How Actors Really Get Seen

Breaking into the television and film industry takes more than talent-it takes preparation, discipline, and understanding how casting really works.

In this episode of The Film Real, we sit down with actor Nakia Dillard, whose credits include The Wire, The Wonder Years, Law & Order, BMF, Black Lightning and more.

Nakia shares valuable insight into how actors can stand out in auditions, approach casting directors professionally, prepare their sides, scripts, and monologues and build the confidence required to perform at a high level.

We also discuss how Nakia is helping the next generation of actors through Aikan Acts Actors Academy, where he mentors actors and prepares them to compete professionally and book roles in television and film.

Whether you're an aspiring actor, filmmaker, or simply curious about how performers break through in Hollywood, this episode offers practical guidance from someone who is actively working in the business.

We also give a special shoutout to our growing international audience supporting The Film Real from Germany, Brazil, Canada and beyond. The

U.S has been showing a lot of support as well.

Topics in this episode:

•  How actors get noticed by casting directors
•  Preparing audition sides, scripts and monologues
•  Building confidence for auditions and performanes
•  Lessions from working on major TV productions
•  Actor training through Aikan Acts Actors Academy 

🎬The Film Real-where indie filmmaking meets global cinema 

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

This episode is brought to you by Grow and Glow Academy. So this childcare service is very special because it teaches kids confidence, creativity through STEM-based learning. So take your little woman to Grow and Glow Academy by going to GrowandGlowphilly.com. Thanks. Hey guys, I hope you guys have been tuning in. I know we've been having amazing shows. We've been getting your commentary and we appreciate it. But let me tell you how we upgrade it. Moving forward, we have a lot of special guests. And the one coming up this week is Nikid Dillard. He is an amazing actor, producer, director, and he's from my hometown. So make sure you guys tune in. See ya.

SPEAKER_06 1:15

Welcome to the Film Road Podcast, where indie filmmaking meets global media. I'm your boy Tez the Ryder, and we got our lovely co-host, Sierra.

SPEAKER_04 1:24

Hey, happy black history, month, black people, or Melon in March, whatever you choose.

SPEAKER_06 1:29

Guess what? This week, we got a special guest. Yeah, we got a guest. You heard her. You heard the horns go off. This episode, episode three, is called How Actors Gets Really Seen. And our special guest is no other than Nakia Diller. Hey, hey, hey, hey.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_05 1:52

Hey, we're in the house. We're in the house.

SPEAKER_06 1:56

Welcome to the Film Real. Thank you. Naked, man. You know, it's a pleasure for you to be able to sit down with us and spread the jewels and your gems to the world, man. You know, we wouldn't have picked no one another to open up, you know, our first episode of Guests, you know what I mean, without you.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

So thank you, man. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that, man. Yeah. That's dope. So I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 2:20

Yeah, man. So, so this episode, you know, this is how actors really get seen, man. And um the things that you've done in Philadelphia and abroad, you know, means a lot. You know, starting off as an actor, starting off um indie, going from indie to mainstream. And today we're going to share to our listeners. We got listeners from Philadelphia. We got listeners all over the United States, New York. Shout out to DMV. And we got global listeners. A lot of listeners from Germany.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_06 2:48

Brazil, Canada. That's awesome. And we want to make sure this information gets out to everybody on how do actors really get seen, man.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Well, you know, right now we're in a beautiful space. Uh, we have the internet, we have social media, we have uh different things that can help you just uh just like what we're doing, you know, um creating, creating opportunity, creating things.

SPEAKER_06 3:12

So let me ask you this. How did you get started? Like this is what we want to know. Like, how like what made you want to be become an actor? Because uh, ladies and gentlemen, you know, across the world, like Nakia has been in a lot of movies, a lot of TV series. I'm talking The Wire. Yeah, we're talking uh BMF, we're talking uh Law and Order, we're talking the Wonder Years. All right, keep going. You done?

SPEAKER_02 3:40

It's gonna be a long show, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_06 3:44

But to get to that, we you know, we want to you know show the world how you know how you done it.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Yeah, man, I I appreciate that. Um like uh I I started out, I took an acting class. I I was really a shy child. Um I really like if somebody would have tapped me on my shoulder when I was younger and said, you know, you're gonna be an actor, I I wouldn't have believed them. Because one, I never seen an actor before. But I used to love the arts, I used to love drawing, I used to love watching TV, watching movies. And when I would when I would watch them, I would imagine myself on the screen or on the stage. And I remember going to see uh The Whiz. Stephanie Mills was in it. Uh it was at the uh love Stephanie Mills.

SPEAKER_04 4:32

Yes, that's a good player. That's the first one?

SPEAKER_02 4:35

First play I was.

SPEAKER_04 4:35

Oh, you went out the gate. You went out the gate with it with the heavy hitters.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

And I was like, wow, like, you know, what I didn't know the how. Like I saw like, wow, I saw them on stage, but I didn't know how do you do that. So I was uh and I love the Cosby show too, you know, watching that, watching Theo. Um, you know, I wanted to be one of Theo's friends, you know, and I saw myself on on TV, but I just didn't know the how. So I took an acting class and it just changed my life. Um and it was something that, you know, I I asked my mother a few times, you know, because I was so quiet, she was just like, okay, if he asks me again, I'll I'll look into it.

SPEAKER_04 5:21

I love that.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Um so took my first acting class, they uh they gave me a monologue, and I never did a monologue before or anything like that. So I got there and then I had to do it in front of people.

