Kelly Sirois with Atlanta Hollywood Acting Studios

Intro: [00:00:05] Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:19] Welcome to Fearless Formula Friday on the Business RadioX network where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world. And we offer words of wisdom for business success. I’m so excited to have this woman in the studio today. She is the owner and founder of Atlanta Hollywood Acting Studios. It’s a premiere acting studio here in Woodstock, Georgia. It focuses on training, film and TV actors to grow and hone their craft. They have seasoned, talented instructors. You can’t go wrong if you are in this industry. Please listen to this this interview. And welcome to Kelly. I’m going to say it right. Wait. Sirois. Sirois. Kelly Sirois.

Kelly Sirois: [00:00:59] You got it.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:59] I love that it’s spelled differently, but, like, I really needed to practice it a little bit more. Kelly, thank you for coming to the studio.

Kelly Sirois: [00:01:05] Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much for having me.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:08] You’re welcome. I’m excited. I was just saying before the show started, I’m excited to know that there is such a really powerful school that didn’t feel like it had to be part of this big Atlanta city that actually you focus more on people who have access to it right here in our in our town.

Kelly Sirois: [00:01:23] Absolutely. I agree. I’m a little bit of a freak. I don’t like to leave Cherokee County.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:30] No, you’re not a freak at all. I know a lot of people that think that way. I’m in.

Kelly Sirois: [00:01:34] The microcosm. But hey, I’ve created quite the the world up here for for acting. There was really nothing this way. It was needed and we just filled a void. And it’s been great, just absolutely fantastic.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:49] And I’m assuming that you’ve lived in Georgia a long time because you went to Georgia State University.

Kelly Sirois: [00:01:53] I did. I got my degree in film and video production from there. My BA. I also graduated from Campbell High School of Smyrna. Oh, wow. So I’m a Georgia girl.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:03] Yeah, you are. And there not that many that can kind of say that they’ve grown up here like that. So at least people that I’ve met, it’s kind of a nice place to transplant to. But when you find someone who sees the growth that even this whole city has gone through, it must be amazing to really see how much it’s changed.

Kelly Sirois: [00:02:19] It is. I still run into a lot of my high school friends everywhere I go, so we’re all around. Oh, that’s.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:24] Nice. Okay, so 2018 is when you founded this school. So can you tell me about what was the impetus really for starting your studio?

Kelly Sirois: [00:02:34] Thank you for asking. Well, I raised two amazing children. I became an empty nester, and I kept waiting for them to be out of the house and not be busy doing the mom thing. To get back to my real passion that I’ve had my whole life. I’ve been acting since I was four years old. Wow. My mom was an actress and model, and I did a Coca-Cola commercial when I was really little. And just my whole life, I took acting classes at the Alliance Theater, Shakespeare classes, and then all through my 20s, I took casting director workshops and things like that. Then I became a mom and I just kind of focused more on my son’s career when he turned 13. He’s a musician and I kept saying, One day I’m going to get back to my acting. It’ll be your time. Yes. So that was I think that was 2017. I started taking acting classes and it was fabulous. They had it was local here to Woodstock, but they closed down abruptly and a lot of us were left without a place to study and nobody wanted to drive to Atlanta. And I just so happened to buy the domain name Atlanta, Hollywood, like ten years ago for my son because I was helping and I was going to make this online portal for him, for him and all these crazy things that I do, these ideas I come up with. But I knew I should hold on to that name. So when that other acting studio closed, I said, You know what? I had a couple of people literally come to me crying in tears and I said, No, don’t worry about it. I’m going to open up my own acting studio and I’m going to call it Atlanta Hollywood. So there we go. And I literally just did that. I didn’t even have a place. And so I just reached out to actually my son in law had some executive suite type things like where we are right here. And he said, you know, you’re more than welcome for a couple of months while you’re looking to hold class here for free.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:39] Well, you can’t beat that.

Kelly Sirois: [00:04:40] Oh, my gosh. It was just a blessing. The community reached.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:43] Out amazing to me how things unfolded so perfectly. You know.

Kelly Sirois: [00:04:48] It didn’t feel perfect at the time. But when I go back and it’s just it did for you.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:53] To even have the foresight, forethought to keep that name too, which is kind of crazy.

Kelly Sirois: [00:04:59] That is pretty weird.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:00] Yeah. Well, so when you first found your space, did you have to hire instructors or the people that were at the school before you? Were they also like, please hire, hire us to work here?

Kelly Sirois: [00:05:11] There were a couple of teachers that I did bring from the old studio to the new studio, and as time has progressed, I found. New teachers and a couple of them are still with us now from the beginning. And one of them is David Cox. He teaches our Meisner class and he’s in his 80s. And I just I’m in awe of this, man. He’s amazing. That’s pretty much our staple class. It has been. And he our best actors take his class. I mean, he’s just.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:43] What is the Meisner class? What does.

