debor009

I'm a firm believer in learning something from those who are successful at doing it. ("Those who can, do," as the saying goes.) Actor autobiographies are tremendous resources of information on how an actor achieved success, as are the many bon mots that turn up in actor interviews posted online. Very often, or so it seems to me, the breakthrough occurred not with some change in technique but with a simple change in the actor's way of thinking, as multiple Emmy-winning actor Bryan Cranston demonstrates in this slyly recorded snippet posted on YouTube. Going into an audition to "do" a job rather than "get" a job can take a lot of pressure off of your performance and enable you to "let it go" when you finish the audition. By the way, motivational coach/speaker Evan Carmichael posts the "Top 10 rules for Success" for various actors, which always have some positive takeaway. Here's what he posted for Cranston. It's well wort...

Note: I published this in October 2011, but I think the points are still valid so I'm reprinting it to move it up in the queue. Best workshop I ever attended.  Hearing a drama coach tell you to have “the courage to take risks” and “make strong choices” – especially when spoken in the same breath as phrases like “create stunning, three-dimensional characterizations” – can be intimidating for an actor.  And much to the chagrin of many drama coaches I’m sure, “take risks” is too often interpreted as a directive to reach down inside yourself and pull out someone totally different from who you are. In short, to “act.” That’s not it. Not according to  Geoffrey Soffer , casting director for  Ugly Betty  and  The Beautiful Life , who grew up in the business. I took notes during a workshop I took with him a week ago. The following is what I wrote down. Some of it I knew, some I suspected, and some was a complete surprise. Film and television directors cast personali...

--> You lost out. You auditioned and they loved you. Casting was so moved by your performance they were in tears. You were called back, more than once. They said you nailed it. Or maybe you even got the part in the big budget production and shot the scene. The famous director told you how terrific you were on camera. You went home walking on air. You told all of your actor friends. Everyone said you were on your way. And then….nothing. The part went to a different actor. Your scene was edited out of the film. Your big moment turned to sand. It doesn’t feel like a gift at that moment, (No, it hurts like hell.) but for an actor early in their career it may just be the best thing that can possibly happen. Why? Because you want that role desperately.   You need it. Your sense of self-worth hangs on it. You leave auditions replaying the scene in your head: “Maybe I should have done it this way, maybe I should have done it that way.”   You’re a bundle of nerves with ...

Auditioned this morning in NY for a role in a new TV series that's been green-lighted. A lot of production companies with streaming capability are bypassing pilots and committing to projects right off. This is a positive new trend, because it means they're putting thought and money into development of a superior product, like House of Cards . Anyway, this one is with a major production house. I think I did well, but two other actresses auditioning for the same role were on a first name basis with casting. It's a tough market. 4 a.m. in Washington's Union Station, waiting for a train.

Back from a week in Los Angeles to attend the LAWebFest, where my web series CapSouth was screened.  Now catching up on my laundry.  I had an amazing time. Took advantage of the trip to meet with actor and production friends and scout the area.  Stayed off the freeway and drove through the neighborhoods – Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Koreatown, East LA, Burbank, Pasadena, Malibu, Santa Monica, Venice, all over.  This is what I learned and heard: 1.    Vastly more production going on there than in the East (not surprising), but also vastly more competition from other actors. I bumped into performers everywhere: coffee shops, on the street, and two  stand-up comics just while waiting for the rental car at the airport. Kept overhearing snatches of conversations like: “we just shot their commercial last week” and “we start shooting the film in May.”  2.    While many of the big production studios are in the Burbank/San Fernando Valle...

A lot of actors say they are too self-conscious or too critical of their own performance to ever watch their own clips. I say watch your clips. More than that, develop a loving eye about how you look expressing the whole range of emotions. Why? Because it's freeing. The more comfortable you are with how you look on camera, the more you can let yourself be free to act and to have fun with your character. Starting out in this business, I think we all want to look as attractive as possible on film and in photos. Hollywood projects glamor, after all. American films and American television in particular reach for a certain standard of physical perfection. Even Jennifer Lawrence gets photoshopped in print to look thinner and have more hair! (Good grief!) The tendency is to be overly conscious of our imperfections. My eyes are a bit too close together, for example. My nose definitely has a "good side." My face in the throes of deep emotion has hundreds of little muscles that cre...

Actress Ingrid Bergman relates this exchange with director Alfred Hitchcock: “I said, "I don't think I can give you that kind of emotion." And he [Hitchcock] sat there and said, "Ingrid, fake it!" Well, that was the best advice I've had in my whole life, because in all the years to come there were many directors who gave me what I thought were quite impossible instructions and many difficult things to do, and just when I was on the verge of starting to argue with them, I heard his voice coming to me through the air saying, "Ingrid, fake it!" It saved a lot of unpleasant situations and waste of time.” Faking it has a lot to do with the "outside in" approach to acting favored by the British and Europeans, and the more experience I gain as an actress, the more I think there is something to it. Get the walk and the talk and the rest of it will come. In many situations, it does. Example: I was on set yesterday for a television episode in a sce...

