right in. In a sense, you know, like I think catering your resume to specific work, it can be beneficial. No-transcript, it really just depends on the situation. You know, everyone has such a unique experience that it's hard to like confirm that. Yes, you, you should put theater on top 100% if you're going in for theater, just because of that example, you know.
Robert Peterpaul:Yeah, Do you also feel like? I guess for me? I'll throw a personal example in here, just because it's hard to not work with a resume, but when I was younger I booked Seussical on Broadway. Yes, you did. So most resumes, I feel like, are in chronological order, but for me I'm like that's a pretty cool thing. I don't want to just keep bottom. Do you think that's an example of maybe you can move that up to the top, or would you put a separate sort of Broadway section?
Phil Sloves:Yeah, so, like personally for my resume, I was in SpongeBob on Broadway and I have Broadway first and foremost, and then I have my off Broadway credits, and then I have all my regional theater credits. So for you, in your case, absolutely I'd say Seussical up top. That will look okay, Especially because you know Broadway performers. Some people go 15, 16 years before they book their next Broadway gig. Not to say that I'm not working in other regions of the industry, but you know you still are a Broadway performer, so definitely highlight that.
Robert Peterpaul:Okay, cool, now I'm going to do my SpongeBob left. I won't do that. I'll save you from that. Worked on it for a long time. So, bill, what are your top tips for actors creating a resume for the very first time? Because when you Google it, there's a lot of examples. They don't always land Some of them, I'm sure AI at this point, but you're an expert at crafting really wonderful ones that are clean, professional and also have that little zazz in there. So give us some tips, just to start out.
Phil Sloves:Thank, you, yeah, I. My biggest tip is to format the heck out of it. Make sure all your lines are even, everything is crispy, so that no one's distracted. Because even, like you know, you've been in a show and you're sitting in the background of an ensemble scene and the director says, if anyone moves slightly, the audience is looking right to you. Yeah, same thing with your resume. If you have like one thing that's, like you know, 0.2 indented further than everything else, the eye's going to go right there. So if everything's clean and crispy, you don't have to worry about anything being distracting. You'll have your entire resume, as you want it, formatted right in front of you so that the eye is just going to go right from top to bottom.
Robert Peterpaul:And I think it's important you do that in a software you will continue to buy. Because I no longer have Microsoft Word, I don't pay for that. Yes, I do pay for that. Yes, Okay, Would you say that's the software you recommend using for this Personally?
Phil Sloves:yes, for me, I know Google Docs is also a great resource that a lot of people use. I will say that a lot of people who send me resumes to fix are in Google Docs and almost always they are oddly formatted when I get them. So, personally, microsoft works for me, but I'm not going to poo-poo Google Docs, you know.
Robert Peterpaul:I like that, and you can always go to fail if you need to use Microsoft and you don't have it Hit us with your second. Hit us with your second shot, okay.
Phil Sloves:The second shot.
Robert Peterpaul:Yeah, I was trying to do a little parody on hit me with your best shot. Didn't work out, didn't land folks Not warmed up? But take us through your second tip please.
Phil Sloves:Yeah, another tip I would say is showcase yourself, because this is, you know, your resume. So you should have that represent who you are as a performer. And then in your special skills section, you know, have tidbits of who you are as a person, you know. Throw in a party trick that you do. Throw in a fun fact, like if you are a chocolate donut connoisseur, you know, aficionado, you can put that as the last little thing. Your special skills gives you something to chat about with casting, you know, because yes, they want to see what you've done and it's important to see who you've worked with and all that, but also they want to make sure that you're someone fun to work with.
Robert Peterpaul:You know you're so right and they don't all have to be. You know cartwheels and backflips. I mean, sometimes a special skill is that you're an artist, you can draw, and that might work for a role. I mean, I've seen plays where people actually are drawing on stage. So you never know, just throw kind of everything at the wall and see what sticks, but keep it to one sentence probably right.
