HOLLYWOOD ACTOR PREP by Dana Kaminski

SAG Actors were picketing, and so were members of other  industry unions…

Ed Asner, David McClennon, and other recognizable actors were there.  As were the networks and journalists, reporting for the media.

And, other unions! IATSE, most notably, which is the cinematographer and cameraman’s union.  (Their own AMPTP-offered contract isn’t looking so good, either.  Unlike AFTRA, they’ve noticed…)

 

Actors In New Media

Why was this Actor Rally held at 20th Century Fox, in Los Angeles? Because Rupert Murdoch owns Fox, and Hulu. Murdoch’s head guy, who runs Fox, is Peter Chernin.  Peter Chernin recently made an announcement that the Fox TV network, will no longer show re-runs. That means that  actors will not get residuals for shows that they had appeared in.

Why  is that so important?  Well, big reason.  Mr. Chernin bought Hulu for Mr. Rupert’s organization. Hulu is on the internet.  All the Fox shows, and others, will be re-run on Hulu.  Hulu pays nothing to actors.  Hulu has advertising.  Whatever money Hulu makes on these shows that they air, actors get nothing from that.  Nothing, no part of profit, no payment, for performing in these shows.  Hulu can replay television shows numerous times, and collect advertising dollars.  And keep it all.

 

Knowledge vs. Fear and Lack of Information

Do you notice the ’sea-change’?  Finally, the AMPTP Final Offer Contract, and the facts about it, are beginning to be realized.  In the public, throughout the rest of the industry, in the press…and throughout SAG itself.  The ugliness of the AMPTP contract terms, either ignored by the press, or obfuscated, by all the coverage of the SAG drama. Even by power-tripping within the ranks of SAG, including within it’s Board.  Some crazy backstabbing and underhandedness there, too. 

Facts are facts. Numbers are numbers.  Conditions are conditions.

The Studios are looking awfully greedy, and by all appearances, seem to be intentionally squeezing the Actors, so badly…  and radically, out of sync with the nature and conscience of our times.  As individuals, and for their companies, the studio heads and producers of the AMPTP, make a righteous play in the media about how they “give back” and may be even “green”. But  the truth is, they are exploiting actors, notably, with the contract. 

Bulldozing the arts, bulldozing an entire artistic profession, from middle-class on down.  Taking advantage of the public’s lack of knowledge, and lack of tech. That’s right, technology and the internet.

 

‘The Bad Contract’ terms are also ‘Re-runs’

The “bad terms” started to come to light, when the SAG board, even with the new mediator: rejected their contract offer. (From the Film Studios and Producers Union: The AMPTP.) The truth is winning out: and this truth is, that the terms are backwards (from a whole other era, from a long ago time period) and those terms weren’t good enough, even in an economic era of the past! That’s why those terms were improved, way back when! Way back then!

To go back to that pre-1960 way of paying actors, (pre-inflation, and economy changes)…what would you call that kind of offer? That type of “take it or leave it”…?  

The Fox Rally wasn’t over the AMPTP Contract, even though Peter Chernin has been very involved with that whole part, too. This Actor Rally, though, was specifically at Fox, because a ‘related deed’ is already done.  No more reruns, no residuals for actors, at Fox.  Currently and in the future.  

The shows will be re-run, yes; but only so Rupert Murdoch, and his companies can pocket all the money. Plain language.

 

The Wild Bunch Of Hollywood

There is a group that shows up, reliably, at every SAG Rally, called the Wild Bunch of Hollywood.  Special shout-out to that special stunt and character actor group, who really care;  and because they show up, rain or shine, they are strong contributors to positive change for all actors, altogether.  Thank you, Wild Bunch of Hollywood, for being in-the-know, involved…and for being so brave.  (Know this: I’ll be producing soon, and you bet… and I will not forget you, when hiring.)

Keep your faith and stay strong,

:Dana

Share this please to inform your actor-friends and the public.  Knowledge and solidarity, is power.  Email, or post on your Facebook page, by  using the “Share/Save” below.

But. I do specifically remember telling you all a few important things; at least I felt they were important enough to share:

It’s the first time in history that actors can make their own product, and post it up for all the world to see.

What makes that doubly great, for actors, is that: no longer is whether you work or not dependent upon you sitting for years by the phone until you get an invitation/approval from the outside, to do your thing (that you love to do).  Or even get a break.

BUT, too, it’s that you don’t have to spend years and years wishing and hoping that you will stumble into just the right cookie-cutter audition which is for a part that is absolutely ideal in showing off your talent and special-ness of abilities, and, relying on prayer alone, to help you actually book the job, and then if ya do, that people will come to see it (or somehow watch it)…Especially those in the business…specifically: those who can either represent you  and are willing to…or are producers/casting directors/directors, etc. that can see you have something that they would want to hire for their next project.

It’s not only odds, that I am talking about, it’s sense + wisdom, it’s taking action + responsibility for your own career.

It’s the ability, and the getting-off-your-butt too…to start your own momentum of your career.

Did I tell you that when I was breaking my own humps to get, even, a foot-in-the-door-in-this-business, that we:

Didn’t have anything like this?  (That’s right, this is the “walked 5 miles to school everyday, even in the snow” talk, and the “very little good  cable TV shows to keep us busy” speech…)

Ha-a-ad to try and stay by the phone and would not allow ourselves to leave , which meant inside a teeny apartment, because there weren’t cell phones to take with us, outside, OKAY??

(I feel just like an I-told-you-so-type-of-mother, right now…because the veins are sticking out on my neck, which for our purposes, buddy, is a very emphatic way of typing…)

No.

We would never have imagined that there would be a way for us, actors, to someday overcome one of the hardest hurdles of all, that most actors never break through…that is,  to be able to show what you do and market  it out there.

Not only to be able to act in something, to make it, and to create it however you want, to show your acting abilities in the best light possible (as well as your other attributes…damn, c’mon!)

Simply,  to have something to show.

We had nothing to show. Nothing. And no ability to make something. Not really. Nothing like now.

And, may I say, if you don’t have something that showcases you, in some easily view-able way, that  you get right down to doing that.  (And a good one, at that.) Because if  you are waiting for the perfect part to smack into you, as you sit on  your couch…

I know. There is a lot to do.  I do know that.

There’s a lot of stuff to do to prepare for a professional career in acting, and to get yourself ready.

