Confidence Changes Everything | Second City Improv Week 7

Giovanni: What's going on, you beautiful blueberries? Welcome back to Actor's Notes. I'm looking around through my notes right now because I'm missing. I'm missing the day at my time at The Second City in Chicago. And essentially this podcast, it doesn't always it's not always me not looking around in my notes sometimes. It's just my thoughts on sets. Whether it's a commercial, a TV series, a feature film. I've only booked like one of those. I booked I was fortunate enough to book my first feature film with Alex Wolff and so many amazing creators. Colin West, the director, Jim Gaffigan is in this movie as well. We didn't get to work together, but just knowing that you know I'm I was a part of my first movie was a big break for me as an Actor's. Something I'm very proud of. And yeah, I have these notes that I write down and just thoughts, and these are all Just my opinions. Nothing I say here is facts. It's just my own personal experience in the classroom on set things I learned, things I don't hear often from other Actor's or other creatives. And listen, I listen to different podcasts. Like I love Amy Poehler, not only just because she came from the second city in Chicago, but she has one of the most top-rated podcasts. so far. I'm not sure if it's on Spotify, Apple Podcasts where she's ranked top ten. But she talks about it's very funny. It's just chill. It's just a good hang with Amy Poehler, that's her podcast name. And she'll have other Actor's and actresses talk about their time and things that they've gone through. and many things like I think called there's so many different Actor's podcasts, but this isn't from a place of like a guru sense or a ment like I'm not your mentor. I'm I'm your peer. I'm just I'm the I'm right there with you in this messy middle of the the acting career, the TV and film industry. And this can like a lot of things that I say in terms of just listening, being president's the thing being president, being present. These are things that you can always apply in any aspect as a creative. You don't have to be an Actor's. You can be in theater, you can be a pottery maker, you can be a musician, whatever it is. These are all things that you can always incorporate in your life. Now going back to just I'm your peer, like I this is the messy middle. I've only been doing this for four and a half years, but I feel like we've all there is no one right path to being a so called successful Actor's. There is just your path, your truth, being truthful under imaginary circumstances, whether your technique is taking past experiences and bringing them at the forefront of your mind or simply listening and being more reaction based. But going to improv. This is my journey that I'd love to share with you. This is I I was scrambling because I missed a day in improv. Now keep in mind I started this journey of going to the second city in Chicago, which takes me five hours to get there from Kentucky where I'm based, and it's a three hour improv class, but just knowing that I Had an opportunity in in time and schedule and in the season of my life to travel up to the second city, I took it. Even if it's a 10-hour round trip. And so this was at November, about the tail end of November of 2025, and improv one. That's what I'm talking about now. Improv 1, split into four-week segments. There's there's two ways you can do improv one, and this is the base of the base of the Base classes you can take if you've never taken an improv class. It's called Improv One at the Second City. You can either take one seven-week long commitment course called Improv One or another version of Improv 1 where it's just four weeks and then you can take a break and then you can do another four weeks. So this is perfect for me because I needed a break after traveling 10-hour round trips, just seeing if I could do it. And and I did do it for 22 weeks because after this chapter. We go into improv for Actor's one, and I'll get into that. But improv one is just for anyone. and this was in February. It was Chicago, it's co it's the windy city, it's cold, and so it was snowing, there was a blizzard, so I missed a class. And that's what I was scrambling through. I was like, why do I say this is the last day of improv one? Because that's what we're gonna be going over today. The last day of improv one. I'm like, I'm missing a page. But that's just because I missed the day. Now, here's something that never talked about where you can miss up to two classes, I believe, and every instructor might be different. One might be more strict than another, but you can miss up to two. and after that, because that's a seven-week course, you can't miss, you know, three, four. If you start missing classes, you can't just because you have to move on. You have to go to improv two, three, four, and five, and then you can audition for conservatory. Now I think some are more lenient than others, but this is just my experience. And so as long as it's justifiable, maybe you missed three classes. If you have a reasonable explanation for it and communicate with your teacher, then, you know, whatever happens, happens. But I missed one week just because literally we were in a shut it was a snowstorm, no one could drive. So I'm gonna be talking about the last day of improv one. Called one B. This lasted for eight weeks and you know, it's one of those things, it was a surreal moment. It's just like, okay, what's next? You think about everyone in your classroom and you're like, what are you what are you gonna get into? You know, you you've been acting for ten years. I've met people who have been in the TV and film industry, have produced and directed their own feature films that just said, you know what, I just wanna take an improv class. It was fun. I gotta meet people. I'm done with all the whole television thing. I used to be a host for a TV series or something like that. And I was like, my gosh, what? Can we like can can I get your contact information? and so that's a big thing too. Just make sure you get everyone's contact information if they're okay with it. And you can set up a group chat. That's something that I did with every single one of my classes, even in improper Actor's. and and just that's that's just a great way to network. Get their s Get their email, their social, their number, whatever they're comfortable with, and just stay in touch. You never know when your paths might a connect down the line again. But it it's one of those moments this is the last class, but you just just treat it like normal. So we had our check-ins, how was your week? we did our warm-up games, our zip zapp our whoosh, and then we talked over the games that we'll be playing. And I'll I can talk a little bit about these