My personal experience as a new actor in the Los Angeles area, trying to break in to show business is similar to many I’ve heard from other actors. I came here on a shoestring, was willing to work hard, attend class, get into plays, sing in nightclubs, and get “seen” in every appropriate way I could. I realized my weak points…my experience was mostly theater, so I needed to get into a film school right away.
I met many other actors just starting out and found a way to survive. I sewed for voice lessons, catered a party to have my headshots taken, painted the inside of an apartment in trade for repairs on my beat up old car. I waited tables, ran camera and sound for acting classes, did secretarial work, temp work, and eventually got a job in a casting office to learn about things behind the scenes. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: attend class, film school, personal experience, plays, voice lessons
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Pet Peeves
When I was teaching in film school, every month we had two guest directors come in to do scenes with actors from the program. These actors got the roles by going through the regular casting process with a guest casting director running a casting session for the upcoming director evenings. It was a fabulous way for actors who were not yet working professionals to go through the process and learn what was expected of them.
After the evening’s work, with both the guest casting director in week one and the guest directors who directed scenes week two and three, there was a chance for questions and answers from the student actors.
Every week, someone asked the same question: What are your pet peeves?
Every week, there was quite a list. And each person had one or more.
It can help you tremendously from falling into traps or unintentionally putting people off if you can find out what they DON’T like. As you attend seminars, castings, workshops, ask that question and start a list of who said what. I’m not saying memorize everyone’s personal dislikes, but I am saying gather the information and learn from it.
There will be several things that keep coming up…being late, not knowing the material, not being dressed appropriately for the scene, forgetting to say thank you. These are valuable cues about what is considered good behavior at work and in meetings, and acting accordingly may just land you a job.
Keep notes. Be aware. Be a thinking actor.
Best,
Beth
Tags: casting process, film school, guest directors, pet peeves, thinking actor
Posted in Personal Blog - Beth | Comments (1)
