Theatre Doc on Acting

Should you go to an expensive acting school?

2012-01-27T13:42:00.000-08:00

I don't think it is necessary to go to expensive acting schools to be a successful actor. It is necessary to take a few classes,but not a full two or three year program. And it certainly is not necessary to have an academic degree.

Here are a few different ideas about acting schools. \

1. Most
of them don't care if you ever become an actor, they just want you to enroll
and pay tuition. See item 5 below.

2. There are very few jobs even if you do graduate and are
taught how to find them. I say in the Introduction to my book, The Tao of Acting, that acting schools exist on the lie that there are jobs waiting for their graduates.

3. It is not the school that makes the actor, rather
it is the actor who makes the school. Doesn't matte where you go it you are
talented.

4. Thirty to forty thousand dollars a year is outrageous. Why should
it cost so much? Why aren't successful actors teaching aspiring actors for nothing? I do that and I don't make a lot of money. But whatever happened to serving the art?

5. Most of the older schools are just existing on their past
reputations and have become bureaucracies. AADA, Stella Adler, Tisch, etc . fall
into this description. Probably NYCDA as well. SUNY Purchase, I don't know
about. But I do know that actor training and academics is a poor fit.. The point is you can go to WM Esper Studio for half what it costs at
other drama schools, But again if you are talented, you don't need two years of
acting school.

6. Julliard
remains high on the best schools list. But it has transcended the academic model to be effective with actor training.

7. No school can guarantee you work when
you graduate. That depends on you.

8. When picking an acting school. First decide if you are going to get a degree and do not mix academic schools with
conservatories. They are not the same. An actor does not need an academic
degree. Nor does he need to be a graduate of a conservatory. He needs to be
special.

Musicals and Method Acting

2012-01-11T14:35:00.000-08:00

I was recently contacted by a young actor who was researching Curly in Oklahoma!
He wanted to know if I had any suggestions about where he could find out more background about the role because he wanted it to reflect a strong sense of truth and the utmost depth of characterization. I referred him to the script.

Those of you who know my writing, know that I think deeply researching roles in plays beyond what is in the script is only valid for playing historical and real people such as Streep doing Maggie Thatcher or LaPone doing Evita. But researching fictional characters beyond the confines of the script is nonsensical and a waste of time. This is especially true in Oklahoma! and similar musicals.

Oklahoma! is not about the reality of Oklahoma becoming a state. That is just the background for the melodrama involving Curly, the hero; Jud, the villain; and Laurie, the heroine. The play is no deeper than that. Curly is not an authentic cowboy, he does not dress like one, nor act like one. He dresses and acts like a hero in a melodrama. If he were a real cowboy of the time,he would have bad teeth, leathery skin, body odor, and venereal disease.

Curly has no deep psyche or background for what he does. He is a hero. The actor wanted to know how to personalize the role if he didn't do all that research. The answer is that the uniqueness of his physical appearance and voice would do that. Acting is a blending of the role and the actor. The role as presented in the script and the physical and emotional presentation of the role by the actor. What makes an outstanding Curly is magnificent singing and the effective presentation of the hero of the piece.

Yes, many actors do a great deal of analysis and research when playing a role. I happen to believe that most of it is wasted effort and at times detrimental to the show. Method acting just doesn't work for musicals. In fact, nowadays, it doesn't work very well for any sort of acting. Today's actors do not act, they react. They need talent, not technique because technique is artificial. Stanislavsky, Adler, Strasberg, Hagan, etal, contradicted their search for realistic acting by creating techniques including analysis and affective memory which provided artificial backgrounds and responses rather than the reality they sought.

Picking an Acting School

2011-12-16T11:39:00.000-08:00

I have been advising people about what acting school to attend. Remember the lists of the best schools on this blog are not my lists. I disagree strongly with some of the schools included and cannot understand some of the schools that have been omitted. But people like lists. I will add some notes to that post in the near future.

The problem with acting schools, conservatory or academic, is the enormous cost. The usual tuition is $30,000 a year. Minimum time is two years. Academic BFA Acting programs are at least four years. And housing, meals and living costs are additional. Roughly, one is looking at between $100,000 and a quarter of a million dollars for such acting training. And there is no guarantee of employment after all that time and expense.

Is it worth it? I say, "NO!" Acting is much to iffy as far as getting employment is concerned. There are schools that have shorter programs for less money that will suffice to train you as an actor. Wm. Esper Studio in NYC is one. If money is really tight, you can just take the summer program.

My approach to becoming an actor favors not going to a full program at an acting school, but instead to take selected classes and workshops as you pursue your goal.

In most cases, it is going to take years to break into the business, why waste two to four years in acting school when you can get a jump on it right away. Of course, I am assuming you are very talented, highly experienced with a strong resume and have the ability to support yourself while becoming an actor.

As far as choosing an acting school. That is something for the wealthy to do. Most people have to become an actor first and then go to school. It is not a bad way to proceed.

What Are the Best Acting Schools?

2011-11-20T20:21:00.000-08:00

Since it is the actor who makes the school and not the other way around, such things as Best Acting Schools are a simple matter of opinion. I did run across some lists that people had made and I will share them with you. These are not my work and I only endorse a few of these schools.

1. SUNY - Purchase
The Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film at Purchase College is a highly competitive and intensive program. The campus also contains a great liberal arts and design program and is only 40 minutes from New York City.

But you won't have much time to explore Manhattan: Classes generally start at 8am and you'll be busy with rehearsals until 11 at night. Your first two years are considered a "trial" period. If you don't have the required skills and professionalism, you won't be asked back. This is a tough school - but it also has one of the finest acting programs in the country.

2. Juilliard
Juilliard is one of the world-class acting schools in New York City (the other is at NYU). Its Drama Division was founded in 1968 by the American director and producer John Houseman and the French director, teacher, and actor Michel Saint-Denis.

Over 1,000 candidates apply each year for just 20 freshman spots. Like SUNY-Purchase, Rutgers and NYU, Julliard employs a "conservatory training" approach. This means that you will work closely over four years with the same students and professors, deeply immersed within a rigorously prepared program.

3. Rutgers
Many of my coaches recommended the BFA at Rutger's Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Jersey. This program, according to its brochure, "offers a BFA designed for those students who are seeking to integrate both a rigorous professional training program in a liberal arts setting. The curricula of the school gives such students a thorough and rigorous education as artists and, through the required liberal arts courses, humanistic perspectives on both their art and themselves. Junior students in Acting spend a year abroad at the Rutgers Conservatory at Shakespeare's Globe in London. This is the only BFA program which offers sequential conservatory training in London."

A chance to study at the Globe alone makes this a program to celebrate.

4. Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh offers a four-year undergraduate acting program as well as the possibility of double-majoring in musical theater. Both programs train actors by immersing them in "sophisticated, verbally complex material with a focus on the works of Chekhov and Shakespeare." Sounds fascinating.

In the junior year, the focus switches to Greek and Restoration drama. In the senior year, students participate in public performances on the school's main stage. Finally, for those students "in good standing," showcase performances in New York City and Los Angeles are arranged.

5. New York University - The Tisch School of Drama
NYU's Tisch School has given birth to scores of great theater professionals. The undergraduate program in acting includes standard conservatory training and theater study, and is complemented with other liberal arts classes from New York University.

According to Arthur Bartow, the Artistic Director of the Department of Drama, "The extraordinary synergism created by placing committed students with our professional conservatory faculty propels students forward, formulating their own unique way of working.... We are preparing people for a lifetime of creative output."

6. North Carolina School of the Arts
The School of Drama at the North Carolina School of the Arts boasts such alumni as Mary-Louise Parker (Proof), Jada Pinkett Smith (The Matrix), and Terrence Mann (Beauty and the Beast). The school emphasizes "classical values in its training process to meet a well-recognized demand for actors to be technically skilled and, at the same time, creatively inspired."

7. Northwestern
Northwestern offers a versatile drama program that is good for students who want flexibility in constructing their own curriculum. It is an interdepartmental program, and students take courses in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Speech. "The goal of the curriculum is to provide both historical breadth and particular insight into the relationship between dramatic texts and the performative dimensions and skills that have brought them to life."

8. California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts)
The Los Angeles based CalArts School of Theater's mission is to "expose students to theater traditions from a global cultural perspective and...to nurture non-mainstream voices and promote a cultural and aesthetic diversity of viewpoint, experience and expression."

A few things set the school apart (besides its great location for people wanting to work in film or television). That includes a requirement to take up to 40% of your classes in the School of Critical Studies. These courses (some of which may be theater related) are intended to provide "broad knowledge and cultural sophistication needed for successful arts careers in today's world."

CalArts also has a great center for the study of puppetry and a new theater (the REDCAT) in downtown Los Angeles. Alumni include Bill Irwin, David Hasselhoff, and Ed Harris.

9. Yale
Yale is one of the world's great institutions of learning. It offers an undergraduate Theater Studies major within the department of humanities. This program differs from others in that it focuses less on performance than on theory and the history of theater and in immersing the student in liberal arts curricula.

Or, as their website puts it: "Students who major in Theater Studies are encouraged to use the theater with a more fully developed sense of context and purpose than is usual in a purely technical course of study. Courses are distributed to help ensure that students understand the theater as part of the intellectual life of the culture it interprets and reflects." A degree from Yale definitely opens doors in the theater world.

10. UC San Diego
The UCSD Department of Theatre and Dance offers both a major and minor. You do not need to apply specifically to the Department of Theatre and Dance or audition for the program - any student accepted to UCSD can claim a theater major.

While it is mainly known for its graduate program (with ties to La Jolla Playhouse), the UCSD undergraduate program provides a broad base of knowledge in the fine arts, supplemented with practical experience on the stage. Another advantage of studying at UCSD is that it also has a noteworthy film studies center.

Honorable Mentions:
The following schools have strong acting programs: University of Miami (FL), University of Indiana at Evansville, University of Minnesota (with ties to the Guthrie Theater), UT - Austin, Hofstra University, UC Irvine, Boston University, DePaul University, and Emerson College. I also know several excellent actors who attended the theater arts program at UC-Santa Cruz.

And here's another list. Note that it is a couple years old. Schools' reputations ebb and flow as time goes by.

10 Best Acting Schools In America

By: Zach Feral

Break Studios Contributing Writer

If you have been bit by the acting bug, you can foster your career at one of these, the 10 best acting schools in America.

Yale School of Drama. The best acting school in America, with a roster of graduates that includes Mark Linn-Baker, Kate Burton and Frances McDormand. Students act in productions of the Yale Repertory Theatre, and often go on to appear on Broadway and in Hollywood films. Yale School of Drama, 149 York Street, New Haven, CT 06511.

The Juilliard School. This ultra-competitive New York City conservatory is one of the best acting schools in America. Val Kilmer, Kevin Kline, and William Hurt are all graduates. The Juilliard School, 60 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-6588.

New York University. The university’s Tisch School of the Arts has launched the careers of many prominent actors, including Christopher Guest and Barry Bostwick. NYU Tisch School of the Arts, 721 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

American Conservatory Theatre. This Bay Area institution is one of the best acting schools in America, offering an M.F.A. program. Denzel Washington and Winona Ryder are just two of its notable graduates. American Conservatory Theatre, 415 Geary Street San Francisco, CA 94102.

American Repertory Theatre. A.R.T. is affiliated with Harvard University, and is one of the best acting schools in America you’ll find. Here, you will get a chance to personally work with such famous theatre directors and playwrights as David Mamet and Richard Foreman. Students also get to spend three months studying in Moscow at the famous Moscow Art Theatre School. American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.

Rutgers. Rutgers allows its acting students to spend their junior year studying at Shakespeare’s Globe on London. Matt Mulhern, James Gandolfini (of Sopranos fame), and Roger Bart all studied here. Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers, 33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1959.

Denver Center for the Performing Arts. This is one of the best acting schools in America for theater. It is a three-year program for graduate students in the craft. Denver Center for the Performing Arts, 1101 13th Street, Denver, CO 80204.

Trinity Repertory Company. Brown University is affiliated with this Tony Award-winning institution, which is one of the best acting schools in America for ambitious young performers. Famous theatre directors such as Anne Bogart have worked at the Trinity. Trinity Repertory Company, 201 Washington St, Providence, RI 02903.

Columbia University. The theatre program at Columbia is in a class all its own. Its ultra-competitive MFA-granting division only accepts about 6% of all applicants each year. School of the Arts, Columbia University, 305 Dodge Hall, Mail Code 1808, 2960 Broadway, New York, NY 10027.

University of San Diego. Students at this acting school get to work at the prestigious Old Globe Theater. It is a two-year, intensive program resulting in an MFA in Acting. The Old Globe/USD Graduate Theatre, Post Office Box 122171, San Diego, CA 92112-217.

Posted on: Apr. 09, 2010

Breaking Character/Forgetting Lines

2011-11-10T15:42:00.000-08:00

I have had a lot of questions lately about how to stay in character or how to keep from forgetting my lines. These topics are closely related as they are caused by the same thing: a lapse in concentration by the actor.

I find that the biggest cause of breaks in concentration is self-awareness (being self-conscious). When the actor switches from being the character (concentrating on the stimuli of the scene and reacting moment by moment--what the famous acting teachers Meisner and Adler called "staying in the moment") to thinking about what he or she looks like and/or is doing, the actor has lost it; and it is visible to all observing him-- just as though the character is a pasted-on image that has been ripped off of the actor. Thus our challenge as actors is to forget ourselves for in doing so we are then open to be the character.

Playing the moment means that the actor does not think about what has already happened in his or her performance. Nor does he or she thing about what is to come later in the play. It means that the actor is fully concentrating on the moment of the scene that is present. Without the concentration to do that, the actor cannot respond successfully and will give a poor performance.

The actors concentration begins with the actor being fully confident of having the lines learned perfectly.

Then the actor focuses his or her eyes on the other actors. Watch Marlon Brando, James Dean, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, John Wayne or other famous actors. Watch how they focus on the other actors. Their eyes steady and burning into their scene partners demonstrates stong concentration and leads to effecive performances.

Being self-conscious is always detrimental to the actor. It is essential to having good emotional responses to the stimuli in the scene that the actor is free from inhibitions that cause him or her to be worried about what people will think about what they are doing in their performance. Such an impediment to acting effectively must be avoided. And it will be avoided by those actors who work to rid themselves of being self-conscious. Being in many plays and studying in the proper acting classes will bring the actor a sense of security and effectiveness in their acting.

Where Did They All Go?

2011-10-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

I decided to clean out my address book which is full of email addresses of people to whom I sent an email some time or other, and for the most part have never returned the favor. I have only just finished the D's and am about to start the E's.

I suppose everyone's address book is like that, but since most of my correspondence is about acting and becoming an actor I find it a little baffling that those hundreds of people who swore that acting was their life or their passion, or their only possibe career have not returned an email to ask another question, or report a success in the quest.

I think that most of them have given up on becoming a professional actor. That would be hundreds and hundreds of people who contacted me who have fallen by the wayside. It is amazing how complicated and difficult it is to become a professional for most aspiring actors. A lucky few are "discovered" and waltz right into it. But that is a very very lucky very very few.

So much energy wasted by people who, if they had done a little research or asked another question, might have been spared the waste. Or might have found some success.

I decided a while back to tell the truth about acting. Almost everyone else who answers questions on Yahoo Answers or who has a web site about acting encourages aspiring actors to go for it. Well, very few of them have any idea what they are going for. That's what Iam trying to do, give them an honest reply.

Acting is so overcrowded now with aspiring actors (ten thousand graduate academic or professinal acting schools every year) that I think it is a better service to discourage the unprepared (or at least tell them what it is really like) and get them the hell out of the crowd. This may sound cruel, but I think it is really kind to those who have an honest chance and to the profession as well.

Well, that's about it. A few thoughts that were inspired by my address book. If you have ever contacted me, and you are still acting, I 'd like to hear from you again.
God bless, Doc

This May Be of Help

2011-10-21T14:03:00.001-07:00

It seems that I have found an honest web site for casting and for acting information of all kinds. It is JB Casting Network. I encourage all aspiring actors to take a look. If you have questions, let me know. God bless, Doc

Must an Actor Be Good Looking?

2011-10-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

I get a lot of email from people who would like to be be actors, but they are concerned that they may not be handsome or beautiful enough.

What an actor looks like has a great deal to do with his or her success. Professional casting is always done first by look--does the actor look like the character. There are often characters in plays and films that are not necessarily handsome or beautiful in appearance. Many film stars of both sexes were not. In fact, some stars' careers were built on their "ugliness."

Before everyone gets all excited that they are going to become film stars in spite of their mediocre looks, we need to consider that the actors and actresses who succeeded without being handsome or beautiful were still attractive in the sense that the audience was drawn to them. This happens because of the charisma, or charm, that the actors and actresses have. Charisma is that unidentifiable quality that makes someone interesting. It could be a vocal quality, a sparkle or twinkle in their eyes, or any number of other things that draw people's attention.
This quality must be strong enough to make the audience want to see that actor again.

Good looking or not, the thing that the actor must project is being someone that the audience can idenify with -- someone that the audience finds exciting, interesting, and appealing. When we say the audience identifies with an actor or character, we don't mean that they recognize qualities in them that remind them of Uncle Joe or their brother. What we mean is that they recognize in them the people that they, they audience, wish they were -- romantic and exciting people -- instead of the boring, everyday drudges that they are. That is what makes film and TV popular -- that it provides a means for everyday people to live exciting lives via identifying with the characters and actors in the shows.

Because of this identifying process, actors must make themselves extraordinary people. They work hard to develop those characteristics that will make them attractive to the audience. They have personal trainers. Some have cosmetic surgery. Others develop powerful voices or physiques. But most actors and actresses don't just rely on the looks they have been born with. Instead, they spend hours and sometimes lots of money to become the idols of the audience.

There is so much more to being an actor than acting. There is becoming an interesting physical person. There is developing a charming personality. There is having the business savvy needed to succeed. There is the hard, physical work of staying fit and healthy. And there is much more to this complex, fascinating business called being an actor.

Education and the Actor

2011-10-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

Would you believe that this blog, my e-book, and my web site came into being because I was contacted by a high school student from Houston, Texas several years ago? He had seen a posting on a forum that I wrote which said that I did not think it was necessary for actors to go to college, and he wanted to know if it were true. Well, it was true. I did write such a post. Moreover, I still believe that it is not necessary for a person to go to college to become an actor.

In my e-book, I explain why colleges and acting schools are not necessarily the best way to prepare for a career in acting. However, most people would benefit from the added knowledge, experience, and maturity that the four years of college provides. It really is the exception that someone becomes an actor with no formal education or training.

I have talked to many teens who wanted to become actors, but could not see the benefits of formal education. Most want to know how to become actors without going to college or acting school. One wanted to drop out of high school. One wanted to know which college acting programs did not require good grades. I forgot to tell him my daughter was dropped from a prestigious university acting school because her academic grades at the university were not sufficiently high. Teens sometimes get the strangest notions about becoming actors: that a BFA Acting degree does not require the same academic classes as other degrees; that somehow they just go to an agent and say 'I am an actor, find me a job;' or that because one of their high school teachers told them they should become an actor that they can do so.

First, no one wants an uneducated actor. An actor needs good grammar. He needs to know how to find information about things such as the time and place of the play historically. He needs to be well read. And he needs to be able to carry on an intelligent conversation on many subjects. Only a formal education or an extraordinary informal education would provice these things. Intelligence in actors is much prized by directors.

So I am afraid that if someone really wants to become an actor, that person needs to be well educated. High school and college grades are important--not to get a job as an actor, not to be brilliantly talented, but to be the most effective human being you can be. Acting is such a difficult profession that many of the most talented people never make it because they are not properly educated and guided toward success as an actor. That is why I created my web site--to offer the kinds of information and guidance needed by people who want to become actors. It does not substitute for formal education. It adds to it. There are other things aspiring actors need as well, but they are subjects for another time. Pehaps they are elsewhere in this blog or elsewhere on my website.

An experience in film acting.

