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The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. Fantastic motivation to get to the business of the art. All art, or anything worth one's time and attention really, can apply, but I find it especially helpful as a working actor to get down to business every day and put in the hours needed to succeed.

Indecisiveness is a form of self-sabotage. There is an excellent book called The War of Art that can help you address this and other forms of self-sabotage.

Write down what your ultimate professional fantasy is. Playing the lead on a critically acclaimed series? Writer/director/star of your own film? A Broadway musical? Whatever it is, write it down. Then try working backward, step by step. What does the star of the critically acclaimed series do before she shows up to shoot episode 1 of the final season? What does she do during the first season? What does she do in pre-production? What does she do to book that job? What does she do in the years before booking that job in order to be considered for that role? Etc. If you can trace a path all the way back to where you currently are, then you have one possible path to use as a model.

Another thing you can do is just flip a coin on some of these things. Commit to something, really follow through on it, then evaluate how you feel about it. If you do a couple levels at UCB 1 & 2, and do them fully, that will help you learn if improv is an avenue you want to pursue further. Same applies to any other pursuit: try it and see.

Get a softbox kit on Amazon. You can get some for pretty cheap. Point two at your background/wall, and one at yourself. And have some seperation between you and the wall in order to prevent shadows. Most newer phones have great video quality, but if you're willing to invest a little more money, consider getting a dslr camera and a good quality mic. The Rode videomic pro is a great one.

https://www.amazon.com/CRAPHY-Professional-Continuous-Lighting-Carrying/dp/B06XQ1W14X/ref=mp_s_a_1_12?keywords=softbox+kit&qid=1557085204&s=gateway&sr=8-12

Solid place to learn Meisner technique. Bob Carnegie (main teacher) can be a bit of a curmudgeon but he means well. I recommend you audit a class (it's actually required) and see if it's for you. I can tell you that the majority of people whom I met while studying here were very serious and some have gone on to great success. The reason for this, I think, is that the school does not suffer fools or lazy people. There's a lot of student churn in the "beginning" classes so that by the time you get "promoted" to "intermediate" and "advanced" you'll be working with some outstanding talent. Be prepared to read a lot and not just acting books. Your first reading assignment will most likely be "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey.

Probably not that necessary, but you can run one for free using Github Pages if you're savvy enough. Just have to buy the domain somewhere, which is usually cheap enough to be negligible.

Acting wise, looks pretty good. Any suggestions I'd have to make are about the post-production stuff-- first I'd work on the sound mixing because right now the dialogue's getting drowned out by the background music a bit. Also you gotta change the font- it looks a little tacky and changing it to something like this or this or anything at all that's cleaner/smoother would elevate the rest of the trailer with just a small fix.

> read an inspiring book

I feel you. Pretty much this. It's pretty inexpensive ($0-20) and can light a fire under your ass again. I bummed around for like two months, losing focus and drive. I didn't really do much, just some self-destructive habits and mindless video gaming. Then I bought a new acting book and I'm back in it.

Watch one of your favorite movies. That can work too. And hey, at least you recognized it. Recognizing what is happening is 90% of the battle.

But also... dude... I get blocked like once a week on everything. I just remind myself that every day I'm fighting my own laziness (or resistance from "The War of Art") and to man up and have some fucking self-discipline. It works. Then I just slug through it.

I've posted twice in this thread already, but I'm going to post one more time to suggest a book you might want to pick up. The American Theatre Book of Monologues for Women. I picked up the male version a few years back when I was in Stratford and it had a lot of really great monologues in it. It's actually where I found the one about the Greenland Problem. And it can never hurt to have a monologue book at your disposal!

Acting is a great career, if you're regularly booking work. It sounds like you've not done a lot (if any) acting, so what I'd suggest is trying it out. Find some friends and act in a short film, write yourself a part if you have to. Or find local student filmmakers who are looking for free talent. I'd even suggest being in a play, though it doesn't lend itself to your long term goals, because it really helps you understand the value of rehearsal and what does and does not work in your techniques. In order to be an actor, you have to REALLY want to be one, mainly because it's a career filled with rejection and self-evaluation. Make sure it's something that you love to do. As for film work, be honest with yourself about your look. Film yourself regularly so you always know what you look like. We tend to have this idea of what we look like, and then there's the reality. Knowing yourself and your type will go a long way in helping you make the right choices.

As for classes, I think they are greats mainly for networking. I live in Atlanta and all of the film acting classes here are terrible and way overpriced.

Never pay for an audition - ever. Auditions are free. Don't be duped by online sites that promise stardom - they prey on people and their credit cards; some exceptions here might be online profile sites like 1-800-Casting, which your agent might submit you through.

If you're going to L.A., go with a budget and a plan. Where are you going to work? Live? Etc.

I'd recommend reading "How to be a working actor", Michael Caine's "Acting on Film", and "The War of Art". "How to be a working actor" offers some great practical advice on running your acting career as a business. Caine's book is just really great straightforward, nuts and bolts, acting technique book. And "The War of Art" is a book every artist should read; take its lesson to heart and it will keep you from procrastinating.

Honestly, the only thought I gave to movement, was that if there was a lot of it, I would do a super wide framing to capture all of it. When I did a monologue that didn't move, I did a frame from about mid thigh up and kept it simple. I wouldn't over-think it too much.

Not one of my better submissions here, so no judgement on the acting, but this is pretty standard and setup for formatting as much as I've seen:

Check it

We're in the midst of a pandemic, and self-tapes with virtual readers has become the norm.

