Acting

So the education team just posted a list of recommended webinars, including How To Get Hired Anywhere in the world. That post is here in this lounges. As well my recommendation to jump into IYW.

Hey Tamara Green - I think your work is fantastic. It's so good that I would have liked to have seen less of the other actors and tiny bit more on you. Please don't get me wrong, it's good and I would ask either an acting coach or someone with more experience but that's my take. I realize that you're interacting with other actors so I'm not sure if more editing is the answer or not. Just saying there's a quality difference. Maybe that's a good thing? Either way, nicely done!

Thank you kindly Leonardo Ramirez 2 . I do think that for a demo reel, it is long, so maybe trimming their parts is the key.

If it's not too costly, Tamara Green, trimming their parts is a good option. The one scene with the woman with the German accent spends too much time on her.

Tamara Green I really liked it too, the acting and the writing. Good on you for getting it done. I agree with the others about having less of the female actress in the first scene. I also wonder about perhaps showing a bit more contrast of range in the third scene with your husband/partner (?). Or perhaps a slightly bolder choice. Just my take though and as a newbie to acting feel free to completely dismiss what have just said.

That was going to be my feedback Tamara Green It needs to be trimmed. A demo reel is 30-45 seconds. Also, yes less of the other actress. There does need to be bit more of a range. May be a comedic scene? You want to grab the casting directors' attention in the first 10 seconds or they won't keep watching.

Excellent post, Dan Martin Roesch! I'm not an actor, but I treat my career like a business, and I learned things about acting over the years that helped me as a writer.

"Actors who think entrepreneurially create their own opportunities instead of waiting for them." I met an actress on Stage 32 once who wrote, produced, and directed scenes for her reel.

It is called show BUSINESS.

Dan Martin Roesch I totally agree. Curious, how do you find the entry point to the character of the villain? Is it through embodying them, understanding their psychology and the inner wounding....or something else?

I'm looking forward to Introduce Yourself Weekend, Suzanne Bronson! I already have an idea for my post.

thank your for letting me know! I’ll be sure to pop in with headshots and a bio ☺️! see you then!

Suzanne Bronson my favourite part of being an actor is getting to play at make believe. I also love the emotional depth and intimacy that can occur when the character i'm playing has a good connection with another character. I think because it has been 3 months since I last did any acting what I don't like is how quickly I can get rusty unless I make an effort to keep practicing i.e that it is a lifelong learning practice.

Oh. Bumping this back to the top. Love to hear from some working actors on this one.

just build your portfolio ....tho i'm on the same journey

follow your favourite actor or actress

connect with any theatre around you

follow streaming platform like netflix, hbo amazon and more.

I am doing theatre from last 2 years in India

My advice is to scroll the conversations in this lounge. This question gets asked every other week. There is a lot of knowledge to be gained here. Also, you can check out the Jobs and Education pages. Network with the people here. Contribute to the conversations. You can search members by location. Attend the Community Open House. This week is Introduce Yourself Weekend on Stage 32 so jump into that. Read the blogs.

I've used action figures to outline scenes, Ashley Renee Smith. Toy cars too.

You're welcome, Aaron Marcus. You're right. And even when it didn't work out, I still learned things by trying.

I'm with you Maurice Vaughan The greatest difficulty I have is tuning out my mother's voice, who told me all my life "Why are you even bothering? It's a waste of time. Don't you know how hard it is to get published, produced, whatever? You can't make a living out of that."

I took a deep breath, went for a long walk, then ignored her and continued to try anyway. The thing is, you don't know if you will succeed unless you try. The worst thing anyone can say is "No" and then you can move on. Keep creating, keep trying, you never know when opportunities will come.

Aaron Marcus thanks for this great video. I'm glad you did believe in yourself and try. As a psychotherapist I can also understand the people who don't want to try for fear of disappointment and rejection. Sometimes this fear is not even in their awareness. I even notice the subtle ways my own fear of disappointment can discourage me from trying. Mostly I catch it though and try anyway. Your video inspires me to keep doing so.

Unsolicited advice is meddling. If I did not ask you, I do not care about your opinion on how I should live my life. So to tell me to not try or not to bother, really is your issue not mine.

Also, failure is a lesson too. We can learn so much by what we tried and didn't and take that knowledge and apply it to try again. Just because it didn't work out doesn't mean it was a failure. Saying something was a waste of time, discounts all that I learned.

Thank you for sharing Aaron Marcus

Wow, thank you all for all of your incredible comments. This is why I share these videos here. The industry, whether it is screenwriting, producing, acting or directing, we all have to deal with very similar issues. I am told no on a daily basis. It took many years to understand, these are not personal statements about me, just business decisions.

Can't thank you enough for sharing your wonderful insights. If there are ant topics you want me to cover in a future video, please let me know. Can't guarantee I can create a video on your topic, but would love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you all again.

I can't wait to see The Running Man, Pat Alexander! I remember watching the original growing up. I think Glen Powell is the perfect choice for the role. He did great in Twisters! I still need to see Hit Man.

Likewise Maurice Vaughan it looks like it's gonna be awesome and I love Glen Powell!

I just watched Hit Man, Pat Alexander. Glen did incredible! It can't be easy playing two characters.

Super grateful Penelope Ann Miller for the time and care and hard-earned insight you've shared with all of us. And I share your appreciation of period dramas - one of my first memories of watching TV (even as a child growing up in communist Romania) was being glued to episodes of Poldark! the 1975 version... :)

Cool, Sebastian. I've just begun watching the newer Poldark and am liking it a lot.

Thank you very much Penelope Ann Miller for your answers which are so thoughtful and so generous in spirit. Truly appreciated.

Congrats on your achievements Penelope Ann Miller. I wanted to know if I become an actor, how do I get into the industry of it.

oh, that's great Pamela Jaye Smith - will have to check it out!

Suzanne Bronson Appreciate this. I dug in and it looks like the third Knives Out filmed in London because the UK’s new Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit gives a net 25.5% cash rebate on UK spend, which reportedly shaved about $41m off the budget by doubling London for NYC. NY’s credit is strong (30%, with up to 40% in certain counties), but that extra bump only kicks in if you do >50% of principal photography days in those counties—so it’s not apples to apples. Add in UK studio/stage incentives and the director’s comfort shooting in London, and the UK won on both cost and logistics. Can't help feeling a little victorious although I appreciate it is potentially not good news for US actors so I also empathise

Sebastian Tudores haha true! It makes me wonder so many Brits have such good US accents. Is it training, willingness to learn out of necessity, or being exposed to a lot of US films. Do you think U.S. actors could (or should) be taught to do the same the other way round?

Absolutely Alexandra Stevens accents are part of any acting training. If you go to a conservatory they teach standard stage speech and the phonetic alphabet. You can learn any accent from there. I did have to learn a cockney accent once. I don't remember for what show. From my understanding, an American accent is harder to do than British or Australian.

Suzanne Bronson ooh look forward to hearing your cockney accent :)

hey Alexandra Stevens ! yeah - for sure, all actors looking to broaden their craft should at least 'attempt' accents. And that is offered as part of most professional programs. Of course, I don't think nowadays, with access to productions globally, having the ability to do foreign accents is as much of a factor, but accents are also regional, right? :)

Hi, Tony Fisher. Stage 32 has a webinar called "Actors: Tools and Techniques to Help You Memorize Your Lines." www.stage32.com/education/products/actors-tools-and-techniques-to-help-y...