HOLLYWOOD ACTOR PREP by Dana Kaminski

Seventy-What ? Television Pilots, All AFTRA?

Gee. The Acting world is sure changing. The actors union drama keeps on twisting and turning.

Keep up, if you can…I’ll do my best to post everything I can, and to make it as simplistic and succinct as possible. If you find SAG stuff that would be good to post, good for other actors to read and know about,  please do let me know. This actor unions-in-flux will majorly affect all actors’ futures.I, too, think it’s cumbersome to figure out, and keep up with. But, even if ignored, it does play out in every actors life. And the less actors are involved, the easier it is to be taken advantage of. To lose out on things that matter as life goes onward.

Even if you aren’t union, now. You will be. Anyway: The unions set precedent, and standards, for how all actors are treated; should be treated.

Especially now, that it seems like lots of industry (and surrounding) professionals are expected to work for free, not just actors anymore! Just this week, some of the critics at Variety were let go. (Variety says they can get freelancers for almost nothing to do same writing…Seem familiar?)

Hang on to your hats, actors. And your union, if you can…Even if you find it faulty, or too much about legal-mumbo-jumbo, to understand or to care about…

It’s there, just under the logo at the top, in case you have a hankering to check into the Actor Union News part of Hollywood Actor Prep every once in awhile.

Here’s a link to it  today, so that you can read about ”The Dire Situation”, as Anne-Marie Johnson wrote.  Click here: Hollywood Actor Prep Union News.

SAG's Anne-Marie Johnson

Best,

Dana

Marlon Brando, While Acting, And In Real Life Apparently Was:

“

Brando–Incorrigibly Candid

Even 30 years ago, long before tabloid TV and TMZ were a gleam in anyone’s eyes, Brando had a shrewd grasp of how celebrity journalism operated. As he tells Grobel: “I was very slow in realizing that money was the principle motivation in any interview. Not necessarily directly, but indirectly. We’re money-bound people and everything we do has to do with money, more or less. I am a commodity sitting here. You’re making money, your publisher’s making money, and I suppose, in some way, I’m making money. If money were not involved, you wouldn’t be sitting here asking me questions, because you wouldn’t be getting paid for it…. I’m paying a debt, so to speak. People look for the money questions, the money answers, and they wait for a little flex of gelt in the conversation.”

When Grobel argues that the public has a genuine interest in movie stars, Brando retorts: “You know perfectly well that you don’t interview out-of-work movie stars and people who can’t get a job. I just happen to be lucky and have had a couple of hits and some controversial pictures, but I was down the tubes not long ago.”

Grobel: “And no one’s wanted to interview you then?”

Brando: “You can see it on the faces of the air hostesses’ expressions, you can see it when you rent a car, you can see it when you walk into a restaurant. If you’ve made a hit movie, then you get the full thirty-two-teeth display in some places, and

…if you’ve faded, they say, ‘Are you still making movies?’

”

-From LA Times Blog: The Big Picture

Please share. Thank you.

Best,

Dana

Jason Reitman Did Write The Part For Actress Vera Farmiga, In ‘Up In The Air’

He also wrote the part for actress Anna Kendrick, that she played in the film; and Reitman wrote George Clooney’s role, specifically, with Clooney in mind, as well.

I heard this from the director’s mouth myself.  (I have a abundant notes from other things he said, and will put them in this blog or into Oscar Prep soon.)

As An Actor, There Can Be Indignities And Disrespect

It’s up to the actor to allow or disallow. It’s up to the actor to create, maintain, their own dignity.

Eleanor Roosevelt said: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

Actress Vera Farmiga, Talking About Acting-Respect…

Best,

;~ Dana

Please share, as it is the fee here at Hollywood Actor Prep.  Thank you. Karma back…

Kurt Sutter Tells It Like It Is. Everything. Including Why Creativity Doesn’t Pass Into TV Programming.

Sutter Created Sons Of Anarchy...My favorite show of this past Fall.

This interview was on KCRW, our local Santa Monica College station.

The specific show is The Business, and it is about the entertainment industry.

How’s this apply to Actors? What’s so great?

Lots.

I can’t stress enough, about how you really need to know about how the business works…Actors…before you jump in.

Do you want to know about the business, really? Why television, especially, is so difficult?  Sutter is absolutely succinct about how it works.

He happens to be a writer, and a funny one, too. At the same time that he’s the most accurate, and most blatant.

He’s also married to Katey Sagal, and you gotta love him for that.  He’s got a blog called SutterInk. Even though he tells-it-like-it-is, in the business that demands everyone to tell-it-like-it-isn’t…Sutter has survived, and thrived, and reads some juicy selections aloud, on this radio show I embedded here.

If you are an actor, and you have this idea that what TV executives are looking for is talent, is creativity…You should listen to this.

Illusions don’t produce prosperity, at all.

Knowing the facts, and the “lay of the land”, gives you the information you need, to be able to succeed. You can’t surmount hurdles that you don’t know exist.

(I know that is one of my big ‘themes’, but I can’t stress it enough…Especially, since I have been talking to actors on Twitter, and during my weekly, Sunday Brunch With Dana! Surprising amount of misconception going on…)

Enough with the heaviness, and lessons..Listen, and I hope you enjoy. I sure did.

Kurt Sutter is @sutterink on Twitter.

I am @__dana__ on Twitter.

Those are both links.

Here is a link to Kurt Sutter’s blog.

Here is a link to my other blog, called Hollywood Oscar Prep, or simply OSCARPREP.COM.

Would you kindly share this blog, Hollywood Actor Prep, to anyone and everyone you know?  …All you need to do is go up to the address bar, and copy the webaddress, paste in into an email to friends.  Or use post it on your Facebook page by using the “F” icon at the top of the post.

Thanks very much!

Dana

Actors, It’s The New Year, New Decade…

An Aside:

You think in ten years we will remember “streaming” and laugh?  (Like: “Oh we thought we were so cool using ‘Streaming’..! That’s like the dinosaur…!”)

My first Sunday Brunch of the New Year is right here, and I think, on this January 3, 2010–that we all are pretty cool. There’s nothing more hip, than artists evolving in their craft, and getting smarter about how to do so, and be able to share it with the world.

Undeniably…

Acting Elevates Others.

It’s huge.

So.

