Hey Guys, Renee Pezzotta here, acting my age.
If you are new to the channel, be sure to
hit subscribe and come back every Wednesday
for a new video. This week I am sitting down
with actress, writer and director Rakefet
Abergel, you may have seen her in a past episode,
sitting down with Shawn Christian. Well in
this interview, we're gonna talk about her
journey as an actress and her journey into
self creation. She also has an award-winning
short film called Jax in Love.
"Can you hear me? This is Adam's friend,
we had a huge fight last night and he left me.
" Stop the car oh come on!"
"It's going to be dark soon. You out
here all alone?"
"Yeah, Why?"
"No reason, just seems dangerous or
whatever?"
"What's wrong with that?"
"I just want to find that moment, and
connect, soul to soul.
Do you ever think about that moment right before you die?"
So you're actually from Los Angeles.
I am.
That's really weird
I know
You have such an East Coast vibe to
you now.
People say that to me all the time and
cast Directors always tell me like, you'd
work more in New York, and whatever but I
can not do a New York accent to save my life.
So if, they wanted me to be Long Island, I'd
be like LA Lon Island.
Come on you could throw down a Long
Island. Long Island, Long Island.
I had to do it at an Adam Sandler movie
once, but it was under pressure, and it was
a comedy, so I think I got away with it, being
really bad. Like, I sounded like an old Jewish
grandmother.
"Not without your veil you not? Where
is that bad boy?"
“Oh I think I left it upstairs."
“Don't worry, I'll get it, sis"
So being out here in Las Angeles. Are
any of your family members, in the industry?
Is, I mean?
Nobody is in the industry, nobody was
in the industry and nobody is except for me,
so that was kind of hard. Cos it was like,
I knew a lot of people, whose parents are
friends or are in the industry growing up
and I wanted to be like a part of that, but
we didn't know anybody, so I kind of had to
just figure it out and so I used to like,
scour papers for auditions and like when I
was like eight and like call places and make
appointments and my mom would be like, like,
mom we have to be at an audition at 3 O'clock
and she's like with whom? Like, where'd you
get this audition? I'm like they called and
they told me to come at 3 O'clock.
"Wow”
"Yeah", So she told me to stop making
appointments for her. She said "when you can
drive yourself. Do whatever you want!"
“Wow” Do you find you are as ambitious
now as you were when you were 8?
You know, I feel like I might have been
more ambitious then, than I am now. I mean
I am pretty ambitious still, I'm a pretty
ambitious person, but I think, I had a lot
more faith back then than I do now. I am a
little more beaten now, by the reality of
the business.
You were fearless as a kid.
I was.
That's the thing we all try, to like
reconnect with, right? As we get older. So
today's quote is “Whether you think you
can, or whether you think you can't, your
right”
Correct.
That's from Henry Ford.
Yes.
Yes. Why is that a quote that you like?
It's actually a quote that my mom says
to me all the time and its funny cos Henry
Ford I think was a pretty, big anti semite from
what I remember and my mom is like super Jewish
and very against anti Semitism but anyway.
She loves using this quote um but it's a big
quote because the idea is that like, you can
do or be whatever you want to be and if you
tell yourself, I am shit then guess what you
are shit and if you tell yourself, you are
better than that then guess what you are better
that and if you tell yourself you can do it,
you can do it, if you tell yourself you can't
do it you are not going to do it. You're always
going to believe yourself. So I really, I
think it's a quote that like, I don't know
reminds me that I have to think about how
I am talking to myself, because how you talk
to yourself becomes your actions and your
actions become your life.
Alright, so Let's talk about your journey
into self creation.
Well I was having some trouble, not
trouble I don't know I was not auditioning
as much and I wasn't getting in for the roles
that I really wanted and roles that I thought
I could play and I was doing a lot of comedy
and I had done stand up and anyway, so I decided
to write a film that ended up being Jax in
Love and a short and it was a role that I
could play that was different, than all of
what I usually play and something that I would
never get cast in and I had no idea what I
was doing and I literally just kinda just
put one foot in front of the other and just
kind of worked my way through the process
and it ended up being really successful um
it went to like I don't know 50 something
festival[crosstalk 00:05:30]s.
