Entertainment Bleekly

“Marketability” is a word that comes up often in my work as a career coach.  This is due to the two-faced nature of the life of a professional actor.  Yes, we are artists.  But because we seek to ply our craft in other people’s projects, we also have to be business people.  If you’re marketing plan is to shell out a few hundred dollars on a picture and tell anyone that will listen that you’re a really good actor, well, you might as well save your money and your breath.  That’s no more a good marketing strategy than buying lottery tickets is a good investment plan.

Being business savvy is therefore clearly important.  Part of that savvy is recognizing and developing your own potential.  Which actor is more marketable:

Actor A has excellent presence in contemporary work, especially for film and television.

Actor B is a triple-threat.  She can act, sing and dance.  She’s equally at home in Shakespeare or primetime drama, on a stage or in front of a camera.

They’re both really good actors, but Actor B can successfully work in many, many more mediums and formats than Actor A.  She will therefore get more auditions, and if she’s as good as she’s supposed to be, that means she’ll work all the time.

What undeveloped potential resides in you?  Could you book classical work if you just bothered to spend a few months in an outstanding Shakespeare class?  Would musical theatre doors open for you if you invested in a year of vocal coaching?

Working sometimes is great.  Working all the time is even better.  But nobody’s going to hand it to you on a silver platter– if you want it, you have to go out and get it!

Well, here we are…Fall is upon us in this back-to-school season where money always seems to be a little tight. We overspent on that summer trip, we didn’t budget enough for the school supplies, we realize that old winter coat ain’t gonna cut it this year and what gets pushed aside…investments in your craft. So, when we have no money, what can we do to keep our instincts and abilities fresh and at their best? Here’s a few ideas from some actors in the same boat…

1) Use the down time to read new material to improve your knowledge of plays/scripts.
2) Get double the bang and look for new audition material as you read the new pieces.
3) Pull out the old monologues you threw away 6 months ago and see how you can approach it now, what do you discover?
4) Get 5 friends together for pizza and wine - cheap pizza and CHEAP wine - and read a play together. Really discuss the characters and how they came out with the reading by your fellow actors. If your group were to produce this play, what would be the major challenges? Really get into some in-depth script analysis.
5) Do research online - what shows are on TV this fall, and who’s casting them? Talk to your agent about going in for those shows.
6) No agent - start talking to your friends and give them a picture and resume with a cover letter to take to their agent. Referrals are a great way to open doors.
7) Get to the gym! Winter is approaching, but you must keep your body - as well as your mind - sharp and ready for anything.
Find ways to compromise without breaking your spirit, so you can save some money for class next month.

Remember - actors never stop learning. We are in the occupation of studying life and as long as life keeps changing, we must keep up with the learning curve. So be creative - after all, you are an artist.

Lots of actors debate whether or not to attend Grad school…will it waste years they could be spending in New York actively pursuing it? Is is really worth the time and money? Sometimes the idea is inviting as it would offer up the opportunity to really go back to the craft, take the time to really sharpen their skills, and give them more options once they graduate (i.e. teaching gigs). Or maybe the actor loves classical acting and wants to spend time perfecting those skills. It’s something to think about and the answer is different for everyone.

2 weeks in Sdyney with LA TV Casting Directors were illluminating and inspriring! Biggest lessons I learned? From Both: You must be very very good or you will not even make it onto the radar. From Orly: Don’t try to be what it is you think they are looking for. Usually they don’t reaaally know anyway. Go in there and convince them *you* are what they are looking for. From Nick: Time is money. Be better and less expensive than the next guy. More on this, especially the math of comedy but it is so much to process it will have to be later…still recovering from monster jet lag. Oh, one more thing - The Australian students were kinder than we are. Maybe it is because they live in that beautiful country…
Have a great weekend!

Many of the business’s most glamorous “I was discovered when…” stories revolve around chance meetings. Unfortunately, many actors interpret this to mean that it’s about who you know. Well, who you know does play a part in the whole equation, but who know doesn’t matter - and who you know won’t care - if you aren’t prepared when who you know presents you with an opportunity.

So if you’re waiting to bump into Mr. Spielberg on the street, make sure you’re making use of the waiting, and make sure you’re prepared. Are your headshot and resume up to date and up to the industry’s standards, are you in class, are you training, are you doing everything you can every single day to make yourself a better actor? You are! Well, then I hope Mr. S finds you next!

Summer time is the perfect opportunity to roll yourself into a wonderful class - scene study, television and film auditioning, monologue polishing - doesn’t matter. So many casting directors are looking to see all the actors again in the fall for all the projects they have to find actors for - and wouldn’t it be a shame to roll in with the same resume they received a year ago - GET IN CLASS.

Hark! I hear the sound of the baby birds learning the difference between an open window and a closed window. It sounds like, “THWACK.”

The summer nears.

