TAN Power Groups

With the title "TAN Power Groups," and the copper hues it implies, this post could be downright Zefrontastic; but it isn't. TAN Power Groups are not a meeting of hard-bodies on the beach, but an amassing of pasty actor's in the basement of a pub/improv-venue in Hollywood. One of the benefits of joining The Actor's Network is that you are placed in what they call a Power Group. Essentially, it's a support system not entirely unlike AA. Actor's come together to celebrate what they've achieved, make public commitments about what they want to do, and then ask for help with issues that are beyond their ability to cope on their own.

There were two things that I found really helpful about the power group that I attended last Tuesday. The first was a segment wherein each person was given 3 minutes to talk about what steps they've made to progress their acting career in the past 30 days, and what steps they plan to take in the following 30 days. The second was the moderator's insistence that all important goals be given specific deadlines - if you're too chicken to call the producer who asked to see the script you wrote, mark it as a date in your Calendar and tell a friend that you will call them once the deed is done.

After taking stock of all that I've accomplished since arriving - I'm proud. I've done a heck of a lot considering I arrived a little over a month ago. I'm now going to introduce a section that I intend to post regularly (mostly for myself):

Career Accomplishments (8/1/07 - 9/18/07)

• Shot two student films (one for a USC student).
• Enrolled in an ongoing acting class with Richard Seyd.
• Joined The Actor's Network.
• Attended a slew of Q&As and Topical discussions with industry professionals.
• Registered with LA Casting and have been submitting to 5+ projects/day.
  
• Went on one Commercial Audition for a Japanese Alcoholic Beverage with a reputable casting director.
• Attended a 3-Day Fitzmaurice workshop taught be the teacher of the work.
• Attended one casting director workshop (at no cost).
• Registered with Sage Marketing for Actors.
• Have been keeping a career blog & increasing my readership.
• Secured flexible employment.
• Shot a non-union music video in Berkeley, CA.
• Did a modeling photo shoot with a friend, and have some images for my portfolio.
• Updated resume to match industry formatting.
• Booked a gig at LA Film School working with a renowned international director.
• This led to many other auditions.
  

Career Goals (9/19/07 - 10/16/07)

• Create an audition log database to store audition dates, times, CDs, clothing, audition pieces, etc.
• See some local theater productions and get a sense of the companies.
• Audition for 4+ theater productions with a new monologue.
• Book 2 student films that are usable for my reel.
• Sign up for some continuation of the Fitzmaurice voice work.
• Book more photoshoots, and build up a modeling portfolio.
• Try to get in with USC film students.
• Volunteer for a casting director.
• Practice working in front of a camera.
• Record audition video for the 1-Hr Fantasy Girl feature film.
• Send follow-up letters to agents/producers that Sage has been submitting me to.
• Send thank you notes to all production staff that I have worked with.
• Practice cold-reading out loud.
• TAN's Mandatory Goals
• Drive around town in traffic and try to figure LA out.
• Visit: ABC Prospect, Paramount, Sunset Gower, CBS TV City (in Fairfax)

Acting Class Update & My Nightmare

I’ve been in Richard Seyd’s acting class for about 6 weeks now and have been benefiting tremendously. I’m much more emotionally available in my work, am able to believe given circumstances more fully, and most importantly: I’m pushing less (see my previous post about my Hammy Tendencies for why this is important). In fact, tonight, I didn’t push at all. This is to say, I was completely taken by the scene. It felt really, really good.

But this is not evidence of my acting brilliance so much as it is evidence of Richard’s keen ability to select “stretch scenes” that will emotionally resonate with the actors he assigns them to. Tonight, my character was in a situation wherein he had to choose between having a family and having an acting career. Scary. After the scene was over, I very quickly pushed my own concerns about this issue back into denial mode. I've still got years until that becomes a conundrum that I'm willing to entertain.

*whistles* and *twiddles thumbs*.

Student Directing Exercise at the LA Film School

I was a film major at UC Santa Cruz, and I was gypped*. I acted in a student production at LA Film School and I was absolutely blown away by their facilities. The shoot for this project took place in a sound stage, a SOUND STAGE with sound-deadening material on the walls and a proper power grid for lighting and everything. As I walked into the building I saw their ADR mixing studio, a huge glass-walled room lousy with expensive-looking machines that went beep, blip, and blop. While in Santa Cruz, we worked with crappy MiniDV cameras using the dorms and friends’ cluttered apartments as locations; LAFS is a world of difference (assuming you want to do production, not theory & criticism).

The actual shoot went pretty well. I had one line in an interrogation scene “I don’t bargain with murderers” which I delivered to a man in a wheel chair** after being punched by a large directing student named Lex. The Fitzmaurice work was helpful; I went through the destructuring series as a warm-up before the shoot began. Of course the destructuring series can feel like torture, so it lessened the amount of acting I had to do for the scene.

When the AD invited us to enter the set, I came in guns-a-blazin’. I was emotionally connected, focused, and in-the-moment… for about an hour. And then the shoot began. It went well (my goal was not to push) but I had blown my emotional wad during the camera rehearsal, so I was a semi-dead.

I brought this up in my acting class tonight, and my instructor Richard Seyd said “Never do that. Focus on learning the blocking and the mechanics of the shot during the rehearsals, save the emotion for the actual shooting.” Well, I suppose you live and you learn.

