I like to clarify when I'm talking to people about being an actor that you should tame your expectations. I'm NOT a famous person and that is not my aspiration. I'm NOT the star of the show in anything I've worked on so far. I'm just a guy that set out in life with an ambition to be in movies and who is finally doing that. In my varied forty six year recorded media career I have loved recording and performing. And I'm just continuing that experience as a sixty something guy. As it turns out for movies, series streaming/television there are roles that suit my type. Would I like to be a regular on a series, or a character actor in a feature film, an animated series or feature? Under the right circumstances with the right people? - absolutely. It's what I work towards. But keeping it real, since becoming a full time actor after the pandemic, I've appeared in ten streaming/TV productions. Five in the last ten months. Twelve total.
I'm posting about things here partly because it's a creative outlet for me and partly as a dig at big name social media. It seems normalised to put oneself out there. I'm just doing it here and linking into it from the social platforms that I remain less and less attached to. It's not a new concept, but rather a new approach for ME. Also the following are not daily activities, rather, think of them as regular practices to help me reach my goals:
So here we go: Some actors, and I was guilty of this in the past when receiving an audition invitation; slip into “oh-oh, that's really messing up my plans for the next twenty four-to thirty six hours.” I understand balancing a full time job or a family. But for me IF I'm gonna call myself a full-time actor, I need to be on call and ready to respond. Now when I receive an audition request, I'm grateful that somebody wants to see what I can do with the role. Then I ask myself, can I embody what this character wants, and reflect that for a camera. Then I research the character if the role is based on a true story. I also have to become pretty comfortable with the audition script and I will form an interpretation of what's needed. This can happen once a week or even a few times in a week. I might be working on two auditions at the same time on occasion. But there also could be weeks with no auditions. In between it means being prepared staying healthy, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep. I need to be in shape for a twelve hour or longer day on-set if it comes. At my age this requires effort. It means scheduled regular walking, four to six kilometres and reaching for ten thousand steps per day and one hundred and fifty to two hundred minutes of moderate to brisk activity per week, including light repetitive weight training and squats/planks. When not auditioning I maintain my home studio. I'm always on the lookout for tech that'll help me do my job better. I pay attention to lighting and sound recording. I also work to maintain my web presence. I sense that when I am about to be offered a role, it's very likely that productions considering actors are looking at their social media presence. Is it current? Is it tasteful? Does the publisher look like somebody with whom you'd like to work? So I maintain a healthy non-confrontational presence on social media. I try not to devote too much time to it. I stay out of political discussion, why argue with strangers? And in recent months, I've seen the benefit of taking on the attitude that if I have TIME to post on social media, I have TIME to post here to my own Changes Blog. So this will be my priority going forward. I'll be linking socials to content emanating here on this Changes Blog. This change has been a result of tiring of the antics of much of the social media landscape today. I'm wondering if more and more people will do this. Although I enjoy Instagram, for example, and seeing what other actors and friends of mine are doing, I like having a domain that I own. A domain on which I am active going forward. Finally, being a good actor also means watching other performers and learning from other actors. There are plenty of ways to do this. YouTube is a great source but more and more I will be looking to their personal web domains. There's a number of very talented actors or others in the industry with a lot more experience than I with useful content about their work. I'm constantly reading and learning about my craft.
Well, I hope that was helpful or insightful and not too obvious. Watch-out for posts about my Changes Blog.
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Join me for my next episode: How Do I Get Into Character?
