"Dracula," a play for Hallowe'en

I had to write the following when I read an article about our Fine Arts Center's production of "Dracula" in my morning newspaper.  The interview with the director of the play illustrated for me that his decisions were being made by Method Acting theory and theatrics rather than by a real understanding of the material and what it meant.

I was amused by your article that interviewed Nathan Halvorson, director of the upcoming FAC production of "Dracula." The obvious contradictions of Halvorson's thoughts regarding the character of Dracula leaped from the page and urged me to write to you.  

 

First Halvorson wants to get away from the romanticized modern day portrayals of vampires such as in the Twilight series and get back to the original story of horror. Then, Halvorson makes the error of trying to find motivation for Dracula by giving him human characteristics. Dracula has a disease. He is lonely. He wants companionship,. None of these characteristics are in the source material, Bram Stoker's Victorian novel, "Dracula." What makes Dracula a character that evokes horror is that he is supernatural. He is not human. He is the embodiment of evil-- an undead soul wandering the Earth and preying on humans in a way that makes them undead souls as well. The horror of the story is that Dracula's victim, Lucy, is threatened to become one of the undead. Van Helsing and the others try to save her, but they fail. Now they must save her soul by driving a stake through her heart so her body will die and her soul will be at rest. This is the thing about the story that evokes horror. It is not created by special effects of gore, or by flying bats (as I have seen in one production). The battle between good and evil wrestling for souls is eternal. Dracula is Evil itself. Van Helsing and those trying to save Lucy are Good. The winner of the battle between them gets Lucy's soul. Dracula will give her soul torment and eternal damnation. Van Helsing and the others will provide her soul with peace. The horror of the story is that battle with those results. This is Stoker's basic source material. Mr. Halvorson seems to have missed that and by so doing is relying on special effects for horror.

 

It also seems from your article that Halvorson has been trained in Method Acting. I say this because of his efforts to provide Dracula with motivation. Dracula needs no other motivation than his thirst for human blood and through that the capturing of souls who also become vampires. Evil is the character's spine if we must discuss him in Method terms. The character is a symbol of sin, and the story is an allegory of the religious concepts of souls, damnation, and salvation.

 

The religious implications of the story of Dracula do not horrify today's audiences. The battle of Good vs. Evil is one that our society largely ignores. Creating horror from Stoker's original source would be nearly impossible in the amoral world of today. Dracula is no longer a horrifying story. Vampires have become caught in our present day's web of confusion about what is Good and what is Evil, and so Dracula is reduced from a tragedy of horror to a melodrama of tricks and special effects. I am sure that the FAC production of "Dracula" will be entertaining, but I do not think it will horrify the audience.

 

Why Didn't I Get That Part?

One of the most  frustrating experiences for an actor is to know that he or she has read best for a role and yet was not cast.  This is a common experience that every actor will have, so I thought I would address it briefly here.

The one thing an actor has to keep in mind is that the casting director or whoever will be making the casting decision is not the actor and has his or her own concept of what the character is like physically, emotionally and intellectually.  Thus, the casting    people's decision is made on a completely different set of principles that those that the actor has created for the character. Actors do not get parts for a great number of reasons.

One reason an actor did not get a part was that he was too handsome for the role!  He could also be too tall, too short, too thin, too fat, have the wrong hair style, wrong hair color, wrong posture, wrong dialect, and on and on and on.  Sometimes the role has already been cast and they are just waiting for that actor to clear his schedule. There are so many reasons that it is hopeless to try to figure it out.

The actor should not worry so much about why he didn't get the role.  If he is auditioning well, eventually he will get a role, but he must fit the casting people's concept of the part. But please make sure that your evaluations of how you are doing are made by a mentor or acting teacher that you trust.  Like casting decisions, the actor is not in position to make those calls.

PS. I know I have been erratic about posting new material. Today is my 77th birthday, and I have slowed quite a bit since I stated this blog.  I hope there will be many more posts in the future. Doc

Protocol for actors

There are some things an actor must do, and others he or she must never do.  These behaviors would fall under the topic of "Protocol" also known as the way one should behave.  Doing the wrong thing can get you on some one's black list and an actor never wants that to happen if he or she wants to keep working.

It is easy to make a mistake, so we need to pay attention to how things are done.  First of all, you must remember names, faces, and positions.  I confess that I once forgot the  name of the producer of a film I worked on.  Interestingly enough, I never worked for that company again.
As a beginning professional we have to watch out for other things that could get us in trouble. Directors chairs with names on the back that are placed on the set are for those people ONLY. Do not sit in them.  Ever.  If you want to get on the good side of the director or assistant director (equally important), make sure that you obey their suggestions without hesitation.  Being willing to do what is needed for the scene is of utmost importance.

Do not bother the stars or featured players unless they are between takes and relaxing.  If you interrupt them when they are in conversation with the director or another actor, you could be determined to be a nuisance and lose your job. 

Then there are the things you are supposed to do such as be on time for your calls. If it says five am for costume call. Be there at quarter to five.  Once your position in a scene has been set, do not change it between takes.  Always keep the same positions so the takes will match.  If you are on the star's right side in one take and on his left side in another, it will be impossible to use both takes since they don't match.  It is important that you always match your position and posture from take to take. Always keep acting until the director yells, "cut".  Your dialog may be over, but the director may want the other actors' reactions in the take as well.

Keep  your eyes and ears open and make sure you are doing the right thing at the right time. That is meeting your protocol as an actor.

How to live abroad and work here.

