Surviving Hollywood

Our buddy Brian Shatki joined us to talk about movies and make our 2020 Oscar predictions. We chat about all the best films of this past year, our favorites, who we want to win and who we think will actually win. Who do you think will win this year?

Great conversation with actor, Shane Callahan! Shane shared some great stories about working with Richard Gere on The Mothman Prophecies, auditioning in the industry today, and of course acting on Reprisal on Hulu, streaming now!

On this episode of SHP we sat down with actress, writer, social activist and entrepreneur Ciera Payton. She does it all. She's worked on several Tyler Perry projects like, "Madea A Family Funeral" to the TV series "The Oval" on BET. But her journey wasn't always easy and Ciera shares how she went from waitressing to booking her first major role alongside Steven Seagal, dealing with Hurricane Katrina and how she is a firm believer that roles that are meant for you will find you. This was a great conversation that was empowering, inspirational and something any struggling actor needs to hear. 

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Today we sit down with one of LA's premiere up and coming puppet comedians, Adam Celentano! Adam brings out his puppet Ziggy and boy does it get interesting...We talk about acting, stand up, and surviving this crazy town! 

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Our super talented friend, Fiona Rene, came on the pod today to chat about her latest recurring role on Stumptown on ABC. Johnny met Fiona working on the mega blockbuster hit, "Sinister Squad," not be confused with the mediocre Suicide Squad. Right away, Johnny could tell she was a great actress. She talked about working on Stumptown, teaching the future of immersive acting and how the ABC diversity showcase helped her land more work. 

Today we wanted to give an update on what's been going on with us and also take some time to answer some audience questions. We had several of them piling up and its important to us to make sure and get to each and every one of them and have a little fun doing it. All your burning questions answered today!

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For this episode we threw on our best Christmas sweater and decided to talk about the short film, "Instant Gratification," that we will be producing and directing this weekend. We talk about the challenges of making a short film and share our favorite Christmas movies just in time for the holidays.

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Today we are graced by actor and friend, Ash Tholpady, who left a successful practice as a doctor making 300k/year to become an actor. Crazy! He shares the reasons why he decided to make such a daring risk and the challenges of moving here from the small Houston market to the big Hollywood acting market. This episode is about following your dreams and not letting money define you.

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Today we are joined by actor, Rene Mena! Johnny first met Rene on the set of a Curacao commercial many years ago. We talk about working with actor Eric Roberts and how he produced and distributed his feature film "PRESCIENCE" available now on Hulu, Amazon and multiple streaming platforms. Great conversation! 

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Our guest on this episode is the multi-talented Eddie Flake. Johnny first met Eddie Flake about 7 years ago in a commercial acting class, which for both of them was their first acting class in Los Angeles. In those last several years Eddie has worked in both the music and film industry. He started off producing music and engineering alongside people like Snoop Dogg and worked production on some of the most well-known reality TV shows such as, "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila," and "I Want To Work for Diddy." Since then, his acting career has taken off with roles in shows like the "X-Files" and "Lucifer" and working with Aubrey Plaza on the feature film reboot of "Child's Play." We talk about how acting was never on his radar, moving to Canada to build credits and self-producing his own content.