2011-10-03T23:26:00.000-07:00

Film acting requires the actor(s) t0 do some pretty odd stuff when they perform their roles. Take for example Roy M. Davis working on the French film "Nous York." For the director to get just what he wanted, Roy had to repeat his singing over and over again without the takes being cut and restarted in the traitional way. He writes:

"I completed the film engagement on the French film, Nous York. As it turned out, I only had to sing the first two lines of the song but the drawback was that I had to do it over again several times during each single take. I mean that I had to sing the two lines,wait ten seconds and start again. Without cutting. And then we did at least half a dozen takes.One more lesson on how drastically film acting can differ from acting on the stage. And I did not have to make any effort at projection. I was wired up with one of those sound devices that almost makes it possible to record the dropping of a pin and yet have the sound register in the movie theater very audibly. So I sang very quietly. A new experience. I am so glad that I was ready. I may not have been two years ago. Let us keep in contact."

ON TO THE NEXT LEVEL

2011-09-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

Probabaly the most asked question that I get is "How do I become a [professional} actor? This is mostly asked by very young people and teens who have done a school play or two and was in a community theatre production and now want to take it on to the next level.

What these kids do not realize is that being a professional actor is not something you just start doing when you feel like it. You don't just suddenly become qualified to be a professional. Being in a few amateur plays doesn't really come close to what you have to do to be an actor.

First you must be an actor. You must be reading everything you can find about acting (at least from the more modern of the books), and reading all the plays you can find, and you have to be doing all the acting you can in amateur theatre, {university} student films and indie films. And these experiences must show that you are one of the few extraordinarily talented and charming people in the world who cab become an actor.

Then someone, your parent if you are under 18, mus devote their life to your becoming an actor, This is harder than it seems. The actor's life is solitary and spartan and it requires someone who is a good self starter. The aspiring actor has to overcome the frustration of rejection and extended periods of not getting any result for their efforts. This sounds like something many people can endure, but few survive it as actors.

Finally, those that you will be competing with professionally for agents, jobs, and success will have had years and years of acting experience and professional training. They are the best actors in the world. You have to be one of them if you are going on to the next level because the next level is heavily populated with them.

Is This Agency a Scam?

2011-08-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

Another frequent topic in the questions I get is about agencies being legit or scams. So here are some differences.

Legit agencies do not sell photo shoots or acting classes.

Legit agencies do not recruit actors. They have plenty of actors and are choosy about picking new ones to represent.

Legit agencies may want you to join casting web sites of their choosing.

Legit agencies will want you to get new professional photos and pay for comp cards or other items they have printed and distribute on your behalf.

Legit agencies will be franchised by SAG, AFTRA or EQUITY and /or be members of ATA.*

Scams recruit in malls.

Scams almost always are selling acting lessons and are not real talent agencies.

Scams will promise you success. In truth no one can honesty make such a promise.

Scams run radio ads for "Disney" auditions that do not exist.

It is a mistake of a beginning actor to think they need an agent. Beginners need lots of acting experience and some sound training. It is only why there is evidence that they may be able to get professinal work that they should seek an agent.

Agents do not make people into actors. They make money from people who are already actors.

Always contact me and ask if you are unsure about the legitimacy of an agency.

Who are you when you act on stage?

2011-08-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

Stage acting requires many things of the actor that screen acting does not. While both media want the actor to 'be the character,' what remains important is what you do not want to be. Some people worry that film acting is just being oneself and film actors rely only on personality. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

No acting is just being oneself. If you take the time to analyze who the characters are in the story-- heroes, villians, lovers, etc. --and what they do in the story, it takes no great brain to figure out that these characters and their actions are a far cry from who the actor is and what the actor does. This being said, we must remember that effective acting is allowing yourself to have full, honest, emotional responses that are not self concious. It is the actor's ability to have such emotional responses that makes her acting truthful. So while we are not just being ourselves, it is our responses that make our acting effective.

We also have to be the character on stage or screen, not the actor nor the audience. We cannot be the audience and respond as they do to the stimuli of the scene because that response may be different from the repsonse of the character. To be the character, the actor first assumes the physical manifestation of the character, posture, walk, mannerisms, dress, hair style, voice, etc., Then the actor concentrates on being the character in the scene by listening very carefully with all of her senses to what is happening and allowing herself to react emotionally, fully and with our inhibition to what is happening--That is acting.

Pretty much that is all the screen actor has to do. Stage acting is harder than film acting in that while you are doing all of this, you also have to be aware of audience response. For example, if the audience laughs the actor needs to hold for the laugh so the audience don't miss the next laugh. When the actor hears the audience laugh, she freezes for a moment and when the laugh peaks and starts to weaken, she continues doing the scene. IF she has started a sentence when she freezes, when she continues she repeats the beginning of the sentence. Furthermore, the actor is always aware of what she is doing in the scene when she expresses her emotions, so that she doesn't actually injure herself or anyone else in the scene.

So you can be described as several people when you act. First you are the actor. She is the one who has created the physical character and who responds emotionally to the stimuli of the scene. Then you can be described as the character. She is the one who says and does the things in the play. It is critically important not to confuse the actor and her role. You should not say of the actress playing Medea that Sally Jones (if that is the actress' name) killed her two children to avenge the unfaithfulnes of her husband. No, Medea does that, not Sally. Let's always keep the actor and the role separate.

Extra work: good or bad?

2011-07-27T15:17:00.000-07:00

What is an aspiring actor to do about extra work? The 'old school' take on someone working as an extra was that they were hurting their chances to become an actor, because extras did not act, they were just scenery. But the Screen Actors Guild took extras to a new level, including them in their union and disbanding the Screen Extras Union. Now a SAG extra is treated as well as a SAG principal actor. The extra does not make nearly the same money as the 'speaking' actor, but he has the same protections and priveleges.

Some people still think that if an actor does extra work, he will be categorized as an extra and never get a speaking role. That is simply nonsense. What every aspiring actor must do, of course, is to seek employment in SAG films. While indy work is nice and in a few cases pays a little, there is nothing to compare with union sanctioned films. Indy films just don't have the ability to pay and offer you the best working condiditons. Always seek SAG or AFTRA work for film and TV.

Once we get over the nonsense that extras are not actors, there are other benefits in working on a SAG film as an extra. If you collect three vouchers that say you have worked as an extra on three SAG films, you become SAG eligible and can join the union if you want to.

Then, when the aspiring actor is SAG eligible or joins SAG, the temptation to take SAG extra work is high. It offers good pay, which aspiring actors always need. But for those whose goal is to become an established speaking actor for film and TV, extra work can become troublesome. An aspiring actor does not want a resume that is all extra work. If he or she is SAG or AFTRA, then they should be racking up some speaking roles.

In summary, extra work is honorable and has advantages, but it still holds the pitfall of the actor becoming known only for extra work if he or she does not get out and get some speaking roles.

Sandford Meisner, The Basis for All Modern Acting

2011-07-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

I have just been re-introduced to Stanford Meisner and his acting teaching, and I must say that I have fallen in love with his approach. Watching him work with actors is so inspiring that it is hard to say exactly what it does to me. But it reaffirms me, the way the theatre reaffirms mankind. God, it is glorious!

Of all the "old" ways of acting, Meisner leaps decades forward into the 21^st Century, into the most modern of approaches to acting. Wm. Esper’s teaching is the best Meisner based approach. The Esper Studio is the only “Stanislavsky” based studio in NYC that I recommend.

I never was a fan of Stanislavsky or ways to approach acting based on his work. It was all too complex and seemed to me to be antithetic to acting which I always thought was supposed to be playing and fun. Then, I was taught that acting was "reacting" about thirty-five years ago when I was taking professional classes and acting in films. Pretty much I based my acting on “just do it”. You create the physical character and then you do the role. No fuss, no muss, no Stanislavsky, no method, no agony. Just fun. I didn’t need acting classes either. Had a couple in undergraduate school in the 1950’s. Then, when I started film acting in the mid 1970’s I took a one evening media acting workshop and a once a week, twelve week media acting class. These classes emphasized keeping things simple. More importantly they taught ‘don’t act, react” obviously an axiom from Meisner who was against acting and pretending and was for honest, unrestrained, uninhibited emotional response. He said to act from the gut, not from the head. In other words use your gut responses, don’t try to think it out or plan it out.

The real difference between the "old" Stanislavsky based approaches and today's techniques is that the old ways teach acting which often is pre-planned behavior rather than spontaneous reaction, and today's most modern approaches are non-acting. Read books such as Harold Guskin's '"How to Stop Acting" and Eric Morris's "No Acting Please" (which seems to have started the new era of acting way back in 1979) and Don Richardson’s “Acting Without Agony” (which exposes The Method as a fraud) and Tony Barr’s “Acting for the Camera” to learn more how modern acting has changed from most of the old ways, but read Meisner as well and discover that he was the well-spring from which these approaches were born.

For a bit more information go to my website under Acting Theory and read Modern Times Need Modern Methods and Tao and the Art of Acting. I also discuss the non-acting approach to playing a role in my book The Tao of Acting. Read in my blog the posts on reacting. You will find that my ideas are the mainstream of today's acting which started with Meisner’s ‘being in the moment’ and ‘react, don’t act.’

We have to give credit to Stanislavsky and to The Group Theatre for Meisner, but it is interesting how he leapt so far ahead of Adler, Strasburg, Hagan and others who came from the Group. These teachers’ techniques still maintain themselves in places such as NYC, London, and LA-- places with traditional thinking which accept reputations these approaches gained over half a century ago. Chubbick,

which is the 21^st Century reincarnation of Stanislavsky, somehow has gained a strong following in LA. But it is the same old agony that most actors are exposed to in many ways of approaching their craft as they prepare for professional work. Most actors take a bit of technique from here and a bit from there and work out their own way of being effective when performing. Nowadays that includes dropping most of the old fashioned techniques and just playing without acting and dropping all the bother of the Stanislavsky based approaches except for Meisner.

I urge you to watch the seven-part youtube series on Meisner’s teaching at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNuFSrsYfpM It should blow you away.

Improvisation. Reconsidered and Recommended

2011-07-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

One of the things I enjoy about my avocation of mentoring aspiring actors is how much about acting I am learning in the day by day process. For example, I have long been against improvisation for actor training. Recently, however, I heard a well known acting teacher explain why improvisation is good for actors to learn.

As early as about one month ago, I wrote a post on this blog about Overcoming Inhibitions. One of the points I made was that in order to be an effective actor one has to get out one's head. In other words you can't think about what you are doing, you have to keep your mind clear to receive the stimuli in the scene so you can react to it fully and without inhibition. Well, it turns out that improvisation is terrific exercise for an actor in getting out of his head. Improvisation requires that the actor respond instantly without thinking about it And this instinctive response is exactly what Meisner and Adler and other famous acting teachers meant by being in the moment.

Giving an immediate, unplanned and instinctive response is exactly what today's advocates of
'non-acting' want actors to do. Haveing heard the instructor explain how improvisation trains the actor to do exactly that, I have changed my point of view. I now fully endorse improvisation classes for aspiring actors

Is it worth it to try to become an actor?

2011-06-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

I am frequently asked if being an actor is worth the time and strauggle that it takes. In way I am glad to be asked this question because it shows the asker has some idea of what an aspiring actor is facing. I am also glad the person asked the question, because it tells me that they do not have what it takes to be successful at acting, and that is an unflagging devotion and drive to get there. Thus, I can dissuade them from trying. We have 'way too many aspiring actors as it is. There simply is no room for them in the profession unless they are extraordinarily talented and charming.

When faced with the question of worth regarding an acting career, I can say the following:

First here is what I know. I know that everyone except the idle rich needs to have a 'day' job, or what I have started calling, a survival job, if they attempt to become a professional actor. So if worth it means is it financially worth it, the answer is not in the vast majority of cases. I also know that the vast majority of people who attempt an acting career will not succeed. I also know that acting is unlike any other profession in it's high qualifications and it's lack of steady employment. This is true even for the most talented of actors. The main thing an actor thinks about and works at is finding his or her next job. I also know people who have been very poor all their lives but because they have been actors. They feel it was worth it. They are still in the acting profession and work as actors as often as they can. But they have never earned a living as an actor. To them being an actor is the only thing that makes life worth it.

Now, here is what I think. I think that anyone who has any doubts about attempting a career in acting should not do it. If you have doubts at the beginning, you are going to quit somewhere along the way because it is too hard and you'd rather have a "normal" life with a spouse or life partner. If ou'd like the basic necessities and the usual luxuries that "normal" people have and the steady relationships that most people have, you are not actor material. To an actor, acting comes first. To most people there are lots of other things that come before acting. This is true even of most who say they want to become actors. I think that most people who say they want to be actors, would give it up if they knew what life would be like if they were struggling actors. I think most of them want to be the characters they see on the screen and don't really want to do what is necessary to be an actor. Sure they want to be stars, rich and famous, admired and unwanting. But that is all fantasy. Being famous is a bummer.

Hey! If you are compelled to be an actor and will not be dissuaded, contact me. You are the sort of person I want to help succeed as an actor. Go to my web site and hit the contact button. God bless all aspiring actors, those who will give it up and those who won't. Doc

What about SAG?

2011-06-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

Aspiring actors always have questions about the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and how to become a member, so after being asked the following questions by a young lady reading my book, The Tao of Acting, I decided the information was worth sharing here. Her questions are in black and my answers are in red. These replies refer only to the acting unions in the USA. Membership requirements for actors unions in Canada or the UK are quite different.

· How exactly does an actor join SAG? Do I have to have a speaking role in a big studio film, or can I just call SAG up and ask to join? You either have to have a speaking role in a SAG supervised film or you have to be an extra in three SAG supervised films and get the SAG vouchers before leaving the set. AFTRA is different, but you need to treat them similarly, and that is you do not want to join a union too soon. Once you are eligible and want to join, you go to the nearest SAG or AFTRA office, pay the initiation fee of $2777 and the first six months dues, and you are a member.

· What benefits do I get from SAG? Decent working conditions, fair pay for your work including overtime, and a health and retirement package if you are active enough.

· What does SAG Eligible mean? It means you have met the qualifications for membership, but have not yet joined.

· What is a background actor? An extra. Sometimes referred to as a non-speaking role or atmosphere.

· What does paying dues mean? Literally it means that every six months you pay the membership dues, seventy five dollars, I think. Figuratively paying your dues means that you have done the necessary preparation and put in the time to qualify as something.

· If I join SAG, am I only allowed to accept or be a part of certain SAG talent agencies or SAG films? Can I not do independent films or amateur theatre? You can have any agent you like, but you would be foolish not to have a SAG franchised agent. You cannot do non union films, but you can do amateur theatre.

· If I am not an SAG member, will certain talent agencies not represent me? For instance like William Morris Endeavor, or United Talent Agency? Agents want to represent marketable actors who will get union work,so they want SAG eligible or SAG actors, or actors that are likely to earn SAG membership quickly. The big name agencies will not even look at you unless you are known in the industry and working steadily.

· Does a professional actor HAVE to be an SAG member? By definition in my book, to be a professional actor you must belong to an actor's union==SAG, AFTRA or AEA.

How to give a better audition

2011-06-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

One of the common problems of young actors is that they get nervous before an audition and they want to know what to do to overcome their nerves and give a better audition. I was amused to discover that the largest Internet website devoted to providing information to young actors has just got around to addressing this issue and provides the same advice that I have been giving for years.

The solution in a nutshell is to make the audition experience on at which you, the auditioner, has fun. We wouldn't be acting if it weren't fun. Acting is one of the few careers that pays people to play. I encourage actors to learn and use the following mantra: Acting is playing and playing is fun. When ever I act I am going to have fun. Repeat over and over while you are relaxing until you find that you are approaching all acting experiences--rehearsals, performance and auditions with a more positive and relaxed manner. There is nothing to fear in an audition. They do not shoot the people who do not get the role. And there is always another audition so if this one doesn't work out, who cares? The next one will be for a better gig.

The actor must always enter the audition with a positive attitude, sure of what he or she is going to do and is doing. The very first few seconds of the audition can be the most important of all. The casting people make up their minds about the candidates for roles very quickly, so even if it appears that the auditors are not paying attention to you, you must combat this with an enthusic, energetic and friendly attitude.

You go in, take you place and slate with all this positive energy. Often it is a good idea to make some positive observation about the environment of the audition, even if it is a bare class room or a drafty old stage. Walk out and say, "This is fantastic!" or "Wow! I feel great up here!" and then slate and do your audition. Instructions for slating and auditioning are found in Chapter Seven of my free ebook, The Tao of Acting. available on my web site: http://tao-of-acting.org.

Rehearse and rehearse your audition from your enthusiastic comment, to your slate, to your monologues, to you exit. Make them positive, energetic and fun. Fun is the operative word. Acting is playing and playing is fun. An audtion is just another chance to act and have fun.

Now go out an nail that job.

Luck and Connections

2011-06-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

I have run across a lot of people lately ascribing success in acting due to luck and who you know. I am sorry to disagree with the idea that in order to succeed as an actor you have to have connections and luck. I used to believe that luck was needed to succeed as an actor (a belief strengthened by the fact that there are so few successful actors), but I now think that is a naive idea just like thinking that only those with connections can succeed as actors.

Luck and connections are excuses for failing. "I was unlucky." "I didn't have connections like Miley Cyrus did." What really makes people fail is that they are unwilling to do the work needed to succeed, or that somehow they never learn what they have to do to succeed. They never learn the kind of work they need to do and how to go about it. That is why those of us in the mentoring business believe so strongly that aspiring actors need mentors.

It is really popular to blame ones failures on some outside or mystical force. "I failed because of racial bigotry." Or lack of connections. Or lack of luck. Or lack of money. You see none of these things really has a bearing on your talent or your personality, or your work ethic. All of them can be overcome by talent and the proper kind of hard work.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. One of my NYC students had a chance meeting with a famous agent in an elevator. Luck? Well, that far perhaps, but when she mentioned to him that she had just finnised a course at a well respected acting studio, he was impressed. Then she had the motivation to go to his office the next day and meet with him. He took her on. If she had not been well prepared at the acting studio and if she had not taken it upon herself to follow up on the meeting, she would not have got a chance to be represetned by him. When the oppotunity presented itself she was prepared. I had been a semi-professional and amateur actor for over twenty years when I heard about a film audition in a near by city. I prepared for the audition and attended. Because of my long experience, I was cast. The agent doing the casting call became my agent, and I got the first speaking role in a major TV series that I auditioned for. Luck? No. Preparation meeting opportunity.

I think everyone has it backwards about connections. They are always saying your success depends on who you know. Wrong. It depends on who knows you. Such people who have it backwards do not really understand what networking is and how to go about it properly. The purpose is to get yourself known in the industry, to build a positive reputation as an actor for yourself. Connections are built through your networking over all the years you are in the business. Like taking acting classes or having an acting coach, networking is something you always need.

Talent, love of acting, and dedication are plentiful. Solid preparation, charm, industry knowledge and mentors are much more rare.

Overcoming Inhibitons

2011-06-06T15:47:00.000-07:00

Many aspiring actors have written to be saying that they have trouble expressing emotion on stage. They feel the emotion, but they just cannot get it to come out.

Acting involves giving free and open expression of ones emotions. But many would-be actors are inhibiting themselves by worrying about what others may think of what they are doing (crying or screaming or whatever) and they are worrying about how they may look doing those things. The actor's mindset must be that she doesn't care what people think; and furthermore she enjoys the opportunity to have free expression of her emotions. That is one of the joys of acting--society makes us suppress our emotions but acting allows us to express them fully which is a refreshing and enjoyable experience.

To be an effective actor, the actor has to get out of her head. She gas to stop thinking about what she is doing and what others may think of it. Acting is not thinking, it is emotionally responding. Acting requires that the actor's entire being (all of her senses) focuses on the scene, and does not allow her mind to wander into thinking about other things. Concentration is one of the basic requirements for the actor.

Aspiring actors can practice emotional expression without inhibition in acting classes or with a good acting coach. And they can read about how such expression works and how it is the basis of acting in such books as How to Stop Acting by Harold Guskin and The Tao of Acting by Kenneth Plonkey.

