Hey everybody. Welcome to my guest tonight. I'm Jeff Revilla, your host.
I've got Dr. Albert Bramate, we got a talent agent,
psychologist, yo. It's
my guest tonight with Jeff Revilla. Bringing heat like a scene
From a thriller Dr. Grandma Tay in the house Breaking metal chains
From Broadway lights to big screen fame Talent agent mind
coach triple threat mode Helping actors crack the success code
so turn it up no fear, no strife let's talk self sabotage
and change your life.
I get so excited about these dogs. I, I, I
really like the graphic of me Dan bopping a little bit to it. That was
pretty cool too. So for each of my guests I try
to make a song that matches them and I knew that you were in the
New York Broadway area so I was like in 90s hip hop and this great
like the sax background on it and it turned out really well. I hope you
enjoyed the song. It's one of my favorite parts of the show. I really
did, I really did. Absolutely. That was, that was a lot of fun.
And it turns out you're from Jersey, so I wasn't too far off geography
geographically. And when you were coming up
in Jersey, when did you first fall in love with
entertainment? Did your love for entertainment come first?
No, no. I mean it was always in a back
burner. But I was your typical and I still
am a nerd. I always was, I was a bookworm
100%. And I
was very different from my family because my family
was all athletes. My brothers, my father,
my cousins, male cousins especially were all with
dathletics, football, baseball.
My father was a coach, my older brother was a coach.
For me I just couldn't really identify with
sports. I had no interest and obviously you need to know
ability too. So I very poor hand eye
coordination and naturally of course everyone tried to
put a ball and glove in my hand and helmet on me, you know,
to try to toughened me up and it just wasn't working.
So But I found books to be like my sanctuary.
So I read a lot as a kid and as a teenager and I still
read a lot now. So I was have
help bent on being a psychologist since
high school. I became very, I was reading books about the brain,
reading books about behavior and reading books about psychotherapy. And I
was, it was so interesting to me and so
fascinating that I was like I really want to do this for my life.
So. But I was also interested a little bit in creativity
and creative arts. Like I was in a drama club in high school, my
undergraduate college years. I took A few
classes in acting and theater and I really
enjoyed it. I mean it's still, at this point, I was still going to be
a PhD, I'm going to be a clinical psychologist. I made a promise to my
late grandmother that was going to be a doctor,
I mean obviously become a medical doctor, but next best thing.
So, but I
was in the back of my mind still had a very interest in
acting. Now I tried it a
little bit. I was an actor myself for a hot minute.
And for me I liked being around
actors. I liked the vibe of artists and
the theater scene. It was so exciting and so fulfilling for me.
But I really, for acting, it wasn't for me. I enjoyed working behind
the scenes more. And so that's where I started.
I found I really shined, was working, helping
actors. So I worked with
professional working actors for a long time. And even when
I was transitioning kind of out of acting, I would always find myself
finding notices for actors, finding casting calls for
actors and looking for things for other actors. And
I remember a few of the actors I was kind of like friends with
said, hey, I wish you could be my unofficial agent. And then
a wheel started turning and then kind of one thing led to
another after this, some searching, that's what I decided.
It was like 2004. I started my first company pretty much
out of my bedroom and haven't really
looked back since. Now I was still
had an interest in psychology. I was teaching even part time at
a community college. I still do that now.
And that was really exciting for me. So I was like, you know, let me
finish, let me go back to school. I'm halfway through it. Let me
fulfill the promise not only to my grandmother, my family, to myself,
I'm going to finish and go for my PhD. I went for it.
Now what Rings is kind of full circle with all the step
words that I'm doing for my doctoral dissertation, which
is a huge thesis that all
doctoral candidates must complete. I did mine on self
defeating behavior and performing artists. And so that
kind of led me to years later, turn that into a
book, which because of that, here I am, you know,
in the sense of that faith. So all my worlds kind of came
together in a beautiful way. And that's one thing I
really like about your story is you have this unique skill set.
But when you go back to, you know, you were younger, you started to get
involved in books and reading, you were familiar with the drama
club and you were, you were friends with actors and you go to college
to get your doctorate and you're studying psychology and
you're studying the behaviors of these actors. And it's
really the perfect storm that's come together to make you who you are today and
what you're doing. And that part of your story, to me was so
interesting, and that's why I wanted to have you here tonight is because these
two very different worlds that you don't think about just
collided and really brought you to. You know, they kind
of happen simultaneously, but, you know, they kind of
mesh together like two magnets. And now you. This. This
force that does and you're.
