EP 109: Tony Pinizzotto – Creator of PEACHBOY the Musical on You Booked It podcast!
EP 109: Tony Pinizzotto (autogenerated)
[00:00:00] Dane Reis: [00:00:00] you booked it episode 109.
[00:00:05] Okay, let’s get started. I am excited to introduce my guest today. Tony Pena’s. are you ready for this Tony?
[00:00:15]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:00:15] I am ready.
[00:00:16] Dane Reis: [00:00:16] Brilliant. Uh, Tony has been a professional in the entertainment industry for over three decades. Originally, a South Jersey native. He started as an actor performing for Busch gardens, alive entertainment, Moscow theater of the arts and touring with Dallas Fort worth Shakespeare.
[00:00:34] He graduated Glassboro state college now, Rowan university with a BA in theater and a minor in vocal performance. Tony, Tony moved to Chicago and continued acting while beginning PR slash marketing and producing slash directing for live theater as a founding member of Chicago’s close call theater. He was the promotion director for Chicago’s Weigel broadcasting co channel 26, the U working with judge Judy, queen Latifa, Bob Eubanks, and more.
[00:01:04] He then moved to LA performing with Glendale center theater, the eclectic theater and candlelight pavilion theater, earning an inland empire theater award nomination for best supporting actor as Santo in their production of man of LA. Moncha also in LA, he acted in commercials and films, including lions Gates. The last godfather , alongside Harvey Keitel and Jason muse. Tony is now creative director for the game show TV channel, and just completed work on his first musical peach boy.
[00:01:40] Tony. That is a quick intro of who you are and what you’ve done, but why don’t you tell us a little bit more about yourself, fill in the gaps and a little bit more about what you do as a professional in the entertainment industry.
[00:01:55]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:01:55] Well, thanks, Dane boy, I’m exhausted. Just hearing.
[00:01:59] That’s a lot. No. I’m a creative. I just call myself a creative. I live in Los Angeles now it’s where I make my living. Um, I’m a hyphenate. I like you said, I actor, singer writer, producer more. I’ve always had a great love of the arts and theater as a kid. Um, , I, I remember times as a kid, um,
[00:02:23] Gathering the local neighborhood children and going over to a friend’s house with my little boom box and we would all be wearing roller skates. And I would choreograph the roller skating routine from the movie. Funny girl. Uh, These like seven year old kids doing this number. Um, so I, I just, from the earliest age, I’ve just always loved.
[00:02:43] Performing and doing theater. Um, I did grow up in South Jersey and my life took me pretty much all the way across the country. Um, I am a creative director for buzzer, which is the all vintage games show channel we’re owned by Freemantle media and Fremantle. If you know, produces like American idol, America’s got talent and, uh,
[00:03:02] All the current versions of the older game shows. But . What buzzer does is we are all vintage games shows from the fifties through the eighties.
[00:03:23] Myself and my team have created promos and, and yes. Uh, now I’m, I’m working on a musical and I’m trying to get it, uh, Workshops. So, yeah, I’m just thrilled to be here with you.
[00:03:33] Dane Reis: [00:03:33] Ah, very cool. Very fantastic to have you very excited about this and let’s move on to this next section here. And Tony, look, I am a sucker for a good quote. What is your favorite quote? You’d like to share with everyone?
[00:03:50]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:03:50] I think I got a good one for you here. Um, this is a quote that I have lived by for many years and it’s, it goes as follows. It’s let no one be diluted. That a knowledge of the path can substitute for putting one foot in front of the other. And then this is a quote, which, uh, We as by a poet and she’s actually an educator. Her name was Mary Caroline Richards.
[00:04:15] And it’s really about using applied knowledge in your life. You know, we can go out and we can study our craft and we can go to school and college and we can. Nah, you know, be Rhode scholars and tour and work. But if we’re not actually applying the things that we learn in our lives to the things that we want to do.
[00:04:38]Um, it’s, it’s a useless space of, of knowing things. And I think when the great thing about this is that when you apply something you’ve learned, it moves the energy in your life forward. It gets you, it’s a catalyst and, um, yeah, I just, that’s my quote. I love that quote.
[00:04:55] Dane Reis: [00:04:55] Perfect. Yeah. When you apply something you learned, I think that says it right there because. knowledge alone is quite useless. We have to do something with that in the quote, you have to put one foot in front of the other, right. You have to keep moving forward and make something happen with that knowledge.