Kelly Sirois: [00:05:45] That mean? So there’s an acting teacher, coach Sanford Meisner, and he lived in New York. And anyone who’s anyone that has won awards took Meisner classes from him. Old school actors. He basically it’s kind of like a repeat and behavior type acting, and he’s just really, really well known. So David Cox actually took class with Sanford Meisner and Meisner. He wrote a letter of recommendation for David to teach class. Wow. So over time, David has kind of changed it. It’s not pure Meisner. It’s kind of his own take on it because David met Meisner before he went blind. It’s kind of a story. And once Meisner went blind, he had an understudy. And that’s a lot of what people learn today in other acting classes is what happened after he went blind. So David likes to teach the method before the school. Exactly. So and he’s also infused some more of his own. He’s been teaching over 30 years, 30 or 40 years at this point. So he’s just amazing. We’re so lucky to have him. So lucky.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:07] It’s his passion, right? Oh, yeah. And you can tell that’s his life. Yeah, I love it. And what I think is important is, like here in Woodstock, people are learning the very things that people are learning up in New York. They are. Or in Hollywood.

Kelly Sirois: [00:07:21] Oh, yeah. Well, we have Hollywood teachers, our gosh, our tween and teen class on Monday nights for tweens and teens. And we have a legitimate movie star that teaches that class. She’s younger, but she’s fantastic. She was Sprite in the Eternals, a marvel film. Oh, wow. So she played Sprite and she’s some of her best films, though, are not sorry. I mean, that’s amazing to be in a marvel film. But her best acting can be seen in The Lodge in a couple of other shows that she’s done, one with Demi Moore. It was so good. I can’t remember the name right now. But anyway, we’re so blessed to have her. Before we had Leah, we had some other celebrity stars that were teaching our class that that class, Rico and Zoe Soul, Paris. We’re just so lucky. We’ve got really, really lucky. They’ve they’ve found us. In a way. It’s just been great. Right now we have such a great suite of teachers. I’m just pinching myself.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:28] What I love that you’re saying is that in my mind, I guess the idea of an actor being very successful, like they wouldn’t be interested, you know, they don’t have to teach or share what they know. And I always admire people who don’t have to be so nice, and then they choose to be nice, you know, and really giving and generous with what they know because they like to see other people succeed. There’s something just so heartwarming about that. I think.

Kelly Sirois: [00:08:54] I do understand what you’re saying because I wonder why in the world they’re even doing. I’m like, okay, well, you’re interested. Thank you.

Sharon Cline: [00:09:04] But it’s kind, you know, and it’s like the notion of like when you get up top, you look back down and see if someone else needs a hand. And so I don’t know why I had an idea in my head that maybe like people wouldn’t do that. But it’s so nice to hear that people do. And you don’t have to be in Hollywood or like downtown Atlanta, even here in Woodstock, which is just like, Oh, it makes me feel proud of our of our town, you know, that we have so much to offer in so many different ways. What is it like to have a studio here in Woodstock in comparison to studios in Atlanta?

Kelly Sirois: [00:09:33] That’s a great question. I would say we’re Sometimes I feel like a little mouse in the big city. I started doing this just as a passion. And it’s just it’s a business. And some of the other studios, they’re SAG.

Sharon Cline: [00:09:52] Oh, yes.

Kelly Sirois: [00:09:53] And we’re not. Oh, so SAG clients can come take classes with us and nonunion can as well. Not that they can’t at the other studios also, but there are more rules. I mean, I don’t know. It’s a little controversial, but. Oh, back in the pandemic, when people were wearing masks everywhere and businesses closed down, we I decided not to close down.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:19] Was my next question was how did that affect you? So I didn’t.

Kelly Sirois: [00:10:22] Make people wear masks if they didn’t want to wear masks. They didn’t have to. If they wanted to wear a mask, they could. And it was a safe zone, so no one would make anyone feel bad if they did or didn’t.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:34] Did you find resistance to that?

Kelly Sirois: [00:10:36] Oh, it was horrible. Really? Oh, it was horrible. No way. Yeah, I stuck to my guns, but, I mean, I was yelled at. I was. I lost friends. You just would not believe how controversial it was. It was really horrible. But I feel like that’s part of what Atlanta Hollywood has taken this much time. We’ll be coming up to five years in November. Congrats. Thank you. And it’s taken this long for us to get our footing here, to get respect in the industry. If we’re not a SAG studio, then big agents or casting directors or whatever might have not looked at us and I don’t know if they were or weren’t. I mean, when I send out emails to my database, I can see who’s opened them. So some people that used to never open our emails are now opening our emails, they’re showing up to our showcases. So I feel like we have earned legitimacy and now we really need a good marketing person because we’re almost just like this hidden gem that nobody knows about, right? So we could probably if we just started doing some more marketing, we could probably double or triple our numbers.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:52] Why did you decide to not be a SAG studio specifically? Was there a strategy behind that?