I don't. I'm not gonna get into too much yet. But the way that you're
able to work with actors and coach them, it's a very big
part of that journey to get you to where you are today.
100 and it was a journey
and there was a lot of hard work getting
there. And the
PhD, the educational component, the classwork, was kind of a
breeze for me. The dissertation was no joke,
was probably one of the most intense things I've been in part of. Ever
done. And that's what really the defining moment of the
PhD. And that's why we really have to word doctor for our name is really
the. That final project. So
it was definitely one of the most monumental things I've ever
had to complete. So much so I, you know, I'm.
When people ask me why I go back, no, I'm done with school, formal
schooling. Let's. Let's go back to that.
Oh, I'll say let's go back to that first company you started.
You know, you mentioned. You kind of just touched on it a little bit. But
what was the genesis of that company and, you know, what were the services
you were trying to provide at that time? Well, I still do
it now, but the purpose was to represent actors and
to support actors as much as possible at that time.
When I first saw up a company, I was like, I really don't know what
this is going to look like. I mean, ideally was to help actors get
work and to kind of be just a cheerleader for them and
be a support system as much as I possibly could. I
was naive. And when I. This is like my
first. It was my first real world experience of operating a business,
owning a business, and really working in the
entrepreneur world. So it was a new world for me. And
I kind of went into the. The business with
blind. Complete blinders. And what I mean by blinders.
Most people who get into this space that I'm at
start off usually interning or walking in the mailroom or working
as an executive assistant and then maybe go up the
ranks to junior agent to agent, and then at a
already an established agent and then kind of break off on their own
after several years. For me, I'm just like, you know, I'm
gonna go right into it. I have no experience. I'm just gonna do it.
People if, if I were to give it like they had a magic wand, if
I had to go back, I probably would go that route if
I could, you know, like this way.
And maybe even that would have prevented some of the hardships, some of the
mistakes I've made, you know, as. As a new business
owner. So. And the. I would
say the biggest realization of it now, I love working with actors. The actors
itself was great, but it is a very intense industry
and sometimes cutthroat, which
someone like me was not used to.
So that was. I had the adjustment period for me. So for
a few years I was like, I don't think I could do that.
And there are plenty of times where I was about to call it quits because
I'm not a cutthroat person. You know, that's not who.
How I operate. However,
I was in there and, and there
were some, you know, if you want to use the metaphor, there were some sharks
in the water. Did you find yourself.
Did you find yourself developing talent and then other agents
would just come by and poach them? Absolutely. Other poach
and no regret or, you know,
and the one thing I think that
it was, it was that it was. Or other
people pretending to be your friend.
And then when they had a moment, it was just. They
come and sneak into it. Now, now looking back into it now
with many years later, yeah, there were some
signs. I was like, I was pretty naive.
I might even slap myself around a little bit for falling for it
a little bit because it was kind of plainly obvious what was happening.
So that's where maybe the
education of working at another company could have
warned me about. So,
like, like, I'll give you an example. Now. Anytime I work with an artist,
I have a contract.
There's. I'm not, I'm not working for anybody or on
anybody's behalf without a contract. And it doesn't
necessarily have to be inclusive contract. You'd be like a freelance or just. There's no
commitment, but there's still a contract to where,
you know, if I get you a job, you know, you're.
You're going to pay 10% and I'm going to be Supportive and all of
that. So it's a two way contract. But that's one of the things I've
learned, you know, over the years is I'm working with a contract
and even if somebody hires me to do anything else, we're doing something
in writing. First. Do you have like a clause
in your contract and you read it and you're like, I know exactly
why that clause is in this contract. Yes, of course.
And a lot of times, well, the contracts that we use as talent agents
is pretty standard that most agents use.
It's, you know, because we have to be compliant with the performance
unions and the guilds and all that. So
it's, but there are some, a lot of stuff and I'm like, yes, I
know why that's in there
and it's much easier now.
And so that's where I think I've wisened
up a lot over that. And again, even if
somebody's like, hey, I want to collaborate with you on this another, okay, we're going
to put an agreement together before I
give you any information about
anything that can be sensitive.