SPEAKER_06 5:35

Interesting. Could you explain to the to the viewers and all our listeners what a monologue is?

SPEAKER_02 5:40

So a monologue is uh one person speech. It's is whenever you watch a show and they talk for a few minutes, that's a monologue, but they're the only ones talking. So uh they gave me a monologue that I had to read and and perform it in front of the audience before it was just like this. It was like, but I never stood up in front of somebody before and got up there and literally forgot all my.

SPEAKER_06 6:05

Do you remember the monologue? Okay, you've got your okay.

SPEAKER_04 6:07

I was about to say, did they give you the script? Did they give you the script there and you had to read it off the script? Or did they give you the script there and now you're or did they give it to you ahead of time?

SPEAKER_02 6:15

Like what was the they did give it to me ahead of time.

SPEAKER_04 6:17

What was the monologue? You don't even know? From from from somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 6:23

Because when I got in the room, I forgot it too.

SPEAKER_06 6:25

But you forgot your lines. How'd you forget your lines? Like, come on, man. Like, yeah, this is this is the first time about to get a big break. Right. Like, how'd you forget your mind? Would you just like get just nerves?

SPEAKER_03 6:35

Did they give you a second chance? What what ended up happening?

SPEAKER_02 6:37

Well, this is the thing. Um, either they they it was a shortage of boys or my mother was standing behind them flashing dollars. I don't know, but I got in.

SPEAKER_04 6:45

Divine.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Yeah, the guy. It was it was meant to be. Yeah, however, yep, I got in there. So, so I got in there and it literally changed my life, man. You know, they you know, just seeing other young children my age doing it, killing it, and it just made me, it just built a fire in me to want to just continue and just be better.

SPEAKER_04 7:07

Perfect. I have a question. Well, actually, not usually, right? We have the beginning segment, which is the little known facts and you know, different, different things to put little sparks in people's uh minds about how things go. And I want to talk to you about some of that, right? So when we talk about people getting discovered or how people get noticed, you would assume, or one would assume, that that journey might be harder for black actors compared to their white counterparts, right? And a lot of it has to do with time and space, right? Like the spaces where people meet people. You have somebody like Charlie Steron who got discovered in a bank after she's arguing with somebody, right? You have somebody at most um, like Matthew McConnell, who's meeting somebody at like a traditional dive bar, or even people who meet people or who meet directors at bar mitzvahs, bot mitzvahs, right? And as black and brown folk, I think sometimes, depending on where the spaces are, what we have access to, that looks a little, you know, that looks a little different. Um, I know we know about the young lady Raquel, Raquel Palmer, who did that big$2,000 ad for Tyler Perry, like, I'm your next leading lady. And at first he was like, nah, I'm not with that, right? But then later on, he, you know, he actually gave her an audition, and now we see her on shows like Sisters or Um The Queen's Men. Uh, as you, as being, you know, a black actor in the industry, is there anything special that you've done to get noticed? Or has somebody done something that you've seen and you were like, you know what? That was such a good idea, specifically a brown person.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

For me, I haven't done anything that was anything like that. I mean, I I would just say it's all it's just been God and just the relationships and people that I've met and know, and people that may have liked my work that reached out to me. Like the first time I met Tez, um, he reached out, he he liked my work. And uh, you know, so it's kind of been in that journey in that way.

SPEAKER_04 9:14

Um your first big break though, like your first before you had before you had the credibility or the body of work for people to say, oh, I like his work, what did you do? Or you just showed up and auditioned and just hustled.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

Showed up, did my I did the job. I came in with with uh uh uh just an energy that that they needed, you know. And I was just, you know, doing what I thought the character needed. And a lot of times you may just walk in a room and you might be what they're looking for.

SPEAKER_06 9:48

So so ask you a question. So at this particular time that you're talking about, were you able to memorize now? Like did you did did you, you know, uh did did that type of um uh for lack of better terms, but I wanted to use, did that did you come up with some some type of structure or some type of format for you to rem to memorize, you know, these particular uh uh lines at this time? Like you know, how'd you get better?

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Class, you know, just taking class and just just having to um, you know, uh the the assignments and different things that you that you have in class, you know, you have to memorize, you have to do that. So it if it wasn't for class, it kind of taught me a discipline of of doing that.

SPEAKER_06 10:38

And so so so this is a perfect segue for our drop gems uh segment um of the show. And we would like to drop gems, you know, on the world, everybody that's listening and watching, about how how do actors really get seen? Like um it's a such thing as sides. Yeah. Could you explain what sides are?

SPEAKER_02 10:59

So sides are a part of the script where it's part of the um the scene that we can a lot of times it's the height of the the this the uh show to kind of see where you can kind of go far as your emotional range. Um so you know, but again, it's is it's about your interpretation of how you see the character. Um, because a lot of times what they'll do is they'll give you this the script. They'll give you just the sides. You won't even see the full script. So when you when you see that it's a little brief description of of how how the character is, but other than that, you have to go on how you feel. And do your thing. So just do your thing.

SPEAKER_06 11:43

Does this determine whether or not you're gonna get that part?

SPEAKER_02 11:46

You don't know. You just go in there, you go, you well, now you send off a self tape, and you just kind of get it.

SPEAKER_06 11:54

Explain to the you know to people what a self tape is.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

So a self tape is a uh video that you record your audition. So it's a it's a it's a video of your audition.

SPEAKER_06 12:04

So wait a minute. So you're telling me that if once once I get a side, I could take the piece of paper or if it's on my phone and I can put a camera in front of me and record myself uh doing the actual what monologue or or scene? That's is that what a self-tape is?

