Actor Growth

Towards the end of the Insiders Film and TV forum event there was a quick question and answer period. One question was directed at the casting director in regards to actors moving to LA in order to pursue a career in film. First, here is a clip of it(Sorry, was a bit shaky with the camera).

That was an interesting remark I thought about how LA wants to know and look at everyone. As well, I never knew that Cory Monteith in the show Glee sent a video tape to the producers of the show to aid him in getting the part. As you can see, the casting director was expressing that you will be found if you keep at it and don’t necessarily need to move to LA.

The follow up comment is something that I heard a lot of too on how in LA there are just so many actors where what you thought you had was unique in terms of looks and trait may not be the case when you go down there. Essentially, he is trying to reaffirm to the Vancouver talent pool that this is a great place to learn and grow. When the time is right, you will be found.

It’s true in many sense I suppose. At the same time, I have read a lot of stories on how for many Canadian talent people weren’t really getting anything until they packed their bags and went down south. It really is one of those different strokes for different folks scenarios I’d say.

Okay, so if LA is constantly trying to find new talent anywhere does that mean there is a hidden talent scout that I don’t know of who is secretly keeping tabs on me? lol. One thing about moving to the US that I find interesting is that many actors here that I talk to often target New York as their destination whereas in more mainstream conversations like these it always revolves around LA.

This is one debate I hear all the time recently when it comes to which province and city is more fruitful, so to speak, for actors trying to find work. Recently there was a huge debate here how Ontario has offered film productions tax credits to lure all the film productions over there while the BC government hasn’t done anything. In some cases, studios have been closing down here and moving.

For the most part I would say the big projects are American films and this session raised an interesting point about how it doesn’t seem like Toronto is really taking anything away from Vancouver when it comes to that. However, it seemed like people were in an agreement that what is definitely happening is that most of the Canadian projects are going to Toronto.

It was kind of funny I thought as when I heard the debate it almost came across as a conspiracy theory as if the Ontario government was plotting to steal work from BC artists. lol. Here is a clip of that debate:

That session reminded me how my old neighbor, who works as a professional compositor for various shows, told me that Vancouver has a lot of advantages compared to Toronto where it is just easier for people in LA to collaborate with. One thing he told me was the time zone and how that plays a role.

I’m inclined to say that if you are a less established actor, with all this in mind Toronto might be easier to build up your resume and portfolio. Considering Canadian productions have to use Canadian talent, for the most part, that means the odds of you landing big roles are greater.

At the same time, if the comments about how most of the US productions are still coming to Vancouver with the prospect that a ton of CW and CBS shows are arriving next year too that could mean bigger opportunities here. So, there really isn’t a one place is truly better than the other mentality I’d say.

I’m sure we would all love to just travel down to say Hollywood and see what happens, but as we all know that is just not realistic for many of us. There was actually a comment that was semi related to this too on the panel. Will post it next.

As I expected, there definitely was a lot of gloomy news type of commentary at the film and TV forum. A comment that stuck out to me was from the talent agent Richard Lucas who operates one of bigger talent agencies here in Vancouver called Lucas Talent.

Essentially, all of the panel was asked to start off by telling people something very positive that happened for them this year and something negative. He starts off by pretty much just saying that he has no good news really and brings up a thought about how he noticed there seemed to be a disappearance of middle class actors this year. Basically, you are either killing it as an actor or are getting virtually nothing. This was the clip:

It was kind of interesting too as he commented that his agency made a good chunk of its income this year from what sounds to be oversees and foreign films. Kind of made me think if that meant having say a second language or being a minority should have been a great benefit this year.

If I was an outsider I would personally think that is always the way the acting business has been where you are either super successful financially or you are not. You realize when you start immersing yourself in the business that is not the case. Even when I watch TV or movies now I tend to pay a lot of attention to not just the lead actors but the supporting cast and people that just have small principle roles too.

That puts things in perspective too if any actor out there in this area was wondering just how bad the state of the industry was when you compare it to the more booming times. In cases like this, I’m inclined to say everyone that was not with a very established agency or took initiative to produce your own work must have had a hard year.