Look, I don’t even say: “Do everything all at once.” No, I don’t.  

It’s a building  up, of one step at a time.

But… if you are going around doing measly auditions that aren’t really going to highlight you and that no one is going to come to, or uccch, not even hire you for;  or you’re spending all your time doing extra work, or worse: paying dues at the  unions and barely making rent and not getting any decent auditions…Don’t.

Prioritize, to maximize, the priorities, first.

(Sort-by-leverage.)

And, today…

Get started on getting some projects made.  Take “initiative” and begin the process. Gather a team, if you need to…a writer friend, a camera-holding friend etc.

Look, I’m not your mother, and aren’t we both glad??  

So, let’s get a moment of grounding here, shall we?

And…(*legal* caveat) this is all just an opinion and should never be assumed as any guarantee or even a promise of success…I mean, what do I know? 

OK, I’ll tell ya what I know…I know that every actor I started out with, probably,  would have killed to be born 10, 15, 20 years later, if they knew that actors would be able to make their own stuff, and broadcast it to the  world.

…And, that there would’ve been some kind of anyone-can-put-it-up-thing, called YouTube…

And, I’ll tell ya one more thing, bud, and this is the last thing I am going to say–

Let this be the last time that you let the kids from up the block, who don’t even have a smidgeon of the talent or passion that you were born with, show us up, again.  Understand??

Have a glimpse of this to see what I’m talking about:

WARNING-NOT FOR THOSE UNDER 18

It  contains, what some consider, offensive language.  If you are under 18, don’t watch.  (This is a family-usable site!)

 

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Now … all my readers…ESPECIALLY ACTORS…

 

There are rules on a film set that everyone follows. For good reason.

I am not sure why the Director-of-Photography  was doing what he was, when he was; on the film set where Christian Bale had such a spectacular meltdown.  

Because, for anyone who has ever worked on a film, uh.  What the DP did is just not common, on-the-set, behavior.  As established, and carried out, on any movie or television set, that I’ve ever been.

….For  more  about common on-set rules and ettiquette, go to the following Hollywood Actor Prep post, The Best Way An Actor Can Act…(link)….

Now.  I know that Christian Bale’s rant is being passed around the globe; and everyone and their mama, is commenting, and judging.

I will only say that if you don’t know the rules and ettiquette that are followed on a film set, then it is good that you read this blog.

Because I have talked about it here, and will continue to post about it.

It’s very important, because these unspoken rules are followed by all professionals…

 

There are good reasons for the (unspoken) “film set rules”.

If you break them, it’s not bad  because you may cause a leading man to curse you out.

No.

The “rules of a film set” exist so that the movie can get made. Period.

And, so that everybody can do their job. And do it well.  Without  interference, distraction, or interruption.

 

Often, there’s a tremendous amount of pressure and stress on a movie set.

Expect, for example, long hours (sometimes 16 or 17 hour days)

• tight schedule
• technical glitches and problems 
• environmental problems
• re-shoots and mistakes
• health issues that interfere or compromise
• script changes
• budget problems
• unexpected, unexpected, unexpected (zillions of possibilities)

There’s stuff that the public can’t understand. And, you will only know about it, when you work and experience it. 

 

Sometimes, working on a film, is back-breaking-ly-hard.

For example, for scenes that are shot at night: the whole schedule gets suddenly changed.  Flipped. You may work that week, each and every night, from 5PM to 5AM. This happens when the prior week was all-day-shooting. With overtime.

Movie schedules, in general, are exhausting.  No matter what the budget.  There are often problems with “fitting everything in” to the time allotted.

You’ve heard the phrase: “Time is money”??   Well, time, on a film set, it costs a fortune.

…So, let’s just say that you are suddenly doing night shooting, after some time of  working a daytime schedule.  

(BTW, everyone on the set, is struggling through this flipped around schedule.)

And then, all together, you all…”go into overtime”.  (Yes, thanks to SAG, everyone gets paid more for the “overtime…but, that doesn’t help the strain, at the time)

As the hours go by, it gets more and more exhausting.
Now, you are working 17 hour nights, shooting until, past dawn…
And, perhaps, during the daytime, you have a hard time getting a full eight hours of sleep…

Maybe this night shoot is outdoors,  and it’s freezing cold.  But, in the scene, it’s not supposed to be…so there’s no jackets.
Or it’s really humid and hot, and the mosquitoes are biting at your ankle,  in the middle of your love scene.

Or your co-star may be drunk.  Or keeps changing the lines and, therefore, changing the scenes…

 

“Film Is Forever”***

This is one of the most important things I can share with you.

No matter how you feel or what is going on around you…

(…your personal relationships, your relationships on-set with the cast and crew, your relationships off-set with the cast and crew, or your trainer, or your agent, or whomever or whatever…)

That stuff will all disappear into your memory—but what goes on that film will last forever.

You need to make sure, as all kinds of things go on around you, before during and after each shoot, on set and off-set…

…that…what goes on that film is done to the best of your ability.

And that you are totally present, aware, and not distracted.  No matter what.

Not only is your career, your future,  and your professional reputation, dependent on that; but so is the success of the film.

…And the effectiveness of the story in the script.

…The other actors’ performances are depending on yours, as well. It’s all teamwork.   

I say it again, film sets are all teamwork.

Everyone must do their part to make sure they are doing everything they can to their own personal and professional best; as well as doing eveything possible to support the synergistic cast, and crew, in doing theirs.

That’s how trust is built.  The amount of trust on a movie set, is in direct correlation to how successful the finish product appears.  It’s holistic.

A set…where there’s war, or chaos…makes a stinker movie, in the end.

It’s all just too hard, like that.  There are 100’s of people that make a movie.  It’s all gotta work together.

 

Movie stars bear the blame, when a movie ends up a stinker.

All actors do.

I don’t know if you follow me on Twitter (and if you don’t, you are missing out, because I post a lot of little news items and pertinent stuff in my twitter tweets, so here’s a link) …but if you do, you’ll know that I pass around questions.  One question I asked was if anyone knows what a producer does??  I’ll post the answers in the next few days…(even have a funny response, from Michael Bay, a-hem)

Producers, directors, they may accept the Oscars, when their movie wins a “Best Picture” award…

But it’s the actors that get the public blame when a movie tanks.

And, it’s the films’ lead actors, the stars of the movie, that take the career hit.  Because the movie stunk.  

