Why I‘ll Never Make It - An Actor‘s Journey

After a few weeks off, I’m so excited to be back for another year of great guests and wonderful discussions. As you can see there’s a new look to the WINMI podcast artwork and logo, the WINMI blog is coming back, and live events are coming, so here’s a little preview of what to expect in 2022. Sign up for the monthly WINMI Newsletter. Why I’ll Never Make It Stories This year will offer a slightly different approach to conversations with fellow creatives. Guests will now be sharing three specific stories or experiences that have affected them and their careers. These defining moments will uncover personal setbacks as well as professional failures. We’ll find out what kept them going and how it changed them. WINMI Goes Live Another development coming in 2022 is the introduction of live events. That’s right WINMI is gonna be ON stage. The first of which is a night of conversation and song with Emmy winner Kevin Spirtas. It’ll be January 28th at The Green Room 42 here in NYC, tickets start at $19 and are available for both table seating as well as online streaming for those who can’t be with us in-person. Next up is BroadwayCon, an annual gathering here in New York for all things Broadway. It was originally scheduled for February, but out of an abundance of caution they postponed the conference till July. I’ll be there with 5 other previous podcast guests, hosting a panel discussion about their journeys to Broadway. Reserve your spots now to attend BroadwayCon and The Green Room 42! http://tickets.winmipodcast.com Help WINMI Make It As always your support of this podcast is both needed and appreciated. One of the changes I’d like to bring to the podcast is transcribing each episode for deaf and hard-of-hearing artists. But that costs time and money, and I just don’t have the resources to do it myself at this point. So please consider making a one-time donation or subscribing monthly to help make this goal a reality.  The Final Five For several seasons now guests have answered five final questions at the end of their interviews, first as part of the main feed of episodes, then as bonus episodes for those who supported WINMI. Well, I’m taking a different approach this season by turning those questions into a blog post to coincide with each guest’s episode. The WINMI blog has take a bit of backseat in the past year or so, but not anymore. These Q&A's will provide new ways to reach followers and share these conversations with listeners.  So as you can see there’s a lot to look forward to in 2022. Why I’ll Never Make It is now a production of WINMI Media and is hosted by actor/singer Patrick Oliver Jones. Contact the podcast anytime at whyillnevermakeit@gmail.com. Also, check out Artist Resources and follow WINMI on Instagram or Twitter.  

Happy birthday, WINMI! Welcome to the 4th Anniversary Episode of Why I'll Never Make It. Normally at the end of each season I take a chance to look back at the guests and conversations we’ve had throughout the year. But for this special episode you aren’t gonna be getting some "best-of" retrospective (although I will be counting down the Top 5 guests of 2021). Instead I’m bringing back two former guests and introducing you to a new creative as we talk about what this year has meant for theater in general as well as special events coming up next year. Featured in this episode... Clayton Howe and his podcast Entertainment(X)  Justin Guarini, MoonAmie Productions, Terry Knickerbocker, Will Swenson, and Brad Oscar & Diego Prieto  Check out Season Five on Why I’ll Never Make It's YouTube Channel  Matthew Stern and Broadway Stage Manager Symposium Anna Robb and TheaterArtLife EPIC Event - use promo code EPICPODCAST for 15% off tickets at https://www.globalepicevent.com  Sign up for the WINMI Newsletter and check out Artist Resources on the website ---------- Podcast hosted by Patrick Oliver Jones - https://www.pojones.com  Why I’ll Never Make It is a Top 25 Theater Podcast on Feedspot, and is also a part of Helium Radio Network and a member of the Broadway Makers Alliance.  Music in the episode by Kai Engel and Blue Dot Sessions is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The experiences of our lives affect the paths we choose and help make us who we are today. In part one of my conversation with Debra Ann Byrd, she revealed the ups and downs of her own life that eventually ignited a desire to perform and pursue a life on the stage. But just as it was with her personal journey, Debra’s path toward becoming an actor was slow but steady and her first steps as a producer started from very meager beginnings. Sign up for the monthly WINMI Newsletter.  At her very core, Debra is a storyteller and that is on full display in this episode as she talks about taking on Shakespeare’s iconic role of Othello as well as the early years of forming her own company…Take Wing and Soar Productions.  Podcast hosted by Patrick Oliver Jones - https://www.pojones.com Learn more about WINMI podcast - http://whyillnevermakeit.com Follow Debra - Becoming Othello / Instagram / IMDb  Support WINMI and get access to Members-Only Episodes on Supercast. Check out Artist Resources and follow WINMI on Instagram or Twitter. ---------- Why I’ll Never Make It is a Top 25 Theater Podcast on Feedspot, and is also a part of Helium Radio Network and a member of the Broadway Makers Alliance.  Music in the episode by Blue Dot Sessions is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