On my website there are several articles that may help actors with emotional expression as well: "Modern Times Need Modern Methods", "Tao and The Art of Acting", and "Truthful Acting". When you go to my web page at http://tao-of-acting.org you will find these articles under the Acting Theory button on the drop down list.

Finally to address one other problem: acting is not leaving yourself. In order to be effective the actor allows her emotions to be expressed. Actors do have get out of their heads: they need to stop thinking about what they are doing and just do it and not think about anything but the scene. Actors have to learn to like who they are and how they look and to heck with the rest of the world (as long as they are getting parts). It is not necessary to be a beauty queen to be an actor. It is necessary to be able to act without inhibitions. Experience on stage should help a great deal. Go to my website, read my book and the articles and ask me lots of questions. God bless, Doc

How Do Unknowns Do So Well in Big Movies?

2011-05-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

The great myth of Hollywood is that a young lady is sitting at a soda fountain in a drug store and a talent scout sees her and she becomes a big star in her first big movie. The truth is that there are no talent scouts any more (except for scam operations they have disappeared along with the soda fountains). But the myth lives stronger than reality and thousands of young people (and some adults) day dream about being 'discovered' and becoming a star. Somehow people just want to believe that they could be a movie star if they could just somehow audition for a big film. Unfortunately these same people have never acted, not even in a high school play. But their friends and family think they should be actors because they are so funny or so talented. I have news for them: their friends and family wouln't know talent if it hit them between the eyes. A more biased group of judges you could not find.

I keep reading young peoples comments about this or that actor who without any experience or training is now a star. And these young people firmly believe that if this star did it, they can do it if they could only get a Disney audition. Then I look up these overnight stars and find out that they have a long history of experience and trainging. Futhermore, their parents spend lots of time and money advancing their careers. And I have further news for these young day dreamers: they are not the same people as these stars. The stars have demonstrated talent and the day dreamers have day dreams.

The fast lane to becoming a film star is closed. Only years and years of hard work building ones resume and training combined with natural talent and charming personality,and networking to get known--the bumpy, unpaved, rough road is open to success as an actor.

Keep Doing Amateur Theatre

2011-05-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I encourage aspiring actors to do is to keep doing amateur theatre. Many would be film actors are somehow loathe to even consider it. But that just shows their unwillingness to do what it takes to be a professional actor. Amateur plays hone one's acting skills. Until you are a member of AEA you need to use amateur theatre to stay sharp and to build your resume.

Amateur theatre also provides many opportunities to network and to promote yourself as an actor. Networking as I discuss it in "Networking for Success" on my website and in my ebook is the key to success as a professional. It is how you get your self known in the industry and how you learn about opportunities to further your career.

Consider the email I got this morning from one of my advisees. He already does quite a bit of professional acting in films and commercials, but he realizes the advantages of stage acting to advance his career.

Here are some excepts from his email:

"Well the ...show was a complete success.... and I felt completely free for most of the performances.My acting has come a long way and the past 2 years of hard work seems to now be paying off.
One of [the director's] friends who runs the only professional theatre company [in the area[ was impressed with my acting and said I was extremely strong throughout the whole show and would love to have me do a show with them.
In addition the agency I mentioned to you before ,,, liked what they saw as well and now I have a read with a leading agent on Friday."

Doing this amateur play is paying off for this actor. Doing amateur theatre can pay off for you as well. Maybe not in the first play, and maybe not until your networking takes effect. But for the aspiring actor it is an activity worth pursuing.

How Soon Do You Hear About Your Audition?

2011-05-15T18:23:00.000-07:00

Beginning actors often want to know how long it will be before they hear the results of an audition they have done . There is no set time that they can depend on. Often casting directors and directors take their time in making up their minds about casting, so it could be a number of weeks before you hear if you hear at all.

Most often when you are not selected, you never hear from the casting director. They are very busy and have not the time to contact every actor who auditioned. Thus, they only cast those who are selected or have call backs.

Unless you have specifically been told to do so, never call the casting director for information. If they want to talk to you, they will call you. What do you do, then, while you are waiting for the results? Since most often there won't be any results, the best thing to do after an audition is to forget about it and get on with your acting experience and training. If you don't get it, they will probably not contact you. and if you get a call back, it will be a great surprise and you can go on from there.

Sweet Success

2011-05-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

How sweet it is! I had the pleasure of watching a student of mine, Roy M. Davis, do a principle role in last night's episode of Law and Order SVU. It was great to see him doing such fine work in the field to which he has devoted his life! He has reported that he has done a great deal of acting in films and TV this year. I am very happy for him.

Roy is one of those rare individuals for whom acting is everything. For Roy, it is more important that he acts than if he makes a lot of money doing it. He has sacrificed living what most of us would call "a normal life" in order to pursue his first love, acting. This morning I answered a question similar to many asked by begining actors. It was, "Should I have a back up plan as I go into acting?" My answer was, "You should not go into acting if you have any doubts about being a success at it." But being a success for an actor like Roy is having been devoted to acting and having done as much acting as he possibly could. It is not the usual dream of stardom and fame that most beginners has. And that is why most beginners fail. They are not devoted to acting. They really want fame and fortune. For the vast majority of actors, fame and fortune never happens.

Roy is neither famous, nor well known, nor wealthy. But he is a success. He has lived his entire life devoted to acting. Congratulations, Roy. Well done.

Getting into Character

2011-05-11T15:05:00.000-07:00

I think the concept of "getting into character "as used by most actors and directors is a myth perpetuated by followers of Stanislavsky who do not understand what he meant by being in character. Being in character simply means that the actor at all times while on stage is energetically focused on what is happening in the play and energetically responding to it. . He is concentrating on the play and not thinking about other things. It is actually possible to tell if the actor is doing this by observing him. When the actor lets his concentration wander or stops energetically focusing on what is happening in the play, you can see his posture relax and his gaze shift. It is as though the character the actor is playing suddenly is pulled though the floor revealing the actor standing there. This is called “dropping out of character.”

Stanislavsky was one of the most influential advocatea of the principle that all actors on stage must stay in character all the time. His writings on how he retrained the Russian actors of the early part of the Twentieth Century to change from their former acting style of artificial posing and only being in character when they spoke to presenting more realistic performances created world-wide enthusiasm for realism in acting. One of his books is entitled “Creating the Role” and those who read the book often confuse the difference between applying Stanislavsky’s systematic approach for the actor to represent the character with the idea of the actor actually creating the character. It is the playwright who creates the character when he creates the play. The playwright reveals the character though the stage directions and dialog. What the actor does is represent the playwright’s creation, the character, by using those stage directions and the dialog. How the actor goes about preparing himself physically, mentally and emotionally to do that representation is the stuff of the Stanislavsky System or Strasberg’s Method, or any other technique or approach to playing a role. But it is not creation; it is representation.. It is merely the actor standing in for what the playwright has created. That is why acting is commonly referred to as a craft rather than as an art. Of course what the actor does may be quite inventive and original, but if it is to be valid, it must represent the author’s creation in an accurate way.

The speeches of the script are the outward expression of the emotional and physical responses of the character that has been created by the playwright or screenwriter. They contain both the action the character is doing and the emotion he is feeling. The actor does not create these things that make up the character. He represents the character.

The first thing the actor does is to provide the outward appearance of the character. He is usually cast as a character whose outward appearance is much like his own. To this he adds posture, gesture, mannerisms, and voice. He is aided by costume and make up. All of which aid the representation of the character. The actor does not 'get into character;’ he concentrates on what is happening in the scene and reacts to it. That is what people really mean by ‘being in character.”

Odds and Ends

2011-04-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

I haven't had an inspiration for a blog post in a while so I thought maybe a list of some random tips about acting and having a career in acting might be in order. Forgive me for any repetitions.

1. Take yourself and your acting seriously. Not so much as to become snobbish or stuck up about it. Nobody likes people who are "better than thou."

2. Whatever you do, do it as well as you can. Never just blow something off. You never know who is going to see your work and even the most minor of things could be a stepping stone to success.

3. Love acting. When you act do so with that love. Make your acting full of energy and passion without being a ham.

4. Love what it takes to be an actor. Love the struggle and the effort you must use to succeed.

5. Above all, work on your voice. You must have clear and distinct speech. Take voice and diction classes.

6. I ran across several youngsters today who had never heard that you have to sacrifice things to be an actor. They wanted to know what they would have to give up. Luxuries, dating, partying, being lazy, sleeping in, not worrying about money, doing things that would take away from your acting savings. There are lots of things that an actor must forego to succeed.

7. Don't stop building your resume when you are fortunate enough to get an agent. Keep looking for gigs on your own. Keep networking, that is the key.

8. So many aspiring actors try to start without haveing done the basics. Without lots of acting experience, without training, without your networking tools, you are not going to do very well.

9. Too many aspiring acotrs HAVE got to get a college degree. College will always be there, your youth will not. You can become an actor first and then get a degree. Why not? Many actors have.

10. Find a trusted mentor and stick with him. Do what he suggests. Don't try to improve on what he advises. He will only give you things that have worked before.

First You Have To Be An Actor

2011-04-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

This is an article for beginning actors. Particularly it is addressed to those youngsters who ask me questions like "How do I become a famous actor?" or "How do I get an agent" or "How do I find auditions?" Such questions can all be answered the same. "First you have to be an actor." Someone certainly cannot become a professional actor without any acting experience. No agent worth his commission will take on an untested, untrained actor. And no professional producer or director is interested in risking the millions of dollars invested their production on an untrained, inexperienced person. If you are going to get anywhere in the business of acting, you are going to need to be able to show people like agents and casting directors your resume. A resume is a summary of your acting experience, your professional training, and your special acting-related skills. So before you can be an actor or get an agent or get an audition, you need to do some acting. This acting can be in the amateur plays at your school or in your community. After you have done enough acting to evaluate the quality of your talent and that evaluation is positive enough, you can take some professional classes at a professional acting studio. Or perhaps you can audition and go to a professional acting school or university professional acting training program (BFA Acting). The point is that you don't start in the middle or at the end of the process of becoming an actor. Unless you have some very unusually lucky thing happen to you, you are going to have to start at the beginning of the process, which is being in amateur plays. Yes, that is where you start even if you just want to do film and TV or commercials. They all require that you can act. You have to first be an actor. Amateur theatre is where you do that.

Acting and Playwriting

2011-04-14T20:08:00.000-07:00

What do actors need to know about writing a play? I think it is helpful if they know enough about playwriting to understand what their job as actors are. First and foremost, a play is NOT conversation. A play is "an imitation of an action" as Aristotle noted. That means that it is something that happens because the characters in the story have emotional and physical reactions to what is going on. These reactions are recorded as the dialog. Yes, what the characters are saying are their emotional and physical responses to the things that are happening around them. Thus the actor needs to be able to present the dialog as his emotional and physical responses to what is happening in the scene. To put a play on paper, a playwright (or screenwriter) does these things.First he creates a scenario by telling the story moment by moment by what happens in the story (NOT what the characters say, ONLY what they do). This is the tricky part, learning to tell a story without any talking going on. It is like an actor learning to do great pantomime. They also want to make sure that what is happening is all ACTIVE and not passive. In other words, they want to make sure that the characters are doing things, not having things done to them. It is better to write "The witch turns the Prince into a frog," than to write "The prince is turned into a frog." The reason for this is that it keeps the play centered in what the characters are doing and that is the essence of a play, what the characters DO and ARE DOING. Once they have the scenario, they go back to the beginning and start translating the actions into the dialog. They use stage directions sparingly. They see the play occur in their mind's eye and hear in their mind's ear what the characters sound like while they write down the characters' reactions as dialog.. The actor works in reverse from the playwight. The actor takes the dialog and translates it back to the emotions and actions it represents. He does that by responding emotionally, using the dialog to verbalize his response, to the stimuli in each moment of the scene.

Acting as Reacting--How to do a Monologue

2011-04-07T12:07:00.000-07:00

I was answering a question about how to break a speech up into parts in order to make it more effective. Mechanically breaking the speech up into parts is not how one does effective acting. That is how a monologue becomes artificial and poorly acted. You do not need to do a lot of analysis and pre-planning to deliver a good monologue. You do need to understand what acting is and what dialog is. And a monologue is a piece of the dialog of the play.

First, the lines of a play are the vocal manifestation of the character's emotional and physical responses of what is happening in the scene. By physical responses I mean the overt movements the character is doing. An example follows. The line is “Now, don't interrupt me!." Following Shakespeare's "Suit the action to the word, the word to the action," it is obvious that the character is making some sort of 'Stop" gesture at that moment. But do not plan exactly what the physical gesture it because the speeches of a play are also the characters' emotional responses. Therefore, effective actors do not go through the speech and mechanically plan how to do it. Rather, from reading the play, the actors understand what is happening in the scene at the moment of the speech-what stimuli are occurring that effect their emotions and then actors allow themselves to react emotionally to each stimulus as it occurs in rehearsal and performance.

In long speeches, there are a series of stimuli that work on the actor's emotions. The actor expresses these emotional reactions as he or she says the lines and does the actions. So there is no need to mechanically decide when the mood changes, rather the actor needs to respond emotionally to what is happening in the scene moment by moment and react accordingly. In order to keep the acting believable and spontaneous and honest, these reactions are not planned by the actor. The actor just allows the reactions to happen as he or she is affected by the stimuli.

READING LIST FOR ACTORS

2011-03-30T13:36:00.000-07:00

I think every aspiring actor should read as many of these books as possible. You will note the absence of the “classics” such as Hagan and Stanislavsky. They are missing as I think these books are more important. Some are out of print and therefore may be skipped, at least for the present. These are listed in no particular order. Just find a title that interests you , get a copy at amazon.com where you can get it used and in paper (if possible) at the very best price. If amazon does not have it try bookfinder.com

-The Actor’s Art and Craft by Wm Esper and Damon DiMarco

-The Tao of Acting- Dr. Kenneth D. Plonkey

-The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Acting –Paul Baldwin and John Malone

-Rehearsal – Miriam Franklin

-True and False-David Mamet

-Acting without Agony – Don Richardson

-Acting is Everything: Gold Edition-Judy Kerr

-How to Be a Working Actor-Mari Lyn Henry and Lynne Rogers

-Self Management for Actors-Bonnie Gillespie

-How to Get Arrested-J. Wallach Michael and Paul Thurwachter

-An Agent Tells All-Tony Martinez

-How To Book Acting Jobs in TV and Film-Cathy Reinking

-One Less Bitter Actor: The Actor's Survival Guide-Markus Flanagan

-So You Want to Be in Showbusiness?- Steve R. Stevens

-Acting Truths and Lies (purchased at www.info4actors.com):

-Book the Job-Doug Warhit

-Intent to Live-Larry Moss

-Acting for the Camera-Tony Barr

-Acting in Film-Michael Caine

-Acting Class: Take a Seat-Milton Katselas

-Acting Professionally-Robert Cohen

-Acting As a Business – Brian O’Neil

-How to Get the Part Without Falling Apart-Margie Haber

-Audition-Michael Shurtleff

-The 15 Guideline Map to Booking-Amy Lyndon

-Secrets to Successful Cold Readings-Glenn Alterman

-How to Become a Magnet to Hollywood Success – Micelle Blood and Rock Riddle

I Dare you! (To be serious about acting.)

2011-03-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

Most people who are wanting to become professional actors either think they need an agent or they need to go to acting school. Careers do not start with agents, they wind up with agents. No agent is interested in inexperienced and untrained actor. Agents do not make actors out of people; they make money out of people who are actors. And as far as acting school goes, I think someone needs to be very sure they have talent worth investing money in before they put down tuition at an acting school.

I think experience (acting in plays) is more important than trainging (classes). There are lots of reasons for this: you can get experience for free in school and amateur community theatres; and such experience will tell you a lot about you and acting as a career. Then, I have a basic distrust of acting schools so I think they have to be selected carefully. Finally, acting professionally is a business, and you have to be prepared to enter the business with a good product--which is you as an actor, a goodly amount of money to invest in the business, knowledge about how to run the business, etc, etc.

You can find most of the info you need in my free ebook,The Tao of Acting, in my blog, if you read all of it back to its very beginning, and on my web site-- in that order. Since this is true, I use it to test to see if those who contact me are really interested in becoming actors. I tell them to read my book, my blog, and the other information at http://tao-of-acting.org/ and ask me lots of questions about it. Usually one of two things happen: I either never hear from them again, or they ask me questions that indicate they have not read these things although they often say they have. But if they read and ask questions and seek to understand what these things have to offer, I know they are serious about becoming an actor.

Well, I have thrown down the gauntlet. Are you going to pick it up and work to become a professional using the knowledge I offer, or are you going to go your merry way not knowing what you are doing.? It is your choice. If you are really interested in succeeding as an actor, I can help—so long as you are willing to help yourself by becoming informed. I look forward to hearing from you. God bless, Doc

Charisma!

2011-03-16T15:22:00.001-07:00

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that an aspiring actor needs considerable charisma--that mysterious charm and magnetism that audiences recognize in the actor and makes them identify with them. Charisma means that the audience members fall in love with the actor, at least to the point of being charmed by the actor and admiring him or her. Actors need to be attractive to audiences if they are going to succeed to any extent. Audiences want their actors to have qualities that they lack. They want to see happiness and success in actors. They want personality--charm and wit and sparkle, sexual energy, and attractiveness. This does not have to be physical beauty, it could be power, wealth, social position or self assurance.

So what does the aspiring actor have to do to achieve charisma? They can practice being suave. They can learn social graces and practice manners and tact. They also need to practice performing with energy in their demeanor and in their responses--vocal and physical. And they need to learn to love the camera. Whenever they audition, they need to be thrilled to be there, and they need to exude the charm of every character they read for. They need to have the kind of charm like when someone walk into a room, and everyone stops what they are doing and watches them, because they exude the charisma of a James Bond or a Clint Eastwood or a Meryl Streep. Aspiring actors need to work on it. And I suggest the aspiring actor takes plenty of time, doesn't rush, relaxes and that they REACT! Remember James Cagney's advice, "...look the other guy in they eye and speak the truth."

Additionally, you cannot act if you are carrying baggage from home into the scene room. You must have no problems at class, in rehearsal or in performance, You have left all of that home or certainly outside the performance space. You create charisma by enjoying what you do. It shows in your energy and charm, your relaxed and happy demeanor of loving being there and having no other care in the world.

Otherwise, the only prep you need to do is to create the physical character and learn the lines. Then don't think when you act, just listen and react. There is no half way to knowing your lines, you either know them or you don't. It is the actor's responsibility to know his lines. It is impossible to act without having the lines down to perfection. Knowing your lines frees your mind to receive the stimuli of the scene and to respond honestly, fully and without inhibition. It relaxes you the same way that meditation or yoga relaxes many actors. Being relaxed clears your mind for being charming and frees the body to respond with energy. There is no room in an actor's read for anything but the scene. That is why Mamet includes leaving home at home and the theatre at the theatre in his list in True and False of behavioral traits that actors must have. Actors who have charisma are not preoccupied by anything. They can concentrate on the task at hand.

To do your very best in your audition, your performance and in your career, you need to develop strong charisma. It is the undefinable quality that makes an actor a star!

How to Be A Successful Actor, Part Two

2011-03-12T17:18:00.000-08:00

here are some details on the list from the last post

1. If you hang around successful people they can tell you how they succeeded. Losers can only complain that they are not succeeding.

2. Having a mentor to show you the ropes is the most important thing you can have to help you succeed.

3. If you are going to be an actor, act. If not professionally, then semi-professionally or even in amateur theatre.

4. Don't rely on old techniques. Learn the latest approaches to acting and auditioning.

5. You should always be in a class for networking, learning new approaches and staying sharp. A private tutor can really improve your acting. Even successful movie stars have them.

6. In order to succeed you need to be energetic. Energy is the key ingredient in charisma. A charming personality is necessary for success.

7. You can never hope to succeed if you don't have a strong basis of experience, training and networking. You need a strong resume and good reputation in the industry to get an agent and get ahead.

