Becoming A Professional Actor

Everyone wants to be a movie star. In fact-every rock star I know wants to be a movie star. Every teacher, ditch digger, and yes-even every director secretly wants to be a movie star. Shamalan casts himself in every film he does-why-becuase he can! In this series-I will guide you in the right direction-so that you to may decide to take up acting professionally.

Now, you have read to this point, because you are intrigued, have seen the life of a star on Entertainment Tonight, or just love to act. Either way-get ready for the hardest work of your life-because this won't be easy. And chances are, you will never be a movie star. But with the rates we make on SAG contracts-who cares? If you are a working actor, you are making more than a lot of doctors, lawyers, architects, and way more than your parents(in most cases-lets face it some of you have really rich parents!).

Point is, acting is a job-like any other. And how do you go in and get hired for a job? You present your resume and you interview. We actors do that every day-it is called auditioning! And our agents send over our resumes with our "headshots" (professionally taken 8X10 photos of ourselves). Unlike any other business-we are discriminated against every day based on our hair color, skin color, eye color, size, weight, height, and heritage. This would cause major lawsuits anywhere else-but in the movies and television-that stuff is key to the decision the casting director will make when they decide to present you to the producers.

Now-when you go to McDonalds, do you get a job as the Store Manager right off the bat? NO-of course not-you have to work your way up-learn the company, learn how to make everything they offer on the menu-earn their trust with the money in the registers, learn how to manage the staff, keep the books-and keep the place clean. It is no different in any business. And one of the most asked questions I get is, how do I build up my resume so an agent will take me onto their roster and start getting me auditions?

This first installment, we will talk about training, how and where to get it-and how to do it for as little money as possible. Lets face it-you will be a starving actor soon enough-no use spending all of your money now!

Your resume is your calling card. It is what is going to get your foot in the door-it is the most important piece of paper you will ever hold in your hand if you intend to be an actor. You don't get an audition to play the lead in a play if you have never set foot on a stage-and you won't even get to say "tickets please" as the main actors walk by you in a movie theater on CSI, if you haven't ever done any on-camera work. So how do you get those things on your resume?

First we will talk about training. To get training, you can go out and hire an acting coach for about $100 a week-or you can take a class for about $300 at your local community college. But why spend the money if you don't even know if you like to act yet? You may like to cut up in class-but that isn't acting.

So, to start the ball rolling-find a local community theatre. Sign up to audition for the next play. Also, go to the local churches-they often have theatre groups. Who cares what the subject of the play is. You need to be on stage, memorizing lines and learning how characters make decisions. You will have to look for a while. They don't do show after show, and many are seasonal. When you find one-go audition. If you only get a spot in the chorus-that is cool-that is still acting, and singing, and it will scare the hell out of you. But, if you do it, and you love it, you are ready for step 2. By the way-if you aren't already doing shows in the school plays and taking an elective drama course-then you are missing the most obvious place to start. You may not like all the kids who do the plays at your school-I didn't really like them in my school either. They were all part of the same clique-didn't like anyone who wasn't like them-and always got angry when an "outsider" got a role they wanted. That is half the fun-beating out others for roles. When that starts, if you get a charge out of it-this business just might be for you.

Step 2. Look, I understand if you now live, sleep, eat and breathe acting. It does that to me too. My wife won't watch a movie with me, as I critique the actors, the camera work, the lighting, the technical stuff, continuity-everything when we watch a movie or tv show. You will be that way someday-if you already aren't. And for those of you who have been there-done that on step 2, you are ready to start getting some organized training.

You may have all the talent in the world. You may be voted most outgoing in school-you may have starred in all the school plays. Vince Vaughn was that guy at my high school-great natural actor-but didn't get the work until he really had training under his belt after high school...

You now need to find acting classes. Go to the local community college and sign up for some. Do a beginners acting class-then do an "on camera" class-you will learn more about that in a while. Also, find the local acting schools in your area. In Chicago for instance, you can do classes at Piven Theater Workshop, Steppenwolf, The Second City(if you want to do more improv than classical stuff) and the list goes on. Save your dough-this stuff aint cheap. But, think about it-that kid next to you in the lobby at the agent's office trying to get the same representation as you, who is a little better looking, just may not have all the training you are building on your resume-and guess what-you will get the representation before they do. Once you have tried some classes-it is time to go back to those community theatres and audition for bigger roles. And, many of the acting schools you will take classes at will do a quarterly play, as Act 1 does in Chicago. Now, you are doing what people do in the regular world-you are working your way up-having greater degrees of responsibility. With those comes more stress, a busier schedule-and CHOPS. When you start getting your chops you will feel the confidence. It is a beautiful thing. You start feeling like you don't care if you get the part-becuase you are auditioning more and more.

Now, by this time, you have learned your way around the community college in your area, the acting schools, and the community theaters. You have started to make a bit of a name for yourself. You are always on time to rehearsals. You know your lines (called being off-book), and you are loving every time you step on stage. Now is the time to make your first "career jump".

Start looking around those community college posting boards online-and in person. The film department will have one, and their newspaper will have them too-classifieds. You will find there are always film students looking for actors they don't have to pay. You go audition for them and show them your chops and you start booking short films, then you book a couple of senior thesis films, and before you know it, that guy who was a senior at the community college last year has conned someone out of 100K and is shooting their first feature film-and they want you in it. You have just made career jump number 2. Now-this is the time when you are really loving life. You haven't been paid for the student films, but you have clips of all of the ones you have done. You can have those same film students edit them together to make you a good "show reel". You now have the marketing materials you need to act professionally-except one. You need headshots. These are going to cost you. But, if you want someone to invest in you by casting you in a movie, or television show or commercial that costs thousands and often millions to make-you need to invest in yourself.

Depending on where you live-you can usually find a professional photographer to shoot you for a relatively small amount of money. Most of the time $150 or less. Don't worry if you don't have the dough. Remember that community college that has been so good for your career? Go back there-they have a photography department. In the photography department is a young kid like you building their resume-only in photography it is called a book or a portfolio-which is a catalogue of the photos they have taken. You offer to give them enough for processing if they are using an old school camera, or you just tell them they can use your shots in their portfolio and you pose for them. This way, you get the headshots for your career-they get the pics for their book for their career-and you have just saved the money you are going to need to reproduce those headshots!

Now-don't go out and get 100 of them printed-bad idea-print one of each of the best ones. You are going to want to have some help choosing what is most effective to market you. This is where an agent comes in. You have a resume-you have done plays, student films, a thesis film or two-maybe some of them have done okay in the festival circuit-and now you need an agent.

Again-your geographic location is going to play a role in how fast or if you get an agent where you live. If you live in California-no problem-there are a lot of agents-and you will stand a better chance of getting an agent and professional work there, even though it is so competitive, than you would in say Ankorage Alaska! But-it won't be easy-so lets not get ahead of ourselves.

For the time being-we will stop there. Check out the links attached for some great photographers, and some books to help tutor you along as you set out to make yourself a professional actor!