It's a Great Life, If You Don't Weaken

Scottish novelist, John Buchan was known for several amazing insights throughout his illustrious career, but my personal favorite it the one which is inscribed on my Great-Grandma Owen's headstone in Colfax, Iowa.  It states simply, "It's a Great Life, If you Don't Weaken".  During these trying times , as our nation searches for answers, I think of these powerful words.

Surely Buchan didn't mean that in troubling times we should remain stoic and apathetic.  Indeed, the most jaded among us have been deeply, profoundly effected by the recent murders of children and educators in Connecticut.  Instead, I believe Buchan meant to live, learn and grow from all that life brings your way.  Inclusive, I believe, is the good and the bad.  The fun times, and those which rock us to the core of our being, make us who we are and inspire us to do great things.

As you know, there are two things in this world that I do very well - Politics and Entertainment Mentoring.  While Buchan's insight is certainly applicable to either of these two specialties, as both contain their fair share of trying times, I do not write today as a politician or a mentor.  Just one week after the senseless murders in Newtown, I write today as a human still grappling with the senseless killing last Friday. As I struggle with my own ability to deal with such horrendous, senseless violence, I beg for understanding from my loyal readers who continue to follow this blog in search for knowledge in their entertainment careers.  So, for this entry, I offer only the words of John Buchan, "It's a Great Life, If You Don't Weaken".      

Heather Ryan
The Ultimate Talent Mentor
www.RyanTalent.com

Tax Me, Baby!

If you're anything like me, you haven't wanted to do anything but sit and watch CNN since last Friday.  For the most part, that is all I've done since the horrific events in Newtown, CT.  The blog below is one I wrote a few weeks ago and was intended for publishing at the end of the year.  It's still fantastically useful information, so I hope you enjoy it and it diverts your attention from the horror of our nation's sorrow for the three minutes it takes to read.  
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This past year, one of my well known clients lamented, relentlessly, about how much she hated paying taxes on her and her daughter's earnings in the entertainment world.  The two earned well over $100,000 from wages and honorariums over the previous 12 months, performing work in entertainment and she was irked that The Tax Man, He Cometh!  Regardless of whether you WANT to pay the taxes on your earnings from this industry, I assure you, you NEED to pony up!

If you are a client of mine,  you probably have income from the work that you garnered throughout the year.  As I have most assuredly told you time and again, KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS - ALL your receipts.  That includes check stubs from payments you received for work; accounts payable invoice statements I sent you for jobs which I collected and sent payments to you, and any international transfer records for jobs you received overseas.  Additionally, keep any and all records from work-related expenses!  Travel, hotel, clothing, headshots, photo sessions, they ALL count as business expenses and need to be deducted from your tax bill! 

So friends, clients and fans - heed the above advice.  Read it, recite it, commit it to memory.  I tell you these things because regardless of how you feel about the tax man, not only will he eventually catch up with you, I WILL NOT lie on your behalf when you finally get caught trying to cheat your way to a lower rate.  That goes for past clients, current clients and future clients.  So the above mentioned client, the one who hates paying taxes worse than receiving a hot coffee enema; should she choose not to take my cautions to heart, I will most assuredly be doing the talk show circuit when the IRS takes her down and the media needs comments from someone who knew her well before her stint in prison for tax evasion.

Until next time,

Heather Ryan
The Ultimate Talent Mentor
www.RyanTalent.com 

Fried Butter on a Stick

If you have yet to rent or purchase the new Jennifer Garner film, "Butter", you need to run, NOT WALK to your local video rental store, retailer or on-line video resource.  This independent film is hilarious in script, delivery and visuals - and it boasts and all star cast. 

Here's the thing.  The story line is about a small Iowa town's butter carving competition and the winner's advancement to the State Finals, to be held at the Iowa State Fair.  If you are familiar, even passively, with the Iowa State Fair and the obsession surrounding all things butter (yes, you can still purchase fried butter on a stick), you will appreciate the humor of this film.  UNFORTUNATELY - while this movie brings me much joy with it's wit and humor, it simultaneously brings me GREAT SADNESS.  While the entire film is supposed to take place in the Hawkeye State, only a few establishing shots were actually recorded at the legendary, Iowa State Fair on Des Moines' East Side.

 

Over the past several years, many states have established a trend which throws big tax credits to production companies and studios if they film big chunks of their projects in the state.  Kentucky passed an enormous tax incentive a few years ago and directly after it was signed by Governor Beshear, Disney opted to film portions of their big budget flick, "Secretariat" in Louisville.  This was the first time Disney filmed in the Bluegrass State, so it is more than safe to assume that the incentive worked immediately and brought very welcomed "Hollywood Money" to the fiscally ailing area.