This is a guest post by a leading actor's manager.

Melanie Kastner - The Career Strategist for Actors I Acting Expert www.melaniekastner.com Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. unfortunately her picture nor any others would duplicate.  Visit her site above.

 

How Actors CAN work and live abroad On June 21, 2014 Share the post "How Actors CAN work and live abroad" Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Digg After working and living in 3 different countries around the world, a lot of actors approach me and ask “how can I live and work abroad?” My answer is always the same. It depends. It depends on where do you want to go, how much of the world you want to see, and how long you want to stay? Here’s how actors can work and live abroad: Working Holiday: Go on Vacation and work it! Who’s up for a “working vacation”? When I say working I don’t mean getting hired and paid. You can get into serious trouble working in another country without their permission. When I say “working vacation” I mean going to another country and work it. Why not meet up with agents and other industry professionals? You never know what could come out of it, especially if you are dancing with the idea of eventually moving their. There is no harm in asking for advice and building yourself up to become great. STUDY or TRAIN ABROAD: If you are in need of a quick fix, consider taking a master class or workshop during your next vacation. A lot of reputable and internationally recognized professionals will run and teach workshops. This may be just the right setting to expand your circle of friends in an intimate setting, feed your creativity, and have an unforgettable adventure. Want to stay Longer stay: If you’d desire to stay for a longer period of time perhaps look at enrolling or apply to an international acting program. There are so many great programs in the US, Canada, England, and Australia. Just make sure you do your research to find a highly recognized acting program. TIP: Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to apply to the program, audition, and go through the visa application process. GET HIRED TO TRAVEL: Road trip: Audition and submit yourself for touring shows. A lot of tours travel through North America, Europe, and Asia. Traveling shows can be anything from musicals, children shows, puppetry, movement, dance, cover bands, concerts, and so on. I’d suggest looking for traveling shows of the past, then research the cast and investigate the casting companies or even agents. Then figure out how to submit yourself for an upcoming show. Cruise ships: All aboard! Cruise ships hire a lot of actors, dancers, and singers. Contracts vary and so do the routes. What tickles your fancy? The Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Latin America, Australia, Hawaii, Scandinavia, or Alaska. Contracts are only for a period of time and then can be home again or extend your contract. It’s up to you. Just make sure you do your research on cruise lines, the routes, and ready employee reviews. Not all ships, directors, and cruise lines will have what you want. Do some homework. LIVING THERE Honey, I’m home! If you are looking for a more permanent change then first start with an immigration lawyer. Often the first consultation is free but double check, different countries have different rules. After a short encounter, I managed to inspire Noli Beke to live abroad. She is currently living in London. An immigration lawyer will help you look at your visa options. Don’t be afraid to shop around. The first lawyer you find might not be your first choice, plus not all lawyers are created equal. VISAS: Each country has different rules, regulations and requirements when it come to visas. Visas vary from country to country and paperwork as well as systems run differently. Don’t every expect it to be done fast and quickly. Consider applying for work visas, visitor visas, artist visas, and student visas just to give you example. Make sure you investigate what you need to do in order to fulfill the requirements. The other thing that is important to realize is some visas must be renewed every year or every other year. If you want to be there for a long time just plan ahead for the next round of visa to save yourself the stress each year of being approved. Apply for Citizenship Were you, your parents, or grandparents born in another country? Look to see if you can apply for citizenship. Sometimes there will be an age limit and/or a language requirement. I would again advise you to contact a lawyer and see if you can apply. As a citizen there are often little or no restrictions but it can be a much longer process. Also make sure you don’t have too many citizenship’s for the country you currently live in. Some countries only permit one unless under special permission while other countries have little restriction or limit the number of citizenship’s one person can possess. _______________________________________________________________ Call to action Tell me what country, or city is calling your name in the comments below. I hope you are inspired now that you know how Actors Can work and live abroad. _______________________________________________________________ Tempted? Then talk to an immigration lawyer. If you are interested in the US, I personally recommend: The Law Offices of Matthew S. Tadlock. Office: 1 (281) 657-3319 Fax: 1 (281) 715-5014 matt@mtadlocklaw.com www.mtadlocklaw.com If you dream of the UK, I hear great things about: Rose Carey Partner & Head of Immigration, London http://www.speechlys.com/people/people/people-list/c/carey-rose.aspx rose.carey@speechlys.com Office: +44 (0)20 7427 6524 Fax:+44 (0)20 7427 6600 _______________________________________________________________ Top of Form Bottom of Form

 

Off to LA? God bless you.

No matter how much I reason with young, aspiring actors they insist they need to go to LA to become a film actor.  Somehow they can't seem to grasp the unique world that film acting really is and they think that all they  need to do is to show up and film makers will be clammoring to cast them in their latest blockbuster epics.

You wouldn't imagin  yourself just showing up at the local hospital and announcing that you are here and ready to perform the next brain surgery even though you do not have any experience or training in brain surgery. No, that would be really dumb. Well, to show up at a film producer's office and announce that you are there and ready to play the lead in his next film is just as dumb. Unless you are fully prepared.

To become a film actor you need three qualities above talent, looks, charm and desire.  You have to be prepared through training, you have to be known through experience, and you have to have something special to offer. There are good acting schools everywhere. Most large cities have them.  Many universities have good BFA Acting programs. These schools will give teh aspiring actor the training he or she needs. Acting schools also can lead you to theatre and film productions in which to take part.  These will give you the experience you need and if you are a skilled networker, they can give you the recognition you need. The really best reason to do to LA is that you have a contract to work there,  Finally, you have to be special.

