5 Ways To Stay Sharp When The Industry Slows Down

The last two years have been the busiest for actors in recent memory. That being said, it’s not busy for everyone all the time. There are some known stretches of industry downtime and some unexpected pockets where everything grinds to a sudden halt and leaves us wondering if we’ll ever work again. How we deal with those periods of inactivity is directly related to our ability to stay ahead of the game when the industry picks up.

1. Make a list of your “sweet spot” projects.Now is the time to make a short-list of those “Sweet-Spot“ (hyperlink to: http://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/backstage-experts/how-find-your-acting-sweet-spot/) projects—the one’s you feel you would be perfect for! This is the first question I ask my career coaching clients during a session. Imagine your agent, manager, or best friend handed you a pen and paper and asked you to come up with a list of current television shows and films (directors and production teams) you feel you’d be perfect for. This process requires a lot of fun and imagination. It asks you to really get clear about your long-term and short-term acting and career goals. One of my extremely talented clients confessed she always dreamed about being an elf or fairy in a Peter Jackson film. That’s the kind of fun you can have with this exercise.

Creating this list gives you a reason to sit down with your agent or manager to show them what they didn’t know you’d also be perfect for—not that you should ever need a reason to meet with your reps! Developing this type of list can help you and your agents/managers get on the same page, and it can better convey to them where your head is at and vice-versa. It can also assist you in refocusing on important goals and developing fresh ones, while brainstorming innovative strategies for achieving them. I’m not endorsing that you do something crazy that will get you arrested, like throwing a hot dog at Tiger Woods, but now is a perfect time for dreaming up some daring, out-of-the-box strategies for gaining the attention of industry members.

2. Take that well-deserved vacation. Taking a mini-break from all things industry-related can be the recharge needed to keep you at your best for the start of a new casting season. Leaving Los Angeles can help you get a dose of much needed perspective—the kind that can only come from spending time with people who don’t have headshots and have no problem telling you their age. Spending time with people outside of the industry can help ground you and also give you time to miss the gleeful freak show that is Los Angeles. And in the end, you’ll find that you’ll start to feel wistful for L.A. and for the people who understand what you mean when you say, “they need me for ADR” or “I had to read cold” rather than greeting such statements with a quizzical look.

A common fear among actors is, “What if my agent calls with a big audition when I leave town?” That was a valid concern a few years ago, but due to the prevalence of taped auditions, that excuse is no longer valid. Every other private coaching session with my clients is an audition taping session. All you need is a quality video camera (found on every new smartphone), decent lighting and an Internet connection.

3. Stay in class. Staying in a quality (hyperlink to: http://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/backstage-experts/6-red-flags-when-auditing-acting-classes/) acting class during slow spells will keep you sharp for your next major audition which, oftentimes, comes without warning. Now is the perfect time to have a love affair with your craft all over again. It offers a great time to audit like crazy (heck, have several love affairs), or to really throw yourself into scene-work or audition work like a madman. If money is tight right now, throw together your own scene study class with like-minded actors. The slow summer is the time to sharpen the knife of your craft until it becomes a razorblade. So that when things do get going again, you can charge out of the gate swinging.

4. Educate yourself. Oh, so you never saw “Apocalypse Now”? What about “Annie Hall”? Never caught the first season of “Lost”? The slow season offers an ideal opportunity to educate yourself. As a serious member of this industry, you have to have seen the timeless films which shaped filmmaking and the values of this business, along with important shows that continue to influence writers, producers, and networks at large. Just as doctors and other clinicians absolutely have to keep up-to-date on the latest research for their fields, actors too must have a solid foundation by seeing the work and artistry which have influenced and continues to influence this business. If you want to work or continue to work in this industry, you must take the time to be knowledgeable about it.

5. Grow some humility. We can all agree that there’s nothing more repulsive to be around than a self-absorbed actor. People also don’t want to work with a self-absorbed actor. Quiet times in the industry are your opportunity for you to stop thinking about yourself and to start thinking about others. These experiences—like visiting nursing homes, reading to kids, giving out toiletry-packs to the homeless—can help humanize you more, and give you a broader viewpoint from which to see the world. These experiences are all crucial to building your craft. Furthermore, it can help you understand that while this industry is cutthroat, you did choose this life, and there are a lot of people who have it a lot worse than you do.

This article was originally posted on Backstage

Why You Need To Create Your Own Path To Success As An Actor

Throughout my years as an acting coach, I’ve seen actors attempting to launch A-list careers and achieve major success by trying to fit through the same small door as everyone else—attending cattle call workshops, sending postcards, practicing gimmicky acting techniques taught by Madame Ooh La La, taking non-craft-related personal empowerment classes, etc.

