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>> KRISTINE: Hi, this is Kristine Oller! Welcome to the Actor’s Library How-They-Did-It Success
Story Newsletter. This issue features L.A. based actress and comedian Renee Santos who
shares how she networked her way to a major gig, opening for Wanda Sykes. Take it away
Renee.
>> RENEE: When I think about the story, for me it’s really a relationship building story
because one of the first things I learned when I came to LA, is that when you meet people
you should never think, “What can this person do for me right now?” You should think,
“What am I building?” I’ve tried to approach every business relationship I’ve
had from that perspective and it’s allowed me to create authentic connections but I’ve
had to be patient because things haven’t happened right away.
I initially met Sandra Valls who is this stand-up comic. She’s been on HBO’s Queens of Comedy
and she was on my target list of fellow female comedians to get to know when I created that
list in like 2007. So I started going to her shows. She had a fundraising event for AIDS
Project Los Angeles and I went just as a volunteer for the event. It had nothing to do with comedy
but I just really began building with this woman because she was someone I wanted to
know.
In 2008 she did her first, she called it the Lezberados Tour - it was a spoof on the Desperados
- it was her and one other lesbian comic and they needed an MC for the tour. They actually
had another girl initially who did their first three shows and then she got sick and they
called me as her backup and for two months I toured with them. I did that with her and
then a year went by where we sort of lost touch, but I would continue to make little
comments on her Facebook status or whatever just keeping her on my radar of “Hi, I know
you exist still.” But really authentically, too, because I’ve also learned I don’t
have to always nurture every single relationship if it doesn’t feel like it’s a true connection.
Because I feel like the most amazing opportunities come when there’s a really authentic connection.
So even though we sort of lost touch, we didn’t really, we just weren’t physically in each
other’s presence. I always felt we gave each other feedback and she would comment
on my stuff. Even when I was training for the marathon she gave me a donation for my
marathon and stuff like that. She was very supportive of me as a person. I felt really
supportive of her as a person. I always knew that I was going to work with her. I just
knew instinctually.
Then in 2009 I continued to do a few other comedy gigs where we were in the lineup together,
but it wasn’t necessarily her show. Then she actually opened a small business that
again had nothing to do with comedy, just something on the side. I helped her move stuff
in and open that kind of thing. At any rate, this past year, I then met - flash forward
to a different person: Dana Goldberg, totally different comic - she had actually, we had
performed together, she had gone through a bad breakup and I was just there for her as
a friend. Then after she had gotten over that hump we again started doing comedy together.
We did a little mini tour in San Diego. I did not realize that both of these women simultaneously
they worked for Olivia Cruises. They had been on Cruises a bunch of times.
2010 is when I initially reached out to Olivia Cruises when I had done a Google search. I
didn’t send in a press kit, but I just sent an email inquiry about the best person to
contact if I wanted to send materials over and never heard back. So I just continued
to keep them on my marketing phase strategy to reach out to Olivia every six months. At
this time I didn’t even know that these women that I had been building relationships
with were affiliated with Olivia. Then I had gone to lunch with Dana Goldberg and she had
just left her comedy agent in New York and said she was looking for new representation.
I referred her to my agency and my agency signed her on the spot. Now it’s 2011, I
send right before my first NACA college course, send my press kit to Olivia because I have
a bunch of media coverage. That’s the other thing about patience, not just the relationships,
I had now been doing comedy for four years so I had enough media coverage and just stuff
for my press kit. My DVD of my Showtime special and I had something to give to somebody and
I had to build that actual press kit in order for me to have anything.
I realized that it’s sort of a divine puzzle sometime – we want this immediate return,
but in 2007 I wouldn’t have had a press kit to send. It didn’t exist yet. It sort
of came together perfectly and I sent my press kit over and I had gotten referrals, unbeknownst
to me to, Olivia. They’d heard my name twice, from both Dana and Sandra. Sandra and Dana
don’t really know each other. They know each other from the comedy world, but they
both gave me referrals.
This is just speculation, but I think that is sort of what sealed the deal; it was hearing
my name twice because I didn’t hear back for six months when I sent my own press kit.
Then they referred back to it. I guess it had triggered their memory or something because
when Jennifer McDougall finally emailed me she did say that she’d received my press
kit. This was now in December, and I sent it to her in August or September earlier that
year. I don’t know if she was like wait a minute, Renee Santos, I think she sent us
something six months ago.
>> KRISTINE: What I love about that is had you not sent it she wouldn’t have seen your
name once. When your name was repeated to her two other times it all came together.
