Actor Growth

Alright, so a little update on what is going on with me attending the audition workshops. At this point I am not regularly attending it as before. I talked it over with my coach and he agreed that the best course of action is for me to work on the other priority.

The good thing is that he is supporting me and offering me help if whenever I need it. Example, I asked him if since I wasn’t attending it regularly at this point, which means I am not paying for it too, I asked if this is going to be one of those “I can’t help you unless you pay me my $50/hr” type of scenario.

He immediately jumped at that and said “No way. If you need help then just ask”. Just to clarify, a ton of acting schools/workshops here are like that where they won’t even talk to you unless you pay them their high fees. So that was really cool. As of now, consider it an ongoing private mentoring/tutoring help. I am really fortunate to have his support and I guess this shows that he genuinely does want to help me in my career.

Today I got a generic message from the acting coach where everyone who currently attends the workshop were asked if they were returning in January 2010. If so, people would be required to put down a deposit to hold a spot for next year’s workshop.

I made a decision earlier where many of you may have remembered that I expressed how if I don’t achieve my milestone by the end of this year I would have to try something else such as doing some independent films or web series with others as an alternative route to establishing one’s career.

I really would rather prefer to continue training at where I do as the instructor seems to be genuine in wanting to help me. However, realistically from a financial point of view it does add up. In my personal opinion, I need to achieve this goal by the end of this year in order to capitalize on all the new shows and pilot for next year.

The funny thing is that there is a risk too that maybe I am cutting it a bit too prematurely where the opportunities will come pouring in right after when I stop training which would put me at a major disadvantage.

Think of my situation as like a retail business where I am like a mom and pop shop going against giant corporations (More established actors) and the Christmas season is the busiest time of the year(Think of that as a pilot season). Essentially, throughout the year most of the business has been going to the giant corporations. Basically, people want to go with more established places.

During this time, I have been paying for a team of professionals to make sure my store looks great and is top notch. While it made everything look lovely and made me confident, my market share hasn’t really increased. I’m definitely not impatient too as it has been like 6 to 7 months. After thinking it over I think I am missing something specific. Like in this retail example, I believe if I can get a permit to sell a certain product lineup that will generate the potential customers and add that with the team of professionals that I already have helping me I believe I will do well.

I believe that if I don’t accomplish that deal then my store is going to remain the same. Regardless if it is going to be the busiest time of the year I will still be overshadowed by the bigger people. Therefore, if I don’t get that permit it makes more sense for me to try a different direction to gather customers such as creating my own web show where I say review products which people will find interesting that will in turn build my company’s name to increase more customers and opportunities.

So the risk? Say like in the store example I don’t use the professionals anymore. Then, for some odd reason I get a storm of customers during the Christmas rush. Basically, I wasn’t prepared to take advantage of it and it can actually harm me even more.

I actually just got a message from my acting coach where I expressed this and his advice was that I shouldn’t base my career plan on things that may or may not happen. For any of you even thinking of trying this profession, this is a good example I say how it is very business oriented and not just glitz and glamor that many perceive it as.

I was reading some conversations today that had a bunch of acting school owners trying to convince actors that they are the best schools to go with. At the same time, former students were giving their reviews of them which created some heated debate.

While I think it is important to make sure you are staying on top of your game as an actor, choosing an acting school or coach is one of the most tedious parts of the actor life I’d say. Basically, there are so many schools that just want your money. So usually the recommended way to finding an ideal school for you is to audit everyone before committing to them.

These places aren’t cheap usually either. For example, I’ve seen prices here that charge $225 for a one day workshop and six month programs that go well over $10,000. So that should be an incentive for you not to just abruptly throw your money to just any school. Of course, some actors just opt to do it the alternative way to get better at their craft where they just act in a bunch of independent films.

Funny enough though, out of all the places I have trained at I only audited one place. I think the only place I would have really reconsidered was the place I went for the full time program as I don’t think it has really helped me too much overall when you factor in the cost and time I committed to it compared to others.