On the one hand, I don’t blame them. Many careers actually have been forged on the formula of: receive audition, perform well at audition, book job, repeat process, get noticed in time. If this approach is working for you, congratulations. Move onwards and upwards, dear friend.

However, if one aspect of this particular formula isn’t helping you, it might be indicative of the fact that you’re embracing too much of the herd mentality. The herd mentality is a term that I use in this business to refer to “widespread beliefs” that permeate throughout the minds and mouths of actors that can actually be crippling and prevent the actor from moving forward. For instance, ideas like, “you need an agent to book work” or “casting directors don’t want to meet actors without credits” or “leading men/ladies have to be traditionally handsome” or “strong characters don’t show vulnerability.” Obviously, the bulk of the ideologies connected to the herd mentality are based on fear. Take the first example. If “you need an agent to book work” is absolutely true, then the actor can stay in a safe zone of inactivity. It’s not up to you to shake the tree, it’s the agent’s job. Therefore, you don’t have to face your fears of what will happen when you pick up the phone or start making some scratches on the old drawing board.

If you accept the idea that “leading men/ladies have to be traditionally handsome,” and your charmingly crooked nose and confetti freckles won’t suffice, then you get to just stay in the safe zone of what you’re used to: character roles. Now I have nothing against character roles –they’re often the more interesting parts, but that’s another article. However, accepting this limiting belief means that you don’t have to jump into the red mist of marketing yourself as a leading man/lady. You don’t have to get leading actor headshots. You don’t have to show up at auditions where all the traditionally attractive actors are and try and compete against them.

There is no one-size-fits-all path to an acting career. Your path to your dreams will be your own—don’t let anyone sell you a system for success that doesn’t come solely from you. You need to be the one swinging the machete and carving the path through the jungle.

The good news is that because there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this conundrum, I can’t instruct you on what to do exactly. It will take some soul searching. What I can tell you to do is first, look at where the failure is, and second, look at where your resistance is.

Try to examine the things in your life that you’re not willing to do right now—given the fact that you haven’t done them yet—and perhaps, examine if the inactivity might be the actual obstacles in your way. These obstacles might just be about pitching yourself to casting directors, writing and performing a one-man show, starting your own web series, or teaching acting to kids. Often when we’re in a situation of failure, we need to look at our own resistance to see what is preventing a solution from coming through.

Consider success in the industry as the ability to get around a brick wall. All the years you’ve spent auditioning and going through the traditional method for success are akin to taking a shovel and attempting to a dig a tunnel around the wall. But it’s not working—and it’s back-breaking work. 

In reality, if you want to get past this brick wall, it might just take gathering the courage to either grab a rope and climb right over it or it may take the courage to pick up a sledgehammer and knock right through it.

In this example, climbing or destroying the wall symbolizes the absolute necessity of forging your own path, and shaking off the herd mentality of “land audition, book job, get noticed.” Success is never handed to anyone and no career was ever forged using someone else’s model.

This article was originally posted on Backstage

Be Yourself In Order To Be The Character

The personality of the actor is nine-tenths of the performance. This is a terrifying prospect for many actors hoping to completely disappear and hide within a role. With inferior training, there is so much effort, emphasis, and time spent escaping from the immediacy and danger of facing ourselves in the moment. A common sentiment among actors is feeling like “I’m not enough” or “I’m not interesting enough” as just themselves. So we gravitate toward the safety of warm and fuzzy techniques or complicated, confusing methods that allow us to hide or create a tangled web away from ourselves and the high stakes of performing.

In a “MovieMaker Magazine” interview with Philip Seymour Hoffman early in his career he was asked, "Of all the roles you’ve played, which one is closest to you as a person?" Hoffman said, "Everything I play is close to me in its own way. But I think, character-wise, the role where I just kind of showed up to work and didn’t do much, is 'Magnolia.' It’s more just kind of me than anything. 'Magnolia' and 'Love Liza,' really. They’re both parts where I didn’t do anything behaviorally or characteristically; I just kind of left myself alone."

"MovieMaker Magazine" also asked him, "Is it easier for you to play a part
where you can more naturally relate to the character?" And Hoffman responded, "It’s not about 'relating.' I think I relate, or partly relate, to a lot of the parts I play. But for those two parts, I didn’t have to do anything technically to myself: I didn’t really change the way I dress or talk or move. I just kind of left myself alone for each of those roles."

