Actor Growth

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.

Also, incase my updates are sporadic you guys can subscribe to my feeds where you will be updated when I post new stuff.

Alright, looks like things are coming along where I will get to work with O’Keefe. The first mini film is actually interesting as the intent of it is that he wanted to do something where you can clearly see two contrasting personalities. A challenge to see acting range. As well, there will be some choreography work in this.

I’m kind of excited to be trying this out and getting to work with other enthusiastic people in the business. He is actually writing the script himself too and I should be receiving it soon.

Today while on set there was a very interesting situation. Yesterday there were two guys that were chatting it up together and they seemed to get along fine. Today only one of them was working. So what happened? This one guy then starts to bad mouth the other where he started to tell people how silly he thought the other person was as an actor and career wise he thought he was a joke.

Result? Everyone actually started to believe his point of view even though they never met the other guy. Some of the info he was giving seemed completely wrong too based on the information I do know about the other person. I was just thinking how that would affect his career.

Obviously it shouldn’t be too big of a deal since it’s just amongst a small group of people, but that should sure make you think about how fast a little hearsay can spread. I have often found it to be a very small world too when it comes to the film business and at times like that I would say it is better to keep your fiery comments to yourself.