Up at dawn again. Bah. Our one remaining dog has his chin on my knee and is looking up with soulful brown eyes that say, "Please, please give me your oatmeal." (Okay, he wins.)
I've been in AFTRA workshops all week learning more on the business side of acting. I'm going over a contract this weekend for a proposed audio dramatic series and will have to run it by a union rep on Monday. I'm hoping we can cut a deal as the series would be fun to do and voicing a drama could prove useful for getting work in animation and video games (I understand Linda Hunt has made a bundle voicing video games!), plus I could use my various accents. What a kick that would be!
But the really important news is that I attended an "Acting Intensive" last Saturday in DC with New York casting director Geoffrey Soffer. (That's him at left looking very much the brooding New Yorker, although he was quite cheerful and approachable in person. His website is here.) and finally got the answer to two questions that have been hanging over my head through three years of drama classes and reading everything on acting I could get my hands on:
(1) What do directors and drama coaches mean when they say "have the courage to take risks" and "make strong choices" in auditions? These phrases get mouthed a lot but never really defined. It's like, well, of course, everyone knows what they mean.
(2) If you need theatre experience and a degree from a big-name acting school to get noticed - and many casting directors say you do - then how did Director Louis Malle get truthful, compelling performances out of 10- and 12-year-olds in Au Revoir Les Enfants? And how is it that Jennifer Lawrence gets propelled into an acting career at age 14 on a summer trip to New York? Little or no theatre one would assume, and certainly no degree from NYU.
This will run long so I'm putting the answers in the next post.
I've been in AFTRA workshops all week learning more on the business side of acting. I'm going over a contract this weekend for a proposed audio dramatic series and will have to run it by a union rep on Monday. I'm hoping we can cut a deal as the series would be fun to do and voicing a drama could prove useful for getting work in animation and video games (I understand Linda Hunt has made a bundle voicing video games!), plus I could use my various accents. What a kick that would be!
(1) What do directors and drama coaches mean when they say "have the courage to take risks" and "make strong choices" in auditions? These phrases get mouthed a lot but never really defined. It's like, well, of course, everyone knows what they mean.
(2) If you need theatre experience and a degree from a big-name acting school to get noticed - and many casting directors say you do - then how did Director Louis Malle get truthful, compelling performances out of 10- and 12-year-olds in Au Revoir Les Enfants? And how is it that Jennifer Lawrence gets propelled into an acting career at age 14 on a summer trip to New York? Little or no theatre one would assume, and certainly no degree from NYU.
This will run long so I'm putting the answers in the next post.
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