Actor Growth

I went to do some quick work on Stargate Universe today and holy cow was it ever hot. Apparently it was like a record busting day today too. The people on set were talking about how someone fainted due to dehydration on set before and so we should all take the initiative to drink a lot of fluids.

The good thing is that we spent most of our time in the studio which had air conditioning and so overall it wasn’t too bad. Unlike the day on Caprica where I had to stand outside with a full suit getup. Today we had to actually eat during the takes though which is always interesting as you constantly see the crew people refilling plates for each take as they are racing against the clock it seems.

On set I was also talking to a friend and apparently he raised over $40,000 to make a film which was great news. I originally thought he wanted to do acting more but I guess he is going more into the production side instead. Be cool to see the final outcome.

So I was talking with my agent recently about my growth and direction thus far as I was curious if he had any input when it comes to myself in comparison to other local Vancouver actors who get seen by casting directors. Essentially, I was trying to find out what other people’s competitive edges were where they would be called for something over myself or vice versa.

He began by mentioning how it would make his job so much easier if he knew exactly what a casting director wanted. However, most of the time they just ask for very generic descriptions for a person such as the age and sex of the actor.

Out of that conversation too he addressed that a casting director usually calls 15 actors to audition per character. As well, he estimated that there were approximately 60,000 male actors here in the BC area. Putting that number into perspective should really make you think how competitive this field is.

He even mentioned that even though I’m ethnic, which puts me in a smaller demographic, there is no way to figure out what characteristics a casting director is looking for unless they mark Asian males only in their casting information.

You know, casting directors always say that if you even make it to the audition room you should be super happy. Many times I don’t really think too much of it, but thinking about those numbers sure puts everything in a different perspective. If here in BC we have 60,000 male actors, does that mean LA has like 500,000?

Now I know what my old acting classmate meant when he said he went to New York and couldn’t even get seen.

As mentioned before I decided to try out a different acting workshop that promised to focus more on an audition style of training. It is going to take place once a week and currently I am committed to attending it for the next three months.

The only thing that is a little confusing so far is that this looks like there are three acting coaches and depending on which day you signed up for you get a particular coach. I’m not sure if they rotate too as that would be interesting to get different tips and advices from different perspectives.

Well wasn’t this surprising today. I was checking my e-mail and noticed that the sender was an old agent that I contacted previously in regards to obtaining principal representation. The thing was I never got a reply back from this one on whether or not there was a possibility of meeting them to potentially sign on with. Therefore, my assumption is that it was a no and that my name and contact was dumped.

This e–mail just seemed like a message that was forwarded from one of their friends in regards to a charity of some sort where they want people to click on some voting type of link. What it did make me think of is I guess some agents keep your name and contact in their database. Either that or they simply didn’t take the time to take it off their e-mail list.

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.

My agent suggested to my with an e-mail before I signed on that there was this casting director workshop that I should attend as it would be a good way to learn some tips directly from a casting director.

It was kind of a heft price too at almost $200. However, I decided that I will attend it as this is the first time I have decided to try something like this. Kind of feels weird too as it’s almost like paying for someone to see you.

Just wondering what type of questions I should be asking and all for when the day comes.