To the black wall.
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Seeing a black wall at the end of your audition is deadly.
It’s best if your auditions are part of your ongoing work and life. With none of them ever being the be all or end all.
The continuity …
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Tics and twitches.
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As you’re reading this you may notice that your foot is swinging regularly.
Mine is.
Or that your thumb is rhythmically rubbing your middle finger. These aren’t actually tics or twitches according to definition, but this is the best way to …
Read MoreThink quickly.
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One of the best directing notes I ever received was from Peter Bogdanovich who said to me, ‘Think quickly.’.
I’ve repeated that to many actors over the years since.
It doesn’t mean speaking quickly. It means moving forward doing what you need to do in the scene …
Read MoreThere’s more than one way to skin a cat.
/If you have blocks as an actor explore different ways to loosen them.
A gay actor I worked with had a block about playing masculine roles. Any character described as tough, good-looking, macho, war veteran etc. would send him into an anxious state.
He knew he looked the part, but his mental block made him freeze when he came to …
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The scene is the unit of work.
/How do you work on a screenplay?
Breaking it down into it’s first, big parts helps. Those parts are the scenes.
As actors, directors, writers, producers we work on plays and films scene by scene. They’re the units of work.
You shoot scenes out of order, so you must work on each scene as a …
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The level you’re at is the level you’re at.
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Don’t be pressured to think that your acting should be somewhere other than where it is.
It isn’t realistic, and you need to be if you want to improve.
This doesn’t mean you don’t have aspirations. Of course you do, but you …
Read MoreThe future.
/Human beings always look to the future.
On a practical note you have the future to consider every time you play a scene or go to an audition. Part of your preparation will be seeing yourself at the end of the work. How will the audition go? How will …
Read MoreThe event.
/The event is what the 2nd AD writes in the call sheet for each scene.
For example:
‘Josh nervously divulges his …
Read MoreTechnical Dialogue.
/Learning technical dialogue can be difficult.
Legal, medical, military, scientific.
Try separating it from the playing part of the scene. Usually most of the scene is playable – then there’s the technical language, so you could ...
Read MoreSuck up, kick down.
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Try and present your work.
A common trait today, once someone has achieved a certain position of power, is to learn how to hold on to it. That can include kicking down the ladder anyone trying to come up and sucking up to those above.
If you get desperate you may find yourself trying to do that.
Presenting your work in a ...
Read MoreStillness.
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You have to learn how to be still on camera.
Observe how you’re still in life.
Often, while acting your moving because you’re resetting or dropping out. It’s you, the actor, and not ...
Read MoreSmall parts.
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Why should you feel bad playing a small role?
If you’re in a large company such as Stratford Festival where the season is long it means you have work for a good period of time.
You deserve it.
Sometimes you get work ...
Read More‘Slate your name and height.’
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Audie Murphy was a movie star in the 1950’s and was 1.65 metres tall or 5 foot 4.
Kiefer Sutherland is 1.75 metres tall or 5 foot 7. Lucy Liu: 5 foot 2, Rachel McAdam: 5 foot 3, Catherine Deneuve: 5 foot 5, Reese Witherspoon: 5 foot 1, and Tom Cruise: 5 foot 5.
On the other hand ...
Read MoreSkin as thin as glass.
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That’s what you need when acting on camera. It’s both literal and figurative.
Let us see you.
When you drop in and believe, your skin literally changes. It softens and opens. We go in with you. As you have …
Read MoreSit in the back seat.
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Try not to get diverted, so you can do your job well.
Take note of what diverts you.
Do you sit in the front seat of the transport vehicle and talk to the driver because you want to ...
Read MoreSex and violence.
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These are the two main themes in Hollywood.
Hollywood reflects the ideas of those who make the movies and America itself.
And as an actor you’ll be asked to fulfil these themes.
To land roles you’ll have to learn where you and your type fit ...
Read MoreRubbing of shoulders.
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The late excellent acting teacher, Arif Hasnain, called passing on knowledge ‘The rubbing of shoulders’.
The phrase is sometimes used in the context of mingling with the rich, but that’s not what Arif meant. He didn’t care for the rich.
People who know something well teach it to those ...
Read MoreRobert De Niro quote.
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“In acting, I always try to go back to what would actually be the real situation, the real human behaviour in life. It’s the most difficult ...Read More