games because I do remember some of them, but most importantly. The one thing that I will talk about is what I learned, and that is establishing the relationship, that is being specific. But the beginning of the games that we played was I don't remember now, but I can remember what I learned. We'd played two different games and they played on like embodying a character. One thing that I really appreciated when it came to improv scenes, whether it was one person or the entire group, was and this is something I struggled with so much, that was accents. That was the ability to just personify and embody something or someone else, whether that is, you know, you're just someone Who's more confident and you start strutting, or you're someone who's a little bit more shy and reserved, or you know, you start talking with an accent, and now you're in a different part of the world. And it was it was difficult for me because I felt like my natural reaction or my my accent or my choice on how I wanted to embody a character or an accent wasn't good enough. And this all goes back to. Just confidence, you know, not not it doesn't really matter what you say. It it matters how you say it, even if you're wrong, even if you think you're wrong. Because listen, we've seen improv shows, we've been in improv classes. or maybe you haven't, maybe you've seen an improv show on social media, but some of the time they just don't make sense. But it's funny and it gets a big laugh. And it's not about being funny. Maybe just messing up, that was the funny part. Maybe it's what you said that that was the funny part. As long as you say it and you commit to it, knowing that your scene partner has your a hundred percent support, meaning that whatever you say, they will yes and it and justify it and add on top of it. And that is something that is so reassuring when it comes to confidence, because that's something that I had to Del with a lot. When it came to my accents. I was just like, I can't do that accent. I don't know how to I don't know how to do that. Or I do, but I never fully committed to it. And ooh, this is this is a really good point here where I really want to challenge you to, and this is something I I I kinda did that I'm really realizing now as I'm speaking, is that every single class, you know, you sit in a car for five hours, there's only so many podcasts, two podcasts you can listen to, depending on what you listen to, or just music. But five hours in the in the car, I was like, okay, what's my challenge for t what's something I want to challenge myself when I go into class? Because we can start to just you know, showing up is its own challenge. But after four and a half years, after taking different acting classes and being on set and experimenting, I'm like, okay, you gotta push yourself. You can't just show up and that is something that takes a lot of courage. But challenge yourself, stretch yourself. That's the whole point of going to class to make that mistake, to look embarrassing and just feel what it feels like to have that that that feeling of embarrass embarrassment, those eyes on you. And I've said this in the first two videos of my fur my first improv classes, and that's we love a redeemable quality. I'm kind of reflecting over the past improv. one experience I've had, because this is the last week. We play just many games just to have fun. So I'm reflecting on the most important lessons that I learned, and that is we love a redeemable quality. Meaning that you might have that moment where you lack confidence in yourself to put on a persona, embody a character, have an accent, and you you commit to it. You're like, all right, I'm gonna push myself, I'm gonna commit to it, and you start, you know, you you sound British, but and then you talk like It'll maybe something else in the middle of the scene. So you're like, I just noticed my accent was kind of pff I don't even know what it is, how would you classify it? But you'll find yourself in that moment of like, ooh, I messed up. Whether it's something that you simply say, you rejected a gift, you committed, but you didn't fully commit because you didn't have that confidence, you'll find yourself in that position of feeling stuck, feeling blank, feeling awkward and embarrassed, and it's something that we all face. And so that redeemable quality is that what do you do? What does that hero in this hero's journey, that character, what do they do in that moment of, ooh, they're in a tight spot? Can they get Uta of it? And the answer is always yes, as long as you're willing to continue moving forward and you can move forward by simply first off noticing the problem is the first step to solving one, and then just actively listening. That's how how I've always gone Uta of a blank spot. Meaning that if I you know, I I am sometimes I'm just tired. Okay? Maybe the day was taxing and or maybe you messed up and you felt like you didn't commit to something, you rejected the gift, you found yourself ca doing some kind of mistake in your opinion. And you're like flustered. Just Slight breath. Look at your partner. How to w look at their body language. What is their body language telling you? Look them in the eyes and then just listen to what they're saying. Or if they're in the middle of a conversation, just listen for the next thing. Anything. Whatever they say. If it's the smallest thing, you take that thing and you, you know, you the quote goes if you give me an inch, I can go a mile. That's exactly what you do. You take whatever you hear next and you add on top of that. However you feel. Just trust your natural reaction. That's something that we t played and we trusted with in the games where we we try to embody the mo emotions of happiness, of anger, of sadness. And some of us kind of were dramatic about it, some of us were very specific with it. But they were all natural to us. We all experienced happiness and and sadness and anger. and disgust in our own way. And that kind of just should help you with your confidence on committing to it, because no one experiences the same emotion the same way. We're all experiencing something different. We all hear something different. Maybe one person and th this goes to your interpretation, but this shows you the beauty of what improv is. It's just just this random spontaneity that we're always yes anding. I mean First off, know the rules in order to break them. You don't always have to say yes. Said that said that a Fey times before. But this is the first, you know, improv class you could take at the second city, the first seven weeks. So this is just learning that foundation of saying yes and. And so I always found it beautiful when you put two minds together. I I I I caught myself in classes where I would just think about, ooh, what