[00:05:13]Or what’s the point?
[00:05:14]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:05:14] Exactly. I mean, if you can, if you study a map for years and know your way to get from point a to point B, but you never. Make your move and you never jump into it. What, what good is it? And so that’s really, it’s really all about applying, using applied knowledge.
[00:05:33] Dane Reis: [00:05:33] Yeah, it’s kind of. kind of. Like when you chat with. People in your life. That’s how, you know, Someday I’m going to do that. I’m going to do this. I’ve got this great idea for this great musical or this great app or this great something, whatever it might be. Right. Right. And it’s just talk and talk and talk and while it’s great talk, great ideas. You have to back it up with the action.
[00:05:52]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:05:52] Absolutely. And, you know, I don’t know if I, I feel like I’m a lot, a lot of performers out there and creative types that.
[00:05:58] Pretty much did it because if they didn’t try it, they’d be wandering their whole life. Could I have succeeded?
[00:06:05] Could I have done this? And really, for me personally, in my own opinion, it’s in my own feeling of, of what I do. I really. Chose this career. Because I would have wondered all my life. Could I have done this? Could I have been successful? And so I might as well jump in and try it.
[00:06:24]Dane Reis: [00:06:24] 100%. And let’s move on to this section here. And Tony, of course you are an entertainment professional. I am an entertainment professional, and I think that he would agree that this industry can be one of the most subjective, brutally, honest and personally emotional industries in existence. And, you know, you know, as well as I, that in order to create and have a successful career in this industry, like you’re having now, it takes a lot of dedication and hard work. And while yeah, there was no rages amount of fun doing what we do. There are also our fair share of obstacles, challenges, and failures. We are going to experience and we’re going to have to move forward through. So tell us what is one key challenge, obstacle or failure you’ve experienced in your career? And how did you come out the other side better because of it.
[00:07:21]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:07:21] Boy, this is a, this is a really great question because I think with as performer or artists, we’re all, we are constantly faced with rejection. And so we have to learn how to accept that. But mine was a little different. I have to go back to when I was 20 years old. Um, I was in college. Um, I had switched my major at that point. Originally wasn’t a theater major, um, and I’d made my switch and. Um, my family and I, we had suffered a really sudden loss. My mother had passed away. Um, she was, she was. She was pretty much. In full remission. Uh, from cancer for years and she had died instantly of a heart it’s heart failure. And it was tough. It was really, really tough. And it was emotionally. Just like a million pound weight. And, um, for years, my family and I have a lot of brothers and one sister, we would travel down to Busch gardens, Williamsburg, the old country. Which was the theme park. And, um, that was our family vacation. For many years. We did at least just go there and I was always taken by the entertainers there. And I was always impressed with. Of the shows there. And so, um, after my mom had passed away that summer, I said to my dad, why don’t we come down? Why don’t we go down to Virginia and just get your mind off of things. And so we did, we did a five hour road trip from New Jersey and just the two of us and. Went down. And I would, we were both in a really dark place and it was just really, really tough thing. I didn’t know where, what I was going to be doing. I didn’t even know if I was going to continue the arts and we had gone into this show. Um, it was called Chanted laboratory of NUS traumas, the magnificent, and this show is not your typical, wasn’t your typical theme park show. It was designed by a lot of the Disney Imagineers. And it was a one man musical show and it was kind of, the plot was kind of like the Sorcerer’s apprentice, where the wizard goes away and the apprentice boy, um, starts messing around with his magical spells and all this, and there was music and singing in it. And. All these special effects. And I was, I was flabbergasted at this show. It was one person. it was one of those things where I just. Really had an epiphany and saw myself in this role, performing in this show. And I was just floored. And, um, so we, we finished the trip. It was a good trip. And then that following December, this was back in 88. Um, I saw an audition notice for Busch gardens in Philadelphia, and I went over there with some friends and I thought I’m an audition for this show for this show to target. And, um, I did classical music is A theme park audition, which is really unheard of. Um, and out of 25,000 audition EAs, I got a call. I got a call. Saying, Hey, this is, uh, her name is Emil tremble. She’s no longer with us, but she was a wonderful person, said, Hey, do you want to come down into this show? It’s called the enchanted laboratory of Was the magnificent.