Kelly Sirois: [00:12:00] I’d like to say there was strategy behind, but not really. I just I’m SAG eligible and I’m just you know what? I’m not I’m I am just not a huge rule follower. I if it’s if it affects the person directly. But I don’t always fall in line very easily. So to be connected to SAG rules, there’s a lot of things, a lot of hoops to jump through. Of course, being with SAG is amazing, you know, and it’s just a choice and I’ve chose not to. It makes it I can keep my prices more competitive. I can bring in teachers that I just have a lot more choices by not being SAG.

Sharon Cline: [00:12:49] I love that energy because oftentimes it takes someone who isn’t a rule follower to make a studio like this who isn’t going to do everything traditionally. And there’s a need for it, clearly, because it’s worked for you.

Kelly Sirois: [00:13:02] Yes.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:04] That makes me so happy. Okay. Wait, you’ve also been in TV and film. Do you want to talk about some of the things that you’ve done?

Kelly Sirois: [00:13:11] Well, let’s see.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:13] I have Coca Cola, which is the coolest, and it’s down the street. You know, it’s like the the headquarters. So that’s really.

Kelly Sirois: [00:13:19] Neat. It is fun. You know, I’ve never seen that commercial. It was so, so long ago. My mom didn’t save any of those things. So I’ve never seen that commercial. Oh, my goodness. I’ve done commercials throughout my life. I did a Ford car commercial and Roses commercial and things like that. Later. Since I got back into acting, I’ve done some of those. What do you call them? Like crime reenactment shows? Yeah, so I played a couple of those. I’m more about elevating other actors to get on TV shows and movies. I did finally book a feature film and I opened up the movie and I have yet to see it. It’s called Holy Irresistible. And it has. Oh, my gosh. What is Leah? She played an orange. Orange is the new black. And her name was Boo. She had the black kind of bushy hair. Yeah, I love her. I love her character so much. So she was in it. And another guy from oh my gosh, here I am blanking out on shows. But the one the Netflix show that all the teenagers love on the coast. Oh, my.

Sharon Cline: [00:14:34] Goodness. Oh, is it Outer Banks?

Kelly Sirois: [00:14:37] Outer Banks? Yeah. Yeah. So he’s one of the stars. One of the stars on there. He was in it. And oh, my goodness.

Sharon Cline: [00:14:43] How cool is that?

Kelly Sirois: [00:14:44] Yeah, it was fun. I mean, as soon as I got that, That’s what you want, right? That’s how you start building your IMDb profile, right? So that’s where you can pretty much see what I’ve done. I’ve done a lot of short films, films that have gone to the film festivals, one that’s winning awards in India right now. And oh.

Sharon Cline: [00:15:05] Congratulations. Oh my gosh, that’s so exciting.

Kelly Sirois: [00:15:07] Thank you. It’s fun. And Atlanta Hollywood has actually produced a couple of films that we’ve been submitting and winning awards and things like that. Pulse and the other one that’s winning awards in India right now Uncover. And, you.

Sharon Cline: [00:15:23] Know, eventually we’ll come back here, right to be, I’m imagining like at Sundance or something like that. That would be like the path, I imagine.

Kelly Sirois: [00:15:31] Yeah. When you do a short film and then you submit them into the film festivals, I think what most people are hoping for is to catch the eye of a distribution company that like a Netflix or however you want to have your films distributed, possibly even picked up where they would change it and turn it into a feature film. So at that point, if that happens, sometimes you lose the actors and the crew because they want to take it and just kind of redo it. So we’re we’re working on a film right now, getting funding for it from my acting teacher, David Cox. He wrote it. It’s called Texas Deception. And we’re trying really, really hard to get film funding without it being totally taken away from us, meaning our creative choices. So it’s a little hard with the price, like when you’re trying to get film funding, anything over $2 million, they’re going to want to have more control over.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:38] So how often does that happen where someone has a really great idea? It’s a great script, and then because someone else is funding it, they get to manipulate it however they want to. And how hard that must be because you want it to stay true to what you’ve written or someone else has written and that you believe in. But gosh, that’s such a dilemma, isn’t it?

Kelly Sirois: [00:16:57] It is. It is. And, you know, it could be a business model to write content that you don’t have an attachment to, which would be easier because then you could sell it and then let go of your baby. However, there’s been a lot of work done. What we’re trying to do here, when I got my I’m just going to back up to when I got my degree at Georgia State. I just I pray a lot. I prayed to God. I said, God, please, with this, what I’m what I want to do is I want to affect film here in Georgia. I want to be part of the industry. I also want to help pipe in, well, I guess stop the piping in of LA actors only and LA crew. You know, there’s a certain level that you could be at. And then everything else was done in LA and that is changing now. It could be better, but it’s my goal to elevate Georgia actors to where they are booking leading roles and also in the film industry itself is to have our own crew and we have built an amazing crew. So literally we don’t need a SAG crew. We’ve got our own nonunion people, but we also do play with. Play by the the rules that you have to you.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:20] Have to you have to kind of play the game a little bit. Yeah.

