#businessofacting

[kaishacreates]

NEW POST LIVE on the Blog! This post comes with a special free download of Key Audition Tips and Casting Resources when you subscribe to my newsletter. Details within the blog post! Check it out by clicking the link in bio or by visiting www.kaihugs.com 💜🌟 . . . #Commercials #Casting #NYC #Actress #BusinessofActing #KaiHugs #Acting #Audition #Auditions #BreakingtheFourthWall (at New York, New York)

[whtnxt]

Words cannot express how excited and inspired my weekend turn out to be! This woman is truly a woman of God and now my new big sister! @milaunajemai thank for encouraging me to work hard, never give up, and thinking outside of the box! #shondaland #howtogetawaywithmurder #adaatwood #strikeback #businessofacting (at West End Performing Arts Center)

[thepageuk]

Be More Selective

Sorry it has been a while since my last blog entry on ‘the business of acting’ but we have been very busy here at The Page UK HQ. We are gearing up for the launch of our casting section, hiring new members of staff (Hello Alvin), taking on a new Non-Executive Finance Director (Hi Steve) and working on the business side of the business.

It was whilst working on the business side of The Page UK that I began to think about the acting industry in general and how actors fit into that world and a question hit me, it was one I hadn’t really sat down and thought about when I was acting.

How do you choose what work you do?

This question is so vital to your career and thus your brand. How many of you actually take time to research what you are applying for? I know that I never, I would read the description and say “yeah I can do that” and apply for it. This is most true of short films, I figured that even if it was a bad script and a bad director there would be a small scene I could use to help build up my showreel. Come on be honest how many of you think like that?

Bad work means a bad showreel regardless if that look to camera was ‘amazing’ and ‘honest’.  It is exactly the same with Theatre though I was much better at weeding out rubbish simply because I knew more about the theatre industry and I didn’t have to ‘build’ a showreel. Questions I knew automatically were; what venues where good; what companies I should work for etc. 

There is only one show which I wanted to walk out on because I thought it would do my career more harm than good! I think that experience was the beginning of the end for me and the acting world. My eyes were opened to what the industry was becoming.

The industry is weighted towards the side of wannabes and unprofessionalism, people playing at being directors, some people playing at being actors. These parasites are starving the acting industry of air and thus finance and work.

There is so much terrible work being performed day in day out, and shockingly bad short films being made, all exploiting acting talent.

Whose fault is this? You want the truth? It’s ours, as actors we have a duty of care to our careers to be more selective, to research fully the companies we are going to be auditioning for.

 If you had a proper nine to five job interview would you go in not knowing a thing about the company? No you wouldn’t! You would research their strengths and weaknesses, you would look at the amount of staff they have, and you would use LinkedIn to find out more about the staff employed. Try and find out how secure they are as a company, if they are a limited company you can sometimes get the financial records from Companies House, all these things you should be doing when auditioning for a role. It should be the same process.

Have they won any short film competitions, what has the director done prior to this. What is the budget, if it is fringe will your expenses be covered. The list could be endless the important thing is that you know more about them than they know about you. Then you can make a clear decision whether or not this is a company that

·         You want to work for

·         That will help your career

·         That will be enjoyable

The last point is pretty valid even if you think it may not be. If it is a fringe play or an expenses only short film that you are doing in your spare time whilst working a full time job then you want it to be fun, it shouldn’t be hard work if you aren’t getting paid. Life is too short to keep putting yourself out there to be shot down.

Now I’m pretty sure a lot of you reading this already know it and I would expect you to, but if you aren’t thinking along these lines then do so now please!

By researching your prospective employer you are able to weed out roles that are unsuitable, and thus make your CV stand out. Remember your CV does not have to be littered with work, a casting director will see that you have been in a show a month but when they look a bit closer they will see you have been in a show every month in a pub, with a company no one has heard of, that means the best part of zip.

Instead of wasting your time building up your list of pointless credits attend workshops at places like the drama centre or the actor’s guild, network and focus your energies on auditioning for quality roles that you want to do and that you would be happy and proud to put on your CV.

That is what you want and that will make you stand out from the crowd.

So that is the end of my second blog.

As always good luck and keep on going.

Please remember that the views are solely the views of Adam Piercy and are in no means the views of The Page UK or The Page Productions Ltd.

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