Phil Sloves:Absolutely yes, okay, number three. Three I say you should always have your contact information on your resume. You should have your phone number, you should have email address and if you have representation then you'll have their contact information on there but also your social media, which is a huge thing nowadays. Like, if you're not on social media, more power to you. That's fine, but a lot of casting is looking towards social media, especially for, you know, big casting moments. They will sometimes pick someone with a larger following just because they know that they'll have a wider reach of audience, which you know is just the way it is.
Robert Peterpaul:And I'm sure that's something you help your clients with too. Right Sort of treating your social media as your digital business card, in a way.
Phil Sloves:Million percent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's everything's. It's everything that we have. It's at the, it's at our tip of our fingers. Everyone has access to it and it's so easy to showcase everything. You can put a reel on there. You can pin it to the top of your profile. So anyone who visits your your page, first thing they see they click on is your. Is your singing reel, or your acting reel, dance reel, or your stand-up comedy, or a picture that you drew?
Robert Peterpaul:you know you could curate how people see you yeah, and we'll break this down probably in a future episode, friends. But I would say you even want to have one post that sort of just is an intro post about you with you know, maybe a headshot, a favorite credit in sort of a carousel. We can break that down at a later time. But looking at credits and resumes, are there certain sections that you always recommend people divide these into? There's TV film, there's theater, depending on people's credits. But what would you say overall, are the main points to hit?
Phil Sloves:Yeah, definitely hit like if you have a Broadway credit. Broadway off-Broadway regional theater, tv film commercial Training, I think, is a huge one people miss out on sometimes. Yeah. You should highlight who you work with, because you never know who's behind the table, who's like best friends with someone that's on your resume. I have had many opportunities given to me because of people on my resume getting called by someone I just auditioned for saying, hey, you worked with Phil, how is he? Oh he's great, hire him. Or maybe the opposite happened, I don't know.
Robert Peterpaul:I don't know if that ever happened, but no people do talk you know, I know an artistic director of a theater who just posted on Facebook and he was saying he literally shared a screenshot of an email blocking out the people's names, saying how is this person to?
Phil Sloves:work with and he said, just so you know this, this happens all the time. Yeah, it's true. Um, so that's why I think training is a huge thing to have on there, and special skills is important as well, because that's where, that's where you shine. Yeah. That that's your section. Like sure, if you have a driver's license, you can put it there. I don't think it's 100% necessary to tell everyone you have a driver's license.
Robert Peterpaul:I know I still have a passport on there and some casting director was laughing with me, so it actually helped. In the audition we were laughing together. I was like someone told me to put it on there. I don't know why.
Phil Sloves:Yeah, it's like a standard on everyone's thing that you can drive and you can travel, which listen. If you want to put it there, put it there, that's fine. But I think really shine there. Put your party tricks down, put down fun facts about you and also things that you are uniquely very good at.
Robert Peterpaul:Yeah, fun facts. That's a really great tip, Without getting too crazy. If you feel like your special skills section is sort of lackluster, you don't know what to put in there, a fun fact is actually a great option. Yeah. Yeah, Something like you know, Meryl Streep is my grandma. I don't know, but truly yeah.
Phil Sloves:Something you nerd out about.
Robert Peterpaul:Yeah, I think that's amazing. Any mistakes, so common mistakes you see actors make, that you have to fix. What would you say? Those are in general.
Phil Sloves:Um, the biggest mistake that I've seen, as I've said already, is formatting issues. Yeah, a lot of people are having trouble keeping the lines straight and making sure that everything is concise. Um, another big mistake misspelling people's names and theaters and roles and shows. Yeah, it just shows a lack of awareness and, you know, a lack of importance to you if it's not spelled correctly. Time where I had a choreographer's name misspelled resume and I was auditioning for this choreographer as they were looking at my resume and we were lined up dancing in the room like getting ready for the second round, and he looks up at me and he goes phil. You don't know how to spell my name. I was like what? Yeah, on your resume it's wrong. I was like, oh my God.
Robert Peterpaul:I'm so sorry, did I not get the part then?
Phil Sloves:I booked, but he was giving me some real-time lessons there.
Robert Peterpaul:Yeah, it's probably not a good feeling those mistakes, but on your resume something you're consistently putting out there and printing make sure you have multiple people check it out. If you're not going through a service, definitely hand it to a friend and have somebody else spell check it, because we all need editors.