Kelly Sirois: [00:18:23] Yeah. So we do have both. I have non union, I have union at my fingertips. So whichever way I end up going, we can pivot.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:32] So you started in 2018 and now you’ve grown to have employees and a full course load of classes that anyone can take. Yes, and I think it’s cool about them. As I was looking on your website, there are like 6 to 8 weeks of classes and it’s nice because people’s lives are so busy and to commit to a year or even a full semester is a challenge, right? Was that a strategic choice or did it just work out great?

Kelly Sirois: [00:18:59] Well, I kind of followed the model of the studio before, and we might be actually changing it a little bit coming up here. But what we have is. Five ongoing classes that you can jump in at any time and take them. And so those those classes are ongoing. It’s the ones the the Meisner, the real kids aged 7 to 11 or 7 to 10 and then tween and teen scene which is seen steady for tween and teens ages 11 to 16. Then we have seen steady we have Meisner and now we have a new class, a Warner Loughlin class, which we’re so excited to have.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:47] I saw like a little picture that you have of a gentleman. It’s like a gentleman.

Kelly Sirois: [00:19:51] Wes McGee, West McGee.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:52] I saw his picture. So he’s teaching this class?

Kelly Sirois: [00:19:54] Yes. I’m so, so blessed for that. I would love to circle back around to that, but so we have our ongoing classes and then we have our 6 to 8 week courses or workshops. So those are the fillers. Those are things that, like you said, it’s good for people that don’t have time to commit and they can just jump in and do something short term. And that’s we have everything from voiceover classes to learning how to use your body, you know, action fighting. We have dialect classes, we have on camera, on set classes, all kinds of different things that we bring in experts from the outside in.

Sharon Cline: [00:20:40] I love that you have a Shakespeare class too.

Kelly Sirois: [00:20:42] Shakespeare, Hip hop.

Sharon Cline: [00:20:44] What is that one?

Kelly Sirois: [00:20:45] So I I’ve never heard of anything like this in my whole life. But we have such an amazing new teacher. Her name is Sherry Winkelman, and when she came in to interview. Huh? My. My studio manager, Cassidy. She and I were sitting there. We were blown away by this woman. She’s very, I say, worldly, like she learned Shakespeare in London. Right. So she’s just. She’s amazing. She’s. I’m so excited about her. She’s only taught a couple of classes now, So we’re. We’re getting her class filled and people love her. So she came up with this idea about she realized that hip hop and Shakespeare have the same. Pipe. Diameter, not diameter. Like a cadence. Yes. And that you can actually take every hip hop song out there and you can put Shakespeare over it and substitute Shakespeare for the words that are in all the beats. And it’s so much fun. Like, it looks like so much fun, actually. This is the first class will be held on on the 20th of August, so. Oh, my God, You should take it. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:22:02] I was thinking it’s probably makes it so much easier to memorize Shakespeare if it’s set to something like a rap. I never even thought about that. Well, and you also do audition tapes I saw. So if someone is wanting to get into the industry and they need their reel, how what is that like? What do you do with a student?

Kelly Sirois: [00:22:20] So audition, self audition taping has happened since Covid and it’s new. You used to go audition in front of the casting director and you know, once you reach a certain level, you can pretty much do zoom directly with the casting director and things like that. But now all the actors, if they get an audition, then they have to self tape. So yeah, and it’s important for the lighting and all that, the sound. And a lot of times actors will be, you know, submit things that just like they’re not even going to look at. So we do offer that as a great as we have the best colored wall for it is this really pretty blue wall and it just makes them stand out. We have the lighting right? We also offer coaching with it.

Sharon Cline: [00:23:10] Wonderful. So the audition is as best as it possibly could be.

Kelly Sirois: [00:23:13] Yeah. And then we send it off and label it correctly and do all of that, all that work. So.

Sharon Cline: [00:23:18] So it’s intimidating to try to, I imagine, be an actor on your own trying to navigate a world that has been in place for a very long time. And if you don’t look professional, you’re just going to get lost.