Iowa did much the same thing in 2007.  But unlike Kentucky film makers, Iowans are apparently too stupid to effectively scam the Film Tax Credit.  I often chide Iowans for being "Too Nice" but come on now people, "Too Honest" too?  What the hell?  The Iowa Film Tax Credit went belly up from overwhelming graft in 2009 - just two years after being signed into law.  Among other things, film makers were "padding" their expenses with fake bills and turning them into the state for reimbursement. We're not talking about Chump Change either!  Of the $32 Million approved for the credit an astounding $26 Million was found to be improperly approved.  TWENTY SIX MILLION FRIGGEN DOLLARS!  Cheese and Rice - what the hell is wrong with my Iowa Film Maker brethren? 

So the majority of the film about the bizarre Iowa-centric obsession, Butter Carving, which takes place at the Iowa State Fair, was shot in Louisiana; which, coincidentally had THEIR OWN Film Tax Credit scandal right before the one suffered in the Great Corn State of Iowa.  The biggest difference between these two states though, is that after the Louisiana scandal, instead of throwing up their hands in frustration and shuttering the program, lawmakers chose instead to institute better controls and have since made the program permanent and better funded.

So my words of wisdom in this blog are relegated to makers of small, independent films, such as myself.  Please, for the Love of Dog, DON'T ruin these great opportunities for the rest of us by being a complete Jack Ass!  Rather than being a complete whore to the 'ol mighty greenback, producers, directors and writers - have a little pride in your work and a little decency.  These ass clowns who were prosecuted for their greed and corruption in the Iowa fiasco ruined what little chance the rest of us had to make a film in the state.  It's films like Butter that remind me of what could have been and make me want to seek out the Grifters who ruined the program and beat them within an inch of their pathetic, imprisoned lives.

I'm not bitter.  Really.

Heather Ryan
The Ultimate Talent Mentor
www.RyanTalent.com

Heather Ryan has ADD

I've been putting off writing this blog.  Not because I haven't WANTED to sit down and enlighten my loyal friends, family and fans with what surely are brilliant words of wisdom.  Instead, I have been procrastinating because I sometimes have difficulty with motivation and staying focused.

I know what you must be thinking - "THE ULTIMATE TALENT MENTOR HAS A HARD TIME STAYING ON TASK?  SURELY YOU JEST!?!?"  No, no, I do not jest.

Even super-awesome professionals, such as myself, need help staying motivated and on task some times.  My personal Life Coach is Iowa Native, David Long.   Each Wednesday morning, David and I sit down, review each accomplishment from the previous week and then he helps me set out a list of items that I want to achieve that week.  Perhaps to the hyper-focused, Obsessive Compulsive, this little extra help each week may seem completely unnecessary.  But for an over-scheduled, ultra busy business owner, wife and mother of three girls and two cats, David and his Life Coaching Services are an absolute GOD SEND (that's a hyper link - you should totally go check out his site after you finish reading this blog)!

The reason I'm telling you about my personal struggles to stay focused and on task is not because I want you to send Big, Non-Tax-Deductible checks to my business address (Ryan Talent Group, 5042 Wilshire Blvd. #22986, Los Angeles, CA 90036) in an effort to help fund my battle with this totally treatable affliction.  Instead, I offer up this personal information because, not only will it score me HUGE brownie points with David, it also tells you, the reader, how common it is to seek out help to keep you focused and on task.

And that's where we begin with the brilliant Entertainment Industry Advice for this blog entry!  If you are still completely unaware of who I am, well, I first have to commend you on reading this far without knowing the first thing about what I do or why you are on this page.  But also, I apparently need to tell you - I AM A TALENT MENTOR!  I do what David does, only for people who aspire to break into, or achieve more, in the Entertainment Industry.  I help guide aspiring entertainers, actors, singers, models and dancers through this difficult world.  Not only do I help keep my clients on task, I bestow my years of experience, my expertise in all things talent marketing and help create creative, out-of-the-box strategies for those who are wise enough to hire me!  My success rates are through the roof and my clients boast some of the most astounding success stories in the industry.

I would go on and on about how awesome my services are, but I have to run and pick up my five year old from Kindergarten - and about fifteen thousand other tasks. 

So, the easiest way to become one of my clients is to sign up for my amazing Success Club at www.RyanTalent.com/SuccessClub.html.  Not only is the option SUPER AFFORDABLE at less than $10 a month, it also makes a great gift for all of you procrastinators who need last minute gifts for the aspiring entertainers in your life.  Oh - and if you ARE a procrastinator, you really, REALLY need me as your mentor because I can DEFINITELY help you with that ailment too!  My specialty is telling clients to "Get off your ass and answer the door - Opportunity is Knocking!"