Phil Sloves:Yeah, and I mean I'm sure there's some people who see it and they're like oh, it happens all the time, no worries, but I'm sure there will be people who get offended, you know your name is an important thing name and your identity.
Robert Peterpaul:I feel like one way to kind of personalize a resume is to maybe play around with the font of your name specifically, or the color of your name. I know I have fun with that in a nerdy, weird way. Would you agree with that and would you maybe suggest other ways you feel like formatting-wise people can kind of play around within the confines of a resume?
Phil Sloves:Oh, a million percent. Yes, I mean, when I have someone ask me to redo their resume, I send them a sort of checklist of questions I want to have answered and also things I want sent to me, and two of the big ones are are you, do you have any font preferences and do you have any color preferences? Um, and if they don't, and they have like a vibe preference, I also have a section to ask me what's your vibe? Uh, and they have like a vibe preference. I also have a section ask me what's your vibe? And I have downloaded so many fonts off the internet so it's not just gonna be like a standard font.
Phil Sloves:You know, if you give me a vibe that you want, I can really find something that matches exactly how you want to present yourself. Yeah, and make it happen with the color scheme that you like. And we can add headshots to resumes now, so we can have, you know, a serious photo on the front and a smiling photo on the resume. You know it's really. You can utilize this a lot deeper than just information.
Robert Peterpaul:Yeah, and you're reminding me too. If you're stumped for a color and maybe you don't have a favorite color which I don't know, maybe you're not a human then why do you not have a favorite color? Maybe ask yourself that you can also pull a color from your headshot. I one time, like, pulled the color of my shirt and made that the color of my font, and it looked really nice as a resume because it was very cohesive.
Phil Sloves:Absolutely. I've done that for many people. Yeah, you just do the color puller and you get exactly the same match and it's so nice and clean.
Robert Peterpaul:Yeah, but would you also suggest sort of steer in the direction of more traditional, because I do see people with resumes now that are made on maybe Canva or other websites where it's like a different color, there's all these blocks and shapes. Do you think people can go too far with that?
Phil Sloves:Personally, I think there's a happy medium, because we're not giving out a comic book, we're giving out a resume, and there are some that almost look like powerpoint presentation, more so than a resume. There's a fine line to walk between too much and not enough, and I think truly like simple borders, colors and headshot, a unique font are enough to really stand out.
Robert Peterpaul:Yeah, I think that's great advice, and you've already hit on so many of the things I was curious about and wanted to ask you about. You know, in looking at the future, you've been doing this for a while what trends have you seen? Have you seen things change over time in regards to resumes? We sort of were just touching on some of those.
Phil Sloves:Yeah, a trend that was actually really popular when I was getting out of college in 2014 was QR codes on resumes. Oh yeah, a lot of people used to create a QR code that went directly to their website just on the bottom corner of their resume. Directly to their website uh, just on the bottom corner of their resume, and at the time I think qr codes were not as popular of a thing. But now, post pandemic, honestly I'm considering even putting a qr code on my resume. Yeah, because people are so used to it now. It was sort of a new technology 10 years ago and now it's's very commonplace, so I don't think it's a bad idea to throw a small QR code on one of your corners so that it goes straight to your link tree or your Instagram or your website in general, just to have everything right on the resume.
Robert Peterpaul:Yeah, that's a great idea. I also think you could link it to your casting networks profile, where you probably have all your credits stored because resumes you know you can't fail your commercial credits, but they can scan that. You could say in the room hey, it's to see all the rest of my credits. That's a great point. I think I need to add that to my resume now. Thank you for that.
Phil Sloves:There's free generators online to generate a QR code. You can just type in like free QR code generator. I think you can do it on Canva.
Robert Peterpaul:even you can create a QR code, you could do different shapes. You could do a heart, you could do a dinosaur. I mean, maybe don't, maybe just do a simple circle or a square.
Phil Sloves:If you really feel a dinosaur QR code, I'm not going to stop you.