8. I wrote elsewhere in this blog about not listening to what 'people' say because for the most part 'they' will be wrong. Listen to successful people, your mentor and your tutors.

9. If what you are currently doing is not getting you ahead in the business, then change and try something new. The definition of insanity (and Democrats-sorry, couldn't resist it) is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

10. If you fail, it is your fault. Perhaps your lack of talent. Perhaps your not following these precepts. Perhaps something else you have neglected. But it is not the agent's fault, not the CD's fault, or anyone else's fault but yours. You have the power to do the right thing or not. You have to ask yourself, Are you doing what you need to do to be a success? What are doing this week that will move you ahead in the business?

Tips for Success as an Actor

2011-03-09T10:34:00.000-08:00

Why do some actors succeed and others fail?

1, Those who succeed associate with successful people.

2. Those who succeed have a mentor.

3. Those who succeed are always acting.

4. Those who succeed study the latest acting techniques.

5, Those who succeed are always in classes or private tutoring.

6. Those who succeed are energetic personalities.

7. Those who succeed have a strong basis for their career.

8. Those who succeed do not follow what 'they' say.

9. Those who succeed keep trying new approaches.

10, Those who succeed accept responsibility for their success.

Idealism, Mythology and Profesional Actng

2011-03-04T14:35:00.000-08:00

One of the things that has impressed me over the past couple of years is how important young people seem to think their idealism about acting is. They often write how they want to change the world through their acting, or that they want to serve as a role model through their acting, or some such noble goal.

I know when I was a young student and later when I was a young professor how I would do my best to uphold the high ideals of theatre and acting. I unashamedly have published on my web site my most well-known lecture, "Theatre, Religion, and Football," in which I emphasize the long standing cultural need for and the historical honored position of theatre in our society. I am pleased that theatre is still an important part of the cultural scene of our cities. But along the way, the high idealism that believes someone is going to make a difference by their acting has been replaced by a cynical reality check about acting as a profession.

It is not just that it is nearly impossible to become a professional actor in the first place, it is also the crass commercialism that has turned what used to be a great art form into a huge business venture. The mythology of acting being some high status artistic endeavor long has been replaced by the lust for fame and fortune. The successful actor still acts because he is compelled to act, and money is not the object so much as is the acting itself. Indeed, the high minded actor will act for nothing if that is the only way he can act. And there remains still among New York stage actors the feeling that they are artists and that Hollywood film actors are prostitutes selling themselves for money. When I first got involved in professional film acting years ago, I can remember one of my former students being aghast at the fact that I had deserted the idealism of the theatre for motion pictures. Of course, I had not deserted the theatre and strove to maintain its idealism. It was, however, a lost cause amongst the financial realities of the bureaucratic structure of academia. The mythology of the Ivory Tower of knowledge, learning and culture in our universities has been replaced by the grim realities of FTE and state funding formulae, not to mention political indoctrination.

It must be a blow to the idealistic, liberal minded young person to discover that being an actor is as much of a business as being a banker. Indeed, it takes a bit of scratch to get your itch to become an actor satisfied. It takes money to get started and it takes money to keep going. I guess I should have listed under preparations that the aspiring actor needs to know is how to earn a living before trying to become an actor as that is the very first thing one must do—support himself and his acting habit. There are books to be ordered to give the candidate for acting success the informational preparation he needs. There are head shots, business cards, the printing of resumes, personal post cards, and even creating a personal actor’s letterhead stationary for correspondence is something the actor needs to pay for. Management software such as Performer Track and web sites for audition information and casting opportunities to subscribe to add to the financial investment of one’s acting business. Then there are acting classes and union initiation fees and monthly dues to pay when that level of success is reached. It totals up to a pretty substantial amount. Whatever happened to the actor as an artist?

The professional world of acting is far removed from the ideals of they young artist. Those ideals are only part of the mythology of acting, like Thespis and Demeter.

They are mostly lost among professional acting, but they are not entirely gone from society. While the commercialism of professional acting forces the artist to be a businessman, the freedom of amateur and semi-professional acting still allows acting to be pursued as an art. Thus, we have an active indie film industry and many film festivals for the work of artists to be displayed. We even have a few, small stage theatres whose work is geared toward art rather than money. They are to be applauded.

They cannot possibly survive without income, of course, but the fact that there are people who will choose art over money will continue the mythology for the world of acting.

In the final analysis, what acting most needs are successful actors who will then serve the art by nurturing budding attempts at creating, preserving and expanding theatre, cinema and acting beyond the commercial toward the pinnacle of art.

WhatAbout Script Analyis?

2011-02-28T14:38:00.000-08:00

Here are some questions and answers about script analysis that I recently had with a correspondent. My comments are in bold.

In your e-book,("The Tao of Acting") you say you're not in favour of script analysis. Exactly so. I also find this very difficult for me to do. I've been taking acting classes for almost a year now, and I feel I haven't improved much since I started.That is probably due to your doing too much writing and not enough acting in those classes.

How should an actor prepare for a scene, like getting into character, if he should not create an imaginary biography of the character, or imagine what happened before the scene starts? If you have read the play, you have all the character info and back story you need. If the playwright thought you needed more, he would have given you more. (historical characters excepted as the playwright may think the actor already knows the character and his circumstances when the actor may be unaware of them. Then a bit of historical research may be in order, but otherwise analysis is not needed.) The actor reads the scene or the play, whichever he is given, understands what is going on and what the character is about, then the actor assumes the physical character, and reacts to the stimuli of the scene moment by moment.

Isn't sub-text beneficial to the actor because it helps the actor be, or get in touch with the character? I think sub text is a crock. The lines ARE the emotional response to the stimuli, they don't need sub text, they need to be spoken to communicate their meaning. Sub text is "acting" and therefore artificial and we want our performances more real. Also sub text is dangerous because the actor may speak the sub text rather than the lines and confuse his scene partner. I saw a famous actress do a scene at The Actors Studio, years ago, and she felt the scene was not working so she ad libbed a sub text line not in the script. Then she blamed her scene partner for the weakness of the scene. I thought all of that was BS. And now I know that Method acting is BS. As one of my students, now a professional actor, said about script analysis, "Just do the scene." I agree, if you want to be a student of what is in a script, analyze it. If you want to be an actor, "Just do it."

Why people fail to become successful actors

2011-02-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

I probably have addressed this somewhere before, but it is a question much on people's minds at present. Many want to know if they have a chance to succeed as actors, and many would become actors, but.... There are many reasons why people fail. In my book, The Tao of Acting, I list personality traits that actors must have for success. These are taken from True and False by David Mamet. And then my book contains a list of professional habits based on Miriam Franklin's book, Rehearsal. Failure to live up to any of these personality traits or professional habits can cause an actor to fail. I recently saw an interview with a Los Angeles acting teacher, who said "The only people who succeed as actors are those who have to be actors." This is something I have been telling people for years. If you can be happy doing anything else in life, you probably will not succeed as an actor.

If you wonder if you have a chance to succeed or wonder if acting is what you should try to do, you will fail. Those who have to be actors do not wonder or even care much about those things. They just go out an be actors because they must do that. If you have any reason why you may fail-- lack of money, where you live, race, religion, or anything else -- or if you give reasons why you failed in the past and have not accepted them as your shortcomings and corrected those reasons, you will fail. Many actors illustrate the definition of insanity: they keep doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

Acting is not just a career choice, it is a life style choice. It involves a great deal of self motivation, sacrifice and continued effort. If you are not a good self starter, if you cannot live without the common comforts and conveniences and/or if you cannot doggedly stay with your desire to be an actor in spite of everything, then you will most likely fail. For an actor, success is not fame and fortune, success is having been able to be an actor as much as possible during his lifetime.

Lastly, Tony Smith, on his Acting Career Start Up web site, today posted an article and videos, revealing what he calls the secret of achieving success as an actor. That secret is another thing that I have been telling people for years: have a mentor. If you blindly try to become an actor on your own without guidance from someone who knows the ropes, who has been there and done that and who is really willing to help, your chances for success are diminished. I should not have to point out that finding someone willing to help you and then ignoring their advice not only is rude,but also is a way to fail.

To be a success, you must be positive, and be willing to do what is needed to be done. You must listen to experience and learn from and correct your mistakes. You must be a successful personality and not associate with losers. And you must have a mentor willing to help. I not only am willing to help, I am probably the only mentor who does not charge anything for his help and/or who is not trying to sell you anything. Above all, however, you must have to be an actor.

PS. One of my advisees in LA just sent this regarding the topic of why people fail to become actors: "Most people want instantaneous gratification - as most society and acting does not yield itself to instant gratification. Many don't have the personality - it is sales, it is marketing, it is communicating, it is networking, it is planning. You have to be very smart and savvy. You have to spend the money to make money - a good head shot is priceless- yet many get photos from amateurs and it shows. If someone wants to have no vacations (how can you vacation if you are trying to make it?), no love life, no family life (or minimum at least), no partying (if you get an audition the next day you can't be indulging and that can happen in an instance). (I truly believe you should not date or be in a relationship if you want to be an actor- too much energy) It is almost like living like a monk. To stay focused and not get discouraged - wow! Only for the thick skinned and those who are tenacious. It takes total dedication - and perseverance - and a long shot. It is like gambling - yet if you get that role you hit the jack pot. Yet - if you do it right and make the right connections and are likable - I believe it can happen. It really depends on the person and how much they believe and want it. They need to never give up - I guess you need to be insane! You have to love it - whether it gives results or not. Even if you are not an "a" list or "b" list actor = you just have to be happy that you are trying and living the dream so many are afraid to go for. The ride to get there - to being a working actor - is more fun that when you get to the top of the mountain. Then you have to say - what next?! It is not meant for the majority - that is why so many leave. They don't understand that it is a lifestyle and one that many won't accept and understand. You need to say "good-bye" to those who don't believe in you - as you can't have any negativity. It is self centered and the person has to be extremely egocentric. I guess I am not painting a very nice picture - yet I would not give it up for the world. This is the happiest I have been in years."

Cost, Warnings and Preparations for Being an Actor

2011-02-04T18:54:00.000-08:00

What has become more and more apparent to me over the last year is that going into the business of acting requires many kinds of investments that I write about on my newest web site sub page, Your Investment in Acting. Acting is not an art that you just start doing and people give you money. Acting is a hard-nosed business that takes a sizable monetary investment for you even to compete and to make progress. Then the investments in time, effort and preparation are in addition to that. Acting is not something to be entered into unadvisedly and without proper preparation, which includes lots of acting experience as well as some formal training.

Almost all of the kids on Yahoo Answers are looking for a quick and easy way to become the people they see on the TV and movie screen. They don't have the foggiest notion that what they see on those screens is not at all what acting is all about. Thus the scammers take over, selling them the promise of quick stardom, even if they have no talent. And there is practically no one out there that will tell them if they have no talent. A large number of the population do not even believe that it takes talent to be an actor. Every aspiring actor should question every organization they are thinking of doing business with and try to be assured that the business is not a scam.

When I first began advising on Yahoo Answers and All Experts, and I wrote my book, The Tao of Acting. I always listed for those who asked for them the steps in becoming an actor. One important step was that the aspirant needed to get a mentor. As I have moved away from belief that there are a set series of steps in becoming an actor, I have kept the belief that the aspiring actor needs a mentor as described in my book. The actor needs to do many things all at once: build a resume, network, earn a living, and on and on. And of course success comes to each actor in a little different way. Some are thought to have a lucky break, but luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Networking is making opportunities for yourself. If you want to be an actor you cannot ever stop working on it. It is a life style and there is no vacation from that.

You Must Act

2011-01-30T13:31:00.000-08:00

The title of this post comes from a web site of the same name from which the aspiring actor can get much good information. But I have been thinking a lot lately about the people I advise and what they are currently doing. It seems to me that only a very few are actually doing any acting and that is troubling. You see, if you are an actor, you must act. That means that you must be acting in something.

I can hear the excuses from many: "I've been cast in something, but it doesn't start until next Spring," or "I'm waiting for may agent to call," or "I have an audition next month or next week," or "I'm not ready yet," or "I can't find any auditions," or a million other reasons why they are not acting. They need money and cannot take off work. And on and on and on, until, frankly, they just give up on ever being a professional acting. And the reason they have given up, no matter what it is they tell you, is that they did not try.

An actor, acts. That's what he does. He doesn't wait for a role to drop from heaven, he goes out and finds one. Oh, it may not be a professional role. It may be an amateur one, community theatre, student film, a volunteer spot on local TV. But it is a role. It is acting.. It is not sitting around making excuses why he is not acting.

Where ever you are located, there is an amateur community theatre, there may be student or indie films, there may be a college theatre program whose productions are open to anyone interested in participating. And, as I say in my book, "The Tao of Acting," if there is no other, make your own acting opportunity. "Oh, I don't have the ability to organize that," you may say. My only answer is then you may not have the ability to succeed professionally. To succeed you need to be outgoing and able to meet and talk to people, and that is what you need to organize your own theatrical production.

The bare truth is that if you are not acting, you are not an actor. If you are not an actor,then why keep pretending you are? The field is over crowded, get out and make room for those who must act.

Confidence, Acting, and Talent

2011-01-25T09:14:00.000-08:00

"I need to build my confidence" or "I am shy" are two things I read that many aspiring actors and actresses confess. Of course, being in plays is the best way to build confidence. Speech classes are good as well. Professional actors need confidence in many ways. Of course they need confidence in their acting. If they are not confident that they can compete with the very best other actors, then they are not ready to be actors.

To become and to continue to be successful as an actors, aspirants must have confidence in their ability to introduce themselves to strangers. I know of an actor who worked many years as a professional, but when it came to introducing himself to strangers, he was shy. To advance professionally, an actor cannot be shy in this way. An actor has to network, and an important way of doing this is to introduce himself to people in the business--other actors, directors, producers, agents, and so on. If he lacks the confidence to do this, his chances of success are very limited. The actor I mentioned never progressed beyond playing minor roles.

The aspiring actor or actress has to have enough confidence to strike out into the wilderness of new places where they may know no one. It is often necessary to move to a new city to move your career forward. Having the confidence to do that is needed as well.

Actors have to have confidence in their ability to be interviewed. When they make an achievement, they will be interviewed perhaps locally by the media, perhaps on a national talk show. They must be engaging and charming and interview well.

Finally, the actor or actress needs confidence in their ability to be a self starter and self motivator. Acting is the kind of career that demands the aspirant to keep working on his or her career every day. You can't just sit around and wait for the career to come to you. You have to go out and make it happen. Every day. It is exactly the same as a home based business that requires you to make contacts and try to sell your product every day in order to make money. That is what an actor must do to be successful.

I often think that confidence is part of what we call "talent." Just being able to do the work well is a very small part of being talented. Talent must also makes itself known. And that takes confidence.

Acting is Not Free

2011-01-19T15:11:00.000-08:00

I have discussed elsewhere in this blog about the fact that professional acting is a business and that it takes monetary investment like all businesses do. Recently, I have been helping some people with their dealings with their agents, and it occurs to me that often aspiring actors are given the wrong idea about agents and the cost of being represented.

Aspiring actors are always being told that legitimate agents do not cost you anything and all you have to do is pay them a small percentage of what money you earn as an actor being represented by them. While that is literally true, in a sense; in actual practice it will cost an aspiring actor a lot of money to have an agent. Here is why: First, the agent will want the actor to get new photos from a professional photographer--several hundred dollars. Second, the agent will want the actor to subscribe to one or more casting web sites as they recommend--up to a hundred dollars per year per site. Third, the agent will want you to pay for your comp cards or other duplicated material that they send to casting directors to try to secure you auditions--couple of hundred more dollars of expense. Fourth, you will want to have business cards and personalized post cards for your networking--up to a couple of hundred buck again. Of course you should have had these before you got the agent, but now that you have new head shots, you will want to update them. Fifth, some legit agents even have other charges for promoting you and putting you in their database. And, Sixth, you will need to get new head shots, business cards and post cards every couple of years so you always look like your photos.r

So the only difference between the legit and scammer agents is that the legit ones do not insist on your purchasing their classes or their photos to be represented, and in a few cases some legit agents want you to use their photographers for your new head shots.

Additional expenses for the aspiring and the successful actor include acting classes and workshops, private teaching, books, gym dues to stay fit and trim, union initiation fees and dues and additional casting web sites such as Actors Access or Casting Workbook.

No, acting is not free. It is a business and an expensive one that you must keep investing in to be competitive.

How to get discovered

2011-01-10T10:15:00.000-08:00

I recently read an article by the same title as this blog post and it inspired me to consider the topic. This is what I encourage you to do:

The first thing an actor needs to do to be "discovered" is to stay active as an actor. Keep doing community theatre plays, student and indie films and extra work. Be an actor. If you are not an actor you cannot be discovered as one.

Next the aspiring actor needs to be in a professional acting class as often as possible. This is where you network and become known as part of the professional world. Take audition, cold reading, and film acting classes and workshops. You can be in a class and be in plays and films at the same time.

Of course while doing these things, you are practicing "Networking for Success" as I describe it on my web site and in my book. Along with this you need to study how the business works, reading all you can about it in books and articles that you can find and in those that I suggest. Learn who the more effective agents are in your area. Learn who the casting directors are who are working in your area. Stay up on what is happening in the business, where films are being made and why.

Make sure you are working in places where there is a lot of opportunity for work. When you apply for an audition, make sure it is for a role you are suited for. If they want twenty-something middle eastern types, and you are a 19 year old blonde or thirty year old red head, forget it.

This is a direct steal from the article I read but it is an absolutely brilliant strategy: Surround yourself with people who are successful as actors, who are making it professionally and avoid hanging out with those aspirants who never do anything to get ahead. Learning who the winners are and what they are doing can help you, hanging with the losers will make you one of them. Keep moving forward in your career.

Frequently review what I say about developing the proper behavior and the lists of such that I have from Mamet and Franklin in my book, The Tao of Acting. Make sure you are emulating them.

Everyday renew your resolve to succeed and plan two or three things you are going to do that day to move your career forward. Stay acting and positive. keep your networking tools up to date and more impressive, build your demo reel, and remember to send out post cards., do charity work, and get your name and photo in the newspaper or on TV for it.

Finally save up to attend Regional Unified Auditions where you will be seen by lots of directors casting semi professional and professional theaters. There is no better place to be discovered than on stage in a professional theater. Do your research and find out where and when these will be held and budget your time and money so you can attend. There are several of these use them as stepping stones to your career. If you are getting nowhere in your career where you are-- moving to another area might make more sense than keeping repeating what is not working for you.

Substance Abuse in Professional Acting

2011-01-03T09:07:00.004-08:00

The loss of Heath Ledger to a drug overdose did not create the outrage in the film industry that it ought to have done. Here was another great talent lost at a young age. Why did it happen and what can be done about it?

Working on a film as an actor is very stressful and tiring. Getting up before dawn every day and working until after sundown is the common practice. Most of what an actor does during these long days is wait around to be called to do his or her takes. Then when finally called, the scenes are shot over and over and over again to get them just right and to cover them from all angles..The acting itself can get quite tedious and tiring. Often stars like Ledger are put into one film after another with little rest in between. And that compounds the problems.

In between films, an up an coming or established star is expected to make the rounds of parties at producers, directors, casting directors and others' homes so they will be seen by all the best people and become someone who will be wanted for one of their next films. Often the actors will be accompanied by other up and coming actors in a sort of 'blind date' situation. This creates a great deal of stress as well,and partying where there are drugs and alcohol easily at hand as they are at most of such events can lead to abuse.

There are some reasons why there is so much substance abuse in the business--boredom plus money plus being overly tired and stressed all the time. These are not excuses. Many actors do not have substance abuse problems, but it takes very strong will power and character to avoid them.

The Screen Actors Guild should lead a campaign against substance abuse. They have immense power and should be looking out for the well being of the actors. They should find a way to penalize those who make drugs so readily available on movie sets and at Hollywood parties. But the final campaign has to be the actor himself or herself to just say, "NO!" to drugs and alcohol. It would be far better in my opinion for an actor to have to take a day or two off from working on a film than for him to start using drugs to keep him awake, give him energy, and allow him to sleep.