[00:10:24] Honesty. And I’m still choked up when I talk about it, because it was a really big moment in my life where I realized. That. Uh, I’m a, I’m a believer that, that these shows and these projects pick you, you don’t pick them. And this was, it was destiny. Um, but in a way, what it. Did you put me into a realm of people that were working professionally? Um, I still have some of my closest friends from that time. And, you know, you know, theme parks get a lot of bad rap. Um, that’s not real performing, but let me tell you, it was my first exposure to major professional theater where I was getting paid. We were doing six shows a day. So the work ethic was stepped up. And this show in particular was went way beyond a typical type of theme park show. And if anything, and really taught me that this is a job, not a hobby. And this is a career that pays bills. And if you’re going to do it. You gotta do it with that in mind. So really I came out of that situation. Much more mature as a performer. And I really will never trade that in for the rest of my life. I loved that experience.
[00:11:27] Dane Reis: [00:11:27] Oh, that’s such a good story. And you’re right. The theme parks, the cruise ships. They still get kind of a bad rap don’t they.
[00:11:36] Tony Pinizzotto: [00:11:36] Yeah, but they pay the bills. I mean, that’s the thing, like, you know, that John Malcovich is somebody who does theater and he loves theater and he does film and he’s, he’s been quoted saying, I hate doing film. But it gives me the money to go and do the things I want to do. The things that I love to do. So. Yeah, it pays and that’s, that’s important.
[00:11:53] Dane Reis: [00:11:53] Absolutely. And you know what else? I think that theme parks and cruise ships what they really provide as well is they provide experience in reps onstage. You know, It’s hard to get that much performance experience in such a short amount of time. That I cannot think of any other professional setting where you get that much stage time between. Cruise ships or. Theme parks.
[00:12:19] And it’s
[00:12:20] valuable for your career.
[00:12:22]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:12:22] And I, I actually went back several seasons after that. Um, next year I did a strong character, which was a lot of improv through the park. The third year I went back for the summer and I was actually a stage manager. So I got to learn more of the management side and manage a team of 40 actors. Um, and so absolutely the experience was amazing. I have my certificate still and I did the first year I was there. I did 1200 shows and a period of. I think it was April through end of August, 1200 performances. And this one show. Yeah. You, you got it’s like, it’s like working out, you know, it’s like working out six times a day. You’re going to get
[00:12:59] as an actor.
[00:13:00] Dane Reis: [00:13:00] For sure. I mean, even if you go and do regional theaters, , you’re doing a handful of shows really.
[00:13:04]Maybe one a day and it’s nothing in comparison to just the pure stage time that you get. And these other venues.
[00:13:12] Tony Pinizzotto: [00:13:12] Absolutely. Or if you do a bus and truck tour, you’re doing like, you know, uh, you’re doing a different city a day, so you’re literally hopping on a bus. You’re calling. I mean, this was in the days when. Uh, years ago, but I would, you know, when you’re in a different city a day and you’re lucky if you feel lucky, if you’re doing more than one show in one city, Like I can relax a little.
[00:13:31] Dane Reis: [00:13:31] Yeah.
[00:13:32] just a little.
[00:13:33] Tony Pinizzotto: [00:13:33] Just a little.
[00:13:35]Dane Reis: [00:13:35] Well, let’s move on to this next section here and to a time that I like to call your spotlight moment. That one moment in time you realized, yes, I am going to be an entertainer for a living or maybe it was, yes. This is what I need to be doing in the entertainment industry. Tell us about that.