 

As the person who responded in your last post said, the echo is due to your reader having the volume up too high, so when you speak and your voice gets played back on their side your mic picks it up twice - which leads to a feedback loop.

Best way to circumvent this is to either have your reader wear headphones so the feedback loop doesn't happen, or use a different video conferencing app that eliminates this.

 

Free industry standard here in Canada is Zoom and it by default eliminates your voice from the video chat.

Use it to get your reader live, then record your performance in a different program or device.

Here is the one I use. It's $11 on prime and it always gives me great audio. I love it because it's cheap and easily clips to your clothes but it still works really well (I've booked two feature films with it)!

One book that I learned a lot from was Kristen Linklater's "Freeing the Natural Voice". If you can pick up a copy from Amazon or something, it's so worth it. There's lots of useful techniques and exercises for getting down in your gut even if your natural inclination is to be restricted to your upper level. She talks a lot about the core and nature of animals to make noise from their gut.

Link to the book on Amazon.

Link to her Wikipedia page if you want to learn more about her

Give it a try :) If it doesn't work for you, there are plenty of voice coaches out there who would charge a reasonable fee to get you where you want to be.

If you’re just looking for a good book, I recommend Michael Caine’s “Acting in Film”. It’s a great book, very well written and easy to understand. I always find myself coming back to it now and again. https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Caine-Applause-Revised-Expanded/dp/1557832773/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=michael+caine+book&qid=1559566849&s=gateway&sprefix=michael+cain&sr=8-2 Amazon link 👆

Buy this... Now... Internalize it.

"Do the Work" by Steven Pressfield "https://www.amazon.com/dp/1936891379/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_3cxTzbSBHTXN5"

Alternatively, you could buy his original, "The War of Art" that Do the Work is based on. Set up daily practices and stick to them, consistency beats everything. It's about what you actually do, daily. Buy the book, it'll change your life.

The War of Art. It's about all the ways in which we self-sabotage and how to hold ourselves accountable.

Also the writings of the stoic philosopher Epictetus, which focus on (among other things) distinguishing between what is in your control and what is not in your control.

Of course getting into a class or working with a coach will always accelerate your abilities the fastest, but you can always try working on stuff on your own. I'd recommend audiobooks for now. You can listen to them to learn how people are narrating them and what's getting work right now, and if you feel up to it try to do one on your own through Audible's freelancer program: https://www.audible.com/ep/ACX

There's kind of a learning curve getting the technical side of this down, and you'll have to invest in some equipment, but it might be a good way to get your feet wet.

Funny that you should reference a French neurologist, as what you are asking for seems in line with the French actor Benoit-Constant Coquelin, who would do external imitation of gait and expression. He wrote a book called Art and the Actor, which you can read in full at this link or in many other formats offered at this link;

https://archive.org/details/artandactor01algegoog

However, this is a very old way of thinking about acting. Generally we hope to let the facial expressions bubble up naturally from our internal life, while this process goes about it in the opposite way. Stanislavski refers to Coquelin in An Actor Prepares.

I haven't done it, but many actor friends said they enjoyed Dustin Hoffman's Master Class. Though it's not actually him interacting with you, it is worth while

Definitely the fastest way to get something added to your reel. I've been asking people around and had listed some resources on https://www.webforactors.com/resources/demo-reels, but I've only communicated with the companies I added to http://reels.link/ which are Best Shot Reels and Beverly Hills Demo Reels. The pricing definitely varies a lot, so if you're trying to get good quality out it gets rather expensive.

Yes. And set it up on Linktree. I use it for my social. You customize it with your name to take someone to whatever webpage you want: your website, Instagram, a YT video link, etc. On your resume It’ll look like REEL: http://linktr.ee/yourname

yeah! i think that's a good idea, get workshopped on it. chances are there are probably like virutally free or really cheap ones available on meetup.com or so. just look for groups that offer writing workshops on there .

You can use VLC to re-encode it to a format movie maker understands (which at best is only a short term solution - re-encoding takes and wastes time), but that's definitely a weird one:

VLC HowTo/Transcode from Windows Media format - VideoLAN Wiki

 

I have a similar setup, where I've got a video camera that records in mp4 h.264 format, which I then upload to my computer and edit via movie maker, and I've never had issues.

Definitely should look at your phone's recording settings and see if it's set to a non traditional format.

Test out Dropbox as well (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dropbox.android - it's free) just to make sure that Google drive isn't re-encoding your video when you upload it.

Another test for whether Google is re-encoding it would be to change the filename extension to a non-video one (change it from *.mp4 to *.txt for example) before you upload it to Google Drive, then change it back to mp4 once it's on your computer's hard drive.

This is the exact one I got. I doesn’t come with the backdrop stands though.

Fovitec Gray and Chroma Key Blue Muslin Pop-Up Collapsible Backdrop 5'x6.5' for Portrait and Headshot Photography, and Green Screen Video Conferencing https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FJ1JVN2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_34FH7554KMK5Y8YMKD4K

Digesting and doing what is in An Attitude for Acting: How to Survive (and Thrive) as an Actor might help: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Attitude-Acting-Survive-Thrive-Actor-ebook/dp/B01EZCDXA2

It is written for UK actors by a respected drama school tutor and a neuroscientist and is suggested reading for third years at my school. Some of the Americans here that haven't fallen too far down the bitter actor rabbit hole might benefit from it as well.