Being Nice and Success

2011-01-03T09:07:00.003-08:00

One of the precepts in being a successful actor is to never make an enemy. I thought I would share a couple of stories with you that illustrate the wisdom of that guideline.

This story was part of someone’s answer on Yahoo Answers and makes a very important point about becoming a successful actor. I forget who posted it, but I was so taken with it that I copied this little story:

"Also always be nice! I had a friend who was rude to a guy by closing the door to the elevator on him on purpose when she was on her way to an audition and he ended up being the casting director!" Can you imagine the embarrassment for this actress when she found out to whom she had been rude. I can almost bet that the casting director was very kind about the whole matter and tried to assure the young woman that everything was fine. I can also bet that she did not give her best audition and that she did not get the role. Indeed, you should always be nice. No one wants to work with unpleasant, rude, selfish or egotistical actors.

The second story concerns one of my advisees in NYC, a young woman trying to break into professional acting. She had had a chance meeting with a famous talent agent on an elevator and he agreed to represent her. He wanted her to get new head shots, as agents usually do when they take on a new talent. He suggested that his secretary take the head shots as she was a photographer and he liked her work. But when the photos were done, the young lady did not like any of them and set about getting other photos from another photographer. Doing this she had to postpone meeting with the agent until the newer photos were ready. When they were and she called the agent's office to reschedule her appointment, the agent's secretary told her that the agent was no longer interested in her and had taken on a different talent. A rare and possibly career-making opportunity was ruined. Never ever let your ego get in the way of going along with your agent and how they operate. And never ever forget that the secretary of any business controls who gets in and who doesn't get in to see the boss.

When you are in show business, you make friends with everyone from the custodian and maid to the producer and director. It is important that you are known throughout the industry as a nice,cooperative person. And in show business, today's lackey is often tomorrow's big shot. Never make an enemy.

I want to be an actor but only for films

2010-12-26T14:26:00.000-08:00

This is the latest nonsense I keep running into in questions about acting. Youngsters are so passionate about acting that they cry about not being an actor, but they only want to be in major films, no TV or stage acting. Of course, if it makes any difference what the medium is for their acting, such people are not really serious about acting. Almost all professional actors in films (and most TV is filmed or taped (same thing)), started acting in their high school plays and/or their college plays, and/or in community theatre. If someone really wants to be an actor, all they have to do is audition for an amateur play and if they have any ability they will get to do some acting. After being in a few plays, they will get an idea of the scope of their talent and can make a more reasonable decision about trying to become a professional as opposed to not having any idea if they can really act or not. Most of these film only dreamers also have no idea what acting in film is all about. All they see is the romance and excitement of what is shown on the screen. But that is not what the actor does all day. Film actors have to be up before dawn and report to costumes and make up very early, then they spend most of the day waiting for the crews to be ready for them. Then they get to act the short scene that is being filmed, perhaps doing it over and over again to get it right and cover all the angles. Then they wait for the next little scene, and so on, working often until after dark. Nothing glam about the daily grind of acting in a film. And then, of course, most actors spend most of their days looking for work and support themselves with jobs that are low paying and tedious. Going into acting for any other reason than you have to be an actor is going for the wrong reason. It is probably the most difficult way on Earth to try to make money or achieve fame. So unless you just have to act and you don't care whether it is on stage, on TV, in a commercial, or in a film, you don't really want to be a professional actor.

Is it Impossilbe to Be an Actor?

2010-12-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

This question is being asked more and more by aspiring actors who start to learn the realities of the profession. The answer is no, it is not impossible, but it is really, really, difficult. Acting is not like any other work in the world, You don't just say,"I'm and actor," and it is so. In most cases. people work for years developing a resume of experience and training, spend more years finding an agent(unless they are remarkably good and remarkably lucky). The problem is that there are tens of thousands more actors than there are jobs for actors. Therefore the tested, the known and the experienced get the work. A big part of the actor's job is to become one of these people. This happens by way of networking (as you will find it described in these blog posts). And it takes years for networking for a newcomer to get known and wanted by the directors. If you know what you are doing when you enter the search to become an actor, you have a chance. But if you do not know what to do, you have no chance no matter how talented you are. Is it possible to become a professional actor? Yes. It is possible to earn your living at it? Not in most cases. But if you have the grit to stick with it and the talent, personality and training and you do your networking, you have a chance. A few people become recognizable actors every year in movies and TV. So it is possible. If you'd like to try it the right way and are willing to work hard and work smart, I can help you. Those serious about becoming an actor write me at kencosp@aol.com and tell me about your acting background. God bless, Doc

Ethnicity and acting as a career.

2010-12-16T13:42:00.000-08:00

I have often been asked if a person's ethnicity would make a difference in their being a success as an actor or actress. The answer is that ethnicity does not matter. Talent matters. If someone fails to become an actor, it is not because of ethnicity, it is because of not being good enough; and that means perhaps by talent, perhaps by look, perhaps by personality, perhaps by lack of knowledge of the industry, perhaps by other obligations the aspiring actor does not have what it takes to succeed.

I was very fortunate to have had as a guest professor in graduate school, Fredrick O'Neal, an actor, theater producer and television director. He founded the American Negro Theater and was the first African-American president of the Actors' Equity Association, the union of stage actors in the USA. Fred was a great teacher and became a good friend for many years after he left the university and returned to New York. He was a charming man who told us this story about his seeking an acting career: he went to his father and told him that he wanted to be an actor, and Fred's father said, "All right. But remember if you do not make it, it will not be because you are black. It will be because you are not good enough." Anyone in these times that uses his or her ethnicity as a reason they cannot succeed at something is just playing the race card as a cop-out. I left graduate school in 1964 and Fred started his professional career in 1936! Long before Civil Rights laws and an African-American was elected President of the United States. So, you see. If he could do it then, there is no reason why a person of color or other minority ethnicity cannot do it now--unless, of course, they are "not good enough."

Talent is only part of not being good enough. Tens of thousands of very talented actors and actresses never have a career as actors. There are several reasons why this happens. They may not have a distinctive enough look. That does not mean they are not handsome or beautiful enough. It means that they just are not interesting looking enough. They may lack the personality to be an actor. Among the most prominent personality traits needed for success are charm, lack of ego, and determination. Many people believe the most common reason why people fail to be a success, despite their talent, is lack of knowledge of how the industry works. This is crucial. It has only been the past few years that colleges and even professional academies have begun teaching their students how to have a career. Still many of those classes are inadequate. The acting profession is a limited world that beginners have difficulty becoming members of. That is why I began mentoring aspiring actors--so they might have a chance of breaking into the world of acting. Yet another reason they might fail to succeed is having other obligations, such as a family or debts. Having a spouse and children is probably one of the greatest handicaps a beginning actor or actress can have. It is right that this is so. Marriage and family are solemn obligations, not to be taken lightly. Financial obligations, such as student loans, also are a great hindrance to success as an actor. If you have debts to pay, you need to make money to pay them. Beginning actors usually make very little money.

Well, I have strayed from ethnicity to other matters. Acting professionally is one of the most complex of pursuits. So many things are involved that it is much easier to fail than to succeed. It, indeed, takes a very special person to be an actor.

All About Agents

2010-12-08T23:27:00.000-08:00

Once an aspiring actor has a good resume, he or she is ready to begin to work for a career. While building your resume and until you are well established as a professional actor, you need to network. My article on Networking for Success explains how to do that. Networking includes fishing for a agent. I call it fishing because that is exactly how the process of getting an agent works – just like angling for a fish.

The aspiring actor needs to find an agency within a couple hours of where he or she lives. Agents do not sign people who live out of state or at a far distance from the agency. Then you need to submit for representation according to the instructions given on the agency web site. Of course, you are wary of scams as described in my book, The Tao of Acting. Feel free to contact me anytime to check the validity of an agency.

You need a good head shot, resume and cover letter. (see How to Write a Resume, etc on this blog). You will be sending these things to the agency. Occasionally, an agency will have an open audition at a specified day each week or month and you can take your things and attend one of those.

Do not start looking for an agent before you are ready. It isn’t true that getting an agent is the first thing you need to do to become an actor. It usually is the last thing. First you need to be an actor, working in amateur plays and films, taking an occasional class and building a strong resume that is proof that you can make money for an agent. Trying to get an agent before you are ready just will disappoint you.

For more information about agents and how the work go to http://talentagents.blogspot.com . It is a really good site with solid information.

All About Me, The Theatre Doc

2010-12-06T20:24:00.001-08:00

This is the Theatre Doc--

About me/Filmography

I received the Bachelor of Arts degree from Colorado State College (now The University of Northern Colorado) in Greeley in 1959, and I taught high school English, speech and drama, and junior high art from 1959-1962. I earned the Master of Arts degree from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale in 1963. I taught four years at LSU in Baton Rouge and received the Doctor of Philosophy from Southern Illinois University in 1968. That year I became head of the Theatre Department of Southern Colorado State College (now Colorado State University Pueblo). I appeared in a dozen TV series and films between 1979-1989 including How the West Was Won, Centennial, The Chisholms, The Sacketts, Manhunt for Claude Dallas, and The Avenging. I performed Oscar in "The Odd Couple," Jonathon in "Arsenic and Old Lace," and Merlin in "Camelot" at The Old Town Dinner Theatre in Colorado Springs. I played Pertruchio in "Taming of the Shrew" as guest artist at Otero College, and appeared many times on the stage at the University of Southern Colorado where I was Director of Theatre from 1968 to 1996. I co-authored several plays, directed and served as chairman of the board of Entertainment Unlimited which I founded to purchase and run the Iron Springs Chateau melodrama dinner theatre in Manitou Springs, Colorado. I also wrote children's theatre plays and toured them in the southern Colorado area while at USC. I directed the first dinner theatre production in Pueblo, the first summer stock theatre in Pueblo, wrote and directed the first madrigal dinner in Pueblo, and produced, directed and acted in the first full-length play produced at the Sangre de Cristo Fine Arts Center. I also wrote, produced and directed many dinner theatre productions and children's theatre tours after my retirement in 1996. In 2006 I began mentoring aspiring actors via email, and have had many students throughout the country and around the world. In 2007 I wrote “The Tao of Acting, Mentoring for Aspiring Actors” which I continually update and which I give away free to those interested in a career as an actor. I also give free acting lessons to aspiring actors in the Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo area.

Filmography

The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox --Wedding Guest
The White Buffalo --Buffalo Hunter
How the West Was Won (TV series) --Krater
I Want to Keep My Baby --Teacher
The Frisco Kid -- Camp Cook
Centennial (TV series)-- Batelle
The Chisholms (Mini Series) --Reynaud
The Sacketts (Mini Series)-- 2nd Miner
Heritage -- Board Member
The Avenging -- Warner
Manhunt for Claude Dallas -- Poacher

Acting and education

2010-12-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

I have received some email lately asking about aspiring actors and education. One student wanted to drop out of high school to become an actor. Another saw no reason to study in high school because he didn't think it would help him become an actor. Yet another thought my book, The Tao of Acting, made it clear that going to college was a bad idea for an aspiring actor and that all he had to do was be a waiter in the day time and act at night. Of course it is highly dependant on the level of the aspirant's maturity and experience, whether he or she continues getting an education after high school; but even if a minor were fortunate enough to get a professional job before graduating, they would be required by child labor laws to study with a tutor provided by the producer. A minor cannot drop out of high school and become an actor. That is impossible.

Furthermore, no one wants a stupid actor. Actors play roles from all historical eras, and they have to know how people lived and behaved in those days. Studying history and literature is excellent preparation for an actor. Actors also need to know how to write business letters, do simple bookkeeping to look after their finances and taxes, how to behave in social situations, and do a myriad of other things that they learn as they mature and as they study more about their language and their world. In many cases it is also desirable for an aspiring actor to go to college to achieve maturity and get needed acting experience.

It is true that I don't agree with having something to fall back on. The aspiring actor who has something to fall back on will do just that because it is so hard to earn money as an actor. But the actor does need to know how to earn a living while trying to become an actor, but that is part of the process and not falling back on something other than acting. It is important that aspiring actors learn how to support themselves before ever trying to become actors.

It is also true that I believe many colleges and professional schools are a waste of time and money. But again, that depends on the individual. And I make that clear, I hope, in my book; and since acting deals with every possible subject in the world, a solid educational background is not a waste for an actor. The aspiring actor has to know so much about so many things other than acting that staying in school and getting a good education is actually a requirement of being an actor. No one just has to “act” to be an actor. There are so few jobs and so many actors that the aspiring actor has to be able to compete intellectually as well as with talent. The actor must have lots and lots of experience acting. There is no on the job training. Professionals are expected to know their craft before they are hired. Acting is first and foremost a business and like other businesses it requires financial investment for tools and supplies and books and classes. Professional actors are always in classes for keeping sharp and for networking.

Someone aspiring to be an actor needs an impressive resume and that includes acting classes, some with noted teachers or at respected studios or academies. The academic degree is not a requirement for an actor, but it is not a hindrance either. As I said, no one wants to work with a stupid actor or one that cannot use the language correctly. Naturally, some students make connections and get opportunities via their academic pursuit. I have three academic degrees in theatre, and they put me in good stead when I did semiprofessional and professional work.

Acting is not for the intellectually lazy. It is difficult work mentally and physically. In my blog posts of Nov 13 and Oct 24 I state several advantages of going to college or professional school. I think there is much wrong with actor training in our country, but I also think it is very important that the actor be trained and in many more things than just acting.

What good is school in helping me become an actor/?

2010-12-01T13:00:00.000-08:00

Teens often become disenchanted with school; and, if they want to be actors, they can see no purpose in getting a formal education. They have more than a few misconceptions to say the least. First, they probably think that acting is an easy job; and although acting itself is easy to do getting an acting job is quite difficult. Very few actors make a living at acting. Most have to support themselves doing other work. Second, no on wants to hire a stupid actor. The actor had better know what all the words of the script mean and how to pronounce them. Acting deals with every subject under the sun. Therefore, it is helpful for an actor to have a broad, liberal education. Third, another school subject that the disenchanted teen will not like is English. However, both the study of literature and grammar will improve the teen's ability to act effectively. Historically, plays have been considered literature and as such hold much from which the actor can gain. Performing Shakespeare, Moliere, and others requires both an understanding of verse forms and how they function, along with figures of speech, and grammar for in the mechanics of the writing of his plays, Shakespeare literally tells the actor how to read the lines and act them out. Fourth, an actor is required to write business letters in search of work, Knowledge of this sort of composition is a must. Finally, acting is foremost a business proposition. The actor needs to know how to operate the business of his being an actor. Therefore, the actor needs to know enough math to figure his share of contracts, to budget his investment in his business, and to do his income taxes.

So the message to the whining teen who is so bored with school and thinks because they want to become an actor they don't need the rest of it is that they are quite wrong. If they are going to be a success at acting, they had better be very good scholars, indeed. In the earlier editions of The Tao of Acting, including the one currently available on my web site, I say the Tao does not recommend going to college. But that is only for the more experienced and mature of high school graduates. The most of us gain a great deal in attending college. Not only do we broaden our education, but also we gain much in maturity and acting experience by going to college. Most successful actors in the UK and many in the US are graduates of colleges and universities or professional acting academies. It takes a good student to do that and to become a professional actor..

Cover Letters

2010-11-24T20:00:00.000-08:00

I have been working with some aspiring actors on cover letters this week, and I have a couple of observations to make. First, if you do not know how to write a formal business letter full block style, you are not ready to be an actor. Acting is a business and you must me ready to conduct yourself like a business person. Get a copy of Brian O'Neil's book, "Acting as a Business" and read and study it. Second, unless the agent has specifically asked for something creative in your letter, keep it strictly business and very very short and to the point. Third, do not put any crap in the letter about how much you love acting or how you are trying to take it to the next level, or how hard you are willing to work. All that is understood by the person to whom you are writing and has no business in a business letter. Many letters from aspiring actors that I have read actually sound like the writer is begging for a part. Very bad form. Fourth, do not ask me for my advice and then not follow it. One young lady needed a creative letter for entering her submission to an agent. I wrote a very clever limerick for her letter. I found out some time later that she never submitted to the agency. If you are not going to follow through don't get started. Read my article on my website on Cover Letters, Head Shots and Resumes, and do what it says.

Do I Need to Go to Drama School to Be an Actor

2010-11-13T10:19:00.000-08:00

Well, according to this information I found, you do if you are in the UK:

Professional training at a drama school is by far the best preparation for a sustainable career as an actor - the self discipline, industry exposure and techniques you acquire at a drama school are invaluable. A recent survey by the National Council for Drama Training and the Arts Council of England revealed that 87% of working professional actors (in the UK) have trained professionally at an accredited drama school. It is an incredibly competitive business – more so for actresses than actors I'm afraid - so training may help to give you the best chance possible to succeed.

Note that the above says 87% of working professional went to drama school. It does not say that a high percentage of drama school graduates are working professional actors because that would be false. Only a small percentage of drama school actors become working professionals because there are so few jobs in relation to the enormous number of actors who want those jobs. Thus, only the few, very best, and very lucky ever get an acting job.

I remain skeptical about many drama schools and almost all university acting programs in the US. That does not mean, however, that going to school for acting is a bad idea. It is a good idea for those aspiring actors who need maturity and acting experience.

One of the biggest problems with going to school for acting is how expensive it is. If you graduate with a huge debt to repay, it will be even more difficult for you to become an actor because you will be worried about paying the debt all the time.

I am also skeptical about the seriousness of people who claim they love acting and want to become actors. That is fodder for another post. God bless, Doc

There are no small parts.....

2010-11-10T16:13:00.000-08:00

I am constantly annoyed by people who ask, "How big the the role I just got in the school play?"
Such people come off as conceited and egotistic, more concerned about being important than in making the play important. It was the great Russian director and acting teacher, Constantin Stanislavsky who wrote, "There are no small parts, only small actors." He meant that only an insignificant actor was concerned about how large his role was. As a director, I knew how right he was. Actors who were too important to be in the chorus, were too important to be in the play in my opinion. The chorus was the most important part of the show. It was sometimes difficult to get people to be in the chorus, but it was always easy to find actors who wanted to play the leads.
When I became a professional actor, I saw the Stanislavsky statement at work among the other actors in my area. We worked in an area which was used as location for many films, but the roles offered to actors there were always quite small. This was due to the way films are cast. The main roles are always cast before filming even begins. By the time the casting director contacts an agent for roles to be cast in the location area, the only roles are the small ones. Some of my fellow actors were upset that our agent never gave them a chance to read for larger roles. They did not know how movies are cast. I tried to go to every audition my agent got me, and I took every part offered. Some of those jobs were extra work. Some had several pages of dialogue. I got a couple of parts without auditioning for them because my agent knew I could be relied upon to do the work enthusiastically regardless of the size of the role.
I had to take off from my teaching job to do some of the roles. But by doing the professional acting, I was able to teach my students how to become professional actors, and many of them did. My colleagues and administrators did not always understand how that was possible. A couple of my administrators once disagreed with me that my participation in films shot in our area was good PR for the school. They actually said to me, in a meeting disapproving of my work, "those are only little parts." I replied that there were no small parts. They said, "Oh, you don't really believe that." And I replied that I certainly did. Oh, well. The ignorance about the subjects that administrators supervise is well known.
The point of all this is that if you want to succeed as an actor, you have to be willing to be less important than the work.. Who cares how big the role is? Be darned glad you are in the show and do your best to make it outstanding. That way you will be a significant actor. Directors often see that and reward it.

Acting Choices

2010-11-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

Acting choices are the ways you have chosen to act your part. For example, the way you walk and talk as the character are acting choices. Great choices are those that are most viable for the role and are most creative and unique. To get better at making acting choices, spend more time studying the script and using your imagination to create the physical character so it is apt for the playwright's concept and unique to your portrayal.