[00:13:59]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:13:59] for me, it was more along the lines of going into producing and marketing. And I was in Chicago. Um, I had been with. Great group of people where we’ve created close call theater, a theater company. We were nomadic company that would rent out theaters. So we didn’t actually have a space, but we would do about two or three shows a year. And, um, and I was working a job, a sales job that I absolutely hated. Um, and a friend of mine said, Hey, you know, there’s this TV station. Um, and they do a lot of classic TV and they’re looking for someone who just does publicity. And the only pull dusty I experienced I had was doing for live theater. So I was like, sure, I’ll, I’ll do it. So I applied and I interviewed and I got it and I was thrilled and it was a huge amount of money. Um, but what it taught me being in the theater company was to, to being on the other side of the table. And I really stress that any actor out there and to answer you should really. Take some time and see if you can work in production or in marketing or publicity for theater or film, because you really get to see the other side of the table. Um, and really what goes into casting and you know what, there’s a lot of moving parts and you as an actor performing, you don’t always know the entire, uh, the entire set up of what’s going on. So, you know, the work, but anyway, Um, . So, so, uh, the first celebrity I got to work with it, the TV station was judge Judy and she came in and from New York and, uh, , um, I was in charge of setting up, haul her PR and marketing for a while. She was in Chicago because the channel was the Chicago affiliate for her court show. Now she was only about three years into this show. Like she’s been doing it like over 20 years now. And I was terrified. I was terrified. And, um, so we go and we pick her up at the airport and we bring her into the limo and it’s very quiet. And, uh, she says, uh, does anybody have asthma here? And I say, we’re looking at each other, like what? And she said, does anybody have asthma here? And we’re like, no, and she cracks open a new window, pulls out a pack of cigarettes and lights up and starts smoking. And I didn’t know, judge Judy smoked at the time. You know, and she said, notice, I didn’t say. Does anybody mind? If I smoke? I see. I said, does anybody have asked me here? And it was from that point on it that we just loosened up and Judy and I became, you know, really good work. We worked a couple of times together after that. By the end of that, she offered me a job to come out to LA and work for. And I turned her down and I said, she’s, she was calling me, bubble up. Bye. Bobo. Why don’t you come work for me? And I was like, Judy, there are a lot of people here that would like fight you for me. And she’s like, I think that’s true. I believe that. So it was just an honor to work with some of these people. And, um, that, that moment with her prepping her for all that press PR and then getting her in and then getting her to really successful interviews and a lot of good PR, it was just a moment. It was like, this is it. This is what I need to be doing. I really, really feel like I’m in my element. I love it.
[00:17:03]Dane Reis: [00:17:03] That is such a cool story.
[00:17:07] It’s very cheeky. About, does
[00:17:10] Tony Pinizzotto: [00:17:10] Oh, my God, she’s a Spitfire. She was a Spitfire.
[00:17:14] Dane Reis: [00:17:14] that’s so good. And I want to piggyback on that real quick and talk about your number one, booked it moment. Walk us through that day, the auditions and call backs. If they happen to be a part of it, what was going on in your life? And what about that moment? Makes it your favorite? Booked it moment.
[00:17:36]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:17:36] Oh my gosh. I mean, there’s, there’s a few, but this one to me, that’s always my favorite story to tell is that it was when I booked the last godfather. Which was, uh, pretty much, um, the biggest film Hollywood film you could say I did. And it wasn’t, it’s a small, independent film. It’s a comedy. It’s produced and written and acted by this. Um, he was basically the South Korean, Jerry Lewis. His name is hung Ray shim, and he wrote this and they shot it in Korean and English. I don’t speak Korean, but, um, but anyway, I got this call for this audition. And I’m looking at the script and it’s for an Italian shopkeeper. And I had a couple scenes with Harvey. Keitel in one scene with Jason muse, and I’m looking at this one scene and, um, I think I get the idea to do this audition in Italian. I don’t speak Italian. I know the curse words and I know the food. That’s it. Um, but my son, right. But my sister, God love her. She’s fluent in Italian. She lived in Italy for a few years when she was younger and she’s, I call her up and I said, Fran, here’s, I’m going to read you my lines. Tell me, tell me what this is an Italian. And so she did, she taught me, she, she told me what it was and I learned, and I knew it phonetically. And so when I went into this audition with, uh, Christine SHEEX was the casting director and she said, okay, so you’re ready to read it. And I’m like, yeah. And I said, how do you want me to do that? She’s like, what do you mean? I’m like, And said, I can do it regular. I can do it with an Italian accent or I can do it in Italian. And she was just like, It was, it was great because the look on her face was priceless. And so she had me do an English. She goes, okay, now I’ll do it in Italian. And I did it. And I got the call and I booked it. I mean, it was just. And I think when it really taught me was slick to follow your instincts and. And go in there and look, there’s more there’s S. There’s not one way to do anything in this world. And if, if something speaks to you to say, maybe I should go in and try this or do it go for it because it’s your opportunity to extend out. And so, um, I walked out of there. I felt great. About two days later, I got a call. And about, I think it was about a month later, I was on set. And, uh, paramount and we were shooting and I remember the first scene, just like Harvey Keitel after they called cut, it looked over me and just gave me a big thumbs up. That was it. And I was like, that’s enough validation. For the rest of my life. I can die a happy guy, but, um, , that, that movie was wonderful and I’m just so thrilled and fortunate that I got to be a part of it.