I go back and listen to To Be or Wanna Be every once in a while, and I really enjoyed Anna Kendrick's Scrappy Little Nobody, which I felt was honest and open about the ups and downs of an acting career and had some anecdotes that really stressed hey, this is a person doing a weird job and here are the effects it has on the rest of her life.

I found both on audio through my local digital library :)

I got this system and it works really well for the space I have: https://roomdividersnow.com/products/ceiling-track-room-divider-kits?variant=16601974150

I have it set up to where when I pull the curtain all the way back when it's not in use, it tucks behind the door to our office/guest bedroom.

Mine is 12 feet long/wide, and basically goes floor to ceiling. This is wide enough that I don't have to show any of the room for the full body slates, but my camera (iPhone 10) has to be about 10-12 feet back from the curtain to be able to get me head to toe.

Also, I bought lights like these, and they work GREAT. https://www.amazon.com/HPUSN-Professional-Photography-Continuous-Reflectors/dp/B07NBP6D98/

Yea, thats pretty bad. and it rises to possible illegality, as yes, she was sued, and it says "Micheal Fomkin" was the employees superior who yelled at her...and on his linkedin says he is Alycia's partner among a lot of strange things to put on a linkedin such as celebrity encounter stories.

This article talks about Fomkin AKA Mike James and how he has likely changed his name and here is a book - actually about an infamous Wilhemena scam he apparently was a part of. These people I believe did not get any jail time, and have continued scamming people, the more people that speak out - the better. (at one point the Wilhemena scam apparently had 2,000 complaints against it in Florida...no "justice" served but at least there was some form of prosecution which made the scheme end in that form.) Right now it sounds like they are scamming a few dozen people here or there, not enough to get the FBI to notice, but...a horrible thing for young actors and models. My advice: contact the FBI, and the attorney general in your state. Once they get enough complaints, in various states, an FBI agent or AG decides they might look into it...and that is how it goes.

http://empoweru215.blogspot.com/2011/08/for-love-money-and-fraud.html

https://www.amazon.com/Under-Investigation-Attorney-Generals-Wilhelmina/dp/0968713335

Likely: they learned not to scam people for 1,000's of dollars each, but instead are just ripping people off @ 30 or 50 bucks for a webinar or whatever, which isn't enough to trigger an FBI probe. But again - if enough people complain to the proper authorities - perhaps some action comes, as...it is probably essentially the same illegal behavior, just much less money involved.

I’m assuming you’ve read Stanislavsky’s 3 books, but if not: must read. Also, Stella Adler The Art of Acting, Uta Hagen Respect for Acting, Larry Moss Intent to Live, Margie Haber How to Get the Part, Doug Warhit books. Can I ask, do you ever do any emotional exercises to open yourself up? Have you suffered a lot of Trauma in your life?(everybody has, some more than others) I recommend Healing Trauma by Peter Levine Healing Trauma: A Pioneering... https://www.amazon.com/dp/159179658X?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I don’t need to know your traumas, wasn’t meaning for you to open up on here, apologies in advance. But accessing emotions is a formed muscle. It comes from active practice and repetition. Some people can do it quick, some it takes time and patience to deconstruct walls we’ve built up over our lives. Pros pros can do it in a matter of seconds because they’ve trained and practiced how to for 10,20,30 years. Some can do it as well, but the best actors make it look easy, it’s not easy to access the darkest corners of your brain as our subconscious typically blocks us from going there. Emotional exercises help us work through that block.

Fear and confidence cannot occupy the same space. This is my personal motto, and I remind myself of this every day. When I'm indulging in self-pity, it's because I fear failure, which means I'm no longer confident. If we cannot be successful without confidence, then there is no room for fear. Pick up a copy of, The War of Art.

Thanks, i've heard good things about 'The War of Art'.

In 'Bird by Bird' she's just so funny, self-deprecating and honest which is why it resonates. I'll have to read it again. Here's my favorite excerpt from the book which explains the jist of her approach (and book's title): “Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table, close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’"

Submitting on Actor's Access until I get auditions and booked.

Once booked, go to the job and present myself with humility and gratitude. Kind of like this guy who applies The Art of War to interactions with higher ups on set.

Now that I've said, I have the validation and feeling of accomplishment, so I don't have to do it today! Just kidding. But seriously, there was a study done that showed people who talk about goals are less likely to get them done. Not talking about them is a form of delayed gratification. :)

It's absolutely unfair. I totally feel you. There's just so many of us that want it badly enough that they can get away with charging exorbitant prices.

I was extremely happy to see them cracking down on it in L.A. recently: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/pay-play-acting-auditions-gain-878886

That being said, in terms of actual advice, I would completely agree that making your own material is a vital habit to develop. Even if you don't consider yourself a writer (ESPECIALLY if you don't consider yourself a writer), forcing yourself to sit down and do some writing (even if it's shitty), in the same way that you'd force yourself to exercise, is such an empowering feeling and totally free. And who knows, something may actually come of it. But even if nothing does, that confidence and work ethic will take you places that you never expected. Life seems to work like that.

If you want a really great short read, check out "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield. It'll inspire the hell outta you.

You can and should reverse engineer questions like this.

What parts are you most likely to book in the next ten years (either on Broadway or in Hollywood). Look up the actors currently playing those parts and find out where they went to school. Run the numbers and see if certain schools show up more than others.

This book might be a little out of date, but Self Management for Actors, talks about all the ways to do this, and how you should be thinking about these questions in the future.