Kelly Sirois: [00:23:31] Yes, headshots are important. We have the fabulous Jerry King. He’s local here and he’s great. And he’s in our studio Monday and Tuesday. So a lot of our students are getting their headshots done with him. I also use another guy in Atlanta on Hollywood headshots. He does a great job and he gives us an Atlanta Hollywood special. Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah. So we got good deals with both of these fabulous photographers, but I call it the actor’s toolbox. You have to have certain things. You had mentioned a real you know, it’s hit or miss with the real because the main way right now that people are getting film and TV auditions is through actors access. And you can either upload your real up there or you can upload clips which are shorter and some casting isn’t going to look at a real and some will. So why not have both? Have all of it. So it’s one of the things that we do is we consult with people when they’re starting and just, you know, hey, you might want to take a look at your actor’s access and do this, that and the other professional.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:47] It’s like the pandemic kind of forced a change to happen where you don’t go downtown in front of casting directors anymore. But what other things have you seen that have changed over the last five years or kind of morphed? I know that oftentimes people talk about how important social media is, and I get that. And, you know, TikTok and the reels and all of those things are those actually tools that people use in the industry.

Kelly Sirois: [00:25:11] That’s an interesting question because I have through my management side of things, I work with some influencers. A couple have millions of followers. One of them has 7 million followers. Wow. The it’s a little bit it’s harder for them to be taken seriously in the industry as a as a legitimate actor. So that’s where I’m finding some of these influencers that they want to break into acting. So we’re having to kind of pull things back and show them how to be more authentic. You know, when you’re, when you’re on as you know, what that feels like when you have to be on, right? So with if you’re I can’t even say if you’re acting because we really shouldn’t say someone should act. They should be telling a story in an authentic way instead of acting. Right. But I’m just going to keep it simple and call it acting. Yeah, we just we need to see them. We need to see their essence and and strip away all of the flashy, hey, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever it is they’re saying on their influencer. And then can people. Can they buy it? Can they differentiate them from their personality they see to a serious actor? They may or may not succeed at that. They’d have to do something really drastic. They’d have to really be fabulous at acting. Or they could get on a show because they are an influencer.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:03] There’s power there for them.

Kelly Sirois: [00:27:04] Yeah. And then they want to you know, they want the it could be like a lower budget film possibly where they’re wanting to get more followers for it and more and they think that the influencer could do that for them. So if you could have an influencer that has had some acting classes and knows how to actually act, and that’s a good way to segue into it also. So such a double edged sword. It is. It is.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:29] But so many people want that route, you know, and it works and lots and lots of ways. But I didn’t really think about it in terms of someone wanting to be an actor. If they would be considered like you’re not an actor, you’re just looking for more opportunities for fame or something. And that’s a shame because I’m sure there is an element of intelligence and talent to become an influencer, you know.

Kelly Sirois: [00:27:50] Interesting on both ends, really to be a really good actor, to be a good storyteller. It’s you have to be smart, you have to be raw. You have to be able to have good timing. And it’s it’s really like cracking yourself open and just allowing yourself to be free. And it’s harder than you would imagine. People probably make fun of actors or whatever thinking, Oh, that’s so hard. It is hard. It’s hard. You have to take classes. I mean, I guess if you’re working a really difficult job, this doesn’t sound hard, but it it isn’t as easy as people think. Let’s just put it that way. There’s a lot of rejection. There’s a lot of being told that, you know, you’ll never you’ll never make it. That that should just drive you to say, oh, okay, we’ll watch this.

Sharon Cline: [00:28:45] I think the right personalities, you know, can can take that as a challenge as opposed to like. But would you say that when you meet people that can you tell pretty quickly if they have sort of like an X factor that you just think, wow, this person’s going to go pretty far? I can just tell there’s like an energy or an innate talent that they seem to have and can tap.

Kelly Sirois: [00:29:06] Yes.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:08] Okay.

Kelly Sirois: [00:29:08] That’s one of I mean, for me. Yes. I don’t know about for everybody. That’s. So just to segue into this, I’m also a Hollywood talent manager with the Green Room Talent Management, and I’m the Atlanta division for them. And one of the reasons why I was recruited for that was because of that ability of being able to spot talent. I’ve always been that way. I’ve always seen it and encouraged people. But there is something special about certain people. People can learn it and they can surprise you, but it’s pretty easy to see if you’re directable. You could be fantastic and not be directable, and it would be like, Hm, that might this person might be a flash in the pan if they can’t listen and follow direction, that’s being directable. So if you can’t do that, then. You’d have to be so fantastic that a director would be like, You know what? I don’t care. I’ve got to have this person. But there’s a lot of people out there that really want that job, so you need to be able to be directable. And some people just don’t get it as hard as they try. It’s just certain things you have to be able to do and it’s not for everybody.

Sharon Cline: [00:30:25] So do you have to have a tough skin even in your position to be and to be able to have tough conversations with people that don’t want to hear it? Maybe. Yeah.