Today, we talk a bit about

A. time

–and–

B. focus.

In An Acting Career

Ten years seems like all the time in the world.

It’s either all the time to do it right, and succeed; get where you think  you should be. Actualize your talent and abilities.

Or.

It’s a lot of time to waste, and not get anywhere. You can spend a whole lot of energy, all the energy you have even, going nowhere.

“Barking up the wrong trees.”

Just like the barking dogs who are still, in my 3rd episode, splitting your Sunday-sensitive eardrums…

:::UPDATE::: I WILL BE EDITING THIS WITHIN THE WEEK–LISTEN NOW, OR CATCH HIGHLIGHTS LATER….EITHER WAY, READ WHAT’S IN RED JUST BELOW THIS, BECAUSE IT IS IMPORTANT!

Join my actor community on Twitter! Join Twitter here, click on this.  Or, if you are on Twitter already, click on my name here : @__dana___ (…which is also my Twitter name!)

A_N_D, if you really want to enter the Acting Business, and be a Professional Actor, then sign up right now for my workshop that starts next week…

Use the Contact Form. Or else you are going to miss out on the most important wisdom of your career.  Period. That’s a link, too.

My Best,

;~Dana

Let’s Start With My ProActor Workshop, May I?

Simply…

I realized that most people that offer actors classes, workshops, etc are really fakirs, posing as experts. Their information that they offer is often not correct.  Or not comprehensive.

(Too blunt? Well, look carefully. It’s just true.  You will see this a lot more clearly, after you become a professional.)

Or they are very creative with their imaginations, and great at social sites, marketing. They really don’t offer, nor can they, information that will educate any actor on how to become a professional actor.

I also realized (especially now that I am talking to so many actors online) just how much mystery and misconception is out there, at every acting level, about the acting profession. Most actors spend most of their career, some spend all of their career; on the wrong path, that will never lead them into The Industry. They never knew the way, but they thought they did.

I am talking about actors who get good training somewhere, maybe even college or grad school, or have a good coach! Still they don’t have a clue about what it specifically takes, to become a professional actor.  Sometimes, they are led astray by a self-designated expert.

Well, as you may know if you follow me on Twitter, or on this blog; especially if you have come to one of my weekly events:

• Streaming Sunday Brunch With Dana

..You may have had a glimpse into my encyclopedia of a brain, or my racer-rapid assessment skills.

Have I said that it will be live, interactive, streaming, and personal? In other words, I will look at your “look”, we will type your type,  your photos, your reel (if you have one. If not, you will learn how to get a great one, and it will be tailored to your strengths…) We will get everything and all that is essential, to professional level.

You will learn about getting an agent in the real world of acting, and about the different kinds, and different levels. You will be setting your sites on specific ones, the kind that can get you the real auditions.

I will tell you what personal and professional traits real successful working actors all have, and we will, together, work on those same skills and traits, for you to have.

I will tell you how to build your resume with the right kind of acting work, so that you will have a resume of professional level, and–sorry, but we will remove stuff too–the kind of items that I know are actually hindrances.  Red flags, that spell “amateur” to the real agents and the real casting directors.

We are going to “lay tracks” and define the path, that is a real working actor path. We are going to talk about time, and effort, and get very succinct, because time is precious. And it sometimes takes a lot of time to get to the goal, so if an actor wastes time on the wrong thing, or the wrong skills, or the wrong people; it can just wind up being too late, sometimes…Most of the time.

I will tell you how every aspect of the business works. For real. And you will leave this workshop savvy, and smart. Focused, and knowledgable.

We will work on your skills, your focus, your mindset, your individual plan. And much more,which I will not post publicly, for every other site to copy. (Once again.)

For the first time, I am offering my experiences,  my personal hard-knocks, observations, and assessment; from all my years on the inside, when I was a very successful working actress, and voiceover.  My experience as an acting teacher, and as an acting coach.

I didn’t have a relative in the business, I didn’t have any easy breaks. I made it. All within the same system that exists now, and with all the same kinds of hurdles. I know them well. I know how to surmount them.

WHY, NOWHERE ELSE, IS THERE A COMPREHENSIVE PROFESSIONAL ACTING WORKSHOP?

Why??

Because no one else has been a professional actor, and then came out the other side, and shared the information.

It’s that simple.

Here I am.

But I may not want to do this again, so catch it now.  And do I mean that.

There is so much info and you will be doing work, changing, morphing. It will change your life, and after this, you may be able to take on anything. Because acting careers are not easily made, not usually.

And, there are systems, methods, and secrets. Yes, there really are.

(And I learned them well, right at the Hollywood School Of Hard Knocks. It took years to earn my ‘diploma’…)

I will take only small groups, and try to group according to professional level and experience.

It will be supportive, it will be rigorous, it will be personal.  In other words, I will share my personal information, from all that I learned on the inside, and how to get there! And I will take each person, personally, and will get them up to snuff.

Are  you ready?

Sign up on the contact form, if you wish to be on the list for this workshop that starts in January. Eight weeks.

Get your funds ready, because…

As generous as I am…

It ain’t like this blog.

It’s extremely valuable information…Rare, unique, intense, exceptional, and very, very, valuable.

It’s not free.

♣

The One-On-One Acting Coaching With Dana, On The Internet …

Is also interactive, by way of Skype.

You can contact me by the clicking CONTACT –at the top of this page.

I can coach you on your career, check out your photos, prep you for an audition, critique a scene, even work on your technique.

For the one-on-one acting coaching, you pay for amount of my time-usage…So the choice is yours.

I am so happy to be starting the New Year getting some of you in full gear, for a real career. I am so psyched!

It’s the real deal, so you had better get yourself ready…

Best, As Ever,

;~Dana

Hollywood Shuddered Yesterday, Like An Earthquake, About Actor Brittany Murphy

Surviving, by professional acting in Hollywood, is hell.
Professional actress-ing is much harder.

It appears that Brittany Murphy died of natural causes yesterday. No matter what the maggots say as they feast on her flesh, with one eye on their Google page rank.

Hollywood eats actresses alive, as if they are absolutely entitled to.

Actresses eat themselves alive too. Never quite matching up. Get pecked from the outside, get pecked from the inside.

An actress’s shelf-life often ends before age 32. Or around that age. Anything older, and they fall into cougar status, if they have any apparent sexuality.
There also aren’t many auditions.