IT is important that you have a voice quality, a look, or a deportment that is uniquely yours.  Examine the films of half a century ago.  The stars had easily recognizable voices, they carried themselves with a special posture and moved with a special walk.  If you are just another one of the crowd and not indistinguishable by a special quality of voice, look or deportment, it is most likely that  you will be lost in the crowd like most of the others.

You also need to arrive in LA with credentials.  A strong resume, an outstanding show reel, and your SAG/AFTRA card.  There are plenty of cities in which major films are made. IF you have what it takes you can get started there in small roles that will earn you union membership.  With these things in hand, you at least are no problem to be used in a film.

Everyone else in LA who wants to be a successful film actor probably has their union card.  And they have great talent as well.  You will be surprised when you attend an acting class in LA with the high level of talent there. But even  so, that talent will not necessarily succeed.

One thing will surely happen if you go to LA to become an actor.  You will quickly find out if you are lacking any of the necessary qualities to succeed at it.  I wish you well. I wish all the headstrong youngsters well. Nothing is so rewarding as to be a professinal actor. God bless your efforts, Doc

The Very Latest Key to Success

All the aspiring actors are searching for it--the one thing that will put them over the top and into the winners' circle.  As our digital age speeds new information faster and faster to us, new ideas of what to do to prepare for success change and change rapidly.  This is the one I found yesterday in an interview between a talk show host and an actor's manager/agent.  It is not new, but it has a new twist.

I'm talking here about an actor's demo reel, that little compact disc of scenes that you submit for consideration for roles in upcoming films and series.  My attitude toward demo reels has changed greatly over the past year. I think we all know that one is needed by all serious actors--at least until they are household names.

Well, here's the new twist. Until lately, no one said much about a show reel except you need one and it needs to show you at your best as an actor. But now that everyone has a show reel, yours has to be special.  It has to be better than the others.  The same thing happened to head shots a couple of years ago.  It went from "you need a head shot that looks like you will look when you show up to audition," to "you need a dynamite head shot that will lift you over the crowd and demonstrate that you have that something special that all the others do not have. Now we are hearing the exact same thing about demo reels.  Yours has to be that dynamite show reel that catches and rivets the CD's attention and holds it over and above all the other submissions for the role.

So how to  you get such a show reel?   First of all, you find just he perfect material for you-- a couple of short monologues and perhaps a scene or two. Then you take this well prepared material performed from several points of view to a really good professional studio that specializes in making first-rate show reels and get their help in producing it on their sound stage with professional filming, lighting, sound recording and so on. This is so the final product will be outstanding.  There is no longer and room for the home made show reel shot in the actor's bed room with poor lighting, sound and camera quality. just as there is no room for a third rate head shot. 

A head shot and a show reel (or demo reel) as it may be called, are competing with those that other actors have spent hundreds and perhaps thousands of dollars for.  As the business gets more sophisticated technically, the cost of entering the business rises.  Today's aspiring actor had better earn and stash away several thousand dollars just to get his "fishing gear" (those things he or she must have to use to try to get auditions) together.  Sorry, it is a business and the salesmen with the best advertisements will get the call backs.

It used to be otherwise.  The world used to be a simpler place. But today's world is complex and expensive.  The first thing an aspiring actor needs in order to try to become an actor is a good sized nest egg to invest in his business. He still needs the talent, the charm the special personality to demonstrate in his show reel, but that show reel had better be dynamite, so don't get chintzy, get the best you can afford.

More About Success

Recently, one of my advisees career as an actor just took off.  He has currently been in three productions simultaneously and is continuing to get invitations to audition for other shows. He is a very fortunate fellow whose mother has worked as hard for his acting success as he has.  It often takes a family member to support and motivate one's career.  This is the email I received from her today:

11:33am Apr 21

"I love the networking. His co-star in 39 steps is a director, she is also starring in Roebling with him. Her boyfriend was the lead in Scarlet Pimpernel we all saw last Friday. He knows some of the cast of Julius Caesar and told his girlfriend of another director who is looking for someone like Andrew for another play he's casting (Don't know what yet) One of his co-stars in Moon over Buffalo knows and went to college with his friend from his teenage Shakespeare days. The dialect coach for S.P was one of his McCarter theatre teachers/directors. Oh and he found himself auditioning at J.C with his drama teacher from Mercer County college. Small world. I think you should talk about this topic with would be actors on your blog. Talent and education only work so far but networking- hey once someone likes you they want to share you with the whole acting world. He's very happy and I'm proud of him. He's getting a little bit less shy of talking to people."

The engine behind this actor's success is not just his mother, but what she is doing. She is working for his future success by making contacts with the people with whom he is working.  She is making sure that they will remember her son and be willing to contact him for future roles. And it is paying off. He is very busy and he is learning how to network himself which is what all aspiring actors need to be able to do.

 

Often the difference between getting cast and not getting cast is not your talent.  You can have all the talent in the world, but the director will be more comfortable working with someone with whom he is familiar.  Your ability to network properly is the biggest asset  you can have as an actor.  Work on it.

It is the Key to Success.

Hints for success

Aspiring actors are always eager to know what the secret is for becoming a successful actor. There is not just one thing  that an actor can be or do that will make him a success. There are lots of factors that individually or incombination with other factors that can make an actor a success in the profession.  These factors are not always what the aspiring actor assumes them to be.