I’d like to point out that Hoffman mentions the idea of “leaving himself alone” twice in this short excerpt—and what a brave thing for this revered actor to admit. Obviously, there still needs to be a tremendous amount of digging and work done first. In responsible training, the work should focus on tuning your heartbeat to the heartbeat of the character. One’s own personality and humanity must never be discarded unless you desire to strip the character of its soul. I’d only recommend doing that if you’re going to be playing a robot. On second thought, robots have been able to convey some truly nuanced emotions on screen, showing the most fragile humanity (think Wall-E), so I’d only recommend abandoning your own humanity and character if you’ll be playing a can-opener.

Naysayers may ask how you could possibly bring your personality to roles where you’re playing monsters, like Heath Ledger’s Joker or Mickey and Mallory Knox in “Natural Born Killers.” Or, when you have to play unsavory, abusive, stupid, or lower class characters, and you just don't see those qualities in yourself—or qualities you don't think you possess. This is an excellent point, but don't we all have an inner monster—something we'd never admit in public? I think we all possess the capacity to relate to everything and everyone. We just find ourselves choosing not to relate. The mumbling homeless man peeing into a garbage can seems so far removed from the rest of us civilized people. But what happens when you have to play that guy?

One of the hardest parts about playing a monster or playing a low-status character is admitting that this evil or derelict might exist inside you—even if it’s just a faint whiff. Playing characters who lack heroism can be a struggle for some actors because it means looking deeply inward to the part of you that would feel justified in cheating on your partner, hitting a child, or dropping a racial slur.

In the early stages of your preparation for a character, draw two boxes. In one box, write down all those elements of behavior and attitudes that are just like you. In the other box, write down those behaviors and attitudes you cannot relate to. This exercise is private—no one’s business—so really be honest with yourself! Those items in the first box are things you don’t need to act. The items in the second box are handled by simply adopting a different attitude. This can be serious fun if you let yourself go down the rabbit hole without judgment. If you love children, but your character finds kids vile and offensive, your work is to vocalize and commit to a new statement of truth. In this case it begins by viewing children through the eyes of your character—dirty, annoying, loud, obnoxious, whiny, needy, draining, and demanding. Looking at the world through this new lens can help you arrive naturally at the sentiment, “If I hear another kid cry on this plane, I’m going to scream.”                                                               

Great acting preparation is like a properly packed parachute, which prevents the skydiver from falling to his or her death. Though scared for your life, you must bravely walk into the audition room, slate, and dive into your piece. All you do is pull the ripcord and let the parachute do the work, trusting that you’ve packed it correctly. In the audition room, this translates to leaving yourself alone and letting that parachute of preparation guide you.                                          

After all work is complete, what if your best work felt as easy and effortless as if you were simply playing yourself? Or as easy as yanking that ripcord? Sometimes great acting is just trusting that you’re interesting enough.

This article was originally posted on Backstage

4 Tips For Upping The Action In Your Scene

We’re all familiar with the concept of action, intention, and objective in acting. It’s a staple of most acting classes and conservatory training. And frankly, if it’s not being discussed, it’s a red flag to consider leaving that class. However, the way “action” is commonly taught to actors is unfortunately a one-dimensional technique that can deliver narrow results.

In most acting classes, action is often defined as, “What do I want?” or “What am I trying to get?” or “What am I doing?” The real question that must be asked is: When in real life are we ONLY trying to “get” something or “do” something to another person? What if, God forbid, someone does something to you?!

Can’t a large menacing spider on your pillow just as easily freak you out as you may endeavor to freak it out? Or, what’s to stop you from having the need to freak it out or the need to be freaked out by this naughty arachnid? If this is true, why are we limiting our actor’s toolbox by only employing such crude and basic outwardly directed actions in our scene work?

Here are some ways to incorporate action of all types into your performance.

1. Keep It Moving! Most of what we experience in theater, film, and television writing is real life with all the boring parts conveniently stripped away. The scene can’t dawdle—it must move along! Finding a suitable action is essential to keeping any piece progressing with proper pacing, but it may not be the obvious “do/get” action so frequently taught. We don’t have to be trying to change or impact our partners every second for the dynamic to work and be interesting. Sometimes it’s our skill in choosing what the other person is doing to us, or, an internal “need” for something that propels a performance from “cool” to “WOW!”

By realizing the full potential of action/intention/objective, we’re upgrading our actor’s toolbox from a basic flat and Phillip’s-head screwdriver to a sharper, more advanced set of tools.

