Permission To Make The More Dangerous Choice

John Cusack. One of the bravest and most versatile actors in Hollywood. A line from an interview he did in 1998 always stayed with me, as it illustrates one of my strongest beliefs about acting. “Cusack was 23 when he made ‘Say Anything.’ Now, some eight years later, he says that working on that film is still one of his most treasured memories: ‘Lloyd Dobler was simply the best part of who I could ever be.’ And so who is John Cusack, really? He smiles that killer smile. ‘You know how in The Grifters, my character, the con man Roy Dillon, had such a dark heart? I'd have to say I'm right smack in the middle of Lloyd and Roy.’”  

What Cusack reveals about his approach to acting in this sentiment is that he is not afraid to use his personality to create a character. The most shockingly powerful truth in acting is that 90 percent of the performance is the personality of the actor. Why this statement is so terrifying is that at first glance it seems like I’m professing actors should just play themselves—I’m not. The work that goes into that 10 percent is enormous. What I’m proposing is that our personality is the instrument—or clay—with which we can compose an infinite number of characters. All of those characters will have the scent and soul of our own personality.

The 10 percent of the character which is not you, needs to revolve around the most dangerous choice—something that Cusack also instills his characters with. When playing Lloyd Dobler in “Say Anything,” Cusack constantly made the most dangerous choice—putting his heart and his feelings out there again and again (only to be rejected again and again—until the end, of course). 

When playing Roy Dillon, John Cusack consistently stepped into the red mist of danger, from lying to people in the intricate web of con artistry with a smirk and a sense of entitlement to making out with his mother in a haze of repressed incestuous desire. With each character though, the careful viewer can still see the foundational traces of Cusack apparent. Cusack is always drawing upon his personality to give these brave but damaged people an authentic place to originate from. 

Permission to Use Your Personality
Here’s a question I pose to my new students and clients:

“After all the work is finished, what if your best acting felt as easy as if you were simply playing yourself? Would you feel you were interesting enough?”

The temptation to hide behind doctrine or technique is so seductive because it allows us a way to escape from the danger and fire of facing ourselves. This comes from a multi-faceted place: on the one hand, many actors don’t feel like they’re interesting enough. On the other hand, many actors do have a latent amount of fear connected to the act of drawing upon themselves—which means using their own perversions, flaws, moments of dishonesty, and manipulative qualities. Sometimes the act of using one’s personality is actually the act of admitting to oneself, as Cusack did so boldly, that one does in fact have a dark heart.

The 10 Percent That Isn’t You
This is one of the more challenging parts of developing the character and it helps to be able to write it out with a pen and paper. Make a list of the attitudes, qualities, actions, feelings, or thoughts that are connected to this character that genuinely are not you. When you’re done with this list, take a long look at all the things on it and really be honest with yourself: are all of these aspects things which are not part of your personality or blood memory? 

This might be an easy yes for many actors, but with this exercise, many will find that there are still areas of overlap. 

With the attitudes and character traits that are completely foreign to you…find a way to embrace and adopt them so that you are in fact, making the most dangerous choice. For Cusack, this meant instilling every action, moment, whim, and line that his character Roy Dillon made in “The Grifters” with a sense of deeply buried desire for his mother. This choice was underlying every single thing his character did in that film, and it was one of the bravest choices an actor has ever made.  

This article was originally posted on Backstage

How Actors Can Have The Best Pilot Season Ever Without Representation

Pilot season is just around the corner and you’re still an actor without theatrical representation. Don’t worry! Take a deep breath and relax—you’re going to be fine.

The most contagious disease effecting actors is the belief that signing with an agent or manager guarantees you’ll compete for every role you’re right for. My private clients are divided among actors who compete for 0-6 major auditions per year v.s. actors who compete for 30-40 top-tier auditions per year—that’s a staggering 3-6 auditions per week during peak seasons.

What’s the difference? The actors with the 30-40 auditions are being pitched via telephone followed by a personal email to the casting office. Those only going out for 0-6 per year are only being submitted online via “breakdown services” by their reps. Also, some agents have long-standing relationships with certain casting offices, and the CD will bring in literally whomever that agent submits. 