Kelly Sirois: [00:30:34] Yeah. If they if I feel like it’s. Something that might be like they’re getting discouraged and they just want to give up or whatever. I’ll encourage them to look at behind the scenes because that’s so much fun too. I mean, writing if you’re not a great actor, but you have all these ideas like why not write screenplays, create content for for people that’s needed, isn’t it? It really is. To have creative content. Yeah, that’s not the same. Formula that you see all the time, like come up with something. I mean, there’s nothing new under the sun, really, But it can it can be more interesting than some of the things that are out there right now. So, yes, good content writers is much needed. Also, behind the scenes is much needed. If being a film and TV actor isn’t your thing, perhaps voiceover is. Perhaps commercial acting is commercial is great, a great way to make money while you’re building your career. So that’s another thing they could do.

Sharon Cline: [00:31:43] Who would be your ideal student?

Kelly Sirois: [00:31:47] Good question. Uh, somebody that was hungry, hungry and directable. That’s it. I mean, if they got those two qualities, then I’ll love to work with them all day.

Sharon Cline: [00:32:04] That’s awesome. And I think what’s interesting, too, is like here we here we are in Woodstock, and I know I keep talking about how we’re here in Woodstock as compared to Atlanta, but there’s so much talent of people that you just don’t even know. You just walk by every day. And, you know, it’s kind of amazing, isn’t.

Kelly Sirois: [00:32:19] It, to see.

Sharon Cline: [00:32:20] It is as you’re watching people grow in your studio. I imagine that must be kind of like I’d marvel at it. I think I’d be like, look at this person. I just at Publix, you know what I mean? And yet here they are. Could be.

Kelly Sirois: [00:32:31] Potentially time. I literally was door knocking the other day for for for real estate. Sorry I didn’t even mention that one.

Sharon Cline: [00:32:39] But the other hat you wear.

Kelly Sirois: [00:32:42] I’m a Keller Williams sports and entertainment agent. That’s why I can tie them all together, because they’re all in entertainment related. But anyway, I was knocking on the door, and this guy, he was so cute. And I felt a little bit like a weirdo because I’m looking at him funny and I’m sure he probably thought I was making googly eyes at him. I wasn’t. I wasn’t really I was like, Oh my God, that is a face for film. So when I was done, I’m like, I know this is probably way out of order and you’re probably going to think I’m a total stalker weirdo. But have you ever acted before? Have you ever been an actor? And he was like, No, I’ve always wanted to. I’m like, Listen, listen. You need to get to the studio and take a free class, audit a free class. But that is a face that you’re just denying the world of. Oh, and he was like, Thank you so much. So but he so I think he’s supposed to come and audit a class. But I do that all. I’m always scouting and it isn’t necessarily like just this beautiful person that you would see, you know, what you might consider, you know, society considers beautiful. I’m looking for like a very a beautiful essence when a person glows, when they have something special that lights up. That’s the person I’m looking at. It doesn’t matter about beauty because that makes them beautiful.

Sharon Cline: [00:34:09] But the inside makes them beautiful on the outside.

Kelly Sirois: [00:34:12] Interesting. Very interesting. If you think about film and TV, acting versus theater is your face is in a black box. Think how big your face could be in a theater, right? So what if people who win awards, they’re not winning awards when they’re opening their mouth, they’re opening their mouth. They’re they’re winning awards when they are reacting, when they’re about to cry. I mean, that’s and it’s just so subtle. It’s so subtle. So it’s like the most interesting actors have interesting looks. They may not be Barbie doll beautiful, but they’re just very interesting. So I’m always, always scouting wherever I go.

Sharon Cline: [00:34:57] You can’t help it, like turn it off or whatever. It’s just always part of you.

Kelly Sirois: [00:35:00] Yeah, I’m such a goober. You know, I love watching Yellowstone. I love Yellowstone. And so they’re having a rodeo, and I’m going to the rodeo. No way. I just want to see if I can find a rip. Oh, my.

Sharon Cline: [00:35:15] Gosh. Let me know.

Kelly Sirois: [00:35:17] Well, I’m married, so I’m not saying for me, but I’m looking. I’m like scouting. I’m looking for, you know, somebody really got that energy. Yeah. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:35:26] Isn’t that interesting that it comes down to energy, too, because some of the most beautiful, physically beautiful people that I’ve ever had the chance to speak to have been some of the, like, darkest energy. And then I don’t think they’re beautiful anymore at all. Right. It’s kind of fascinating that way.

Kelly Sirois: [00:35:41] That they’re usually the most insecure.

Sharon Cline: [00:35:44] Which is fascinating as well.