The, you know, you kind of worked out that part of the business a little
bit. It's never perfect. You know, you still take on new clients, there's new expectations
and every client is different. But you also have this, this
other side of the business where the coaching
and the way you guide people or help even
actors with cold feet. So tell us a little bit about how you're
applying, you know, maybe some of the things that you
have the doctorate in to this business to help
actors and actresses excel. Absolutely.
Well, the first thing I mainly when I say, when I work
with, as far as coaching, I work more on the softer skill
side of things rather than the acting side because I
really, I don't have an acting degree. I'm, you know, even though I
dabbled in acting, I don't consider myself an expert in acting. So
they need to get coaching and training professionally
on the acting side. And there's plenty of resources that I refer them
to that is much more qualified for me. For me, I'm more
of the mindset approach. So one thing that
I can do is work with the
amount of self doubt that comes in the imposter syndrome
aspect that happens with a lot of actors. There's so much
competition. You know, there's, it's, it's a saturated
market in New York City for actors. There's hundreds of thousands of actors
and only a limited number of roles. That's the reality of business. And
That's, I can't do anything about that. That's the way it is.
So what can we do to maximize this? Well,
the one thing you're going to need, especially for anybody who's listening,
wants to pursue acting or any type of art. You're going to need grit,
you're going to need resilience and you're going to need tenacity.
Those are skills that you'll not be taught in
an active class. But those are needed and that's
worthy with any business or any entrepreneurship is you need
tenacity, grit and resilience,
which, because it's, it's a long term business.
A lot of times young actors, they have
the stars in our eyes, bright lights. You know, they see New York City,
that promenade, they go on Broadway, you see Broadway and
they, they're so excited, which is great and it is exciting.
However, it's going to take years to
get a strategy together and you need a strategy.
So. And it's going to take time.
The other thing that really I work with
actors to do is to not take the nose
personally because you're going to get a lot of no's. That's the
reality of it. And what makes it a little bit more difficult
is a lot of times you don't even hear back after an actor auditions or
goes on an interview. There's no response.
I mean, sometimes, rarely, sometimes you may get the occasional, you know,
thank you for your audition. We want to know direction. But for the
most part you don't hear that, which I know can be
hard for anybody. So the one
thing that I really hope to
impart is to not take this work
personally, to not take the nose personally,
because it's not about, it's not about you,
you know, it's, it's about the role. Did you, are you right for
the role? It has nothing to me personally. So
that's why, like, I'll hear a lot of people say I gave up because of
rejection or I want to be an actor, but I'm so afraid of the rejection,
I don't want to reject it. Well, I'd say
what if we took rejection out of it? Because
rejection sounds personal,
like they rejected you. No, they, they just
didn't go with you for that character. So the
one quote which I heard years
ago, I don't remember the author, I don't know the author, the
origin of the quote, but it really resonated with me and it's,
there's no such thing as rejection. It's just a simple
Reminder that your services are not needed today,
which for me even helped me out a great
deal. And I'm not an actor, but I think if we take
it that way and look, okay, you're not
right for the role, but this doesn't tell you anything about you as an
actor, you as a person. So take the person out of
it. Take, take the eye away from it.
And so that would be like
number one. The, the other thing that I would say
is to look at failure or
even the mistakes that you make as feedback, not
failure in a sense. So there's no such thing as failure, only
feedback. So if you can take that
and say, okay, I didn't get the role or
I flubbed the line or, man, I
really tanked that interview. And this is not just for actors, but for anybody,
I really didn't do well in this area. Well,
okay, well, let's take, let's take a step back.
What did you learn from this? What can you do differently the next time?
Because as human beings, we're going to make mistakes. I've made mistakes in
business. You know, I can tell you a lot of things. I
made numerous mistakes in my life, personally, professionally,
and there it is what it is, it's a mistake.
So. But what I can do is learn from that mistake and
make sure that in the future
I can act in a different way. So again, no
such thing as rejection. I really know such thing as failure. So.
And I think the third and most important
piece of it, not to say the other two aren't but
important, but the third piece would be to treat the
audition as an opportunity to perform.
So yes, prepare, but have fun with it. A lot of times just
the word audition sounds daunting. It sounds
like such a, a burden because
a lot of times when what actors think is, I have to prove myself, I
had to prove myself to this casting director, this producer, this
director. No, don't prove yourself. You're already
talented. You work hard, go
in for those two minutes, whether it's 90
seconds or two minutes and really just have fun.