Creating the physical character is the truly creative art of acting. The playwright has already created the emotional character. Sometimes the playwright also specifies certain physical characteristics of the characters. You use those and add your own twist on them to make your performance unique. But you always remain true to the playwright's concept of the role. That you do not meddle with. For example, I once saw a play in which one of the principle roles was changed from male to female, which, according to the director of this production, allowed her(the director) to make the play a statement about feminism. Problem was that both the character and the message of the play as presented by this production was not anything like the playwright's intent. Bad creative choices.

The emotional character has been determined by the playwright. You don't get to make a lot of choices in this area of your performance. Most of your responses will be those that the playwright planned on. If you are a highly sensitive and well trained Ta0 actor (see Tao and the Art of Acting at my web site), some of the emotional responses you have in your performance will not have been anticipated by the playwright. That is OK as long as they do not change the intent of the play. It is you, yourself, your emotional responses that make your performance unique, vulnerable and dynamic. Excellent choices for the actor!

What college is best for becoming an actor?

2010-10-24T17:26:00.000-07:00

This is another frequent question. Unfortunately the premise of the question, which is that one learns to be a professional actor by going to college, is wrong. There are a few good college acting programs, and I mention them in my book, The Tao of Acting. However, acting and academia is not a good fit. Most college acting programs are hampered by having to meet academic goals and having objective grading standards. Acting is quite subjective and should not be shackled by academic rules for objective goals. While superior programs exist both in the US and in the UK, the truly talented and experienced high school graduate would do better in a professional school or academy. First of all the program is shorter, usually two years rather that four, and that give the student who graduates from the professional school a two year head start over competition his age. Of course, the gifted and mature student who goes straight from high school into professional acting without going to either kind of school is ahead of students at both. A few have done that, like Heath Ledger and James Dean, for example. \

The problem is that youngsters have been taught that they have to go to college to get anywhere in any field. It simply is not so, especially in acting. The idea that people become actors by going to colleges and or acting schools is so wide spread that every year we are inundated with tens of thousands of graduates for whom there are no jobs. Acting is unlike any other profession. What matters in acting is your look (not necessarily beauty), your talent (which must be extraordinary), your personality (which must be a lot of things pertinent to acting careers), your knowledge of the industry and how to navigate in it so as to get ahead, and LUCK.

While there are some snobs who think it important that an actor study at a particular place, casting is never done on the basis of where someone when to school. It is based on if you look the role and if you can act the role (both of these things superior to the competition).

So school is not the important thing in being an actor. But if you choose a school what you put into it will determine more about what you get out of it than the curriculum will. In my mind the purpose of college for an actor is to give him or her maturity and acting experience. If they happen to make some connections with the profession while they are there, all the better. The better acting schools will have classes in how to become a professional actor and/or a senior showcase for agents and casting directors. Good acting schools are very expensive ($30K a year and up). They are also very selective (Julliard takes fewer than ten new students each year). And they will drop students who do not make sufficient progress. It is very difficult to get into the better schools, stay in them, and graduate. And then it is very difficult for most the their graduates to get a job. (Because there are so few jobs).

The subject question of this post will long be debated with no definite conclusion. How the school fits your needs is more important that the school's reputation. And I must emphasize again that no school can guarantee you an acting job.

How do I get noticed?

2010-10-21T10:04:00.001-07:00

Now here is a fequent question that I am asked: How do I get noticed? The answer is that you have to be prominent in the industry to be noticed. How do you become prominent in the industry? Networking. Aspiring actors often think that all they have to do is be seen by a casting director, agent or director and they will be cataputed into stardom. Nope. It doesn't work like that because getting noticed is not the first thing that an aspiring actor has to do. First, they need to get prepared to conduct the business of being an actor, and that involves networking. And networking involves getting one's tools together: business cards, personalized post cards, resumes*, head shots, demo CD, and web page. (If you think of other tools the actor needs for networking, let me know.) Doing all that usually take a few years. But the more diligent the actor is on getting it all together, the quicker he or she will be ready to network. Of course, the serious aspiring actor has as much of this stuff together as soon as he or she is out of school and ready to try the professional world. Minors need their parents to do their networking for them if they want to be professsional before they are 18..
Networking will get you auditions. And in the auditions you must shine and get the roles. Then in the roles you must shine and get noticed. When you are noticed in a small role, you may be given a larger role. But it has to do with you and your effort in networking and your talent and personality in performing. If you are truly outstanding you will be noticed. To be noticed in the professional world takes knowledge about how the industry works and how you can best navigate that industiry. Learning that takes a while. Preparing for it takes a while. Getting noticed takes a while. It adds up to years and years of preparation and networking and struggling with smaller roles. Finally, as always, it takes LUCK. By chance we are given opportunities. By preparation we can take advantage of the opportunites and get noticed.

* Of course to have a resume that is worth anything requires years of experience and training. And one networks while building their resume. You begin with what resume you have from school or whatever experience you have. Then, you constantly add to it, more and better roles in amateur plays, extra work, professional classes, and so on.

Prepare or Fail, Your Choice.

2010-10-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

Too many actors jump the gun and try to become professionals without the necessary background and knowledge to succeed. I try to get aspiring actors to read my book and blog, but for the most part I am sure they do not as they never ask any furthere questions about it. Most I never hear from again. Several ignore the suggestion to do the reading which shows a real lack of interest in working to be an actor. YOU CANT JUST GO SAY YOU ARE AN ACTOR. You have to prepare (often for years) and know as much about this business and how it works as you can. Since professional acting is so different from all other businesses, you have to be prepared especially for it. Why do you think so many people do not succeed as actors? I can tell you it is not for lack of talent. Many very talented actors fail to be professionals. Many not so talented people succeed at it. All you have to do is watch TV to check that out. The difference is that those who succeed know what they are up against and know how to go about becoming an actor. Aspiring actors are almost never given this information when they go to college or professional academy . There are several books for apsiring actors to read, The Tao of Acting and some of those recommended in it are essential. Candidates for acting careers are not proceeding in a way to succeed if they are not properly prepared.. The reason people fail is that they are unprepared. Do not be one of them. Join those whom I mentor by contacting be at kencosp@a0l.com and we can get you on the right track. God bless, Doc

More on Networking

2010-10-10T16:07:00.001-07:00

I was reading yesterday about networking at a web site and the writer was going on about how important it was for you to get to know people because who you know is so important. Well, yes, in a way. I prefer to turn that on its head and say your success is dependent upon who knows you. Either way it is important that you know people in the industry who can help you and it is important that they know you. To do effective networking you have to have the proper tools. Resume and head shot, of course, but also business card, personalized post cards and demo reel. It is very easy to put off getting these very important tools so I urge you not to delay and get these things together. Everytime you meet someone in the industry you give them a business card and ask them for one. The card is described in Networking for Success on my web site and is an appendix to my book. This means you have to carry quite a few cards with you at all times. If you have a job you can exchange cards with the other actors, the director, the AD's and others you may meet. When you get home you organize your cards in an album or rolladex. When ever you work with a director or casting director it is vital that you get their business card, and when the gig or audition is over, whether you are cast or not, you send them a postcard expressing your gratitude for the work or the opportunity and saying that you look forward to working with them again. The postcard is also described in my book and on my web site. When holidays come around you send the people in your collectiong of business cards, a greeting card with a note about your latest work and your business card in it. You also carry your head shot and resume with you at all times. This is easier if your resume is attached to the back of your head shot. Use commercial double sided tape. Do not try to make your own double sided tape. If you should happen to stumble into a director, casting director or agent, you want to get your head shot and resume in their hands,saying you would love the opportunity to work with them. Now the last tool is your demo reel. This is the hardest to get for beginners, but it is very important. You might want to work up your three monologues and go to a studio and have a professional make a CD of your doing them. If you are in any films or stage shows, try hard to get a CD of your performance. Put everything on one CD and make several copies. Carry a few with you and be prepared to give them to casting directors, directors and agents that you may run into. Okay, so you are loaded down with business cards, resumes/head shots, and CD's. Good, you are ready to network and get yourself out there and known by the people in the industry. I know, the cost of all this sometimes overwhelms the beginner, but you must never forget that acting is a business and you have to invest in your business if you are going to make it succeed. Thus, the first thing on the aspiring actor's list is to get a job so he can make enough money to pursue his goal. God bless, Doc

working with your agent

2010-10-06T15:50:00.000-07:00

Hypothetically, if I sign with this good agent, how would I get put forward for a role in a production (any production)? would I say "i know XYZ theatre is casting for ABC play, would you submit to them for me" to the agent?

This is a difficult subject. Your agent is going to know of a great many films and plays that are casting that they are not going to put you forward for. Why? Because they do not think you are the right type or have the fully developed skills needed. I think it is something that you should discuss openly with them at signing and find out what their attitude is. Hopefully, they will be open to hearing about the casting, but I think their answer would be "Thank you, I will get in touch with them and if there is anything in it for you, I most certainly will put you forward for it." Some agents feel that it their job and only their job to find openings that they can put you forward for. My agent did not like her actors going to auditions without her knowing about it in advance. and her casting director (the woman in the office that put people forward for roles, was not really open to the actors suggesting that she should put them up for this role or that). The thing is that directors, agents and casting people see us quite differently from how we see ourselves. Thus, I also think it is a really good idea to work with your agent on your selection of monologues.....hopefully he 0r she will be willing to put in a bit of time with you on such matters. Anyway it would not hurt to ask about that in your interview with them as well. The agent may have his own idea about the number and kind of monologues you should have a the ready. Another thing your agent will probably feel strongly about is your head shot. My agent picked all the photos for my comp card even before I had seen them. As I often advise, I had not had expensive photos taken until I was signed. I used one of the photographers she advised. He was also an actor with the agency and I knew him. These are a few hints on working with your agent. There will be more as they come up.

monologues

2010-10-05T17:47:00.000-07:00

I have decided to pretty much ignore answering questions starting "I need a monologue" on the forums I participate in because choosing a monologue is serious business for the aspiring actor. The problem is that in order to match a monologue to an actor you have to know that actor really well. When I do answer, I say "a monologue has to fit an actor like a glove." But that I mean the role is suited to the type and age of the actor and the actor could conceivably be cast in the role. Then there are all sorts of othere requirements for a good monologue. They have to be fresh, not over done. They have to grab the listener's attention and make they want more when it is over. The problem I see on Yahoo Answers is that most of those asking for monologues have no acting experience at all. It never occurred to them that they should be reading plays so they can find the monologues they might need some day. I wrote earlier about the folly of wanting the monologue to be a certain type of role. That is so the actor can show off what he or she thinks is their forte'. That or they are trying to match the monologue to the role they want to get at tryouts. At any rate it is the wrong approach. And of course there are two other practices that I abhor regarding monologues: original monologues, or acting class assignments for orginial monologues and using monologues for auditions for amateur plays. Actors work from carefully crafted scripts,not junk they have written. The class is ACTING, not PLAYWRITING. And there has to be a better way to weed out the huge number of actors auditioning for high school or community plays. Seems to me to be a waste of tme. Oh well, I know I am old fashioned.

The Road Not Taken

2010-09-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

I am really frustrated again by the naivte of people who say they are greatly talented and want to be actors. Well, to be fair only some of them say they are greatly talented. Anyway, talented or not, the aspiring actor who cannot follow the most simple and common sense instructions on how to prepare to become an actor is driving me mad. Over and over and over and over I am asked to supply monologues for aspiring actors for auditions from everything from the school play to the RADA. In my book, The Tao of Acting, and in countless answers on Yahoo Answers, I say that these aspiriants must read plays, lots and lots of plays. And you know what? I don't think any of them do. Well, that's ok in a way. At least we won't have them around to clutter up the path to success for the truly prepared actor. I had an advisee of mine ask me for advice about something a little while back. I said I had written about that in my blog. He admitted that he did not follow my blog. Another drop out in the making. Here is a perfectly good source of practical info about acting and having a career in acting and he chooses to ignore it. Well, lots of luck to those who cannot or will not follow simple, practical, common sense advice. And I guarantee you they will not be around to get in the way of someone who is really and truly serious about becoming and actor and is preparing for it as advised.

Two questions that drive me wild.

2010-09-17T12:48:00.000-07:00

Of all the questions young people ask about acting these two make me most frustrated: 1). Is such and such a big role? and 2) How shall I play my role? The reason these questions bother me so much is that they illustrate that the asker is not really into the theatre and acting. Those who ask how big their parts are obviously have no patience. When they go to rehearsal, they will find out. Or they have never heard of Stanislavsky's famous saying "There are no small parts, only small actors." This means that there are no insignifican parts, only insignificant actors. Every part in a play is put there by the playwright to help make the play better. As far as the effectiveness of the play is concerned all parts are equal in importance. When I was directing, i fequently said that the chorus parts in musicals were more important than the leads as far as casting was concerned. Everyone wanted to play the leads. It sometimes was difficult to find chorus members. When I was acting in films, I did not always have the support of my administrators. Once in a meeting with my department chairman and the dean of our school, one of them denigrated my film acting saying, "That is only a small part." I replied that in the theatre we believed that there were no small parts. One of them said, "You don't really believe that?" I said, "Of course I do." And I still do. Every role in every play is as important as every other role.
Now asking about how to play one's role is a question that occurs to many actors. The problem is whom you ask. If you ask anyone but the director of the show about how to play your role, you are being disloyal to the director. As a director, it is their job to make sure each actor plays their role well. When you ask anyone else,you are undercutting the director's job and authority. It is also an unprofessional way to behave. In many theatres it is cause for being dismissed from the show to ask anyone except the director for help in playing your part. Avoid it at all costs. Conversly, it is just as bad an offense to offer help to someone whether they ask for help or not.
Respect the director and the playwright. Make sure you seek information for the right reason and from the right person.

So Many Peope Want to Be Actors, Do I Have a Chance?

2010-09-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

A good question. But the answer is that of the hundreds of thousands of people who say they want to become actors, only a handful will actually try. It is just too hard for most people who when they learn how hard it is, they fade away. I said in my book that these thousands of people are the cholesterol that choke the arteries of acting. Those really talented people who drop out or never make it may have had a better chance if they could have got through the crowd to be noticed. That is why we network, to get though the crowd and be noticed. You will also be noticed by your look, your experience, your training, your personality and your know how regarding the industry. Every one who wants to be an actor has almost no chance of ever earning a dime at acting. But a few do become actors. They are dedicated and unbending in their determination to succeed at acting. Hundreds of young people ask questions about becoming an actor that start "I want to be an actor, but...." And there you have it. If you have any reason at all to doubt that you can become an actor, forget it. Those who succeed know they will become actors. They just never give up. The multitudes do give up. Simple as that.

Why is it so hard to become an actor?

2010-08-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

One of the questions I frequently have to answer is “Why can’t I just go audition and start acting?” There isn’t just one simple answer to this question, but one of the big reasons is that you have to compete with tens of thousands of other actors for every job you want. These multitudes of unemployed actors are the reason why so many people, like teenager’s parents, for example, believe it is impossible to succeed as an actor. Why are there so many unemployed actors and where did they all come from?
Thousands of young teens enchanted by Disney Channel programs and The High School Musical(s) and with no idea of how to become an actor want instant fame and fortune as actors. They are all star-struck and think they are pretty, cute, dainty and talented; but they are not. Older teens with inflated opinions of themselves from a kind word from a friend or relative are similarly doomed. These are the ones who will have the most difficult time becoming actors. They have joined the ranks of the traditional young adults seeking employment as actors who mainly come from colleges and professional acting schools, and whose prospects are not much better. Adults 25 and older actually have the best prospects for a career since casting character actors taps a much smaller pool of talent than that of teens.
Most unemployed actors are graduates or former students of colleges and drama schools who have been told two big lies: 1. They have been told they have been prepared to seek jobs as actors; and, 2. They have been told there are jobs for them. Neither statement is true. If it were, they would all be acting. Many colleges and drama schools do not teach how someone who wants to act can actually get a job as an actor while the colleges offer them a minimum of real acting training. Making it worse is political correctness and the desire of the schools to keep operating and providing a living for their employees; this prevents them from telling their students who have no ability and no chance to make it to hang it up. And there just are not enough jobs to go around. There haven’t been since acting became an academic subject.
Professional theatre and cinema (which includes television) have always had a very limited number of openings for new actors at any given time. The job market is so inundated by people who want to be actors that any opening is soon filled.
Acting is now taught at every level of public and private education. Acting schools and studios have popped up all over the place. And they have begun a cycle of self-support that feeds the lies and floods the ranks of unemployed actors. Many of those who have failed to get work as actors or who found that it was too much work to keep trying to get work as actors now teach those who want to be actors. Many of those who want to be actors graduate from schools and academies in which the former failed actors teach and they repeat the cycle. All those thousands of schools and studios every year are sending out tens of thousands of aspiring actors who wander into the maze of trying to find a job as an actor. They are the cholesterol that clogs the arteries that lead to employment as an actor.
No wonder it is so hard for an actor to get a job! Hard, yes, but impossible, no. There are things that the properly trained and properly advised aspiring actor can do that will put him ahead of the competition. These are the things that I teach at kencosp@aol.com and in my free book, The Tao of Acting. It remains very difficult to become an actor. If you can outlast the other aspirants who will eventually drop out and if you have the proper training, you just might succeed. But I will tell you the real truth, and if you don’t want the hard work or can’t do it, you will do the industry a favor by doing something else.

Why Can't I Be Like All Those TV Stars?

2010-08-21T09:47:00.000-07:00

I recently received an email from a teacher who thanked me for this blog and said all her students think they are going to be the next star on Disney or Nick. Yeah. Them and the ten million others that write to Yahoo Answers and othe forums on acting every year. I have to admit that there is something wonderful about being a professional actor. It is a great thing to be. I loved it. But it didn't just happen without preparation and hard work. Once twenty or thirty years of that was done, professional acting just fell into my lap, so to speak. The same is true of Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato and the other Disney and Nick stars. With rare exception they worked and trained to be actors. More importantly, their parents were active in providing them the experience and training they needed to do the work. As I have said before, what we see on the tv and cinema screen is not what the actor does when he or she goes to work. There is make up call, and there is costume call, there are rehearsals and there are long long waits for the crew to be ready for you and then there are retakes and retakes and retakes. It is not all glamour and fun and games. We only get to see the fun and games and the glamour. We don't see the actors arriving at dawn for their calls. We don't see them doing the retakes after something or someone messes up. We don't see them waiting and waiting for the crew to be ready. Everyone wants to be an actor because it looks so easy and wonderful. And it is easy IF you have the extraordinary talent, experience, training, personality, and support necessary to do it. You find out if you do by being in school and community plays and by going to professional acting school when you graduate high school. That is one heck of a big IF my friends. Only a handful of the tem million will someday make it as an actor. Yep, that is one heck of a big IF.

Professional acting is a Business

2010-08-11T17:02:00.000-07:00

One thing I am sure that the vast majority of young people who want to be actors do not know about being an actor is that it is a business and like all other businesses there are lots of things that cost money. The actor is a salesman who must sell his product which is himself as an actor. There are several possible customers: agents, casting directors, directors producers, etc. In order to be a successful salesman, the actor needs to invest in several tools: head shots, resume copies, business cards, business post cards. Additionally he will need to pay for books, classes, union initiation fees and dues, etc. To get the money to invest, the actor needs a "day job" and learn to save for his investment. At the same time the actor must work to be more and more appealing to his customers. He does this by building his resume with acting experience and a few classes. It may take years and years for the investment to pay off, if indeed it ever does. But the actor with the best chance of success is out there everyday making contacts, selling himself and moving his career forward. It is not like the class play, is it? It is frustrating work that never ends until that magical day when preparation meets luck and the break happens. The serious actor reads and rereads Acting As A Business by Brian O'Neil, and The Tao of Acting by Dr. Kenneth Plonkey. These books contain much information about how to run your acting business in order to make it more likely that you will succeed. The career is out there, you have to go out and get it. It is not going to come to you or be handed to you. Only your hard work will make it happen.

