Host Diane Foy interviews the multi-talented Anne Alexander-Sieder. A unique blend of actress, screenwriter, podcaster, and coach, Anne’s journey is as diverse as her interests. From discovering her passion for acting at a young age to strategically rekindling her career in film and television, Anne shares insights on being true to oneself and building a thriving acting career. Join us as we delve into the importance of authenticity, strategic networking, and finding joy and passion in one’s pursuits. Get ready to be inspired by Anne’s multifaceted approach to personal and professional growth in the entertainment industry.

The Business of Acting with Actor & Screenwriter Anne Alexander-Sieder

YouTube: ⁠http:www.youtube.com/@ActBold⁠ Insta: ⁠@annealexandersieder⁠ and ⁠@act_bold⁠ Facebook: ⁠@mrs.alexandersieder⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠@annealexandersieder⁠

Transcript:

Diane Foy [00:00:00]:
Artists and creatives, you have the power to heal, transform and elevate lives. Are you ready to step into that power? Hello and welcome to the superfan attraction, personal branding for artists and creatives. I have a great guest for you today. Her name is Ann Alexander Cedar and she’s an actor, screenwriter, podcaster And coach passionate about empowering actors to unlock their unique essence so that they can elevate their marketing materials In a way that filmmakers find irresistible. And she’s the host of the Act BOLD podcast where she interviews other actors and casting directors and industry people. And, we have a very similar way of working, I think, where we want you to Think about the business side of your creative career. And so I’ll just get right to it and Have her introduce herself to you guys. Hello.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:01:08]:
Hello. Thank you for

Diane Foy [00:01:09]:
joining me. It’s gonna be such a great conversation. Well, thank

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:01:13]:
you for having me on.

Diane Foy [00:01:14]:
Welcome to the show. Go ahead and introduce yourself.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:01:20]:
Okay. My name is Anne Alexander Cedar. I am an American actress living and working in Germany, but I’m not just an actress. I’m also a screenwriter, a podcaster, a coach. So wearing many, many hats of big multi hyphenate, I guess. And, the story of how I came to Germany, an American actress Living in Germany is also an interesting one, but I’m not sure if you’re into hearing that whole story

Diane Foy [00:01:46]:
or not.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:01:47]:
Yeah. So I met my husband on a blind date 28 years ago. And, when back then, my only German word was, which means the joy of driving. So I came to Germany with, like, nothing other than how to say, the joy of driving. The joy of driving. And, Yeah. That was that was it. And I kinda thought that my acting career was over, to be honest.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:02:13]:
I had been sag after equity back in the states. And back then, I Think I was leaving a lot up to luck and chance, and I did have a a good amount of both in the beginning. And then, you know, as I moved to Germany and had a baby and then sort of Didn’t didn’t speak the language perfectly or honestly, not at all. In the beginning, I had to learn how to speak German. But I never will speak it as a native speaker. I always no matter how good my German is, I I still have an accent. So I I really thought that my dream of being an actress, I was so far away from my idea of what it meant to be an actress, was was over. So I was trying to find other ways, and I was always doing acting adjacent things while I was living here.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:03:02]:
I I supported you know, we we bought a house in Florida with, what I learned on, voice over and commercials and Doing moderation. So it was acting adjacent, but it wasn’t wasn’t acting. And then when my son was about 15, 16 years old, the Kid did not wanna hang out with me anymore. I mean, can you imagine the nerve? Gotta get that kid into therapy.

Diane Foy [00:03:27]:
Yeah.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:03:28]:
And, Yeah. So that was when I realized that, like, like, I had dedicated all this time, and I think so many women do this. We dedicate all this time, you know, put all this love and passion into our our children, our families. And then all of a sudden, it’s like you’re not Necessary on that level anymore that you were, and you have to realign. Okay. Who am I, and what do I want? And that’s what I really did. I I realized that I I had put this dream kind of on the back shelf and all of a sudden, it was there like clawing. You know? I went out I went out of this closet.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:04:10]:
And on a whim, I looked for an acting workshop in Munich, in English, because that was very important to me back then. And there happened to be a coach Visiting from LA. His name was Kirk Waltz. He’s a guy who gets his ear cut off in Reservoir Dogs, in case anybody knows that. And, really great actor, really great coach. And I got done with that 3 day workshop Feeling like I had been underwater for the past 13 years, and now I could finally breathe It was like I knew what yeah. I I had to do this. And I just kind of threw myself back into it.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:04:53]:
And With with with intention, I think is the best word for it. And I decided this time around, I was not gonna leave everything up to luck and chance. First of all, I was 47. So, I mean, the luck and chance that I had back was probably because I was 20 years old. You know? That this that the same kind of luck and chance that you get when you’re 47 as a woman in this industry. So I was I my intention was to be much more strategic. So I immediately started bringing coaches from LA, from New York, from London, from Berlin Into Munich because they just weren’t there. You know? Not English speaking.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:05:34]:
There there are other coaches here, but not English speaking. And I was bringing in at least 1 coach a month, and then I was organizing workshops so that we could practice what we had learned with these new coaches Until I felt like that my basically conservatory style training click back into place, and I felt like, okay. I’m I’m good. I’m good enough. Right? I because I do believe in imperfect action. I can always be better, but I was good enough to, like, get myself out there again. And then I started hiring coaches for, you know, for for branding, for marketing, for For networking, just like the business side of it because that’s what I felt like as actors, we always learn about A skill of acting, but we learn nothing about what it means. The business of acting.