I assure you, working with me is at-least equally as fun as reading my blogs!

Wooo Hoooo!

Heather Ryan
The Ultimate Talent Mentor
www.RyanTalent.com

The Honey-Boo-Boo-Effect

Howdy Y'All!

As you may know, I first got my start in this ever-interesting world of Reality Television in November 2005 when I was involved with a little-watched show on Bravo called, "Party/Party".  I helped with casting the episode and ended up being on-screen talent when the mom who was to be featured with her daughter and family ended up being such an enormous flake that she never wanted to film - putting the production crew in a real pickle because the story line was quickly falling apart without enough footage.

Before I participated, first hand, in Unscripted Television (UT), I genuinely believed that a camera crew followed around the subject all hours of the day, hoping that something interesting happened.  Uh, Yeah - little secret here - that's not exactly how television magic is made.  I quickly learned that Reality Television (or Unscripted Television as I believe is more appropriate) is as dependent on over-the-top personalities as it is on a good show concept and strong film crew.  It didn't take long for me to grow a true appreciation for the craft and art that has saturated the networks and for which I help create and cast oodles of characters.

This morning I was listening to National Public Radio, the radio station of choice when dropping the brats to school each day.  Television reviewer, Eric Deggans, was lamenting about the cancellation of Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Network.  Dirty Jobs, he argued, was a celebration of the American Worker and had a positive slant toward the featured characters, however dirty their jobs may have been.  The commentator continued with his analogy of WHY Mike Rowe now finds himself searching for a new job - because Discovery Network, who also owns TLC, has chosen instead to run programming where the viewer is laughing AT the characters on a show.  He called it, The Honey-Boo-Boo-fication of Reality Television.  Where we, the viewer, are laughing at some huge inside joke of which the characters on the show are completely unaware.  His tone and verbiage insinuated this "new" trend in UT was similar to the "Dumbing Down of American" analogy from years gone by.  I disagree.

As I tell all my clients who are interested in pursuing careers or experiences in the UT genre,
"Boring People Need Not Apply".  As is the case with everything in the universe, the more accustomed we become to standard programming, the harder the creators need to work to keep our attention - to differentiate themselves from the other programming and make us tune in to their show, rather than the plethora of other options available.  So, the longer we are enraptured by UT, the programs and characters become progressively more and more outrageous, just to keep us entertained and guessing.  I contend that this is not an effect of Honey Boo Boo, but a natural progression of television programming. 

On a Macro Scale, you can assimilate my theory to programming from the 50's to present.  Though The Honeymooners was controversial and groundbreaking for it's time, it is not even in the same league as today's hit sitcoms which include Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory.  See, even scripted television has become progressively more lurid in an effort to maintain our attention.  Conversely, on a micro level, look at the progression of the hit Unscripted TLC show, Toddlers and Tiaras to prove my theory.  The first season of the show was a relatively tame documentation of the Child Beauty Pageant industry.  Compare that to the very same show just three years later - and you will see the necessary progression of outrageous characters and high drama situations.  This is an absolute necessity to keep viewers tuning in, week after week, even though the show concept never changes.  There are always three contestants being featured, they are always going to a glitz pageant and they always follow the contestant from "preparation" to "crowning". What makes T&T intriguing, week after torrid week, is the progressively crazier moms whose antics have become more and more outrageous, all in the quest to score more camera time than the other moms and children being featured that week.  And you know what - I'M COOL WITH THAT!  So Wendy Dickey dressed three year old Paisley as "The Hooker with a Heart of Gold" for a pageant being filmed for Toddlers and Tiaras.  ROCK ON WENDY, I say! Wendy has since built a mini-empire around that one appearance - an appearance, I may add, that was NOT even a FEATURED spot on the show that week.  She just happened to steal all the spotlight with her stunt - and she has reaped a ton of media attention and has HUGE Unscripted Television opportunities in her near future to reward her forward thinking. 

The same goes for Fran Gonzalez.  Fran and I spent hours discussing her Unscripted Television Persona before her first featured appearance on Toddlers and Tiaras.  I mentored the Brash Hispanic woman to "Rosie Perez It Out" - just as Fran's naturally abrasive personality dictated.  It wasn't long after Fran and Dianely's episode aired that other UT opportunities began to present themselves.  We traveled to Australia together, appeared on Eden's World as on-screen talent and she now has even more UT opportunities coming up.  This is all because Fran EMBRACED HER CRAZY - she took my advice and learned what is needed to make entertaining television!