One thing that aspring actos often believe is a factor to becoming a successful movie actor is to be in LA.  In fact, being in LA might be more of a hinderance to one's career than helpful for it.
Aspiring actors have no idea what the competition is like in LA. There are not just a few very talented actors there. There are thousands and thousands of them.  Acting classes in LA a filled with extrenely talented actors.  Some one who is new to LA has to be prepared to compete with them. Such preparation includes being equally talented and experience  as actors as the LA actors are. It means that the new to LA actor also has to be at least SAG/AFTRA eligible or better yet be a memeber.  Anothe thing the aspiring actor has to compete with is the  physical attributes of the LA actors.  LA actors are extraordinarily handsome, well built as well as extraordinarily talented.  If the aspirant looks like anybody you might meet on the street, they will get lost in the sea of attractive LA actors.  But there is one thing the aspirant can do to get noticed.

I have more and more become convinced that one key to success is to be unique in your physical appearance or in your voice, or in your abilities.  When we remember the great stars of all time, we remember that they had  unique qualities.  Bogart and Cagney, Widmark and Palance had special looks and special voices that we have heard imitated many times.  So did John Wayne and Bette Davis, Joan Caufield and Jimmy Stewart. The list goes on and on. A unique physical attribute or vocal timbre set these actors apart and helped to make them stars.  An actor aspiring to great success needs to develop such a unique quality in order to get noticed in LA.

Then, there is the matter of experience.  An aspiring actor cannot assume that being in a couple of college plays will qualify them for professional work.  It is important to created an impressive resume of the acting they have done to begin to match the experience of LA actors. I firmly believe that much of such experience should be on the stage.  Too many aspirants want to become film actors and ignore stage acting. They are making a big error. A professional actor is comfortable and equally effective on stage as before the camera.

Finally, there is training.  Too many actors ignore voice training.  A strong, flexible voice is a great asset.  Actors need to know the basics of acting in all media as well.  Film acting classes are sometime good sources of that information. Actors need to know how to audition, how to do cold readings, and how to navigate the profession. There are many schools that offer such training.

LA can be advantageous IF the actor is prepared. Some of the secrets of success are above. There are many more.  Be well prepared.  Make sure your preparation will help you in any circumstance.  Best wishes and God bless, Doc  

Acting without Technique (almost)

Young people and others new to acting are often overly impressed with the magic that applying certain acting techniques are supposed to do for their performance.  It was strongly believed in the mid 20th Century that Method Acting was the approach that actors must use to be true artists.  Even today, there are new acting techniques being created by acting teachers.  I, myself, am guilty of doing that.

 

The problem with most techniques is that they force the aspiring actor to do a long period of exercises (perhaps for years---perhaps for the duration of one's career in acting) in order to prepare an actor to use the technique. Conversely, Tao acting simple asks the actor to just do it, without preparation,  without exercises, and without stressing over how to do it;

 

 Method Acting relies heavily on Stanislavsky's emotional recall (Affective Memory). The problem with using  emotional recall is that the actor has  to do the exercise of remembering before he or she can act the emotion. Tao acting says that if the actor is being the character in the scene and there are things that stimulate a reaction of sadness in the character, for example,  the actor will react with sadness.  Remember one cannot be sad.  The actor has to express sadness as a reaction, a physical response,  to what is going on in the scene. A famous acting teacher said, "Acting is being other people." Thus, instead of being a Method Actor searching his memory for the proper emotion, Tao acting says be the other person, concentrate on the scene, receive the stimuli and react. Just do that which you would do when motivated by that stimuli,  and you will be an effective actor.

 

The actor doesn't  worry about whether he or she  would do these things in your everyday life because that clutters your mind and interferes with receiving the stimuli and reacting without inhibitions. And that is what an actor needs to concentrate on: receiving the stimuli from the scene and responding to it emotionally and physically fully and without inhibitions. That creates an effective scene in which the actor is most vulnerable. It is difficult to do these things if you are worried about using some technique or other to do them.  But it is surprisingly easy to do them when you are relaxed and just go ahead and do them.

 

It is fun to openly express our emotions withing the confines of the scene. It is healthy and it is the best an actor can do.  Have fun and start "acting without acting," as Lao-Tse said the Tao requires..

 

 God bless, Doc

Dialog with an acting student.

 

 

What follows is a discussion I recently had with an acting student I am mentoring. We are discussing the training he is getting in a univeristy acting program. His comments are in normal face and mine are in bold face. We start by discussing that acting in doing and not talking, that plays are stories told in action and plays are not conversation.  (See also The Tao of Acting, my ebook that is on line).

 

 

 

They have stressed the importance that plays are not conversation quite heavily--I failed to mention that in the email. 'Glad to hear it.

We have been taught the importance of doing and what is happening in the scene. Exactly, the pantomimic dramatization of the scene is done by converting the dialogue into the action it represents.

According to my professor, the actor's job is to do something, and you want something and you want it badly right now, and what makes the action dynamic is the actor's energetic pursuit of the character's said goal in the scene's circumstances. OK. I won't argue the point. I would substitute that your job is to react physically because you have a strong emotional response to what has just occurred.

An example that my professor used was from Chekhov's Three Sisters show--how one of Masha's lines is, "I'm bored, bored, bored," and Masha saying that is to get un-bored by stimulating something desirable, in other words, to act upon her environment in order to change it. Great example. To act bored, the actor must react energetically to the stimuli that makes her so express herself. I don't agree about acting upon her environment, I would rather say react to her environment as a response to the stimuli. I think wanting to change the environment puts too many 'have to's' in the actor's head which should be clear and open to receiving stimuli so the actor can react.