Diane Foy [00:06:26]:
Nothing. That’s every art I find.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:06:28]:
Yeah.

Diane Foy [00:06:29]:
And it’s artists, use that as a an excuse, I guess, to hold back too. Oh, I just wanna concentrate on my art.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:06:38]:
Well yeah. No. It’s just yet. Exactly. I mean, then then you might as well be doing community theater.

Diane Foy [00:06:44]:
Yeah.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:06:44]:
Because either you wanna be a professional actor and then you’d have to take it Professionally. Look at it as a professional business or just if you just wanna act, there are plenty of places to act, and that’s fine. So so anyway and I even became a life and career coach, first for myself because I wanted to kind of, like, unlimited yeah, unblock my own Limiting beliefs and and, you know, whatever I felt like I might have in a way that was going to sabotage me. And then I started my podcast as well, ACT Bold. This was much later, but this was also to network. Like, I would like to work This casting director, I would like to work with that casting director. How can I get them to sit down and talk to me person to person, not actor to casting director? Of course, I am an actor. Of course, I am asking questions.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:07:34]:
But how can I get them to do this so that they’re looking at me so that we’re on the same level? And the podcast has been amazing for that, for for fostering these relationships. And I’ve had several of them who, like, Kona’s actually my friends now, which has been Fantastic. So that’s kind of the the short version of my very long 28 year story.

Diane Foy [00:07:58]:
What was it that first drew you to acting as a kid?

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:08:02]:
Oh god. I remember the exact moment it happened. I had been cast in Oliver Twist. I was at summer camp, and the casting of it was everybody had to audition. I didn’t even know what auditioning meant. The fact that, you know but everybody had to audition. We were just sort of, you know, shuffled from 1 room to the next. Here, read this.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:08:24]:
Here, sing this, here, dance that, blah blah blah blah. And then they posted who got what, and I I was not invested in this whatsoever. I could have cared less whether I had been in the, you know, in the chorus or had a lead part. But I ended up getting The only real lead, female lead in in the entire play, which was to play Nancy. Because it’s a it’s a cast of all, I don’t know if you’re familiar with it, the orphans and really anyway, it’s a very famous musical about a orphan named Oliver who asked for more porridge, Basically, and he gets, caught up with this group of pickpockets. And and so he’s in with this bad group, and And my character, Nancy, was in love with the leader of this pickpocket gang. And even that during rehearsals, You know, it was fun. I was having a good time, but it wasn’t until we were opening night.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:09:20]:
I could see the people. I can still see them. I still get goosebumps when I think about it. I could see the audience in silhouette. I couldn’t see anybody’s faces because the lights were so bright, but I could see them in silhouette. And there was this moment when I was singing, as long as he needs me, That all of a sudden, it was like that the air shifted. And the only way I can imagine it, although I’ve never Skydived, but I imagine it’s sort of that feeling when you jump out of the plane before you fall, when you’re sort of hovering there. And that’s kind of what it felt like.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:09:58]:
It felt like this bubble, and I was just like, it was me and the audience, and we were 1, and I knew I had them. And it was just like the most intoxicating feeling. And I I liken it to a drug because it really was. It was like that first, you know, hit of a really strong drug, and then I just I’m like a junkie who’s always looking for that connection again. Yeah. And so that’s that was my first moment of really Falling in love with the art of acting. Coming to be an actress, you know, took about 10 years after that because I, like you, didn’t realize, you know, that a a a creative career was a possibility. Yeah.

Diane Foy [00:10:45]:
And while you love that live audience, what brought you to film and television as opposed to say theater?