The acting might be good, but if the movie doesn’t sell tickets, the stars’ careers get affected.  

Sometimes, stars lose their careers, soon after a bad movie opens.  Completely.

 

As I said, I have no comment on what Christian Bale did.

(I’m not big on ‘judging’.)  

I do know that anger is a normal human emotion.  

As actors, we need to be comfortable with all authentic emotion, the gamut.

Even the uncomfortable ones, the less socially acceptable ones.

Anger is something that you must be sure you are comfortable with. Hearing, and expressing.

Because as an actor, you’ll be called upon to play it.  (In a script.)

It’s best, to be at a point, where you even enjoy it.

Wanna start now?

Shall we dance?  

___REMOVED VIDEO OUT OF RESPECT FOR CHRISTIAN BALE, ESPECIALLY SINCE WE ALL HEARD IT WAY TOO MUCH. Originally, I put the music remix up, because I simply thought it was funny. That was before I saw just how serious people took Bale’s outburst.  My own reaction was not as extreme, perhaps because I live in Hollywood!!

Update: I forgot to give proper credit to the artist who made the Christian Bale remix!  His name is Revolucian (Lucian Piane) and, by clicking on his name, you’ll reach his MySpace page…he’s about to mix RuPaul’s new jam.

(I have an additional update that will be coming up, in the next post…It’s also about actor, Christian Bale…)

Best,

;-Dana

 

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And thanks, especially to the ones that have been spreading the word, about this blog… and Twitter…(where I’m   __dana__  )

Casting Director Radar

Listen, whether a Casting Director will admit it or not, their top priority…Radar Level #A …Is not whether or not you are right for a role.

It’s not even whether-or-not you can act.

Nope.

What is it?  

Well, I’ll let you conclude,  after I lay out a couple of things.

 

Making Movies, For Example

Let’s say there’s a movie that you want to act in.

Let’s say that you get the part, and your part shoots in some outdoor setting. (I’m using a exterior shoot as example, but all types of shoots have the similar needs.)

That means, that the sunlight is something that the scheduling, of the entire cast and crew have to work around.  In order to do that, most likely, the crew will be instructed, that day(s), before dawn, to do set-up.

The actors who are written into that scene, in the script, will have to be on set earlier than sun-up, most likely.

That’s so they can get into their trailer / dressing room; get into wardrobe; get into hair-and-makeup….

And so they can have breakfast while all that is going on (***SAG Contract Rules RULE!***)

And all the while, the crew is setting up all the tech stuff needed to shoot a film:

• The electricity
• The lights 
• The camera
• The film
• The set the props etc.

The Film Scene Begins To Shoot, Just About….

…When the sun comes up… Dependent, of course, if all  conditions are right.

 

Let’s Focus Back On You, The Actor.

Let’s say your entire part requires that you have two days of work scheduled, only.

Both of those days are to be filmed at the same location, the same exterior.

Than means, that you have a lot of work to do.  Other work, I mean, besides the on-set acting.

 

 

What would that other work be, that an actor needs to do?

Here’s just some, and these are “expected”.  That means, that every casting director believes that the agent, who sent  you in for the audition, sends only actors that have already trained under a credible and solid acting coach or teacher, that you have a good reliable skill set, and that you can deliver a righteously great, or even adequate performance that will look convincing enough, in the movie, for your two-day, supporting, role.

However, unless you have a substantial acting reputation, there is much that a casting director does not know… that they cannot know, unless you show them, in some way.

Casting Directors Have To Have A Lot Of Faith

(And some incredible ‘radar’, of course)

Because, except for your trumped-up acting resume (that he or she assumes is trumped-up because this is Hollywood…) 

… A Casting Director has no way of being sure that you will do the following:

• Learn Your Lines, Well in advance, and thoroughly
• Have a workable alarm clock, and enough time-organization skills to assume enough driving time and even allow for potential traffic problems
• Have a good car and enough gas, sense of direction, etc that will get you to the Exterior Location
• Get there in one piece
• Get there on time
• Get there sane
• Get there emotionally ready to work…and more…

Note: I haven’t mentioned anything about acting ability.

That’s intentional.

Because not only the casting directors; but the director, the producer, and everyone else there doesn’t want to think about it, but there is a big fear that floats above every project, everywhere, no matter what….When there are more than one person involved.

There is a dependency on that other person.

 

Hiring any actor is always a gamble.

For a major movie, it’s a millions-of-dollars-on-the-line gamble.  

Each shooting day can cost more money than you probably have made in your lifetime, so far.

If you, the actor, stayed out until 5 AM the night (before) or even two days before…

If you don’t take care of your car so it broke down enroute to the set…

If you are a drama queen and just broke up with your boyfriend, girlfriend, or both…

Or even if your alarm clock suddenly breaks during the night before the shoot, so you oversleep

Well, you then not only screwed your own reputation, 

But you screwed EVERYONE involved with the production.

You screw them out of loads and loads of money…

You screw them out of time to do a film, which there never seems to be enough of, technically, anyway

You keep many, many people that have shown up at work, waiting and unable to work

And, you piss them off, big big time.

 

And you make the casting director look like excrement.

Why?

Because… it is the Casting Director’s job to pick the right actors. 

The most dependable actors.

So then, what is Casting-Director-Radar-Priority #A?

 

‘From The Moment An Actor Enters The Room’…

What a Casting Director (and Director, Producer, Writer…) looks for, from the moment an actor walks in, and throughout the entire audition…

 I do believe they use all their senses, and instincts…and experience…and radar… from the git-go, 

…To assess and make sure,

… If they are considering you for the part…

 

…Is That You Can Be Absolutely Depended Upon To Absolutely Show Up.

 

Do you think it’s okay to be a foonk-up?  (As an actor, I mean…other people are not my business.)

In your professional reputation; or during an audition… in any way, shape, form, hint, red-eye, etc?

LIsten,  your personal life is not my business.  (You’ll notice that there is no gossip at Hollywood Actor Prep.)

Actually, none of it is my business.  None of your problems or your personal life, or even your lack-of-professionalism, it’s not my business.

It’s yours.

As an Actor, Your Professionalism Is Your Business

And if you don’t “take care of your business”; especially in that area, then you won’t work as an actor.

 

 

Here’s Mickey Rourke, discussing his own lessons learned, about professionalism, in acting….from  January 27,2009–On the Larry King Show.

