Sexy or serious, and thinking long-term

Scarlett Johansson was named Esquire magazine's "Sexiest Woman Alive" a few weeks ago (for the second time).  Here's what she said:

"The 28-year-old cover star tells the magazine that getting older isn't all fun and games for a woman in Hollywood (shame on you for thinking it was), explaining how 'pretty soon the roles you're offered are all mothers. Then they just sort of stop."  Full coverage in the Mirror here.

Well, it occurs to me that if an actress projects largely her sexuality onscreen - i.e. the depth of her cleavage or the perfect roundness of her bum - then the bloom really is starting to go off the rose at 28.  But why does Hollywood do that to women?

Playing a "cougar"

Marion Cotillard tore up the screen in La Vie en Rose, a 2007 French biopic about the legendary Edith Piaf.  She was wonderful. Yet in the 2010 Warner Brothers Sci-Fi film Inception she is reduced to little more than an artfully positioned potted plant. Lovely to look at, but what a waste of talent.

Do British actresses hope to be named the "sexiest woman alive"?

I was thinking about this today because I met with a young woman filmmaker for coffee yesterday and she remarked that, in addition to playing congresswomen and executives, I could play a "cougar," a woman who makes a play for younger men.

Actually I took one shot at that last year for a pilot. It was played for laughs.  I prefer being a congresswoman.  

Acting Tips: Defining the different acting schools

I've just come across an online post defining the different schools/approaches to acting.  It is as succinct as I've seen (original here) in outlining the basic themes, explaining that....

Adler is built upon Imagination
Meisner is built upon Immediate Experience
Strasberg (Method) is built upon Sense Memory
British is built upon Observation

"The Meisner system seems to produce actors that pay attention to their partner better. Some of the basic Meisner exercises include the YES/NO and various repetition and back-and-forth exercises that tend to 'bond' the actors together. "Acting is living life truthfully under imaginary circumstances". "The emotional life of a scene is a river and the words are the boats".

"The Strasberg system or METHOD system tends to produce actors that are a bit more tightly wound. The system is based on SENSE MEMORY, which is the process of recalling all of the attributes of an object, and EMOTIONAL MEMORY which is the process of recalling significant events and situations from the actor's past.

"This produces the best actors for Blue Screen and effects performances, but often at the expense of the actor's mental health. Stella Adler once said about Lee that "he would push people into spaces that they should not go without a licensed therapist present." Strasberg would often tell actors that they should get some therapy. Personally I feel the best improv exercises use sense memory. It catapults you into a sense of belief. PRIVACY IN PUBLIC. "Visualize a real situation in your own life and do your lines within that frame of mind."

"Stella Adler gives us the process of action verbs and is based on imagination as being the best motivation for a good performance. The imagination is very powerful in the presence of a director who loves to tell stories. " Get the verb of it, don't worry about the emotional thread".

"The British approach to acting is an odd one. Not that it doesn't generate spectacular performances or consummate actors, but rather is based on the actual achievement of acting. Rather than becoming the character emotionally or mentally, the British system actually emulates a character by adopting all of the physical traits and characteristics."

Let me jump in: the Brits get their character's voice and walk, for example, and then let loose their imagination. This approach has been described as "outside-in"and probably appeals to actors who, like me, are "thinkers" rather than "feelers."

Acting Tips: Method, Meisner....or is it possible there is something else?

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 for a small, day-player role in a big production, there won’t even be a character description, only a random title, such as “clerk #1.” This leaves you agonizing over those few lines and how to deliver them in the scene, because the director - who has bigger fish to fry - is not about to be bothered with any questions from you about your clerk character’s "motivation."

So I’ve been wondering if there isn’t a more nuts and bolts way of getting into a character, particularly for auditions, that would work under any circumstance…some general jumping off place.

Years ago, when I was working as a publicist for a Washington think tank, one of my tasks was to get the op-eds of young policy analysts published on the editorial pages of national newspapers.

The problem was, they didn’t know how to write op-eds.  They were used to expressing their thoughts in 20 pages or more, not in 500 words or less.  Telling them to focus tightly and to get to the point was about as helpful as saying “make bold choices.”

Well, I’m a problem-solver, and one day I sat down and spread out a half dozen published op-eds that seemed to be well-written and to the point, and I asked myself, what do these pieces have in common in terms of structure?  What kinds of information do they convey and where in the piece do they convey it?

It was a very mechanical way to go about it, but I found that – structurally – the op-eds did indeed have much in common. I started taking notes and I found that I was able to develop an outline for one approach to an op-ed that said this is the kind of information you put in paragraph one, this is what you put in paragraph two, etc. I can't say it was the best way to write an op-ed, and it certainly wasn't the only way. But following that outline, my young policy analysts started getting published and eventually they developed a style and approach to writing these kinds of pieces that was all their own.  The point was to first find a way for them to succeed and with some regularity.

So what I’ve been asking myself this past week is whether it’s possible to approach acting in that same way? To benefit by looking solely at what successful (even legendary) actors do in a scene, without necessarily understanding why they do it that way?  Just the mechanics.  Just a jumping off place.