Fact: less than one percent of agents and managers actively pitch their clients, either via phone or personal email. The reason most reps don’t pitch is because they simply don’t have the relationships or clout with casting directors, or they’re terrified of losing face should they misjudge an actor’s “rightness” for a role. Ask any great agent or manager and they’ll tell you that a rep who isn’t pitching clients should get out of the business. 

Your success in launching your acting career is directly related to how visible you make yourself and to your ability to build and maintain relationships with industry professionals: directors, producers, writers, actors, casting directors, etc. Your results depend on how you build those relationships. 

“I’ve already made it.”

Adopting the attitude “I’ve already made it” instantly tunes you to the level of confidence needed to stand up for yourself and build those crucial industry connections.

It’s important to reject the herd mentality—what every other actor is doing—every step of the way. Sending a press release-style email is miles more effective than a mass postcard or headshot mailing, as it instantly separates you from the herd and gives the illusion that you’ve already made it. People in this business respond to that sort of confidence. If you’ve never written a press release and have no idea what you would put in yours, a quick Google search will give you more than enough guidance. 

Stop waiting for permission to market yourself.

Get in the habit of rejecting the archaic concepts of “niche” and “type” as they only serve to box you in and stifle your originality. Start owning all those awesome things that embody your personality—the crazier and more out there the better! You’ll soon start to define your own type, which transcends any of the “types” already out there. Steve Buscemi is an actor who embraced his unique flavor of quirkiness to create his own tailor-made type. Zooey Deschanel has immortalized Jess on “New Girl” as the charmingly clueless, singing neurotic roommate with the big blue eyes and sexy hair. Who knows if they would have had the success that they’ve had if they had spent years trying to stuff their uniqueness into the box of some preconceived type that the business had already dictated?

This means that for the next audition you get, stop trying to think of how you can cram all your glorious oddities and neuroses into the narrow confines of what you think they want. Instead, give yourself permission to let the bizarreness, ugliness, sexiness, or disarming qualities of you come through, imprinting the character with something priceless. Such courage is indeed worth the effort. 

Before the huge successes of “New Girl” and “(500) Days of Summer” Zooey Deschanel showed up to one of our coaching sessions with a deeply ironic casting breakdown. The breakdown was looking for a “Zooey Deschanel type.” Zooey was between acting jobs and we both laughed at the absurdity of it all. For me, that moment solidified the fact the she had officially made it.

In my career coaching work with actors, I help my clients to reject the lottery mind-set—to see acting success as commensurate with the amount of focused work they put in, rather than just a series of lucky events.

This article was originally posted on Backstage

Why Actors Need To Let The Lines Do The Heavy Lifting

“Throw it away more.”

Nearly every actor has heard this direction either on set, in acting class, or during an audition, but how many actors really understand what this particular piece of direction is getting at?

Telling an actor to throw away their performance, their delivery, or certain lines of the script more simply means that the actor isn’t letting the writing do the work. The actor isn’t placing enough trust in the writing or in their self. Thus, the actor’s performance becomes too much, putting the actor in danger of overacting, of getting bigger, louder, and all in all, not delivering the nuanced performance that they are capable of.

One of my clients went in for a role of a tough street punk on a popular Showtime dramedy. Granted, the office she went in for was notorious for being nasty to actors, but the note she received from the casting director was, “Stop acting tough. The lines are already tough.” While I wasn’t there, and while I have confidence that my client is a gifted actor, I got the impression that nerves took over during the audition and she felt the urge to do too much, trusting herself less, and essentially, over-acting to an extent. 

My client got over her disappointment from this audition with the resiliency of a professional. But I urge us to now examine how the act of auditioning and the high stakes involved can too easily stir up one of an actor’s greatest fears: the feear that you’re not interesting enough as yourself. This greatly increases the temptation to give the acting a little something extra—to push it.

There are times when you must take your foot off the acting gas and let the lines do the hard work and heavy lifting in the scene. In other words, stop pushing the acting! I’m not telling you to do less—I’m saying, sometimes the best choice is to actually do nothing. 