You have to be an optimist to be an actor. You get great reviews in a play, or your film wins an award, and then for months you get nothing and begin to wonder if you're on anyone's radar. What keeps me going through the down times is the persistent belief that something wonderful is about to happen. Like now, for instance. For the past week I've been obsessed with organizing the house. Clearing out closets and attic storerooms. Hauling unused items to the thrift store, junk to the dump, trash to the curb. Cleaning out the basement and setting up a space to tape auditions. The last time I felt this obsessed with the nest I went into labor! So what else is about to pop? A few nights ago I had this dream. I can't remember most of it, only the end where I walk to a picture window, pull back the drapes, and gaze up at that hill that has the #Hollywood sign on it. Only in my dream, instead of "Hollywood" it has "2014" in great big numbers.  Not sure what...

I feel like I’m struggling.  Getting a fair number of film auditions, but not nailing as many roles as I should. Actors get a lot of advice when this happens, most of it vague and unhelpful. You need to make bold choices (whatever that means). Don’t rush your lines (but, on the other hand, avoid melodrama). Just react (even if your scene reader is giving you dead lines). Be the most interesting version of yourself (even if you got into acting because you don’t think you’re all that interesting). Do it large (the director can ramp you down). Don't do it large (they'll take you for a stage actor). And (least valuable of all) if you didn’t get the part it’s not your fault; it’s because of a whole laundry list of reasons unrelated to how you did. A film audition typically involves the barest summary of the story line and where your character fits.  The sides you’re sent to read could be satire, drama, farce….the words themselves don’t necessarily tell you. If you’re auditioning fo...

I'm one of those actors who never sees much benefit from audition classes....probably because I've never understood the phrase "make bold choices."  Like what the heck is that? But watching top-level actors auditioning for roles they got (or maybe didn't get) is gold free for the mining.  I've figured out more about auditioning from that than anything else. YouTube has a lot of audition tapes and other tapes can be found at various sites online. Below is Steve Carell auditioning for The Office, and here's a link to more.

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...

I've been looking for a new monologue, and although there are plenty out there, even plenty of obscure monologues out there, it's unclear what makes an appropriate monologue.... for me . I've read enough about auditioning to know that no casting director wants to see a piece they've seen done a million times. I want them to focus on my talent and personality, not be sitting there thinking, "Oh no, not this again." I also need to avoid over-long memory monologues (When I was a little girl growing up on the farm in Kansas....) or monologues intended to shock (swearing, screaming, crying, engaging in repulsive acts). I once saw a quite beautiful actress perform a monologue that involved a detailed analysis of picking her nose. It was grim. But I recently came across an otherwise so-so book called 10 Steps to Breaking into Acting that contained a good definition of the perfect monologue, and I think this is the place to start. Here it is: A good monologue is one ...

Casting director Duncan Stewart , who cast the upcoming Broadway revival of Pippin , said in Backstage recently that actors who consistently book jobs do so because they are good at conveying “the story” in their audition.  That means connecting your character to the other characters on the page, being specific about whom you are talking to and what you are saying. Every story has an arc – a beginning, middle, and an end – whether it’s a two-minute monologue, 16 bars of music, or an Under-5 read. When looking at your audition copy, Stewart says to ask these questions: 1. Who am I talking to? When you personalize the receiver, your tone and demeanor change to fit the circumstance. 2. What do I hope will happen by telling them this story?  When you make your character's goal concrete, your read becomes more than words on a page. 3. Where are the beginning, middle, and end? Every story has an introduction, a point to be made, and a closing beat.  Find them to make sure y...

Amy Jo Berman, former VP of casting for HBO had an article in a recent issue of Backstage listing "26 Reasons Why You Didn't Get the Part."  Her point: a lot of what goes into the decision to cast an actor in a certain role is simply out of your control.  So don't agonize over it. In looking back over some of my own auditions recently I've come to the conclusion that there are a couple of other factors to consider that are in my control, and correcting them might get me moving a little faster along my career path.  Here's what I've been doing wrong: 1.  I try to second-guess the casting director.  What I hear again and again is that casting directors are not casting for range, they're casting for type. But instead of going in with my A game - i.e. a clear understanding of my type and how to best present it - I go in and try to figure out what the casting director wants, which puts my auditions all over the place.  Only a handful of actors are true c...

I've been watching Directors: Life Behind the Camera , made in cooperation with the American Film Institute. The producers interviewed a long list of big name directors who talk about the art of filmmaking and their own careers in film. The first section is "you have to start somewhere," and what jumped out at me is how few of them said that they first went to film school to learn to direct. Not that there's anything wrong with going to film school, a good film school is terrific for teaching young filmmakers what they need to know, it's just that most of them started out on a different career path altogether. Then they fell into some aspect of filmmaking on the periphery and then....they met someone! And that meeting put them on the path to making movies. What it underscored for me is the importance of getting out where you can meet others in the business and where they can actually see you and talk to you (which they can't do on Facebook or LinkedIn no matte...