Category: acting

For years I had a deeply personal secret. Only family and some acquaintances I knew from the era of bell-bottom pants and a CB in every car were/are aware of my shame. I failed seventh grade.

You may chuckle or chortle but it still remains a deep wound to my spirit. One that I exposed in ACTING: Make It Your Business. And my choice to do so in the book and again here remains a terribly uncomfortable offering of honesty.

If repeating seventh grade weren’t a humiliating wake-up call enough, with teachers when I first re-entered their room for another round asking, “What’re you doing here?”, I foolishly seemed to keep wanting to repeat my recidivism for academic failure. I spent several semesters attending required summer school during my high school years. Including my senior year. My adolescent academic failure got to the point where it disallowed my participation in the graduation ceremony. The ugly details of which are in that aforementioned book.

Why did I continually fail at academics? Was I an intellectual nit? No. Laziness and a lack of priorities were the culprits.

How did failure work for me? The self-inflicted emotional scars that linger arduously drive me to make certain that I am never again, for lack of earnest effort, to fault for a failure I will encounter in the future. I can fail for lack of skill to which then I will learn how to improve myself. That’s not a shame. But to fail for lack of trying; there is no forgiveness.

Actors encounter failure often. But let’s focus what is and is not failure. If you’re auditioning and a more qualified actor for the role is hired then you did not fail. Someone who was better suited for the role was chosen. There is no blame. unless you have been lax at improving your art. You are culpable if both you and the actor were dead-on for the role but what kept you from advancing was an aspect of your craft that could be improved by you. But a desire for improvement is not an entitlement to being better. There are many ‘actors’ or ‘actor/singers’ who can’t act or sing for sh*t and just shouldn’t be in the business. To which those people are at fault for not recognizing they are out of their league and should pursue a career in which their bank account and personal fulfillment will be better sated.

If you’re unprepared for an audition (you didn’t study the material given, you arrived late and flustered to the audition site, your personality in the room was cold and unbecoming, etc.) you are to blame for the failure. Take then from that experience the knowledge of what you did wrong and strive not have a repeat performance of such in the future. That’s how failure can be a good thing. It’s like the worn old adage; “Learn from your mistakes.”

Mistakes? Yes, I have a few that I own. And if I fail again (and it’s more than possible; so to for you if you’re honest with yourself) then I will make damn sure not to repeat the cause(s) for my defeat.

Determination to succeed is the bastard child of failure. Embrace the off-spring as if it were your very own. Only then will failure work for you as it has for me.

My Best,
Paul

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Paul Russell’s career as a casting director, director, acting teacher and former actor has spanned nearly thirty years. He has worked on projects for major film studios, television networks, and Broadway. Paul has taught the business of acting and audition technique at NYU and has spoken at universities including Yale, Temple and the University of the Arts. He writes a column for Back Stage and is the author of ACTING: Make It Your Business – How to Avoid Mistakes and Achieve Success as a Working Actor. For more information, please visit www.PaulRussell.net.

 

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This week: Actor websites; what’s the background?

If you know me; taken my classes; read this blog; or have my book; you know that I strongly urge every actor to have a web site. (Facebook and the desert that is MySpace don’t count; nor does a lone page on a casting service site. Get a web site.)

A reader recently asked of me:

“I’m working with a designer to create a website and I’m stumbling on something.  After some discussion, she and I agree that ‘open spaces,’ is a part of who I am–e.g., adventurous, pragmatic, no nonsense, outdoorsy… she advocates a background image that suggests all this.  I worry that it seems ‘too arbitrary.’  I’ve been pushing to seek out imagery more directly theater-related… Do you find such background art distracting, or an interesting or helpful cue as to whom you’re thinking about buying, when you’re looking at my site?”

I took a look at the various mock-ups of the actor’s site and provided my reaction; some of which I’ll share here:

Note: For privacy I’ve pixeled the actor’s last name and his contact info.

Version One: Mountain Background

My reaction? Is he an actor or a mountain guide?

Version Two: Birds

Tippi Hedren anyone? (And if you don’t know who that is, shame on you as an actor. And no I’m not giving you the answer.)

None-the-less the birds have to go. Preferably far, far, south and never to return.

Version Three: Clouds

Now while I’m immediately reminded of religious overtones, angels descending from the heavens and late-night televangelists hawking dinner plate sets with ‘”Life-like, hand-painted scenes from The Last Super!”; this one is the best of the three. Though not the optimal choice.

The background for your web site which represents your work as an actor should be subtle and not confuse the message of your occupation which is your product. The background should also be minimal.

As to a theater or entertainment industry related background; you don’t want to go with cliché. Save that crap for the clip-art laden actor sites of the ’90s and strip mall acting studios.

When choosing your actor web site’s background remember these three “s” ending rules.

• Distraction-less
• Ambiguous
• Cleanness

Sow what background did David choose? Well, after some correspondence (and yes, he’s very aware of this post) David sent me a mock up choice he was leaning towards. Whether or not he will choose it; that’s still to be seen. But what is below puts the focus on him and not the background. It’s a better marketing choice (albeit the haunting voice I hear singing from somewhere ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’):

If not done already go get yourself on the web because when directors, producers, agents and casting look for actors that have been recommended to them. Where’s the first place we go? Google. And you had better have a professional-looking web site that ranks within the first three to five results.

Now, if wondering what content and pages are the most marketing effective on your web site? I’ve already written that. In my book ACTING: Make It Your Business. I try not to repeat material here. Or re-heat left overs more than once.

My Best,
Paul

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Paul Russell’s career as a casting director, director, acting teacher and former actor has spanned nearly thirty years. He has worked on projects for major film studios, television networks, and Broadway. Paul has taught the business of acting and audition technique at NYU and has spoken at universities including Yale, Temple and the University of the Arts. He writes a column for Back Stage and is the author of ACTING: Make It Your Business – How to Avoid Mistakes and Achieve Success as a Working Actor. For more information, please visit www.PaulRussell.net.

 

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