Thanks! I live in LA and I attribute the numbers to: having an agent, a good headshot and just time. Meaning that I have had the opportunity to audition for a lot of CDs and I'm now in a place where they are calling me in again and again. I have to assume that means I'm doing something right. 🤞

I totally agree that my skin tone looks better against blue, but personally I always find it really distracting. To me it looks like something that was intended to be shot and have the background keyed out. I usually only use it when I feel like my outfit would look weird against the gray. The advice I've always got from CDs is "make sure the background is clean and not distracting". That being said, I have seen plenty of actors who use a blue background.

And the one I use is just a collapsible backdrop on a stand. It's literally just the backside of the gray one.

u/cbrantley mentioned, sometimes we can record in the daytime. This is the lighting package I bought for my daughters auditions. Hope it helps! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017D7W57S?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_dt_b_product_details

Every teacher I had said "DO NOT MEMORIZE".

But that said... I need to get the words out of the way first before I can concentrate on the soul and the character. I seem to go for 3 to 4 pages per day. 5 is stretching it. I need to sleep over it and like magic I know the whole dialogue the next morning then I continue if its a longer scene.

If I have trouble concentrating or I NEED TO HAVE THIS DONE then I have a couple of cups of coffee and a L-Theanine pill. I don't need this often anymore but in the beginning this was a miracle for me. When I started I could not remember anything. The pill I discovered by accident made my head so clear and got me over the time until my brain was trained enough to learn lines. It is practice. Just don't do this at night or evening or you will not sleep and that is bad.

And yes you need a cue for your line but don't be too married to it cause you scene partner will make a mistake, jump a line or a whole page and you need to be able to adapt. Not a problem on camera, you just do it again but on stage... There is no worse feeling when you are on stage and you lost your place and need to find it with people staring at you.

Ninja Badass

Movie premiered in LA just the other day. Available on Vimeo On Demand and Blu-Ray on Amazon.

Amazon Link

I would add both. Just finished updating my resume after reading Bonnie Gillespie’s book. For theater, she said you can add the character name then the billing title after.

Do you wear contacts ? Because I use tear sticks and I notice it doesn’t work unless I take my contacts out. I use a brand called Narrative Cosmetics and I really like it. Here’s the link… Tear Stick

Having been taught by some of Strasberg's students and participated in some stuff at the Actors Studio, I am as exhausted as some others in these comments by this topic. Glad to see others carrying the flag. I'll just add that if anyone is interested in actually learning about the realities of these techniques and how they've been applied, there's a new book that's been referred to a couple times on this sub: https://time.com/6143407/the-method-isaac-butler/. Haven't read it but the excerpts and interviews with the author I have read were really interesting.

I've also referred to another book here a couple times which I have read, and yes, there were actors before Stanislavski who brought a natural, realistic, lived-experience approach to their roles. https://www.amazon.com/Art-Actor-Essential-History-Classical-ebook/dp/B00ABLR7C2

And finally, all the greats have their own books. Adler, Meisner, Strasberg--they're written in plain ol' English. Nothing about this is terribly mystifying. It's just that no one in entertainment journalism who's shoving their opinion out there seems to have actually taken the time to learn about it.

This mic?

https://www.amazon.com/PoP-voice-Professional-Microphone-Omnidirectional/dp/B016C4ZG74

I'd be surprised if a $12 mic is good enough for proper demo work but who knows. Your recording space is way more important than the mic. Do you have any samples with that mic you can share?

I don't think you necessarily need a 3 point lighting setup for simple self tapes.

I use these, they're super versatile and easy to set up: 2 Packs VILTROX LED Panel Light: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D798TZ4?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I don't know of websites that aren't geared towards children for monologues but there are quite a few books you can check your library for.

One example: https://www.amazon.com/Monologues-Theyll-Remember-You-Compelling/dp/1974174859/

No problem! Another book you can get for yourself is Acting Today. It's a straight to the point book about the business and thats where I found my headshot photographer! Also here is Jenna's book so you don't have to find it.

Please don't give up. I know it's rough now and you have more rough times to come but keep going, no matter what people tell you❤️

I'm going to assume that you mean the technique promoted by Lee Strasberg, in which case I'll recommend Strasberg's Method: https://www.amazon.com/Strasbergs-Method-Taught-Lorrie-Hull/dp/0971040117. I have not read this, but it has practical exercises rather than just philosophy. Philosophy's interesting but if you're learning how to do something, you need to be told what to do!

For philosophy/hearing from the man himself, check out Strasberg at the Actors Studio. There will be practical things you can take away from this as well (I have read this one). It's transcriptions of his sessions at the Studio. I also recommend Acting: The First Six Lessons by Boleslavsky, who along with Maria Ouspenskaya was one of the actors in Stanislavski's troupe who stayed behind in the States to teach Strasberg and others the new sort of acting they were doing. https://www.amazon.com/Acting-First-Lessons-Richard-Boleslavsky/dp/1626549974

Hey Man,

Thanks for reaching out:

We can have a larger discussion after, but first I'd like to start with this quick survey. It takes on average about 40 seconds to fill out.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SKGXD58

Let me know when you've completed it.

Thanks!

Lightinglighting

Lighting like this is way better than ring lights , especially on the eyes Get a curtain rod and purchase a photographers backdrop

Shooting w newer iPhone’s on a tripod stand/camera stand .

