Few Ways To Get Your Name Out There
ACTORS
Acting Advice From Robert De Niro
Conversations With Helen Mirren
10 Tips For Choosing The Best Monologue For You
- Know your casting type and be realistic about it. A good way of discovering this to ask other people in the industry. If you choose a piece that is something you’d LIKE to do as opposed to something that truly suits you, you are unlikely to stand out among the competition- there will be plenty of others who ARE that particular casting type.
- Know your age range. Again, be realistic about this and ask people in the industry for honest opinions then stick to that age range for your monologue.
- Play to your strengths. It’s great to experiment and try a wide range of monologues to practice but when it comes to what you choose to use for auditions, play to your strengths and show yourself being the best that you can be.
- Choose a monologue with shifts in emotion. The most interesting monologues to watch are the ones with changes in emotion. This will make it more compelling to watch and will show more of what you are capable of.
- Choose one that matches the role you are going for. The closer you can match your monologue to the role you are going for, the better. It’s no use showing how skillful you are at comedy if you are going for a drama.
- If they haven’t specified timings, keep it short. People generally make their minds up in the first few seconds anyway. Keep them wanting more.
- Choose a strong character. It’s easy to switch off if the monologue is about someone who is feeling sorry for themselves and is whinging. Choose feisty, strong roles. Survivors not victims – these are the characters people prefer to watch.
- Do not change your accent. Stick to your own accent. You’ve been invited to the audition because of who you are, and if you deliver your monologue in a different accent, you won’t be giving them what they wanted when they called you in- which is you! The exception to this of course is if you have been asked to do a different accent, and even then only go for it if you are flawless.
- Stick to the present. The most dynamic monologues are those that are in the present where the character has a strong need for something right now, as opposed to reliving a memory.
- Avoid iconic scenes where possible. They will have been seen a million times and people won’t be able to help themselves but to compare you to the actor who performed the original.
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10 Email Mistakes Actors Make
1. Forwards
Actors forwarding their prior sent email(s) to industry by sending as ‘new’ old correspondence to other industry contacts advertises that the actor is lazy.
2. Email Addresses that are Tinder or Grndr Bound
How serious of casting or representation consideration of an actor is an entertainment gatekeeper to pursue when an inquiring actor has an email address beginning with ‘SexyStarr@,’ ‘MyOscarAwaits@,’ or similar correspondence handles?
3. Dear Mr./Mrs. as Greetings
I’ll never be a Mrs. or a Mr. (my testicles don’t respond to either greeting).
4. Begin with Positive not Negative
From a recent actor’s email:
“As a casting director you may literally go through thousand [SIC] of cover letters and resume [SIC] every day,”
5. Incorrect Capitalization
From an actor’s email to casting:
“Being a Film Actor who has been an Actor for many years I know your office to be the best Casting Office with many Casting Directors who work on Stage and Screen Projects. My Acting Training is extensive at many Performing Arts Schools…”
6. Attaching (multiple) Headshots, Resume(s), or Reel(s)
An actor’s resume is to be placed within the body of an email.
7. Using Vocabulary that Doesn’t Match Your Speaking Voice
8. Using lots of Vocabulary to Say Nothing of Substance
9. Not Having a Proof Reader
10. Telling the Reader You’re Serious About being an Actor
In the following excerpt of an actor’s email all blunders, 7-10, happen simultaneously:
“I would appreciate if you see my resume wherein I have mentioned my experience and knowledge. If your watched my reel you can see how seriously I have taken this profession.”
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How To Create Success As An Actor
Top 13.5 Tips for Mastering Social Media as a Successful Appearing Actor!
- Re-tweet everything Lin-Manuel Miranda tweets so that to your followers it appears that you and the creator of HAMILTON are besties.
- Your life is your art. Hashtag every social media post with “#actorslife”: Your new haircut. Your spin class. Your chlamydia prescription, etc…
- Posting inspiring quotes or memes is a great way to publicize, “I may not be working, but I’m working on myself as an artist.”
- Leverage Timehop to your advantage: Always repost pictures of you with that one successful person from your BFA class, even if you two haven’t spoken since your Freshman GoFundMe indie.
- Post a picture of your celebrity doppelgänger so that people will associate you with success. (Rising star points if your aunt comments, “How pretty you look!”)
- Be vague with theatrical credits. What is “Off Broadway?” Anything that’s not Broadway, of course. (Your TONY surely awaits at the Shubert if you add to your name “The King / Queen of Broadway.”)
- Take selfies before lighting equipment on every film set you pass through regardless of whether you’re working on that set, and then plaster on your timeline(s) those falsies. (Bonus points for bringing your own Tupperware and stealing lunch from “Krafty.”)
- Share ALL your callbacks! Not getting a callback? Share someone else’s! Association = Stardom.
- Don’t post your headshots all at once. Post a new angle, once a month, so that no one ever forgets how good David Noles (or how expensive Peter Hurley) made you look.
- Share a link to your website whenever cosmetic updates are made. Occasionally changing the background colors on your website will trick people into thinking you’re more successful than sitting alone in your apartment changing the colors on your website.
- A status about sharing an elevator with a celebrity is sure to impress your mom’s book club friend Ellen! (You’re so close to stardom!)
- Every time you complete a project, no matter how minuscule, write a lengthy post about how much it meant to you! Think of it as practice for your Oscar speech.
- Posting, “Without ______ I wouldn’t be where I am today” is a great way to imply that you are somewhere.
13.5 When feeling deprived of career momentum post the vague, “I HAVE NEWS!” and then wait and watch for the notifications to ramp up. “Likes” = substantial success!
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