What I Learned in a Year

It's officially been a year since I started writing this blog.  The reason I began was to share some of my experience and pitfalls with my actor friends out there.  I explained Why You Should Listen to Me, which is pretty much that you probably shouldn't since anyone who claims to know anything in Hollywood is probably wrong.

I have to say I've learned a lot just from writing this blog.  Reminded me that I need to enjoy the journey, not to worry about my competition, and how to face rejection.  I got to share with you guys my success at making a movie in 72 hours, what inspired me at the Playhouse West Film Festival, and how I survived the Los Angeles Actorfest. 

Of course, I'm always learning more and am often reminded that I don't know everything.  Just this last week, I had one of those auditions that was not perfect and I forgot some of my own advice, by not owning my audition and losing my confidence.  But with every failure comes a chance to do it better the next time.  You know, what doesn't kill you ...


As the last blog in February it's time to see how my Career goals are going:

Goal: Attend class unless working an acting gig or sick
Actual: I didn't miss a single class this month :)

Goal: Work on scenes from plays I can put up.
Actual: Working on "Vanities" with a couple ladies from my class.

Goal: Read two plays a month.
Actual: I read "To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday" and "Five Women Wearing the Same Dress"

Goal: Find and attend a good on-camera class to supplement my acting classes.
Actual: Finishing up that commercial class with Chris Game.  I am thinking about starting to get a group of actors together to work on camera once a week.

Goal: Complete editing on both my films before the PWFF early bird deadline.
Actual: Not looking so good, but they will be finished!!!

Goal: Write and produce two more shorts this year.
Actual: Let's finish these other two first.

Goal: Continue to help at the agency once a week.
Actual: I've gone to the agency once a week and have been working on a Pilot Season project to help them be super organized.

Goal: Find three casting offices that I can help out at as a reader.
Actual: This month I continued helping out at the TV office and got to help them on their new Pilot.

Goal: Blog every Monday.
Actual: Blogged every week.  Plus you can check out my other blog: Being Crafty and Cultured in Los Angeles. 

Halfway through Pilot Season

So, how's your pilot season going?

Not great yet?  Yeah, me either.  That seems to be what I am hearing from all my actor friends.  We know there are pilots out there getting cast and none of us are getting auditions.

But, here's the good news:  It's not just us.  In the first month or two of pilot season the people testing for roles are offers and the ones who already have series regular or big movie credits. 

Don't get mad at your agents just yet.  If you aren't already a known entity to a casting department then generally your agent's pitching will have little affect getting you in any office at this point in time.  Much of casting is working of their lists of favorite actors right now.

So, when is your chance?  Don't worry it's coming.  Most people say that unknowns will start getting called into offices in March.  But, don't set yourself on only series regular roles. 

During this pilot season there are episodics still casting.  You may suddenly have a better chance getting in on a co-star or guest star because many actors are holding out for a pilot.

I hope you all a better end to your pilot season and I would love to hear when y'all get called in or when you book something!!!

Trailer for ALL YOU NEED

Last fall I wrote and produced a short called All You Need.  Here is the trailer:

ALL YOU NEED
Directed by Ricardo Ultreras
Written by Michelle Coyle
Starring
Michelle Coyle
Sarah Elizabeth Johnston
William Gabriel Grier
Amaris Ultreras

Don't Expect Perfection but Keep Working at It Anyway

At the Grammy Awards last night, Dave Grohl had a wonderful acceptance that is for important for any artist to hear:

Dave Grohl's Grammy Speech

The importance of working on your craft is for every form of art whether it be music, painting, or acting.  On NPR this Saturday I heard an interview with a perennial understudy in the opera world who after 22 years of work has finally gotten his chance to play the lead role in Siegfried at the Met.  Jay Hunter Morris said the past 22 years has been him improving his voice, lung capacity, and all the technical things an opera singer needs to learn everyday in baby steps.

Actors should be working on their craft in the same way: everyday and understanding that some days may be just baby steps that you can't hardly see.  I've heard it said that learning to be an actor is a 20 year process.  Everyday you learn something more about yourself, about your limits, about your triggers.  Learn how to read every nuance and behavior that someone is giving you.  But don't give up if it doesn't all come together in the first few years of training.  It will take years of work and eventually you will be in the right place at the right time like Jay Hunter Morris was when they called him up from being an understudy.

But with all that work perfection can't be the product you are looking for because it doesn't exist.  Art is not about perfection.  Like he says it's about what it is in your heart.  How it makes you feel.  As an actor, it is easy to go back and watch performances and criticize what you did do, what you had meant to do but didn't.  Being perfect is not your job, your job is to bring life and heart to whatever you are working on. 

I'll leave you with this wonderful Ira Glass quote for those of us starting out on this journey who aren't quite as perfect as we'd like to be:

I heart Ira

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through. 