Hope this helps

If acting as a means of financial stability is your main goal, big caution to you there. 40-50k a year would be a respectable level, which I'm sure the big pros on here have reached after some 5-15 years of effort. And even when things are going well, you never know when things will slow down for you. It's the nature of the business. It is a business of peaks and valleys. Yes, it is an incomparable feeling to anything when you're on a full live set doing your work, but so too when you haven't even had a callback in months.

If you want to legitimately give acting a shot, look for a reputable studio near you for classes. Read a book on technique. Daydream. Work on the truth of your instrument. Be an artist.

You're welcome. Take a look at this book. It's a vague excuse for proper training, but maybe it will help you form a strong foundation. Keep it up.

If you have the money to splurge I recommend this one: OLYMPUS M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm F2.8 Pro Lens, for Micro Four Thirds Cameras https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EY3YGBS/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_navT_a_B7G8G6PYT2FBJYSN1HG0

Very good clear image for multipurpose use. This will essentially crop to look like a 24-80mm lens. Not the best for portrait photography or anything but it has a good range. But I only have this one cuz im a filmmaker witth my trusty old GH4 lol. Definitely don’t need something this expensive for self tapes

It was this. Was not expecting it to be that zoomed in Meike 50mm T2.2 Mini Manual Focus Wide-Angle Cinema Lens for M43 Micro Four Thirds MFT Mount Cameras BMPCC 4K Z CAM E2 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082VCRS2S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_028FND0Q6SX6QXDVFZ1V?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

It's sort of like watching the NFL to become a great football player. Their performance should inspire you, but you still have to be the one to do the conditioning; the sprints, the hill workouts, the stretches. Reading a book also helps grow one's understanding but it's still in the practice itself that builds technique.

Particularizing every moment would lead to way too much mental backlog. There are many ways to pull meaning out of each moment. The very ground foundation is good emotional contact with your partner and the reality of doing.

If your partner calls you a son of a bitch bastard you obviously don't need to particularize it, however, how are they saying it to you in that moment. Because if their behavior is indicating they're just pulling your leg then you respond to how that affects you at the time. Maybe you don't want to be messed with right then. Maybe it's fucking hilarious.

The power of "as if" is needed when certain circumstances don't activate you inherently. Like for instance in a play you won a trip to Cuba. Well it's as if you got nominated for an Oscar or whatever makes you tick.

It's hard to sum up in a short space. And honestly I think the Meisner book falls flat on helping display the technique in a working manner. Try The Actor's Art and Craft as a better work book for understanding the process. Esper studied with Meisner himself and extended his technique long after he was gone.

It's useful to have a project to work on to give you concrete challenges/goals when you're starting out. I had fun learning the basics of recording and editing while volunteering to read for some projects at Librivox. They're basically the Project Gutenberg for audiobooks.

For demo reels:

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-make-a-demo-reel#how-to-make-a-demo-reel

Not sure what exactly you mean by “big roles”. There are a lot of lead roles for student films at very legit film schools on Actors Access. There are also a decent amount of leads in indie films. I’ve seen a number of co-star and guest star roles for big network TV and streaming shows and movies, but never any lead roles.

For big leading roles in big budget films and tv shows you will most likely need a medium to high level agent, but trust me when I say you have a few career stepping stones before you’re at that level :)

Regarding the question about referrals, I don’t know that much about this, but I have read that referrals from a casting director can be very useful in getting an agent, but referrals from other actors don’t carry as much weight. Though generally speaking I’m sure a referral is better than nothing. Almost everyone I know got their first agent by cold submitting via email, though.

I've been through Meisner training and prefer that approach to acting myself.
I've found this book quite helpful, there is an interesting approach there called "taking it of the page" that I feel does work for me quite well, you kinda play around and discover the character gradually, trying different things.
And it does go along the lines of Meisner overall, we did almost the same thing with scenes initially.
But this one is used when you are working on a monologue alone (and there are lots of monologue suggestions there as well).

Check it out, might be helpful.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Stop-Acting-Revolutionary-Developing/dp/0571199992

We're still in post-production at the moment, and the indiegogo has still got 3 days left! It's "due" at the end of April, but we pretty much have picture lock so it should be just about ready within a months time. Then the plan is to hit up the festival circuit, but it's possible we'll be able to post a pw protected vimeo link!

I really recommend reading the book by Victor Hugo. It’s a huge book, so skip to the sections where Javert is mentioned in greater detail. If you don’t have the book, the whole unabridged version is here https://www.gutenberg.org/files/135/135-h/135-h.htm

I'm from Dallas, but it's not too far of a drive. Around 6 hours total. Here is my reel if you'd watch it. Let me know what you think! Could be a lot of fun. (I'm currently signed with 5 different agencies, but none of them are in your area, so...no agency fees!)

Acting: https://vimeo.com/36885550

Modeling: http://www.amaxtalent.com/portfolio.aspx?nav=11&subid=12686&mainsubid=12686&modelid=604732&sexid=1&a=6

Are you talking about this site? http://www.worldcat.org/title/actor-prepares/oclc/220726757 Because it looks like that was something specially prepared for blind students in 1990 and if it even still exists, it's probably only available in the library in Australia where they made it, as far as I can tell from that site. It doesn't look like anyone's bothered to narrate these, which surprises me since you'd think at some point an actor would take it upon themselves to make that happen.

This is the stand that I am using: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085VMTXQY/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Since it didn't come with a gray background, I got this too: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08GFN4PVB/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Reel and clips really. Often CDs like shorter clips of different shows or characters geared towards the role or project instead of a longer reel.