We were also taught to always play the positive, no matter how bleak its outcome or situation is.Good. The negative goes nowhere and inhibits action. To play the positive is to have a strong emotional response that moves the scene onward, but the business of moving the scene onward is the natural result of the strong response of the actor and the actor does not have to be thinking about moving the scene or making a choice that is positive. If the actor has an uninhibited, strong emotional response the positive will happen.

But yes, in short, we have been taught the importance of action. IT is called ACTing after all.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Whew! These past two months have been a whirlwind of activity. I apologize fro the long break in posts. I hope that these two months have been busy for your career as well,  There is no reason why a good actor is not in a Christmas play of some kind.  Keep building that resume.  And remember that community theatre, even amateur community theatre, is a good source of experience and information.   Networking among cast and crew members of community theatres will send you straight to more auditions and other helpful events like workshops, etc.
Don't neglect them.

Two hints.  1 you have auditioned for a call back and are waiting to hear.   The proper way to handle this is to assume you have not got the part and to audition for something else as soon as possible.  2. "But they really liked me and told be how well I had auditioned and how talented I am."  They tell everyone that;  It is just how the pros operate. They make everyone feel good so there will be nothing but good reports about them.  The old adage is "Never believe your press releases."  Which means that you must take everything in this business with a grain of salt.  People do not lie necessarily, they just try to be encouraging and positive.  But it never means that you have the role

It is important that you keep working as an actor. You must keep acting.  Even though November and December are traditionally slow months for professionals, they are pretty good months for amateurs.  As long as you are not UNION--AEA, you can do amateur plays. And that is so even if your are SAG/AFTRA. At least it was so when I was acting.

Keep acting, keep acting, keep acting.  If you are an actor, that is what you do.  NO EXCUSES, just get out there and find a play or indie to be in.

I wish you the very best for you and your career and I hope Santa brings you your union card, God bless and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Where did they all go?

I have been cleaning out my email caches, deleting most everything prior to this  year in my Old Mail and Replies Sent caches.  One thing leaped off the pages as I deleted them. Among the hundreds of names of people who have contacted me regarding information about becoming an actor only a small handful are still in contact with me.  This is not because they have hit it big and no longer need me.  You would be hard pressed to find any of their names on the Internet Movie Data Base.

No, they have just disappeared into the passing of time.  I suspect that this is because they have found it so very difficult to get anywhere in the profession of Acting that they have given up.  In fact, a few have written me to say that they were giving up.  Acting is a demanding and difficult mistress or master. It is not a career for the mediocre or dabbler.  To succeed, the aspiring actor must be extraordinarily talented, devoted, etc, etc, etc, (listing the many things needed to succeed).

From  preteens to high schoolers, to college students, to young adults to older adults, the hundreds and hundreds of people who write me and say they would like to be an actor, only those few that I mentioned continue to seek a career. Some were very talented, some very striking in appearance, some charming, some hand many good qualities for actors. But the grueling task of becoming an actor is only for a few.

Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee's play CAREER is an excellent telling of   what the  task is like. The old film of the play starring Anthony Franciosa, Carolyn Jones, Dean Martin, et al. was very well done. It is a shame it is very difficult to find as I think it should be shown to prospective actors as part of their training and instruction on the industry.

My friends.  Acting is the most fun, teh most rewarding, the most glorious of experiences. It is also the most frustrating, the most difficult, and the most depressing of experiences.  Should you enter the field, I wish you well and am here to help you.  If you drop out, I forgive you, and don't blame you.  My prayer is that you will be that extra special person that succeeds all the way to the top.  God bless, Doc

How do they do that?

Thousands of  people every year decide they would like to become an actor.  They see the newest stars of all ages on the screen and dream and ask themselves, "How do they  do that?" Soon after a question appears on Yahoo (for the hundred-thousandth time) "How do I become an actor?"

I have  answered this question over a hundred times, I am sure.  There is one answer for children, pre-teens and teens:  The way you become an actor (given the facts that you have the look, talent, charm and intelligence) is that your parents have to make it happen for you.  Most starry-eyed youngsters cannot believe that is the way.  Why, they have not even told their parents they want to be actors.  They have heard about someone who posted You Tube videos and an agent or producer saw them and signed them up.  There are also the urban legends about a producer seeing a young person in the mall, etc. etc.  These stories are stories. They become legends perhaps because one person was "discovered" in such a manner.    One out of the literally hundreds of thousands world-wide is not even in the realm of possibility as odds go.

I recently did a little research about the background of young people who became well known actors before they were  18.  Their stories are remarkably the same.  Their parents provided every opportunity for them to become prepared and enter the business.  This is what I mean by parental support: one or both parents work like mad promoting the kid and his or her career. And let's not forget that the kid is talented, charming, photogenic and intelligent.  Finally, they get a part that draws attention to them and their talent.  And that's it.  That's how a youngster becomes an actor. Oh, I must also mention that in many cases these youngsters have been acting since they were very small children.

For adults, how to become an actor is a different matter.  Of course the aspiring actor has to have all the required qualities.and then the actor must build their resume and promote themselves in the business. It is a long and difficult road that only a very few have what it takes to travel.  Indeed, most of the aspiring actors that I advise do not become actors.  Some try for a while and give up.  Others devote their lives to the task and meed with some modicum of success.