Kelly Sirois: [00:35:46] Well, I mean, when people like that have been. I hate to say it, but I mean, probably bothered their entire life. I mean, imagine being beautiful your whole life and people just want that energy and they they take the most beautiful people are have been taken, in my opinion. A lot of them have just human interaction to them is not real. Like people only like them because they’re beautiful and so they they start to build up a wall in a way. And it’s harder for them to talk to people. And I don’t know how to explain it. I know a couple of people that this that they seem like total jerks. Until you get to know them. But they’ve built up this wall and it’s all the same thing. It’s because they are beautiful and people try to take advantage of them. And I mean, back in the day when Britney Spears was like losing it and shaved her head, I’m like the only one at the dinner table that’s going. Does anyone not see how sad this is? Like all these grown ups around this kid, she might be a sexualized and all that, but that’s another whose parents let them let that happen. And she’s not being protected. And, you know, you have to think of things like that that people that are that beautiful or people that are famous, they’re getting taken advantage of. They’re people think they own them. People want to hate them. It’s it’s really weird.

Sharon Cline: [00:37:22] And it’s like this culture just really glorifies beauty and power in that way. But what you’re saying is there is such a dark side to there is.

Kelly Sirois: [00:37:32] But one of the things one of I just had a parent literally tell me that they love and they have their child taken classes at Atlanta Hollywood because they feel that we’re safe and we are that’s we’re very protective, Very protective. We have one young man, his name is Daniel Varnell, talking about someone that just brand new off the streets that has this amazing look. He looks like a young Marlon Brando. Oh, wow. And he started taking the Meisner class, of course, and my showcase class. And he got picked up by the People’s Store, which is one of the premier agencies here. He’s fantastic. And he’s so we’re having conversations with him like what? What could happen next? And he was we were talking about just certain things they’ll keep private for his sake. But we were having this make sure he knew you don’t sell your soul to get a gig. You just don’t because that’ll be a short blip and then you’ll probably be a drug addict. And I don’t know, because.

Sharon Cline: [00:38:39] You have to deal with.

Kelly Sirois: [00:38:40] That. You watch these kids and what happens to them in Hollywood if they’re not protected? If they’re not protected. It’s sad to watch. So we are very we try to really keep people grounded there, which is very important.

Sharon Cline: [00:38:56] I really wasn’t thinking too much about how dark it can be for young actors in particular. I mean, I know that there are people that have struggled and there’s like this, you know, if you’re a kid in this industry, chances are you’re going to maybe potentially go off the rails. It tends to happen, but not everybody. But I can’t imagine what this must be like to see someone who’s just sort of like, you know, innocent and like naturally just gifted this way that you just don’t want them to get, I don’t know, hurt. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but.

Kelly Sirois: [00:39:24] Get hurt 100%. Yeah, you have to you have like if any of the people at my studio when they make it, there’s definitely going to be a good handful that I mean one of the young girls that I’m that I manage and is also a student there she’s got a really good agent too, but she’s she’ll probably be the first one to make it really big. And I’ll probably go on set with her and just, you know, her dad is very protective also and he’ll go as well. But yeah, we’re going to be known for. They’re surrounded by people that care about them. So watch out.

Sharon Cline: [00:40:03] I love that. I mean, that makes you different, too.

Kelly Sirois: [00:40:05] I think so. I hope so. And whether it does or. I think everyone everyone should do this. You know, it’s. We can’t just let it let it happen.

Sharon Cline: [00:40:16] So would you say that your classes that you offer, even if you don’t want to be an actor? I’m thinking of people who get up in front of other people and have to make a presentation, or they really just need help with their public speaking skills that these classes could help as well. Because I’m thinking of what other local business owners maybe need that they hadn’t thought that, you know, they could benefit from what you offer.

Kelly Sirois: [00:40:37] 100%. 100%. One of the things that does is it really for me? Okay, as a realtor, one of the things that happened to me over time was that I became like my agent said, I became realtor Kelly. You know, just hi, you know, just happy all the time and just, you know, almost not, I guess authenticity is what it. And so as you go along, you become professional, you become serious, you’re raising kids and just kind of life beats you up and you’re told you have to be a certain way. So for me and for others that I know, what acting has done is it cracked me wide open and it it helped me be vulnerable again. It was hard, actually, but it also made me face fears. It made me stop my busy life because I can’t memorize scripts if I’m so busy. You know, you have to stop and you have to like, focus and then you have to be in class and you have to be unwound from your busy day. So, yes, it helps with so much, in my opinion, like stress relief and learning how to deal with stress. It helps you to find your authentic self again. If you never found it before, it’ll help you find it. Finally. For kids, I think it just helps them more with being social Social interaction. Same thing with grown ups. Grown ups can have the same problem, but definitely for public speakers. There’s a couple of people that took classes for that reason. Oh, that’s great. And they stuck with it. They love it and now they’re actors.

Sharon Cline: [00:42:16] I like that you’re talking about almost like a mindfulness exercise of being very present in the moment because like I was just telling you today, I’ve had like a thousand different phone calls and I’m like, I’m coming. I’m doing this. I’m doing that. But this is like the joy that I have right now. Anyway, that’s my happy, my happy moment on Friday.