Robert Peterpaul:Okay, I like that. I'm going to do my T-Rex hands for the rest of this interview now. Oh good, too bad, you can't see them. So, overall, when people are looking at their resume or starting to create it or revising it, what would you suggest they kind of go through in their mind? You know, what do you think makes a strong resume?
Phil Sloves:Is there a certain filter people can when they look at their own just to kind of like check the boxes. When you're going through your resume, really make sure that you are just hitting all the boxes, so, like when you're up at the top section, make sure there is no loss of information up there your name, your union status, your contact information, some stats. You know some people want to add hair color, eye color, height. Yeah, I don't know if all of that necessary because of the photo, but you do, you? Uh? So all all your stats in the top section and then right underneath that we start our credits, in importance order, not chronological, uh, and then I'd say your training, after that your special skills at the very bottom and maybe maybe your QR code and a headshot down to the bottom or in the top, whichever floats your boat. But just make sure that everything is truly in its place. There's nothing missing, there's nothing. Oh, maybe that should be up here, maybe that should be down there, just so they don't have to think. They just have to read.
Robert Peterpaul:Yeah, you don't want people thinking too much and in that vein too, you've kind of touched on it. But would you say less is more overall, you know, let the white space bleed through. Don't feel like you have to put extra words and things to look like a more desirable performer, because casting is looking at a lot of resumes and the white space actually is a blessing on the eyes.
Phil Sloves:Yes, yes, yes, absolutely. And if you are listening and you don't have that many credits right now and you're worried that you're not gonna fill the entire page, formatting is such a beautiful thing and we can make any resume look full, so don't feel like you have to add fluff or like extra words, because we can make a concise resume that fits in an eight by 10 space. Look nice and professional.
Robert Peterpaul:I love that. That's an inspiring note to leave it on. And something else I think you want to keep simple and to make look very professional. Which we touched the QR codes is the website and, while we have you here, you do all sorts of coaching and rebooting over there. You know you started before the pandemic. I think you might've rebooted the entire world when you started this. What would you say is your advice for creating a website as an actor, you know? First of all, do you think it's still necessary with social media and all these other tools?
Phil Sloves:I think it's very necessary to have a website. That is sort of controversial at the moment, but I think it's very. I think it's very necessary to have a website. It doesn't have to be, you know, the most fantastic website in the world with these animations and these beautiful like scrolling screens, but have a portfolio for yourself. You're an artist. Artists needs portfolios, you know. So as long as you have headshots, resumes, performance clips, audio clips, uh, reviews, contact information, that's really all you need on your website it could be a one-page scroll down.
Phil Sloves:It doesn't have to be a million clicks, you know, but just have that because, again, creatives talk. Hey, I just worked with robert and, uh, he's so amazing for the show you're doing. Oh, robert, I don't know him. Yeah, here's his website, just check him out. Look at this video.
Robert Peterpaul:He's unhinged watch and I could do that on my website. I could say actor, writer, unhinged human. I think a lot of people make websites that are great and what makes them stand out is when they do personalize it, like we were talking about with the resume. Yeah, even just your headshot, really big for the first page with in a nice font saying hi, I mean you could do really fun things with websites. Yeah, on my website.
Phil Sloves:I have. The first thing is it says like Phil Sloves and has two quotes Phil Sloves is a master musical comedy, Phil Sloves is. Has two quotes Phil Sloves is a master musical comedy. Phil Sloves is the show star. And then a third quote that I wrote Phil Sloves is the most talented person ever. From Vivian Sloves, Phil's grandmother.
Robert Peterpaul:So that's funny.
Phil Sloves:It throws in my comedy, it throws in my humor. On top of people actually giving me like nice accolades while they're being welcomed to my site. They're like, okay, we get the vibe already. I love that little about me for my resume and headshot.
Robert Peterpaul:It says look at the things I did or reviews. I have the title saying strangers compliment me. I like that they do.
Phil Sloves:So it's very much like tongue in cheek. Ha ha, this guy's funny yeah. And also here's a professional website.
Robert Peterpaul:And that's going to help the people that are going to jive with you and want to work with you connect with you even further and before you even have your audition, Totally yeah. It's really smart, Would you say. In addition to a resume, a website, obviously headshots what other tools do you think are necessary for an actor's toolkit? I think business cards have kind of died down, but is there anything else that comes to mind?