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:10:54]:
Oh, I love theater. I I did a lot of theater back in Chicago where which is where I am from. But then when I moved to Germany, that, you know, that just sorta Ended that. There wasn’t a whole lot of opportunity for me to be doing theater here as non native speaker, Especially back then when they were very you know, you needed to speak what they call high German, and that’s without dialect, without Any kind of color to your German it would be RP English for the for the for the people in the UK. So so there was just no way. But even it wasn’t just me. It was also, like, Germans who came from Bavaria. They had to get rid of their accent.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:11:38]:
Germans who came from Saxony had to get rid of their accent. They wanted this really, really neutral thing. So there was just no way for Me too. Make a career of theater here in Germany. Also, because I could have gone gone I I had auditioned and could have gone on to do some traveling shows, right, that would travel around Europe,

Diane Foy [00:12:01]:
but I

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:12:01]:
had a baby. And there was just no way I was going to leave my baby. You know? So that was that was where the switch sorta came in. And then, Initially, there was a big boom around 2000. Towards the end of the nineties, early 2000, there was a Big financial boom. People were making tons of money in the stock market, things like that. So there were productions going on everywhere. People had never invested in a TV series or a film.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:12:30]:
They were investing. So there was a lot of that going on at the moment. And I ended up getting cast, In a in a show called Ice Planet, which never took off beyond the beyond the, pilot, but it was it was sort of it was Directed by a man named Rick Colby who who directed a lot of the Star Trek stuff. So it was, like, along those lines. Yeah. And from that, I it was one of those things again where it was like I was completely oblivious. I went to the audition, And I had a great time. And then it was, like, months later, I never heard anything back.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:13:10]:
So I was like, okay. Obviously, that was nothing. And then they called And had told me I I got the part, and I’m like, okay. Thinking it was a voice over, I was, like, so unimpressed. And then they keep and and they’re they’re like, no. You got the part. And I was like, okay. Yeah.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:13:27]:
When do I need to be there? What, you know, what is it? You know, just I was like and I was in a hurry on top of it. So it was like, you know, just get me the information. I’ll write it down, mama. And then it was like, All of a sudden, it clicked what it was. And I was like, oh, because they started asking about my agent, and I was I didn’t have an agent. You know, I had been recommended from a friend of mine who was an actor in a voice over actor as well. Right. And so I was like, Hold, please.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:13:54]:
You know? What do I do here? I’ll get back to you on that. So I called up my friend immediately and told him I ended up Getting a power? Thank you so much. I owe you dinner. And he recommended an agent to me, and she was one of the top agents at the time in in the area. And, I came to her. I was like, I’ve got this part. I’ve not negotiated the contract or anything? Can would you do this? And she was like, of course. So that was kind of that.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:14:24]:
And the problem with her was she was fantastic. I really liked her. She was really behind me, but she was not embracing who I was, which was an American. Right. Happened to be living in Germany. And she kept telling people that I was a German who had spent a ton of time in America. But as soon as I showed up And people were flying me places for auditions. So they I mean, they were pissed, to be honest.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:14:50]:
You know? I mean, I would get there, and they had spent all this money. And then I would walk in and then they they were like, oh, you’re not German. I was like, and you wouldn’t even tell me. I didn’t even know until I was German. Not. No. Yeah. And so that was that was too bad.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:15:06]:
And then I ended up getting cast in a soap opera here, but it was shooting in Cologne. I live in Munich. And that was a 2 year contract. And I was like gung ho. You know, I was like, yes. Ready to go. They’ve got daycare. I’m taking my baby.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:15:21]:
I’m gonna go, and I’ll come home with a baby on the weekends. And my husband was like, absolutely not, which I get. I would have said the same thing. You’re not you can go, but you are not taking our baby. And that’s basically what he said. And so I ended up Backing out, she ended up dumping me, rightly so. You know, no hard feelings. And that’s when I was like, okay.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:15:44]:
Well, I this is my life. You know, I have a beautiful family. I have a successful voice over career. I have a successful commercial and Presenting career. You know, I was doing a lot of moderation and things like that for for different things. So just be happy because people would be happy to have just what you have. So just be happy. But honestly, I I wasn’t, you know, I was always looking for something to fill that creative hole.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:16:11]:
And I I did blogs before. Blogs were a big thing. I did you know, I was doing mosaics. I was painting. I studied interior design, Jewelry design. I was just, you know, bouncing around from all these different things, and I would do it for a few years and be super passionate, you know, just obsessed. And then all of a sudden, one day, I’d be like, I’m done. That it just Yeah.