This is an excellent opportunity for you to find some private time and step out of the minutiae of your daily existence and think about what’s happening in your career, and what you need to do differently. The fall represents the industry’s busiest casting season, at least in New York. If you’re disappointed with how the fall of ‘06 and spring of ‘07 worked out for you, what can you do differently?

Perhaps you’ve booked work for part of the summer. If that’s the case then congratulations– there’s nothing like a nice gig to crank up the momentum for the fall.

But maybe you’re about to start the industry’s slowest part of the year with many months of nothin’ doin’ stretched agonizingly before you. I certainly know that feeling. We can lament over the fact that not only will we not work an acting job for those few months (probably) but we won’t even get to audition frequently (definitely), or we can seek out opportunities to put ourselves in stronger positions when the fall rolls around.

Classes, headshots, postcards and networking workshops and seminars, amongst other things, cost money. I understand. But I also have to admit that, as somebody that works three jobs to afford such things, my sympathy only runs so deep for persons that chronically complain of a lack of money.

Some folks are stuck in a situation where investing in their own career is simply impossible. These people are usually the victims of extraordinary, and extraordinarily unfair, circumstances. If you are one of these then I say truly and sincerely that my heart breaks for you.

Then there’s the rest of us. I know entirely too many people who could, with an often simple adjustment, create the resources necessary to improve their career. But for whatever reason they decide they just don’t want to make the change.

If it looks like the summer of ‘07 is going to be another slow one for you work-wise, what can you do to put the time to good use? If money is tight, maybe you want to explore additional part-time or temp work. Put some money aside for classes in the fall, and perform some comprehensive research as to what you need to address in your art or career to get to the next level. Many actors I know will alternate three-or-six months periods of just working and working/studying.

If you have the money (hurray!) then skip to the comprehensive research part. Who do you know that’s working? How did they get there? What training or networking opportunities are available to you, and which will be the most beneficial to you at this moment in time? Call up TVI Studios and make an appointment with me– I’ll be happy to listen to your situation and goals for the future, take a peek at your 8×10 and resume, and let you know about the options that are available to you here.

My acting class was a little weird last night. We had two people auditing, which means they were observing the class for one night to decide whether or not they will enroll. I’m not crazy about audits because the usual attitude is, “I’m looking for reasons not to invest my time and money in this. Go ahead and justify my skepticism.” Auditors tend not to be impressed by the small steps taken by regular class members on any given night. I guess they’re hoping that somebody of currently limited ability– like them– will get up, be given a few adjustments, and suddenly transform into an Academy Award-winning actor. When this inevitably doesn’t happen, they decide to look elsewhere, and ultimately decide they are above training. See my post on excuses.

After the auditors had (rudely) left class early the energy in the room became much more positive. Nobody felt a need to impress– we felt a need to grow as artists, which is why we take class in the first place.

As we returned to the work my teacher began directing one of my fellow students and I made a behavioral observation that is, I think, extremely important.

The student had completed her scene and was now being directed. She felt a great need to explain her work and the choices she had made. This is extremely common– I used to do it all the time and now, happily, only do it a little. As artists we want to justify our work in the face of criticism. This may be an ingrained response created by our society, in which being right all the time has so much value. The problem is that this automatic defense mechanism sometimes closes us off from extremely important and valuable communications.

My teacher could not teach the student, because the student did not wish to be taught. She wanted to justify her position.

Imagine that you watch a performance. It is bad, and you know it. After the performance is over the actors ask what you thought, and you express your dissatisfaction. Then the actors begin explaining what they were doing, why they made the choices they made, what was going on inside of them, what they were thinking about while they were performing, what they were feeling, what they were trying to achieve. Is there anything they could possibly say that would make you re-think your opinion of their performance? Of course not! The justification is an exercise in futility.

Once upon a time a woman called me to enquire about a special intensive TVI was offering in which she would receive written evaluations from several major casting directors. While explaining the nature of the intensive I mentioned that I would be happy to meet with her afterwards to go over the evaluation with her. The woman immediately became quite defensive: what are my qualifications? why should she give a fig what “some TVI person” (her words!) has to say? She began quoting to me from her (very limited) resume, and at one point actually had the nerve to ask if my professional accomplishments were anywhere near hers (for the record, they weren’t; mine were far more advanced).

It’s a pity she didn’t take me up on the offer. I could have helped her enormously, but she obviously wasn’t interested in help. She was interested in feeling superior to somebody else. I wonder how her career is doing, and how many people she’s pissed off recently.

As actors it is imperative that we be aware of when our defense mechanisms flare up. As a veteran of this sort of self-examination I can promise you that it often happens without our being aware of it. This requires a serious effort on our part. I know it can be very difficult to open oneself up to critical analysis– it’s part of the reason why the acting teacher / acting student relationship requires a very special rapport. But if we refuse to trust and listen to others, if we refuse to change, if we only pursue that which we can already do, we will never grow.