But show them what you can do. Now, most
people, when you, most actors get into it because they like
acting, they like telling stories. So use that two
minute opportunity to tell, tell that story of that
character and go all in. Have fun. And when
it's over, let it go. As
soon as you walk out of that room, it is long in your control. You
let it go. I said, you've come up with these three points, right? And you
launched this company initially, as you know, an
Agent as a, you know, helping talent. What was
the, like, was there an aha moment when you
realize that what you've been studying can help actors
in such a better way? Like, was there. Did you have a client
that just gave you that spark to take this to the next
level where you're able to be not just an agent,
but a coach or, you know, a mental coach, a
mentalist that helps you get through the hurdles.
I think it was just over time when I realized, when I was
again in the midst of my doctoral study and doing this
dissertation, how a lot of people
I was talking to, a lot of people like, oh, this is so impactful, really
need to hear this. And of course I would do like social media posts over
the years and a lot of my clients or actors that I knew would
say, oh, I needed to hear that. And
so my whole thing was when I wrote the book and just
before I really decided to, I kind of put myself out there
was, I want to make a bigger impact, you know, if I can.
You know, obviously I'm helping the actors I work with, but that's only a small
set. I would love to be impactful to other
people because the mindset is so important. And,
and I again, I've studied nlp, I've studied psycho, you know,
psychology, performance psychology. And
what I can tell you is how powerful mindset can be.
And I think that was the moment where I really said, I really need to
be working more in this space
because again, it may not make you necessarily a better actor
overall, but because that's where training and
practice comes in. Just like, you know, mindset
is not going to really make someone a better, more competitive player. However,
if I can make help you become the best you that you can
be, I feel like that's very
powerful, like getting outside your head. Because one
habit I've noticed over the years of working with actors,
especially like more of the newer actors, the actors haven't worked in a while.
They're so anxious about performing well
that they get caught in their head and they're overanalyzing things.
So you can watch, like, you can almost tell when you're watching these
performances because they're not really listening
to their scene partner. They're so focused on what line is going to come
next. Oh, let me make sure I get my line to come out next.
And you could see it where it's like you're watching a
two people having a normal conversation in the scene
and it doesn't look authentic because there's
the other Person's just like a silent wall when the other one's talking.
And that's the way human beings communicate. And
if you watch a movie or even watch a performance on stage and you look
at professional actors, part, you know,
part of being a really, you know, on top of your acting is
not just, of course, acting, but also reacting. So
you can't really do that if you're in your head and you're focusing on.
What's my next line? Oh, because as I'm right, you're not even
connecting to your scene partner. And
now your audience, the audience members who are watching these performances or
even watching movie may not be able to specifically point
out what happened. But if you're, if you don't connect, what you're
often going to get is, I didn't really buy this performance or this
actor wasn't that good, or I really didn't buy the storyline.
And it's because the characters weren't
connecting and being really authentic or
too much in their head or not really, you know, in the
moment. So the mindset can really help you with
that, that part of the puzzle.
When do you think, like when somebody gets involved in acting and maybe
they're thinking about auditions, maybe they're thinking about representation,
you know, at what point should like, this aspect of acting
become a part of their, their training and their studies?
When should you add in, you know, the mental aspect of acting?
I, I think it, I wish if my head went
away, it should be simultaneously with the actual
mechanical training and technical training of acting. It should be
done simultaneously. So this way by
the time they come out, you know, after the bf, Bachelor of Fine Arts, a
Master of Finance program, or the Conservatory program,
that they're fully prepared, not just
acting wise, but mental wise and
staying on. Because the one thing I noticed, especially for
the length of time I've been doing this, is that there's a high turnover rate
amongst actors and
high, you know, getting a real, you know, there's a
lot of pressure from family, so there's a high
dropout rate. So unfortunately, what I was saying is a lot of people were
graduating from these programs, spending
upwards of 100 to almost 200k
on a program. And yet four or five
years later, they're no longer acting. They're into teaching or doing
some sort of consulting work.
And I, I kind
of, it's sad because a lot of money and
I, I don't even think they're happy doing this type of work. But they, they
feel out of necessity that they have to do this type of work.