So, in opposition to the naysayers of the world who are Poo-Pooing "The Honey Boo Boo Effect" - I say ROCK ON JUNE, ALANA AND THE REST OF YOUR HILLBILLY CLAN!  Not only are these characters a NATURAL PROGRESSION of what is required to keep us short-attention-span Americans entertained, they are laughing all the way to the bank!  Sure, front-end monetary gain of Reality Television stars is not huge, but that Red Neck Family has worked their way into the lexicon of  NPR Commentators and Bloggers/Mentors like me - and that is no small feat!

So, if you aspire to be a future client of mine, here is a valuable (FREE) tip, should you plan to pursue jobs in Unscripted Television - EMBRACE THE CRAZY!  If you are a little off your rocker; a little "touched" or nutty, you will feel right at home in our insane little world.  And if you are willing to embrace the fact that you are a wack-a-doo, you will be more successful and have far more opportunities in Unscripted Television.  Don't be one of those fruit loops who gets pissed because of a lousy review of your appearance and tries to retaliate by suing the media outlets who wrote the stories (this has actually happened).   

Remember, opportunities to work with me abound.  Staying abreast of the latest casting calls (scripted and unscripted) and opportunities to work with me is as easy as signing up for my free e-newsletter at www.RyanTalent.com/Newsletter.html.  If you are ready to start working with me more closely,  become a member of my Success Club at www.RyanTalent.com/SuccessClub.html.  OR, work with me on a MUCH more personal level through my trademark D.A.N.C.E. program at www.RyanTalent.com/DANCE.html.  Regardless of the path you choose, I look forward to helping you reach your goals in this fun and exciting industry!

Until next time - EMBRACE YOUR CRAZY - and rock on!

Heather Ryan
The Ultimate Talent Mentor
www.RyanTalent.com

R U Facebook Famous?

Sure, I'll toot my own horn on this one!  When I first developed a Facebook Fan Page for one of my Pageant Girl Clients, Eden Wood, three years ago, I was the first person to treat young ladies from Toddlers and Tiaras with the same celebrity-status as any other Reality Television star.  Through hard work and an absolute TON of dedication, that page grew to host just under 67,000 fans within two and a half years - a feat previously unheard of for any other pageant girl in the industry.  Similarly, I was paramount to helping build her Twitter following to over 11,000 followers in just two years and build her website hits to a monthly average of 50,000.

Since developing that social media presence, pretty much every pageant girl who has ever been featured on TLC's hit Unscripted Television show has at least a miniscule social media presence.  However easy as it may seem though, breaking through just a few hundred Twitter Followers or a few thousand Facebook followers is REALLY not that easy!  It takes dedication to the cause, hard work and STRATEGY to build your numbers.

You may be asking right about now - "WHY DO I NEED NUMBERS?"  The answer to that question is super simple!  The bigger your social media numbers, the easier it is for your Agent/Manager/Mentor to MARKET you for merchandising deals, product endorsements and jobs in the entertainment industry (especially Reality Television).  Think about it.  With 67,000 people glued to what my client was doing, we had a captive audience of a very specific demographic who took our opinions/endorsements serious!  That is a fantastic start to a beautiful relationship between you and a shoe company - or a jewelry manufacturer - or a line of dolls - or a make-up distributor.  The possibilities are endless and it is the job of people like me to not only help develop your social media presence but also pursue endorsement deals borne out of the vast number of followers you obtain.

 As luck would have it, our very next Success Club Call, scheduled for Thursday, December 20th, will talk in great detail about how to build your social media presence!  If you are NOT already a Success Club Member, you should absolutely join NOW at:
http://www.ryantalent.com/SuccessClub.html.  Membership in the club is an INCREDIBLE value and each month you will receive a call from me regarding important, career building topics such as Building Your Social Media Empire!  So Hurry Up and GO check out the Success Club and all it entails!  There is SO MUCH BENEFIT that it's not even possible to describe it all in this tiny little blog post! 

So, you have a busy day ahead - FIRST - you need to sign up for my Success Club so you don't miss our next call and this week's exclusive e-mail.  SECOND, you need to start building your Social Media Empire!  Having an online presence is absolutely essential to building your "brand".  It is my great pleasure to help you in your quest!

My next blog will be on Wednesday and never fear - it will be bar none, the most incredible post you have ever read in your entire life.

Until Next Time,

Heather Ryan
The Ultimate Talent Mentor
www.RyanTalent.com