A great example of doing less is with Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada.”  I thought the film was great and that all the actresses did a wonderful job. However, it was only when I read David Ansen’s review in Newsweek about the film that I realized how brilliant and smart Streep’s performance was. “Never raising her creamy voice, Meryl Steep is scarily sensational as magazine editor Miranda Priestly, the tyrannical, all-powerful arbiter of New York fashion.” A lesser actress would have yelled, and would have punctuated each line with explosive venom in order to create an “intimidating character.” Instead Streep infuses each line with a soft, lingering poison, the lilt of her voice evocative of the quiet shake of a rattlesnake.  

Performances like these are a manifestation of how the more physical and emotional space you create inside yourself, the more room you open up to invite the character to be expressed through you. Much of the work I do with my private clients is focused on opening up space inside them to create room for the character to come through in the most natural way possible. This way, actors can leave themselves alone and let the lines do the work.

The most beautiful and skilled writing can often stand alone, without an actor imposing upon it.  But what about if the writing is bad? In such cases the actors generally feel an even more aggravated need to inflict their mark upon the writing in order to make it better or “more believable.” I’m of the opinion that this is the wrong instinct. With bad writing, I say throw it away even more (after you’ve done your preparation and have allowed the character to come through you of course). Think of the cheesiest, most soap-opera-esque line you’ve ever had to deliver (“You’ve turned our love into nothing but lies. Lies!”). This is a prime example of how, really, any imposition on the writing by the actor is just going to call attention to how awful the writing is. It’s kind of like dabbing a stain on silk with a damp washcloth and creating a big watermark that’s even more noticeable than the stain ever was. In such a case, you need to approach the moment from a place of honesty, with all the work you’ve done on the character, and just speak the speech.

The difference between “good” and “great” acting is just a few millimeters of focused and specific work, and the ability to trust that it’s firmly rooted inside you before the call of “Action!” That little bit extra is often the difference between a strong audition vs. a booked role, or being nominated vs. winning the award. 

This article was originally posted on Backstage

How To Stand Out In The First Moment Of A Scene

There’s discussion and debate on the importance of the “prior moment”—or “moment before”—in acting. Rarely is the “moment of” ever discussed. My work with actors is sharply focused on that first moment of the scene. It’s one of the most important parts of your preparation, as it launches you into the reality of the scene.

Have you ever noticed that most audition scenes never start at the beginning? They usually start somewhere in the middle of something—an often awkward and uncomfortable situation yet emotionally full.

I once coached a client for a film audition scene that started in the middle of the most awkward and uncomfortable sex. (It wasn’t a porno, I promise.) But try to picture all the physical and emotional sensations that are going through you in the middle of the stark act of sex; this is what this woman had to successfully prepare. I mention this for the next time you get a “tough set of sides” for an audition. Are those sides as tough as starting a scene mid-intercourse?

It’s the first moment, or moment of, that can either save or sink the scene. I call that first moment the character’s “hook” in the scene. The hook is the very specific attitude you adopt at the top of the scene, after you’ve safely chucked your acting preparation out the window.

The most effective hooks are best expressed in four words or less. I recently coached a very talented young client for a juicy guest star role on a gritty hit cable drama. He played a fearless 15-year-old, the youngest of four brothers, who would gladly fight to the death to protect the honor of his highly dysfunctional, backwoods family. The scene opens with him and his older brother slowly tossing a firecracker back and forth with the intention of not flinching. My client, clearly the more dangerous and powerful of the brothers, distilled his attitude or hook—in relation to his brother—to be “Bring it on, bitch!” Saying those specific words lit him up to the truth of that first moment in the scene. After that hook was expressed, his emotional sail was so full of wind that all he needed to do was start the scene and enjoy the ride. He was able to function like an emotionally full-but-blank canvas and engage with his scene partner—moment by moment—not knowing what was going to happen next.

This is important to keep in mind because so many actors will go into the audition room, having planned out every single moment, like a chess player planning eight moves ahead. This is so problematic because it’s so transparent. The casting director can tell; the actor’s work seems over-prepared and far too safe.

Like life, every scene must ultimately be entered as if you’re a clean slate—you might know what you want and what you’re afraid of, but you don’t quite know what you’re going to do, and there’s absolutely no telling how your partner will react to it.