 

Please share on Facebook, and MySpace.  And tell your friends, especially those that have a passion for acting, about this blog. Even, email. It’s all so easy, just use the “SAVE / SHARE” below.

Would you follow me on Twitter? Over 750 ‘creatives’ do already!  Here’s a link, and it’s my Twitter name  __dana__ .

And send some good karma back my way, and thanks…

Best,
;-Dana

You want it? Take action, then.

Kevin Spacey wanted to act in a play, in New York. He wasn’t, yet, a “known” actor; he couldn’t get an audition.

He did have agents, and they couldn’t get him an audition. He had a manager, and, she neither.

Eventually, Kevin Spacey did get the role in the play. How?

Accept limitations, and don’t work.

Don’t accept limitations, and do.

‘Nuff said.

Best,

;Dana

Please share on Facebook and other social sites. Thank you.

Follow me on Twitter. User name is __dana__ .

How Casting Directors Cast Actors

Watch this audition-on-tape.   It’s Ellen Page and Michael Cera auditioning for “Juno”.

If you ask a casting director, they’ll tell you that actors get awarded roles when they ARE the character.

Now, that may mean:

#1. The actor is so clearly the specific type they are looking for, and so ‘right on the mark’ on how they (casting people + producers + director) envision the character from the script…  that the person in the auditioning room is really just like the person in the script, in real life.

Everyday, every minute, the actor really ‘IS THAT CHARACTER’.

#2. Or it could mean that the actor is  close in ‘type’…but is such a ‘good actor’, that the casting person believes that the actor, during the audition, ‘IS THAT CHARACTER’.

Even if in the car, on the way home, the actor is not the same, at all.  Or, is similar in some ways, in “real life” (as Matt Dillon used to say…)

I prefer #2, myself.

Often, if the actor that is auditioning, really IS that person in life, they may not be able ‘to act’.  Which means that the movie or play will suck.  Why? Well, the simplified answer is that he or she won’t be able to deliver all the different emotions or facets that may be called for, in the script, or scenes.

The longer answer is that, in the finished production, there won’t be any art to the acting.  Nor in the movie, nor in the play, at all. There won’t be anything worth watching.

 (Unless we are talking “documentary”, of course.)

 

All Actors Use Pieces Of Themselves In Creating Characters.  

There is far too much competition in the acting profession, to try to play something that is so far away from your actual type…It’s just too easy for casting people to find, and cast  an actor who fits what is described in the script, and on the “casting breakdowns”….to play the part.  

#3. It is nearly impossible, without a tremendous amount of acting talent, acting skill, and acting craft, for an actor to “play himself or herself”.

Whaaa??

Yep.

That’s why I blow-a-gasket when people ask me why acting class is necessary.

It’s foolish to assume that “anyone can act”.  Yes, talent is something that is innate.  Using that talent, and having control over the talent…control enough to carry out what is required in a script, takes development. Takes dedication.

Great acting is a blend of the two: talent and developed acting craft.  

You don’t want to be just an adequate actor, do you?  Even to be able to give what is required, in a script, is extremely difficult.  To make it come-to-life, is rare.  It is very high-level acting.

To make acting seamless, well, that’s what wins awards.  (That is, if the judges are smart enough to know that it really is acting.)

Great acting fools experts.  It should.

It fools the viewer, too; unconsciously. How?  When they get wrapped up in the story/the movie/the play….when they stop looking at the effects, the acting, the whatever….when they go from being on “the outside”, to experiencing from within:  within the story, within themselves.

It’s what I call “the great acting paradox”.

 

Great Acting Is When The Audience Doesn’t See The Acting

Really good, strong, advanced acting is hard to tell if the actor is “playing him/herself” or “acting”.

Excellent acting is imperceptible.

 

Now, you know. And, you know something now, about acting, that most people will never know.  It is a rare jewel. Keep it sacred, because it is.  And use it well.

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Starting. An. Acting. Career. Is. Not. Easy.

Getting a talent agent to represent you, may be the hardest part of your professional career.

Yesterday, I was on TWITTER. 

Someone “tweeted”, the following : 

“Am really getting sick of school, am ready to work, anyone know of any good agents?”

–Um–.

I took a deep breath, waited, and then took another one.  I always knew that this moment was soon, I just didn’t want it to be so soon, and not just before a weekend… I knew that “bad news” time had come; and I knew that it was my responsibility to bring it.

I waited until late Friday afternoon, procrastinating…Okay, here’s my post on talent agents, and it’s for those actors who haven’t yet tried to get one.  (If you have, you can read along, and weep with recognition…)

So allow me to really prepare those actors that need to know…

 

Here’s some sorry, but necessary, actor truth:

When you all get into the business, you will come up against a big wall, and HARD. Especially, if you think like my twitter-friend.

There is a whole different world that actors encounter, when they attempt to become professional and working.

One of the worst of acting-career-wall-slams has to do with the subject of agents.

Do I know any good agents out there?  Depends what the tweeter meant by “good”.

There are a zillion good agents out here…

…And they all work with names you recognize.

None of them are interested in you.

NONE.

I am sorry.  

One of the things I hate about doing this is that since I have had a reasonably successful history in this business, and I am doing this as a labor of love  (you all don’t hear any coins ca-ching  from this, do you, and you encounter no credit card requests), I feel this crazy need to provide the truth, and not the hogwash you can glimpse at any time from the plentiful actor-hoax sites that abound on the net.  (If you are mad at me for this blog post, and it’s contents today, and you want bull then just put “actor”, or “acting”, as a Google search word… you’ll  find pages and pages of total fairy-tale-crap sites.  Go there, then, because this stuff, today,  is hard to deliver, and it’s not fun…)

 

 

The Only Agents That Represent Novice-Actors Are Mythical   

 

It’s a myth that there are agents in tiny one-room offices, bald and chompin’ on a cigar, just a-waiting for you to arrive off the train.

Absolutely false.

(Don’t say: “That’s okay, Dana…I’m arriving on a plane”  …

…Because I won’t laugh, and I will tell you, that there haven’t been any one-room agencies, like that, since before they invented the plane.

…There haven’t been any bald agents since before they put minoxydil out on the market.

…Because the agents got it sooner, like all cosmetic inventions,

…‘Cause this is Hollywood…

…And BECAUSE AGENTS ARE WEALTHY.