I'm already seeing some commonalities.  Maybe there is indeed something there.

UPDATE: OCTOBER 30, 2013

I've been watching films, including The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (because there are so many great British actors in it) and the quintessentially American Dr. Strangelove.  I'm going to be researching the British approach to acting, which I believe is quite different from the American way.  But for now, this is what I'm seeing in both kinds of films:

Line Delivery

1. Classically trained actors enunciate. You can understand every word.
2. In a dialogue, classically trained actors hold their gaze/expression still while the other actor is talking. When the camera turns on them, they think their words, take some action/reaction, and then they speak their words.
3. Classically trained actors pause – A LOT!

• They make a slight but distinct pause between sentences. 
• They pause before dependent clauses introduced by prepositions. 
• They pause before and between lists of things.
• They pause after interjections: “of course,” “actually,” “nevertheless,” etc.
• Before emphatic descriptions and declarative statements.
• For thoughtful emphasis, they pause between nouns and verbs.
• They use pauses to breathe and to think the words of their next line.

4. They repeat words (stammer) to convey urgency/anxiety/doubt.
5. They hold their gaze at the end of a scene unless directed otherwise.  (The editor will love you for that!)

Movement

1. In long scenes, classically trained actors find some prop that they might logically pick up and have in their hand, which avoids random arm-waving while talking. (See George C. Scott fiddling with the gum package in the war room scene in Dr. Strangelove.)
2. If the scene seems to call for them to bend over to do something at the end of a scene, they fiddle with the prop and stay in frame instead (click/screw pen, feel edge of axe) unless directed otherwise.
3. Classically trained actors are not afraid to put their hand(s) to their face and to cover all or part of their face while talking.
4. They tap fingers rapidly to convey anxiety (on table, in palm, on ribcage, etc.)
5. They indicate for emphasis. i.e. they went that-a-way (point).

I will add to this as I see more.....

Picking up one of those "As Herself" credits

Taped an episode yesterday of "Lights, Camera, Action!," a local arts & entertainment discussion program hosted by actress Allison Howard.  It was great fun and an "As herself" credit for IMDb.  Also appearing on the program were actors James Bacon and Firas Natour.

I've lightened my hair (We all become blondes eventually, right ladies?) and this is the first time I've gotten a good look at the new shade.  I think I'm beginning to like it, although in going from almost black to a light honey brown I had to totally rethink my wardrobe and the colors that look good on me.

Anyway, the episode will air on local cable in three weeks and I'll be posting highlights.

Post taping (L-R): actor James Bacon, me, actor Firas Natour,
and show host Allison Howard

Acting Tips: Important new feature at Actors Access

Actors Access, the casting section of Breakdown Services, has an important new feature for actors that is likely to fundamentally change the tools we make available for casting. Each headshot on your Actors Access profile can now include a 7-second clip of you slating to camera and in effect creating a "moving picture" of you for casting purposes.

Another option, however, and one that I've taken instead, is to take a 7-second clip from a past film and simply slate it on screen in print. You can actually grab quite a bit of dialogue and convey what you really look like in different roles and from moody interiors to sunny exteriors.

If you have a profile at Actors Access you should take advantage of this. They charge $5 per clip (first one is free) but you can upload but yourself, which is a big improvement over their arduous process for reels.  (My Final Cut Pro X editing software is again proving invaluable.)

I wonder if the broader pool of actors available because of video audition capability means that casting directors have less time to look at reels (rats!) and at the same time are too wary of relying solely on stills, which are often overly photoshopped.

In any case, below is one of my drama clips so you can see what is possible in 7 seconds. I'm going to post one slate to camera just to have it available, but my other 5 "headshots" are going to be screen grabs illustrated with the 7-second clips.

I think this is an exciting development as I've always thought my headshots were attractive but too limiting. They never seem to fit the role I'm submitting for.

Have any of you already taken advantage of this new feature and posted clips?  What is your view on this feature?  Is this going to make $500-$700 headshot photos obsolete? We can only hope.

Fame and Patricia Bright

I'm a great fan of old radio shows (the acting is wonderful!) and sometimes I hear someone who's so good it makes me think "Whatever happened to......?" Such was actress Patricia Bright, who I heard for the second time yesterday on a January 12, 1941 broadcast of a show called Behind the Mike. She was only 19 at the time, and an up-and-coming actress with stars in her eyes.

The bit for the show was an audition for two well-known talent scouts. She presented a dramatic monologue and then did a very funny routine demonstrating how to play ladies of different nationalities, using the appropriate accents – English Cockney, Scottish, Russian, etc. She was terrific and, not surprisingly, the talent scouts praised her performance and said they would have no problem submitting her for work.

Patricia Bright's "Oscar"

I always wondered what happened to her. She was so talented. But there is little beyond her IMDb listing of a few roles in early TV (and a couple of old photos being auctioned this week on ebay).