[00:20:07]Dane Reis: [00:20:07] Oh, very cool. And let’s take a moment to talk about the present. What projects are you working on now? What are you looking forward to? And I mean, we talked about it a little bit, pre recording, you know, it’s a weird time, right? We’re in this
[00:20:24] crazy pandemic. How do you see the entertainment industry moving forward in the next couple of years?
[00:20:31]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:20:31] Look, I mean, it’s such a crap shoot at this point. Like it’s so weird. Um, COVID socks and, and this whole thing is just. it’s really, really tough. And what I’ve been thrilled about is watching creative types. Find their way of doing things. Um, I had the wonderful opportunity to be part of a, um, a conference, current new musicals, inc. It’s a group out here in North Hollywood. It’s been around for years and it was a conference on pitching and. Normally, um, when you pitch your musical, are you I’m working on this peach boy musical and I’ve been working on it for about two and a half years now. And normally you wouldn’t be in a room. You’d probably get people from the LA area, maybe regional theater producers, things like that with COVID because we were doing in via zoom. It was wonderful. It was me. Uh, and about 40 other creative types with their shows, talking to Broadway producers and directors and artistic directors and all of a sudden, because this was happening via zoom. We were talking to people in Australia, people in London. Um, people here in the U S on both coasts. And I think what it, what it really did was it opened us up to an opportunity to hit a larger group of people and really, um, spread the news about what we’re doing. Um, I think COVID has top. It is as it is. I’m fortunate to have my job still. Um, um, me busy. I’ve lost weight because I’m home and I’m eating better. I’ve lost about 25 pounds, which I love him. Um, and, uh, I have more money too, cause I’m not going out and spending it, you know? So in that sense, I think it’s important to look at the. Bright side of what this is. Yes, it’s terrible. But at least it’s a chance for us to take the time we need to work on the things that we’ve been saying. We want to work on for years. Um, With, as far as recent projects, we just released a CD of peach boy. My composer, NY. Um, it’s now streaming. Um, it’s a original cast demo recording, which I really am thrilled about. And I’ve actually finished the first phase of a book that I’m writing, um, on game shows called game show Babylon, which should be out next year. And it’s really the darker side of game shows like. The stories that you really probably don’t know about? Um, Um, yeah, it’s, I’m very excited to, to be, to have this book. finish and hopefully we’re shooting for like, um, Probably fall of next year.
[00:23:04]Dane Reis: [00:23:04] Very cool. Yeah. Keep me posted on that. I’d love to
[00:23:07] check that out. What I’d launches and can you delve into. A bit of a synopsis on what peach boys all about.
[00:23:16] Tony Pinizzotto: [00:23:16] Sure. Peach point is a coming of age story. It’s a Japanese based it’s based on a 200 year old Japanese story of Momotaro. The peach boy. And it’s pretty much like Japan’s wizard of Oz, but it’s a very old story. And it’s about this elderly couple who really wants to have a child and they can not. Um, they pray to the gods. And one day, while the wife is washing her laundry by the stream, a huge peach comes floating down the stream and she grabs it, takes it home to her husband, so they could cut it open and eat it and they cut it open and a little baby boy pops out. And his name is Momotaro, which in Japanese means up first male born of the peach. And, um, he grows up being told stories of Knights in shining armor and rescuing damsels in distress. And, and, um, when he turns 15, he declared his love for, um, his, uh, love Jose, Becky. And she gets kidnapped by the evil ogre King. And so now he is on a mission to go and rescue her from the ogre and Elgar Island. And on the way he be friends, I have monkey and a dog and a pheasant. That all help him on his journey. And it’s just been a wonderful, wonderful. Uh, journey that I’ve taken with the show because I’ve had a lot of projects that sort of died on the vine, in the process of writing them. I’m blessed to be working with, um, Mark Saltzman, who he wrote, Hey, my name is Alice. He just had a show off Broadway called Romeo and Bernadette, and he’s been great. And I literally walked in and handed him a list of show ideas that I wanted to write. He just pointed to him. There’s your show right there, because that’s a great story. And it’s a universal theme and I’m just really, really excited to have it moving forward. The way it’s been.