And through all these stories and your studies, you had mentioned a book
that you put together. Can you tell us a little bit about that and how
can people find out more about it? Sure.
Well, the book is called Rise above the Script, Confronting Self
Doubt, Mastering Self Sabotage for Performing Artists. It's available
on Amazon, Kindle and audiobooks, where all
audiobooks are sold. And I did write it for the performing artists in
my net, what it's geared towards. But there's also a lot
of good information in there that can be applicable to anybody,
coaches, speakers, sales people,
any profession. We have to put yourself out there, which is pretty much every
one to some level. So I think there's a lot that can benefit from
everybody, but especially actors. And
I, I, I blend it a lot with some personal experiences, but I also
have a lot of research back statements and
protocols behind in the book. And I know another
area you're in is hypnotism. And does is that something
that really works with actors or
hypnotizing and having some sort of therapy through hypnosis,
does that really help relax them and send them into auditions?
It helps with the confidence boosting. And another myth about
hypnosis is it doesn't necessarily have to be about relaxation.
That can be a side effect or a byproduct. But
most of the time, I mean, we're hypnotized when we're watching a
commercial, we're hypnotized, we're watching the news, we're hypnotized when we're
watching a movie. So we don't necessarily have to be in
relaxation. So the way I kind of use it is more of a waking hypnosis
kind of thing where it's like, okay, working with limiting
beliefs, transforming limiting beliefs. So
kind of like with the little bit of reframe that I kind of mentioned
here, I blended a little bit of hypnotic work in there too
because it's working with subconscious limiting beliefs.
So another thing that I would really say is the power of language. Because
one of the biggest tools that
for hypnosis work to occur is language. So the language that
you use both not only to yourself, to
the community, but to yourself, a lot of actors
sometimes will introduce themselves like, hi, I'm, I'm John, I'm
an aspiring actor, you know, or hi,
I'm Jill, I'm a starving artist. And it's like, no,
what are you doing? You know, you're setting these words out, they're
creating a reality. So what you should say is, I'm
I'm a professional working actor or I'm Jack, I'm a thriving,
successful artist. And you introduce yourself
in that framework.
So that could be a very powerful shift.
And that again is a hypnotic shift if you can view yourself
in that way of just moving from point A to
point B. And you know, I do mention a little bit this in my
book too, because important how you identify
yourself and how you. Because your identity
is so important here. And if you
identify yourself kind of like as I don't want to say, but more
like the, the one who's going to get trampled on over or
have like some sort of a victim mentality,
you're going to be at a more disadvantage in life than you say you're
thriving and creative type.
So that's where kind of like rise up the script my title came out of
because I wasn't necessarily talking about physical script. I'm talking about the
mental script that you have. And
when you can rise above that and change that, that can
be very powerful. It's incredible. You know,
we met through, you know, an online booking agency to
make this interview happen. And the more I learned about your story
and then I love like just different perspectives. I always
say that you can only perceive what you know, right.
If, if you're familiar with something, you can perceive it and understand it. And
this is a story where, you know, I understand acting and
auditions and, and talent, but that mental
aspect and applying a whole nother study, a whole
nother field of the psychology to it makes your story just
incredible. So, Dr. Albert Bramante, where can people find
you? They want to connect with you. And I know you have a website. What's,
what's the web address? So it's just my name,
albertbermonte.com. you can also go on, on LinkedIn
under Albert Bramonte and then my Instagram is at
doctoralbermonti so feel free to connect with me.
I'd love to hear from you and definitely check
out my book. I feel like there's something in there for everybody.
Awesome. I'll put all those links in the show notes. Let's go back
to that theme song. Yo.
It's my guest tonight with Jeff Revilla Bringing heat like a
scene From a thriller Dr. Grandma Tate in the house Breaking metal
chains From Broadway lights to big screen fame Talent agent,
mind coach triple threat mode Helping actors crack the success
code so turn it up no fear, no strife let's talk self
sabotage and change your life.
Awesome. I'm so glad you like the song.
It's it's really. I mean, I. I have about 10 pages of notes on you.
I tell everybody, like, I'm pretty thorough with the research I do, and
I use that to make the songs, and
they've been a pretty good hit, so I'm glad you like them. Maybe you'll
see. Maybe you'll see this show on Broadway someday.
Hey, that's great.