But the Internet is a wonderful tool for finding things and as it turns out Bright's daughter-in-law, Cindy Waitt, has a blog where I found a lovely retrospective on the actress's life. (You can read it here.)

I learned that her only Oscar was a prop from the Janet Gaynor/Frederic March version of A Star is Born, which she had won in a contest. That she had filmed a scene for Woody Allen's wonderful 1987 film Radio Days, a favorite of mine, only to have it cut. (At least he wrote her a nice note.) I learned that she was a funny lady who had a stage act and could do a drop-dead impersonation of Katharine Hepburn.

I also learned that she extended her career doing voice work. In fact, Waitt tells a very funny story about Bright leaving "a recording studio furious about a bad audition.  In the days of pay phones, she picked up the receiver, deposited a dime, intending to call her agent and chew him out, and was startled to hear her own voice, telling her to deposit more money.  Bright had done the recording for the phone company."

Sadly the talented young actress did not have the big screen career one would have hoped for. Marriage and children intervened, and in a field that requires full focus and determination, it's hard to retain both a marriage and a career. She retained the former. Still, I would have loved to have seen her impersonation of Hepburn. It must have been priceless.

Acting Tips: Your acting career doesn't hang on a headshot

I don't often just repost an email, but David Patrick Green of HackHollywood.com, has a particularly wise piece of advice this week that I'd like to share. For actors, dealing with career anxiety comes with the territory (Here is a very funny spin on that at Buzzfeed).  We are frequently told to keep ready headshots, business cards, a change of clothes, etc. and to be prepared to jump on a set at a moment's notice.

When we don't, this is typical: One anxious actor wrote to Green that he'd "made a mistake last night. A personal manager of one of the biggest A-listers asked if I had a headshot and resume on me so he could have it for possible future opportunities. I did not have one on me!!! I usually do, but I did not last night. Mistake, yes. Career ending mistake, no, but possible missed opportunity."

Here's how Green responded: "I actually think the fact you didn't have your headshot on you is a good thing. First, anything is good if you know how to make it good, but in this particular case it illustrates a couple of things. First, it illustrates how actors generally have a desperate mentality....like because you didn't have a particular item at a particular time that it's going to make any real difference in your life and that there aren't a million opportunities always presenting themselves over and over if we simply put ourselves out there. You are putting yourself out there so that is the main thing.

"But we actors need to get ourselves out of the mindset that if you don't have a headshot with you it means something. I think the opposite is true. If you think you need a headshot with you all the time, it means you are terrified that you are not enough on your own. A headshot is a representation of you for people who either don't know you or who do know you and now know you for a particular part. Some guy at a party is neither of these. He has met you so he doesn't need a pic to know what you look like. He took interest in you so he has something in mind for you.

"Does that end because you aren't a walking office with pen and paper and headshots and demo reels on you? Not at all. It's almost comical to think it would make any difference at all in your life. He liked you, not your picture, so all you do is follow up with him. To think he will do anything with your headshot anyway after one meeting is fairly optimistic. Most of these people throw around favors like they throw around cocktail napkins. It's only in the follow up that you will see if he is serious.

"What people are interested in (or not) is you. Everything is about relationships, not pictures, so focus on getting to know him and him getting to know you. That is what will stick. Take him to lunch, help him move, play tennis, babysit his kids, whatever, but forget the headshots. That is a weak surrogate for developing a relationship, but it's a great out for people like that to end a conversation and feel good about themselves at the same time. Oh, you should give me your headshot...I will pass it around...whatever...see you later...If he says pop into the office next week, now you're talking.

"You don't need anything at a party except yourself. If someone takes an interest in you, it's just the beginning, not the end. If you don't have a pic, it's actually better because it forces you to have meeting number two to drop it off and you can see on Monday if they are serious or just a serious flake, which most are.

"You want to really see what you're made of? Don't even have headshots at all. Force yourself to live and die on your relationships and your name. Your agent can submit pictures, but they're pretty worthless with people who don't know you unless you have great credits, and then it's your credits, not your pictures that are getting you called in.

"Go headshotless for a month and see what happens. You will be amazed at the stares you get if you said 'I don't have headshots. I only work with people I know...'"

"Hacking is about doing things the right way and the right way is rarely the way everyone else does things. All those silly rules of thumb, like always carry a change of clothes and always have your headshots, are for people who think opportunities appear and disappear based on clothing and pictures, and that's simply not true. Anyone who won't hire you because of those things isn't worth working with anyway, because they don't know what to focus on, which is your work and your work ethic, not your picture and the fact that you have a lab coat in the trunk.

"You got me fired up because I know you are smart and you will see the light here. Stand on your own two feet. You aren't your headshot. You are either great or you are not great, but what you have on your person does not change that. Someone is interested in you. Great, let's talk. If they ask for your picture, they don't want to talk and by giving it to them, you are basically handing them all your power by saying, 'OK here it is. I hope you can help me,' when in fact your mentality should be, 'Let's meet and I can tell you how I can help you!"

You know, that is very smart advice.