Today we’d like to introduce you to Jack Plotnick.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I guess I’m lucky that I always seemed to know what I wanted to do, In fifth grade, the teachers let me stop classes every month or so, to perform a skit (usually a Saturday Night Live parody) for all the other fifth graders… why they let me do this, I have no idea! Ha!
This passion for performing, and doing theater all around my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, turned into a degree in Musical Theater at Carnegie Mellon Univ., and then I was in New York with the goal of singing and dancing on Broadway. But as luck would have it, I soon met my dear friend, and future writing partner Seth Rudetsky, and we began writing and performing comedy sketch shows (back to my fifth grade roots!), which led to a series of terrific breaks that got my foot in the door of film and TV and brought me to Hollywood.
And now I’ve been making my living as an actor for the past 23 years. I love being an actor for hire, but I always return to creating my own content. The live plays and comedy shows I had been putting up eventually grew into two of my favorite projects I’ve created! The first is a Sony Pictures feature film I co-wrote and directed called “Space Station 76” starring Patrick Wilson, Matt Bomer and Liv Tyler (all living on a space station in a 1970’s version of the future).
The other is a Broadway musical called “Disaster!” which I co-wrote (with Seth) and directed on Broadway! The New York Times gave it their “Critics’ Pick!” It’s a 1970’s disaster movie… musical! With all hit songs from the ’70s! … I sound like I’m obsessed with the ’70s… and I probably am! It’s been a dream come true to see my show put up in theaters around the country. I am especially tickled when I see videos of high schoolers doing our show, as I remember how much my first theatrical experiences meant to me!
Throughout this time, I had always been interested in self-help, studying teachers of “new thought” such as Marianne Williamson, in an effort to learn to control my thoughts and therefore my anxieties. Without realizing it, I was applying all these techniques to my life as an actor and eventually realized that I had something valuable to share with other actors – an approach to acting that is based in love and joy, instead of fear.
Out of a desire to find a way to “give back” to my community, I began teaching actors my approach, at first out of my apartment, and now it has grown into working with actors on both coasts! In an effort to touch as many lives as possible, I wrote a free ebook entitled “New Thoughts For Actors” in which I share everything I teach, and it’s available to view and download on my website: JackPlotnick.com (
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Every person on the planet must go through dark times, and I had some bouts of feeling hopeless and lost; first when I turned thirty and again at 40. Each time I sought help and gave myself the gift of someone to discuss my thoughts with. I HIGHLY recommend seeing a psychotherapist at those times in your life when you feel you can’t do it alone. They helped me reconnect with my joy, and created new pathways of thought in my brain. They helped me to return to my self-acceptance and self-love.
For me, the quickest route back to joy is to return to my first love, which is to create and play for my own sake. I define my “raison d’être” (“reason to be”) as A JOYFUL CREATOR. So when I get sidetracked by the anxieties or depression about the past or future, I get back to doing what I love, and it always returns me to joy!
About a year ago, I was feeling pretty low so I started making silly minute-long comedy videos and posting them online, and they got better and better, and the feedback has been incredible. I love doing it, I feel productive and happy again, and people tell me they really love them. And the neat thing is that when you are doing what you love, for your own selfish joy, the universe very often sends you gifts.
In this case, a casting director saw one of my videos, and it inspired him to bring me in for a large recurring role on the SyFy series “Z Nation.” I booked it and had the most marvelous time all last year filming it, and it all happened because I was making silly videos for my own amusement. …Check them out on Instagram @jackplotnick
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I love working with actors. Essentially, I share with them that film acting is easy! It’s just “behaving as if it’s really happening.” Why would you need to LEARN how to “play pretend?” And a lot of your favorite actors never trained at all! Sure, acting is uncomfortable, your heart is racing, your stomach is full of butterflies (Judi Dench calls that her “batteries”), but it’s not hard.
However, the hard part can be getting out of your own way so that you can enjoy how easy and fun acting is. And getting out of your way is simply a matter of learning to control your thoughts; to silence your negative and self-defeating ego, that sqwuaking vulture on your shoulder that wants to tell you how terrible you are as you are trying to play pretend.
I teach actors how to get their vulture to shut up. To do this, you want to understand that we all tend to get the job we don’t “need.” It’s okay to “want” the job, but “need” is fear-based. It causes anxiety and doesn’t let us shine our light. So when you tell your vulture “I release and destroy my need to get this job”, he stops squawking about whether you’ll get the job or not, and in that blissful silence you can actually enjoy your audition…and you stand a much better chance of getting it!
When you “release and destroy your need to impress the agent” then the pressure to impress them comes off your shoulders, so you are able to enjoy yourself and shine your light, and then you end up impressing them! That’s why my “Actor Affirmations” work! Because by releasing your need for what you want… that’s how to get it!
The neat thing is that this is true for anything in your life. So when actors utilize my affirmations, they are actually using self-help techniques that can make their whole life more joyful and productive.
What were you like growing up?
I was a very happy kid! The youngest of four siblings who really cared about me, and watched over me. We were a tight-knit group. I was a really sweet child in elementary school — the kind of kid who would admonish other kids for stepping on ants or pestering a caterpillar. (I wasn’t as annoying as that sounds!)
I wanted to be an archeologist and was always looking down at the ground, obsessed with the idea of finding fossils or arrowheads. Of course, now I realize that I was never going to find either anywhere I was looking (they’re not just sitting there on the ground in a park; you kinda got to DIG for them! Ha!).
In fifth grade, I started to get into the idea of performing, but as a kid in the Ohio suburbs, I really had no idea how to channel it. In sixth grade, I discovered there was a thing called musical theater when I saw the high school perform “Oklahoma!” And I was hooked!
I just so happened to have a BOOMING singing voice for a kid, and I did tons of musicals in my hometown.
Pricing:
- Jack’s Acting Workshop is free to watch as many times as you like, and $35 to perform.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jackplotnick.com
- Email: [email protected]
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