SPEAKER_02 12:21

That's basically what it is. Okay, okay. But you have to get the audition. So once you get the audition and you get the sides, and then they they're waiting to see what you can do with that.

SPEAKER_06 12:31

So in order for me to get casted or considered, I would first have to memorize my site, my scene, the side. Right. Then I would have to do a self-tape. Yep. So then I would have to submit it to the casting director or someone, right? Yep. Mm-hmm. To see if I'm able to get the role and be seen.

SPEAKER_04 12:51

I have a question. And this is kind of based on this. I saw that you said that you had continuously auditioned for the wire before you got it. You auditioned previous seasons, but you didn't get it into the third.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 13:06

So when you think about things like that, right, especially when you're giving, when you're putting on these self-tapes and all these other things, right? Are you adjusting these things every single time? Are you getting the feedback that you need to properly adjust every single time? How do you, how do you, matter of fact, what mindset, right, were you in where you were like, I know I belong on this show? I they said no to me twice, two seasons in a row, but I know I belong on this show. How do you know when to keep going? How did you know what to tweak? What was your process, your strategy onto how you got on the show?

SPEAKER_02 13:46

Well, so the wire was my first um sag job, which is the Screen Actors Guild. So I auditioned, I would say, a good seven or eight times. But see, and that was in person.

SPEAKER_04 14:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:01

So that was a different time. So so no self-tape? That wasn't self-tape. That was in person.

SPEAKER_06 14:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

So each time I had to drive to Baltimore and go in the room, audition. But see, when you get a call, when they call you back, that means that they like you. They just may not have a role for you. They're trying to figure out where to place you.

SPEAKER_04 14:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

So a lot of times when you get a call back, they're trying to place you, they're trying to figure it out. Um, but it's it's just a a matter of your determination. Um, and again, I I could have not have booked, but they still would know who I am because I showed up again and I keep showing up.

SPEAKER_04 14:45

What was the vibe like when you showed up again? Were they like, hi, Mr. Diller, so good to see you again? Or are they like, why does he look familiar to me? Like, what is going on?

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Like, what was the vibe? No, the vibe is always cool, you know, because see, each each time you go to audition. Now, if I was crashing auditions, it'd be something different. But each time I had an appointment.

SPEAKER_06 15:05

So, what's crashing? Just showing up.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

You just show up and hey y'all, y'all got an audition? Give me the rule, huh?

SPEAKER_04 15:11

Listen, if it was like American Idol, I would love that. I love a blueprint. I love when people show up to American Idol and can't sing. Don't get me wrong, they never gonna be on the show. Right. But it's entertaining to me in the process. And I feel like if I had to look at a million different actors all day, I would appreciate a little bit of I don't know, ridiculousness. But I'm sure as right, but I'm sure as somebody with many roles, right? Um, jumping from one hat, from the actor hat to the director hat, right? Um, where things like time and money, right, are important, you probably don't want the same amount of shenanigans.

SPEAKER_06 15:46

So, so, so, I mean, interesting, right? The gems that you're actually giving to everyone is one, learn how to learn your role or your scene, which is you know, uh your sides. Lock your sides in, learn that. Yeah, um I know you said, you know, that was your first union uh project. Yeah. So would you say, I know we we spoke, me and Sierra spoke uh previously on one of our episodes about union and union and non-union sag. Um how important is that to to have that locked in, like dealing with contracts from even through brown and black? What do you want them like giving them some jewels to to help them uh advance and being seen?

SPEAKER_02 16:35

That's that's so so the thing with non-union and union, um, it just depends on the the contract of of being a union actor. Um so you know, because non-union basically you're not in a union, so they pay the pay scales are different, you know. So whereas with the union, it's a lot of perks that comes with that. But what I would tell actors and people that are interested in that, definitely do your homework, you know, because it's not for everybody. You know, some people used to tell me, oh, you you're working all the time because you're a union actor. This the union has nothing to do with my me booking.

SPEAKER_04 17:19

Right. It's not it's not promoting you.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

Yeah, it's not uh they protect you, they protect you to make sure that you're um that you get everything you need once you you know sign up and once you do book the job. So with non-union, it kind of like anything kind of goes in a way.

SPEAKER_04 17:37

Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

But um, but yeah, I would just say take your time. Like if you know, if you're trying to become union, you know, do all your research on it because again, um you could become union and never work again.

SPEAKER_04 17:49

Facts. I have a question too. Uh I read somewhere where you were talking about one of the good things about acting is that it kind of forced you to read. Right? Definitely and I and and I wanted and and I and you know, part of forcing you to read made you put yourself in, you know, people's uh life experiences that you would never actually experience on your own, and you could do it for a moment and you could hop in and hop out. Um my question though is one, what are you currently reading? And two, is there anything that you read that you felt like, okay, I like this story, but I wonder if it would have gone here. And has that influenced, you know, when it comes to writing or directing or some of the choices that you made based on some of the books you read?

SPEAKER_02 18:40

That's that's a good question. Um the current book that I'm reading right now is called Act As If. Um and that's more of like a uh mental, like like self-help kind of mental you know, you know, your mentality because your mentality is the most important thing, especially in the arts, because you know if your mental, if your mentality, if if it's not strong, you you'll kind of like fall for anything. You'll you'll soon you'll get that uh imposter syndrome and think that you're not enough or whatever it is. So, you know, I current I read a lot of those type books. Um I've I've read a lot of comic books and and different things like that, but um like to just to stretch your imagination, seeing different things that you know that that is not linear, like right on the page like that. So I use my imagination more.