Diane Foy [00:16:33]:
You just You just turned up multipassionate, multipotentialites.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:16:37]:
Well but I I think the thing was I was looking without knowing it, I was looking for something to fill that hole. Yeah. You know, something that fulfilled me like acting does. Right. And there was I think, yes. I I think, you know, we all have many lives inside of us. Right? We all have the potential to Have taken many paths, and that’s the fascinating thing about an actor is we can explore these different paths. But For me, really, the thing that gets me going is the the connection, the storytelling, and the, you know, being a part of that kind of a thing.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:17:18]:
Yeah. And so then, you know, by the time I came back to it, when my son was 15, 16 years old, You know, at that point, then it was much easier to to get back into film and television because I spoke German at that point.

Diane Foy [00:17:35]:
Right.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:17:35]:
So and it just but I still had the problem of not speaking German perfectly, which kind of precluded the the theater scene. So So that was a very long winded way of explaining why I got into film and television as opposed to theater, but I love both.

Diane Foy [00:17:50]:
Yeah. And when did you start your podcast?

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:17:56]:
My podcast is not that old. I started it on February 22nd of this year. So I just had my 30 you were my 35th episode.

Diane Foy [00:18:07]:
Oh, okay. Cool.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:18:08]:
Yeah. So

Diane Foy [00:18:09]:
Yeah. What have been some of the highlights of people that you’ve gotten to interview? And, I

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:18:15]:
don’t know. Tell me about that. Sure. I’ve interviewed some amazing casting directors. Probably the 2 that come to my mind that were the The most fun, one is Cassandra Hahn, who’s actually now a friend of mine. She is also the president of the European Casting Society. So she’s She’s very high up, but she’s very down to earth, which is wonderful. She’s also an American who lives in Atlantic.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:18:41]:
I mean, it’s Just like these weird coincidences. So, of course, we had so much in common. Right? And also that we both are obsessed with film and and that kind of a thing. And she just was so generous and giving with her the things that, you know, that make a good casting, a good self tape, The things that actors need to, really be aware of. But I find that this is a theme, you know, I mean, it’s not it’s Sound like one says one thing and the other says, you know, they’re not day and night. Everybody’s basically saying the same thing. Be authentic. Be True to your impulses, be surprising.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:19:20]:
You know? Be be interesting. And the only way to be interesting is if you are authentically you. So it boils down to that. So she was 1. And then there’s another wonderful casting director and his wife, out of Australia, Greg Apps and his wife, Robin, Gibbs. Fantastic. Such a character. So much fun.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:19:42]:
And he’s also, you know, he he also coaches people on self tapes and finding, like, characters to, Oh, in a way to brand themselves with, which is very interesting. You know? It’s not it’s like Like, I know my branding as an actress. Right? I pay I generally play, women who maybe go down but not without a fight. Or like the mother with a ton of empathy and yet is being pulled by something else, whether that’s a passion or A sickness or, something like an illicit thing or something. You know, it’s like I, I also and then on the other side of that, I’ll also play, like, you know, the these boss bitches, you know, who are totally, like, Taking themselves way too seriously. And, yeah. Definitely. I I definitely have both of those those sides to me.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:20:47]:
But his thing is really, like, going into and developing, like, 2 or 3 real characters That you can say, you know, this is, you know, this is me. I play a cop or I play this or which it’s interesting. He’s very good at what he does. He’s He’s one of the top casting directors in in Australia. And his podcast was also or my episode with him was also just filled with so many Golden nuggets. I mean, truly, for actors, I highly recommend that you watch that episode because it was It was it was just chock full of stuff.

Diane Foy [00:21:21]:
Yeah. What what’s his podcast name?

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:21:24]:
I don’t think he has a podcast. His name is Greg Apps. He’s a casting director. Oh, okay. Yeah. It was on my podcast, ACT World. Wonderful.

Diane Foy [00:21:31]:
Yeah. Yes. And do you coach artists as well?