What about acting school?  Won't I have a better chance of becoming an actor if I go to acting school?  Well, that used to be the case, but now that so many of us have studied the process of becoming an actor, we have learned that only a tiny fraction of acting school graduates ever become actors.  And, at the same time, a great many people become actors without going to acting school.   I'd say that acting school is more important for stage actors than for film actors.  Film actors are helped by the mechanics of film making-carmera lenses and filters and angles, and by editing and special effects, and by music and sound, and on and on and on. Not that film actors don't have to have great talent.  Of course they do. But it is enhanced by film technology more that a stage actor's talent is enhanced by stage technology.  It is much more likely that a film actor has had no formal training than his stage counterpoint.

Well, I don't want to get too far afield from my thesis.  To become a preofessional actor, a minor must have the full support of one or more or her parents if she is going to succeed.  You can't do it by yourself, and anything less than the parent(s) being fulling involoved in their kid's career will not work. 

I wish all of you aspiring actors out there great success. Nothing would make me happier than for you to become rich, famous, and honored.  God bless you, Doc

Remembereing Roy

One of my first acting students and a very fine and devoted actor, Roy Milton Davis,  died last Spring.  It took several months for me to get the news and I was shocked. I did not know that he had been ill.  All I knew was the high--spirited, boundless optimism about his work that he always communicated to me.

Roy was one of just a tiny few of my students who really was an actor.  He lived the actor's Spartan life from the time he left college in 1974 until he died this year. Outside of some off- Broadway plays, he never had a large role. But he was never daunted.  He was an actor and he worked his entire life to be the best actor he could be.  I was pleased to have been able to see a couple of his roles in TV series these past couple of years.

Roy and I wrote often. We discussed the nature of acting and how it should be practiced. We did not always agree, but we always came to an understanding.  He sent me several  short essays he wrote about acting.  The following is one about playing extra roles and how important it was to create a character and give a complete performance:

    "To re-coin an old expression,"There are no small parts,only small actors."When you give your all to a given acting task it is noticed by the production company,no matter how small and insignificant the role may seem to be.People who play extras are often not thought of as legitimate actors.We do sometimes have to tolerate questions by a passerby like,"Are you one of the actors,or are you just an extra?Just an extra.I sometimes want to retort,"What is your position in the relative hierarchy of your own profession?You are a nobody,as well.And if you are working at all,you probably hate your job anyway.""At least I am being paid to do something that I love and I will not be "just an extra"forever."While you will probably be a bitter nobody,forever."When assigned to walk by in the background,I will assign myself a purpose in walking by.Maybe looking for an address.Maybe going back home because I forgot something.Maybe looking for cigarette butts.Maybe rushing to the subway because I am running late for work.Maybe I am vacating the premises because I want to avoid being questioned by the police.Anything.I can easily get away with simply walking by,but I like to go a little more in depth with my characterizations.Just I aim to do with principal work.We are creative artists in our own right and no matter what the size of the role,our efforts at creativity are appreciated,even in instances when we are cast in writing masterpieces."

Roy loved being the creative artist he mentions above. It was his reason for being. He is greatly missed.  Above all, Roy was an ACTOR.

How much should it cost to become an actor?

Sorry for the long lapse in posts.  It is good to be back.  It takes some motivation to add a post to the blog and for some time, as you can see, I have not been properly motivated to do so.  But now I am.

I recently read an article about Senator Marco Rubio (R, FL) in which he was quoted as wanting the government to pay for degree programs for all students.  While I adamantly disagree with him, this would solve the problem of the high cost of education. Well, it would for the student for the moment.  But the high cost would create a new entitlement and add to the national debt and deficit. 

I don't think going to college is a Right anymore than I think becoming an actor if one chooses to is a Right.  What I do think is that colleges under the thumb of the teacher's unions, and  under their own bureaucracies have become preposterously expensive. University professors are far over paid and the cost of operating a college or university has been artificially inflated to astronomical levels.  That being the case, few but the very wealthy can attend college without government help mostly in the form of student loans. 

But the prospective actor who graduates college with a huge debt of student loans is almost certain not to succeed as an actor. The burden of debt most liable will force the student out of acting and into something that has a regular pay check.

Acting schools are as bad as universities when it comes to inflated costs. Why should it cost thirty or forty thousand dollars a year to study to become an actor when it is almost certain that you will not become one?   What is to be done about the cost of acting training when both the colleges and the academies are so expensive?

Indeed, why isn't acting training free?  And I mean without the government paying for it as Senator Rubio desires.

The only answer is GREED.  We find that when a well known, successful actor teaches as a college or academy, he commands a large fee.  I submit that he only needs bare expenses and that he should teach essentially for free.  He doesn't need the money, and his instruction is not guaranteed to have a positive result. So why does he charge at all?  Whatever happened to the traditional and noble idea of serving the art of acting?

At my website, http://tao-of-acting.org, I offer all the instruction in how to become an actor that I can. And I offer it for nothing.  Acting and the theatre have been my life. They provided me with a modest income, and a modest retirement. But, in fact, I do not need any more money. So everything I have to offer is free.  As it should be. 

I remember as a young man meeting Sir Tyrone Guthrie, founder of the Stratford Ontario Shakespeare Festival and the theatre that bears his name in St. Paul/Minneapolis.  And I remember his writing that his work was to SERVE the theatre and that he believed that as a service to GOD.  On my website I write a little about this in my essay "Theater, Religion, and Football."  Back on the issue, however, when one works as a service, he does not do it for money.  So my info is free and my acting lessons are free.