Auditions, at any age, are different for actresses than for actors.

In an eerie coincidence of timing, Saturday Night Live, recently, did a particularly mean skit on Brittany. (Which SNL pulled from Hulu, but I posted below.) Not because they portrayed her as a bimb, but because the inspiration for that sketch was that she had recently gotten fired from a film. I love comedy, and no, not much is sacred. But, even without her dying, the skit seems more woman-hating, actress-hating, than comedy. Cringeworthy personal attack, on Brittany Murphy.

Our industry is kookier than the early characters Murphy played well. We don’t want real actors in our female talent. We want goddesses. Goddess is a synonym for actress, isn’t it? We don’t even care if they are talented. Doesn’t matter, if they can act. Hollywood and, we as a culture, only demand that they are perfect.

Then, we shred ‘em.

Brittany Murphy was a child actress for whom natural talent didn’t seem to be enough.

To herself. Why should it seem to be? To a young girl? Or any woman in the industry? She wanted to be a goddess, and rightfully so. Her employers, the industry that she had already made great inroads in, (out of New Joizey!) doesn’t have a whole lot of reverence for actresses with talent. What else would a little girl want to be?

Beauty supersedes talent, when it comes to women, in front of the camera. Beauty trumps talent, beauty abolishes the need for talent, and frankly, there really aren’t too many roles for women with talent. In this era, gender may be considered equal, sex has never been.

In Hollywood, little girls are accepted, even welcomed, if they are funny. Or can do character work, with a charisma that Murphy showed in her earlier roles. As grown women, that’s a bit too much talent. A bit too much power. As is, talent altogether, in a female form. No, no, in our culture, we want our goddesses perfect looking; when they get to be of sexual age, and we actually prefer them to lose any thing else. It kind of spoils the high.

In Hollywood, in females, who needs talent?

An actress’s main role is to make sure the men in the audience get a lot zinged. We are all used to it. The women in the audience, are too, and so afterward, may talk about things, like, the outfits. And if the male they are with talks about how great so-and-so was, because she was nude, or sexy, or poledancing, or her ass, or just G-d-given beautiful…The woman conversing with him may join in the convo as if she is a male, in a certain way. Never do women say, yeah, she had a great body naked, but I wish someone up there was trying to zing me, while I was sitting in the audience too. Or yeah, she was gorgeous, but the man was far from anything to look at. (Which can be the case.)

It’s an impossible paradox, for an actress. We, the audience; we our culture; want them to be gorgeous and kind of a bimbo. She has the looks, while the male onscreen has the talent. Inwardly, we as women in our culture hate them for being beautiful. As do maybe the men, because the one that he truly has in his bed, could never be. (Not without the same stylists, anyway.)

We require our actresses to be bimbos, but we hate them for that too.

One reason might be that it’s the times. No one hated Marilyn Monroe for being out-to-lunch in the brain department. They didn’t even hate her for her other weaknesses, such as drugs; which is what everyone’s trying very hard to make sure that Brittany was doing. Or is it anorexia, and if so, why is that something to ridicule? Marilyn had eating disorders.

Why is everyone digging, anyway? And why do those in the press act like this information is a feather in their professional cap?

Why do we care?

This woman had a heart that died. Yet everyone wants to undress her, rip her open because they are sure that wasn’t the cause. Even after death. Especially after death.

I’ll be frank, I actually don’t know Brittany Murphy’s work well enough to know the extent of her acting talent. I do remember her in Clueless, and she did a outstanding job, turning from a dork-ish duckling into a real swan. In such an enjoyable, but light-level movie; she created a charismatic memorable role, remembered long after the acting of some of her charming co-starring Bratz-era teens, wasn’t.

She also survived longer. Acting.

There’s a few more ironies about that film, Clueless. The leading teenage “lady” was Alicia Silverstone. No one questioned, or attacked, Alicia Silverstone’s slender physique, during Clueless. Her weight changed at different times in her short, youthful career, didn’t it? And even though if you really look carefully, and forget the assigned type of roles; Brittany and Alicia are pretty equal in the pretty department.
But then, Brittany moved herself from not so pretty, secondary character role, to very done up, leading role. And managed to continue to succeed as a movie actress, flourished! Well, she had the absolute brass ring for awhile…Starring leading (beauty) role… Majorly successful musician boyfriend (Eminem), followed by handsome co-star actor (Ashton Kutcher). She had it all didn’t she, by achieving Hollywood romance, too!

Look, I am not sure about too much here. I didn’t follow her career carefully, so I only know the bits about it that I have read today. I don’t have any inside information about her specific suffering through the actor-hardship that is innate in the profession, nor her individually, specific, suffering that comes along when being of the gender she is. Or was, rather.

I don’t know if there is some secret other reason that she died, nor do I care. I am not as interested in getting “inside” Brittany Murphy’s life; I am much more interested as to why nearly everybody else is…Why her own husband, who very well could be interpreted as very lovely male version of “I’m Mrs Norman Maine”, and I say that because I think their relationship looks beautiful, from the photos I’ve seen. He,who romantically may have protected her; and given her the love and attention she must have so desperately needed when her career took a downswing…and the public seemed to follow along, swinging some big dukes.

I know nothing about them as a couple, but he looks to me like a big loving bodyguard. I think she needed that, and he seems to be doing that same thing, now. Loving and protecting her. Poor guy.

Vultures are circling him now, too.

It’s just obvious, and a bit appalling, that she was excoriated before she died, and it ain’t lightening up any. The need to ridicule her and “expose” her is fiercer than ever

What I mean, really, is that maybe we should let Brittany Murphy rest in peace.

And that the frenzy to discover, or create something sordid, or to violate her dead body, instead, we the public, we the media…we can just let go of.

I mean, her family asked for some privacy for awhile.

So why is the media going at her, like carnage? What did ever happen to respect for the deceased?

And while we’re on it…Whatever happened to respect for women?

I am not trying to claim that acting, or Hollywood, or misogyny, or a heavy dosage of all three…killed Brittany Murphy.

Nor that she died of a broken heart, as if that and a heart attack are one and the same thing.

But I do say that her death at such a seemingly young age, of natural causes, or any causes…was G-d awful.