I first found out about Debra Ann Byrd through an article in the Guardian titled “Black Shakespeare champion working to change views on color blind casting.” She was just starting a residency at Stratford upon Avon, and this article talked about one of Debra's college professors who discouraged her from getting into classical theater. That story alone piqued my interest, so I reached out to her and the conversation that we ended up with certainly had many more stories than that one instance. Sign up for the monthly WINMI Newsletter.  Most actors can talk about how they got into theater and then trained and grew from there. But for Debra it was definitely a start-and-stop journey that veered off course several times throughout her life due to personal, medical, and racial issues that she had to face and deal with. Her story has so many interesting twists and turns that I just couldn’t fit it into one single episode.  So we start off Part One with a unique story of who Debra looked up to as a child. But as we continue our conversation you’ll hear an array of hardships and challenges that would cause any of us to question ourselves and wonder what to do next. But listen carefully, and you’ll also hear an inner strength and a hope infused into each one of those struggles. It is certainly inspiring and a true testament to the strength of Debra’s character and spirit. Podcast hosted by Patrick Oliver Jones - https://www.pojones.com  Follow Debra - Website / Instagram / IMDb  Support WINMI and get access to Members-Only Episodes on Supercast. Check out Artist Resources and follow WINMI on Instagram or Twitter. ---------- Why I’ll Never Make It is a Top 25 Theater Podcast on Feedspot, and is also a part of Helium Radio Network and a member of the Broadway Makers Alliance.  Music in the episode by Blue Dot Sessions is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

In this day and age of everything going digital, and especially with zoom becoming an important part of both personal and professional connections, it’s a very rare moment when I have to have a phone interview. But back in August of 2021 I had the privilege of calling up a wonderfully talented actress both on stage and on screen, four-time Emmy winner Michael Learned. Though she is best known for playing Olivia Walton, on the long-running 70's TV show The Waltons, it’s important to point out that she has had a stellar Broadway career as well, which began in 1969 with a production of Anton Chekhov’s The Three Sisters, produced in association with the San Francisco-based American Conservatory Theater. Sign up for the monthly WINMI Newsletter.  But as you’ll hear in this intimate and revealing Interview, she’s also had to face her own struggles and disappointments. She opens up about divorce, alcoholism, and regret. We also discuss the evolution of women’s roles on television and the stage, and Michael confesses her true feelings of playing Olivia all those years on The Waltons. She has such depth of knowledge and experience so we start off talking about her about longevity as an actress and what has kept her going for 60 years.  Podcast hosted by Patrick Oliver Jones - https://www.pojones.com  Support WINMI and get access to Members-Only Episodes on Supercast. Check out Artist Resources and follow WINMI on Instagram or Twitter. ---------- Why I’ll Never Make It is a Top 25 Theater Podcast on Feedspot, and is also a part of Helium Radio Network and a member of the Broadway Makers Alliance.  Music in the episode by Blue Dot Sessions is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Music in this episode by John Bartmann is Public Domain.

Bettering Ourselves and Bettering Our Careers (Part Four) The main focus and message of this series has been on storytelling. From Kate who talked about how to use our voices and acting skills to connect with casting directors as well audiences, to Max who broke down the elements of a good story and how to craft that for print, the stage, or the screen. Sign up for the monthly WINMI Newsletter.  For today’s episode I’m talking with composer and audio producer Matt Sav about musical storytelling and as you’re here in our conversation, to go from that initial idea to an actual finished product can be a long and sometimes stumbling journey. But Matt and I also talk in broader terms of production, composition, and writing as well as the future of podcasting as it provides a new way for artists to create and tell their musical stories.  Podcast hosted by Patrick Oliver Jones - https://www.pojones.com  Follow Matt - Podcast / Musicals / Instagram Learn more about Storytelling Support WINMI and get access to Members-Only Episodes on Supercast. Check out Artist Resources and follow WINMI on Instagram or Twitter. ---------- Why I’ll Never Make It is a Top 25 Theater Podcast on Feedspot, and is also a part of Helium Radio Network and a member of the Broadway Makers Alliance.  Music in the episode by Kai Engel and Blue Dot Sessions is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Though the theater is my main focus as both an actor and a podcaster, it is often interesting and educating to talk with those outside the theater world. And while today’s guest has performed on many stages, he is the last person who would consider himself to be an actor of any sorts. Nonetheless, Max Stossel has a lot to teach us actors about how we present and perform stories (and how we can even write our own). Max is an award-winning poet, filmmaker, speaker and former media strategist, and was named one of the best storytellers of 2016 by Forbes.  Sign up for the monthly WINMI Newsletter.  Max has traveled around the world, and his performances have been described as mind-expanding, profound, and hilarious all at once. And in this episode we talk about his one-man show Words That Move, which was selling out theaters all over the country before Covid, and is currently being developed into a digital special.  And if that last name Stossel sounds familiar to you, you know of his father, journalist and sometimes contrarian John Stossel. While I do my best to keep this podcast free from political themes and discourse, I did ask Max about his father and what he has taught him about telling stories and using video as a medium. Max goes on to discuss the importance of staying authentic and true to yourself, especially on social media. But we start our conversation with the basics of storytelling and how to get our thoughts and ideas down onto the page.  Podcast hosted by Patrick Oliver Jones - https://www.pojones.com Support WINMI and get access to Members-Only Episodes on Supercast. Follow Max - Website / Instagram / Twitter  Check out Artist Resources and follow WINMI on Instagram or Twitter. ---------- Why I’ll Never Make It is a Top 25 Theater Podcast on Feedspot, and is also a part of Helium Radio Network and a member of the Broadway Makers Alliance.  Music in the episode by Blue Dot Sessions is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.  