You've gotta a lot of Laurels on your
poster.
We were [crosstalk 00:05:33]. My goal
was like I have never made my own movie right,
so I was like I'm gonna put all the Laurels
I get on this poster and I honestly didn't
think it would be many, but I did over. I
submitted to a lot of festivals, because I
was worried we would not get into any festivals
and so I like kinda over submitted and we
ended up getting into a lot more than I thought
we would. We ended up not getting into many
as well. Um, so I decided to do another short
work so that I could like hang out with the
same people, basically.
What is this new project you are talking
about?
So this one is called Boo.
“Close the circle”. ...“God, Grant
me the serenity to accept the things I can
not change. [crosstalk 00:06:18]and courage
to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference." Keep coming back it works if you
work it.
Lately I have just been having trouble
controlling myself. My husband just totally
doesn't get it. He is not like us. I'm at
a loss.  I feel like,
if something doesn't give soon, I'm going to do something
I'll regret.
It is another horror, short Jax in
Love was an accidental horror.
Okay
I didn't intend for it to be a horror.
Fans liked it, it kinda became a horror and
I was super happy cos I met some of the best
people in the world, through that network
of people.
Where does that title come from? Is
it Boo, like your My Boo or is it boo like
Boo?
Maybe it's both.
Oh
Oh ooo [crosstalk 00:07:18]. It is kind
of both, um, it is kind of both. I'll just
say that. I wanted it to be you know, there's,
I wanted a big scare, scary ending and I just
thought, any scary ending that ends with Boo
is funny so I kinda liked that. Um but also
it has something to do with like, the story
itself or whatever, but its about addiction
and love and its definitely got like, societal
messages in there, whatever I don't know,
I can't make anything just like fluffy.
Yeah Yeah. What are you doing? Besides
creating your own work, which is amazing,
Um you know, that takes up a lot of time,
but what do you do to keep yourself motivated?
I think my motivation is that like I
truly believe that I can be successful. That
I will be successful, because I have just
never believed that I wouldn't be, do you
know what I mean? Like even in bad times and
even in slow times and even before I even
had a credit to my name, I believed that this
is what I was supposed to do. So I truly believe
that and like the quote says, like If you
think you can you are right and so I am going
to tell myself that I can so that I will be
right because I need to be right, cos something
good needs to happen, but also it's motivating.
Also, like I don't Facebook, it's silly and
people make fun of me or whatever but Facebook
to me is actually really motivating, and I
know to some people it's the opposite but,
seeing all my friends who are film makers
or actors or whatever, booking jobs or making
movies or going to festivals, or getting awards...
It's incredibly motivating to me cos
I'm like if they can do it I can do it and
you know, and we can all be like just creating
stuff that means something in the world, you
know what I mean, instead of just waiting
for the phone to ring or just auditioning
for a living or you know. Um sure it's super
hard but like did I ever think I'd make my
own movie, like never in a million, bazillion
years and if I make two I will be incredibly
proud of myself so. Um now I just need to
write a feature film, which is a whole other
mountain I want to get over but, yeah, so
I don't know. How do you keep motivated? You
believe that you can. Otherwise, the second
you believe that you can't you're right. I
just, I don't need to be famous. I just want
to do what I love and get paid and not to
do anything else.
Yeah.
I just want to get paid.  No like that's it, that's how I'll
know I've made it, when I can do nothing else.
So is that your idea of success?
My idea of success is doing what I love
and getting paid to do it and not having to
do anything else and also I'll know that I've
made it when I can go get on a plane whenever
I want at anytime to go anywhere I want for
no reason. First Class.
OH,  So money, it
sounds like money is a little bit of a motivator...
Money would be nice. I've never had
any, I don't even know what it looks like.
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please, subscribe and come back every Wednesday
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I am Renee Pezzotta, acting my age. ....
Wow there is something going
on by right now that is vibrating the chairs. I feel it, that's nice. Is that a perk?
Yes, I do that for all the female guests,
and some of the male guests.