Why are agents wealthy?  Because, their “calling” was not the arts, it was “business”.  Because they are businessmen, and businessmen are in the business of making money.

That’s why those specific people are on “that side” of “the industry”.

 

Talent Agencies Are Big Corporations, Mostly

Any agency worth it’s name, is a “corporation”.  

Any agent that drives a Mercedes, Lexus, or BMW, works for a corporation. Uh, once you get here, you’ll see that all the agents drive those cars.  Brand new ones, too. Immaculate and shiny.  Leased.  

They pay for the lease, or their company does, by the massive amounts of money they make from the actors, under contract, to their talent agency.

They don’t sign people to contracts who don’t bring in big money.  They really don’t ever consider signing someone for their “artistic talent” or “acting ability”.

They don’t look for artistic talent.

No.

They look for money.

CAA, one of the heaviest hitter of agencies, ever since it started, just moved it’s headquarters.  It used to be in Beverly Hills.  Now it is in Century City, right nearby.

When they were planning that original Beverly Hills office, they used an architect that is one of the most famous, ever.  I.M.Pei.  (He is the same guy that designed the pyramid portion of the Louvre, in Paris. )

And they had an extremely famous painter, paint a mural, in the lobby.  Lichtenstein.  No, they didn’t buy a Lichtenstein painting, nor did they commission him to paint a giant canvas in his studio and then install it in the lobby.  This extremely famous painter actually painted the mural in the lobby.  

 

 

 

Now, CAA has moved to a larger building.  Whatever did they do with the Lichtenstein on the wall???

(Will somebody look that up on Google for me, and let me know? I am too busy…Oh, and while you are at it… If you don’t know who I.M.Pei is, or Lichtenstein, or about the Louvre, please look that up too.  Anytime you don’t know something, don’t stay  ignorant about it, it will help you as an actor.  Especially, when you work on a script, know everything and anything about that script, the culture that it deals with…)

My point is this.  CAA will not be interested in you.

CAA has never been interested in ME.  

I went there, once, for an interview with an agent, who was very nice.  (Many of them are.  Even so, they don’t want to know you, and they don’t want you to waste their time, having to explain that.)

I saw Kevin Huvane, once referred to as a “Young Turk” agent, and I was already somewhat established.  But, CAA is for the very top of the heap. Celebrities, stars.

He told me, as many agents had over the years, to “Come back and see us when you’ve got a lead in a film”.

It’s that simple.

They work for the big bucks, and their job is to make deals for the big bucks, and it’s a simple equation…They agent talent that already has an established salary of “Very Big Bucks”.

Aren’t they looking for new talent?

No.  Never. Not new acting talent.

 

Agents Are Called “Ten-Percenters”

They get 10% commission of whatever salary they negotiate for their client.

Let’s say Bruce Willis takes a new movie role, and his pay is 20 million dollars.  What’s ten-percent of twenty-mill?

Same with Tom Hanks, and many other actors…

Would an agent choose to spend their limited work time on making two mill commission; and let’s not forget that the 2 million from a client like Tom Hanks is way more dependable, than a ten percent of maybe 200 to 500 dollars (ten-percent of 500 is fifty-dollars) for a newcomer.  And that newcomer has a way-smaller chance of getting a job.

They don’t make money, they don’t get reputation, they don’t get bupkus.

Not for representing new people.

 

 

 

When You Make Acting Money That Brings In A Hefty Commission…

That’s when all the agents will talk about your “acting abilities”.  It simply translates into numbers, here.  

They make no bones about it.  

Agents are notorious for doing an about-face and heaping attention on those actors who suddenly start working.  

That’s just the business.  

I’m telling you so you won’t be surprised.

They won’t pay you any attention, at all, until you start to work.  

Then you will be able to get an agent.

Crazy?

Welcome to Hollywood.  That’s the way it works. 

 

 

 

At Least You Are Now A Prepared-And-Aware Actor

Ever hear that saying?  ”The truth shall set you free”?  I think it’s from the Bible…(Could somebody fact-check that on Google for me, please, I am getting sick of doing all this work for nothing!)

The truth in our work makes acting into beauty.

The truth about the business can crush us; or it can make us stronger; as people, as actors, as professionals.

Here’s a big secret.  It was always this way.  Always.  

I do think it has gotten ever harder, I think the doors have gotten heavier, more locked; and there are security guards at the gates, even.  (None of that slipping your photo with resume on the back, under the door, like I used to do at the very start of my career, in New York!) (…And that didn’t get me representation, by the way.)

My first agent, in New York, was at ICM.  A gigantic agency, a gi-normous corporation.  Lucky me, I thought.  Aren’t you thinking the same?

I did luck out, in that a friend of mine, became an agent there.  Actually, two friends. One was a manager at the New York Improv, and the other was the assistant manager.  I worked in the coatroom.  Really.

ICM was starting a new comedy division, and took the guy who was the Improv manager to be an agent, since he knew all about the comedians.  The guy who was the manager took the Improv assistant manager with him, and soonafter, the assistant-manager-signed-who-was-now-hoity-ICM-assistant-agent signed me, coatroom-girl-aspiring-actor as his very first client.   

Sounds great, doesn’t it? In feeling, it was.  I am actually smiling right now, with the memory of it.  These guys were my friends, and it was so much fun…up, up, up, I would go in that Manhattan high-rise elevator, past the smooth woody receptionists desks, and my 8-by-10’s had a folder in a file cabinet…the cabinet’s size must have trumped the size of Trump’s.

The promise of it, sensational.  

The truth of it…not much.  Why?  Well, I got to go up in that elevator more than actors generally do, because these guys were my friends and it was New York City, and I was in that area, a lot, for voiceover work. (Different category, different agency.)  

I got to hear a lot about people like RIck Moranis, and such; because that’s who they were handling and getting auditions for.  In a place like ICM, there isn’t a system in place, to “break in” newcomers.  Agents at those places don’t have enough time in their schedules to do all that they need to do, for the bigger guys, a lot of the time. (Just go to any industry place at 7:30 AM and you’ll see all the bigger agents having what is known as a “power breakfast”.  That is a breakfast meeting, where they are jamming in business before they have their 9 AM agency-wide meeting, every morning.)

I got lots of insider information about what it was like to be a big-agency-agent, and got to see what all kinds of stuff was like: “Variety” out on the coffee table waiting room, the lunches ordered upstairs, the “Breakdown Services” with lists and lists of projects and auditions…

However, only one  audition, did I get, maybe, in a year.  

