Actor Growth

I was working on a TV show today and while talking to other people it sounded like so many people were contemplating about creating a web series of some sort. Interestingly enough, over the weekend I learned that some of my acting coaches were interested in it as well.

Guess more and more people are taking the creating your own future route. I was trying to think of an idea and I think I thought of something that would be right up my alley. I think I need a female actress to partner up with that has the right background though as that would create the perfect dynamic for the theme.

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.

Alright, in the event there was actually a lot of discussion that was useful for script writers and producers too. Of course, for myself I am more interested in the acting side. However, I felt that maybe there are a few aspiring film producers that are reading my blog too and so here is a treat for you all.

During this question and answer period a member of the audience, who sounded like a producer himself, was asking the panel for some advice. Basically, many of the panel suggested that people need to start making their own work. So, this person was expressing how he has made his own films with a very tiny budget and when it came time to seek for private financing he was only able to attract one investor.

Therefore, he asked the panel if they had any advice for junior and intermediate producers on the things they can do to get projects off the ground and to achieve a similar level of success that the producers on stage have experienced. The two who were answering the question the most was first Matthew O’Connor from the company Reunion Pictures and Larry Sugar of No Equal Entertainment.

The volume was a little quiet as at times they weren’t speaking into the microphone. But this was the clip:

Would you do things such as mortgaging your home if you believed in your project enough? Even with the producers here they mentioned how you can use the Internet to promote your work. I know here in Vancouver there are a ton of web series that are being published on sites like Youtube in hopes that it will garner enough attention to then go to the TV or big screen. Some of them look pretty impressive too.

Another interesting tidbit that was mentioned here, which I think can help everyone, is how they all said that they had great mentors that helped them and that you would be surprised at how many people would be willing to help you if you just ask.

I was reading this interesting quote today that apparently came from an actor named Terrence Man. The quote is “Movies will make you famous; Television will make you rich; But theatre will make you good.” What an interesting quote I thought. I have yet to really get a worthwhile opportunity to judge that remark when it comes to movies and television, but one thing most of the other actors I talk to agree with is that theatre really does help your craft immensely.

I started with a theatre background myself and till this date I still think I learned more about acting in general from doing theatre roles than any other film training and experience I have gone through thus far. It’s a good advantage at times too where I find that I usually have an easier time playing dialogue driven roles compared to people without a theatre background.

At this day in age though I think movies and television roles have almost the same type of pull in terms of making someone a well known name don’t you think? I know as a personal example for myself I used to watch that TV show Friends all the time and I would think a ton of those actors are still more well known for that TV show as opposed to roles they have played in movies. In my opinion it just comes down to how successful and popular the film or show is.

I think nowadays as actors we have to factor in the Internet as well. I mean some actors are even including web series on their resumes which is kind of interesting. I have yet to see an Internet based actor get really big globally in terms of getting opportunities to act in like leads in a big budget film or television role. Think the reason for this is that most Internet videos are one of those “For cheap laughs” type of creations.

Actually, in terms of pull and recognition ability I think the Internet is like the television way back. If you considered before that starring in a movie role is “making it” where everything else like TV roles are a stepping stone I think today the Internet can be that stepping stone. The main advantage is that almost everyone can self publish themselves with this medium.

So myself and some other actors are seriously contemplating about creating some kind of simple web series that we would create mostly for fun with the hopes that we can make something great out of it. As mentioned, in the group it seems like there are three of us that are dead serious about making things happen.

This might be interesting too as I am personally very comfortable and knowledgeable about publishing on the Internet which will come in handy. At this point the main idea that was thrown around is similar to a past idea where since we are all actors we would film our journey’s on like a weekly basis and the public can follow us.

Other than that, we were thinking of a semi reality and scripted story of some sort which all revolved around something comedic. Needs more time in the think tank though as we want to do something that is within our capabilities from a production point of view too.