Actor Growth

So today I finally had time to officially meet up with the stylist to start purchasing some different wardrobe as recommended by my acting coach. For weeks our schedules kept conflicting and it took this Thanksgiving holiday for us to finally meetup. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone btw.

We met up at the mall and she started by showing me various magazines on what her vision was. Afterwards, we went to various stores. In some ways it was kind of strange having a girl go shopping with you in this manner considering I am usually one of those people who is more on the low maintenance side unless I am on set. As a refresher, essentially this is supposed to be stuff that I should wear in the audition room but at the same time they want me to wear it as a lifestyle too. It wasn’t intimidating or anything though which was good and she definitely tried to make sure I was comfortable with everything.

It was kind of entertaining seeing her blow through rows of clothing and her reactions when she thought something looked horrible as she diligently tried to find the best suited stuff for me. There was one incident where a stranger went up to her and mentioned that she looked like the type of person who knew her stuff fashion wise and he asked her for her opinion. Was kind of funny in a surprising kind of way I thought. She said that she gets that all the time. lol.

Unfortunately, there was one big problem of the day. For some reason so many of the clothing items were either large or extra large sizes which of course does not fit me. She was saying that the same chain stores around her did have them in stock though when she did her preliminary idea shopping for me. So as a result I need to meet her again this coming week. The result today was a new long sleeve, belt and a sports jacket(Although the receipt says that it is a blazer).

Another thing that they wanted me to change was my hairstyle. However, at this point nothing can be done to it for continuity reasons since my hair needs to remain the same for another two weeks or so for the shooting on Stargate Universe. It’s not going to be too different than how I normally get it cut she said as apparently it is just a bit longer on the front.

Was a fun and interesting experience I thought. Won’t get to really try any of this stuff until everything is set though. Until round 2.

Wasn’t sure if there was going to be a class today since it is Thanksgiving holiday week here and many people have left for a long weekend vacation. But, it did happen as enough people were around still. It was fairly the same routine today where we got a script ahead of time and then auditioned it.

For some reason today I don’t think I really learned too much compared to the other days as it felt more like a staying on top of your game day. Basically, it’s like exercising where you are just doing the same thing to build certain strengths. I guess that is good and bad depending on how you look at it.

There was one discussion that came up where one actor asked if it was appropriate to ask your agent about your career growth and what projects they have submitted you for. The coach said that many times when you ask agents this they will respond in an apprehensive way where they interpret it as you are questioning them if they are doing their job or not.

Another person mentions that his agent gives him like a submission breakdown every two weeks and it is great. He then came up with a point where if the agent is submitting you and all then there is no reason for them to be apprehensive over this. That is what I learned personally in school before too and so did this guy. Interestingly enough, the coach said that is not the norm though which kind of surprised me.

If anything I guess it was more about learning some different perspectives of the business side of the industry today. I’m still kind of surprised at that response to that question.

Looks like for whatever reason the scheduling on this show is getting jumpy. I never seen the call times get changed so many times too. The shoot even went past 12 hours which is supposed to be extremely rare for this production. It’s almost like they are in a crunch time mentality. Apparently the schedule changes were a result of having to follow some kind of SAG union guideline when it came to a particular talent that was being brought up from the states or something like that.

I believe that the episodes that are being shot this month are the season finale. To my knowledge at the end of this month it is supposed to be a wrap for the first season of shooting. Was definitely an interesting day yesterday as there were so many people with weapons. They were all fake of course. It looks like the next few weeks a few of us are needed for continuity reasons and so we have to keep our schedules flexible in anticipation that we will need to shoot for a couple of days in a row on this show.

I wonder if that will conflict with the feature film I was acting in. Guess everything is up in the air in terms of scheduling as even with that production they seem to be rescheduling everything and I’m not sure when I will be needed for that. Next week was originally the date that I would do the bulk of my dialogue for that film. Just going with the flow at this point in time.

What a cool surprise this was. While working on Human Target today I thought that one of the actors looked eerily familiar. Similarly, he saw me and was giving me that look as if we knew each other somehow. Funny enough, it was one of the acting coaches at the audition workshop that I take every week. lol.

I didn’t recognize him immediately at first as he wasn’t wearing his glasses and the makeup made him look lighter than normal. It was kind of cool as he was telling me how he got the part and all during the break which was interesting to learn. Specifically, in this case the person casting for the series seemed to have seen him before a long time ago and for whatever reason was not impressed.

That was awhile ago and of course he has worked on a lot of other film and TV roles since then. He then told me that his agent was pushing for him to get seen which ultimately resulted in him getting seen for an audition again for that casting director. As it turns out, he got a role out of it.

Guess that shows you how the important an agent can be and signing up with one that doesn’t just submit you for projects but rather goes the extra mile to really push you can make a huge difference. Another thing that was interesting was that he said one of the students in the class was actually auditioning for the same part as him too. That must feel really weird if I ever had to do that. Then again, none of the coaches are Asian so I doubt we would ever be auditioning for the same parts.

Got a phone call today about doing some work on a TV show called Human Target tomorrow. I was just trying to do some research about it and it looks like an action show. I never actually worked on this show before. One thing it made me think of was how there are two Fox network shows shooting here in Vancouver which is kind of interesting. Funny enough, the only show I really watch on that channel is 24 and they don’t normally shoot that here.

Sounded like it was for a pretty stereotypical gig too as the first thing the agency told me was that I needed a “casual business appearance”. That usually means the typical Asian business people. It sounded like a pretty last minute call too so I am guessing I am a filler/substitute. One thing that is kind of annoying about these calls is that you don’t know your call time until very late. I hope I won’t get the call time at like 11pm just to tell me that they need me there at like 5am as an example.

While working on set I was speaking to an individual that was eager to start auditioning for film and TV roles. Apparently the studio we were at was also the office location of a local casting director. Therefore, he came prepared with a headshot and resume and asked me if I wanted to go with him. My first reaction was “Don’t do that”.

I knew that I had more experience than him and so my concern was that he wanted to do this impulsively as probably no one else had taught him the logistic business side of being an actor. To try and convince him to really think about it, I asked him to show me his headshot and resume. His headshot for the most part seemed fine. But the resume……oh dear.

The first thing I immediately noticed was that the format was all wrong. Basically, his entire resume was like a grocery shopping list where each sentence was something he worked on and when. So no categories, skill lists…….just point for point about various work. As well, a good 90% of what was listed was background work. Another no-no if you are specifically trying to get a principal casting director to notice you.

Fortunately, I was able to convince him not to go through with it as I offered to teach him what I learned and based on my experience. Another point I brought up to him was that just walking up to a casting director’s office will probably put you in their bad book as I’m sure they get tons of requests from actors who wish to meet them while trying all sorts of crazy things to do so.

So really think about it if you are like that person where you thought it would be a great idea just to drop in unexpectedly into their office to introduce yourself.