Actor Growth

Was kind of a funny build up to the workshop today. At first the acting coach texted me yesterday saying he had difficulties finding myself and another person a scene to do. Basically, he wanted to challenge us but said that we both usually take direction very well.

Actually, the first thought in my mind was if he got that e-mail that I sent last week where as you all may remember I didn’t get a response. Essentially, he was going to help me with my reel and all to help me prepare for my next career move and planning. And this was the text message he replied back with:

Hilarious. lol. He eventually did find a scene and today I did it as usual. Again, he mentioned that I took direction extremely well. I also learned that virtually half of the other actors won’t be attending next month due to vacations or needing to save money. At this rate, there is a possibility that there will only be like five of us in the class.

I was also asked if I was coming back next month and January 2010 as a lot of them mentioned they will be back in the new years. I mentioned that I would be returning. Although, a big reason why I am returning next month is because the acting coach told me that he is going to be assisting me in my career growth when it comes to the business side of things.

There is actually no workshop for next week and he told me to come in that day as he wants me to do completely new scenes for my demo reel with sides/work that are more recent. As explained last week, he mentioned to me that when people like casting directors see you performing work that has recently been out there it gets them thinking if you do a really good job as they then subconsciously compare it to the people they did bring into the room.

At this point I want to finish the demo reel by this month and then use the month of December to see if things are working out. If I don’t accomplish my specific milestone goal by the end of December or if say I don’t seem to be getting the support to help me accomplish my goals then there is a high chance I won’t be continuing with this workshop in the new years. In my mind, if this doesn’t help me then I have to try something new.

How does that saying go? Something like the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I don’t mind acting insane when it comes to a character role, but I am not on camera right now.

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 in the audition workshop it was more or less similar to last week except this week there were a total of three males including myself. The regular acting coach was still on set filming that new movie “The Stranger” that has the former wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin in it. Must be fun I thought. Similar with last week we got the same acting coach though and it is nice to get feedbacks and directions from different people as it is a great way to learn.

One really interesting technique about the whole audition process that I learned today was that you should map out your plan as to how you are going to physically position yourself and the room for the audition. Many times we are so focused in trying to understand the script and our lines where we completely forget about planning the logistics on how to best present it.

The thing is, an audition is not like a movie where all of the camera angles or say set decorations are done for you. For the most part, it is you in this blue room with a chair, a reader, the casting director and a cameraman. So with that you should plan ahead of time on where you are going to sit/stand, the direction you will be facing, how to best use the room as an eye line, etc. This will help to prevent any surprises where you have to completely improvise everything on the spot.

The coach made a comment in the end how I seem to have this really good energy about me and that I will probably land a lot of roles. The first thing that this made me think of was I think for the most part I’m not exactly getting in front of casting directors enough to get my name/face out there effectively as I seem to be doing it all by myself. So maybe when the original coach comes back I can have that sit down with him to receive some business tips about the industry as similar to what I said in my other posts I am seriously contemplating about my representation.

Since I only have two sessions left with the current place I am taking acting workshops from I am already in the hunt for a different one. I actually see one that looks pretty good and have already sent an inquiry about it.

It is located in the Vancouver area too which seems great. One of my criteria this time around was to find a coach that also focuses in trying to help their students actually get auditions such as advice on networking, how to market themselves, types of places to find auditions, etc.

I personally have found this lacking thus far with the current place I attend.

One thing that I was thinking about this week was after that workshop it made me think on my experience to date with the acting coach. The advices I got thus far feels like it has more to do with a directional choice in how I portray a role as oppose to methods and techniques to better help my ability to play/land different roles.

A really good example is the comment he made about wanting me to play things more seriously. That one scene I did appeared that it specifically revolved around high school like characters. Now what he did afterwards was that he tried to motivate me indirectly to take things more seriously and started to imply that I need to generally start to treat things with an older perspective.

He loved it when I did the scene where it was so serious and how it showed compassion and really didn’t like it when I started to show a more “uncertain” character side afterwards like an unconfident teenager. He clarified it by saying that I should treat things like this as a mid 20’s character.

Now this was very interesting I thought. In general his advice was very broad in a sense where it was implying that my choice in how I played the character would be fixed by changing my acting range to be more serious and “mature” like. When really, for many of the scenes it came down to my directional choice based on my initial interpretation of the story and setting.

Think of it like this. Imagine it’s like sex education where grown adults in love in a particular country think that kissing or simple skin contact can cause aids or something (Yes there are places like that). Therefore, when you play this character in a particular scene involving casual intimacy you approach it in a way where you are very nervous and fearful.

Afterwards, a person comes up to you and tells you to stop acting like a kid and be more like an adult who is deeply in love with the person. However, because you still have that notion about the character’s ignorance about sex you still play it in a cautious way. Similarly, then the person comes up to you again and of course you as the performer is confused too.

Like with that, simply reviewing his/her interpretation of the setting will change everything. In that example, instead of saying “act older” just changing the actor’s mind that these characters aren’t ignorant about sex will automatically make them play the character to what you are looking for.

I think that is useful too for a director or even actor to keep in mind. If you want to change the way that someone performs a role then the key thing first is to make sure they have the correct interpretation of the setting and circumstances that they are currently bind to I’d say.

I was reading this advertisement recently about an acting coach named Margie Haber who appears to be based out of California. While I am currently schedule to attend the 6 week intensive workshop with Andrew McIlroy, this got me curious as her workshop would take place almost right after.

I was doing some research about her and she seemed perfectly legitimate and reputable. The thing that crossed my mind was how since she is a California US based acting coach it made me wonder how relevant it would be for me considering I am here in Vancouver. One of the benefits to getting trained normally is that local casting directors will recognize your teachers and hence will be more likely to consider you.

At this point I just in an inquiry as I was interested in learning more about the curriculum and the cost.