So funny audition story from today:

I head over to my second audition of the day which was for a spec commercial for a director’s reel.  These are shot by directors who need footage to get their foot in the paying door.  So they shoot commercials that aren’t official commercials and try to sell their services around.  There’s really no pay for doing them and they almost never air but it’s a good way to meet up and coming directors.  I did one years ago, never even saw a copy of it.  But it was fun to shoot and I had nothing else to do that night.

So, I show up at my audition and one of the session runners says “ok, you’re reading man #3.”  Cool.  That’s my middle name.  So I pick up the script and read through it once.  It seems to be written all in British slang.  That’s fine, I think, maybe the joke is that these dumb Americans are talking like this or just that they do really bad British accents.  So I ask, “Do you want us to do this in a British accent?”  They sure do.  Turns out one of the other two guys I’m reading with is British and the second guy can do pitch perfect accent.  They want it good and real.

A small aside here:  I don’t really do accurate accents.  I can do funny accents.  Ask me to talk like an Indian and I can even amuse my mother.  But no one would ever accuse me of sounding like a real Indian.  It’s just funny.

So we rehearse it a dozen times and each time I swear I hear my accent getting worse and worse.  And I know this British dude is thinking “I hate all Americans.”  I started planning on driving right from the audition to my commercial agent’s office to berate her for sending me on this audition without any prior warning.  At least I could have practiced the night before to try to embarrass myself less.

We go in the room and they ask us to slate in our accents, so they can pretend that we’re all really British when they show the director this footage.  I hear the name “Eitan Loewenstein” escape my lips in nothing close to a British accent and I knew this was going to be bad.  So we do the scene a couple times.  I really just do my best.  I try to focus on doing the scene well and not worrying about the accent.  Of course the accent is all I can think of.

I should also mention that midway through the audition I notice the casting director looking at me and then back at her notes then back at me again.  She then shows something on her clipboard to her assistant who looks up at me.  This can’t be good.

We do the scene twice (luckily I only had two short lines, I didn’t have to do the part of the guy who tells a long story) and I eagerly await them excusing me so I can go to the car and drink Guinness until I can pretend this whole thing never happened.  But they give us another line to say, this time “angry.”  Now I was doing a terrible accent but I had to do it as a hooligan.  People would accuse me of being British long before they think I’m a hooligan.  I’m quite soft and cuddly.  Luckily this was over quickly and we were excused.

I get up to do a full on sprint out of the room and the casting director stops me by the door.  Then crazy thoughts start going through my head: Are they going to yell at me for doing such a bad accent and wasting their time?  Did they want to apologize for making me do those extra lines?  Wait, did they actually LIKE it?!

Of course not.  They say to me, “I’m so sorry but you weren’t supposed to audition for this commercial.  You are supposed to be reading for the part of the American goofy husband a few minutes later.  We didn’t realize that when we pulled you in to do this one.  Thank you for being such a good sport and going for it.  Do you mind sticking around and doing the right one?”

Um, I don’t mind at all.  Goofy American husband I can do in my sleep.  British hooligan I only have to do in my nightmares.

The point of this post is that sometimes you have to do something so ridiculous and out of your element that the best you can do is smile and plow through (see my clever British spelling in the title?).  I definately won’t get the British one but at least this office knows I’m game and professional enough to keep going no matter how bad an audition is.  People do respect that.  I stayed in the audition and did my best, even though it was really bad.

This post is all about how to get on your favorite TV show, as an extra. It’s not going to appeal to many of the people who read this looking to make a career as an actor. Why?

Because in the eyes of the film/TV industry being an extra is not acting. I’m not saying that being an extra requires no ability to be directed, be believable and know how to work on camera. I’m just saying it doesn’t count as acting work. That means you don’t get to put extra work on your acting resume and you shouldn’t tell agents you meet with about your extra work. If you want to do it, do it for the fun and learning experience of being on set (and the money, you do get paid to be an extra after all). I don’t care how much camera time you get or if people refer to your character by a name, if your contract doesn’t say “principle” you’re an extra. Sorry.

So, why then am I writing about this? Because enough people find my site from around the world who might just be interested in being on a TV show or a movie for one day, seeing themselves as a blur on the background and they’d be happy with that. Kudos to them.

If you’re still reading you want to find out how to get on Greys Anatomy or CSI as an extra. Maybe you’re interested in seeing how a set works up close, you want some spending cash or you just want to see if you can get Katherine Higel to yell at you. Well, don’t do that last one. Be nice.

So the first step is going to be heading over to Central Casting and signing up. Yes, that Central Casting. You can go to their website or call up to get information about registering. They have different times/dates if you’re union or non-union.

After you’re signed up you have to call a job line and they list the jobs that they’re casting at that moment. They give you a number to call if you qualify for that job (men with handlebar mustaches and velvet leisure suits), you call and the background casting director will say if they want you or not based on your look. It’s that simple.

You’ll vastly increase your chances of working if you have lots of different wardrobe choices and are tenacious about calling in. Police uniforms are good, lab coats are good as is formal wear. They’re supposed to pay you extra if you bring your own wardrobe, to cover cleaning costs.