[00:25:08]Dane Reis: [00:25:08] Oh, that’s so great. So great. Everyone. Go check it out and listen to that album. And. It is time to move on to one of my favorite sections in the interview. I call it the grease lightning round. Yeah, I am going to ask you a handful of questions. I want you to answer them as quickly and concisely as possible one after another. Are you ready?
[00:25:35]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:25:35] I am ready.
[00:25:36] Dane Reis: [00:25:36] All right. First question. What was the one thing holding you back from committing to a career as an entertainer?
[00:25:43]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:25:43] Yes. Uh, taking risks that I needed to take realizing that in my life, when I was younger, I was seeking acceptance, but scared of taking the risk. So I would go and book an audition and not show up, or I would get offered a role and not take it. But it really, you need to take risks. You need to build that intimacy with you and the work that you’re working on as an artist.
[00:26:07]Dane Reis: [00:26:07] Oh, you nailed it. That is such great advice for everyone. And the second question. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
[00:26:18]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:26:18] John Waters once told me a no is free. So do not be afraid to ask anybody for anything. If you’re working on something and you want something to happen ask because a no is free. If you get a no from someone didn’t cost you a dime.
[00:26:33]Dane Reis: [00:26:33] That’s right. . And the third question. What is something that is working for you right now? Or if you’d like to go pre COVID, what was working for you before our industry went on? Pause.
[00:26:46]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:26:46] That’s a great question. Set aside time for the things that make you happy. Whether it’s creative related or not. Put that time aside for yourself.
[00:26:56]Dane Reis: [00:26:56] Yes, I think that’s so important. And also we’ve been very blessed, I think during this time to realize that that is an important thing.
[00:27:06]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:27:06] That’s right. If you’re a writer. And you have a calendar and you want to write an hour a day, Mark that in your calendar. Don’t talk to anybody and do your thing. Do your writing. You got to block out time for yourself and the thing she doesn’t make you happy.
[00:27:20]Dane Reis: [00:27:20] Yes. And the fourth question. What is your best resource? Whether that is a book, a movie, a YouTube video, maybe a podcast, maybe a piece of technology that you found is helping your career right now.
[00:27:35] Tony Pinizzotto: [00:27:35] I would say two, one was actually keep talking to successful people in my field, the people that are doing things that I want to do. And it’s successful. Keep reaching out to those people as sources because they will be some of the best help. The other would be books I already have, like, I don’t know about you, but I have a million books. In my office and I go, I can’t go in and grab the books that I already have because there’s probably things in there that I need to revisit. And, uh, uh, and just keep literate about your research.
[00:28:07]Dane Reis: [00:28:07] Yes, love it. And the fifth question, if you had to start your career from scratch, but you still had all the knowledge and experience you’ve collected from your career in this industry. What would you do or not do, would you do anything differently or would you keep it the same?
[00:28:25]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:28:25] I mostly keep it the same, like my biggest thing that I would approach this craft from a business point of view way earlier than I did. I remember in college having a conversation with one of my educators. And I asked them, why aren’t we learning in the, in theater? Why aren’t we learning? The business side of this, like headshots resumes on Titian’s marketing. And he, he told me we’re not running a tech school here. We’re running a school for the arts. And I really kind of that didn’t, it was almost the best thing he could have said because it motivated me to really do it on my own. So I would, I would say not much other than really delve into the business. Of the arts.
[00:29:05] Earlier.
[00:29:06] Dane Reis: [00:29:06] Yes, I am so glad that you brought that up because. Stereotypically speaking us as creatives, as artists tend to not want to deal with the business side of things, the money side of things. Ever.
[00:29:19]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:29:19] Oh, no. I mean, it’s, it’s terrifying to a lot of artists out there, but.
[00:29:23] Dane Reis: [00:29:23] Yeah, but there are the great thing I find about the business side of things or the financial side of things is that there’s a lot of rules written for the financial side of things, for sure. And. You can learn those rules. They’re pretty. They’re black and white, quite
[00:29:39] literally, you know, so,
[00:29:39] and there’s not a whole lot of them. So by figuring that out, it is so integral to creating a career that has longevity to it as well. Not just going and having a handful of good deers and being like, well, I kind of did that now. What.
[00:29:51]You can set yourself up from the get go in, especially from the business side as well. The whole marketing, the PR my gosh, you look at. Everything now with social media, Instagram, tick tock, YouTube, Facebook, everything. You are your own PR agency.