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:21:37]:
Mhmm. Mhmm. I coach actors on the business of acting. Right. There are so many wonderful acting coaches, and I think all actors know that they need to be working on their skill as an actor, but what they don’t know or don’t seem to know, many of them, Is that they also need to be working on the business of acting. Yeah. And for me, one of the things that I really, Excuse me. That I really discovered when I came back to acting, and I became very intentional and strategic about it, That success leaves clues.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:22:15]:
This is no secret. We hear this all the time. But for me, those clues were like beacons, and it was There are 5 basically 5 pillars of a thriving acting career, and you need to be able to assess them And see the health of each pillar. And for me, those pillars are branding, mindset, marketing, networking, And community. And they’re all important. Of course, mindset. Without that, you have nothing. Right? Yeah.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:22:47]:
I mean, no matter what you do. So you must have the correct mindset, but but also because as actors, it’s so important to put yourself out there and to Unapologetically put yourself out there, and you must believe in yourself. Right? I was listening to a really interesting do you know Alex Harmozi? I think that’s his name. He’s he’s he’s actually a business coach. He’s fantastic. And I do listen to a lot of business coaching because I Yeah. You know, acting as a business. But he was talking about you must have belief in what you are selling.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:23:28]:
And as actors, we are selling ourselves. We are selling our talent, but we are also selling ourselves. And if you don’t believe in you, why should anybody else? Yeah. So the thing he said that that really resonated with me was, he said, if you could go back in time And buy Apple stock. You know, tell your past, you know, your go to the future and tell your past self to go buy stock in Apple 10 years ago. Right? What would you be doing from the future to get yourself to buy stock in that company? What are all the things that you would be doing to get yourself to buy stock in that company? Would you be writing emails? Would you be calling? Would you be sending pictures? Would you I mean, what would you be doing, right, to to get yourself to do that? Well, you have to think of yourself Like that apple stock. Right? You are as valuable as that, and you have to treat yourself that way. And what are you doing to get the word out about yourself in a way? So this is sort of the catcher with it Because it is about ourselves.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:24:40]:
We have to be careful. I think you have to be very assertive With grace or with humor or with charm, whatever your kind of superpower or with intelligence. Right? Whatever your superpower is, whatever that thing is that makes you you and is a big part of who you are, That’s what you need to be being assertive with. So if you don’t feel comfortable being funny and assertive, then don’t. Don’t just be assertive. That’s abrasive. Right? But be be assertive in a, you know, in a way that is magnetic instead of repulsive.

Diane Foy [00:25:17]:
Yeah. And that’s why it’s so important to do that personal work, development work, and mindset work.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:25:24]:
It’s so important

Diane Foy [00:25:25]:
because You you it when you do that work, then you can stand and be like, sell yourself in a way of, Yeah. I’m really good at this and just owning it.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:25:38]:
Yes. Absolutely. No. I You know what? When you say it as a fact this? What’s that?

Diane Foy [00:25:45]:
And even be like, yeah. Maybe I’m not as good at that, but my strength is this.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:25:49]:
Yes. Absolutely. And just one moment. Say it as a fact, It’s not bragging. Right? Yeah. I know I’m a good actress. I am a good actress. It is just what it is.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:26:00]:
Could I be better? Sure. Yeah. But I know I’m good. So that’s and and I’m very confident in that. And I think you have to be. Yeah. But I but I also know how I fit into different worlds, and you have to know that as well. And you can’t know that as an actor unless you know who you are and what you’re bringing to the table for free.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:26:25]:
Right? Yeah. The the things that you don’t What I mean by that is it’s like we all have these essences inside of us. Right? These here’s my dog. These are the things that you bring to the table for free. So so what I was saying before about my branding, my as an actress, It’s right that I play these, sort of complex mother roles. Right? A mother who who fiercely is is, you know, behind her kid, But also torn by something else. Or these kind of boss bitches who are taking themselves Too seriously and yet have a streak of empathy or I also play some pretty ice cold bitches as well. But In any case, that’s not who I am, though.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:27:12]:
So but, what was I saying? I lost my train of thought. I lost my train of thought. Where was it?

Diane Foy [00:27:23]:
We were talking about the importance of mindset and owning Your your gifts owning and being confident and being be able to put yourself out there and just say,

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:27:33]:
yes. Okay.

Diane Foy [00:27:35]:
Right at this.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:27:36]:
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And I think it also goes back to as, you know, knowing your brand. Right? And, oh, I know what it was. Knowing how you fit into the world because that’s what a a series is, is a world, Well, a film is a world. How do you fit into that world? You must know that about yourself. Yeah.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:27:57]:
And you must know what you’re drawn to Because there are things that we’re drawn to, maybe to watch, like you and I were talking about earlier. I am drawn to watching van life, But I have no intention of ever living in a van, and it’s also similar. We can be drawn to watching certain things On television or or whatever, you know, streaming. But but it we wouldn’t maybe have an interest in being in that kind of a show. Yeah. So I think you have to know, like, what what you resonate with. As you were saying before, what what your values are, what your because values are not just about, you know, don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t, you know, blah blah blah.