I believe that Free is the right price given how next to impossible it is to succeed as an actor.  I invite all to visit my web site and to contact me regarding questions about acting and having a career as an actor.

What Are They Thinking ?

 Lots of email coming my way asking if the writer has a feasible plan to become an actor.  This is followed by a list of their second choice career and asking which should they major in and which should they minor in,  The answer is simple.

If they are worried about the uncertainty of an acting career and want to have a 'back up," then they should major in the back up and forget about acting,. The people who succeed at acting are those who have to do so because they can't do anything else.

These emails are written,no doubt by young people whose parents insist they go to college and have a backup. The parents know full well that the backup will always succeed over acting because it takes too much sacrifice to be an actor. The parents are counting on the kid wanting a plush life that they are not going to have while struggling to become an actor.

The only feasible plan to become an actor is to act in everything possible that is legal.  Actors act, and  to be successful at acting, the aspiring actor must act as much as he or she can. This builds a terrific resume, shows devotion, and determination and talent.  When someone says to me that they want to be an actor but don't know what to do, I am dumbfounded.  Wouldn't it occur to them that what they must do is act. Here and now.  It is what actors do.

And the aspiring actors do not need an agent to act.  They can just go do it in amateur and semi=professional companies at once.  It may take a while and they may have to work their way into the good graces of the companies by doing tech work or front of the house work. But if they are talented, they will get their chance and do some acting.

What young people are thinking, of course, is that there is some magical trick to becoming an actor and all they have to do is discover it.  They think agents and colleges will give them that trick and they will become actors.  Sadly, this is not true.  The  trick is to be an actor by acting.  If it means moving to a city that has more opportunity that where one is currently living, then move.

Aspiring actors should not have to ask about back up careers or how to get started as an actor. They should just go out and act. If it means going to college to have the opportunity, then pick a college that does a lot of plays.

Deja vu all over again

I mentioned last month that young people wanting to become actors keep making mistakes that will doom them to failure.  Here is another one:  the student who goes to college to study acting but also is a student athlete and has signed with an agency because they want to get started as an professional as soon as possible.  Now this person has so much going on that they cannot possibly do any of  them well.

My advice is to slow down.  It is a huge error for someone to be in too big a hurry to become a professional actor.  These are the ones that get scammed and lose thousands of dollars to the scam artists just waiting for them. But you have to slow down for other reasons as well.  You can't just leap into being an actor.  I know someone you heard of did it, but you have to realize that you are not that someone.  So you need to learn to be an actor and get a lot of experience acting before you try to be a pro.  It is a sad thing for you to watch TV and see all those actors your age.  Why didn't you do that? Simple. Your parents didn't make it happen for you.  If you had had the ability to be a teen TV actor, someone probably would have noticed and supported your dream. But you may have been (and you may still be) dreaming with no foundation for the dream to come true. 

The foundation is:  experience in lots of plays, training in lots of professional classes, training to be charming and personable, and developing an attractive look.  Remember attractive is only partly being good looking.  It is also being charismatic. Some where in this blog is my port on that subject. 

If you don't have  all the parts of the foundation, work on the ones that are missing and get the foundation as solid as you can.  This will take a number of years.  It may take more than your high school and college years.  It took me twenty years after college!  Now I have to insert here that I did not spend all my time trying to become an actor.  I had insured my failure to become a pro by not constantly working on it, by taking a job that gave me a fairly comfortable life style, and by getting married and having a family.  But since acting was connected to every aspect of my life, the opportunity finally care around, and I got an audition. Because I had a great foundation, I passed the audition and got cast as a wedding dancer in Duchess and The Dirt Water Fox. That led to another audition, and because my foundation was even better than before the wedding dancer audition, I passed this audition as well and got cast in the role of Krater in "How the West Was Won" TV series with James Arness.  I went on to be in several other films and TV series. I became a SAG actor (in those days SAG and AFTRA had not merged).  Now some twenty plus years from when I had to stop acting, I still get residual checks for my previous work.

OK. Got it?  Slow down and get a solid foundation. Then when opportunity knocks, you will be prepared.  Remember 'luck' is when preparation meets opportunity. God bless, Doc

Doomed to Failure

Sometimes I cannot believe it is happening.  Aspiring actors from all over the world, of all ages and of both genders write and do things that doom them to failure as actors.  Just recently, for example, I had spent a month or so corresponding with a young lady who wanted to audition for my free acting lessons. She understood that I only teach students who I believe have a chance of becoming professional actors.  A high school student, she postponed her audition until school was out.  She assured me how serious she was about acting and so I made an appointment for her to audition.   When I talked to her and her father on the phone, they both said they would be at the audition. Come the day of her appointment and she does not show up! No phone call, just a no show.  I cannot stress how important it is for anyone under 18 to get their parents on board about their acting career.  If they do not, they cannot possibly become actors. No matter what scared her away from her audition, she should have called to say she could not make it. By not showing she is doomed to fail. The professsional word has no time to waste on such behavior.

Another behavior that I hear about all the time is the aspiring actor who has an interview at a talent agency but does not know what to say when they get there. These people are all inexperienced, have read nothing about acting as a career, and have never been in a play. They always ask me how to dress, what to say, do they need a monologue, what monologue should they do, etc, etc, etc.  They never tell me the name of the agency and in many cases I can tell it is one of the scam agencies  and they are walking into a trap.  They know nothing about acting and so they are doomed to fail or worse to be scammed out of hundreds of dollars. Just telling me the name of the agency could make the difference for them.