Kelly Sirois: [00:42:34] You do a great job with this, by the way.

Sharon Cline: [00:42:36] Yes. That’s recorded. Did you know that? That’s recorded right now?

Kelly Sirois: [00:42:39] I’m saying it again. I think you’re amazing.

Sharon Cline: [00:42:41] Well, thank you. Oh, my gosh. Funny. Thanks. So, yeah, I’m finding that I struggle to keep myself really in the moment and be very mindful of the moments that are passing, because already it’s the end of July. School starts for so many of my friends children next week, and I’m thinking, Wow, in my mind I’ve already booked guests until till September. And so I think, well, okay, so fall and my head goes ahead really fast. And then I’m like, where did July go? Where did June go? And I’m like frustrated because I don’t want to not appreciate these moments because there are times where I get really wistful about things that I used to do, like when I had kids at home all the time and I was active, stay at home mom. And and I think did I appreciate those moments enough? And the only way I know that I am right now is if I feel some somewhat wistful of what I’m doing right now. Like I imagine, What if this was my last interview? I got to do so like feel feel it like it’s real, you know, like this is really the end of it so that I can appreciate it. And then I can not feel so much like I’ve let life happen to me and I haven’t really engaged emotionally. Like I can be very task oriented if that makes sense. So I like that you encourage that and I think a lot of people could benefit from it. At least I know that I would appreciate someone reminding me of that every day. It’s easy for me to not, you know, just run, run from one thing to another.

Kelly Sirois: [00:43:59] Yes. I mean, isn’t that designed for us to be that way in the little wheelhouse that we’re all running around in? It’s like it’s kind of by design, in my opinion, to keep everyone so busy that they just I don’t know. It it is it is a good way to be reminded for sure. But to me, I think you have a good connection with people because you’re you’re looking at me in my eyes and I feel like you’re listening to me. That’s what acting is.

Sharon Cline: [00:44:31] Oh, interesting.

Kelly Sirois: [00:44:32] It’s literally like if we’re talking and you’re reacting off of what you know, I’m nodding my head. You’re nodding your head. Right. So it’s behavior and it’s just paying attention to what that person is saying and absorbing the words. How many times have you had a conversation with somebody and you’re not really listening to them? You’re like, huh? Because you feel like you know what they’re saying already.

Sharon Cline: [00:44:53] You’re thinking about what you’re going to say and listening and not listening.

Kelly Sirois: [00:44:58] So but you already kind of have that naturally. So congratulations. Thank. Be an actress.

Sharon Cline: [00:45:04] Oh, my.

Kelly Sirois: [00:45:04] Goodness.

Sharon Cline: [00:45:05] Well, you’re very easy to interview, too. And I’ve really like, I’ve had so much fun just listening to what it’s like for you on your end, because I don’t think that. I mean. I don’t really talk. It’s just interesting to me. I think, like when I think about Atlanta and how big it is and I always think like Tyler Perry Studios and all of the Marvel movies and it seems so big and completely inaccessible to someone like me or any of my friends who are here in, you know, Woodstock. So thinking about the fact that they could have some very valuable skills that are respected in the industry, I just feel like so lucky it’s down the street. Why don’t more people know? I’m so glad that you’re here to talk about it.

Kelly Sirois: [00:45:44] Gosh, I’m so thankful. Well, anytime you need a fill in guest, call me. Oh, girl, we can talk all day.

Sharon Cline: [00:45:51] Could we? Absolutely could. Well, I can’t thank you enough, Kelly Savoy. I got it. Yes, you.

Kelly Sirois: [00:45:55] Did.

Sharon Cline: [00:45:56] Thank you for coming to the studio and sharing your story. And how could anyone get in touch with you if they’re interested?

Kelly Sirois: [00:46:01] Thank you. They could go to Atlanta. Hollywood.com. Our phone number is on the website. Also, our email is on the website as well. You could go to my personal website, Kelley Ink Biz, and find out more information. That’s all your hat’s how I tie it together somehow.

Sharon Cline: [00:46:19] All under the same umbrella. So that’s cool. Right?

Kelly Sirois: [00:46:21] Yes. It’s not fully developed, but it’s at least that you can find me and get my direct number there.

Sharon Cline: [00:46:26] So we’ll come back anytime. Maybe in like a little while we can check back in and see how things have changed for you as life goes on. It’s fun to watch people’s journeys, and especially because I feel like you have such a heart for what you’re doing. So you know, you’re making decisions from like such a good place. So I just, I don’t know. I just feel like such, such success happens when you’re in alignment that way. So I’m excited for you.

Kelly Sirois: [00:46:47] Thank you so much.

Sharon Cline: [00:46:49] Well, thank you also for listening to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX. And this is Sharon Klein reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day.