SPEAKER_06 19:40

So did that did that help you um with when it when it comes to, you know, like from the linear side, when it did it help you like far as when it when strip when scripts are presented, like the way that you um digest, you know, uh those words, like you know, into your memory. Uh and I'm asking you that because come on, man, like yo, man, you've been on a wire. Like, that's crazy. Legendary, classic, string of bell, you've been on a wire. Right. And I coached him. Coached uh Idris. Oh, well, well, wait a minute. Hold up, hold on. Hold up, give him, give him, give him the props. He coached him. Hold up, hold up, hold up, listen. Let's go there then. Let's go there. This man, he's he's coached Idris Alba, correct?

SPEAKER_01 20:30

Yep. We did Stringabell. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 20:32

He was he was his dialect coach on Concrete Cowboy. Am I correct? Or am I wrong?

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 20:38

So he and I, you know, he pushed me there. I was waiting to get there, but he pushed me there, so we're gonna go there. Um, he's extraordinary. He was a dialect coach for Idris Alba, and that's amazing. Because Idris is uh, is he a British actor or UK actor? Yep. And it doesn't sound like a lot of British actors, you know, are able to um to come on uh and kill Rose in the U.S. uh uh from um Snowfall. I didn't know.

SPEAKER_04 21:12

But this is the thing though, and and I'm gonna bring it here too. So it's not it's not just that it's not just them getting the American accent right. That particular story is a Philly accent, and everybody knows Philly people have a very specific accent. Nothing pissed me off more than when people have a when people portray people in Philadelphia and that accent is off. I remember watching Creed, and I'm sorry, y'all. I hate to bring the subject, I'm gonna bring it back, I promise. I remember watching Creed, and I got very irritated when Tessa Thompson said anybody and anything can be a John, and she looked at Michael B. Jordan and said, You could be a John, and I'm like, I'm sorry. In traditional Philly language, men are not Johns unless they joined. And I'm okay with that. And shout out to the McDonald's. But other than that, like, why are you saying that? And why didn't anybody correct her? That pissed me off. Not to mention, not to mention that they were, like, the accents were not there. And Tessa, let me tell you something, girlfriend. Love you. Love you. Came to the party at Kung Fu necktie, danced with you, girl. You can dance, you all at. Why you ask us? Why'd you ask us? Because you was in a circle full of a whole bunch of girls, right? We could have, we could have got that down for you. Now bringing it back to what you had to say for the for the for the for uh training Idris, how hard was it for him to get, you know, the nuances of not just an American accent, but a Philly accent. And um, and how did you how did you explain it to him? Or just, you know, in a in a very specific way. Because, you know, black people in Philly and white people in Philly got two different accents, and girls in Philly and guys in Philly also have two different accents.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

Right, right, right. He, I mean, you know, we we talked a lot, and um, you know, we it was certain things that was in the script that I would I would tell him, like, nah, they wouldn't say it like that. He was like, Oh, whoa, let me get the writer over here and say, you know, so so um he was very um, very he he he wanted to learn, you know, like like he he learned very fast. And and he was cooperative about it, you know. He he wanted to hear my input, you know, because he was like, I want this to be right. You know, so the fact that he was very um intentional on knowing and practicing, you know. I used to record stuff for him. I would, you know, just try to so he can kind of get an idea of of the flow. Um and you know, we would just we would just talk, you know, and and and he would just regurgitate that.

SPEAKER_06 24:05

And one time I was he good, like once he gave it to you, like when he regurgitated and and got it locked down, were you surprised how fast he picked up on it? Like what was it?

SPEAKER_02 24:14

Yeah, he picks up really fast. So this one day, because I have the it's called the comms. You put you know, you have the headphones on, and one day he was doing it, and I'm looking at the script, and I'm like, wait a minute, that's not Idris oranic. So I had to go around and peek at him and be like, wow, okay, okay, man.

SPEAKER_06 24:32

You know, because he was he was like, That's pretty dope, man, to be, like I said, this is how actors really get seen. Like, to go from there, you've worked so hard that you were able to become Idris Alba dialect coach on set on a on a on a on a major movie that was nominated. Um what was your experience like on Black Lightning when Nafisa Williams? And also what was your experience on the Wonder Years as you know, uh Fred Savage was the original, was he, Kevin on the original Wonder Years back in the day? Right. And then he went and became an executive producer and did the urban version of Wonder Years. Right. Break all that down. Come on, man. Like let the people know.

SPEAKER_04 25:14

I love both. I really did. I I love both. I thought they were it's so crazy how they how they're so different just by changing the race. Yeah, like it's so wild how like the essence is there, yeah, but it is very different. So very different show in the best way.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

Yeah, I was excited when I got the news that uh that I booked the Wonder Years. And and it's crazy because I did the audition on a Sunday and got the job on a Thursday.

SPEAKER_06 25:45

Hold up for one minute, hold up. I gotta stop you, right? People out there, if y'all don't know what the Wonder Years is, like, please Google it. The original one that came out in the 80s, then the second version came out in what, 2021? Something like that. Come on, man. Give Nikia a round of applause, man, for being on the wonder years. That's major, man. Continue, brother.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

And in the first day on set, um, Fred Savage came over to me and was like, oh man, we loved your audition, man. You had us laughing, and I'm like, wow, this is Fred Savage. And and he directed all my episodes.

