July 12, 2022
So, you ask, how to start auditioning for TV? You need representation. How do I get representation? Actors come up to me and they always say, "How do I get an agent?". Sadly, some of them say, "How do I get an agent?", I go, "Well, first of all, it's an agent so we have to work on your speech", and they say, "How do I get an audition?", I go, it's an audition. So, we gotta work on your speech, okay. Agents and managers I know a bunch of them. They live off your work so they smell success. so when you're going to be somebody who reflects really well on them, they get excited, right. So, prepare, prepare, prepare...Once again, I was a boy scout. A boy scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent, right. I didn't memorize those I learned them. I really do strive every day to live by them. So, it's all about prepare, prepare, prepare. In the world of the actor guys TV is so fast. It's so fast. You're asked to hit a series of marks and deliver it and so what's past is prologue, it's all about your preparation. That you're in a constant state of preparation. So, when you come up here and that piece of glass. I remember the first commercial I was in it was like a 28 mil millimeter fisheye lens that was about this far away from my face and I had to look at it for two days and talk and you know I had one line and a commercial that ran for years and bought my first New York apartment. Thank you very much pap's blue ribbon beer. It's right here in this bottle. You can't find better than fast. But it was this piece of glass that looked like a cannon aimed at your head. So, in your practice every day take a camera and get used to doing monologues slightly to the left of the camera. This would be camera right stage left. Look the other way and just get used to your voice leaving your body. Don't look here. Your left ear will not launch your career. Get used to that and that when you're playing a close-up take your eye line just a couple of degrees to one side of the camera, not here. You'll see, you'll even see this in TV shows and movie shows. When you're doing your close-up ask the other actor to sit right next to the lens and focus on their eyes because as much of your face as you get into the into the glass equals your career, right. Write down, careers are made of close-ups. Careers are made of close-ups. Also, how to start auditioning for film and tv. I mentioned in other videos, do not act in front of a mirror.
You will find that the finest actors and they all began with theatrical training. Because folks, there's really frankly, there's no such thing as film and tv training. You adapt your acting technique that will always be stage-based. Meaning, it's always going to be about voice. It's always going to be about your language. It's always going to be about your ability to break down a script. Write down be a text detective and then take the trip of that text. It's always going to be that for all time. It's always going to be that and then how do I adapt that to the camera right, by reading aloud every day...So, you will find that when you're in class here's a fun little anecdote Ray Liotta I was in a movie with Mr. Liotta and I got to coach him once before that and he got his representation from his acting class with Melanie Griffiths and you can see the two of them in a very fine film called Something Wild directed by Jonathan Demi who is sadly no longer with us. You know him as the director of The Silence Of The Lambs, Melvin and Howard great films both if you don't know them look them up, okay. How do I start auditioning for TV? Watch every show on television at least once. So, you know the tone of it. The tone of Glee is nothing like The Sopranos. The tone of Will and Grace is nothing like the tone of Breaking Bad, right? So, these are things in the actors control. Actors love to worry about things under which they have no control. You can control. You want to really feel like an actor and shatter imposter syndrome. How about if you read three plays a week? Understand storytelling. How do we learn storytelling by the great playwrights? Many of the great playwrights became the great screenwriters for film but they started in the theater. Clifford Odettes, Bertold Brecht, some pronounce him Brecht. They all learned this from playmaking because you know what you get in the theater folks that you don't get on? Like we've been having fun making these videos but every now and then the folks got to put their hand over their mouth because they want to laugh on film you can't laugh. So, when we're making the movie we don't know if it's funny or not, right? The crew didn't seem to find it very amusing I'm concerned, right? In the theater, you can tell they can laugh, they laugh. Oh, you begin to figure out structure. You begin to figure out how comedy works, etc. Thank you for coming today please subscribe below. Yep and right in the chat we read all of them.
The myth of getting discovered. You don't get discovered we just find out that you don't know what you're doing. So, you don't want to be found out. So, again, what's past is prologue? Write it down again. I know you've written it down before. Craft plus commitment equal confidence and career. How about this folks? Nobody casts you. You know what casts you? Your work. That's what gets you the job. Agents and managers get you appointments. But you're reflecting on them, right. When you book a job that reflects on the other clients that agent or manager has on their roster. You know when I talk to my casting friends about certain agents I would say, "Do you know this agency?", and she'll say things like, "They have some good people", or, "Do you know that agent?", "Oh, they have good people", so, it's tribal folks. When you feel really strong about your work agents and managers suddenly find you. Why? We're always transmitting and receiving. At this juncture in my life, I have met pretty much all of my heroes and it none of it makes any sense. Except, I love these people so much. They came in to my life including. Well, I won't even go there that's for another video you're gonna have to come back. Okay and when you begin auditioning folks. The word audition you need to go in the door as though it's the third or fourth day of shooting and you've already got the role. I find people under prepare and what you're not preparing for is the amount of excitement, excitement versus nervousness. When you're really prepared you're excited. When you're underprepared you're really nervous. Because you can hurt yourself. You're going to hurt your reputation. So, I really caution you, don't begin to audition until you're really ready. Do student films. Do films with your pals. When you audition there's only one first impression and that will never be erased, right. Zoom is a great gift folks. You do not have to move to New York or Los Angeles or Atlanta or London or Chicago. I've got you know major director pals who are casting their whole movies off of zoom and they might meet you for a final meeting but you got the first audition and the callbacks via a zoom audition. You get to be your own lighting designer. Your own director of photography. You get to be your own wardrobe person. You always could do that. Think about that. So, once again, please write down, my choice of material, my background, my lighting, my wardrobe, all speak before i open my mouth. Okay, come visit a free class on Saturday, click below.