You can also create some of your own character work/monologues/scenes. Chances are you have some friends who are in similar positions. You can literally do it on a smart phone these days. This helps get your creative juices flowing, you will learn a lot and have footage for yourself!

I have done a few of my own shorts and it really helped. I spent more money(investment!) making the more character driven short film which has definitely helped me with getting better auditions. (You can check it out here in Amazon Prime only 7 mins long).

https://www.amazon.com/How-Do-Accents-Edda-Sharpe/dp/1840029579

We used this book in conservatory along with IPA. There’s more than just sounds that change when you’re using a dialect - there’s rhythm, timber, where it’s placed in your body, etc. I loved this book. There are free resources online as well at their website. Part of it too is doing a deep dive into your own dialect first so that you know what changes you need to make. I loved IPA. Sometimes if I’m anxious I’ll listen to the TV and wrote out the sounds in my head…

Dunno how tech-savvy you are but Quicktime lets you record videos of your screen but without your computer's internal sound. To do it with sound you need to reroute the internal outputs basically.
People used to use a software called SoundFlower which you can get from GitHub but it's obsolete on the newer Mac OS. Someone recently came up with a replacement called BlackHole ( https://github.com/ExistentialAudio/BlackHole ) which if you are technically / audio-engineering inclined is pretty straightforward to figure out - youtube videos, forums etc. If you install this and set it up properly, you can record the footage through Quicktime in pretty high quality, with the sound, as long as you have access to the footage (online or a file etc).

We've just released a new digital theatre production that we've been working on for the past two months, called Life_Stream. It's a show about the way people use and abuse the internet and follows the characters as they wait for a Red Room (a live stream of a murder) to open on the dark web. Would love to know what people think of it, it's available until the end of the week! https://www.tickettailor.com/events/chronicinsanity

I'll add OpenToonz to this list. https://opentoonz.github.io/e/

It's a free 2D animation program that shows like Futurama and movies from Studio Ghibli use to animate.

Most times when this question gets answered here you get a lot of negatives (social media sucks / don't do it / not worth it) - but you need to understand that all people are different. If you can make it work for you, go for it. I actually backlinked to some of the Reddit chats in my recent blog: https://www.webforactors.com/blog/actor-website-vs-instagram-breakdown - the point is, people will always have opinions, but no one knows for sure what you are capable of except you yourself.

I know this is almost a month old, but I bookmarked it to get inspiration, and since no replies are being posted perhaps I can start a topic of conversation to get more answers. I started a list of websites and tools that I build for actors. I've been building websites for actors at webforactors.com for over 6 years now, and now I'm adding new tools, so I'd like to get some feedback: - link.actor - I built this one because I feel actors should be on social media and advertising themselves - youbackstage.com - I built this one because I know I always look for ways to backlink to my website, plus getting an interview so you can tell others more about who you are might be better than a boring bio - actormastermind.com - I am considering building this one - will actor really use it? the jury is still out on it - actorpodcast.org - I built this one to aggregate all actor related podcast - I think all actors should listen to these for inspiration - actingcraft.com - same as above, but videos (still working on this one) - actorsforum.com - is one that I'm working on right now (and it's where I found your question)

I have more here: https://www.webforactors.com/services - perhaps it will spark some ideas, but I'd love to get others to share what they do

really well said and well documented. I also bookmarked the videos for reposts. If you'd ever considering writing articles for an acting blog, check us out or PM me anytime (https://www.webforactors.com/authors)

I wrote a blog post about it few weeks back: https://www.webforactors.com/blog/6-tips-for-actor-demo-reels My method of finding good videos was simply searching YouTube for the right keywords. After you want 100 bad ones and then come across 3 good ones, you'll be able to tell the difference between good quality and not so good, but I've highlighted some of the points to focus on within the article.

My GF loves giving this tip to fellow transplants. If you're moving a lot of stuff, use AmTrack. You can get a full crate of stuff really cheap, it takes the train few days to get there so you can settle in in the mean time. :)

And if that's not the type of help you were looking for, I've collected some blogs and articles that might come in handy:

https://www.webforactors.com/blog/resources-for-moving-la

get your headshots first, then start self submitting. I listed a ton of websites you can self submit for on http://hiredactor.com/jobs-for-actors - but the main one is obviously Actors Access so get the subscription for that. Backstage is also pretty awesome because their advice is really good, but of course not as many opportunities. You can sign up for Stage 32 to find smaller gigs to pad your resume (full disclosure - I work for Stage 32). Casting frontier also covers LA - there's a small submission fee for every submission. Now Casting is pretty cheap, you can test it out. I described more of those in detail here: https://www.webforactors.com/blog/6-must-have-websites-for-actors

Most DIY website services all use mobile-friendly templates by default. Squarespace is a good choice. If you only need a single-page really simple site, I like https://carrd.co/

Either way, always pull up your site on your phone to make sure it looks good after publishing.

Also, please let me know if there is anything you think I should add to the survey, or if I should re-phrase anything. Thanks so much! My goal is to get as many responses as possible, and then pass it along to a contact at Backstage and have it published on their blog for more varied responses. Let me know if you have any other ideas!

Edit: Also these are the results: https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-59RLHKM8/

I have a dji osmo gimble which uses my phone and the tracking is decent. Only £100

DJI Osmo Mobile 3 - Combo 3-Axis Gimbal Stabilizer Kit, Compatible with iPhone and Android Smartphones, Lightweight and Portable Design, Stable Shooting, Intelligent Control + Tripod, Travel https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07RSPPQ18/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_HCCMNZ5YYGWFJW2N3JFG?psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Freeing-Natural-Voice-Practice-Language/dp/0896762505

Best book/method out there for voice and breath for actors.

