Actor Growth

Well, today was the last day where we preformed the scenes. It went okay for the most part. Generally speaking though, I still didn’t really feel like I grew much in this class.

After it was all said and done with we were told that we would be e-mailed ad digital copy of our work. As well, during the end we were told that there was another class starting and that if we wanted to stick around and watch we could.

I just didn’t click with the school here I suppose. I didn’t even see the point in writing out that analysis in the beginning too as I didn’t feel that it was addressed in any way where I walked out more knowledgeable. Search continues though.

As you may have noticed I didn’t update what happened which was supposed to be the last day of the class. Apparently, the instructors had some kind of schedule conflict and so they told people that they would delay it for this coming Sunday instead.

I was almost inclined to have just asked for a refund for the last day as I did have other stuff planned as I assumed the class was over. But, I guess I will see it through to the end as that way I can truly give an opinion of this class based on the entire experience.

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 an interesting message from the coach. As you all know, he is actively helping me to achieve my goal. Turns out, the person he was talking to couldn’t help me directly but instead is going to give him a list of potential contacts to share with me.

I was just thinking how there are so many twists and turns with this situation where at this point it looks like I am not going to accomplish the milestone goal and therefore will need to stop attending the workshop and begin the different route.

For my current remaining days of class, assuming my goal isn’t achieved, I have just sent off an e-mail to him too where I expressed how I think it is wiser to spend my workshop time going over all this business stuff instead. Basically, I would rather spend the time going over film industry stuff with like a mentor to better help me in achieving my goal rather than focusing on skill building at this point. Waiting for the response and reaction to that.

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.

Okay, this is interesting. I got the sides for tomorrow’s audition class. The side looks like it is going to be heavily dependent on the actor being able to pull off reactions as well as establishing the surrounding. The tricky thing is that in this scene a large part of it is like when you hear what the characters are thinking in their head.

Hence, it can be like a guy and a girl on a date and while watching the show you hear their thoughts on how they feel so nervous. Now in this case the sides explicitly say that the actor should read the voice overs as well and there is a lot of action in it.

I’m just thinking, how the heck do you pull this off? Like in the dating scene scenario, wouldn’t that look kind of silly in context of what is going on? One thing is for sure, I am glad I am doing this in the audition class as I have never seen a request like this and it is better to make the mistakes in class.