Acting Is My Life

2010-08-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

In my over fifty years of teaching acting, I have heard this statement a lot. I don't think anyone who uttered it in my presence ever became a professional actor or actress. It is usually young females who say this,but of course they have no idea what professinal acting is really like. For a real professional actor, acting is their life. They give up nearly everything in order to concentrate on acting. They forgo personal realationships, material possessions that most of us consider necessities, and they live in abject poverty while trying to break into the profession. When acting is their life, nothing else matters and they get on with it. Most people who eventually become professional actors do not have to ask what to do next. They just keep acting and looking for acting opportunties until they get an agent and learn how to advance in the business. They invest their lives in the process of becoming actors. It is a long and difficult road to travel. For some of us lucky few for whom acting is our lives, the path has not been difficult. We just kept acting until we stumbled upon the first professional employment and kept acting all our lives in whatever situations, amateur, semi-professinal or professional that we could participate in. That made acting our lives.

An Acting Career Must Have a Sound Foundation

2010-07-26T09:40:00.001-07:00

Over and over again I see young people (and adults as well) wanting to know how to start a career in acting. Mostly, they want to know what web site or 'acting agent' will put their mostly untested talents in front of producers, directors and thusly in front of the public as new and shining stars in the firmament of Hollywood. Of course, that is not how people become actors. Oh, there may have been one or two people who went from being just another person in this world to being a film star. They among the hundreds of thousands or even millions of those who want to become actors. Such a rare event is the mythology of Tinseltown, and it is reapeated over and over like the myths of Ancient Greece until most of the innocent and unschooled actually believe it is the way someone becomes an actor or actress. But it is MYTH. There may be some truth in its creation, but the truth becomes lost in its retelling over and over. In REALITY, an acting career needs a solid foundation. The main feature of that foundation is experience. Experience is acting in plays and films. Plays are the most numerous and easiest to access. Thus, almost every professional actor begins his or her career by acting in the school and community theatres available to them. Amateur theatre is the well-spring from which careers are begun. And I am not speaking here of just a few plays as the foundation for a career. (One naive youngster actually wanted to know the exact number of plays that should be on their resume before submitting to an agent for representation.) The foundation of a career must have as many plays as possible included. I had been in perhaps fifty or sixty plays in the years between ninth grade and the time I auditioned for a speaking role in a film at forty years of age.
I had also read a great deal about acting and having a career in acting. Several books on each topic were in my background and I am still reading such books long after my retirement. I had also been in a government film and had been an extra in a film when I auditioned for my first speaking role. With my background, getting the role was easy. I knew how to act, how to audition,and how to do the role. I was an excellent actor with a very sound foundation. Now, it is not necessary for all aspiring actors to spend twenty years from their college graduations preparing to become professionals. But it is necessary to have as much experience as one can get to really have a sound foundation for their acting careers. I do not recommend colleges for professional acting preparation, but colleges are often the very best way for someone to get a lot of experience on stage over a four year period of time. It does take time, years and years in most cases, for someone to become a professional actor. Those years are the time the aspiring actor spends building the foundation for his or her career.

Second Thoughts on Actor Training

2010-07-23T14:45:00.001-07:00

Lately, I have been suggesting to a growing number of young people that they go to college or a professional academy to train for an acting career. I still don't think either the colleges nor the academies give a rip for the individual student, but so many young people who want to be actors are so woefully lacking in experience that the ony way they can get it is to go to college. And there are some areas of professional acting that are so difficult to break into that the student just needs as much training as he or she can get--musical theater is one of those areas. All of NYC theatre is very snobbish and they care alot about the applicants' training and experience. Film is much different--they could care less if you have training, they only care if you look right and can act the role effectively. Many people and institutions of acting in NYC simply believe that only live theatre is really acting and film work is something akin to prostitution. Of course they are wrong to harbor such bias. Their bigotry often becomes aparent when they take jobs in films. I still am highly suspect of all insitutionalized acting 'training.' Acting is a natural talent that one must be born with. It cannot be taught. But musical theatre is so demanding that it takes years of training to compete. All it takes to complete generally as an actor is talent, personality, experience and just a little training -- two or three classes or workshops that are evidence that you know what you are doing. And of course, as always, LUCK.

when reality and idealism meet

2010-07-16T14:17:00.000-07:00

It would be easy to write about this topic in relationship to all the teens on Yahoo Answers who think they are wonderful actors but have never been in a play. Yeah, right! But I wanted to talk about my own idealisn and the reality of many young people who want to be actors but are light on expereience. It that case, you almost have to go to college to get experience, it takes too long in commuinity theatre. At a good state college theatre program with a summer stock, you can be in up to nine or ten plays a year. My advice of course is not to be a theatre major if you want to be an actor,because it is too easy to get distracted and wind up a teacher or a techie. Nothing wrong with that I was a teacher for years and I have know techies who have had outstanding careers. The point is, however, that you want to act. So you pick a school where you can be in the plays without being a theatre major. There are plenty of them, because there is always a huge need for good actors at smaller colleges and so they allow anyone to audition for their plays. My idealism is that someone who has a great background can come out of high school and start working toward being a professinal actor, but the reality is that there are so few of those people that I have begun recommending college more and more often. It can work for you, especially if you have a good mentor. You are only 22 or 23 when you graduate college, a good age to start working on becoming a pro.

Finally, the scams are revealed.

2010-07-10T09:44:00.000-07:00

I have been warning young, starry-eyed people about the 'talent fair showcase' type of scam for years, and I was delighted to find this answer to a question regarding Barbizon on Yahoo Answers. The pity of all this is that thousands of unsuitable people will continue to think they will become stars if they just do one of these things like iPOP or IMT or Hollywood Here I Come, Explore Talent, etc, etc, etc. Parents always think their kids are pretty,cute, dainty, and talented, even if they are just the opposite, and not wanting to disappoint thier kids, they spend thousands of dollars to send them to these showcases. Every once in a while a really talented, photogenic person will get an agent and work from these things, but all aspiring models and actors and their parents should watch the following videos.

The Today show did a piece about their "auditions" http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/v…Or read this transcript and watch the video clips from the Dateline investigationhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30156875/

The scam is not that they don't do what they promise. They do that. They give people a chance to be seen by agents. The scams is that they have no compunction about taking thousands of dollars from completely unsuited people and sending them off to these things to get no results whatsoever.

My advice to people about these things is that they are for the very very talented, very very photogenic and very very rich. If you are not all of these things, don't go, because the chances of success are the same as for all aspiring actors about one in a billion.

A Foul Mood

2010-07-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

I am in a foul mood today. Just learned I need surgery next Monday, and I am not thrilled. Hopefully it will fix what ails me of late and I will emerge from convolescence a happy camper. Unfortunately, I don't think there is any cure for the plague of young teens and preteens who want to become actors (mostly females). They report that they are very talented, often have no experience, that their parents are not in favor of it, or that their parents support it (which means they have said "yes, dear" in response to some question or other about acting). Only one or two out of thousands report that their parents are willing to work to make it happen which is the only way it can happen. Most report they want to be on Disney, but it is obvious that they do not live in LA, so that is again a never, never situation. Otherwise, they want to be famous as soon as possible. But none of them have any idea how to get started as an actress. It never occurs to them to be in the school plays. They want to be film and tv stars, because they think it is easier to act in those media. Ha. They had better get some acting experience and the only kind available is school and community plays. No magic web sites exist that turn nobodies in Nebraska into Academy Award winners in Hollywood. That isn' t what agents do, either. Poor dears, not a hope in the world for them. You see, people who want to be actors, really want to be actors, are already acting in plays at school and in the community and they are learning what to do next. Fortunately for all, the afore discussed preteens and teens will change their minds soon, especially when they learn their parents have to be involoved, because most of them haven 't told their parents they are dying to be actresses, because their parents are sure being an actress is one step below being a prostitute. At least by this time next year, the current crop of would be actresses will have faded away and will be, depressingly, replaced by a new crop of their clones.

What are the steps in becoming an actor?

2010-06-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

There are no particular single set of steps of becoming an actor. Everyone who becomes an actor does it just a little differently from everyone else. It is going to vary from person to person. I recommend that someone wanting to become an actor when they are an adult, begin by being in all the school and community plays they can. This is also the best advice for someone wanting to become an actor while they are still a minor. Then when your participation in these plays indicates that you have the extraordinary talent needed for professional acting, you should take some well selected professional acting classes. When you are a sophomore in high school it is time them to start thinking about how to proceed, whether to go right after it, or whether to go to acting conservatory or whether to go to college. What you have done up to that point will help you make that choice. My free e book, The Tao of Acting, comes as close to any to setting up a workable plan to become a professional actor. Given you have the talent and personality and know how and luck of course, the Appendix on Tao and Having a Career in Acting may work for you.

What makes a good college or university for acting?

2010-06-29T16:49:00.001-07:00

There are many ways to approach this question, but I warn you the answers are not going to be what you would suppose. For example, it makes no difference who the alumni of the school are. Lists of successful alumni are nothing but public relations. Reputation is also of little value in some cases. Mostly is it based upon the past and the present is what is important. Julliard may no longer be the top acting school in the country. The professors have changed and there are a great number of new schools with excellent programs. What really matters is how you and the school fit to make a path to help you achieve your goals. You can’t just attend the school. You have to make connections with people in the business while you are in school and take advantage of any opportunities that come your way. The number of plays they produce each academic year is important. And if they have a summer stock theatre is important. Because you want to get all the on stage experience you can. It is much more important than the classes. The best schools for acting will not have a tech lab requirement for acting students, but they are very rare because most schools have not figured out how to provide the scenery, costumes and lighting for shows comically without using student slave labor. Now this is not necessarily a really bad thing. If well done, tech calls for the actors make for unity in the theatre company. My summer company required that any member not in rehearsal went to tech calls. But later on, I was able to build and paint all the sets for a summer season so tech calls were limited to set up and strike. With costumes, props, and lights being handled by scholarship holders or staff, it was a terrific company. I belonged to several summer stock theatres where the actors had to do tech calls. No problem. It was part of the company. So what makes a good college or acting? I think you do. You get out a place what you put into it. A small state college might be terrific for an actor who really works at it and a huge university like UCLA may be a place where you just get lost in the crowd.

What is the difference between union acting and non -union acting?

2010-06-28T15:05:00.000-07:00

The acting unions, SAG (movies, and some TV ), AFTRA (radio and some TV) and EQUITY(stage) set the minimal working conditions and a salary schedule for actors. Productions that are supervised by these unions are required to see that the actors are paid a reasonable amount for their work, are not overworked without additional compensation, and they must provide reasonable working conditions. Non union productions do not have to meet these minimal conditions and salaries, Thus, union acting is better paid and the actors are better cared for. Non union acting can be semiprofessional, which pays the actors something but not up to union standards or it can be amateur in which there is no pay whatsoever. Which do you think is better? Which would you rather work for? You do have to earn union membership and pay a substantial initiation fee and quarterly dues. AFTRA is an open union and anyone can join just by paying the fees. Being a union member does not guarantee you work, but you are eligible to atttend auditions for roles that suit your age and type. These auditions are usually made available to the actors by their agents.

How can I get an audition for a role in a film?

2010-06-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

Gee I wish it were easy to do, but it is not. First of all, all the lead roles and main supporting roles are cast without auditions by the producer simply offering the role to an actor he would like to have in the film. And should the actor not be available or not want the role, the producer has plenty of other people he will settle for. For example, the producers wanted John Wayne for the role of Dirty Harry, but he turned it down, citing too much gratuitous violence, so they wound up asking Clint Eastwood to do it and he said yes. These guys do not audition for roles, the producers send them scripts hoping they will want to be in their films. The same is true of the supporting roles. The producers ask known supporting actors of reputation, like Dub Taylor for example, to be in their films without auditions. By the time auditons are held for roles in the film,only the very smallest roles, one to five lines for the most part, are left, and you have to have an agent to get an audition for one of those and then you have to nail the audition. Well, that's the way it is done. Oh. How do some actors become overnight stars? First of all they have done a lot of very small roles and then some producer is impressed by their performance and asks them in for an interview and perhaps a reading. They get a main role and are suddenly an overnight sensation. Trouble is it probably took many years of struggling to get there. Exceptions like Robert Pattison exist, but consider he struggled for years to be an actor, was broke and living in his agent's flat when she convinced the producer of Twighlight to meet with him. Once in a while an agent is so taken with a talent that they will devote their career to promoting that one talent. That's a fantastic situation, but it is extremely rare. By and large asprining actors get roles in films via their agents. These roles are quite small,but occasionally some actors get noticed and move up. Most just fade away and become accountants or something.

Stankslavsky's Method of Physical Action

2010-06-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

This topic is so oft repeated at Yahoo Answers. Students of Stanislavsky's teaching don't seem to get it. The Method of Physical Actions says that the honest expression of emotion comes from the action the character does. This theory is very much like that of the James-Lange theory of emotional expression: "This theory and its derivatives state that a changed situation leads to a changed bodily state. As James says "the perception of bodily changes as they occur is the emotion." James further claims that "we feel sad because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble, and neither we cry, strike, nor tremble because we are sorry, angry, or fearful, as the case may be." I have discoverd further support for these theories in the application of language origin theories to acting. Upon discovery that each word, phrase or sentence in a line of dialog there is represented both the physical and the emotional response of the character; the playwright, director and actor find the basic truth and honest presentation of the action, the emotion, and the thought of the play. See The Tao of Acting and Language Origins and Performing the Role on my web site.

Why can't I just go audition and start acting?

2010-06-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

Stage Fright

2010-06-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

Everyone feels stage fright at some time or other. When actors become so nervous about auditioning or performing, they need to do something to combat it. Of course experience helps a lot. The more you perform the less nervous you should be about it. And when performing concentrate on what you are doing moment by moment. Letting yourself think about the fact that you are acting is detrimental to your performance. You have to listen to the play with all of your senses every minute. Do the acting, don't think about the fact that you are acting.

Sometimes we just have to remind ourselves why we are performing. If we act because we think it is fun, it is often a matter of using the following mantra: "Acting is playing and playing is fun, whenever I act I am going to have fun." Auditions are just another chance to act and have fun. Whether you get the role or not is not so important. There will always be another audition. However, sometimes a person has really serious stage fright. In that case seeing a hypnotherapist is usually effective.
When auditioning, assume an air of energy, enthusiasm, and friendliness. Be happy and have a great time from the time you leave the house until you get back home. Break a leg!

How do you recognize talented actors?

2010-06-11T14:01:00.000-07:00

. First of all, when they read from a script or participate in a scene or a play, they do so with energy, enthusiasm; and they do so in a way that makes me accept them as the role, believe them as the role, and the way they ske the lines was with meaning and emotion that is easy to accept as genuine and easy to undererstand. The untalented are basically dull people, egocentric people, people who talk about how good they are, but never deliver in auditions or performances. They have trouble reading the lines with meaning, mispronounce words, and often do not understand who their character is and what that character is doing and saying. By and large, I have to say that acting talent is closely aligned to natural intelligence. One is born with acting talent and those who are also born with intelligence are superiorly talented. However, I have had an effective actor who had an IQ of 80. This fellow wanted to be in the play so badly that he worked like mad so he could meet all of the qualifications of talent that I opened this message with. Determination is one of the personality traits of talented actors. And an engaging and charming personality is another.

Charisma

2010-06-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

Charisma is the most elusive of the qualities of acting. And it has many parts such as charm, identification, energy, and attractiveness. I don't think that those uneducated in evaluating acting are even aware of charisma. The actor's charisma is a part of his personality off stage as well as on stage. He must be charming and attractive to agents, casting directors, and directors when he is just being himself as well as to audiences when he performs a role in a play. Of course playwrights help the charisma of an actor's performance by writing a role loaded with charisms. Think of Whiteside in Man Who Came to Dinner or the leads of Private Lives by Noel Coward or All the roles in Neil Simon's Come Blow Your Horn. Mozart in Amadeus. These are characters that are loaded with charisma that the playwright has instilled in the writing. The most attractive roles in plays are always those that the playwright has instilled with charisma in the creating of those characters. Charisma is what an actor needs if he or she is going to be an effective professional. If the actor has great charisma, he or she may become a star.

How do I improve my acting?

2010-06-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

One of the most frequent questions I am getting these days is from young people asking how they can improve their acting. Most want to know where a good acting school or coach is located. But the best way to improve one's acting is not in classes or acting lessons, but from experience acting. Remember classes are training. Being in plays and films is experience. Virtually none of people asking these questions are union actors, so the answer is relatively simple: Be in all the school and community amateur plays you can find to be in. Additionally, you need to be aware that talent cannot be taught. If you are not a good actor to start with, all the classes and coaching in the world is not going to make you a professional actor. My standard advice is to be in a lot of plays and see what sort of roles you are getting. If you are not getting good roles and being complimented on your performances, there is no point in spending money on acting classes or lessons. But once you have some evidence that you may have outstanding ability, acting classes and lessons can give you things to use in your performances. You have to be very careful when chosing acting classes. There are many scams out there and most acting teachers are just in it for the money. The better studios will offer classes, workshops and showcases designed to help you get started as a professional. So, get lots of on stage experience, even if you want to be a film actor, before spending money on acting lessons or coaching. Choose you acting classes wisely and always beware of scams.

How teens become actors and actresses

2010-05-29T14:51:00.000-07:00

It is really appalling how many young teens and preteens want to become professional actors!! (I will use this term for both sexes throughout). What makes it so appalling is that there are hardly any jobs for the millions of aspiring youngsters, and most of those jobs are going to go to kids who are already experienced perofessional actors with agents and so on. Another thing that makes these aspiring, teeming teens appalling is that they have no idea what it is like to be a professional actor. Believe me, it is nothing like the school play nor what you see on the tv screen or at the cinema. Search back through my previous posts in this blog and you will learn much about professional acting that no one in school ever tells you. Now. How do we turn this appalling situation into a positive one for the aspiring actors? Parents. No teen ever became a professional actor without the active participation of their parents paving the way for them. Your parents don't have to be famous to do this, but famous parents of course know the people to contact before they start, and your parents will have to find out who they are the hard way, through networking. There is an article on networking on my web site, so we will move on. It probably takes less time for a famous parent to open the doors to professional acting to their kids than it will your parents. Therefore, the next thing that makes teens actors is time. It takes years in most cases to be a success a promoting one's kid into professional work. You will read elsewhere in this blog about many actors who spend their entire lives trying to become actors, but they always have to support themselves by other means. It is a cruel and heartless business. Business is the keyword. It is no longer fun and games, though acting itself is always fun, but being an actor is terribly difficult and always takes luck along with all the other attributes needed for success. So, good luck, aspiring teens. I hope your parents help you achieve your dreams.

Age and acting

2010-05-23T13:48:00.001-07:00

There are lots of questions about age and acting. Am I too old? too young? How old do I have to be? How old do I look? What is my age range? None of these questions are really important to acting since you are never too old or too young ( as long as your parents are really, really for your being an actor, because you do have to be 18 to sign a contract with an agent or to sign a contract to play a professional role; and if you are not then a parent has to sign for you). A parent also has to apply to an agent for representation for you until you are 18. But talent knows no age boundry. You can start at any age from 1 to 1o1. Another thing that eveyone needs to know about age and acting is that age nor age range ever goes on a resume or anywhere in correspondence about your acting. Nor does it go on your photo. Age range (a completely subjective and aritifical thing which should be eliminated from all references to acting) is something that agents and casting directors decide about you from looking at your picture and hearing your audition. Lots of people look younger than they are, much to the delight of film and tv producers who would much rather work with a young looking adult than a teen because of the restrictions of child labor laws. Also, there just are not many roles for kids, pre teens and teens. I know it looks like there are gobs of them if you watch Disney and Nick, but compared to adult roles the number is really, really small. So the younger the actor, the more difficult it will be to get a professional acting job since there are so few of them and so many young aspiring actors. Producers also want young actors to have lots of experience so they can be sure of their abilities before signing them. This little rule of thumb also holds true for all actors up to about 50 when a director is more likely to trust someone to come through for them because of their maturity. Age, is it important? Not a whole bunch. Experience, now that is important!