>> RENEE: For me personally, the most amazing part of this story is I found out later from
Sandra after I took her to lunch thanking her for the referral. Dana happened to be
out of town at the time. We’d gone to lunch and she was like, Renee, I have to tell you
the truth of this story – I was booked for Olivia Cruises and apparently their numbers
have sort of gone down because the talent is older. Sandra Valls is in her late forties
and most of these performers are in their late forties – early fifties and Olivia
was really looking for younger talent. And when they had sat down with Sandra that’s
how my name got dropped. They were like, we love you, you’ve been such a rock for Olivia,
but we’re really looking to expand our horizons, do you know of any younger lesbian comedians
and that’s how I got referred. I actually took Sandra Valls’ spot at Olivia. They
pulled her and replaced her with me. To me that’s such an amazing story because she
was humble enough to say yes to that and give a legitimate referral. To me that’s the
most magical story of paying it forward that I’ve ever heard.
The two main comics, Suzanne Westenhoefer and Wanda Sykes, they have both young openers.
There’s another female comic that’s about my age that’s opening for Suzanne and I’m
opening for Wanda. That’s what they’re trying to do to build up their roster of people
that attend these resorts is to get some younger talents up there. I feel like it kind of came
together at perfect timing because even three years ago none of the talent that was booked
was under 40.
>> KRISTINE: You were the right person at the right time and you knew the right people
and you were being proactive for yourself. All your divine puzzle came into place. So
what is the gig exactly? You’re ten days on a cruise?
>> RENEE: Well it’s with Olivia Cruises – it’s actually not a cruise. Once a year
they do a resort vacation. It’s in Punta Cana resort in the Dominican Republic, but
we’re stationary. They’ve reserved the entire Club Med resort for this – it’s
like a lesbian vacation is what Olivia Cruises is famous for. They have comedians and musicians
and circus troupes and a bunch of entertainment and parties in the Dominican for like ten
days straight. Only one of the nights am I actually opening for Wanda, but I perform
multiple times at different venues. It’s exciting because this is actually the first
time in my career that I’ve performed six days in a row.
>> KRISTINE: And that’s another rung up the ladder. Now you’ve done something where
you’ve performed six days in a row and now you’ve opened for a huge headliner.
>> RENEE: I’m excited but nervous.
>> KRISTINE: Isn’t it fun though when you’re work takes you to someplace really cool? Like
Club Med?
>> RENEE: It is amazing and just realizing that I am a brand and that has been sort of
shell shock for me in this experience because a week and a half ago I’d gotten a confirmation
email about the breakdown of the week. And there’s a meet and greet where every one
of the artists has a booth where they can sell merchandise. I got this email and went
in to complete panic. Sell merchandise in a booth? I don’t have any merchandise. What
am I going to put in a booth? I instantly was like, I don’t know what to do. I had
to create a brand for me so I had something to bring. I had to hire a graphic designer
to come up with a logo for me and print out t-shirts so I had something to sell. I realized
this is the first time I acknowledged that I was actually a brand and I didn’t plan
accordingly. I think that was part of me not stepping into where I was at in my career.
I didn’t know. It didn’t even – it shocked me when I found out that I would have a booth
with merchandise. So I’m just trying to fake it until I make it. And pretend like,
yes, I have merchandise setting in my closet – I’ll bring it.
>> KRISTINE: That is literally just the universe being like hello, you’re here.
>> RENEE: Yeah, it definitely was that moment - where I’m like, have you been in denial
that as a standup… I don’t even think of that. As a standup comic I have to be something.
I have to have a little logo and I have to – all these other comics do. They have t-shirts
and they’re known by certain things. Like Shawn Pelofsky, she has all these t-shirts
that say, Lunge It Out and that’s her thing. She’s logos all over her website and can
buy t-shirts that say Lunge It Out. It’s like in the middle of her set, that’s what
she does – she randomly lunges and I realize I don’t have any of that.
>> KRISTINE: The thing about branding is you have to start somewhere – what you’re
doing for this gig – you have to start somewhere. I’m so glad you were like okay, let me get
a logo. Let me print some t-shirts. But a lot of branding is also informed from other
people. As people start to write interviews about you and people start to write profiles
of you and you’re reviewed and then the audience, that’s where you’ll start to
see how the world sees you.
>> RENEE: So true. It’s really interesting because this past couple of weeks that I’ve
been performing, I’ve been hyper aware of that very thing and I never had been before.