And neither will our craft, and neither will our careers.

The nature of my job as a career consultant, and the very fact that I am in showbiz, inevitably requires that I frequently encounter excuses. These are usually associated with reasons why a person doesn’t want to spend time or money doing something related to improving their career.

Some common examples:

“I feel at this time that I should be paid to act, and not have to pay to act.”

This is a good one. It sounds really compelling, and it empowers the person who says it with a sort of attractive veteran cynicism, like they’ve been around a long time and seen and done a great deal and are now owed something by the world and the industry. You frequently find these words spouting from the mouth of a graduate of an acting program, or somebody that lives in a major acting market.

Truthfully, though, does anybody in this industry really honestly feel like they don’t deserve to be paid to act? Of course not. Fervent belief in oneself and one’s abilities will not by itself produce gigs. It’s really simple—if you’re not investing in your own career, nobody else will. Channel some of that pride in a more positive direction.

“I did a showcase / intensive. The casting directors and agents are just there to make money.”

Nope. For many CDs and agents, showcases and intensives represent a major venue for finding new talent. This excuse usually comes from somebody who participated in a handful of these events, had high hopes for an immediate response, and was crushed when it didn’t come.

It is vitally important for all professional actors to pursue every possible networking opportunity. The more CDs and agents that know you and like your work, the more likely something is going to happen for you. It’s a simple numbers game.

Often the real problem is that the actor hasn’t had enough training, and does not deliver quality work. If you’re not amongst the most polished talent at these intensives and workshops you can’t really expect much. That’s just common sense.

“I don’t need any more training.”

Phillip Seymour Hoffman has an acting coach. Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal have acting coaches. Roger Corman discovered Jack Nicholson in an acting class. Mark Ruffalo and Benicio del Toro studied with the late Stella Adler. Sarah Jessica Parker went to the School for Creative and Performing Arts and then completed the program at Circle in the Square. I can go on…

Ed Harris studied at Columbia University, the University of Oklahoma and the California Institute for the Arts. Sigourney Weaver and Meryl Streep are both graduates of the Yale School of Drama Graduate Acting Company. Streep first studied at Vassar, and Weaver went on to take acting classes in Seattle. Mel Gibson attended acting school in Sydney, Australia. Brad Pitt was just another schmuck trying to make it in Hollywood when a stripper told him about a great acting teacher by the name of Roy London. Heard enough?

Tom Cruise studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse with renowned coach Phil Gushee. He also studied with Sanford Meisner. Robert DeNiro studied with Stella Adler and later at the American Workshop and is probably the greatest living proponent of the Method (particularly Meisner). Al Pacino studied with Lee Strasberg and believes in training so much he has leant his name to an acting school in New York City. Christopher Reeves met Robin Williams at The Julliard School.

You need acting class!

Excuses, put bluntly, are career suicide. Once a person gets into this kind of resistance mind-set it can be extremely difficult for them to come out of it. It’s ridiculously easy to invent a good reason not to try a different approach or make a change—it’s the law of inertia made manifest.

Whether or not somebody mired in resistance is aware of it, he or she has given up. It’s a slippery slope of surrender by degrees. Eventually, inevitably, the resistant person has an epiphany and realizes that it’s all over (and that it’s been over, for quite a while).

There’s nothing wrong with leaving the industry. It is not a defeat of any sort—I really, truthfully really mean that. However, I do think it’s sad when a person is self-deluded into believing they are “giving it a go” when in fact they are not.

If I leave the industry I want to be able to look at myself in the mirror and say, “I really did give it my all.” If I let resistance rule my behavior, I can’t truthfully say those words. That’s sad.

Some of you regular readers may know that I am an integral part of a well-respected theatre company here in NY. We recently held auditions for our Company of Apprentice Actors. And it amazes me how many actors are still struggling with the auditioning process.

You must be prepared! You must know the material, know the job, the part, etc for whatever you are going in for - sometimes you just don’t get that in advance, but if you do - there is no excuse to not be prepared.

You must be honest! Both in the work and in the interview. New York is a very big city, but the acting community is small, and people know everyone. So if you say that you are taking a class with a renowned actor, you might want to see if they are a company member of the theatre you are auditioning for - and if so, you need to be honest about what that class was. It may well have been a two month scene study course, but if it was a 2 hour evening of listening to his stories, don’t lie and say you’ve worked with him - you have only been in his presence at that point.

You must be engaging! Rarely do actors get the opportunity to talk and interview after an audition - so when that gem comes along, make it sparkle! Talk about yourself - not in a conceited way, but let us know who you the person are, we’ve already seen the actor. We want to know if you’re interesting and if we think we can work with you.

Out of about 70 auditions, we saw 14 actors that we knew we wanted. And that’s who joined the company. Those odds are about right - 1 in 5, but I encourage you to strive to improve the odds for yourself!

Break a leg!