Excited to share all the information with you guys as I attended the BC Film and TV Biz forum where basically a panel of industry professionals commented about the current state of the industry here and what to do about it. I think this gives us a lot to talk about too.

While there are a ton of topics that I think will be cool to discuss that are specifically geared towards an actor’s growth like myself, there is a lot of content for me to go over. Everything from comparing the Vancouver film industry to other markets and what we as actors can do for our career growth. So, I’ll start it off with this one.

This is a footage I took during the introduction where it was the casting director Stuart Aikins. He is actually the person that casts the Twilight movie that was shot here. For me, he mentioned what I thought was the underlying message of the night for all actors I’d say. Essentially, we as actors need to take this opportunity to create our own work and to learn other skills as well. Here is a clip of the speech:

Funny thing is too that I actually told my acting coach that I was seriously considering trying to find a group of actors and other people that want to seriously make something on the web so that we can make our own future. Cause in many ways for me personally going to like workshops and doing the same old doesn’t seem to have produced dramatic results thus far.

Guess the only tricky thing about this is that many people are usually super enthusiastic about starting something but then never follow through with it in the end. So, it’s a matter of trying to find people that are willing to be just as dedicated and hungry as you are to succeed. One can argue that you can always just do something solo, but I would love to work with a group of people personally.

I didn’t get a follow up response from the acting coach yesterday to go over the material. It was pretty late and so I just decided to send him an e-mail based on the brief talk he gave me after class and as of now I am just awaiting a reply.

I had an interesting observation the other day too as it looks like a lot of the local acting schools are trying to out due each other to attract new students. Example, one saying they are the most established, another clamoring their success rates where their students book parts, etc.

Actually, just yesterday in class there were some people that talked about their displeasure with the other schools while some expressing their displeasure with the current one they are enrolled in. Just like everything else experiences can be so different.

I can honestly say I am putting the school I am in to a test these next few weeks. In many ways I am essentially requesting for assistants and guidance for everything that they publicly advertise themselves as offering as a selling point. Think this is the first time I have actually had such a high expectation to see an acting school follow up on its promises as in the past I mostly just went to places because it seemed like the right thing to do based on what others have said. At the same time, this is the first time I enrolled in a place based heavily on a gut feeling.

Today I had to do a scene from a pilot episode that never saw the light of day apparently called No Heroics. The interesting was a lot of people in the class were wondering why this show didn’t get picked up as the script seem pretty funny.

The first time around I did it and it seemed like my choices for the character was apparent and effective. The main feedback I got was to pick up the pace as it could go faster. Here was the interesting part. Foe some odd reason I kept over thinking the scene afterwards where the comedic timing was not as good as the first time around. It is almost like I was way over analyzing everything.

Not really sure why that was the case exactly. I always try to think about why bumps like that occurred and the best thing I can think of is that I normally try to visualize what the scene looks like from a third person perspective. And so sometimes when I don’t get that visualization as a result of a quick feedback and therefore the output seems more mechanical. Wasn’t a very successful second run at it though as the first attempt was a lot better.

I also got to briefly chat with the coach about my demo reel as that is technically the first item up for scrutiny to establish my new plan. He told me that he was going to call me tonight to dive into further, so I’ll just have to wait and see if that happens. But he did give me his general thoughts.

It was pretty clear that one scene in particular stood out for him out of every as he said he was just cracking up when he saw it. The scene was basically me going off at a messy roommate who never cleans up after himself and I was supposed to be the neat freak. Surprisingly, other than he felt that the other scenes didn’t do too much in helping to promote me.

He brought up the point now how we need to try to get something more recent. Example, simply tape a scene in the studio using real audition sides for shows that have been cast or auditioned lately. Essentially, if you do a very good job and a person like the casting director sees this, since that particular piece is still fresh on their mind they would think “How come I didn’t bring him in before?”

A funny thing is too is that a lot of people that seen my reel before say that they like it. However, that was with a more entertainment type of perspective I guess whereas the coach tried to focus its effectiveness in promoting me as the talent. Interesting to see how this plays out and what the end result will look like.