Phil Sloves:Yeah, actually there's something that is called dot. It's like a one business card that you just tap on someone's phone and it pulls up your entire, like link tree information.
Phil Sloves:Oh so you can program this one business card to just have all of your contact. So if you're in a networking situation and you know and back in 1990, you'd be handing them your business card you just tap their smartphone with it and they have all your information as a contact and they have all of your website and your Instagram and all of that accessible to them right there.
Robert Peterpaul:Oh, that's smart, Because how many times are you sort of like picking in your pockets for a business card that you've never even made when people ask you?
Phil Sloves:Oh, how do I get your information? I think that's amazing. Um, so I think that's like a fun little tool that uh I I actually uh ordered one recently, so I'm excited to get it.
Robert Peterpaul:Okay, dot everyone check that out and I'll try and drop all the links to these in the show notes if I can find them.
Phil Sloves:Yeah, I'll send you this. I'll send you this. Oh, I appreciate that, yeah.
Robert Peterpaul:Your company, actor Reboot, focuses on so much, so I'm sure your brain is just like a slot machine right now, rolling with information. While we have you, phil, as an expert performer audition coach, I thought it'd be fun to do a really quick little audition flash round. All right, boop, boop, boop while you're here. So I'm going to just shout out some random kind of buzz phrases and you just say whatever comes to your mind. Okay, in a concise format. So it'll just be a quick-moving situation. Okay, does that make sense? Sure, here we go.
Robert Peterpaul:Top audition prep tip. Prepared what to wear to an audition what makes you feel comfortable? I like that Walking into an audition room. Be yourself. It's so hard Slating for self-tapes. Be yourself.
Phil Sloves:General audition tip for actors. God, I want to say be yourself.
Robert Peterpaul:Again it's in my head be yourself, be yourself. Have you seen that movie? No, okay, with ryan reynolds. It's really good. Just friends, everybody watch it. Okay, say a general self-tape tip for actors don't take more than five takes that's a great one, because I have about 49 takes from the last one I did on my phone and you can really spiral. You got to cut yourself off and then you usually end up using the first take.
Phil Sloves:Anyway, you've got it, but you've got it by the third take, yeah, give yourself five if you really need it, but don't spend all day on a tape. They're not paying you to do that.
Robert Peterpaul:I love that Networking vibe vibe.
Phil Sloves:okay, I'm vibing with that and then finally, just for fun, I I'm very curious, your worst audition mishap oh, wow which will probably be a story, and that's okay yeah, it's coming to my head is uh, in college we were auditioning for whenever the mulpian shire musical, okay, and there's a song called what am I doing and there's a very long sustained high note and I'm in front of the head of my musical theater program, the music director and, uh, all my class, and I'm singing with crack and I just start laughing at myself and I sit down crisscross applesauce on the floor and wait for the music to end and as I finished, my head of the theater program goes. How was that?
Phil Sloves:So, I think that that that's what came to my mind.
Robert Peterpaul:I'm sure he remembered you, though, and I did hear a casting director recently say I've never not booked someone because they cracked in an audition or they weren't. Oh yeah, you know, we get that. It's maybe 10 am and you've been lined up since 6 am. So yeah, I've been there, and I think, if that's your worst one, you handled it with grace. You sat on the there, and I think, if that's your worst one, you handled it with grace. You sat on the floor, and what else can you do? Well, from worst to best, I do want to touch on really quick, because everyone out there if you don't know it already, I think we mentioned it Bill was in SpongeBob on Broadway, and I think that's iconic, and I would love to know if you could share a story from that audition process. What do you think booked you the role? But you played several roles in SpongeBob.
Phil Sloves:Honestly, I had just gotten my equity card a week before coming back to the city and I saw an ECC for SpongeBob and I was like I can go to this. So I sang my short audition cut of Lost in the Wilderness you know, just so that Telsey would know who I am. And not even an hour later I got a call from my agent saying that they want to see me to swing and understudy, and here's 22 pages of material. They're already in callbacks right now, but they thought you'd be good to be in the mix.
