November 2007 Archives

I live in New York City where the film and television industry are now fastest-growing employment sector in the city, and that's on top of the world class opportunities for working on stage and for terrific theatrical training. If you want to become an actor (or an investment banker), New York City is the place to be.

One of the great pleasures, delights, and values of the internet and the World Wide Web is being able to communicate with individuals all over the planet, or at least where they have electricity.

While NYC is a world class theatrical training ground -- it's not the only one. Thus by way of the WWW, I was introduced to Bob Fraser who resides in L.A. Bob Fraser is an actor, writer, director, producer and author. Bob is one of the best authorities out there on the business of acting. If you're confused about how to tackle the business end of the acting, what to do and the attitude you need while doing it, you'll find no better guide then Bob Fraser's incredible resource: You Must Act! The Bible of Acting Success.

Another terrific resource that Bob Fraser has created is Headshot Secrets Revealed! Revealed indeed! -- and finally, some excellent, real-world grounded advice.

The heart of this great resource is it's excellent to-the-point discussions about how to get a head shot that will catch a casting director's eye (it's simple!), how to organically discover your type (your UPC -- Unique Character Presentation), and how to practice to insure you'll have a great head shot session, as I did.

How I used Headshot Secrets Revealed!

Steps Forwards:

• Continuing Mastery of "The Craft"
• . . . oh yeah, Money

Going forward, these right actions will continue to build confidence and improve my craft:

1. On the job training: off-Off-Broadway is 99% no pay because it's technically non-professional theatre (though this doesn't mean there's no excellent people doing excellent work, and my main goal is to be one of them). I see it as primarily an opportunity to learn to act. It's why, when I work in off-Off-Broadway, I don't call myself an "Actor" in the professional/accomplished sense -- I'm learning the nuts and bolts of the craft on the front lines. It's what will take me to that place of being an "Actor" in the professional/accomplished sense. I'm quite fortunate -- I've got two immediately opportunities for the end of the year:

1. a small role in a short run of a stage adaptation of Angel Heart.
2. a larger role in the Jewish Theater of New York's production of The Last Jew In Europe at The Triad NYC
   
   Both go into rehearsal the first week of November.
   
3. Keep participating in readings.

2. Formal Training: always study -- keep studying:

1. Continuing formal study at Deborah Carlson's Word of Mouth Studios.
2. I had an interview at The Network, and one thing that came out of the meeting was my lack of formal training at a "known" school or conservatory on the training section of my theatrical resume. For whatever reason, probably good reasons, professional casting directors like to see this on an actor's resume. While I'm 100%+ happy at Word of Mouth Studios, because the class sizes are so small, the focus is mostly on mostly on monologues and individual work, very little scene work (though that may change next year). Scene work is critical because it involves someone else -- it's more complicated than doing monologues (though monologues have their own unique challenges). In any event, for scene work -- and for the opportunity to apply the skills I'm acquiring at Word of Mouth Studios to intense scene work, I'm going to take a part time level 1 10 week session at The Atlantic Acting School starting in February 2008.
   
   Why The Atlantic Acting School? Atlantic has the only conservatory program in the world offering an in-depth training in the influential Practical Aesthetics Technique. One of the first acting books I read was A Practical Handbook for the Actor. I won't write about this technique now because I little experience with it, but suffice to say that it's a form of "The Method" that's more in line with how human beings work. The other reason is I think I'll be able to best apply what I'm learning at Word of Mouth Studios to Atlantic's classes without unnecessary conflict. This is a vague reason, but it should become more clear once I start classes.

Going forward, these right actions will help me start to earn my living as an actor, a MAJOR goal:

While I don't consider myself an "Actor" in the professional/accomplished sense -- there's no reason I can't start acting like one :). That means -- start going out on professional auditons, i.e., professional directors and casting directors who are casting for professional paid acting jobs. I'll write more about this in The Business Side section of this blog. To start, I'll be making use of two third party professional casting resources:

1. The Network Of New York City -- I've already interviewed with them, they know my type, and they will advise me about which casting directors are coming in who are looking for my type. Additonally, even if I'm not initially cast in anything, if I remain open, I'll receive great constructive critisism, in detail, on my audition technique. That's Perfect! If I can't get cast from a particular audition, then I'll learn how to get cast the next time I audition.
2. One on One. I've allready auditioned for them -- I need to audition for them again.
   
   In addition to work in film and television (i.e., Law & Order and the Soaps), my goal is to do a lot of commerical auditions, and I'll be trying to find commerical agents on my own outside of these two casting resources for either represenation or freelance work.

Email to Deborah @ Word Of Mouth Studios:

Hey Deb,

I had an interesting Angel Heart rehearsal tonight -- I finally stopped (as best I could) trying to act: it's a bit hard to explain, but I just started to let go (as best I could) of trying to do something and instead just applied what I've been learning in Word of Mouth and just LET things happen:

Krusmark "realized," Krusmark "brought to life," Krusmark "in the moment," has nothing to do with how I think or feel he should be: Krusmark "realized/brought to life/in the moment" is just breathing the text, getting out of the way, and letting the text effect me -- what happens IS "Krusmark," and . . . he's unplanned and he's a surprise!

Getting out of my own way has a lot to do with just accepting what Krusmark "is" ( i.e., letting the words effect me) and not trying to do anything more. Rehearsal and acting now get exciting. Without this, it can be a strain and a chore.

I think "trying" to act, in some ways, is a way to insure that I do "act" because I'm afraid to hand control over to what I've been learning. That is, what if I let go, and -- I can't act? Or nothing happens? Or the wrong thing happens? "Trying" to act is the very definition of control -- when what I really need to be practicing is Trust.

OK -- finally, I think I'm starting to "get it," and "doing it" is a kind of surrender and trust, and (at least for me), that's something I have to practice and get better at.

Now -- the next steps are learning to listen better, letting my partner affect me the way the text affects me: trusting that relationship to create the scene rather than trying to "drive" or "control" the scene somehow (again, in a well-intentioned but ultimately misguided attempt to be "good" or get it "Right).

Just letting go.