2. Action is multi-dimensional. It’s not always something you’re doing or trying to get from someone else. Let’s rephrase the old concept of “what is my action/intention/objective?” to “what is the action in the moment?” Some actors will resist this because they’ve been taught that they must always fight for something. However, that’s simply not realistic. Some of the most common co-star roles that actors will go out for on TV are victim roles. Many of these victims recount traumatic events or speculate on the criminals they’ve met when under questioning. And, many of these character lines aren’t going to be attempting to “get something” from their partners or “fight” for something. These lines may also express a need to be comforted—and in committing fully to this action, one is able to effect great change in their partners.

In “The Dark Knight,” the Joker’s explosive entrance into the party scene is a perfect example of an action inflicted by Heath Ledger upon the shocked and terrified guests—the guests being the recipient of the action. Christian Bale’s Batman adopts a very different action/attitude. Disgusted by the Joker, he engages in the need to protect the innocent.

3. Be in the moment. You must find your specific action(s) for the start of every scene—what you are actively doing in the moment. In doing this, you need to remember that it’s okay to not always strive to do/get/accomplish something—trying to do so may produce work that looks and feels unnatural and smells too much like “acting training.”

Here’s an example, using the word “comfort,” that illustrates the multidimensional action.

- To comfort – actively attempting to comfort your partner.

- Comforted by – everything your partner does comforts YOU.

- The need to comfort – an internal driving need to act upon your partner.

- The need to be comforted – an internal driving need to receive this from your partner.

Carefully examine the first moments of every scene and then choose the most specific action to fit the start. You may be surprised to realize it’s really your partner who’s doing something to you.

4. Keep a literal toolbox. Use your thesaurus to find a fun action that turns you on! While actors aren’t roof-repair specialists, that doesn’t mean they can’t have a toolbox—a literal one, not the metaphorical “toolbox” of techniques. I’ve heard that Kate Winslet always has a journal and a tape recorder on set in her literal actor toolbox.

What you keep in your toolbox is up to you, but consider adding a thesaurus. A thesaurus can help open you up to more fun and specific ideas to what your character is experiencing in the scene. Making the shift from the far too general choice “my character is sad in this scene” to the specific and fun choice “my character is inconsolably heartbroken in this scene and reaches a very desperate place at the end of this scene” can’t help but lay a foundation for a more nuanced performance.

Sometimes in acting it’s okay to just be affected by your partner. In a New York Times interview, director Paul Thomas Anderson acknowledged that in casting “The Master,” he knew he had to find “a formidable opponent for Phil.” Apparently, the idea of just working with Joaquin Phoenix was an exciting prospect for both Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Thomas Anderson. Anderson recounts, “I remember Phil saying, ‘Joaquin scares me, in a good way.’” What a tremendous gift to be able to give your partner. It’s nearly impossible to receive this type of gift when you’re too busy trying to “do/get” something in a limited trajectory of action.

This article was originally posted on Backstage

Don't Act From The Neck Up

Certain red flags signify green actors. They can be as obvious as shoddy headshots or rookie questions. That’s fine. Every expert was a beginner once. However, one sign that really spotlights an actor who either has a lot more work to do or who is currently facing a brick wall in his/her technique is the plague of acting "from the neck up."

It creates a stiff, stilted, narrow, and unrealistic performance.

Unless an actor is paralyzed from the neck down, there is absolutely no reason to act from the neck up. As actors, we’re seeking to create real people and surely those real people should live in their entire bodies as we do.

I dare you to watch any brilliant acting performance where the performer is not using the instrument of their whole body. In fact, watch any scene from "The Godfather." As regal and as stoic as Don Corleone could be, Marlon Brando never acted from the neck up. He gave this character a royal yet sociopathic aplomb, but one which used his entire instrument as an actor.

There seems to be a generation of actors that learned a very bad habit: only acting with their eyes. This is so problematic because it gives the actor the impression that they’re “being simple,” when in reality the performance looks incomplete—and it is. There’s an overt denial of the actor’s entire tool—that of the whole body.

However, the issue isn’t simply that the actor’s entire tool isn’t being used; this situation means that the full experience of the character is unable to come through the actor. It creates a bottleneck in the river of the character from flowing fully through the veins of the actor.

Part of the reason this can happen, I believe, is based on fear. Living the character fully with one’s entire body might feel or look scary. Alternatively, it might feel or look seriously disturbing. However, if Heath Ledger had never done that disturbing, full-body exploration in his technique, we might not have ever had his earth-shattering performance as The Joker.

As an actor, you signed up to be fearless. Though sometimes you can get in your own way; I encourage my students to stop acting from the neck up by helping them eliminate the internal obstacles creating the phenomenon. There’s a stage of my character work with actors where I ask them to locate a specific emotion within their body. As always, it’s important to be very specific as to where it’s located, what size it is, color, shape, texture, etc.