Robert Peterpaul:So can you learn all of this for Friday and this was Wednesday, so I was like yeah, sure, oh, wow, and wait, pausing there, just the fact that you went, you showed up to the open call and you sang a song that showcased you, not a song that you thought would fit Patrick and SpongeBob or a lot of people, I think, make that. I don't know if it's a mistake, because sometimes it works, but they kind of drive themselves crazy thinking what do I have in my book? Or I can learn a new song because it's more like the traditional version of this character. I think you can't go wrong just showing who you are.
Phil Sloves:Yeah, especially when you're in an initial call, like an ECC or an EPA, for a show that's, you know, currently running that might have a required call, I'd say, sing what you want and you can sing it in the vein of whomever you'd like. So, like I myself am very Patrick star-esque, so I don't think it was far-fetched for them to just see me being myself and see me in the Patrick world. You know, if I wanted to lean Mr Krabs with it, I could have put on a little grit and a little age to it. You know, it's just, it's all a matter of perception.
Robert Peterpaul:That's so true. I know a friend that sings the same song in every audition but does exactly that, just puts a little stank on it, or you know a lot of that with lost in the wilderness, to be honest. That's smart, because we don't need all. We don't need a giant audition book. I mean, it's fun to have a big binder. But yeah it's also nice to keep it tight so so you had to learn all this stuff in a very short amount of time yeah, and I did it.
Phil Sloves:And it was about 12 of us at my first like callback and I heard everyone going. I was like, oh my god, they're so good. It's like, it's amazing. Yeah. And then the next day we had a dance callback and there was only three of us there and out of the three of us, I was the only one who was a dancer. So in my brain I was like, if they want this person to be a dancer, I did it, and if they want someone who's going to be like an amazing Mr Krabs, it's not me.
Robert Peterpaul:I'm sure you were. I was a great.
Phil Sloves:Mr Krabs, but the guy who sang before me sounded just like Mr Krabs from the show, whereas I sound like his maybe nephew. Okay, but yeah. And then the next day we had our final callbacks and I got a standing ovation after my Patrick audition and amazing. Yeah, so that was sort of my journey with my audition process.
Robert Peterpaul:I mean that never happens in auditions.
Phil Sloves:Yeah, it was a very strange, exciting, crazy time.
Robert Peterpaul:Usually it's silence, and then you only hear back if you're going to book it, and sometimes that's not for months, depending on the project. So I mean that's incredible that you got, even if you didn't book the role, just that you got a standing ovation.
Phil Sloves:Yeah.
Robert Peterpaul:Well, you were so amazing in that show and I know that was a journey and I hope everybody goes and checks out Phil's journey. But before we end our time together, this thing where before we roll out, we're ending sort of on an inspiring note for listeners and I got to workshop this, but so far I'm calling it a got and a give and I don't know we're going to figure that out. The first thing is the best piece of advice you got from someone in this industry.
Phil Sloves:One of the best pieces of advice I've gotten is to do three things a day that move you forward. Is sending three emails to three different casting directors? Or if that's learning a song and, you know, taking a dance class, or if it's truly just sitting down and relaxing? If that's what you need to do that day, that is the thing that you need to do for yourself to move forward. So really find just three small things a day that benefit you.
Robert Peterpaul:I love that. Do you write them down? Do you log them? Or are you just kind of?
Phil Sloves:If I were, a better person, I would.
Robert Peterpaul:I got about 20 journals right behind the camera that I've maybe written, you know, one page on an each.
Phil Sloves:So it's hard to commit. Yeah, no, I mentally clock when I've done my third thing for the day and I'm like all right, because sometimes we get in our heads of like, oh my God, there's so much stuff to do, I have to do all this, I have to do all that. And then, like I'm on my fifth thing, I'm like yo, yo, yo, you've already done three. You can, you can relax, all right.
Robert Peterpaul:Yeah, that's really wonderful advice. It's about moderation. Same with the self tape tip you gave about maybe capping it off at five, Exactly. Really fun about our industry is that sometimes I mean there's a lot of stress, but sometimes the thing you can check off is actually a really fun, relaxing thing. I mean, watching a new TV show that everybody's talking about is actually an actor's homework, but it's also just fun.