SPEAKER_04 26:21

Get out of here. Wow, I never would have expected that.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

Yep. Each one.

SPEAKER_04 26:25

Were there any um I feel like because, you know, this one, because the newer one is black, right? The thing that made it the most different to me is when they had episodes that specifically targeted black issues, right? And I would think sometimes that working with or telling black stories, right, but then you have a white writer or a white producer or a white director, right? Especially when you're trying to get certain things, you know, right, like the Martin Luther King assassination or, you know, uh certain things like I know the episode where they had the black boys play the white boys in the baseball, you know what I'm saying, and stuff like that. Or even when it's, or even when you're trying to get the essence or the feeling of like something, especially in a period piece, yeah, right. How when when you have two different people and two different races in that situation and someone gives you the space to be an expert, you know what I mean? Like you as a black man, how a black man will respond to said racial issue versus what he is seeing as a director, right? Right. Are there is it one of those things where he's like, I trust you to know what it is and and I trust that it's right? Or is it one of those things where he's like, all right, do it like this, do it like that. Like, where like what what role did he play in that, in in those decisions, or what role did you play in those decisions? And um, was there ever an a a time when those two things kind of like conflicted, like creative difference, creative differences?

SPEAKER_02 28:11

Well, I would I would say like, you know, the writers that they had on the show were amazing. Um and also the showrunner, you know, the actual producer of the show was um, you know, it was a lot of lot of a lot of blacks on the on the show. On behind the scenes as well as uh, you know, so it was it was good because again, uh it it just showed that, you know, with Fred Savage trusting, you know, our version of the story, and he was there to direct it, and he was he was there to just to kind of help out.

SPEAKER_04 28:48

I was about to say, I figured I think it to me it had to be a situation like that because it translated, like I watched it and it felt very black in a good way, right? Like it just felt very black.

SPEAKER_06 29:01

What did you like about both of them? Like the the the original and Wonder Years and the the remake.

SPEAKER_04 29:06

The original Wonder Years, what I really loved was the uh love relationship between uh you know the main character and Winnie. Oh, yeah. I used to think that they I used to just right. I used to just I loved everybody loved Winnie, but I also loved how like, and and I guess this is similar in the old one and the new one, but just how awkward the main character was, right? But but and he was like awkward in himself. Yeah, man. I I remember him, I don't remember his name, but um but just how awkward the character was, but but it was like awkward in almost like a pure sense, and like something that it seemed like he loathed about himself, but something that everybody else seemed to appreciate about him. And I think those are the things that I liked most about like um both shows. But I feel like with the newer one, I kind of just relate more. Clearly, I'm a you know what I mean? I'm a brown girl, and I liked how the love interest in this one is like sassy and forward, where Winnie was more like sweet and like a little, a little airy in a way, you know, and that's not that's not the type of childhood that I that I related to. So surprise, surprise.

SPEAKER_06 30:25

See, this is a uh a perfect segue into um you know the fun part portion of you know the um actual show, which is recasting. And I think we should lead with that because who would you recast for the original Wonder Years and the remake? Like, who would be Fred? Like, who would you think? How would you like who would be Winnie? Would it be Tessa Thompson? Would it be Narfisa Williams? Like, who like who would be Winnie? Who would be Fred? Who would you who you think? Do you like Tyler Bambina? Who you like? Who you who you like?

SPEAKER_04 31:00

Well, these people are all too old.

SPEAKER_06 31:02

You're talking about as a child. I mean, like the we re we recasting, we're remaking it.

SPEAKER_04 31:08

Yeah, so then we would have to go with people that were young now. Like if we went with people who were young when I was young, then the main character is if we were doing the black version for me would be Megan Good. Megan Good was like the was like the dopest like girl teen crush at her time, or Kyla Pratt, dopest like teen girl. You know what I'm saying? Um, if we had to pick somebody now, I don't What about Jason Weaver? Yeah, Jason Weaver would well, Jason Weaver never gave nerdy, though. Michael J. He played Michael Jackson. Again, he never played nerdy. Yeah, Michael Jackson is not nerdy.

SPEAKER_06 31:44

So what are you gonna say? You gonna go to Jalo uh Urkel? What is it what is it? Jalo White? Jalo White, no?

SPEAKER_04 31:49

I just uh Jalo White, he's like slapstick uh movies slapstick nerd to me. For me, if I had to go with like uh a nerd, I'm just I'm just I'm just gonna do it. I'm just saying because he had the whole did I do the incredible respect to that respect to that man and what it is that he did, but that's not what the wonder years gave. Like the wonder years gave, you know what? You you know what? You know the um shout out to Mara Brock-Kill, but her the the the project that she just did, and in the name of it, it slipping my mind, but the the but the young girl and the guy in that were both awkward and they were both phenomenal, and I could put them in in both roles. But what I actually want to know, right, and this one I think might be cooler, and I and I want to ask you this specifically, okay, because you said that one of the things that or one of the shows that really inspired you as an actor was the Cosby show and how much you love Theo. I want you to recast that. Like major right there, like the record show? Yeah, because you know, because Theo was one of those characters that was like both. He was nerdy and cool. He was both. So I'm like, who would you like you having the essence of Theo? Like, who would you who would you recast as Theo? Maybe Denise. You don't have to do every character, but like wow.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

Let me see. Um dang. Let me see. Uh see, it was it has to be celebrity.

SPEAKER_04 33:33

No, it could be it could be people that we don't know. We want people to discover people too.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

All right. Well, when I was younger, it was a guy at Freedom Theater named um William Love.