How I went from ICM to a middle-size “boutique” talent agency, that was the agency that I stayed with, forever-after… is another story for another day.

Yes, there are boutique agencies around, and no, they are not interested, either.  I’m sorry, but it’s a cruel business that way. The smaller agencies are also only interested in actors that are sure-shots.

In other words, they aren’t gamblers either.  

Don’t expect them to want to be fisherman, either…to throw a lot of bait into the waters to see if anyone bites.  Nope, they don’t.  They, too, want the hottest thing, and they try to get it, at the mid-range level. Even though they are smaller than the bigger guys, they still don’t want anyone who isn’t a proven professional.

That means, in actor terms, someone who doesn’t already have a career.  Someone who doesn’t have a “quote”. (That means a certain amount of money that you got paid, so far, that they can negotiate to get to be a higher amount of payment, on your next job.)

Can they get the biggest stars? No, but they get people that haven’t worked in a while, and they handle all the other people that you see populating your TV and movie screens, that aren’t stars.  

Those actors make good money for those jobs.  Decent money.  Their salaries pay commission to the agents.  That’s how the agencies pay their rent in Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, even in the Valley.

Agents work when they think there is going to be payment.  Thus, they keep clients that continue to get commissionable work, and when they have room, agents will only sign on those actors that have some kind of track-record of earning.

No one is going to make it easy. I would say that trying to get an agent without any credits, is impossible.

If you don’t want to believe me, then good for you, because you have a strong overriding spirit that can help you.

You will need to do the impossible.

You need to know that.

This Is Even Hard On Me

I’m quitting for the day.  It’s Friday night, as I write this, it’s dark already.  David Tochterman and I were supposed to meet for a drink, as his post was up this week on Hollywood Actor Prep, and we haven’t seen each other in  years.  (L.A. is a large city, area-wise.)  

And I want to get down to the beach area, because I haven’t been out, for fun, in that area, in a long time.

So I will edit, and add, to this post tomorrow.

I’ll also try to find some funny stuff, because this post is rough-stuff. 

(Or maybe it is, just for me.  I also broke a front tooth, this week, so I’m not the happiest camper…)

Keep on keeping on, with a smile…because good things are coming very soon…

Stay with Hollywood Actor Prep, and please spread the word, so that I know that people are really benefitting from the information I post…

Best,

Dana

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I announce, on Twitter, whenever I publish a new post on this blog.

 

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On A  Set, A Director…

What does a film director do?  I get that question from actors who are trying to become professionals, and from people outside the business, as well.

A film director handles the entire overview, of all the technical and all the artistic elements, before- during-and-after the movie scenes are shot… for example: The director makes sure all the technical stuff is working and correct, that the camera shots and lighting are beautiful and they same as the ones that are  on storyboards;  watches that different aspects of different scenes match up so they can wind up eventually appearing as one,  makes sure the script pieces get put on the film,  deals with variables like weather changes… just to name a few. There’s a whole universe of tasks that directors are in charge of keeping in balance, with an eagle eye. 

The acting, in the film, is only one single part.  One small aspect.

 

Directors Don’t Do What You Think

Most of the directors that I have worked with have not interfaced much; nor interfered, with the acting. (Lucky me! I thought each time, and I was right.) In nearly every job,  I was free to just act…To do as I wanted with my role, the character I was playing, and in my contribution to the story.  

In acting communities, stories abound, about unsympathetic directors.  Ones who don’t give credence to acting and the art of it; there are some directors that seem to operate completely outside of it, as if acting is an adjunct to the the movie making process, and concerns.  Rarely, but perhaps there are some directors that may belittle the acting process, or an actor’s approach to working, as if there is some kind of power competition.

There isn’t.

 

Film Directors Are The Boss

Certain rules apply on every set, everywhere. The director runs any, and every, set. Period.  

Every actor, from star to extra, must do what the director says.  It is “their” show, and you just are one part. If your role is supporting or less, then you a small part of it. Your job is to act, and get going.  That’s it.

Director-tasks are multitudinous, compared to yours; at any one time.  When your acting day is “wrapped”, there are still hours of work left, that the director has to do. After the shooting schedule is completed, there can be a year or more of work that the director will still do on the movie. Long after you have gone home, and are auditioning again.  Or working, elsewhere.

I’ll sometimes hear actors complain that the “director didn’t give them anything to work with”. Didn’t guide their performance. In my experience, they almost never, ever, do….Surprised?

Professional Acting Work Is Different 

Occasionally, there are some directors who give line readings or such,  but they usually are the ones that have less experience, and that is not the kind of director-attention an actor wants anyway.  Fact is, professional acting is not like acting class.  It’s wa-a-ay different. You will always get much more attention from your acting teacher, and your fellow classmates, than you ever will acting on a set.  

“Acting work” is a “job”, it’s just that, and it will feel like it, on a set. If you are required to have a certain emotion in a scene, then you had better deliver. On cue. And if you need preparation, the time and place isn’t there, on set. You can’t make everyone wait.  

It may seem ironic… you almost break your back to break into the business, audition a zillion times, maybe to even get a little start, and then when you finally do…it’s all “business as usual”.  On the set. Attitudes are as casual, “everyday”, as can be.  But serious, they are professional, and involved.  

If you’ve never been to a film set, they are huge, and nearly overwhelming; both inside film studio sets, and outdoors.  They are like giant bee hives, with plenty of bees, and everyone is working…the actors are just other workers in the hive. 

So why was I lucky when a director didn’t “direct”??  Because then I didn’t have a “boss” who got in my way, with a different philosophy, with an “anti-actor” philosophy.  I felt lucky that I had a lot of freedom, so that I could do what I loved to do, and what I thought best.  

I was glad to be entrusted, as a professional, to do my job.  And relieved they no one tampered with my acting process, no one fussed about the organic quality, that I liked to bring.

 

Actor Preparation + Working With On-The-Set-Changes

I should mention that I gave enormous “weight” to preparation, and spent much time on it, prior to the day I was to come to work, on the set.  I was always more than well-prepared…I mean, I came to a set with every choice made, maybe more than one way.  I knew my scenes inside, and out, backwards and forwards–honestly, I may’ve been the most, over-prepared, actor I knew. So, I didn’t craze-out, because I really didn’t feel I needed any help, from the directors, but I was ready to change if direction was given.  That over-prep gave me a solid footing to work with, and around. That way, nothing unexpected rattled me…I knew I could count on my craft, and that gave me a certain acting confidence.

