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June 3, 2007
The Actors Voice, 6/4/07
Hi Everyone!
Here's how tomorrow's The Actors Voice starts out.
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Paradigm Shifts
So, last week, I participated in a SAG Foundation event with fellow casting directors Bruce Newberg and Erin Toner. We talked about everything from what online services we use (Breakdown Services, Actors Access, IMDB-Pro) to the likelihood of unrepresented actors getting seen by us (everyone gets a shot) and from headshots (no one cares if they're in color, as long as they look like you) to demo reels (we love 'em short and online). Obviously, we didn't always agree on "what works," but that's part of what makes these free events so awesome: Actors get to learn how things are done in specific offices rather than assuming that everything is done the same in every office. Just like actors aren't all alike, CDs aren't all alike.
One of the emails I received after the talk seemed to have something in common with another email that I had received about last week's column on creating your own demo reel footage. Both supported my theory that sometimes all an actor needs, in order to start making things happen, is to just start making things happen! And that often requires a paradigm shift. We tend to get so caught up in all of the things we think we're supposed to do that we miss out on doing things that actually might be a lot more powerful (and more fun)! For example: I said (at the SAG Foundation talk) that if actors took half of the energy they put into "finding the right agent, targeting mailings to CDs, getting a better agent" and put that into creating their own short films, showcases, or plays, the people they're so eager to get in front of would seek them out!
But if you've been conditioned to believe that the busy, frantic energy you're putting into mailings and meetings and researching people is "enough," it might take a true paradigm shift for you to understand that you could choose to work smart, not hard.
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Continue reading this column in the morning, along with a twist on the need to change your name, in the Your Turn section at Showfax.com.
Woo hoo!
As always, THANK YOU for reading!
Cheers,
-Bon.
Live your dreams! If you don't, someone else will.
Posted by bonnie at June 3, 2007 6:04 PM