I coached a dear client of mine on a film with a very difficult scene. A husband and wife needed to figure out what was left of their marriage after the death of their only son. Although this actor had children, she never experienced the loss of a child—thank God. After some intense work on the scene, I asked this actress where she felt the loss of her son. Without thinking she instinctively pointed to her throat and upper chest. I then asked her to describe what she felt there: color, shape, texture, etc. She said it was “Hard, green, solid and heavy.” I then asked her, “If it could speak what would it say?” Again, without thought, she said, “Please let me go.” As soon as she uttered those words, a surge of emotion erupted from deep within her body. Without hesitation I said, “Now go into the piece without delay.” It was the best acting I’ve ever seen her do.

Should you find yourself on-set or in an audition acting from the neck up, take a breath, there’s an easy fix. Immediately start to “paint the picture” with your body as if you’re trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t speak your language.

Let’s not forget that we think in pictures. Rather than appealing to the intellect or ears of your audience members, appeal to their eyes. As a million and one acting teachers have said throughout time, “show, don’t tell.” This remains some of the best acting advice you’ll ever encounter—hence its staying power. Again, just one minute into "The Dark Knight" the audience sees The Joker for the first time—but it’s just his hunched figure standing on a street corner, mask in hand. And with his back to camera, Heath Ledger still manages to create a sense of menace and madness—letting the character come through his entire body.

This article was originally posted on Backstage

How To Handle Bullying As An Actor

When we think of bullying, images of school cafeterias and angry jocks generally come to mind. However, it’s important to acknowledge that bullying occurs in show business all the time. Bullying often arises from a mixture of envy and insecurity along with a pathological need to be noticed. And all of these reasons essentially overlap into this – self-loathing directed outwards. My readers have no doubt seen this in acting classes when the teacher mocks or ridicules a student’s scene. Some of you have experienced this at auditions when a casting director will put down or roll their eyes at your work. Others of you have experienced this at showcases when prospective agents or managers will condescend or dismissively wave away your work. And still others of you have experienced this on set when an angry director proclaims your last take was “horrible” in front of a full cast and crew. These are all examples of an attempt to marginalize the actor.

None of these examples are terribly different from a high school jock knocking down an openly gay student in the hallway. The jock envies the courage of the openly gay student.

And the industry professionals in the examples above with their safe careers and paychecks, all envy the courage of the actor.

Essentially, the bully targets you for what you represent—often the qualities he will never have. Just as some say, “imitation is the highest form of flattery,” so is bullying, as it comes quite often from a place of pathological jealousy.

As you continue along this path as brave actors, you will continue to be exposed to scrutiny, criticism, and mockery. Many times, you’ll experience these things not because you’ve done anything at all to warrant it. Often it will be simply because you’re being you and a particular bully becomes jealous and acts out maliciously. Some of my celebrity clients have Facebook pages, blogs, and other forms of social media devoted to hating and ridiculing them. Bullying on the Internet can feel somewhat more formidable as it seems to present a greater sense of permanence than a bitter remark made in passing.

This phenomenon evokes the words of Erica Albright, played by the gifted Rooney Mara, in “The Social Network”: “The Internet's not written in pencil, Mark, it's written in ink.” But still, that’s nothing to be afraid of. Bask in the glow of the bully’s resentment and know they’re resenting you for your authenticity. They’re envying your bravery to be different, and they’re lashing out at you for all that you are and all that they lack. This negativity and the many forms it takes is the culmination of their envy and it’s actually a huge pat on the back.

As Albright aptly asserts in “The Social Network,” “You write your snide bullshit from a dark room because that's what the angry do nowadays.” And while this is true, even so, it doesn’t matter. Reasonable people who believe in fairness and truth will continue to persist. We sensible people know that if you accuse someone of being a fucking faggot, a fat bitch, or a shitty actor, that doesn’t make it true. And the greatest peace you’ll ever have is knowing that in your heart. It gives you instant clarity as you find out fast what you’re made of and who your real friends are.

There are indeed times in life when you’ll want to jump into the boxing ring with these bullies, but only on very rare occasions should you. These times are so rare because swinging back can put you at risk of getting thrown from your game. While this might sound frustrating to some, as it is in the same school of thought of “taking the high road,” the best way to swing back is to do so with your work. Swing back with your passion and joy of engaging in creative work. Swing back by being a developed artist.

Staying out of the boxing ring with these bullies is the best form of action because the bulk of them simply aren’t worthy opponents.

This article was originally posted on Backstage