I wasn’t trying to get attention or show off, I was aiming to be within the scene and make it look real. I always “supported” the other actor that I was working with, even in acting class, so I took that into my work environment: by doing whatever I could to make the star feel supported as I acted with them.  (I think that shows, even as I watch some of the clips, on my “About” page, here.

And, I supported the director by not asking for a thing.   From the beginning,  I noticed that are all so incredibly busy… most of them don’t involve themselves with anyone who isn’t a star. Some of them don’t talk to anybody, they don’t even want to say hello. I knew it wasn’t personal. They just have too much to do.

 

Directors Do Say: “Cut”

Before the any scene was shot, I prepared in my dressing room or trailer, instead of socializing. Once on set, I’d try to  to hit “it” on the first take, and usually did. I did that to take care of myself, because I knew that may be all I may get.   I was never the big lead or the star, therefore, I was aware there was a good chance that the director would say, “cut!” at the end of the first take, and then I would be released for the day. 

 

Never Expect A “Take Two”

Stars are the only ones who can count on different takes.  Unless you are a big star, don’t ever assume you can ask for another take…What I mean is, you can ask, but it is the director who decides whether to give it to you. And you really can’t ask more than once, unless you want to be regarded as “trouble”.  It’s unprofessional.  Certainly don’t, if your lines are minimal, or if another take won’t be much different.  

Stick to your purpose, which is why they hired you, and what they want you to do on the set.  When you’re not on the set, then be invisible.  Really.

The best thing you can do, when you aren’t being filmed, is not get in anybody’s way…

…Especially, the director’s.

If you do your job, consummately, and get out; then  the director will love you. So will the star. And you will develop a good reputation, of a professional actor.

 

                                                                                *******

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And make sure to sign up to get my posts, by email…so you won’t miss some exciting stuff, coming in the next month…

 

Best,

; Dana

Acting Work Is Available

Really great news for actors. Film auditions, actively,  will start up very soon…Why?? 

The Hollywood studios have all started making movies again.  

Yesterday, in Variety, there was a list of 40-plus new movies, about to go into production…that’s more than FORTY new films scheduled for this Spring and Summer, 2008!  

All at once,  Columbia, Warner Bros, MGM, Miramax, New Line, Paramount, Disney, et al, announced that they are swinging, full-force, into making movies again.  No more waiting, no more Hollywood-on-hold. 

The announcement, dated Oct. 7 2008, revealed that each major studio is doing five films each, at least.  Big and medium budget-type films, which means lots of money; and, often…big casts.

…If you need catching up on background events: For months, the industry has avoided making “product”… This was due to a fear-of-SAG-strike; and, subsequently,  the contract stalemate between the actors and producers unions. For further depth, you can read my posts that explain:  the SAG negotiations, and who is involved, and the complex  actors’ issues…

 

 

Film Production List From “Variety”:

COLUMBIA

• Ruben Fleischer-directed “Zombieland” 
• Phillip Noyce-helmed “Salt” with Angelina Jolie 
• Stephen Chow-directed “The Green Hornet” with Seth Rogen

DISNEY

• Tim Burton-directed “Alice in Wonderland”; 
• “Tron” sequel; 
• Robert Zemeckis-produced motion-capture film “Mars Needs Moms”; 
• Jon Turteltaub-directed “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” with Nicolas Cage; 
• Walt Becker- helmed “Wild Hogs 2″

FOX

• James Cameron-directed “Avatar” 
• Shawn Levy-helmed “Date Night,” with Steve Carell and Tina Fey 
• “A-Team” 
• “Ramona” 
• Chris Columbus-directed “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief” 
• “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” 
• John Carney-directed “Town House” 
• “Alvin and the Chipmunks 2″ 
• Tom Bezucha-directed “Orbit” 
• Rick Famuyiwa-helmed “Family Wedding”

MGM

• Drew Goddard-directed “The Cabin in the Woods” 
• Kevin Tancharoen-helmed “Fame” 
• “The Matarese Circle,” which David Cronenberg is negotiating to direct Washington 
• Darren Aronofsky-helmed “RoboCop”

MARVEL
(Paramount distributing)

• Jon Favreau-directed “Iron Man 2″ with Robert Downey Jr. 
• Kenneth Branagh-helmed “Thor”

MIRAMAX

• John Madden-directed “The Debt” with Helen Mirren 
• “Man on a Train” 
• “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”

NEW LINE

• “Torrente” 
• “Sex and the City 2″ 
• Wesley Strick-directed “A Nightmare on Elm Street” 
• Len Wiseman-helmed “Gears of War”

PARAMOUNT

• Kenny Ortega-directed “Footloose” with Zac Efron; 
• M. Night Shyamalan-helmed “The Last Airbender” 
• “Morning Glory” 
• “Beverly Hills Cop” 
• “Us and Them”

UNIVERSAL

• Edgar Wright-directed “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” starring Michael Cera 
• Untitled Nancy Meyers-helmed comedy with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin 
• Peter Billingsley-directed “Couples Retreat” with Vince Vaughn; 
• Gore Verbinski-helmed “BioShock” 
• Nicholas Stoller-directed “Get Him to the Greek” 
• Ridley Scott-helmed “Nottingham” with Russell Crowe

WARNER BROS.

• Clint Eastwood-directed “Human Factor” with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon 
• Mark Neveldine/Brian Taylor- helmed “Jonah Hex” 
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the David Yates-directed final, two-part installment in the franchise, which begins production in February; 
• Alcon-financed “Book of Eli,” the Hughes brothers-directed Denzel Washington starrer 
• Louis Leterrier-helmed “Clash of the Titans” 
• Zack Snyder-directed “Suckerpunch.”

 

The SAG announcements, today, will state the results of their new board members.  I don’t ever remember a SAG board election as wildly and publicly anticipated.  

(And, I am a SAG “vested”…  Vested, in SAG union terms: means that I have been around long enough that I earned a pension which I will receive when I am old and bitter-er.)

Why are the SAG Board Announcements so exciting? 

Right now, in Hollywood, there is far more drama within the actor ranks, than in any theater. 