What really turns me off is when a school advertises itself as if they were the ones that discovered such big stars and that you are guaranteed that type of success if you spend your money with them. It just feels too much like a sales pitch. Class sizes are a big issue too as if the room is constantly crammed with a bunch of people that is sure a good indication that they are just trying to maximize profits.

I was given the advice before too that a good way in choosing a school and instructor is to see if they are working actor themselves. That way, they can better keep you in the loop with current happenings and what certain casting directors are like.

Today we did another round of cold reads. It was kind of surprising for most as people thought we would be doing scenes where we would get one night to prepare it in an effort to pretend that this is an audition for a role that you are seriously being considered for.

I read a scene from the show Fringe. There was about three pages worth of dialogue too which was a lot considering this was a last minute kind of thing. So, I did my thing based on my interpretation of it. It was kind of funny as I messed up the lines a lot but still I kept going pretending that I didn’t make an error.

Now the interesting thing for me came in the comments. The main point the coach wanted me to take away from this session was that he couldn’t understand why I was moving my head around during some of my conversations. He mentioned how when I was sitting there listening to his comments that I am perfectly still which he loves. He then made a comment that my movement was based on nervousness as he had his own quirks too.

Technically I can see that point and how it can be distracting and there is nothing to really debate about there. However, what I personally didn’t agree with 100% was that it was due to a performer’s nervousness as oppose to my direction and interpretation of the scene. Cause I can tell you that I didn’t feel nervous at all.

I was doing a self evaluation on my way home thinking of the times when I naturally move my head specifically like that. The bottom line, it comes to down to if I don’t fully trust the person then I am always second guessing on what their true intentions are or if I am trying to find the subtext behind the words they are saying. Hence, the eye movements, head tilts, etc.

To me that was a light bulb moment too as I guess I self realized the direction that I need to think of to avoid that. Example, in that scene my interpretation was that I was this individual who was a bit confused and suspicious about these two colleagues as I thought they actually had something to do with the incident and why they were here. However, after the feedback it sounded like the person was more about relaying a message and that they fully trusted each other. Therefore, I figured this was more about direction and making the right choices.

Someone in the class disagreed with that point though by saying how in the first scene I did for that Reaper script he noticed the same thing and therefore he agreed with the coach that it was more about something along the lines of nervousness. After thinking about it though, again I thought it was the same thing where for that scene there was a lot of distrust between the characters and those are the type of gestures I naturally make as choices in those incidents. It’s not due to nervousness though I’d say for that particular gesture as oppose to direction.

So with my personal theory and solution, since I know myself best, is that since I was requested to do this scene again I will change the direction where the character is more trusting about the environment and the people he is talking to. If I still get that comment then I know it is due to an external factor such as the nervousness that was mentioned. However, if it is not there after then it is indeed more likely to be a result of my personal choices.

I know that was one of the comments a past coach made to me too where when I get to read and fully understand the entire script I seem to do so well. However, when I get just small portions of it like some sides for an audition I tend to over think the situation and make more out of it than it really is. Example, like this whole trust issue in the scene. That was actually one of the reasons I chose an audition based workshop too this time around.

As well, again a past advice I have received from different coach mentions that I should feel free to move myself more and not be rigid. However, this coach is saying stay still mostly as it is better. So, that is what I will do. I’m starting to think that in a real setting it is more about knowing who you are auditioning for too to determine which style to go with. Let’s see how this goes.

It was a small class today again with three people. However, there was one new student as another lady was on vacation. So regularly I guess we can expect about four people. The focus today was on cold reads where we had absolutely no time to prepare for a scene as we were just given some sides and then expected to perform it as if it was a last minute audition.

The first scene I was given was a side for Stargate Universe. Overall it was a pretty serious tone type of scene. I was a little worried about this as I made a comment on how these are the types of audition roles that I don’t think I would even get a callback for normally. Reason being was that it was a military esque type of role and I didn’t think that I could come up with anything creative enough to get pass the fact that I don’t have the Hollywood military guy look.

The coach then made a comment on how I can’t really think of it that way as in real life I could easily say that I am in the military. As well, being me was unique in itself as no one else necessarily has the same look. True enough and I did the scene. The coach thought I did well and made a comment how I was perfectly believable as a military guy and that he would have saluted me. That was kind of a good challenge I thought.