[00:30:08] Tony Pinizzotto: [00:30:08] Yeah. And
[00:30:09] Dane Reis: [00:30:09] to know how to market yourself.
[00:30:11] Tony Pinizzotto: [00:30:11] Absolutely. And someone recently said in there in the conference, I was talking about it. Look, you already know all the people you need to know. Mostly. You have to just keep letting them know you’re doing something and what you’re doing, because they’re the ones that are going to take it and say, Hey, I got this friend, who’s doing this and they’re going to spread the news. You know, I mean, look at, look at, um, Be more chill. They’re uh, they’re cast album. I mean, they got their show in New York because of the huge amount of downloads that they’re cast recording had. Um, and it’s because people shared it and it’s so much easier to share good things nowadays with all that social media. So. Absolutely.
[00:30:48]Dane Reis: [00:30:48] For sure. And it really. While ads and paid. Well, paid exposure is very valuable and it has its place. There’s so much to be said about the organic sharing and it’s, it’s usually harder to come by. Especially at first, you know, before it ever gets kind of some kind of a critical mass, but.
[00:31:07]That is true validation.
[00:31:09] Tony Pinizzotto: [00:31:09] Yeah. And that’s the difference between promotion and marketing? There’s. There is a difference. A lot of marketing is advertising based placement. You know, um, it’s, it’s, there’s a, there’s a cost to it. Like if you look at television, promotion is promotion is free. Um, and, uh, you know, pull. Publicity. It’s just, it’s a free thing. So there is a difference between promotion and publicity and marketing. I’m sure you could take out. If you had $1 million, you could probably take billboards out. And whatever, but you know, it’s just letting people know what you’re doing all the time. It’s important.
[00:31:42] Dane Reis: [00:31:42] Yeah. Could not agree more. And the last question, what is the golden nugget knowledge or drop you’ve learned from it, your successful career in this industry that you’d like to leave with our listeners?
[00:31:55]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:31:55] I would say success is how you define it. And meaning if you define success in your head as. You know that you’re going to be on Broadway. That’s how you’re defining it. Fine. If your definition of success is just want to pay the bills and do what I love. Great. You have to take the pressure off yourself because so many of us were putting pressure on ourselves. And I really always remind myself when, when was I in my happiest and whatever that is, do that. Whatever makes your heart sing. Do that. Because that’s, what’s gonna keep you happy and, you know, successful.
[00:32:33]Dane Reis: [00:32:33] That is such solid advice, especially in the day of Instagram and just endless scrolling on newsfeed and comparing yourself to others and going down those negative rabbit holes. That. Figure out. What makes you happy? What, what is your definition of success and stick to that. Because that’s all that matters.
[00:32:54]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:32:54] Sure. And you know, if you’re going to set the bar real high, great. But you know, for me in my life, it was what, what what’s going to keep me happy and successful in doing the things I like to do. So really success is how you define it.
[00:33:06] Dane Reis: [00:33:06] Yes. So good. And to wrap up this interview, Tony, it is time to give yourself a plug.
[00:33:14] Where can we find you? How do our listeners connect with you? Is there anything you want to promote?
[00:33:21]Tony Pinizzotto: [00:33:21] Absolutely. Well, I really want to everyone to go and enjoy peach boy. Um, the cast recording, um, you can go to peach boy, musical.com. You’ll see a little bit about us and who created this. Um, and there are links on the listen page there that you can link to Spotify. It’s on iTunes. It’s available on Amazon music. Pretty much. Anywhere where streaming music is heard. You’ll you’ll I think you’ll love the music. Um, I have a website, Tony Pena’s auto.com. It’s a lot of my, uh, TV, buzzer promotions there. Um, and, um, of course I have a Facebook page, um, peach boy musical and, uh, yeah, I’m, I’m on all the social handles, uh, too many sometimes, but. Go listen to Pete sport. I think you’ll really love it. It’s just such a delightful, charming. Charming set of songs.
[00:34:06] Dane Reis: [00:34:06] Brilliant. And for everyone listening out there, I have put the links to everything Tony just said in the description of this episode. So you can easily. Check them out. Listen to the cast album. Tony. Thank you so much for taking your time to be here today. It’s been an absolute pleasure having you on.
[00:34:23] Tony Pinizzotto: [00:34:23] Thank you so much and thank you for what you’re doing here. I just it’s so important and I just, I just I’m. So. Blessed to be a part of it.
[00:34:31]