Jonathan Runyon episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 28, 2025 · 1H 9M

Jonathan Runyon

from Box Angeles (for Actors) · host Jonathan Runyon, Mike Box Elder

Actor - and commercial session director - Jonathan Runyon (Modern Family, Mad Men) joins us on the Box Angeles podcast episode 352. Jonathan stops by the bungalow and discusses the economics of being a session director, auditon & callback advice, common things he notices actors doing (and not doing), what the true goal is for commercial actors, and more!---BEATS--00:00 - Jonathan slates his name.00:11 - Introduction.02:29 - Acting and working at 200 South La Brea.03:11 - Slower commercially right now, but not for non union.05:18 - Session director perspective on self tapes.09:08 - Being a waiter dating back to studying at the Stella Adler Conservatory in NYC.12:00 - The economics and schedule of session directing.17:20 - How do you make acting work with session directing.20:08 - Working with different offices.22:35 - Getting a callback or audition for a session you're suppose to run.26:36 - Giving personalized feedback / instructions in auditions.31:47 - Actors that booking bringing themselves to the auditions.33:59 - Naturally not being "grounded".35:28 - Choosing the order auditions are submitted to highlight certain ones.39:48 - Ideal time to audition in the session.41:34 - Any patterns in auditions?43:45 - Real time filtering happening in callbacks.46:24 - How actors should enter a callback.50:01 - Knowing who the director is at callbacks and a Philip Seymour Hoffman story.52:56 - Self sabotaging actors.57:25 - Are callbacks more stressful.58:43 - Casting directors livestream of the room.1:00:53 - Are callbacks the new goal for actors.1:03:50 - There is a board with the list of auditions at 200 South La Brea (!!)1:04:59 - Who took a chance on Jonathan.1:06:37 - Surprised by who books things.The full video and pics -- boxangeles.com/352---MORE JONATHAN RUNYON --Check Jonathan's IMDb.Follow Jonathan on Instagram @jonathanrunyon.---MORE BOX ANGELES --Support Box Angeles (and access the audio archives) on Patreon.Follow Box Angeles on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. 

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Actor Jonathan Runyon (Modern Family, Mad Men) spills the tea from a session director perspective on self-tapes, callbacks, acting tropes and the secret sauce to booking commercials.

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