Acting Advice From A Professional Me

OK folks, it’s time to roll up our sleeves Baranovsky-style and get down to business… ACTING BUSINESS. You see, Yuri’s inspired me with the way he’s trying to share his knowledge of writing with the rest of the world and not hoard all of the talent for himself. I though I’d do a little of the same with acting, especially since it’s the giving season. You know, Gift Of The Magi, etc?

So I’m not a writer… yet! These tips may not be organized or even, for that matter, intelligible. I’ll try to get them out as coherently as possible and then let you, dear reader, get to the hard work of organizing it.

Know Your Lines

Yeah, this is really almost the only one you need for the most part. I should say, this is the minimum: if you don’t know your lines then you’re pretty much not even doing your job. That’s kind of all an actor really does, right? Talk? So yeah, know your damn lines when you show up (to the shoot, audition, what have you) or at least have the ability to know them really fast.

Don’t Be An Asshole

Seriously dude, dial it down. Yes, you’re young and attractive. Yes, people pay you to simply be young and attractive. Yes, you actually showed up knowing your lines.

You know what, scratch that. Assholes don’t generally show up knowing their lines. Ergo, if you take the time and consideration to learn your lines before walking on set, you are probably not an asshole. So assholes out there, find that place inside you that makes you want to know your lines when you walk in the door.

Shut The Hell Up

Nobody cares, dig? I think it’s great that you were on Nash Bridges and now you’ve been on Trauma. I’m really thrilled that you were on America’s Most Wanted and worked with that guy who was on that other show that one time but you can’t remember his name but I’d know him if I saw him. Actually, seriously, nobody in this room cares, even the guy you’re talking to right now. You know how I know that? Because that guy that you’re talking to is just waiting his turn so that he can vomit his resume all over YOU. If you actually have something interesting to talk about that has nothing to do with acting then I’m all ears, but you know what? Talk about it quietly because there are people here trying to get some work done, this is a casting director’s office after all.

Sub-Corollary To Above: Don’t Talk About Acting

People like doing business with people they like. People that aren’t actors don’t want to hear you talk about acting, and if you read the above paragraph carefully you may have noticed that people who ARE actors don’t want to hear you talk about acting either. They want to hear THEMSELVES talk about acting. So just read a book that isn’t a biography of some famous dead actor and come prepared to talk about that.

Watch A Lot Of Movies And TV

Shut up, I don’t want to hear how you “haven’t had cable for years” and you “don’t miss it one bit”. You’re an actor, unless you have a live closed-circuit feed from the Globe Theatre or Broadway in your home, you are NOT watching enough good acting by running around seeing regional theatre five nights a week. If you can afford to go to the movies every night, that’s terrific, but you probably can’t and wouldn’t want to anyway. That leaves TV, sorry, but it’s just the truth. And if you’d stop kissing your own ass for being a TV snob long enough you’d see there’s a lot of great storytelling going on all over television, but guess what? Most of it’s not on broadcast, which means you need cable. Or a fast Internet connection, or a Netflix account, whatever it takes. Just watch TV, it’s really where all the action is whether you like it or not.

There’s another reason to watch TV: despite what I say below about commercial auditions, every casting director for TV wants to cast someone that just fits right into what they’re looking for in the role. That means that you speak and deliver your lines in a way that fits with how everyone else on the show speaks and delivers their lines. It doesn’t dictate your delivery or your character or your acting choices within the scene, but it does dictate to some extent your overall tone of delivery.

Don’t believe me? Watch an episode of Law and Order, watch an episode of Mad Men, then come back here to apologize and tell me that I’m right.

“They” Have No Idea What They’re Looking For

I’m a ridiculously firm believer in this. When you go to an audition you will frequently get some idea what they are looking for in the character.

We’re talking commercial/paid work here, not film/TV/Indie, those guys really DO know what they’re looking for and wouldn’t call you in unless they thought you looked like THAT.

Anyway, not only should you not try to guess what they’re looking for and be that, you shouldn’t even listen to what they SAY they’re looking for and be that. Because you know what? You’re not a “Jim Carrey type”, or a “Steve Carell from The Office” type, or whatever comedic style all the ad agencies are imitating these days. You’re just… you. You bring something to every role that no other actor anywhere on the entire planet has the ability to do, and that’s by being yourself.

Now obviously you’re going to be someone else too, but this is where actual acting training and workshops and practice comes in. Figuring out how YOU can say those lines in a way that’s real for YOU. Not by trying to transform yourself into somebody else, which is actually impossible. Transport yourself in your mind to some alternate dimension where you, yourself, say those lines for a real reason. It’s much easier that way. Read Mamet’s True and False, it’s a handbook for this sort of thing.

Summary

So I think we’ve covered a lot of ground here. I can’t get too much deeper into a lot of stuff without it becoming some sort of blog-based actors workshop, but you have the basic ground rules covered with this post.

  • Shut Up
  • Know Your Lines
  • Don’t Be An Asshole
  • Watch TV
  • Be Yourself

Questions, comments, hit it.

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