But if you want to be an extra, that’s how you do it.

How much do you get paid to be an extra? Minimum wage if you’re non-union. Slightly more if you’re union. You probably won’t be sending your kids off to Harvard on a film/TV extra salary. But if you want to spend a couple days working on your favorite TV show or a big upcoming movie, this is your best and easiest way.

I’m going for two positive blogs in a row. I already have a topic for next week which is semi-positive. So I hope you’re enjoying the sunshine I’m pouring down on the internet. I must be an a good mood with showcase auditions coming up on Thursday and other fun audition stuff going down for me personally.

Last week we discussed what I love about being an actor. And it’s easy to love acting when you’re doing well and seeing your career move forward on a constant basis. But what do you do the other 300 days a year? Those days when your phone doesn’t ring and it feels like nothing is ever happening. Today I’ll talk about how I stay positive and keep going, even when it seems like nothing is happening. (more…)

Since my last post was such a rant, I think I’m going to take this week’s post and talk about something super-positive:  my love of being an actor.

It’s very easy to be a cynical and bitter actor. Hopeful people arrive in Los Angeles every single day with stars in their eyes and huge dreams. Three months later they are broke, having been scammed out of a thousand dollars and they realize they may never get a single paying acting job while they slave away waiting tables in a greasy spoon even though they have an MFA from Juliard. Then figure in the people who’ve been here for decades with nothing to show for it and you can see why the “bitter actor” is such a cliche.

But today’s post is not about how hard it is to be an actor. It’s about how great it is.

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People spend thousands of dollars of their hard earned money, take years of their lives off to enter acting conservatories and toil countless hours in black box theaters studying acting… and it’s all for nothing.

When someone in the industry sees an actor who’s just bad they say the same thing, “You need to take more classes.” After a few dozen classes they’re simply bad actors with another line on their resume and a big hole in their checking account. And no matter how many classes they take, it never seems to further their career or noticeably improve their “craft.” Why is this?

Acting can not be taught. There, I’ve said it. You can not learn how to be a good actor. You can learn the technical skills that allow your actual abilities to shine through (on camera work), you can learn new styles of acting (Kabuki, Improv) and you can learn how to read a script and look for things that are important. But you can not learn how to act.

Take the most tone deaf person you’ve ever met and give them a few singing lessons. Do you honestly think they’ll become a good singer? If they’re lucky they’ll learn that they have no business singing and quit. Singing requires a natural ability to move your vocal chords in a certain way and the ability to hear when you’re doing it right. Acting requires a face/body/voice that can show emotion and an ability to know when you’re doing a good job.

Most actors have a warped sense of the second part of that requirement. It’s very easy to know when someone else is doing a bad job, it’s hard to tell if you’re doing it yourself. No amount of acting technique or class is going to help. And you think your teacher’s feedback is useful? Read on.

Acting teachers are in business to teach acting, not make you a better actor. An acting teacher needs to pay rent. They’re not going to do this by telling their students that they’ve, “learned everything they need to know” or that they have a “natural ability that doesn’t need more classes.” No, they need to tell their students that they must stay in class. Even big names like Larry Moss have bills to pay. For every drop of positive feedback you get, you’re going to get more requiring you to do further work. I studied with a teacher that had students with him for decades. Do you think they were honestly still learning anything?

Acting class is about pleasing the teacher, not putting on good work. I’ve seen this one a million times. The students pour their hearts and souls into the piece, finish and turn to look at the teacher wondering if they did a “good job.” And for the reasons above, we know they’re going to say, “no” more times than they said, “yes.” That’s not what acting is about. Acting is not about pleasing one person who isn’t motivated to putting up good work. You want to please your director while doing a movie, but the guy is also looking for the work to be good, not for something to criticize.

It never mimics real life experiences. Scene studies classes are the biggest culprit here. You get a scene to work on, you go home and have a week to work on the scene, you show up and do it once. Then the teacher tells you to go home and work on x,y,z. You come back the next week and do the same thing. This never ever happens in real life. If you were rehearsing a play you’d just do the scene again until you did it to the directors satisfaction. You wouldn’t get a week between takes. Some classes require you to meet with your scene partner on the days between your classes. That’s absurd. Do you know how often you get to rehearse with someone before an audition or shooting? Maybe if you’re the star of the movie the director might work with you and your co-star for a few days but don’t plan on that happening more than once or twice in your career. Most of the time you get a script a couple days before or show up on set and are told what you’re doing. You get no feedback prior to shooting and you never meet your cast mates until you’re on set.

There are auditioning classes out there that try to mimic the audition process. They give you the sides at the class and have you step out for a few minutes. Often times you get more time for real auditions but this is quite common at commercial auditions. The best thing you’re going to learn in these classes is how to best show your work in front of a camera. But you can also learn this with your own camera. Tape yourself auditioning, and watch it. If you see stuff that interferes with your read, change it.