Bettering Ourselves, Bettering Our Careers (Part Two) This is a continuation of part one’s look at voiceover work and acting behind the mic. You will hear from a group of actors, directors, and producers applying voiceover and acting techniques into their radio play podcast called Standby for Places. As the pandemic was shutting down most opportunities for actors, this group of artists found a way to keep acting and producing throughout the pandemic. Sign up for the monthly WINMI Newsletter.  Standby for Places was co-created by Freda Mattea, Margie Zarcone, and Graydon Gund. They then brought on Dunya Karam and others to make it a full audio drama production team. And I’ll be talking with three of them today. They’ll give us a bird’s eye view as well as hands-on experience of the art and craft of producing audio dramas, which gives us actors a new way to both exercise and explore our creativity. To be a part of their audio drama productions, contact them via email: info@standbyforplaces.org Podcast hosted by Patrick Oliver Jones - https://www.pojones.com  Follow Standby For Places - Instagram / Facebook  Learn more about Storytelling and Communication Support WINMI and get access to Members-Only Episodes on Supercast. Check out Artist Resources and follow WINMI on Instagram or Twitter. ---------- Why I’ll Never Make It is a Top 25 Theater Podcast on Feedspot, and is also a part of Helium Radio Network and a member of the Broadway Makers Alliance.  Music in the episode by Blue Dot Sessions is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.    

Bettering Ourselves, Bettering Our Careers (Part One) Today begins the second annual presentation of this month-long series with actress and voiceover coach Kate McClanaghan. We will be touching on the various aspects of voice work and technique but also addressing some fundamental struggles every actor faces. Sign up for the monthly WINMI Newsletter.  About 30 years ago Kate founded Actors’ SOUND ADVICE with fellow producer and coach Jeff Finney. Together they sought to provide an honest and personalized approach to career consulting, voiceover coaching, and demo production. And as both an actress and casting director, Kate has a unique dual perspective of what is expected of us as actors, both in the audition room as well as in performance. So while this episode may be focusing on the art and craft of voiceovers, these lessons and insights are useful to most any actor on stage or on screen as well. Podcast hosted by Patrick Oliver Jones - https://www.pojones.com  Follow Sound Advice - Website / Backstage / Twitter  Support WINMI and get access to Members-Only Episodes on Supercast. Check out Artist Resources and follow WINMI on Instagram or Twitter. ---------- Why I’ll Never Make It is a Top 25 Theater Podcast on Feedspot, and is also a part of Helium Radio Network and a member of the Broadway Makers Alliance.  Music in the episode by John Bartman is in the Public Domain.

One of the themes of this podcast is how we as actors are constantly changing, adjusting, tweaking our careers as we transition from stage or screen or commercials or voiceover. But that same kind of transition happens for those behind the table as well. Patrick Millsaps has had a unique journey of being an attorney turned political adviser and pundit to then becoming a talent manager and ultimately movie producer and studio head, taking the skills from one job to the next. Patrick’s story is not only one of diverse experiences and opportunities but also one of persistence and a constant drive to learn and improve. He was often a fish out of water, but that didn’t stop him from constantly diving into the deep end…headfirst. Watch this full episode or Final Five on YouTube Podcast hosted by Patrick Oliver Jones - https://www.pojones.comSupport WINMI and get access to Members-Only Episodes like the Final Five on Supercast. ---------- I'll See You in My Dreams (2015) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1VbBOTXzfIFinding Noah (2017) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvLe1q3Wkdk Kane Studios - https://kanestudio.com/production There Are Better Ways to Protest Georgia’s Abortion Law Than a Boycott (2019) - https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/georgia-s-abortion-law-are-better-ways-protest-a-boycott-guest-column-1210096  ---------- Sign up for the Monthly WINMI Newsletter - https://eepurl.com/hpULdb Check out Artist Resources - https://www.pojones.com/resources WINMI on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/winmipodcast WINMI on Twitter - https://twitter.com/winmipodcast