My girlfriend and I are planning to move to NY to become actors

2010-05-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

I hope I am not boring anyone with a rehashing of an old idea. The concept of a couple attempting to become actors together may seem romantic and exciting. Unfortunately the early years of struggling to become a professional actor are usually anything but romantic and exciting. They are usually driven by poverty and rejection and desperation. Then one of the couple will progress in his or her career faster than the other one. This causes resentment and evy and will destroy the couple. I don't care how much they swear to one another that they will be supportive if one makes it and the other doesn't make it, the one that doesn't make it will exit quickly. In The Tao of Acting I caution aspiring actors not to fall in love with anything or anybody except acting. If you want comfort and a big screen tv, don't try to become an actor. If you want a nice home with new appliances, don't try to become an actor. If you need the attention of a significant other to be happy, don't try to become an actor. Acting is a demanding obsession and requires your full focus. When you get into a brief relationship, avoid pregnancy! Acting professionally is something a person has to do on his or her own. It is so hard to do that any distraction must be avoided.

How long will it take me to become an actor?

2010-05-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

Boys and girls, because I use the term actor for both... boys and girls, it doesn't matter what you do, you may never, ever become an actor. This is especially true for the young lady who wanted to know how long it would take her to climb the ladder of success as an actress from local tv commercials to stardom, because there is no ladder to climb. Some people just to directly to stardom. Some people never even get on a local commercial. Some people are in plays and films acting opposite big stars, have training with the very best people, and still never earn a living as an actor. Acting is not like any other job. You can start as a part time furniture assembler at Walmart and work your way up the ladder of success to being a store manager or into a job at corportate headquarters. But everyone who acts is an actor, whether it be a background actor, a day player with two lines, a featured actor with several scenes or a star with his name above the title. They are all actors. How did they get to be actors? Well via several paths. Mainly somebody who chooses actor for a film or play was made aware of them, called them in for an audition or interview and hired them as an actor. That's how to become an actor, but some of the actors will have been working on becoming an actor for a long time and some may not even have thought about it. A person doesn't choose acting, it chooses the person. It's like agents. The actor doesn't choose the agent, the agent chooses the actor. Well, then, ok, Doc, I see what this is all about: it is diffiuclt to become an actor and somebody needs to choose you. RIGHT! So what can someone do who wants to be an actor? They can start being an actor. They act in everything they can find to act in. They read a little and take a couple of classes. They make themselves known in the industry via networking. They don't care how long it takes. They just keep at it, even if it takes their entire lives, because they are actors.

What's Better Than Acting?

2010-05-07T14:26:00.000-07:00

Last time I wrote on the question, 'How do I jumpstart my career?' I continue to think about such topics even after the post has been published on this blog. And so to answer a question with a question, "What's better than acting?" You want to be an actor, then get acting in everything and anything you can find. The acting world is very small and the professional side and the amateur side often overlap. So to be a success, keep at it. Act all the time. Besides, what is better than acting? Nothing. If we thought something was better, we would be doing that instead of acting. So take measure of yourself. Are you acting in something right now? No excuses. Remember any reason you can give as to why you are doing something to move your career forward is a reason why you are going to fail. Are you living the actor's life? Which means: have you forgone all things except acting? Aw, gee, that is really hard to do. Yes, I know. But becoming an actor is the hardest thing in the world to do--unless you are always working on it. Really working on it. You aren't waiting for the right time to come around, I hope. Because that never happens. Now is the right time if you are ever going to succeed. Surely you are not waiting until acting come to you, because if you do that, nothing will ever happen. Yeah, yeah, I know you have to finish school, but you can do that and keep active as an actor. Among the dozens of contacts I have had this week, I have had communiques from some interesting advisees. Three of them are actively pursuing their careers every day. One by auditioning and reheasing every day. The other by auditioning frequently and booking some jobs,and by working with young kids who want to be actors. They are very busy with acting all of the time. the third is enrolled in a high profile acting class next month, is eligible for union membership, and has a day job as a voice actor, so he is involved with acting every day. A fourth one reports that he has had some auditions, but because the directors did not agree with his character interpretations, he did not book anything. He also argued with them about it. He is giving up acting to be a producer, and that is probably better for him than to continue as an actor who always argues about characterization with the directors. The fifth always has a project in the future. He will get around to doing something when something else happens. He is comfortable in his everyday job and will get around to taking a class someday.. But he is not doing much more than surfing the web occasionally looking for auditions and classes. He is not taking any risks and is pretty much in his career where he was six months ago. Three are really into acting; one has decided arguing with directors is better than acting; and the last has decided what he is doing right now is better than acting. Which of the them do you think is going to be the next to book a paying job? I think it is one of the three who are involved with acting every day, becasue that is what will jump start their careers. In fact being a good self starter is what will make or break careers. So ask yourself, "What is better than acting?" And if f there is nothing better, then get acting.

How can I get my career jump started?

2010-05-02T19:57:00.000-07:00

Now here's a question from someone who is not at all ready for professional acting. Why? 1. Because they do not have the knowledge and experience for it or they wouldn't ask the question. And 2. Because they think there must be some little trick to becoming a professional actor. To deal with the second reason first, there is no short cut to becoming a professional actor. You wouldn't expect there is a short cut to becoming a brain surgeon, would you? Of course not. You would need years of experience, training and know how to dare to become a brain surgeon. Acting is the most difficult of all professions to make a living at. The competition is unreal. How could a beginner expect ot compete for roles with the best actors in the world? They simply can't. And as far as reason one is concerned, acting is a unique profession. It is essentially closed to newcomers because the casting directors want to use the same experienced well-known actors in every production. To crack the wall surrounding this profession requires that you know how the profession works, how people get to be known, how to promote your self, and how to be the kind of person the casting directors are looking for. Even with all the experience and training of reason two and with all the knowledge of reason one, many super talented people fail to ever get a professional job, or if they do, they fail to parlay that into steady work as an actor. Why? Again because of the nature of the business. Film, theatre and tv productions are enormously expensive. Millions and millions of dollars are invested in each film or play or tv show. Those that invest the money want to make money on their investment. Thus, they want to go with the sure thing, the experienced, well known actor. Beginners are pretty much shut out from this process. You have to have enough experience and training and know how to get someone to take a chance on you in a small role, do that well, and be offered another and then another until you are known as a reliable, talented actor. That might take a life time. The roles don't just follow one upon the other. You will not be cast ten or fifteen or twenty times for every one time you are cast. Perpare, get youself ready. Build that resume.Put in the years and learn. You might get a jump start after having been in the business a long, long time.

The Truth or Encouragement?

2010-04-28T15:40:00.000-07:00

I have always tried to tell the truth to those who seek out my guidance on acting as a career. I have been accused of being less than encouraging and therefore heartless when I tell youngsters who are obviously just dreaming that they are not going to be on Disney and they should come back to reality and perhaps see if they are talented enough to seek a career as an actor as an adult. There is another advisor of aspiring actors that I know that believes all those who dream of being actors should try their damnedest to be one. Here's the problem. By advising the untalented to seek careers is a waste of time and effort and money. It is in the end cruel and heartless to encourage someone to do something at which they will fail. I believe it takes extra ordinary natual talent, a special personality, tons of experience, and know how about the acting business to attempt to become a proessional actor. I teach my advisees how to tell if they have the talent and in my book, The Tao of Acting, I set forth the personality qualities they must have. I always encourage them to keep acting, not to go through long periods of inactivity even if they have to do amateur plays. And finally, I provide them with information on how to network and how to get an agent and how to audition so they can move forward, What they must never do is sit around and wait for the career to come to them. Because that will never happen. They have to go out every day and make some sort of step forward if they are going to succeed. Now once I am mentoring an actor and as long as he or she continues to move forward with their career, I will continue to mentor them. But I really don't like to be a nag and I much perfer the actor to do the work that is necessary without me telling them over and over again, what they should do. Now that's the truth and if is is not encouraging, too bad. There are too damn many people trying to become actors anyway.

Why is there just a one in a million chance that I will become an actor?

2010-04-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the problem. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of acting schools and college theatre and acting programs that are lying to their students that they are preparing them to be actors when there are no jobs for them. Tens of thousands of aspiring actors graduate from these schools every year. Do you think there are tens of thousands of acting jobs waiting them? Of course not. There are very,` very few jobs compared to their numbers. Then you add the hundreds of thousands of people like teens and preteens who have yet to enter the job market for actors but who want to do so. Do you think there are hundreds of thousands of jobs waiting for them? Of course not. There are so few jobs compared with the number of people who would like to have those jobs that it is a one in a million chance that anyone will actually ever even get a professional acting job, even a two word one. So what does someone do who wants to be an actor? They have to have more talent, more experience, good training, a better personality for the acting profession, better knowledge on how to become an actor,etc. Then, of course, they have to be lucky and be in the right place at the right time. Being all of the things I listed helps insure that. See my article on Networking for Success on my website at www. kenplonkeyacting.com

Casting Web Sites, are they any good?

2010-04-17T09:46:00.000-07:00

For the beginner who is looking for a quick way to become a movie or tv actor, casting sites on the web are pretty much worthless and will just cost you money. First of all there is no short cut to becoming an actor. Teens who suddenly think it would be great to be on TV or in the movies, but who have no background in acting are not going to become actors via some web site. The web sites promise you auditions, but if you don't live where the audition is being held, there is no point in knowing about it because it is too much of a financial cost to go hundreds of miles to an audition for a part you most likely will not get. These web sites are businesses which make money by promising over eager teens and adults for that matter that they will become stars because of the auditions they offer. LIARS! They just want your money. They have no interest in you and could care less if you are a success,except it would look good in their promotions. They always have a list of people who got jobs or who say how wonderful the site is. But have you ever heard of any of these people? NO. And some of them are just thrilled because they are wasting their money and time sending their photos and resumes to auditions that they will never be asked to attend or they would be unable to attend if they were asked. No, the auditions never pay your way. My advice for all aspiring actors is to stay off the web until they are somewhat established as professionals and then only use the websites that professional actors use.

Negativity and Your Acting Career

2010-04-11T09:35:00.000-07:00

From the first time you mention to anyone that you would like to be an actor to conversing with fellow actors twenty years later, you are going to experience a lot of negativity. How you deal with it and how you let it affect you will have a lot to do with whether you are successful as an actor. Acting is essentially a negative career. Most of the work is done by a small coterie of already very successful people, and it is next to impossible to break into that circle of the elite. Oh, do those two previous sentences sound negative? Let's turn them around. Acting is a career like no other if you are lucky enough to break into the pool of the regularly employed actors. Is that a little better? It is diffiuclt to discuss the reality of professional acting without sounding a bit negative. As an aspiring actor, one of two things is going to happen when you run into negativity, such as when you tell someone you would like to be an actor and they say, " That's impossible. You can't do that." Either you will believe them and quit, or you will set out to prove them wrong and get involved as an actor in a play or film. The most effective thing you can do is to sort of ignore the comment and get busy acting. You don't let it affect you and you go right on becoming an actor. But negativity can pile up on you. The time it takes to get an agent, the time it take an agent to get you an audition, the time it takes to do enough auditions until you get a part, the time it takes to become recognized as being ready for bigger parts. These things can seem negative to some people. The successful actor has a personality component that just does not see the negativity. He ignores it and plows forward. Of course he uses every positive thing in his arsenel of attack on a career. Some aspiring actors become inactive in the face of negativity. It just makes them stop trying, and , of course, they never become actors. They are not meant to be actors or they would have the personality traits for success as actors. Much is said and written about developing the proper personality for success in acting. One source I just read suggests the aspiring actor study the personality traits of all successful people. Yeah, might help you to know what they are and try to emulate them. But I think a key factor is missing and that is that the successful individual is born with the personality traits to succeed in his chosen field. Acting requires some different personality traits than being a scientist. While there may be some common factors, there are always those specific traits for each field. I have heard a lot of motivational speakers and was once in a business that trived on motivational training. It really didn't work for me at all. I dropped our after a couple of years.
But I never dropped out of theatre and acting. Getting my PhD was easy for me,and acting was easy for me as well. I think that is due to my having the personality traits for success in academia and at least some of those needed for acting as well. But I was never cut out to be a businessman like my father who was very good at it. The point of this is that if you are the right person to become an actor. the negativity barriers that stop most people from succeeding will not affect you at all. You will just ignore them and go ahead and keep at it. Another kind of negativity you will run into as an actor is that which you hear in conversations about other actors, and about other people in the buisness. If you are going to succeed, give such negative comments little recognition. I found as an actor that almost every negative thing I heard about other people in the business turned out not to be true. What happens is that someone makes a mistake in his or her dealings with a person in the business and winds up with a negative result in those dealings. They blame the other person rather than themselves and so they have only bad things to say about that person. If you foster good relationships with everyone you meet in the business, you will avoid this second kind of negativity and give your self a better chance of success. If you find yourself in a conversation with someone and they start making negative comments about something or someone in the business, just walk away. You don't want to be seen being involved in such a conversation. Having talent is not enough for success in acting. Talent is cheap and plentiful. What is rare is the person with talent who also has the personality traits to remain positive in the face of negativity. Finally, the best thing anyone can do when faced with a negative situation, is to get to work making it a positive one. You spill your coffee, you clean it up. You are told you cannot act, you go and get cast in a show. But never allow anything negative make you stop and do nothing.

A plan to become an actor

2010-04-10T17:15:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in acting but not the rest of theatre production, then if you do go to college, pick one where you can participate in the plays without being a theatre student. (See Ch. 8 of my book, The Tao of Acting.) Going to professional acting studios while in college, sort of negates the time in college. You have to determine why you are going to college. I recommend it for those who need maturity and/or experience acting. Your plan should begin with earning money for your theatre expenses, then building your resume with acting experience and some classes at a pro studio, then seeking an agent. You will need business cards and post cards for networking at the very outset. Kind of complicated and very difficult to make a plan, but here's an attempt. Step one get your tools together, cards, head shot, resume, step two get a job, step three start auditioning for plays and films and start networking, step three, after there is some success with step two, take a class at a professional studio and keep networking, Step four keep auditioning and building your resume and start seeking representation by an agent. Step five keep doing all of the above.. See Tao and Having a Career in Acting on my web site.

I am a great actor

2010-04-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

I am constantly running into terrific actors, or people who are sure they 'have what it takes' to be a professional actor. Unfortunately they speak from their ignorance as they have no idea what it takes to be a professional actor and in most cases have no acting experience whatsoever. Isn't this 'fame now' generation wonderful? Today's young people believe that they can be famous with no preparation or special abilities. Or rather they have been led to believe that everyone is equally endowed with special abilites and they are as good as those who are professionals. They have been led to believe that "you can be whatever you want to be." Which is inaccurate, of course. You can't be whatever you want to be. You have to have the qualifications to be what it is you want to be. And everyone does not automatically have those qualifications, though Socialists lead people to think they do. Everyone is different and not everyone can become a professional actor. Even those with great talent often do not become professional actors because they lack some other necessary quality to succeed. Thus, we often see barely capable people succeed as actors because they have other qualities needed for acting success in great abundance. Professional acting is nothing like amateur acting. It is a business that is pretty much closed to newcomers. It is very, very difficult to get into professional acting and more difficult to stay in it or move up the ladder in it. One of the first things an aspiring professional actor needs to do is to lose their ego. Humility is a great asset to the person who wants to succeed in anything. Yes, you have to believe you can do it, but you do not brag about it. You just do it. When you have done some acting and that acting is of roles that are recognizably ones that talented people do well, others will know you are a good actor. That is what your resume is for. It tells those who read it how much talent you may have, so they can determine if they would like to audition you for a part. The roles on the resume may be school and community plays, but there should be plays on it, lots of plays. For it is by participating in plays that the would be film or television actor hones their ability and demonstrates that they indeed are terrific actors.

How do I get started as an actor?

2010-04-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

Everyday, I see this question on the forums I participate in as an answerer. It needs readdressing for I know I have done so before. If you want to be an actor, why aren't you acting? Does no one have a brain? Think about it. How do you expect to be a professional actor if you have not been an outstanding amateur actor? No one is going to magically make you an actor. It is not a government entitlement program. You have to go out and do it, except if you are under 18, the only thing you can actually do is to be in the school plays because your parents have to make professional careers for minors who are barred from signing contracts by law. Usuallly, I find that when someone is asking how to do something rather than doing it, there is little chance that the person will be successful in doing what they are asking about. You see, one of the personality traits that successful actors must have is an unflagging drive to succeed that keeps them driving toward their goal. Nothing daunts them, nothing discourages them. They just keep at it. Want to get started being an actor? GO ACT!

Improv, acting and real life

2010-03-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

A student asked me about doing improv, using her life experience and acting. She said because of family stress she found it impossible to act convincingly and her performances were artificial. She had an audition for a TV Workshop that contained an improv section and she was worried she would not do it well. I replied: Well, improv is not the same as acting. It is a combination of skit writing and acting which the players do simultaneously. I do not believe that improv is good training for actors, although many actors are good at improv. Plays and films are done from scripts and often the directors and playwrights usually want you to be word perfect in your lines. Only occasionally are you asked to improvise in a film, and for plays only in rehearsals, although I do not care for the practice. Then, you have to understand that your personal life has nothing at all to do with your acting. They are two different things. I agree with David Mamet who says that you should leave your private life at home and the theater at the theatre. Acting deals with the imaginary, not with real life. Nothing messes up an actor's mind like being taught that his real life should be used in his acting. That is Method claptrap. An actor's real emotional reactions to the imaginary situations of plays and films are used in acting. The free expression of emotion is what makes an effective actor. But the theatre and cinema are not real life, far from it. They are contrived and unnecessary details are eliminated to get to what is exciting and interesting, just as they are in all art. You need to relax and play, for that is what acting is. Don't pretend anything, allow yourself to react to the moments of the play just as you do when watching a movie. Your real life is gone and the imaginary world of the play takes over. I think you just need some practice. I don't like the TV workshop for you at this point. I think a scene class or audition class would be better.

Acting schools, classes and being an actor.

2010-03-26T11:25:00.000-07:00

I have got a lot of questions about which acting school to go to, or if the asker will be able to be an instant star like Robert Pattison if he goes to drama school, etc. , etc. Although I am quite sure that I have said this many times before, actors are born, not made. You cannot be taught to be talented. Acting schools are businesses. The older, more established ones are also bureaucracies. They are much more interested in your money than in your future. Why is it, do you suppose, that thousands of aspiring actors go to acting schools? Why do they think they need to go to acting schools? Could it be that the acting schools are advertising that they made actors talented? Why else would they claim they are responsible for the careers of several well-known stars? I believe the stars would be stars regardless of where they went to school. We all know of stars who did not go to acting school. That is because going to acting school is not required to be a star. Only talent, extraordinary in born, natural talent, having a saleable look and the right personality are required. Then a bit of luck wouldn't hurt. My advice is always for an aspiring actor to make sure he or she has talent before they spend money on acting classes or acting school. I also recommend carefully chosen classes over a full course or curriculum at an acting school. And be careful, there are "acting schools" out there that are over priced and poorly thought of. Make sure you do not waste your money on such places.

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

2010-03-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

A young lady I have had some correspondence about acting with wrote me yesterday that she was all excited about going to LA soon to become an actress and asked if I had any recommendations. Here are those recommendations: 1. my first rule on going to LA is don't go until you have a contract to work there. 2. that means you are SAG before you go. 3. you need a terrific resume, great head shot, unique business card and post cards, and a demo reel. 4. you need your three monologues ready to go. 5. you need a way to make a living while trying to become an actress. 6.you need a really dependable car. 7. you need to have an acting studio picked where you'd like to study. 8.you need to go to my web site at www.kenplonkey.com and read everything about professional acting on the site including my blog all the way back to Aug '09 and ask me questions about it. 9. Reconsider going. It is so easy to be glib about “the Biz” until you get there and actually have to compete in it. I have advisees all over the world making strides toward their careers except in LA. Most of the advisees I have had there have dropped out saying, "it is just too hard." 10. See rules one and two. Remember the Burt Bacharach song “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” that speaks of “all the stars who never were are parking cars and pumping gas.” Want a menial job? Go to LA and try to become an actor. The way to try to avoid that is to be an actor before you go.