In this distorted view, of which I apologize for in advance–I muse that perhaps, if Brittany Murphy was having such a difficult emotional time of it over the last few years, as I have been reading about so much, today….well…then just a bit of it might have been some “saving grace”.

To much of the world, 32 is very young. In Hollywood-Actress…

Shelf-Life, it is undeniably,”over the hill”. If her career was rough on her, and hard to take, before age 32, it was surely would only getting worse. The rest of her life would be ever increasingly disappoinitng. Maybe with increasing public ridicule, as it was on Saturday Night Live.

If it’s this ugly in death, the best we can hope for is that she isn’t conscious enough to be aware of the gleeful or self-serving blows.

Peace, Brittany Murphy, from a community of fellow actors…

.

To my blog follows…

During this holiday season, and all along your acting path, may light and love illuminate your way.

Dana

Please share this. Thank you.

Some Twitter comments:

Angelina Jolie Is The Biggest Movie Actor In The World

Forbes says “Angelina Jolie is the most powerful celebrity on the planet.”

Here’s a link to their video about it…they calculate the number of magazine covers, etc.

Whether You Call Her Actor Or Actress…

Forbes also says:

“Angelina Jolie’s fame  goes unchallenged, even by Oprah.”

–Wouldn’t the salary, the wages, the earnings, the numbers, challenge that assertion?

Ever hear the saying: The-numbers-don’t-lie…?

If that’s true, then…

–Interviewing, which is what Oprah does; is considered far more valuable, in our society, than acting.  (Or rather, was, she’s giving up her talk show.)

In other words, talking to actors is valued more; than the art-of-acting, itself.

Ms. Jolie Is  NOT The Highest Paid ACTOR In Hollywood.

Show-you-the-money:

“All told, the top 10 actors earned $393 million, compared with $183 million for the top 10 actresses.”

–Forbes

This math is the simplest.Don’t even need to carry the ‘1′ in this subtraction….

Angelina Jolie is The Highest Paid ACTRESS… Huh?

“

Jolie’s cinematic butt kicking made her the highest-paid actress on our annual Celebrity 100 list. Between June 2008 and June 2009, Jolie earned an estimated $27 million. Much of that came from her share of the profits on Wanted, but she also scored a fat upfront check for Salt, an action film…

To figure out earnings, [Forbes] talked to agents, managers, producers and lawyers to determine what the stars got as upfront pay on movies they are currently shooting, as well as back-end pay earned after a movie hit the theaters. We also looked at any money actresses might have earned through their perfume or clothing lines.

As is still typical for Hollywood, our actresses earned significantly less than their male counterparts...

″

If You Act, Professionally,  You Earn Bigger Actor Pay When You Have A “Male Member”

The Top Ten Male Actors earned,

two-hundred-and-ten-MILLION *more* dollars,

than The Top Ten Actresses

And the following veers from the scientific…

But I wonder…

…Is there something special about Brad Pitt’s member?

Because…

–The Two Actresses Heading The Forbes Top 10 Actress Earners List

Are:

#1 Actress Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt’s current mate  —–[$27 million]

#2 Actress Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt’s former mate—-[$25 million]

Perhaps it’s not his member, but just his Midas Touch?

But all the same, and just because he has one…..

[...a member, that is..of any special abilities, or not...]

Brad Pitt Earned More Money

…than either one of the two female acting talents, mentioned above.

BUT, on the  list of actor-earnings-by-gender, he comes in lower.

The NINTH Top Earning Male Actor In Hollywood is Brad Pitt… listed at earnings of $28 million,  this year.

So Who Is The Number ONE Male Actor On The List Of Top Earners?

Harrison Ford.

He got “back end” of the Indiana Jones movie, which means percentage of earnings.

Actor Harrison Ford earned 58-million-dollars, this year.

He doesn’t seem to  have “The Pitt- Midas Touch”.

Though, he does seem to have a very good agent.

Best,

;~Dana

Please share this with someone, an actor if you know one!  Thank you.

SAG Indie Was Created So That SAG Actors Can Work In Low-Budget Movies

And…So Independent Films Can Use Professional Actors.

Remember Melissa Leo’s acting nomination, at last year’s Oscars?  Frozen River was a SAG Indie film.  I’ve seen her in at least 3 indies, this year.  Big acting roles, and smaller ones.

Here’s a video with Tom Bower, an actor who has been active in SAG for years. I filmed him at the end of an event at AFI. Tom helped create SAG Indie, at SAG; and shares all about it.

Indie Filmmakers Can Download The SAG Contracts From SAG Indie’s Website

SAG tailored SAG Indie, specifically, to the needs and ease-of-utilization; for low-budget, novice, or smaller films.

SAG even has incentives for low-budget films that use SAG Indie contracts. They also have incentives when for casting diversified talent.

Here’s the website address to the SAG Indie site. http://www.sagindie.com.  Here is a direct link to their PDF contracts page which includes contracts for short films, ultra low-budget, modified low-budget,  low-budget, theatrical and film agreement, and the SAG Basic Agreement. There are monthly informational meetings, as well, to teach filmmakers, and actors, how to utilize the contracts.

It seems like a great thing.  If anyone has experiential information, or an opinion on SAG Indie, I welcome it.  Let me know…

Best,

;~Dana

This may be a useful post for actors and filmmakers that you know. Please remember that the “fee” is to pay this forward…That is, to share .Thank you very much.

“I’m Not Leaving Until You Cast Me As Queen Victoria”

That is what Producer Graham King told me, that Emily Blunt said to him that day. That’s how she got the lead role in the movie. It’s that simple. It was well-before any work got started on the film, altogether.

The Departed, the Oscar winning film that Mr. King also produced, was still in post-production.  King was busy at work, on that. He said he wasn’t even “thinking about it yet.”  [The Young Victoria]

Emily Blunt came into his office, at the location where the The Departed production offices were, at the time. “I’m here to play Queen Victoria and I’m not leaving until you give me the job.”

“I Love To Work With People With A Passion Like That.”

Says Graham King. “It’s not about the money. It’s about feeling it.”

They never auditioned anyone else for the part. It was Emily Blunt’s, at her insistence,  in his office  that day. “She really knows what she wants to do, and she goes and gets it.”

