debor009

My husband and I were up last night watching director Shona Auerbach's 2004 film Dear Frankie for about the 20th time. This is a brilliant and moving film, beautifully shot, and incredibly her first attempt at a feature, having made a slew of commercials and one short prior. (It is quite possibly the best role ever for Gerard Butler , who plays The Stranger.) Written by Andrea Gibb, produced by Caroline Wood, a lyrical score by Alex Heffes (composer on the just released Escape Plan ), the film won raves at the Cannes International Film Festival , BAFTA and London Film Critics nominations, and a slew of film festival wins from Bulgaria to L.A. I have searched the Web repeatedly over the years for word of her and any follow-on projects.  Nothing. I had this sinking feeling that something terrible had happened to this incredible talent, because she had seemingly vanished. Last night while watching Dear Frankie I got out my laptop and gave it another try. And there she was!  Sh...

Technology is playing a larger and larger role in our lives as actors. Not only do we share our demo reels and send taped auditions via the Internet but we also – after we’ve gotten that coveted role – use the Internet to grab our performance clips off of the films and television shows in which we appear. Uploading and Sharing Video Taping an audition, as I’ll be doing later today for an HBO series, typically means shooting a big HD file and then creating a smaller size or different type of video file that can be uploaded to the Internet and then pulled down by your agent and the casting director. Here are some low cost/no cost options for creating and sharing smaller files: 1. Try  Mpeg Streamclip , which is a free program that you can learn about here and download here  in versions for Mac and Windows and others. I use this and find it super easy to create smaller files of sufficient quality to share with agents and casting. 2. Open a free account at Vimeo.com or Wist...

#CapSouth , the new online political comedy about the antics of the Capitol Hill staff of yours truly (as Congresswoman Gracie Todd Englewright) continues to gather media accolades: the Washington Post , Washington Times , Morning Express, Politico (full page spread with photos), RollCall (twice), The Hill, and online at Cynopsis.com 7/9/13 and  Comedy TV is Dead .  Creator Rob Raffety also got a radio interview with CBS radio affiliate WNEW here in DC and a write up in his hometown paper the West Virginia Gazette .  I think that has been more attention than even House of Cards got - at least from the inside-the-Beltway press. "Gracie," by the way, is very media savvy.  She has her own Facebook page for responding to "constituents" and tweets at @HonorableGracie.  Episodes of CapSouth can be found online at YouTube, and I appear (so far) in episodes 2 and 5.  We'll see where this takes us.  Will it prove a hit or be too inside baseball for the rest o...

Cinemas full of loud, dumb, crash-bang movies is why my husband and I are spending Saturday nights this summer staring at each other instead of gobbling up popcorn. The Atlantic just weighed in on why thoughtful film buffs can expect more of this schlock....it's all economics and a foreign market that has developed a taste for it. (The French loved Jerry Lewis films, remember?) See the full article here . Let's hope that Netflix makes a ton of money with brilliant programming like House of Cards . (More please! And not just because I got a few lines.)

Actors often have trouble writing their actor's bio, which is probably why Playbill bios tend to be folksy/cutesy. We feel awkward and self-conscious, and it shows. Gwyn Gilliss has an informative piece on the topic in Backstage this week (you can see the full article here ) that gives useful guidelines that sound right on the money.  I will say that having been a professional writer I still managed to miss most of this, so my next task this morning is rewriting my bio. Here's Gwyn's step-by-step advice: Paragraph 1: Recent roles/Strongest credits. (Theater if you’re in New York and film/TV if you’re in L.A.) Try to use recognizable plays and roles, not just “showcases.” If you’re just starting out, you can include “representative” roles. Those parts from Shakespeare or Chekov done at school outweigh showcases of unknown writers Off-Off-Broadway. Paragraph 2: Training. Don’t be afraid to name drop master teachers or prestigious drama schools, as well as directors you’ve ...

An actor will take good news wherever he/she can find it, and this is the week my horoscope said my career was going to take off! I know nothing about the movement of the planets but - so far - it's looking pretty darn good! Check out the spread on my new political comedy #CapSouth in today's edition of Politico !  That's me as Congresswoman Gracie Todd Englewright in the photo at lower right, with the statue of former House Speaker Sam Rayburn. The series was created by Rob Raffety , and the cast (playing my Capitol Hill staff) includes NY comic Andrew Heaton , R. Michael Oliver , Allison J. Howard , Naomi Brockwell , Satya Thallam, Chris Mannix, and a host of others. The CapSouth Marketing Team has been working overtime and doing a bang-up job. July 8th spread in Politico

Gracie arrives in Washington, DC, this week in the new YouTube political comedy # CapSouth . The nation's capital may never be the same. Congresswoman Gracie Todd Englewright in #CapSouth     Photo by Lauren Shannon

My new political comedy, CapSouth , is launching this week on YouTube. Whew, high tension!  It's already been written up in RollCall ,  The Hill and Politico , and rumor has it that an important announcement will soon be made in  Buzzfeed . I don't think of myself as a comic actress and, as I've said before, feel somewhat like I'm playing the Margaret Dumont role in a brilliant cast of Marx Brothers. But there are tips even second bananas can draw upon to find comedy in a scene. Backstage magazine recently had a nice piece by actor and audition coach Michael Kostroff that outlined some of the frequently recurring elements to consider when approaching a comedy script. They are: "Disproportion: an extreme reaction to a small problem; a small reaction to a huge problem; lots of effort for an easy task; little effort for a great task. "Lack of self-awareness: an unattractive character who thinks he’s irresistibly good-looking; a drunk who thinks he’s behav...

What am I? I just posted a new television credit to my résumé, which again raised the issue of billing and how to officially define a role. Résumé credit terminology can be dizzying shades of gray and for years the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) had different terms for similar roles. There are clues.  If you’re working a union television contract, your billing should be spelled out specifically in your contract.  If you have no contract or deal memo for your work, you can check the original breakdown for the project, as the billing for the role is often listed after the character description. You can also check with your agent or someone in production. This is what I came up with, broken down by genre: FILM Lead (Star): The actor appears in most scenes in a role that is central to the story and without which the film would not exist.  His/her name is often in the on-screen credits at the beginning of the film...