Accents: A Manual for Actors- Revised and Expanded Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/087910967X/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_QB63PQWXDKHRKR4XPM2J?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

That's a book I've used. It helps being able to see it, read it and hear it. It either comes with CDs or a link for audio samples of every Accents in the book. A usefull tool.

I have made my own short film. It is only seven minutes long. I starred, produced and wrote it. It is on amazon prime, Vimeo on Demand and millennium.tv. I have also co-produced other shorts that I have also been in. I can answer questions if you have them!

I wonder if anyone makes one like this green screen from Elgato but in non-chroma colors…https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0743Z892W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_dl_1XF8610FMA841YC5VWQC?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Engineering is smart, it stores away, pops up quickly, no wrinkles. It’s retractable but from the floor, so you can tuck it away in a closet and don’t need to hang it from stand or ceiling/wall. Really small footprint because it doesn’t need stands either.

If you can find that in medium grey or a pastel blue, that’s what I’d go with.

Oh, one more thought...Jenna Fischer's book (I have no vested interest) is a great read for anyone just getting started (or reentering after decades like I am)...

https://www.amazon.com/Actors-Life-Survival-Guide/dp/1944648224

Check out Toddler to Trainwreck Industrial Complex and The Hollywood Complex.

I know parents of child actors and one of them let’s her kid set the course. Right now her child no longer has interests in acting and wants to pursue other hobbies and she’s letting her do that with zero pressure. My other friend says she is like my first friend but I can see how much she enjoys the glamour of everything right now and is pushing her kids to do more and more classes. I hope once the newness of it all wears off she will let the kids ultimately lead the way. It’s one thing to tell the kids they can’t quit once they book a job and commit to it, it’s another to tell them they have to keep going on auditions to be able to keep their manager/agent.

And that’s the other aspect of it all. Many parents are well meaning but have no idea how most of the industry works or what their and their kid’s rights are. Agents and managers and directors will PUSH those kids until the parent says stop. The parents need to remember they have the final say and to not give into peer pressure. Many of these kids that end up miserable is not because they didn’t have parents who loved them but because their parents weren’t aware of the industry limits or the power they have in their children’s career.

The Warner Loughlin technique is designed for film acting. Amy Adams and Ryan Reynolds studied with her and use this technique:

https://www.amazon.com/Warner-Loughlin-Technique-Acting-Revolution/dp/0999527010

It's got a mic input which is great, as is the mini HDMI jack that allows you to connect it to a laptop to use it as a cam when doing Zoom/Skype live auditions (with a converter like this one that I have).

But it doesn't have either an IR receiver or wifi/bluetooth, so you'll not be able to use a remote control with it. It's strange as that model seems to be the one in between mine and the next generation.

 

Having the ability to upgrade to a remote might not be the most important thing, but I've found it a lifesaver for when I'm shooting full body slates and I don't have to run back to my mark after starting the camera, or being able to just stay where I am and focus when I'm doing a series of takes.

All depends on whether you'd find something like that convenient or not.

I use the Canon Vixia HF R800, it runs about $300. Its most important features are DECENT video quality, a 360-degree flip screen so I can see myself live in frame, and an external mic port.

Seconding what everybody has said about not needing 4K. 1080p is absolutely fine for self tapes, and even then you'll often have to reduce quality in post to get the file under a certain size.

Having good sound is paramount. The external mic port lets me use this Takstar mic (mounted above the camera with a C-clamp) to get good audio quality. I've messed with lavalier mics but they were more hassle than they were worth.

The autofocus function on this camcorder is helpful sometimes but it becomes a problem when I want to start/end the scene moving in or out of the frame. This one doesn't come with a remote so getting different shot types is also a hassle. But it's a hassle I'm willing to tolerate for the price.

At some point in my career I plan on upgrading to a DSLR with full remote capabilities, mostly for better self-taping quality of life but a little bit for the better picture. I simply haven't booked enough high-paying work yet to justify that expense.

So glad to hear it!

If that has worked for you, then you can graduate to "Strasberg at the Actors Studio" edited by Robert Hethmon. It is more technical and less narrative, and incredibly rich.

(https://www.amazon.com/Strasberg-Actors-Studio-Tape-Recorded-Sessions/dp/1559360224/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1625195703&refinements=p_27%3ARobert+H.+Hethmon&s=books&sr=1-1)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003EH0JZW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I got this guy and it’s done me pretty solid.

I plug into my laptop and record audio separately. I do the whole ‘clap’ thing at the beginning of my takes and edit it accordingly.

I imagine there are better mics, but for its price and relative ease, it does it for me.

Wendy is not popular here but I bought her ebook be a star right where you are and the advice seems sound.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Star-Right-Where-You-ebook/dp/B015EVCCGY

I have just published a collection of my short comedic plays, and many of them are for two actors. I'm still fairly new as a playwright, but these plays have all been received enthusiastically at readings, and they would work for auditions. Stage directions are minimal. The book is called Funny Shorts Volume 1: Ten Comic Plays. I think you'll find something useful in it.