TIP: After a shoot is over, individually thank *every* member of the crew. It’s the right thing to do, they have helped you quite a bit after all.

*Apologies to any Gypsies or descendants thereof for the use of “gypped”.

**Ask me in person for a story about a teenage boy who wants to swim the great lakes and is a fan of truck drivers.

Elizabeth Gilbert On Writing

Despite not being particularly well-read, I am deeply curious about how different writers work. There is a magic in how a writer is able to take concepts from their mind and flesh them out into entire worlds on the printed page. I think that I would enjoy nothing more than to write good fiction. But for the most part, like music, I leave the work of writing to those better suited to it. For now I am content to sit on the periphery enjoying what those more talented than myself produce.

I happened to stumble onto the homepage of author Elizabeth Gilbert and felt that she made some statements that are helpful to all artists, not just writers. I should note that I've never read anything by Ms. Gilbert, her work could be complete crap and I'd never be the wiser, but what she says has to some heft to it.

I believe that – if you are serious about a life of writing, or indeed about any creative form of expression – that you should take on this work like a holy calling. I became a writer the way other people become monks or nuns. I made a vow to writing, very young. I became Bride-of-Writing. I was writing’s most devotional handmaiden. I built my entire life around writing.

I didn’t love being rejected, but my expectations were low and my patience was high. (Again – the goal was to get published before death. And I was young and healthy.) It has never been easy for me to understand why people work so hard to create something beautiful, but then refuse to share it with anyone, for fear of criticism. Wasn’t that the point of the creation – to communicate something to the world? So PUT IT OUT THERE.

Don’t pre-reject yourself. That’s their job, not yours. Your job is only to write your heart out, and let destiny take care of the rest.

As for discipline – it’s important, but sort of over-rated. The more important virtue for a writer, I believe, is self-forgiveness. Because your writing will always disappoint you. Your laziness will always disappoint you.

Werner Herzog in response to a letter from one of Gilbert's friends complaining about the difficulty of being an independent filmmaker...

Quit your complaining. It’s not the world’s fault that you wanted to be an artist. It’s not the world’s job to enjoy the films you make, and it’s certainly not the world’s obligation to pay for your dreams. Nobody wants to hear it. Steal a camera if you have to, but stop whining and get back to work.

Super Productive Day

For almost the first time since moving down here, I feel like I've had a truly productive day.

• I awoke to a clean apartment, because I'd stayed up until 2 organizing and cleaning the night before (sorry to disappoint, but this is not evidence of a budding coke habit).
• I attended a voice workshop from 10:00-4:45.
• Drove to an audition - realized I was there on the wrong day (D'oh!) - and got a text about another audition in just enough time to drive from Hollywood to the location in Santa Monica.
• Kicked butt on the audition in Santa Monica.
• On my way out, I saw sides for another project and crashed the audition. I met the producers and read for two parts.
• Got home and essentially finished my first project for Maxon since moving down here.
  

Not too impressive by everyone's standards - but it's something I needed to celebrate.
Oh yeah, I teach people how to make pictures like what you see above for a living.

Actors Are Crazy

Ask anyone who works in technical theater, it's cold hard fact that "actors are crazy." It's not just acting that they're discussing - let's be honest: dressing up in a costume, putting on makeup, and pretending that you're someone else is a little crazy. Then whilst pretending you're someone else you end up murdering someone else who's pretending to be another someone else in front of 1000 audience members who can't see this magical "4th wall" you keep talking about. Nope, that's not even the beginning of the certifiable behavior that most actors willingly engage in.

A lot of actors can pass as "normals" until you see them doing their warm-ups. I spent an entire weekend at a Fitzmaurice Voice Technique Workshop taught by Saul Katsubei. It was phenomenal and I've grown quite a bit as an artist (I've tripled the size of house I can easily play to) - but we did some wacky ass shit to get to the end result.

Some highlights:
Ass Tag - Wherein you attempt to bop others on their bottoms while keeping both your biscuits safe.
Destructuring - Wherein you place your body in such an awkward position that it begins to shudder involuntarily while you hyperventilate and moan loudly.
Breathing Buddy - Wherein 15 strangers lay on the ground in a giant puppy pile trying to feel each other breathe through at least two contact points.


There's a lot more that transpired, and a lot that was learned - but looking back on the weekend I question my ability to turn down the Kool-aid if it is ever offered to me.

David O. Russell is a Drama Llama

Whilst avoiding the wreck that my apartment has become I stumbled onto the following video:

In the above video, film director David O. Russell verbally assaults actress Lily Tomlin on the set of "I Heart Huckabees" in front of cast and crew. This is upsetting to me because I saw "I Heart Huckabees" and loved it for a number of reasons: It featured Dustin Hoffman, had a soundtrack by Jon Brion, and Mark Wahlberg was Marky-Mark-tastic. If you watch the video closely, you'll see Dustin Hoffman just walk off-set when the conflict gets really ugly. I hope I never have to deal with something like that.

Apparently, some good can come of this. Michael Cera of "Juno"/"Arrested Development" shot a spoof of the above video w/ "Superbad" collaborator Judd Apatow.



Note to self:
If you ever encounter a true Drama Llama, do what you do with the genuinely crazy homeless people, DNE, DNE, DNE.

Do Not Engage.