This week we are joined by actor, director and acting coach James Ciccone, who has appeared in over 50 episodes of television including The Deuce, Manifest, FBI and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, as well as worked with Academy Award-winning directors like Martin Scorcese and Todd Phillips. James is also the founder and teacher at The Actors Axiom, an ongoing virtual and in-person class focused on mastering the self-tape for television.James provides a wealth of knowledge from his years as an actor and coach, sharing his insights and breaking down untouched topics like residuals for theatrical vs streaming films, the art of the self-tape and bringing yourself to each role rather than fitting into what you think a casting director is looking for. "I work all the time because I'm a New York guy, that's who I am. There are a lot of people who tell me I should pay lots of money to lose my accent, but then casting directors say 'no, that's why you work!' We're in a visual medium, you have to be interesting on the screen. The greatest tool an actor needs to have is luck. There's ifs, ands or buts. Some people just get lucky. But you have to still be prepared and present. You're not going to get on a TV show without putting your name in the hat."