An Actor's Companion by Seth Barrish:

https://www.amazon.com/Actors-Companion-99-Bits-Craft/dp/0967605822/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Simon-Stephens/dp/1350114642/ref=sr_1_3?__mk_es_US=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&crid=2PRVXL7F847W4&dchild=1&keywords=sea+wall+a+life&qid=1611273099&sprefix=seawall%2Caps%2C224&sr=8-3

Oberon Book of Modern Monologs for Women

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1783199393/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_MS57Fb7G2J5C4

My son got the men's version for Christmas. He needed a monolog for college entrance.

So true! I forget what day it is constantly!

Got it. So you were likely 6 weeks in. Emotional Preparation isn't touched until 4 months into the traditional training.

Bill Esper's "The Actor's Art and Craft" is a great Meisner Technique resource. He does have his separate chapter on Emotional Preparation, which he and DiMarco wrote very similar to Sanford Meisner's own explanation in "Sanford Meisner on Acting". In fact, Bill's chapter references Sandy's original book as well. In Larry Silverberg's "Workbook one" he has one small paragraph mentioning Emotional Preparation saying he can not teach it in a book.

In both Esper's and Meisner's books, neither details the STEPS on Emotional Preparation work. They simply talk about the purpose and benefits of it, as it's a critical 'block' in the first year training. It is a step that you will work on at home without a partner, but it does truly require you to present your work in a class under the guide of a teacher. If you attempted the steps on your own, you will not be learning it properly and you will likely end up building very bad habits from the step. This is why neither book actually detail how to do it.

I recommend you wait to get back into the classroom to explore what Emotional Preparation truly is. This is a step we know can not be taught properly online either.

There is nothing truly new under the sun with heightened or psychological realism that all goes back to Stanislavsky. There are, however, some different takes on it and modifications to it.

Lesly Kahn and her former staff teachers who now have their own studios take it back to a classical, text-based approach which is essentially scansion as applied to tv/film in recognition that they are most often written formulaically to be edited in specific rythms with identifiable patterns in the scripts. As for the organic component, she eschews actions and objectives in favor of the literal and intuitively going straight to the subtext - or "character thoughts" as she calls it.

Warner Loughlin prescribes an imagination-based approach that takes things a step past Meisner and Adler by grounding character development from which the rest of her technique flows in Erickson's Developmental Theory. Like Lesly, she also eschews actions and objectives in favor of the subtext, but in her way, it's derived from a thorough character analysis and a meticulously layered backstory. She also replaces the superobjective with the Base Human Emotion which would take a good deal of explaining, but here's her book if you're interested. Calling it an "acting revolution" might be overstating a bit, but I've been working with it lately and find it very satisfying - especially for film work.

Experience and knowledge. The two books I recommend for the knowledge are Secrets of Screen Acting for the technical side and A Screen Acting Workshop for guidance on how to keep one's acting alive within that technical context.

The Deity V.Lav is great, if you don't mind spending ~$50 on it. Honestly though, I've tested out a $10 lav from wal-mart and while it wasn't as good of quality as the Deity it was still usable.

Another option for you might be to get an extension cable for the videomic and boom it closer to you.

I have a method, but it's not for the stage, only for film when you can have prep time. In "Sol Roth's The Audition" , for multiple scenes I had to cry, and really CRY. Tears streaming... https://www.amazon.com/Sol-Roths-Audition-Roth/dp/B08M8W7J9W, It took some prep work to be able to get that sad. Headphones with sad music, mentally focus on sad things in my real life while simultaneously making up an even more horrible situation (like if if would have turned out differently). Basically you just keep thinking about horrible sad things, while listening to sad music, until all the "current" thoughts are pushed out of your head and all that's in there are horribly sad things, then the tears just flow. Then when you are actually acting the part, you can bring back those sad things since the experience of reliving them is so recent. I have no idea if it will work for you or not, but it worked for me. You should be able to cry on demand (with prep work before hand) when filmmaking yourself at home. You can practice that over and over again until you get it down. I got way better at crying practicing for the movie I linked to above.

I took two months off from running at the peak of the virus here (I've been a runner for years) and did HIIT workouts in my apartment. I thought I was in shape before that. I was wrong. Or at least I wasn't in that kind of shape. This was a good one to get me started: https://youtu.be/Mvo2snJGhtM. It's easy to find different exercises you like and just string them together into a HIIT/tabata-type workout. There are timer apps that are really helpful too. I like this one: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.evgeniysharafan.tabatatimer&hl=en_US&gl=US

My wife's been doing workouts from Popsugar on YouTube, they have a TON of stuff. Usually minimal/no equipment, prooooobably doable in most NYC apartments. I've been back to running outside for a while now, but I'm lucky to have a river pretty close by and once you get out there it's easy to just run without dodging around too much. I do wear a mask, I've gotten used to it. Not ideal but I'll take it. I see lots of people along the river in grassy spots or on athletic fields doing their own workouts too.

If you're at all like me you exercise a lot because it's easier for you than changing your diet. I like to eat and drink and I have too much of a sweet tooth to change all that up, but diet has probably more to do with your body and health than exercise so in the absence/reduction of exercise it's always worth looking into what you can change in your diet.

Well, if you're just looking for a way to "fake cry" (indicate that you're crying) and produce tears, makeup artists typically have a menthol stick in their arsenal. Or you can purchase one yourself here:
https://www.amazon.com/Kryolan-Tear-Stick-3005-grams/dp/B01BO0TNSE

That will make your eyes tear up and give the illusion that you're crying because you're in an emotional state. That "trick" works for almost everyone.

As for actually becoming truly emotional and producing tears from there. Yeah, plenty of actors struggle with that. You're not unique or broken. It takes time and practice. That's all.