Actor Growth

There was an advertisement I noticed today where an unidentified casting director was apparently looking for a casting assistant to help out. By the sounds of it, the job basically entails things like calling in actors, taking notes, reading scripts and so fourth. At the same time, one of the requirements that were explicitly mentioned was that the candidate has to have an interest in film professionally.

That made me think too on how it can be a great way for an actor to see first hand what it is like in terms of how the casting directors choose which actors to call in. Even for myself, even though my current principal agent hasn’t done much for me, virtually all the auditions I got were apparently requested directly from the casting directors which he informed me of.

I’m still wondering to a certain extent on what it is about say my resume or headshot that made them choose me out of all those people considering the agency I am with isn’t that big/well known too. Maybe I’ll shoot an e-mail about the posting just to see what it would entail.

I was watching 24 today and there was this one scene with a baby in it which was kind of suspenseful I thought. I won’t reveal too much as to not spoil it for others. One thing that made me think of from an acting point of view was how it must have been difficult working with baby. For one thing, you probably can’t exactly just say to the baby “Hey, start crying” or “Start smiling”.

I remember one set I was on where the cast consisted of a lot of teenagers and it sure got hairy. They never remembered their lines for some reason as an example and often never stayed quiet on set when the cameras were off. The director literally flipped and shouted “Tell them to do their F****** job”.

I use to teach kids theatre at my high school as part of the curriculum for the acting program that I did. Indeed, some of them were super rebellious. What I found is that working with young people in acting is just like any other line of work. What was really frustrating was when I asked them to do things only to get like a rebellious reaction. Eventually though, what it came down to was respect.

Example, there was this one kid that would literally mouth off to all of the teachers and basically just did his own thing. Of course he would get the typical reactions which wouldn’t sway him. One day, I was instructing the class to play this game called “fruit basket” where it is kind of like musical chairs. Basically, the kid in particular lost and was suppose to sit out. Instead, he just weaseled back to the chair and ignored the game rules.

As he tried to sit down on the chair, I literally just yanked it awake and he fell on his bottom to the ground. He was so shocked that I did that and he was giggling in an embarrassed fashion. I just had a neutral look to show him that he was out and that I wouldn’t toy with his behavior and the class actually cheered. I was basically trying to get through to him that if he didn’t respect others then the same would be returned.

Interesting enough, he then tried to mock me to some of his classmates but they all just thought it was funny that someone finally stood up to him. Sure enough, after that day he was actually a very good student and listened to everything I said as he finally respected me. Acting, direction and everything he followed it and was having fun still. He even began to open up to me about his life and why he is so “angry” I guess you can say.

So I guess that goes to show that if you are ever working with a “difficult” child actor that many times it’s not so much about showing who’s the boss but rather just getting them to respect the situation they are involved with as well as the people they are working with. I suppose an adult actor is no different too. It can be a blast too to see how younger people can be a natural when it comes to acting.

Just recently there was an independent film posting that looked kind of cool to me and the character seemed to be good fit for me. However, the writer mentioned that the character does smoke and as you all may know that is one of the things that I don’t do when it comes to film. My reasons are pretty simple as I personally don’t like cigarettes and feel this is one of those things than can easily influence others, like kids, in doing.

I was thinking though, would there ever be a time where I would just say forget it as it is only “acting” and that it is better for me to seize the opportunity then to let my personal values get in the way of business? For myself for things like this I can honestly say that I will continue to let the opportunity pass by if I don’t agree with the substance of the role.

Yes, it can be a really hard thing to do as in many ways it’s almost like you are throwing away chances at making it and as a person who is not recognized in a big way yet you need all the opportunities that you can get you hands on. At the same time, I always look at things like as a path. Sheer determination and working smartly will eventually get you to the goal regardless of which way you go, but the path you take leaves a trail behind that will forever be visible.

Example, I remember one girl in my acting grad who said that she was willing to do anything even it meant doing porn to get known or for film credits. You might think that sounds crazy, but some actors like Sylvester Stallone actually had his first movie credit in that type of film work. At the same time, I guess you can say most people don’t care.

But, I also remember the advise of one of my instructors where she said that you better be really careful on what parts you accept as those parts can pretty much cement your image in regards to how you will be marketed in the business. As well, for myself I hope to be able to help and inspire others too outside of film work and things like smoking is not what I want to promote and so while it may be hard I will continue to take the path that matches my values as much as possible.

I was having Dim Sum with the family today and one thing that came up was that my brother told me that I should ask my agent if they would be willing to take on his 2 and a half year old son (My Nephew of course) as they thought it would be a fun experience for him.

Himself and his wife actually tried to get him into a commercial audition once except the production people mentioned that he was too young as at minimum the kid had to be at least 3 years old for some kind of legality reason. I guess that kind of encouraged them to peruse the film industry even more.

Like most people I only read about kids that grew up ion the world of film and how it can be really good or really bad for them. Must be interesting too as at that age you don’t really have to much choice in terms of making decisions for your career. At the end they said they wanted me to be his agent. Lol.

All I said I could do is if they wanted I can post up some funny footage of him on YouTube and see what happens from there since there are so many babies/kids that became popular that way. I have one video where my nephew smacks me over the head with like a doll……so maybe I’ll do something for the heck of it and if an agent or company discovers him well then all the better huh?

I saw something odd today where I noticed that a certain talent agent here in Vancouver seems to have a rather precarious lifestyle it seems. While I personally am not represented by the person in question, the agency itself seems to have an okay reputation amongst the film community. But that sure makes you wonder if it is wise to be represented by a person if their personal lifestyle is rather questionable.

I say this because like in a business who you associate with often defines who you are too. So while you may be this non rowdy person who tries to do things right, having a business association with someone who is the complete opposite can often put you in the same limelight.
But does an agent representation really matter in this case as long as they do their part to help you get seen?

Kind of hard to say I guess as I never encountered this situation personally. But in a general view, it is often advised that if the agent has a bad relationship with casting directors then for sure you should consider signing elsewhere. Personal life though…..guess that is a completely different field to debate about.

There was an interesting story I heard the other day about a girl that wanted to get into stunts as she wanted to try something new. While you would normally expect that to be more of a guy’s thing, the thing I noticed is that since there isn’t as many females who are willing to venture into that, usually the competition isn’t as stiff and therefore the opportunity can be great.

I know there are some models in town for example that eventually became stunts people and are doing very well for themselves. From what I hear too this can be a very hard thing to get into as for the most part it is a very tight knit community and so only known/reliable people will be used. There are only about two agencies in town that I know of personally that specialize in stunts.

Sometimes stunts can be such a trivial thing too. For example, in one set I was on all the stunt entailed was that these at an edge of a set bridge just had to stand there and pretend they are losing their balance. Thing is, they were surrounded with non stunt people who were kind of doing the same thing.

I never actually done anything professionally as a stunt person, but I am no stranger to it for some independent film that I have done. Maybe it is something I will look into more seriously.