SPEAKER_04 33:44

Oh, he sounded like a Theo. Shout out to William Love.

SPEAKER_02 33:47

He sounded like a Theo. I could see him playing Theo when we were younger, yeah. Um and then Cockroach, a good friend of mine. His name is Jeffrey Cousar. Yes. He could definitely play um play that. Um and for Bill, probably uh it's a Philly actor here named uh Johnny Hobbs.

SPEAKER_04 34:12

Loved it. Wow. Make sure y'all go check out these folks, by the way.

SPEAKER_06 34:16

This is this is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

It's a lot of talent here, y'all. You know, people that has paved the way, that are still doing it. They're in theater, they're doing different indie films, and they don't get a lot of uh recognition like a celebrity would, you know. But we could pretty much do whatever. You know, we we are some talented folk here.

SPEAKER_06 34:38

And and and also you've been contributing a lot to that where you know I can't act um acting school. Um you have uh you have gotten a lot of great actors booked uh from here in Philadelphia and from all over Atlanta, everywhere, um, from young to old. Could you explain about, you know, some of the um individuals that you got booked? You know, I meant a lot of your students too, so yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:02

So yeah, I had a lot of lot of students on on uh Tez's project, but uh Yeah, it's it's truly been a blessing. So I started in 2009 with the acting school, and honestly, it wasn't something that I was like, oh man, you know, once I start acting, I'm gonna start a school. But it was it was a kind of a labor of love in a way because the school that I went to was closing down. So it wasn't anywhere for our our youth or our dreamers to go. So I wanted to be that space for them, like a safe space. And what what I do, what a lot of other schools may not do, I bring in working actors, I bring in people that are in the industry so that they get a chance to kind of network and be around these people. So all of my teachers are all working. Um I bring in casting directors, I bring in different actors, like I've had a few actors from the wire speak to my youth, you know. Um, I had Dana Dane come through and speak to the youth. Um he's a film director now. Um I had uh different agents, my few of my agents, you know, bring them.

SPEAKER_06 36:15

So let me ask you this, Nikir. So in order for an actor, up and coming actor to be seen, they got to do the work. They have to they should at least start with going to some sort of acting school, correct?

SPEAKER_02 36:31

Right, definitely.

SPEAKER_06 36:32

To get the acting chops up. Right. If they want to be seen by these great casting directors, that may give them an opportunity to be in front of a movie studio or a producer.

SPEAKER_02 36:42

They want to know that you're investing in yourself. You know.

SPEAKER_06 36:45

Say that again to the world. Keep that around.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

They want to know that you're investing in yourself. You know, they want to know that, you know, you're training, that you're when that's why they look at your resume. That's why they look at all of that. You know, it's not about, oh, I just can wake up and just do this.

SPEAKER_04 37:00

You know, you tell me I can't just do my little skit on YouTube, but I can't do my skit on Instagram, and nobody's gonna discover how famous and wonderful I should be.

SPEAKER_02 37:08

I mean, if that's anything. Your right eyes fall on it, but it might take a take a minute.

SPEAKER_04 37:13

So I know that you have or or that you guys had a movie on Tubi called Swing.

SPEAKER_02 37:20

Swing, yep. Right.

SPEAKER_04 37:21

Are some of your students in that? And and and also, first of all, I love the the concept of the 1940s Philly situation that that was very fire. Make sure y'all go uh look at that on Tubi, by the way, if you if you have, you should have Tubi is free.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 37:38

Um, but yeah, were any of your students cast in that? And and when you when you're in the school or when you're teaching in the school, has there ever been a time where you've seen a talent and you were like, you know what? I'm working on this project, and I feel like I have a role in mind for said person.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

All the time. All the time. I've I've pulled up so many actors in that way. Like one time I had a good friend of mine. Oh, let me give a shout out to Atif Lanier. He's the writer, director of uh, you know, Mike Pender. Atif Lanier and Mike Pender for uh Swing.

SPEAKER_04 38:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

Um great, great team, you know, they they they just very creative. But on I did have a few students on on uh swing, and I had a uh director come in and speak to my class. His name is Antoine Antoine Allen. And he was we were just having a Zoom, and I had this this young girl in my class, she had to have been eight, eight or nine at the time. Her name is Rajay Jones. That sounds familiar. She's actually in, I'm gonna tell you this, she's in this film called Driving Force, and it's on Tubi, it's on uh it was on Lifetime, it was on a couple different things.

SPEAKER_04 38:55

That's what it is, Lifetime. I'm like, first of all, I'm a lifetime.

SPEAKER_06 38:58

She's eight or nine, and she was booked on Lifetime.

SPEAKER_02 39:01

Yeah. So I was through your acting school? Mm-hmm. I was in the film.

SPEAKER_06 39:04

Oh man, congrats on that.

SPEAKER_02 39:06

Thanks, man. Thanks. Yeah, I'm telling you. So she I that's why I say, like, you never know who's who's watching, and you never know when the opportunity.

SPEAKER_06 39:14

She's eight or nine, and she's been seen, man.

SPEAKER_02 39:17

Yeah. Wow. So through the school, that's why I bring in working actors, people that are in the industry. So I had him speak into the class, and he not only chose one young lady, he chose a 16-year-old too, that was on the Zoom. So she just kept asking questions. And he was like, Dang, I have a role that we need to fill for the little girl in the in the film. I love it. And he was like, Does she have a reel? And just so happened, she had a reel.