Early Backstory Of This Particular Film Is…

King had met with Sarah Ferguson in her office. She was serious about becoming a film producer, and she had approximately 50 scripts on her desk which she attempted to pitch to Mr. King, hoping that they would do business together.  When she brought up The Young Victoria, it  wasn’t yet a script; it was just a two-page treatment. King liked it, bypassing all the completed scripts; for this idea of the early days of Queen Victoria’s reign, and the love between this Queen, and her husband.

Sarah Ferguson offered to use her British royal relationships to assist the production, as it would be a smaller film, without a large budget.  At first, King thought they would probably shoot the picture in Poland or Czechoslavakia. But because of the Royal Fergie (not the musical Fergie who sings about her-hump-her-hump, BTW) …they were, eventually, able to shoot inside seventeen castles and palaces all over England. She was also able to get access to all the Monarchy’s historical files.

Julian Fellowes Wrote The Script. He’s An Englishman, Too.

The not-yet-hired-screenwriter contacted Graham King; with an insistence, as well. He told King that he was “Born to write this movie. I know all about Queen Victoria.” Queen Victoria’s reign had been a strong personal interest, a longtime hobby, of the already successful English screenwriter. He came to the project with a head full of factual knowledge.

Hiring the director,  Jean-Marc Vallée, for The Young Victoria was similar. It would only be the director’s second  movie. Additionally, he was French-Canadian. King remembers thinking: “The monarchy will really love that.”

The  Young Victoria Is A Love Story

Casting an actor to play the role of Prince Albert, was somewhat more difficult. The producers defined specific traits that they regarded as necessary, in the actor who was auditioning for the part of the Prince. Imperative, was for the two lead actors have a very special chemistry together. Emily Blunt read with those who were auditioning. They tested “twenty to thirty actors“, before giving the role to Rupert Friend.

The casting director was Susie Figgis. Besides Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend,  some supporting actors in The Young Victoria are Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent, Thomas Kretschmann, Mark Strong…A full cast-and-crew list can be found at IMDB, with links to each actors’ resume.

Actor Emily Blunt As 'The Young Victoria'

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A Big  Difference  Between The Outside World, Looking In On Acting; And The Inside World Of Acting…

I am often surprised about  perceptions from the outside.

Even when an actor is as well-regarded as Emile Hirsch (rightfully  so), skilled,  experienced,  and on the ‘industry-hot-lists’…Rarely, are acting roles as plentiful as a Las Vegas smorgasbord.

It’s just really not the nature  of the industry, not the nature of the beast.

Often, in media actor-interviews, there’s that ‘pick-and-choose-roles’ question… I’ve always found that kind of odd.

It’s not like Souplantation: Hey, I’ll try 3 radishes for the iron, some broccoli because  it’s good for me, soup because it’s comforting, and oh, pizza.  Dessert follows,think I’ll try my skills at the frozen yogurt machine…

Last night, at an Emmy party, I heard the actor, Robert Morse, speak–

—Loud and clear.

He was at the podium (full head of white hair), honoring the writers of Mad Men. He described his audition for that show, and the silly things he did. He said that when he got the phone call about winning the role, he cried.

That line got a good laugh.

You could probably find all the  actors in the audience right then. They might have been laughing the loudest.

As an actor, you  hope that you get a part, multiple parts; where you get to really use your best stuff.

You hope that there are roles, in which, you  really get to spread your wings. You wish for parts where you can explore your darker recesses, your craft limitations, different characters.

You  want to glow; blow out  your  own walls;  spread your  feathers like a peacock, fully, then add even more plumage, more iridescence; great material, abundant material; do different genres, different periods, different accents… Do auteur-films, and message films for social change…

I don’t think it’s, ever, a ‘roles-a-plenty’ smorgasbord. I’m not  sure there’s even enough ‘product’ being made.

Every acting job has an audition, a middle, and an end…

And, then, it’s time to get another acting job.  In every career  path, the amount of not-working time, adds up to a lot  in an actors’ life.

And, winning each job, is almost always a hurdle.

Unless, it’s not. There are rare times that it’s not. At all.  At those times, it’s just so easy, and  so wonderful. And, for a minute you wonder how it could have seemed  so  difficult, before. Then, that  minute  passes. For most  actors, those easy times, those moments, are the gleaming little gems along the memory path of a career.

Even when an actor achieves a certain  success level…and gets offered all kinds of roles…

There’s still ‘The Industry’ that has to grant you the work, there’s ‘The Industry’ which has to create the amount and kind of work, first. There’s access to that work, for an actor, or not.  There are career ebbs and flows; there’s trends, there’s type. There’s ability, and then the opportunity to even show that. Or not. There’s want; and there’s need; and there’s always competition.

Always, there is plain old fate.

A lot of it.

Influencing every actor’s career path…

“

Having done this big sort of potential blockbuster and then something more intimate, do you feel a sense of freedom when picking roles? Or is there by necessity a sense of strategy to your career if only so that you can do more different kinds of characters in the future?

Emile Hirsch: Sometimes I find myself scheming about my career and being a careerist and fancying myself a little game-player, right? But the reality is it never goes according to whatever scheme you could kind of hatch up because the way that business works and the way that the entertainment world works with movies is that they just come along randomly and spontaneously. It’s not like after Into the Wild I went, oh, I’ll make Speed Racer! Those movies just popped up all of a sudden and I was like, whoa! After Speed Racer, all of a sudden Milk popped up; I wasn’t like, oh, I need to do a cool supporting role. I wasn’t thinking anything like that. So thinking in terms of a careerist perspective is tempting and it’s kind of inevitable, to be honest, but very rarely does it actually follow through. Most of the time, you’re just going to follow a different path, because the very nature of what you do dictates that.”

[Gratitude for this, to Cinematical.]

These are all Emile Hirsch. In various acting roles.

Please remember: I’ll be live-tweeting from inside the 61st Emmys,  this Sunday September  20th.

My Twitter name  is  __dana__

I’d also appreciate if you would share Hollywood Actor Prep.  Thank you.

British Actors are doing something about the salary disparity between male actors and female actors.

England respects it’s actors, and the art of acting: in all areas, whether it be television, film or theatre.

The British give their actors titles!

Awarded by the Queen!  …Ever hear of “Dame” Judy Dench??

Female actors are speaking out about actors’ salaries being different.

Could that happen here??