In order to approach the scene from this perspective, you must ultimately discard all acting technique and preparation. Acting technique/preparation is like a band-aid. You need to apply it to the work before you perform for obvious reasons, but if you keep it on too long, it will pollute the acting process at large. Thus, you need to rip off that bandage before you go into the audition room.

Have you ever watched a performance that reeked of acting technique? It’s the unmistakable odor of safety and predictability, free from the danger and fire of the moment. Most of all it’s boring.

When was the last time you consciously executed a beat change while hanging out with your best friend? What actions were you aware of playing when you last fell in love? You can tell someone you’re not in love with them anymore and that you’re leaving and try to predict how they will react to this news, but your likelihood of predicting with absolute accuracy is very slim. This is largely because natural actions and reactions happen in life without planning. You owe it to yourself to instill your acting with such riveting qualities. 

This article was originally posted on Backstage

4 Ways To Be Less Manic Depressive As An Actor

I’ve spent the last week traveling throughout Taiwan. Other than my time working with actors here, I can honestly say I’ve rarely thought about acting or the industry. I’m proud of myself for taking the time away. It wasn’t easy. Show business is like the ocean, and it can be hard to feel like you’re “turning your back on it” by leaving town. There’s always the fear of missed opportunities, but sometimes leaving town gives a crucial sense of perspective on the game.

For me, it has been refreshing and has allowed me to return to my studio with a renewed sense of humor and fun about the whole damn carnival of this crazy industry. The one piece of career advice I keep giving that never gets old is “Stop making yourself crazy!” As an actor, it can be easy to feel manic-depressive as you swing from opportunities and excitement to rejection and disappointment week in and week out. Even the sheer waiting game of anticipating the next audition or the next showcase or the next time your agent will call, can make you feel like you live this bizarre hybrid-existence of being half-frozen and never quite living in the moment.

Despite all these obstacles, you can really find inner peace and your own sense of forward momentum, and start having more fun. Because if you’re not having fun with your own life path as an artist, then all the sacrifice is just not worth it.

1. Stop believing all the hype. One of the hardest parts of being an actor is all the free and unsolicited advice you’re given. This can range from advice on the hottest headshot photographer of the moment, which acting coach to study with, and what kind of read a particular casting office likes. All this free advice can be helpful—sometimes and in small doses—but quite often it can make you feel like you’re going mad.

Stop listening to what other actors are saying you should do to further your career. Turn up your music in the audition waiting room or when you hear talk of “niche” or “type”—they’re just a call to action for you to conform to someone else’s stale concept of what box they think you should fit into. Aren’t you sick of all the BS and industry shoptalk being shoveled 24/7? I am. Remember, your path to acting success will be 100 percent your own. In a previous article, I discussed the necessity of rejecting the “herd mentality.” It’s OK to be aware of the advice that’s being swirled and swished around this town, but going with your gut, your instincts, and your genuine interests will be a truer guide to you every time.

2. If you’re not having fun it’s not worth it. If you’re not having fun when you’re acting then just stop. Some acting teachers and methods make a fetish out of students digging up past trauma and pain—so much that it fast becomes a competition of who’s more screwed up. If it’s not obvious why this is harmful to one’s psyche and development as an artist then please stop reading.

Other teachers make it their duty to be downright nasty to their students, so that class borders on abuse. Generally I’ve found that the mentality in such scenarios is that such harshness is just supposed to make one a “stronger actor.” Such a notion is pure garbage, and it just allows the teacher a stage for power and ego-tripping. When you’re acting, you shouldn’t feel like you’re trying to please people or trying to check a series of boxes; you should feel dangerous and exhilarated. If you don’t, you either need to find a new class or a new technique that does let you fly forward, take new risks, and even surprise yourself.

3. Set realistic goals. Without realistic goals, you will always feel like you’re behind or failing. Setting realistic goals, however, will make you feel like you’re making steady, regimented progress. A common question I get from new actors is, “How long will it take before I’m ready to audition for major roles and/or look for top tier representation?” Sanford Meisner believed it took “20 years to become a master.” I think that notion is both true and absurd as actors like James Dean, Heath Ledger, Natalie Portman, Sam Rockwell and others couldn’t claim the title “actor” using that rule. Remember, show business in New York or Los Angeles means you’re competing at the highest level of the game. You can’t expect to just grab a fiberglass pole and vault your way to a gold medal in three weeks. It takes time, the love of craft, and patience to reach that level.