Diane Foy [00:28:41]:
Yeah.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:28:41]:
Values are also What makes me laugh? What makes me sad? What is important to me? And I think also it’s super important for actors to, Speaking of values, find something that’s really important for them to To represent. So what do I mean by that? For instance, there’s a friend of mine who is, Well, she says that she calls herself a fat actor. So so and she has a movement in Germany That basically translates to all bodies in sight, which I think is I love it. Yeah. And she’s and, you know, Tall, thin, in a wheelchair, not in a wheelchair, whatever. All bodies in sight. We are not just, you know, stick figures walking around on this earth. Old, young.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:29:38]:
There’s another actress who has a platform for actresses over 47, Which obviously as an actress over 47, I find that very interesting. Yes. Or for actors of color because, you know, People are always surprised. Oh, you have black people in Germany. Yeah. Yes. We do. Yeah.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:29:57]:
We have black German people. Yes. We do. They’re not all blonde hair and blue eyed. And they are they are representative of the culture that is Germany at this point and should be represented on film because I think It’s so important for filmmakers to when possible. Sometimes you are reflecting a world and you must show it In a way that is not ideal because it’s the story. Yeah. Whenever possible, I think it’s our job as filmmakers to reflect The world as it should be, as it could be.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:30:34]:
So if we’re if it’s a story about Finances or whatever. It may be a male dominated industry, but there are women in it. So show it. Show some women. Make your company the exception in this film, you know, that has 2 women in it. Yeah. As opposed to, you know, Oh, 8 guys and no women at all, which I’ve I’ve had. You know?

Diane Foy [00:31:00]:
Yeah. And I recently did an episode on core values, and it’s it is what you stand for. Yeah. And I’ve Even recently learned that you it’s all fine and dandy to list out your core values as Creativity and honesty and the you know, whatever most people would say. But when your values are tested, Then it really come down to, like, what do you stand for? What Is in your gut saying this is not right or this is I I don’t wanna a part of that? This is not my integrity. Oh, integrity, apparently, is number 1. You know? Yeah. Discover it when you’re in situations, and do you Stick with your values.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:31:52]:
Yeah. Absolutely. But I think the the interesting thing is if you can find something that you’re passionate about it may be your dog. Maybe you’re just passionate about your dog and and all animals and, you know

Diane Foy [00:32:03]:
Yeah.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:32:04]:
Or maybe you’re passionate about, you know, homeschooling your kid. We are not just our profession. We are also human beings with other outside interests.

Diane Foy [00:32:14]:
Yes.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:32:15]:
And I know so many actors who are also doctors, lawyers. Right? It’s it’s interesting those 2 professions, not so much other things, not much engineers and things like that. But doctors and lawyers. Yes. And, you know, that is something you can lead with Because you could do a procedural. You could do you could be on, like, an ER type show, right, and play that so authentically.

Diane Foy [00:32:41]:
Or was there anything else you words mean? Yeah.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:32:45]:
And it’s just like nothing for you where if I have to learn that, You know, lawyer speak or something. It’s all I’ll be doing that for days trying to make that sound natural.

Diane Foy [00:32:53]:
Yeah.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:32:53]:
Because it’s just not natural.

Diane Foy [00:32:54]:
It doesn’t come naturally to me. It’s not part of my

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:32:55]:
everyday life. Yeah. So relate to me. It’s not part of my everyday life. Yeah. So I think, you know, there are things what we you know, there are people in the military, Right? Or have firearms training. And these these are all really interesting things. So put it out there, and it’s something that you can use On social media as well, like, to put it out there, you know, say this is something I’m passionate about, singers, dancers, gymnasts.

Diane Foy [00:33:21]:
Yeah.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:33:21]:
You know? These are all things that even even you know, I have, an actor friend who’s always doing cooking videos. And who knows if that will ever lead anywhere for him, but who’s to say it won’t?

Diane Foy [00:33:35]:
It could be that one thing that fun. That’s you apart that makes People go, well, obviously, they’re perfect for the role.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:33:42]:
Yeah. Yeah. Honestly. And you just never know. But the diff the thing is he’s having fun, Yeah. And that’s what’s important. Right? So you it’s not you you shouldn’t find something like, you know, what what can be my thing? You know?

Diane Foy [00:33:56]:
Yeah. But As come naturally.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:33:59]:
Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.