On the Forbes site, I read that Harrison Ford made four times as much money, last year, than did America’s top female earner: Actress Angelina Jolie.

My first reaction was: Did Harrison Ford make any films this year?

Most importantly, he isn’t even this year’s “big buzz”.  He hasn’t been, for some time,  actually. Whereas, Angelina Jolie is the hottest female commodity.  And I do NOT mean in terms of her sexuality or even her appearance.

I mean, as far as actors go.  As far as business.  A commodity in those terms.

Apparently, she is the hottest acting commodity,  female  or male.

Actor Angelina Jolie is “The Biggest Celebrity On The Planet”

…According to Forbes Magazine.  [Who calculated this scientifically, and mathematically.]

By that logic,  she should have earned as much or more, than Harrison Ford. This year. In terms of business assessment, attributes. Wouldn’t ya think?

The numbers don’t add up, because Harrison Ford made his money off of the backend of another Indiana Jones movie.

But,  that still doesn’t change the pay differences,  by gender…

But,  go to my next post,  because Forbes has better comparisons, and I’ll show them there.

Overall, it is a solid  NOPE:

Women who act, professionally;  don’t make as much as men who act, professionally. No  matter what.

English Actor Zoe Wanamaker

From Britain’s newspaper “The Telegraph”

“Wanamaker, who stars in the popular BBC sitcom My Family, revealed she had to fight the Corporation for equal pay with her co-star Robert Lindsay and said women were ‘always at the bottom as far as pay is concerned.’

Her comments came after fellow actresses Imelda Staunton, Harriet Walter and Maxine Peake signed a petition earlier this year demanding better representation for women in drama on ITV, Channel 4 and the BBC.

They also follow accusations of sexism and ageism in the BBC after the corporation replaced the choreographer Arlene Phillips as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing with the much younger Alesha Dixon.

Wanamaker, who appeared alongside Simon Russell Beale in Much Ado About Nothing at the National Theatre last year, said agents and bookers should be “more careful” when negotiating deals for female performers.

‘Women are always at the bottom as far as pay is concerned – the equal pay business is a big struggle,’she told The Stage newspaper.

The BBC refused to comment on Wanamaker’s salary but said it was ‘absolutely committed’ to equal pay for female actresses.

A spokesman said: ‘We will not go into specifics on talent pay but we are absolutely committed to equality for men and women. There are many factors which determine artists’ salaries and which results in them being paid at varying levels. The BBC hugely values Zoë Wanamaker as an artist.’

It is not the first time Wanamaker has spoken out on the issue of pay. She accused the makers of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone of being ‘notoriously mean’ after appearing in the film as games mistress Madam Hooch in 2001.

The actress declined a deal to appear in three Harry Potter films because of the ‘terrible’ pay.

A recent petition demanding equal pay for women launched by Equity, the actors’ union, states that though ‘over half the viewing public is female, in TV drama, for every female character, there are two male characters’.

A survey conducted across 20 countries last year by unions representing nearly 80,000 performers found female actors get paid less than men and have fewer work opportunities.”

I will be reporting more about this, very soon…

Best,

Dana

This was in the LA Times, but I am reprinting it for you. Auspicious for actors? Good news for those that aren’t stars? Perhaps.

Instead of igniting the box office, this season’s star-studded flicks have dramatically underperformed. Hollywood’s most lucrative films mostly have been those with no-name actors.

By Claudia Eller

The stars are not twinkling bright this summer.

Hollywood’s movie studios, hopeful that marquee-name actors would push their summer box-office receipts to record levels, are finding that the heavyweights aren’t winning over audiences like they used to. With all but a couple of big-budget films already opened, the summer of 2009 is shaping up to be one of the worst on record for Hollywood’s A-list talent.

The studios stocked this summer’s release schedule with so-called star vehicles, including “Land of the Lost” with Will Ferrell, “Year One” featuring Jack Black, the comedy “Imagine That” with Eddie Murphy, and Denzel Washington and John Travolta in a remake of “The Taking of Pelham 123.” But rather than igniting ticket sales, the star-studded movies have dramatically underperformed.

The brightest stars of the lucrative popcorn season — which typically accounts for about 40% of annual ticket sales — instead have turned out to be mostly movies with no-name actors — or no actors at all on screen.

And, [one of ] the highest-grossing summer movie so far? Walt Disney’s Co.’s “Up,” the Pixar-animated movie starring the voice of . . . Ed Asner.
The studios, which for years have banked on richly paid stars to open their movies, are now witnessing a new reality: even the most reliable actors can be trumped by what Hollywood executives like to call “high concepts” (a bachelor party gone awry), movies based on brand-name products (Hasbro’s Transformers toys), and reinvented franchises (not your father’s “Star Trek”).

“I think we’re seeing a transformation in what the value of the star system represents,” said Marc Shmuger, chairman of Universal Pictures, which will take a significant loss on Ferrell’s “Land of the Lost,” which cost $100 million to make and tens of millions more to market and distribute. There’s also an “incredible hunger among audiences for something new and different,” he said.

Even before a major movie hits the big screen, Twitter users and bloggers are weighing in — which can help or hinder a studio opening a movie.

“The world has changed, throwing conventional wisdom out the window,” said former studio marketing executive Peter Sealey. “The star-power opening is fading in importance and the marketing and releasing of movies is going into new territory where the masses are molding the opinion of a movie. People no longer say, ‘It’s a Tom Cruise movie, let’s go see it!’ With social networking, you know everything about a movie before it comes out.”

Doug Belgrad, production president of Sony Pictures Entertainment, whose studio is behind “Year One” and “Pelham,” said stars alone no longer can compete against the draw of franchise movies and sequels like “Transformers” and “Harry Potter” that come with a high degree of public awareness.

“Movie stars in the right films provide a certain amount of value from a marketing point of view,” he said. “But there is no star power that you can throw at a movie that gives you the kind of brand awareness you get from pre-sold titles.”

This summer’s woes come at a time when studios are already battling the climbing cost of making and marketing movies as well as a decline in DVD sales, which have long supported the economics of the film business.

Of course, the right star in the right movie can still lure large audiences, as evidenced by 20th Century Fox’s Ben Stiller sequel “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” in which Hugh Jackman helped attract female moviegoers.