Phil Sloves:You could find a monologue in that.
Robert Peterpaul:Yeah, going to see a new show. I mean, even just the inspiration is part of the gig. So don't feel like you're not working if you're watching Netflix, because actually it's helpful Absolutely. Even something just to talk about with casting before you walk in, or if people say what are you watching lately? And Even something just to talk about with casting before you walk in, or if people say what are you watching lately, and also I don't know, I'm always inspired by watching people's performances 100%.
Robert Peterpaul:Yeah, me too. Yeah, and TV film. I'm like, oh, I've seen a lot of mouth acting lately. Maybe I should be moving my mouth more and not my eyebrows. But that's my own personal journey.
Phil Sloves:You have such great eyebrows.
Robert Peterpaul:Well, thank you, Phil.
Phil Sloves:No, thank you, phil.
Robert Peterpaul:No one can see them. Thank the Lord, no one can see mine because they're so light, they're great, like two caterpillars that moved in on top of my forehead. Yeah, they're nice. I got headshots. My mom, I was in high school and my mom convinced me that the trend was to get my eyebrows waxed and that every actor did it, and so she kind of bullied me into doing it. Sorry, mom and I went and they threaded them and then I showed up for my headshots and these photographers had gotten candid photos of me to know how to light the room in advance, and they were really professional, amazing people. I walked in there and their faces when I say their jaws dropped. They were shocked and I will never let those headshots see the light of day again. Actually, yeah, they're on Facebook and all that kind of stuff, but the light of day again. Actually, yeah, they're on Facebook and all that kind of stuff, but my eyebrows were like little pencils, it was nuts, because I wasn't, oh, I wasn't staying true to myself, and that's the whole point here.
Robert Peterpaul:And before we roll out. Second of all, I want to know what the best piece of advice you give to people looking consistently to work in this industry is.
Phil Sloves:Uh, honestly, my biggest piece of advice is to let things go. I have a rule with myself that I grieve for 24 hours. If I, if I found out that I didn't book a job, if I felt bad about an audition, if something bothered me at all or bothers me at all, I allow myself 24 hours to feel what I need to feel, and then after that it's not serving me anymore. So, four hour mark you have to find a way to release it.
Robert Peterpaul:That's so smart and important and necessary, and I do feel like you can schedule something that matters more to you after that 24 hour period or after an audition, if you can meet with friends for dinner, something that will just ground you and make you sort of not only forget about the experience and stop thinking about it, but also remind you that it's more important just to be with the people that love you.
Phil Sloves:Absolutely, and it's not easy by any means. I say it as if it might be easy, but it is not an easy thing.
Robert Peterpaul:It's really hard. I know people that just rip the sides up and recycle them, hopefully after the audition. Just the act of doing that actually helps people versus for me. I put them in my binder and I think, oh well, I might book it. I'll book it one day. I don't want to have to print it out again, but it helps you? Yeah, try it. Yeah Well, it's been so great to talk to you, friend. Thank you for all these golden nuggets of information. Please tell everyone where they can check you and actor reboot out.
Phil Sloves:Yeah, I mean you can follow me personally on Instagram and Tik TOK at Phil Sloves.
Robert Peterpaul:It's a good time.
Phil Sloves:And on Instagram and Tik TOK. At actor reboot host monthly audition classes where we work on your go-to materials, assign new rep and work on callbacks for roles that I think you are going to be called in for at some point, so we prep you for those. And I also do private coachings and I teach tap classes. We do a whole bunch of stuff with that. We have a lot of fun, so please check us out.
Robert Peterpaul:I will say if you reach out to Phil with something you need, he will find a way to make it happen for you. So there's a lot of things under actor reboot and there's something for everybody. I'll also say it's a very fair website. He's an actor. He knows how crazy it is to be in this industry and how expensive it can get, so that I want to shout out too. So please check out Phil. Thank you again. Thank you, man. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Phil Sloves:You too. Yeah, sloves, and this is how we roll.