Thinking of “What are people responding to?” I actually ended up changing my logo
because when I performed at the Comedy Store last Friday somebody yelled out, do your handicap
joke and it hit me like a ton of bricks. That’s what I’m known for. My most, if you can
say that, my most famous joke of my fan base, everybody knows my handicap joke. It’s my
gold. It’s in every one of my reels. It’s one of those things that if it’s not going
well, I throw in my handicap joke because I know it’s going to work. Every once in
a while people ask for it. Even when I recently was interviewed to be – I actually went
to network for a panel show for Logo TV – almost like a Chelsea roundtable without a host.
But when I was interviewed for that show they said the same thing – they’d watched my
reel and will you tell Michael your handicap joke. And that’s what I chose to make my
logo. I actually created the handicap sign with two women kissing on it. And underneath
it I put “Renee Santos.” And so that’s what’s on my t-shirts. I printed out little
door hangers and actual placards that have those women on it. And it says Gay Parking
Only and it has my name underneath it and my website and just two women kissing on it.
It’s absurd, but that’s what the joke is.
>> KRISTINE: Yes. Oh, Renee, that’s really great. But you see how it was informed by
other people telling you. What they like about you and what they find memorable and unique
about you. It’s really hard to just sit in your apartment and go, what’s my brand?
Do you just take a moment every so often to go, yeah, okay, I’m moving right along?
>> RENEE: I need to do that more often because I feel like my internal critic doesn’t let
me celebrate for very long. It’s actually one of the things I’ve been really working
on just as a person. I went to a spiritual meditation retreat for this very issue. It’s
the whole “you can’t build on success you don’t acknowledge” thing. And I try
to say that to other people but it’s often hard for me to live it. I get very self-deprecating
and just recently I was interviewed for Latina LA Magazine and the first thing I thought
was oh, this is exciting and literally less than 20 seconds later I thought, well, it’s
Latina LA nobody’s even heard of this magazine; It’s not like it’s the LA Times. That’s
how my brain works. I immediately defeat myself every time I ever get anything. Even opening
for Wanda, I’m like yeah, but you’re opening in the Dominican Republic where no one can
actually come and see you. Who really cares. You know, that’s what the internal critic
does. It will not let me celebrate an accomplishment and it’s suffocating sometimes because I’ve
been very disillusioned by where I’m at. And I think that was part of the reason why
this whole having to prepare merchandise for a booth shocked me. Because I didn’t realize
actually how far along I was in my career. Every other artist already had this stuff
ready to go. But because I hadn’t really honored where I was at, I wasn’t prepared.
>> KRISTINE: And one thing I might suggest is maybe you have a collection of your friends,
people, I don’t know, like me, who totally adore you and have seen your progress and
I don’t know – 15-20 people that you just put in a little email group so that you can
just hit that button and the email goes out to the little group. Have it like your celebration
circle. It’s like a safe place for you to toot your own horn so we can all be like,
“Oh, my God, that’s amazing!” You know? Because we’ve been talking about that a
lot in my Actors Mastermind Group, we had a huge thing where we talked about victories
and sometimes a victory is something that falls into your lap that you didn’t do any
work for. And sometimes a victory is something you did a hell of a lot of work for. And then
sometimes a victory is just a bold move that you make that doesn’t result in anything
but the sheer fact that you made the bold move is the victory. The sheer fact that you
sent your press kit to Olivia, “Okay, there I go.” It didn’t seem like it amounted
to anything at the time but it was a victory, obviously now, but even at the time because
sending out a press kit is you taking the action that you believe in yourself. All of
those kinds of victories need to be celebrated, even the teeny tiny little ones. And if you
have people with whom to celebrate, it reminds you to celebrate. And here’s the ironic
thing – as you progress in the next couple years the successes are going to keep coming
but often times in our lives, when things get really good and it’s like success, success,
success, success, we almost celebrate less. It’s kind of like on to the next thing,
on to the next thing, on to the next thing. That’s not good too, because as you know,
having gone to that retreat, you have to acknowledge this stuff so the universe knows you’re
listening.
>> RENEE: I really do agree with that.
>> KRISTINE: I thank you so much. This is a really great conversation. I thank you so
much for sharing it with everybody.
>> RENEE: Absolutely. I’m totally glad to do it.
>> KRISTINE: And that’s just one more example that you can bet on yourself and win! If you
need to get on the Actor’s Library newsletter list, you can do so at TheActorsLibrary.com.