“The Proposal,” Disney’s romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, had a strong opening less than two weeks ago at more than $33 million and will be profitable since it cost only about $40 million.

“There’s something to be said for chemistry between actors, and you don’t need to be a star to have chemistry,” said Oren Aviv, Disney’s production president, suggesting that is exactly what the casts of “Proposal,” “Star Trek” and “Hangover” all have in common — “combined with an idea that people connect with.”

But for the most part, audiences aren’t connecting with the stars this summer. Although it may be too early to know whether the weak reception will prompt the studios to rely less heavily on high-cost actors in big-budget movies as a linchpin of their summer strategy, some executives acknowledge they are reevaluating old nostrums.

“The star system was created from movies in the past,” said Universal’s Shmuger. “And clearly, we have to look forward and be aware of the shifts around us. We’re seeing the supremacy of a great idea and concept well told in a fresh way — of course that will inform our thinking.”

Best

Dana

Please post my blog on your Facebook page, and tell you actor friends about Hollywood Actor Prep. Thank you.

…And, follow me on Twitter if you tweet. There’s a lot of actors there…

I thought that I would be able to blog throughout the LAFF, I do apologize.
…Just isn’t time.

I have quite a few informative posts, nearly ready to pub online; so next week should be a good time to look at Hollywood Actor Prep often. That’s a heads up.

For actors, the problems remain the same. I don’t forget this; as I watch more movies that I ever realized are made, each year. As I attend party after party, even with VIP access, or press advantages.

The different professional levels of actors create lives that are so extremely different: in earnings, in lifestyle, in objective regard from the world.

The three or four different categories of professional acting are so radically different; the general life experiences of them are planets apart.

Example:
I saw ‘Public Enemies’ last night and went to the after-party. I was downstairs, and I was upstairs. The downstairs area was enormous, and packed. The upstairs had a VIP
section, and a red rope that separated it from the Very-VIP section. I some spent time in all of them. [I can write about the party later.]

As I was about to leave, at the end of the evening…I saw a young guy, downstairs, who I met outside the actors panel last Sunday. I’ve met quite a few people, and he’s one I happen to bump into a bit more, here at the LA Film Fest.

Obviously, he had somehow wrangled his way into the party at the end. The security must’ve slackened a bit, because it was extremely tight on party-entry, and throughout.

This guy is handsome; a bit of a tinge of his own funky style. He seems bright. He’s been doggedly attending all the high level stuff, as far as intelligent offerings of the film fest.

He was resourceful enough to somehow get into the party. He and Johnny Depp, if placed side-by-side, would look like friends. Related, maybe.

More related, or connected, than anyone that I saw surrounding Johnny Depp upstairs. All the agents, and studio people, PR…

[Listen, I'm late, and I've got to get to a discussion group at the LAFF Lounge.]

Point is, real actors are a rare breed. And the contribution that actors make, and have always made, to our culture, and to every culture, every damn society…is just vital.

The art of acting, is immeasurable in terms of any value basis that we have.

And to those of us who are lucky enough to be actors; we experience an evolution of our own art form, inside ourselves that is so damn beautiful… That I do feel sorry that others don’t know that beauty inside, if they aren’t born to do it.

[I'm sure I'll edit this later. I am so pressed for time.]

To Johnny, your artistry and it’s ever-evolving, makes us all proud of the fact that we are artists. And it raises the bar. Often.

It keeps the art an art, in a business that would take it either way, and would easily distort or bastardize it. (And sometimes does. It can’t touch yours though.)

And to the other guy, in the specialness all your own, you probably will not read this, as I haven’t mentioned this blog. You don’t know this either: I am committed to making a diff in your life. And other actors like you.

Entry into the acting business remains too difficult; impossible actually, for the majority of beautifully talented people, passionate about their art form– of acting.

The professional actor, of low or middle range, thriving with talent, skill, and ability; has a tough time surviving in livlihood. Their families too.

I’ve said this before and I repeat again: Acting is a beautiful thing. An actor is a virtuous profession. It’s a valuable profession.

My mission is to make things better for actors, somehow, someway. We’ve got to get our society to jibe the respect for the profession. To support the profession, with respect, at all levels.

And we really need to create a way, for all the talent that can’t, to easily get in.

Best,
:~Dana

Please pass this respect around…

Actors, Generally, Hate Taxes

It’s not just the paying-money aspect, it’s the tedium…

It’s a different part of the brain, acting and record keeping, numbers. Personally, the thought of doing that kind of task gives me real chills. It’s like chalk on a blackboard; can’t stand the idea of it, let alone do it! But, we all have to.

I have some tips for ways to make it easier on actors. I’ll put that down at the bottom of the post.  First, I’ll put the itemized deductions allowed, and some dangerous areas to avoid.

IRS and Deadly Audits

Why is getting audited so bad?

Well, I know an actress-friend who got audited one year, for declaring too many deductions, or ones from the “red-flag” area… She’s such an organized person, and had kept meticulous records.  But once audited, she was filling out and writing down for weeks, it seemed, and looking for receipts from other people even!  (That’s how I found out about her audit: she was calling everyone she knew asking if they happened to have a blank date book from the prior year! And restaurant receipts that they don’t need! She was trying to avoid a very big bill and additional penalties from the IRS.  Also, she had to hire someone to go with her and defend her at the audit; and they made her come back, with more evidence that they requested.

Subsequently, year after year, she got audited again and again.  She was certain she was on a kind of IRS list…

So if you dread doing taxes and think they are bad now, it is an absolute nightmare to be audited.

There are some myths, and some ‘good’ deductions. (Meaning that the IRS doesn’t give them a second look.)

Then there are those that call attention to you, and you can get by with deducting them, if done correctly. It’s up to you to take the chance.  Most likely, when you really see how much your deductions amount to in this area…that amount that you will save or get returned, probably isn’t worth risking an audit.

Actors Allowable Deductions, and The Particulars of Certain Ones

Click here for a list. But, know these few things:

Absolute yes, total amounts, are all agent and manager fees. Rentals of studios. Supplies such as headshots, postcards, postage for mailings of them, reels, etc.

But, overall, if something seems like a deduction that is too good to be true, it is. I suggest that it is best NOT to take those types as deductions.  The IRS isn’t new to actors-doing-taxes, even if you are.

