Whether its a guest starring appearance on “Gossip Girl” or being featured on a TV commercial, getting cast is usually the final step for an actor in search of a job. Being prepared is the key to a successful career. Many believe that just meeting a casting director is all that is needed to “get the job”. Well, here’s a reality check: Casting Directors meet or see hundreds if not thousands of eager actors. Which means that unless there is something spectacular, unique, special about you, chances are that you will not be remembered. There is hope however. Consider working with a Casting Director who also teaches a class. This is now a double win for you. First, you learn about what skills you may need, tips for success and gain understanding about the casting process. Second, you can make a positive impression about your talent and personality over time with a class taught by the same casting person who may just need what you have. Of course, there is no guarantee of employment, just an opportunity to learn AND increase your visibility. This is especially true if you work with top casting people like Pat McCorkle, Rebecca Yarsin, Findley Davidson.

Tips to be a Successful Actor in New York City

Before you prepare your Academy Award speech, it might be a good idea to take a good look at your personal progress first. Do you have an agent? Great!….are they sending you out on auditions?…..Great!…are you booking work?….Great!…are you playing roles you are showcased in?….You can see that the questions can et pretty tough, especially if you are just starting out. Just remember it is all about perseverance and being ready. Probably the best way to be ready is through classes, meeting industry pros, working with a career coach, rehearsing your scenes, auditions, script work. Then and only then are you on your way to Acting Success It stops being a dream when it becomes a goal that you set! Best wishes for a fantastic New Year. I look forward to seeing you at TVI!

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“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.