Acting Tip: Finding an Agent

Finding actor representation can be tough, especially if you're looking to break into a new market.  You need an agency that has an established presence and a network of relationships so they can actively market you, not just submit you for roles.

Life Coach Dallas Travers has some tips that I think address the difficulties in a very pro-active way.  In a nutshell, here is her 7-Step Plan (See her original post here.):

Step 1: Send an email.  This email should be no more than three sentences, and should be structured as so: Introduction. Credibility. Invitation. Links. So, an example would be, “Hi, my name is …(introduction), and I recently graduated from ….. (credibility). I’m new to the LA (NY, whatever) market and would love to meet to discuss working together (invitation). Please click the link below to see my demo reel (links).” Sign your name, and hit send!

Step 2: Send a mailing.  Five days after your initial email, mail a postcard or one-sheet, whatever piece of marketing you’ve been using. Write the exact same message on this marketing that you wrote in the email.  Warning: Do not mail your demo reel! At this point, it’s unlikely to be seen and will end up just costing you money.

Step 3: Fax a letter. That’s right, you read correctly, I used the word “fax.” This works because most businesses still own fax machines but they’re not frequently used, ensuring that this is a piece of marketing that will get noticed. This should happen five business days after Step 2. Make sure you’re faxing this letter on a text-only one-sheet that looks like letterhead so your name and information is at the top. Then write the same introduction you used in steps 1 and 2, and include any quotes or testimonials that you have in the letter.

Step 4: Do a drop-off. Five days after you send the fax, drop by the office and leave some kind of marketing. You could give them the letter that you faxed, or if you have demos and you can afford to make copies, go ahead and drop off those. Feel free to get as creative as you want. Check out www.PaperMart.com for some fun and inexpensive ideas.

Step 5: Pick up the phone.  Now we’re turning up the volume. Two business days after you do the drop-off, make a phone call. The script is the same as your original letter.

Step 6: Take action. When you complete Step 5, the agency is going to give you some form of resistance. They’ll say something like, “We need an industry referral,” or “We need you to email us your demo reel.” Now your job is to take the action they’ve requested, even if you’ve already done it. Don’t mention that you’ve already given them what they’re asking for because that opens the door for them to respond with, “Great! If we’re interested, we’ll give you a call."

Step 7: Make the final phone call.  Do this two business days after Step 6. Often, you won’t even get to this step because you will already have gotten a meeting or a clear no. This step is your chance to make sure you’ve done everything you can to know where you stand with everyone on your list.

Sounds easy enough. Professional but persistent.  Initial contacts with agencies often have to pass through an intern (yes, it's true). This could do it.

#ActorAgents #SAGAFTRA #KayBrowning #ActorTips

Three Rules for Living....and Acting

This turned up on Facebook and, as an actress, rang a bell....

Michael Chekhov's 3 Archetypes

As I've often said in this journal, I'm a thinking actress, not a feeling actress, and I'm always looking for shortcuts to developing a character. Brits are known for an outside in approach, for example: get the walk and the talk first and then to let the character develop from there.

Actor Michael Chekhov, nephew of playwright Anton Chekhov, developed a system that can help in capturing the walk and the talk. Chekhov said all characters fell into one of three archetypes, which he called Head-, Heart-, and Groin-centered.

“Head” characters seem to draw their emotional energy from the head and all of their gestures seem to come from there. They slap or tap their head, scratch their head, make sweeping farewell gestures from the head. They also sit forward in chairs and walk forward on the balls of their feet. Head characters are perceptive. Consider Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, who frequently tips his hat, touches his moustache, and nods his head, not to mentioned constantly referring to those “little grey cells.” Or in the photo, Laurence Harvey expressing frustration as a Head character.

 

“Heart” characters draw emotional energy from the chest and heart area. They may place a hand over their heart when they speak, clasp or wring hands at the waist, and make open-handed gestures from the waist to convince you of their sincerity. Their intelligence and emotions are more balanced. They sit up straight and walk with their feet flat on the ground. Think of the characters in Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility.” Sincere, honorable, doing what’s right.

“Groin” characters are earthy types with a low center of energy. They slouch into a chair, hook their thumbs in their pockets, and lean back when speaking. All gestures, from amorous caresses to a threatening fist, come at hip level. Marlon Brando personified the "groin" character. Think Stanley Kowalski or Don Corleone.

It sounds simplistic, but with practice the Chekhov system can have enormous value to the actor, including voice actors. Try it when preparing an audition and see how your read changes from type to type.