Clothes, as far as tailoring, and drycleaning; are deductions.  Buying clothes, not.

When I first started, I was told there was a category called “Beauty and Glamour Deductions”. NOT.

Absolute NO’s, Except In Special Circumstances:

Makeup, unless you hired a makeup artist for your headshots, or unless it is stage makeup and cannot be worn in the street.  (Example: Blasco.) Even then, don’t overdo.  Minimal expense, because declaring makeup is a “red flag”. Don’t even consider deducting hair gels, hair brushes, etc.

Certainly not mani-pedicures.  Not even haircuts or haircoloring.  That can only be in very special instances, such as for a character role that  you are hired for, and you can try to get away with it once for an audition that you changed your color for, but–uh why?  I think  it’s loopy to change your color for an audition, anyway.  And it can’t save you that much, in exchange for red-flagging yourself.)

Costumes. No: jeans that you pay $250 for and claim to wear only to auditions are not allowable. No regular-wear clothes are, altogether. Not even your business suit that you really don’t need nor wear, except for auditions, in truth. The IRS doesn’t care.  Clothes that are truly costumes do count, such as doctor scrubs, period clothing…

Gas mileage deducting is like saying “Hey Target me, IRS”.  Unless you want to keep records everyday, for an entire year.  That means you must check your mileage at the start of the year, and every time you do something for business, you need to write down the mileage.  You can’t go anywhere else, from that specific trip you are declaring,  because if you do, you need to make sure you don’t include that too. Now, this isn’t regular record-keeping, as I suggest below, which should take almost no-time, daily, at home.  This is record-keeping from the car; and it involves lots more records; and regular, specific details.

A group called ‘Actors Tax Prep’ thinks that it is a good idea, if you can keep the records.  Especially, in Los Angeles, because actors cover a lot of ground and use a lot of gas.  It appears to be almost fifty cents per mile that you can take off.  (I think they think it’s a good idea, because they are accountants.)

Here’s an excerpt from what they say.  (I, myself,  could never do this. For a few years I made a New Year’s Resolution that I would, and then I had a few auditions where I was obsessing about them on the way  home, and neglected to write them down and look at the mileage.  Gave up everytime, and then simply let myself off the hook. That doesn’t mean you can’t. I guess…)

For most actors, especially those based in LA, your car is a major source of expense and at the same time, a major source of tax deductions.

To qualify your mileage as a deduction, you MUST have good records. We have found, in almost every case, that the Mileage Method of determining your deduction works best.

You don’t have to have receipts for automotive expenditures, but you do have to have–you guessed it–good records.

This means keeping a mileage log–and although it’s a pain, it will dramatically increase your possible deduction, because you won’t overlook miles driven for business–and you will have all necessary records if required to produce them.

Let’s start with what is not deductible–commuting miles and personal miles. So driving back and forth to your day job is not deductible–but going from you day job to an audition is. So is almost any trip you take to get work. That includes auditions, call-backs, casting visits, trips to acting classes, to agents and managers, to the post office to mail submissions, etc., etc.

At this year’s rate of $0.485 a mile, that adds up quickly.

You will also need to know total mileage for the year. Make an odometer note in early January, and another in late December, or find a mechanic’s receipt that lists mileage from those two times.

Mileage is an important component of any actors deductions, and especially so in an area of such wide geography as LA.

 

Entertainment expenses count as another big “red flag”. If you think you can have a glamorous nightlife, on the IRS’s dime, then you’re high right now. You can take off taking out your agent, to lunch. (But if you are a worthy client, your agent will take you, and the agency will reimbuse him or her. I don’t remember a time where an agent ever let me pay.)

Maybe you have a manager, and you haven’t made money for them yet, and you want to keep up the relationship and/or talk about how you can play a certain type that he may not be aware of, or you just haven’t gotten any appointments, or similar.  You offer to take them out to lunch or dinner.  That is deductible, but only half. You can deduct 50% of the bill, not the entire bill. If you go overboard, you will get audited.

The Fifty-Percent Allowed Rule

• Entertainment Expenses
• Cable and Satellite Television
• Movie and Theatre-going expenses

As a matter of fact, your deductions, in total,  shouldn’t be more than 50% of your total income. 

Receipts and Ledgers, A Quickie Lesson For Actors

It’s fairly easy to keep all that  you need, and to even do it in an organized fashion that can save you the end-of-year time and dread:

Go out to Staples and buy a box of white letter envelopes, in business size. (That’s just longer than a regular size). Keep them in the box. Label each envelope with a deduction item. Put a notebook in the box also, to denote each receipt that you put in the envelopes, as  you file them. And the reason for such. 

You will be doing this everyday that you have done an activity that involves an itemized deduction. When you come home at the end of the day, every day, you will put your receipts directly in their particular envelope. You will then write in the ledger the date, the deduction category, what it was for, etc.

Keep your receipts and a notebook of any kind, all together, in an easily-accessible  place in your home.  (Very easily accessible, I mean.  Because if you can’t get right to it, then you will put it off…)

Keep a ziplock in your bag or backpack, if you can, with some post-its.  That is, unless you have room to write them down, and you carry them in your datebook. If you don’t carry a bag or book everywhere you go, after work hours, then keep a designated pocket just for this stuff… It’s important that nothing gets lost; so if you forget one day, or sleep at your new love-interest’s , etc, you will be able to still come home and easily locate the receipt, and the post-it will remind you what it’s for, in case falling in love just obliterated your memory of everything else…etc.

The consistency and discipline of regular record keeping, was what I found the most challenging.  Actors lives are not routine, yet this is a routine that is required.  Every year, I found myself separating into bitty little piles that became big piles, and then toppled over into other piles. And every calculator total seemed to vary upon second add-up, of piles. Meticulously, I would do it again, and again.  It would take days, weeks. Stupidly, I would apply for “extensions”, which only meant more dread. Later dread.

But, I saw a friend do it, successfully, every year, with no dread. And tax time was a breeze for her. She just added up one envelope at a time, wrote it on her tax form, and on the outside of the envelope, and sealed them. Then sealed her tax forms in the main envelope, and she was done.

Look at it this way…when you get to be very successful, you can hand over all your receipts to a business manager, and they will do all this tedium for you.

…(Frankly, I don’t suggest that either.)

Best, 
;~Dana