No one cares where you took classes. That’s a bit harsh. Going to a “name” acting school is the only way for a first-timer to get something recognizable on his resume. I’ll go into my whole “recognizably of resumes” thing on another post. But if you just stepped off the bus from Kansas City, MO (home of one of the worst airports in the country, even factoring in the free WiFi) you’re going to need something that someone in casting will recognize and a class is your best bet until you book something. Anyone who’s ever held auditions can tell you they’ve seen some pitifully bad actors who’ve studied with Stanford Meisner, Uta Hagen and Lee Strassberg. Just because your check cleared at their acting school doesn’t mean you’re good. Also, that line on your resume could mean you studied with them for a weekend… or an hour long seminar.

And if you think anyone cares which celebrity “studied with” those teachers… you’ve got another thing coming. Celebrities are like other actors, they struggled for a while at first. And like many struggling actors they took many different classes. When they hit it big every one of those teachers buys ads in Backstage West saying, “Eitan studied with me!” Which may be true but it’s also true for a thousand other actors who didn’t hit it big. Daivd Mamet said it best when he said that an acting school that claims that they’re a good place for actors to study because actor X studied there is like Corsica saying they’re a good place to raise a future Emperor.

If you want to hone your craft, do a play. You’ll get to work on your scenes in a nurturing environment and at the end of it do it for people who matter, an audience. And better yet, you won’t have to pay a penny.

Classes are good for one thing: to fail. When I’m at an audition I can’t be bad, I can’t try out something absurd and off the wall. When you’re on set there’s rarely time to experiment. When I’m in a class, I can do whatever I want and not care. My teacher’s not going to fire me because I took some weird pauses or did the character ten times more intense than the script calls for. This is the only purpose of a class. But depending on your director, you can often get away with experimentation in rehearsals. After trying something completely off the wall and zany during the rehearsals of a play I got my favorite note ever from a director: Eitan: WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?! I still have the original notes somewhere. I should get them framed.

You can probably find a better use for your $325 a month than an acting class. Heck, doing 5 workshops a month is cheaper and you might get some work out of it.

And don’t get me started on classes that let the students critique each other’s work…

Everyone actor wants to know if they’re any good. And unless you’ve got an Oscar on your shelf there’s never any conclusive proof you’re a good actor. Over the years I’ve figured out a few flags that indicate if you’re a bad actor and really should be looking for another job.

• No-Repeat Customers - Sometimes you get lucky and book a part. You might be right for something once. But if the people who audition/work with you figure out you stink they’re not likely to bring you in again. If one job never seems to lead to another, you might want to think about why.
• No Redirection - Sometimes you’re just not right for a part. So you go in, audition, get the old “thank you” and are shown the door. But if this is happening to you time after time, maybe the auditioners just don’t see much of a reason to re-direct you. Because no matter how much work they put in, you’ll never be able to pull the part off.
• Career Going Nowhere - This one often happens because of bad business sense. If you never learn how to promote your own work and never learn how to market yourself you’ll probably never go anywhere with your career. This is just as bad for your career as being a bad actor but at least you can learn to promote yourself well. Acting can’t really be learned (don’t worry, there will be future posts on self-promotion as well as my whole “acting can’t be learned” thing). But if you’re been promoting yourself and find that you just can’t get that SAG card, can’t get that first commercial and can’t attract any sort of representation, maybe it’s because you’re just not that good. Unfortunately there’s no good time frame to give yourself to accomplish these goals. Some people take years to get their SAG card, but go on to have real careers. But you have to give your career an honest look and see if it’s moved forward in the last year. If it hasn’t at least moved towards these goals, maybe it’s not just bad luck.
• “You were in a play!” - Yes, that’s a line from Friends. It’s what the crew tells Joey after his play (which was awful). If you never seem to be in a quality project, maybe it’s because the only people who think you’re good have no idea what they’re doing. Everyone’s allowed to do some bad projects. But if that’s all you seem to do, it might be because the people who do good work know better.

You’ll notice almost everything on this list is subjective. What constitutes a “bad play” or “no progress?” It’s going to be truly impossible to know if you’re any good. Sometimes people work for years before these symptoms start to rear their heads. And it’s tough to walk away from a career, especially if it’s something you feel you “need to do.” But it’s easier to leave now than 10 years from now when you’ve still made no progress/money at it. So it may be worth a thought.

There’s no shame in not being good enough to be a professional actor. I feel only a minor twinge that I’m not athletic enough to be a professional baseball player. I have no bad feelings about not being musical enough to be a rock star. There’s a long list of cool jobs that I’ll never have. But this isn’t a problem, because I’m doing something I know I’m good at which is ultimately more satisfying.

You’d be surprised how often I hear this statement: I want to be a professional actor, but I’ve never done any acting before.Shocking, isn’t it? Can you imagine someone saying, “I want to be a professional football player, I’ve seen a few games on TV?” It boggles the mind, yet some people honestly believe all they need to do to be a professional actor is “want it.”

In this week’s diatribe I’m going to talk about a few questions you should ask yourself if you think you want to be a professional actor, even if you have acted before… (more…)

This is it. The ultimate technique to becoming an actor. Are you ready for it?

Always be pursing acting work.

That was really helpful, wasn’t it? That answered all of your questions, right? No? I’ll have to explain further.
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