SPEAKER_04 39:47

I love it.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

So I sent it off to him, and I was like, Yeah, she's great. Um, sent her head shot off, and she ended up getting cast. And then they needed somebody to play my daughter, which was um, her name is um Taylor. Taylor Deal. And uh she's off in she's in college now. And she I sent her picture, and he was like, Yeah, I think she'll be great. And they they went out there and it and then we shot in Atlanta. That was the other part. We was didn't shoot in Philly, so they got a chance to travel, go out of Philly, see a whole nother market, and they did their thing.

SPEAKER_04 40:25

Listen, they said I gotta sign up for the show because how else am I gonna you know become a famous actor and do all the things that I want to do? I was gonna say something. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_06 40:35

Did you know she was an actor? She's an actor.

SPEAKER_04 40:37

Yeah. This is my thing. This is what I'm gonna say. She a to be regular. I'm about to say, I'm gonna be like she wants to be a to be regular. That's it. You know what I'm saying? Because I feel like you can really make you know what I mean, you can make a career like this.

SPEAKER_06 40:54

Let me so so check this out then. Let me expound on something. Are you familiar with the vertical dramas and the micro dramas now? Micro series?

SPEAKER_04 41:03

Say that again. Am I familiar with I got the vertical drama, but micro drama? Oh, micro dramas.

SPEAKER_06 41:08

That's being shot on your phone and it's been shot for like one to five minutes per per episode now.

SPEAKER_04 41:13

Yes, but you know what though? That really reminds me of the misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, how Issa Ray started.

SPEAKER_06 41:19

That's how she started. Yes, yes, yes, yes, I was the biggest fan of that.

SPEAKER_04 41:23

The biggest fan of that. Especially with her rapping in the mirror.

SPEAKER_06 41:26

But guess what they're talking about? And that's the day I'm sure you're probably familiar with it. They're saying by 20, it's saying, listen, they're making$8 billion right now a year. Started back from China, because it started back in 19, excuse me, 2019 with uh Quibi, but it didn't do well. They didn't do the proper marketing. But now, they're saying by 2023, they said it's gonna be 80 billion microdramas. Right now, Fox just ordered 200 microdrama uh uh productions, right? Kim Kardashian, right now, is producing microdramas. T Diggs is producing a love story micro dramas. And we need Sierra in a new micro drama. Listen, I can get famous just like it happened because Neil Carr got one out. I don't know if you if you saw it. No record.

SPEAKER_04 42:18

That's dope. They should get their guy. You know, um, you know the guy, um, Nick Darnell. No, y'all don't know Nick Darnell. No, now we know about Nick Darnell is the is the guy that is like the Instagram sensation as the Grinch. Oh, you talking about the black, the black, the black man. Did he get 900 million? Is that how many? Yeah, like he's the guy who who the the guy who does the grin, the one that they're saying should needs to replace Jim Carrey. Oh, yeah. Y'all really know y'all really have not seen this? Oh my god. And everybody is doing the mind. They're like, what's what's when? And like doing like the whole thing. And he's so good. Like he's so good. He got so many looks right now. So I can imagine, but I'm saying that to say, like, micro dramas, yes, but just like the whole digital world. And I feel like this, well, let me separate myself from y'all for a little bit. I feel like that I as a um as a millennial, right? I'm in the middle. So I understand when you had to work hard to get something versus just putting something up on YouTube and getting instant gratification and like, you know, I'm in the middle. So because I'm in the middle, it makes me think of like people like a Nick Darnell who could blow up on Instagram or like an Israel who's like, okay, YouTube still put in the work. I'm not saying that these people did not put in the work, but I'm just saying that it seems to me that a lot of times you have to go beyond relationships. You know what I'm saying? Like definitely form the relationships. But as black and brown people, um, it's just so much harder to like have the opportunity to do so unless. You have somebody like a Nikia Dillard who has a school who is going above and beyond by introducing you to other people in the industry. You know what I'm saying? Where a lot of other schools and a lot of other opportunities don't do it. And so much of it is that you have to go out and get it on your own. I'm saying that to say, just to bring it back to the to the overall topic, or even my thought about you being here is how much time do you spend talking to your students about not just talent, but confidence? To have an eight-year-old girl be able to be booked on lifetime, right, with other actors who have been in the game for however. And for the person to notice her from her asking so many questions means to me that this is a confident eight-year-old. How much time do you spend in your classes building that confidence versus like the actual technical skill?

SPEAKER_02 44:54

Each class we have, we we deal with that. You know, from the adults to the children to the teens, you know, because again, it's about who you are, knowing who you are, what you want and will do, you know, um, because that's the other part. Uh and I have to talk to the students about like overdoing things, you know, because they they like, oh, if I don't do this, I might not work again or whatever. But you know, if if it's meant for you, you're gonna work. You're going to. So you don't have to do everything, you know. If it's something that that you're not comfortable with, you don't if you if you feel like you can't sleep at night because you did this role, you know, none of that matters. You know, you have people doing drugs, drinking, doing all types of stuff to kind of get them escaped from what they did, you know, and it's not that deep. My whole thing is, you know, if it's something that you want to do and you're comfortable, you know, go ahead, go ahead and do it, you know. But um and unless that's something that you want to to do, you know, you you have that liberty too. But if you know, long as you can sleep at night with your choices, right, you know. But uh yeah, so we we do talk a lot about that, you know.

