Actor Growth

Okay, I must be over-complicating this or something as the first time I chose a photographer I simply went with the one that the people in the acting community kept saying was a good one. It was very expensive but it turned out great.

Since these are supplemental looks that I would be going for having to look through every photographers portfolio seems to be a little cumbersome. One way that has semi helped the process is by simply going to a photo reproduction site where it seems like all of the photographers have their work on it. So you can scan through every image to see which style clicks for you as oppose to visiting each person’s site individually. Search continues.

Happy Canada day all. Today I made a big change and have officially switched to a new agent to handle my principle representation. This took awhile and I thought a lot about it. I felt that this was a better choice for myself in order to progress better in the acting field.

People usually say that getting an agent is one of the hardest things to do as an actor. Just from this journey thus far I would say the main issue is finding one that you will click with. The funny thing is that I may have to redo my portfolio a bit such as getting some additional headshots as we both agreed that I needed one more type of look.

I was thinking of just going back to the same photographer that did mines originally as the quality was really good. However, I thought that changing it up a bit could be a good decision as every photographer has a different style. Time to research about that I guess.

All in all, this agent appears to have the same level of enthusiasm as I do to work together and so hopefully that will equal to a great future. Never a dull moment as everything changes so fast in this business.

So something interesting happened recently where I saw that a person whom I have worked with in the past where I volunteered as an actor was again shooting another film. As usual he posted a breakdown of the type of actors he was looking for as well as wanting the headshots and resume.

I figured I would just pop him a message to say that I would be willing to help him if he needed while specifically saying I assumed that he knows me enough not to need my package. Sure enough he told me that he would contact me if another person couldn’t do it as he had already cast the part.

Interestingly enough the original person couldn’t be used and so I got the phone call to play a part in his film. This almost reminds of like a casting director who would simply cast people based straight up on past experiences. I guess it is less likely to happen in the more professional realm of work but I guess when you are at a certain level things like this are bound to happen.

I realize that it has been quite awhile since the last time I went to my weekly acting class. As mentioned before I would only go back once I finished a particular task. What is kind of cool is that the acting coach has from time to time sent me text messages asking me how things have been gong and all.

Kind of a nice touch I thought as it is nice to have as much support as you can here in this field. I really do want to go back too just to brush up on some stuff. But for now I will continue with things like trying to create some projects and all. Can’t have the best of both worlds it seems at this point and so some things need to be sacrificed.

The other day I saw this guy who I must say was a bit on the strange side. He was working as a background person and it would seem like all he did was hang around the area where you could get food and drinks all day. As it turned out, apparently he was a talent scout for one of the talent agencies here.

The other interesting thing was I was talking to another person that actually knew him and he was saying how usually if he refers a person they will get signed on immediately. Basically, the actual agent won’t even really care about the person’s talent or resume but will sign them up.

I suppose that is the “getting discovered” aspect that you usually hear about. I did learn too that this was for the model and commercial side of the agency and so it probably still is a bit tougher for one to break into principal film and tv roles. I couldn’t believe that they, the people in the agency, were using people’s background work credit as a way to push them to do speaking parts in commercials. That is always a no-no from what I was told.

Guess it goes to show that being in the right place at the right time can definitely help though.

Sorry for not updating earlier all. I have just been swamped with various stuff lately. The filming went okay as it lasted a whole day. It was more of a test run I’d say to see if people would click with each other. Overall everyone did. I didn’t actually get to see the footage yet myself.

I did get injured a little bit unnecessarily since everything was improvised and made up on the spot in many cases which involved some physical stuff. It was also interesting to learn about the process that O’Keefe went through when he had to go to the US to play some roles. Those greencards and such sound like a real pain even if a studio does all the work for you.

So far it seems like I am the only real technically savvy person within the bunch. I suppose a good thing about all of this is that at least I found another good person who is willing to teach me some of the ins and out of the business from a performer point of view.

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