Hello fam,
I have a question that may seem odd or maybe I’m just feeling so brand-new. I’m a writer/author and I have not done any acting jobs. I do public speaking quite a bit and have a pretty solid side career from those gigs.
Today marks the seventh or eighth time a producer has been interested in is if my scripts, but insists on me acting in it. I don’t write vehicles for myself, I don’t have headshots, and I am not generally interested in acting. (Yes, I probably would depending on the situation but it is not my goal.)
I always get a weird feeling when I’m offered to act like it’s a joke, not real or something said to butter me up. Nothing really gets moving in each of these scenarios and the projects end up in development hell.
Is this common? Is this one of those situations where that’s what they think writers want to hear?
I appreciate your thoughts!
D~
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I don't know if it's common, but if you're not "feeling" it, don't do it. I would ask, "Why would you want me in it, and not someone else?" Maybe it's a budget thing? I'm curious myself, so I would just ask why they're asking. :)
A few years ago, I had a play I wrote picked up and directed by a local theatre. When I met with the director, she asked, "Why aren't you doing this? You could." I told her it wasn't a place I wanted to explore yet. I wanted to see what someone else could do with my project.
Good luck!
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I agree with Joleene. If you don't really want to do it, definitely don't.
It seems unlikely they would demand that you act in it unless you were playing yourself but even then, I wonder why they would insist on it. From a production standpoint, they'd have an easier time getting the funding for any project if they had a trained actor, so unless they want to cut the costs and have you work for free, I don't really see where they are coming from.
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Hey Dayna, no producer would ask a screenwriter/ non actor to act in there own movie, unless the screenwriter created a role for themselves and even then there is no guarantee he or she would get the role, it sounds like the producer might have an hidden agenda Jay Croot