SPEAKER_03 46:14

Therapy for actors trying to make it happen. Maybe that's what I'll change. I'm changing careers, I'm gonna be an actress, an actor therapist.

SPEAKER_06 46:21

Hey yo. So basically, you in order to be seen, basically you're telling telling actors and inspiring actors all around the world, in order to really be seen, you have to put the work in. It starts with putting the work in. If you want to be seen, if you want to be like a a Ben Affleck, uh Matthew McConaughey, a Sagoni Weather, uh, uh a Felicia Rashad, uh uh Listen, we got we gotta take them here. A Denzel Washington, uh Viola Davis. A Viola Davis. Don Cheetle. Don Cheetle, if you want to be um these these these type of great actors, um what are we missing? You know who else I like?

SPEAKER_04 47:06

I like um I didn't know I was just being smart, I was just being smart. But you know what though? Also, yes, but also I think one of the things that we learned today from uh Nikki, and we could tell by a lot of his answers, is that even though um being an actor is a creative job, it's also a very serious job.

SPEAKER_05 47:25

Right.

SPEAKER_04 47:25

Right. And and I think, you know, I I make a lot of jokes all the time, and I talk about my two lines versus my ten lines being the comedic relief, right? Let me ask you this. But I feel like, you know, a it is a serious job. It's creative, but it is a serious job.

SPEAKER_06 47:39

Which, like when you were preparing for your role, right? Which one? The one you just did. No, but you were too many.

SPEAKER_04 47:46

Oh, when I played the little sister. Yeah, it was called um Renabe.

SPEAKER_06 47:53

Renabe.

SPEAKER_04 47:54

Oh, you're okay. Yeah, I was. I was the little sister. Again, another comic relief.

unknown 47:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:00

I had two laws.

SPEAKER_06 48:00

This is a retiring. When you were on Renobay, right? Blockings, like for um those that don't know what blocking means, I'll let Nikki explain it, but oh I'll explain it. When you're getting prepared to get in that mind frame uh to remember your lines, what did you do to get ready to remember your lines when it was time for the camera to be on you?

SPEAKER_04 48:23

Well, firstly, I think I only had two or three lines. That's one of the things that's like, and second of all, you know, I I as I went to school, I, you know, I'm as a journalism major, a poly side minor.

SPEAKER_05 48:35

It's really important for me.

SPEAKER_04 48:36

Okay. It's really important for me to like really remember lines or the essence of the line, you know what I'm saying? In the in the in the get the mental, practice it in my in my head first. And also just, you know, I think the difference between me doing something like that or somebody doing like a longer monologue, again, just the seriousness of it, is like when I was playing the the older sister from Philly, I'm playing myself. So I'm like, how would I say this line to my sister? But I think that if it were something a little bit, you know what I mean, something that was out of my wheelhouse, right? Then I would if and I had to prepare for that, I probably would um stress everybody in my house out because I'd be like, no, you're gonna run this, you're gonna run these lines with me, you gonna run these lines with me, you're gonna run these lines with me. Um, I think I took an acting class when I was in school one time and we had to do this exercise, and it was annoying as hell, but I, but it I learned something from it. And the exercise was that we had to repeat the same line 50 times back and forth to each other with different feelings, right? So if the line was like, How are you today? Then you would respond to me, how are you today? And it would be no more lines. It would just be like, How are you today? How are you today? And we started off, and I'd be like, What the fuck? We gotta do this a hundred times. But but they would be like, no, each time you have to do it with a different feeling or a different accent or a different, you know what I mean, so that you understood that there were a plethora of ways that you can deliver something and a press and a plethora of ways for you to deliver feelings. So if I changed my feeling and what it is that I said, even though you were repeating it back to me, you adjusted your feeling based on what I said. So now we both are in the moment rather than just living in our heads inside of the lines. Again, which is why I was like a big part of what you were saying and also what you reiterated is just like how serious you take that, how that translates. But I know we're wrapping it up. I know we're wrapping it up.

SPEAKER_06 50:47

I know we're wrapping it up. So I mean, like, that was amazing. That was amazing feedback, and we hope that all our global viewers and listeners um took a lot from that. But we got a lot coming in. Like, we come in and guess at the guests, and we thank you very much, Nikia Diller, the great Nikia Diller, for coming on our show and dropping gems to the world, you know.

SPEAKER_04 51:07

And um My question for so we could close out properly, right, is please tell the people where they can sign up for your school. Like tell the tell the folks where they can find you on social media and where they could sign up for your school, and you know what I mean, so they can make do or make you know So they can be seen.

SPEAKER_06 51:26

This is how actors really get seen.

SPEAKER_02 51:28

So so it's online, so the class is so you can actually be anywhere on this on this earth and uh take the class. So it's a i k a n a c t s dot org. And that's uh my name backwards if y'all forget. So it's Nikia.

SPEAKER_04 51:46

Backwards.

SPEAKER_02 51:46

And uh, if you guys want to follow me on Instagram and things like that, Nikia Dillard or I can acts on Instagram.

SPEAKER_06 51:53

And y'all heard what he said, you know, listening again, and again, we thank all our global listeners and viewers. And guess what? And that's a rap. Same film, new reel.

SPEAKER_00 52:08

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:10

Hey guys, it's Nikia Dillard, and you're watching the Film Reel Podcast.

SPEAKER_06 52:17

This segment of the film real is brought to you by I Can't X. If you want to learn remotely, globally around the world, man, tap into I can't X. That's right. A I K A N A C T S dot org. I can't X, and get with the cool founder, Nikia Diller.