Keep working and fighting, guys!

Being an Actor isn't that Bad.

Recently, this article called 5 Awful Things Nobody Tells You About Being an Actor has been passed around the social networking sites.  I took it upon myself to look up the writer of this article, Soren Bowie (click on his name to visit his IMDb page and help his Starmeter.)  From what I can tell he has a similar career as me: a few independent films, a webseries, and some shorts he wrote.  This article makes it sound like he is going through a pretty rough point in his career.

I know being an actor is tough, but I disagree with almost everything he talks about in this article:

#5 You Aren't Building a Real Skill Set
He asserts that most of the day jobs actors have like serving or retailing are not meant to be careers and generally aren't very enjoyable.  That while your high school and college friends are moving up the career ladder you are stuck trying to upsell the vodka in someone's martini.

This is incorrect for two reasons.  First off, actors don't have to work in the service industry.  There are other flexible day jobs and if you find a generous boss almost any job can be flexible.  I have actor friends who work all types of jobs including as a doctor, personal assistant, and lots of various office type jobs.  Plus the career we want to build is as an actor, not in the service industry.  We work these day jobs to pay for our dreams.  If I always have to work in jobs other than acting in order to live, but it allows me the opportunity to act from time to time then I am happy.

Secondly, there are lots of skills actors learn that are useful in all walks of life.  Skills like public speaking, listening to others, and how to market yourself.  You even learn important skills in the service industry like how to deal with difficult people, multitasking, and even remembering long lists of specials helps with memory.  Plus, the writer of this article seems to be building a skill set by writing articles for an online magazine. (Look another day job choice that is not in the service industry.)

#4 Most Roles Have Nothing to Do with Acting
His example of a role that doesn't require acting is a Listerine commercial where people make funny faces using the mouthwash.  It's true that most commercials are more interested in your look than your ability to act.  You don't do commercials because you want to act; you do commercials because you want to make some money to support your acting career.  Those poor mouthwash people probably made tens of thousands of dollars for that one day of work.  Cry me freakin' river that it didn't require real acting.

If you aren't getting to do the roles you want, then write them yourself.  I noticed on Mr. Bowie's IMDb page that he wrote and produced a short that he acted in and that is exactly what you should be doing if you aren't happy with the roles in which you get cast.

#3 You Will Never Be Considered for Roles that Require Acting
First of all, never is a very harsh word.  Second, if you treat co-star one line roles as if they aren't acting then you probably aren't going to be cast as in those either.

He goes on a long diatribe about the difficulties of getting in SAG and how if you aren't SAG you won't be asked to audition for SAG productions.  Here is one argument: with the SAG New Media Agreement it is super easy to become SAG eligible.  Here is another argument: most casting directors I know have no issues Taft-Hartleying someone who isn't SAG.  True some productions will forbid it, but most allow it.  I was Taft-Hartleyed into SAG on an Army PSA.  He mentions a "hefty fine" but I've heard it isn't that much and certainly a pittance for a $20 million production.

He also mentions that directors are not likely to trust you in a lead role if they don't think you have experience.  That's why you get experience by doing co-stars, your own films, theater, and then hope that the right people will see it.  Most of the roles I worked have been given to me by someone who knows me and has seen my other work, including on stage and even as a reader in a casting room.

#2 Your Faith Will be Exploited
Here he talks about how much actors have to rely on everyone else in a production to help them look good.  It's true filmmaking is always a collaboration.  But, we've all made bad stuff and worked with people who were not so great at whatever they were claiming to be.

But, if you have a good technique then even if you look terrible and everything in the movie looks terrible you should still be acting correctly.  In the end that is what's important.  And if it really is that terrible then don't put the movie on your reel or show it to anyone.  Chalk it up as a learning experience and move on.

#1 You Won't Make Enough Money to Live On
We've gone over this in my blog post When Do I Start Getting Paid For This.  The answer is: maybe never.  And if you want to keep pursuing this job then you have to be okay with that.  You have to accept that you may never buy a house or be financially stable.

I've decided that the house with the barbeque and white picket fence are not part of my version of the "American Dream."  My dream is to be able to act and perform.  If I wanted money I could have picked a hundred different jobs.  And if you want to be rich and famous check out this post on how to do that: So, You Want be Rich and Famous?

He is right; you may not make enough money to live on.  And he ends the article by saying your take home pay for one day on an ultra-low budget movie is about the same as a Greyhound ticket home, which may be the point of this article: to make his competition want to go home.  Remember, y'all, this is a game of attrition and much like Survivor the winner is the one who Outlasts their competition.  So, do your best to outlast this guy.

And I wish Soren Bowie the best in his pursuit of the Hollywood dream!