if these two paired together in a scene? How would that look? Because some You know, I have someone who does a lot of rambling and yapping and giving a lot of specific details. Nothing wrong with that. But something that I've learned is that when you ramble and you yap, it's because you don't trust what you say is enough. Meaning that you feel like you have to give so many gifts, so much detail into a scene, that you're like, Ooh, I did my job. I gave you all that I could in specific detail. A simple sentence or two. Simple five words will do just fine. To establish a relationship. You don't have to say anything to establish your environment. You can simply mime what you're doing, and it's to your interpretation, it's to your scene partner or your interpretation of what that might look like, and the audience will fill in the Banks. And then, you know, what are your goals? What do you want in that scene? How do you feel about your partner and what they say and how do you react to it? That should be a goal that you should just look for. You know, you'll have that person who rambles a lot. And then you'll have someone else who's maybe so experienced, maybe on the tail end, on the opposite tail end of that, where they just say a Fey words, but they're like, you're like, dude, this person's good at improv and they're funny. So you have someone who's a rambler, someone who's not a rambler, but is just suave in what they say. I'm just giving examples on the my classmates. You put them together and you're like, they are so different, but this is so interesting. And so going back to the just trust your natural reaction. It doesn't matter what you hear or how you interpret it, as long as it's true to you, and you yes and and you support your scene partner and you say it with confidence. This is something I dealt with, and I think this is a great opportunity to mention that during this time, actually I believe it was no, it was Improf for Actor's one. Here's a little spoiler alert. This is when I found Uta I booked my first feature film. my first movie. I had it was a supporting character in this feature film called Outside of Cleveland. It's Stella in post-production right now and hopefully comes Uta in early 2027. But I had this I had this this moment where I just wasn't confident. I didn't trust my ability to to deliver this character in a different way because I felt like I should act the same way I did in my self tape. You know, they hired me because of my self tape and I was rewatching it and rewatching it and like, okay, they really think this character is this and this and they want this character to have this personality when in reality they wanted me and what I could bring to the character. And this is something that you'll face in Either in po in-person auditions, self-tapes, where you feel like you want to give what you think casting wants, not what you want. This is something that I dealt with in like right there in that moment in front of Alex Wolff, in front of these two amazing directors. We were in a restaurant with 40 other extras around us. Everyone was quiet. I had to deliver my lines, and I delivered it the same exact way because I felt that's what the director would have wanted. Now it's not something that was Wrong on my part. I feel like we're on we're all our own worst critic and so it could have been better than I thought, or maybe it could have been worse. But either way, it was true in that moment, and I did what I I did with I did what I could with the time that I had. But I just remember I was like, I'm delivering it the exact same way. Alex Wolff even said, Ooh, you should deliver this line like this, however you want to put your spin on it, because I guarantee you, Colin the director, he will love that. But I was, I went so against the grain on that. I was like, no, they, you know, in my mind, I was like, no, they hired me for this. I want to do this because this is what they want. But I already book you already booked the role. I already booked the role. You already, you know, in your self-tapes. Do what you feel is natural to you in ki and in c and and stay true to that feeling and say it with the confidence, because that's just that's just your own interpretation. And if they book you for it, Then that means there's so much more to that character because you can bring it Alex. You know, one care, you know, you could have this one persona, one one character type, do a take after take after take, and that could be great, but that it could be so much more, so much more to explore. I know that I said I was gonna do a little spoiler and that was a bit of a tangent. It will get more to my experience on set with Alex Wolff later on in this series, but I really just want to talk back on improv. Now, the rest of the time we just played games. We talked about books. I highly recommend The Truth in Comedy Comedy by Del Close, Charna Halpern, and Kim Howard Johnson. I also love this book called Improv Wisdom. by I don't I don't have the book here. I thought I had the book. but it's called Improv Wisdom. gosh, I have to look it up. But the wisdom i it th I think the book cover has like a fish bowl and there's like a fish inside and it has practical improv two life lesson applications that you can do and that was the first ever improv book that I r read and I really enjoyed that. So we talked about different books. We talked about the Annoyance which is another school, Improv Olympic, which is another improv school, but the second city. It's the second city. And so yeah. In case no one is Stella gia today. I love you. You matter. You have value. And let me say something I haven't said before. Not only is this the completion of improv one and on to our next journey as an improviser, as an Actor's, going into improv for Actor's one, but I'll leave you with this. I did a whole whole podcast, whole, whole video about this. What I just said right now about saying it with confidence, trusting that what you say is enough, trusting your natural reaction, because it's so important, not just as an Actor's, as an improviser, as a creative, but as a human being. We go through our lives almost apologizing for what we say, apologizing for how we feel. Don't apologize for how you feel. Don't apologize for Saying something that was true to you. I mean, yeah, don't be ignorant and in and thinking that your actions don't have consequences or what you say doesn't have some sort of yet consequence to what you say and apologizing for that, but just Be you to put it simply. Whatever you say, no matter if you feel like you're wrong or if you feel like you made a mistake, say it with some confidence. Because no one really knows the difference. I love you. And I'll see you in the next class. In the next one. Thank you.