Diane Foy [00:34:02]:
Cool. So Since this show is super fan attraction, what are some of the things what are some of the things that you do to Put yourself out there to promote yourself or attract the right people to you. What are some of the Things you’ve learned is like, oh, I really need to make a priority to do this, this, and this.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:34:28]:
Oh, okay. Well, I think it’s really important to find a way to do your outreach in a way That not everybody else is doing it. Right? All actors and I do it too. So not to say that I don’t do this. Yeah. But I also do things above it. All actors, we’re always sending emails to casting directors and this and that. This is one of the reasons, as I said before, why I started my podcast so that I could have Yeah.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:34:58]:
1 on 1 conversations with people that I wanna work with. And It’s very effective. You know? I highly recommend it to you actors. You know? Yeah. It’s very effective to develop these relationships and let people know Because you can just as you and I are just having a conversation, you Can tell what I am passionate about, what I’m knowledgeable about, and things like that. And the same thing is, you know, In the conversations with the casting directors on on the podcast or the directors or the other actors, those kind of things. So that’s one thing. And, But it’s not something that just anybody can do.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:35:39]:
But you know what? I do have a way Well, I always call it one way to get anything you want. How? Yes. I will. I will, actually. And if you make a list of 20 people, and you rate those people 2 ways. The first one is, how willing are these 20 people on the list? Say you want to say, I want to get, an interview In Cast Mag, that’s a big, magazine here for actors. Right? Who do I know? Make a list of 20 people, And you can look on LinkedIn. Who’s connected to who? Right? You can sort of figure these things out.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:36:23]:
Or look on Instagram and see Who they are following and who’s following them. So there are ways to find out who’s who is connected to who. But once you’ve got that figured out, Make a list of the 20 people that hopefully you have at least some connection to, and then rate them on how willing they would Be on a scale from 1 to 5 to help you and how able they are on a scale from 1 to 5 to help you. And then reach out to those people in a way this is also something you need to be a little bit Careful about because you don’t wanna immediately reach out with an ask. You wanna always be reaching out with, you know, a give in some way If you can. So definitely, even if that give is just, you know, starting a dialogue with a, you know, I really enjoyed your last show or blah blah. You know, this this and this casting was super interesting. What were you thinking? Or whatever.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:37:23]:
On social media, don’t write an email because they’re in you know, their email boxes are inundated with that. And then Somebody is going to be able to make that connection for you to be able to pitch that person who is not in your network. Right. So that’s 1. Yeah. Yeah. And I found that to be extremely effective. And another thing, don’t ever underestimate the power of asking, do you know anybody who can help me? Do you know anybody? Right? Can you rec can you give me 2 names that I should reach out to? And I’ve also found this is another thing that I found to be very effective, is asking for advice.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:38:10]:
People Yeah. Are flattered by that, you know, and At the very least, you’re gonna get some interesting advice. And at the very most, you might I have begun a relationship with someone who’s in a position to help you.

Diane Foy [00:38:26]:
Yeah. Yeah. That’s amazing. It’s all connections and building relationships, and

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:38:33]:
that’s why

Diane Foy [00:38:34]:
thinking outside the box too. If everyone’s sending this Emails like make a point of finding them on social media, commenting on their stuff, reaching out to them, doing a DM. And, yeah, people wanna share what they know too. So asking for advice is a great one too.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:38:52]:
Yeah. Absolutely. And especially if you see someone, like, make a post about something, you know, and you everybody wants their post to do well. Right? So the more you comment on it and things like And don’t just do random stuff. It has to be, you know, be smart about it. Be be authentic about it. Don’t just be Yeah. Because people know when they’re being BS, even on social media.

Diane Foy [00:39:16]:
Well, another tip that I always give is that when you are on those Platforms of Say That Profile on Instagram and, yeah, all their comments are one word with some emojis.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:39:29]:
Yeah.

Diane Foy [00:39:30]:
And if you’re the one that actually writes a full sentence, you know, you’re gonna stand out.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:39:36]:
So true.

Diane Foy [00:39:37]:
Yeah. That sentence is actually genuine.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:39:40]:
You know?

Diane Foy [00:39:41]:
They’re gonna that’s gonna stand out because Yes. When most people are lazy when it comes to the comments. Absolutely. They’re commenting 1 words with emojis.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:39:51]:
Yeah.

Diane Foy [00:39:51]:
But if you have a genuine comment, that’s gonna stand out,

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:39:55]:
Yeah.

Diane Foy [00:39:55]:
Especially on those accounts that are huge because they get a lot of those Yes. Random things. But if you’re the one that’s genuine, it’ll stand out.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:40:04]:
Yeah. I have another tip for your listeners as well. Have 2 accounts. 1 account on Instagram is For you as a person, and then you can follow people back and all of that. And then the other count account is just To be following people that you wanna know what’s going on with them. So especially for actors because our Social media feeds can get so clogged up with other actors goings on. Right? And, of course, I wanna know what my colleagues are doing, which is why I have My social media thing. But I Yeah.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:40:40]:
But I also wanna know what the casting directors are doing and what the producers and the directors, And I don’t want that to get lost in this feed of everybody else, my friends, my colleagues, my family. Right? So I think it’s really smart to just kind of have a stealth, you know, social media presence And so that you know what’s going on.