4. Create your own opportunities. None of my clients—both celebrity and working professionals—with successful acting careers ever waited around for someone else to give them work or validation. They created their own awesome opportunities to showcase themselves at their best. An actor I’ve worked with for years recently created a web series that turned pop lyrics into dramatic scenes—it was picked up by Warner Music Group. And you can create more than acting opportunities. One of my clients is on a mission to bring clean drinking water to Swaziland, one is a champion for animal rights, another is an Instagram star, etc. All of these actors have one thing in common: they’re creating their own fun. No actor was ever handed a career on a silver platter. Being the creator of your own acting opportunities is both smart and rewarding as it ensures you’re never waiting for breadcrumbs from someone else.

This article was originally posted on Backstage

3 Ways To Handle The Post-Audition Waiting Game

So you just left the casting office after auditioning for a recurring role on that gritty new cable series everyone’s raving about. There are easily 10,000 actors who would give up an organ to land a part on that show. You feel you’re perfect for the role and have prepared for the role responsibly.

As you’re walking back to the car muttering your lines under your breath, thoughts—both crazy and lucid—are racing through your mind. “I think I nailed it, but what did they think?” or “Oh shit, that was a mess. I hope they didn’t notice.”

A very common and constant question actors have after a film or TV audition is: “When should I expect to hear back from casting?” The answer is: There’s no way to know. The soonest you may hear is that day and the longest may be up to seven months. Aside from staying positive, owning a functional cell phone, and checking the status of the project on IMDb, here are some other fun and proactive things you can do.

1. Get feedback. Many actors don’t know it’s possible to get audition feedback from the casting director through your reps. Getting an audition critique from casting directors can be a valuable validation or confirmation that something wasn’t working. This type of communication is also part of a healthy routine of building and maintaining relationships with industry professionals. Keep in mind that this isn’t always possible. For example, your reps might have a fragile relationship with a given casting office so they will straight-up tell you that they don’t want to risk either hounding the office or seeming to lack confidence in their clients. Thus, they will opt out of asking for feedback. However, it’s important to ask your agent or manager if they’ll seek out some answers.

2. Prepare a piece for your reps. One of my superbly talented clients regularly performs new pieces for his management team throughout the year. His goal is to show them other types and genres he may also be right for. This is exactly the kind of agent/manager relationship you ultimately want—one in which you regularly communicate.

Make an appointment with your agent or manager to show them another side of you—something they haven’t pitched you for that you feel could be in your wheelhouse. For example, I have one client who constantly goes out for edgy, gritty women. But this woman can actually flawlessly conjure the demeanor of the spoiled debutante with great ease. Instead of making a full-on appointment to perform a piece for her reps as this character, this client just dropped by her manager’s office dressed like a modern, Kennedy princess. After she had dropped off a box of exquisite cookies with her manager—always a good idea—she asked if she could perform a one-minute monologue. Her management was pleased and impressed with the impromptu performance, and now they had evidence that she could dress and act within a new type.

3. Meet up with your believers. As tough as this town can be, everyone has friends who believe in them. Sometimes the best way to smooth out the rough feelings and rawness post-audition is to meet up for drinks or dinner with your friends who are also your fans. Here’s the trick: Don’t talk about the audition; don’t even talk about show business. Make the one stipulation of this hangout that no one can discuss anything industry-related. At first, you’ll find it’s a bit tricky, and you’ll instantly want to discuss the usual—acting class, auditions, the movie you saw last weekend. But when you force yourself out of these habits and you push each other to connect over the other aspects of your lives—yoga, her idiot boyfriend, your telepathic iguana, the new exhibit at MOCA (or MoMA), the new coffee joint with the hot cashiers— you’ll find yourself reacquainting with your lives outside of show business. This will be a refreshing moment, as at the end of the day, you’re a human being first and an actor second. And you’ll likely find that it helps to neutralize the sting of the post-audition waiting game.

This article was originally posted on Backstage