The second scene was completely different as I was reading as a busboy for a project called The Troop. My personal interpretation of the scene was that it was a comedy and so I played it in a “douche” type of way. In some ways I was holding back too as I wasn’t sure if this was the right direction. However, in the end the room was laughing and the coach mentioned that he has seen hundreds of people do that scene and that my interpretation of it was so unique that everyone in the actual audition room would have been cracking up.

There was another coach there too today and he was saying how it’s all about bringing something unique. Basically, in the audition room the casting director sees so many people and for the most part everyone does it the exact same way. Doing something different will make you stand out from the rest. He made a comment about mines where it’s kind of like they expect everyone to make chili, but it’s adding those different spices to it to make it your own. He said I basically made chili and threw some corn in there. lol.

Afterwards I was talking to the coach in the end and the topic revolved around what he realized was a key in his success before things started to take off for him. It came down to his personality in the audition room. Example, walking into the room where people would like him as an individual and seeming like a great person who you would like to work with.

I mentioned too how this was a kind of poplar opposite advice I received from the last coach as he basically implied to me that you have to be dead serious as you are a professional and all. Interesting day though and was a nice change of pace from the stuff that I normally do.

First day of the workshop and it was kind of surprising as there was only three of us in the class. Surprising as in the e-mail it looked like there was about six of us originally. There was one lady in the group who I actually saw before from the casting director workshop I attended awhile back. Turns out she works as an assistant for that casting director too.

Now this workshop actually takes place in a studio where a lot of auditions take place and funny enough I saw a fellow actor that was in the same acting workshop I was in. I think he was auditioning for some kind of commercial. For the beginning we simply talked a bit about casting directors and what to do in the room in general.

There was also a lot of conversations about memorizing lines and some facts were brought up such as a person like George Clooney is actually horrible at memorizing lines apparently. I never really watched the show E.R., but apparently if you pay attention there are so many times where he looks down while doing a scene as what he’s doing is actually referencing a script so that he knows what his line is. Funny I thought if that is true.

I did do and audition side from the show from The Reaper as mentioned. The character’s name was Gary and it had something to do with him suckering the devil into giving him all this stuff without actually signing his soul away. This class was a little challenging and interesting I thought and here’s why.

Usually when you go to an audition you don’t really get much in terms of the back story. Therefore, you have to make choices on why the character acts the way they do. My initial interpretation was that this was a filthy rich guy that is a complete jerk as he embarrasses others for his own enjoyment. Therefore, I played it in a very mellow way.

However, the coach then mentioned that this was a comedy scene and that it is all about timing and that the character has to be super energetic and excited. For example, there is one part where the character shoots a paintball gun at the butler. I initially just did it in a subtle jerk type of way but was then was told that what the scene needed was a guy that was having a blast in a very energetic fashion in shooting a butler with a paintball gun. So, I tried that and unfortunately I couldn’t fully relate to why a guy that rich would be so juvenile in his reactions since this sounded like an everyday thing for him.

Upon doing the scene he said that he saw potential for me in doing this scene and to try it again for next week. That got my curious. I then went online to look for this clip and sure enough I found it. From what I see, the actually footage on the show is kind of closer to how I interpreted it. However, I do believe that the coach’s direction would have made it more fun.

That got me thinking too on how subjective an audition could be. And this brings up my confusion as I have mentioned time and time again when it comes to training with people. As you may recall, the last acting coach thought that I did way too much comedy initially and wanted to see a more serious side as he believes that is what I need to do to accelerate my career. He even went as far to say that people that didn’t push me in that direction were afraid of seeing my full potential as I mentioned that people have told me to be more relaxed and energetic.

As you can see, it is like the flip opposite again where in this case I opted for the more serious tone and the coach seems to think I need to be more comedic and energetic in my actions. Very confusing field I must say. So what I do fear a little is that since the coach requested that I do the same scene again that this may turn out to be a directional thing where it’s more about acting out a scene based on a specific direction as oppose to audition strategies and the business of it all.

One confused actor here. lol.