Diane Foy [00:41:05]:
Yeah. But aren’t you running 2 different like, isn’t that more work to run 2 different ones? I was thinking maybe you could, there’s a a thing you could do favorites, and you could put all your Casting directors and people that you really wanna know in a favorites, and you go to that and you can see all their things that way.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:41:24]:
That’s true. That is true. I guess you could do that, but I I don’t know. Just I mean, they’re just end up being so many.

Diane Foy [00:41:32]:
Right. Yeah.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:41:32]:
You know?

Diane Foy [00:41:33]:
And I

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:41:33]:
don’t know how many favorites you’re allowed to have, And not every casting director is posting something every minute. Right. Right? That it’s so it’s it’s It’s just a way to

Diane Foy [00:41:44]:
You don’t really post much on there. It’s just to

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:41:47]:
Exactly. Okay. Just to to see What’s going on?

Diane Foy [00:41:50]:
You can go into your other account to go comment.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:41:53]:
Because I’m already following them on my other account. Yeah. But I may have missed their post. Squares that way I don’t miss their post.

Diane Foy [00:42:00]:
Yeah. Especially these days where you scroll and all you’re seeing is sponsored ads.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:42:05]:
Yeah.

Diane Foy [00:42:07]:
Oh my god. People I actually want to see.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:42:10]:
I know.

Diane Foy [00:42:11]:
I’m making like, I’m I’m making a point to actually Go on there and actually find the people that I wanna see or whether it’s the hashtags or go find other accounts And go see who’s following them and go see what they’re paying

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:42:26]:
you about.

Diane Foy [00:42:27]:
That’s what I wanna see because if I only do the scroll, I’m just not gonna see anyone’s those that I actually love to eat.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:42:35]:
Yeah. I know. I always get sidetracked by the really cute clothes from China, which I always regret ordering 3 in the morning.

Diane Foy [00:42:43]:
Mine is cat videos.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:42:45]:
Oh, yeah. Mine is dogs. I love dogs. Yeah.

Diane Foy [00:42:48]:
Yeah. All animals. Yep.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:42:50]:
Yeah. Yeah. The the golden retrievers, they are funny. Even I have a border collie, but golden retrievers are definitely funny dogs.

Diane Foy [00:42:57]:
Yeah. Entertainment. And sometimes I’ll I’ll well, that’s also what I do is I’ll share some of those to my stories so that, Again, it shares your personality of, like, this is what I’m into.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:43:12]:
Yeah.

Diane Foy [00:43:12]:
Yeah. And, it’s a break when you’re watching the stories of, like, oh, Cute, black panther Yeah. Doing something funny or a bear doing something funny. And then sometimes people even will Start sending me those too. So it’s a good way to kind of put some record

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:43:32]:
a post today From Robin Williams, he was supposed to do one line for a commercial, and he’s literally riffing for 13 minutes. And the director kept saying, mister Williams, He was he was a machine. He was incredible.

Diane Foy [00:43:54]:
So funny.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:43:55]:
Yeah. He was such a tragedy. Cleaned. Yeah. Yeah. He just loved it. You could just see it, you know, in this commercial. And I just shared that today.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:44:04]:
So things like that, I always find interesting as well. Yeah. Yeah. Wonderful.

Diane Foy [00:44:09]:
Well, that’s wonderful. Thank you so much for being on the show and sharing your wisdom and your story. Absolutely. We’ll find you online.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:44:20]:
Let’s see. You can find me on YouTube at act bold, a c t b o l d, Which is kind of my life’s motto and philosophy for acting and for life. Yes.

Diane Foy [00:44:32]:
Yes.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:44:33]:
And also on Instagram, my name is Anne Alexander Cedar. And I’m sure you’ll put that in the show notes and so you can find me on that. And, yeah, I also offer, 15 minute free coaching. So if anybody has a question about their branding or about how to get Serious about the business of acting. Yeah. I would love to jump on a call with someone, so I will give you my link for that as well.

Diane Foy [00:45:03]:
Wonderful. Yeah.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:45:05]:
Yeah. Right. And just I mean, I’m always sliding to my DM, my answer.

Diane Foy [00:45:10]:
Yeah. Wonderful. Well, thank you so much.

Anne Alexander-Sieder [00:45:15]:
It’s been a real pleasure, Diane. Thank you so much.

Diane Foy [00:45:18]:
Thanks for watching Super Fan Attraction. If you enjoyed this episode and all that you’re learning, Be sure to subscribe to the channel. To connect with me, I’m Diane Foy Arts on all socials and in the superfan attraction group on Facebook.