Related to these people are the scores of those who write me and ask me to tell them the name of an agent who would represent them.  These uninformed writers are those who believe the myth that agents make people into stars.  I  never answer these with the information they desire.  These usually are those who have never acted but know that they are greatly talented, or those whose  friends and family say that they should be actors.  Somehow it never occurs to these people that they should be in a school or community theater play. So I tell them to do that and hope they are not too much trouble for the directors of such plays as they may audition for.

Well, it is a sad thing. The more I deal with aspiring actors, the more I am aware that almost none of them, and there are thousands of them, will ever make it.  They are doomed to fail if not by such behaviors as those above, by just not having what it takes.  It is not easy. There is no step by step formula to becoming an actor. There is no magic secret nor boost that will advance them to the next level (whatever that is).  It does not rely on luck. Those who believe such things join those that fail.

To become an actor, one must act.  Make sure you have been in enough plays that there is some indication that you have ability.  Then, if you have the other qualifications, you may not be doomed.

A bit of this, that and the other.

This --  Aspiring actors of all ages still don't get it when it comes to choosing a monologue for auditions or classes. An aspiring actor has to have a vast background in plays that he or she has read, attended or performed. It is from these sources they are most likely to find a good monologue for their needs. That is numero uno.   Dos, they need to pick a monologue that is from a role that they could logically be cast in.  Ultimo, it is the performance of the monologue that makes it a good one.  There is no such thing as being overdone if done superbly. 
And well done monologues are filled with the dramatic qualities that the innocent keep requesting that their monologues have. They need to read other posts about monologue on this blog from a year or more ago.

That -- Inexperienced and uninformed aspirants keep wanting to know how to get an audition, how to get discovered, or how to get a big break.  Sad. Truly.  Those who get auditions are experienced, informed and in the case of youngsters, guided by their parents.  An agent is almost always needed.  These people are always looking for LUCK that will make them an instant star like someone of whom they have heard.  But,of course, they are not that someone. They need to read the previous post, "You have to have it!"

The other -- Heard on TV a couple of days ago about the futility of majoring in the arts or going to professional school unless you were truly in the top five percent. It is not cost efficient to go to college or professional school unless you are way ahead of most everyone else to start with. Forty grand a year is outrageous for an education, especially for a field in which it is so hard to get a job.  I remember a young fellow from a couple of years ago.  His parents borrowed to the hilt to send him to two years of Acting School.  He completed the course. He has done no acting since. Seems to have lost interest in it. Now there is putting your parents into poverty for a good purpose!  Fist of all acting school is no needed by the truly talented and second of all college is not needed by the high school honors grad who wants to be an actor. What these kids need is lots of experience and some career management by their parents. Worked well for the talented and handsome Brad Pitt whose mother yanked him out of college to take a professional job.  Aspirants have to be realistic.  As I said at the end of the first paragraph, you have to have it or you ain't gonna do nothin' in this business.  I love all of you, but it is the truth.

What are they thinking?

It happened several times in the past few days.  People of all ages, teens, twenty-somethings, thirty somethings, forty somethings and fifty somethings. have written to me saying that they a just dying to become an actor but they have never done anything.  They saw one particular film that made them thing that they have to do that,too.  They are trapped in boring circumstances, a good job that pays well,but is not exciting, or they are bullied and know if they were an actor they would be admired instead.

Only problem is that it ain't gonna happen.  How do I know?  After all the young girl in the Chocolate Factory film with Johnny Depp had never done anything before!   And now she's a star.  I know an actor who was a sculptor until he read for his first film.  He had no previous acting training nor experience.  He got the second lead in his first film and the lead role in his second film.  Such stories and the magic that is film, the illusion it creates of greatness and consequential events and great loves and romances seem to erase any sense of reality and logic from peoples' minds.

These starry-eyed dreamers have no concept of what acting and being an actor is all about.  They just know that the images on the screen are wonderful and that they want to be wonderful as well.

Now, I have to separate two things.  The dream and the  purpose of plays and films. Okay?
First the dream is an un realistic fantasy set off by the purpose of the drama.  The purpose of the drama is to remind ordinary people that they are extraordinary. Theatre and film's purpose is to show mankind how wonderful he can be, how wonderful he is, and as Shakespeare put it, "how like a god."   When the audience member does not understand that the purpose of the drama is to make him or her feel wonderful and important and extraordinary for a few moments and that after the film or play, they are returned to being wonderful only in their dreams. They still have to go to work in the morning and live their seemingly hum drum lives.

But if they would take it to heart, what the theatre and film are telling them, that all of us are extraordinary in some way, and do something about it. Get involved in a charity or even a political movement, being careful, of course, of not choosing some leftist wacko group. But to get involved and start being something more than just a hum drum person.  If they want to be actors, then they have to get involved with the drama somewhere. Community theatre,  acting classes, acting schools, etc.  Being an actor is how to get started being an actor.

You know, I get many questions telling me that the writer has done all this acting and studying, but what should they do next?  I have to tell you that I really believe that the people who become actors do not have to be told how to get started or what to do next.  They just know what to do and do it.  If they are actors, they keep acting in every and all opportunities. They know now to move forward in their career and get agents.   Perhaps they learned this form others they worked with, and perhaps they read how to do it in a book just as "Acting As A Business" by O'Neil.  

I am afraid, you see, that those who have not on their own found out how to get started and how to become an actor are never going to make it.  The ones that make it are born with enough drive to go and get it on their own.