Standing still is hard work

I am currently taking a Film Performance Intensive at the Actors Studio. It's great fun and presents some new challenges.

We get a new script every week. I have always been good at learning lines but am awful at taking time to sit down and actually do it. The first couple of weeks my line learning was less hit than miss. So, next to learning lines, I am also learning to take time out for myself again - standing still (figuratively speaking) and just concentrating on the words on the page. This me-time is great, especially considering that I shall be working on auditioning monologues very soon.

Represent!

It is official, I have an agent!

I had been thinking of getting an agent for a while and since things have become a bit more settled with my son, I felt I should finally give it a shot. So, that's what I did and I was lucky. I can tell you, I have never been more excited to fill out forms!

Now it's all about creating news for my agent, staying proactive, so I stay top of their minds. I am very excited and will keep you posted on how this new development in my actor life is working out for me.

I will celebrate by getting proper new headshots taken. Go me *sigh of relief*!

Publish Post

Acting and motherhood

I'm back from my more or less involuntary blogging break. I've had time to think quite a bit about being a mum and an actress. Since my son was born life has become much more unpredictable than it was before and all this new responsibility does make my head spin sometimes. Motherhood does require me to be extremely organised so I can raise a child, make a living, get training, audition for acting jobs, and make it possible to be available for gigs.

On the other hand, my life is so much more exciting and I am living it with much more passion.

Things to consider 5

One last thing to consider that I want to talk about is to

'Disconnect the vulnerability button.'

A lesson in humility

It seems I have been talking a lot about the good advice I've been given lately regarding acting as a business, professionalism etc. Here's the story of someone who, it seems, has never been given this advice or maybe just didn't listen.

Things to consider 4

When you have learned to focus on yourself and on your audition instead of external circumstances, there are other things to consider. One valuable lesson is to:

Get known by your talent NOT your personality 

Things to consider 3

Now, after finding who you are as an actor and separating yourself from the competition, what could possibly go wrong for you? Lots, I'm guessing if you enter the world of auditions with the wrong attitude. So, here's a tip, I think, is worth taking on:

Don't think of the competition, concentrate on your audition.

Things to consider 2

Equally important to knowing what kind of actor you are is to not get lost in the crowd. So: Separate yourself!

Things to consider

I've been doing a lot of reading, watching and listening over the past few weeks. There are many things that seem to be important to be aware of. As with acting as a business, some of the things I've learned are common sense, others I am glad someone told me. In order to give yourself the best possible shot at becoming a full time (paid) actor, there are many things to consider. Over the next few days I'm going to talk about some of these things here.

Today: Know what kind of actor you are.

The business of acting

Now, I am new to the game of acting and apart from a $50 expenses payment from a one-day film shoot where I worked as an extra, I have never made a cent off acting in my life. Acting is an art of course but if you don't want to starve it is probably a good idea to understand the business of it.