#KayBrowning #MichaelChekhov #ActorsAccess #SagAftra

Auditioning for Network TV vs. Auditioning for Cable

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Australia-based casting director Greg Apps has an interesting piece in Backstage magazine, pointing to the differences in auditioning for shows on network television and cable.  While these won't hold true every time, the basics are these:

Network is plot driven. Cable is character driven. Network shows are self-contained within one hour. The baddie must be caught, a relationship must be resolved. What happens is more important than to whom it happens. You need to deliver clear concise characterizations for network. Pace is more important than a pause. Do not overcook the character, because that is secondary to the story rhythm being clearly communicated. Cable characters make the audience work that little bit harder.

Network delivers recognizable emotions and relationships. Cable delivers conundrums. Network programs concisely deliver a character’s feelings and emotions. The audience is comfortable. They know the territory. Cable series performance hints at a character’s feelings, leaving subtle clues. The audience savors the intrigue and tension of being delivered morsels of information. It sets up discussion. If network TV did this, the viewer would reach for the remote.

Network is about style over substance. Cable is substance over style. Look your best for a network test. Look even better than your best. Network needs their audience to know exactly who the character is the moment they appear on screen, so dress appropriately for a network audition. Cable takes the audience into foreign territory —emotionally not geographically. A place where they have never been before. The cable script is the map, but it is the characters that create the emotional environment.

Network decisions are driven by how you look. Cable is driven by “Have I seen this character before?” Characters in a network show need to be instantly recognizable. We know the character in a short time. In your cable audition you can make bolder decisions about your character. Warning: Be careful to not make your character bigger, but rather more obtuse, more perplexing. Find moments that give your character added dimension.

Interesting points! Read the full article and more on Greg Apps here.

#KathrynBrowning #Backstage #Auditions #GregApps #ActorsAccess

The Best Thing that can happen to an Actor

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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 no sense of who you are or what you bring to a role, and that is wrecking your chances for more work. 

Let it go. Film and TV production is a hugely expensive business, and a score of considerations go into deciding who is cast and whether a scene stays in the picture. You can’t possibly know what all of them are, so more often than not you are going to lose out to some other actor. There is no magic strategy to a cold read.

But once you stop agonizing over it, once you learn to deal with career disappointments, suck it up, and keep going, something magical DOES happen. You begin to relax during your auditions. You become more sure of yourself as an actor and as a human being, and your performances become more natural. You still want the role (Of course you do.), but you’re not going to lie awake at night beating yourself up if you don’t get it. You give the audition your best shot, and then you walk out the door and let it go.  

In short, you become a real pro.

#KathrynBrowning #ActorsAccess #KayBrowning #SAGAFTRA #ActorAuditions

Being an Actor means getting up early

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.

Making Progress

I was off the radar this spring overseeing repairs to the house. Now things are picking up. I shot a principal speaking role in the Netflix series House of Cards, Season 3. Last summer I auditioned twice and was cast twice in speaking roles for two Season 2 episodes, both directed by James Foley, a wonderful director. Lost them both in editing.

Getting edited out is one of the hazards in this business as filmmakers typically shoot much more footage than they can use. But actors mourn it when it happens (and I did). I have my fingers crossed that the scene for Season 3 stays in. So far, it looks good.  House of Cards is a wonderful series, beautifully shot and extremely well written. 
 

A short film I was in earlier this year is about to come out, Shoshana Rosenbaum's supernatural thriller "The Goblin Baby." Looking forward to seeing the finished version.

I was also just cast in a lead role in a new Laurence Peters play, "The Illusionist," about the world of art forgery.  The play will have a brief run this fall, with me as Barbara Goldberg, the disgruntled ex-wife who blows the whistle on the fraud scheme.

Looming large on the horizon, is an audition I just taped for a terrific role in Jon Jashni's feature film Brilliance. The production is gathering steam for fall filming up near Pittsburgh. No word yet. Noomi Rapace, who was so brilliant as Lisbeth Salander in the original Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, is the only name showing in the cast so far.

Actors get a bit rusty during down time, as I had this spring, so even though I'm getting some booking I think it's time to head back to acting coach John Pallotta's Studio in New York. John Pallotta is also an actor, writer, and director, so he has instant rapport with his actor clients, who continue to turn up regularly in feature films and in TV shows like Arrested Development, Blue Bloods, Boardwalk Empire, CSI, VEEP, Orange is the new Black, and many others. John has a unique approach to getting into character that is very accessible. And he's right, to be successful you have to love this business of acting more than anything.

 So, off to New York!

#KathrynBrowning #JohnPallotta #HouseofCards #ArrestedDevelopment #BlueBloods #OrangeistheNewBlack #BoardwalkEmpire #VEEP #CSI #ActorsAccess #SAGAFTRA #Brilliance #NoomiRapace #JonJashni