There’s practically a SAG Civil War, amongst Professional Actors. Within the SAG membership group of the real, authentic, working, actors.  And, actors from the two opposing sides of this war, are competing for Board of Director seats.

What this war concerns, at the heart, is what actors feel is critical to their career.  And, to the future of what is commonly known as an ” professional acting career”.

 At issue, is the concept of the Working Actor; and the decisions and actions of the SAG leaders, for the union.  The decisions that are on the table, right now.  

 

Plainly:

that group, which has been traditionally known as the Working Actor, the Professional Actor, and in the theatre, called the Journeyman Actor –

…unfortunately, that profession is headed for extinction. Here in Los Angeles.

 

Truly.  The middle-class actor is almost a no-more thing. Even was reported in the LA Times.

 

But, you might say, you just read that that that  Dr. House ‘s new-season-salary broke records…and that is true.

 

Stars do make a lot; AND they are a very small minority, compared to the rest of the group.  The group of professional working actors out here. 

 Two ends of the actor spectrum, actually, can both earn a living and benefits: stars and extras.  

(Extras weren’t always in SAG, but now they are; and there are some that work quite consistently, and do make a very good, regular income and even qualify for SAG benefits that include an exceptional health insurance plan.)  

 

A lot of  the heat of the drama within the SAG membership of real authentic working actors, has to do with the suddenly almost-defunct professional actor middle class. 

Obviously, always, throughout history, actors have scrambled for work.  The numbers of available actors compared to the amount of work that was available, has always been so extreme, it’s like a silly joke.  It’s always been an almost ludicrous career choice, by “normie” standards.  By regular working joes. An acting career has never been regarded, by outsiders, as a CAREER.

 

But, inside Hollywood :

 (that term, of course, I use “tongue in cheek’—I mean in “the industry”)

what was once regarded as a career, an acting career,

has radically changed. You probably “know”  all of these people, if you aren’t in the business.  They are the actors you recognize while you are watching a show, and you know you’ve seen them before, in a different show. From things that they’ve been in before.  And, when you visit here, and you see one of them, sometimes  you ask them if they were in your high school because they look “familiar”…They can be, also, sometimes, people you remember who had a great role in something and it knocked you out, with how wonderful they were.  Then you didn’t see them again for a while; then maybe you saw them later, in something else, completely different.

 

When they say from “career” to “hobby”, they aren’t kidding.

 

It really used to be like this: a professional actor went from job-to-job.  Even with months in between, it was possible to make enough to live decently, middle class.

Yeah, right, I know: there were never great guarantees in the acting business; and right again, there could be a big period of “nothing” where no auditions were won and the actor went broke for a while.  Bank account to zeee-ro, I know.

 

But there also was the flip-side, a professional actor could get one plum role or a steady stream of solid middle credit-list roles, and do very well.  Or do a steady trajectory upward, and garner juicy raises in payscale along the way.

 

(I really DO know, I’ve lived through both parts, again, and then again…)

 

For as long as I can remember, guest starring on a television show was a nice delicious job. Chunk-a-money job.

 

But this isn’t true anymore, it’s disappearing. That type of actor life, the real solid career actor.

 Enter the “hobby”.

And a “hobby” actor, instead, isn’t even a viable idea.  I don’t think it is. 

At any time, the nature of the art is this, as well as the nature of business:

To be a professional actor,

to begin a career as an actor,

to maintain a career as an actor,

takes far more effort, time, and sheer investment of self,

than any hobby.

There’s just no way to be a professional of such commitment, in a field that requires such commitment, “on the side”.

 

In jokes, actors are classically, self-absorbed.  I’m not advocating narcissism, but I do know that a strong sense of focus and intent, is part of what it takes, darn it.  Really. 

 

There is just no way that… the results are even going to be even decent fare, not a chance. With most of the actors, hobby-ists.

It’s going to negatively affect every production in the industry.  The level of performance that we all take for granted will go down with it.  It has to …

The great ones, the committed ones who may not be stars but are the solid backbone of reliable cast of every show—they will take their talent where it can flourish, and where they can survive.  Where they can earn a living. 

Acting, for the first time, will suddenly not appear easy to do.  It will appear not-so-expendable.

 

Hobbyists are not people who commit their lives, with their lives:  to their craft, which many professional actors truly do.

 

Actors do it, as corny as it sounds, for love.  With a overriding passion and commitment. Yet, they need to be able to make a living. Many career actors believe that this extinction is salvageable, if handled correctly by SAG leadership. 

 

This is at the heart of the strife that you may be hearing about.  Between-the-actors. The competition for work has always made us crazy.  You can imagine what this pressure of the AFTRA mutiny; and the loss of the middle class actor has done to our group, as a whole. 

(If you live in Hollywood, you may want to dig a trench. That’s right, there’s two wars; one is between the producers and actors, and the other is between actors: two factions of professional actors at war, splitting their “group” in-two.)

 

So… that is why the SAG news announcements coming today…is so extremely major.  SAG will announce  who won the votes to be the new SAG Board Members.  Huge drama, lots of emotion, even lots of celebs…

 

There are two warring sides, and the announcement will reveal which side will hold the majority weight—and sit, and make decisions, on the SAG board.

 

Please go to the next few blogs, if you are interested,  I post information from these two warring sides, from their own releases.

 

Peace,

Dana

 

Here’s a link for  an article from the Los Angeles Times,

on the disappearing-middle-class-actor:

 http://articles.latimes.com/2008/may/28/business/fi-sag28

 

Basically, there is no strike.  Yet.  And the talks go on, and some facets have been resolved.    There are a lot of important complications: 

•                    AFTRA* is now a part of SAG**, which they didn’t use to be.  AFTRA did accept the contract as is. SAG did not.  (Kudos, Alan)  Thus, internal strife, somewhat. Their move weakened SAG’s stance, and basically told the industry that actors aren’t worth more.  
•                  We went past the deadline that was declared the date that SAG would strike, but yet we didn’t strike.  Still, settlement remains  unpredictable, so the industry is reticent to start new projects. ( They would lose big if something was in production and suddenly had to stop.)
•                 As it is, lots of productions have been shelved until things get worked out.  This has affected the industry, powerfully.   There are way less productions, by now, altogether.  It can be seen throughout: in the talent agencies (some smaller ones have apparently shut down); many the people who earn a living on the crews and production staffs have been out of work; and many production houses have simply stopped any production.