Acting for the Camera

Tony Barr

• Verlag: William Morrow Paperbacks
• Jahr: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780062237569
• Thema: Media & Performing Arts
• Thema: Acting & Auditioning

Culled from Tony Barr's 40 years' experience as a performer, director and acting teacher in Hollywood, this highly praised handbook provides readers with the practical knowledge they need when performing in front of the camera.

This updated edition includes plenty of new exercises for honing on-camera skills; additional chapters on imagination and movement; and fresh material on character development, monologues, visual focus, playing comedy and working with directors. Inside tips on the studio system and acting guilds make it particularly helpful for people new to the business, and numerous anecdotes from actors such as Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins and examples from current movies illustrate its many lessons. It is perfect for acting classes, workshops, all actors who work in front of the camera -- and all those who want to.

FIVE

The Film/Tape Career

35

Beginning Your Career

Let’s take the process an actor goes through from the time he first arrives in Hollywood until the magic moment when he first hears the director say “Cut” at the end of a glorious first performance.

I genuinely believe that if you have the stamina and the determination to become an actor, and if you can take the disappointments that will probably be your lot, you will eventually make your living as an actor, even though you may not become a star. You must, however, have the determination, and you must work, work, work, and continue to work to perfect your craft—to free and develop your instrument so that when an opportunity comes, you will be ready for it.

The first step is to become involved with other actors. It is a good idea to get into a class or workshop that is professional in its attitude, so that your instrument keeps getting trained and keeps building on its own experience. If you’re lucky enough to have a teacher you can trust, wait until that teacher feels you are ready to start. Then you will need an agent.

Getting an agent is tough. Most agents are reluctant to take beginners unless there is some immediate and magic charisma about them. It takes a lot of hard work and persuasion to convince the studios to take a chance on a newcomer, and when all is said and done, the agent may have earned you one day’s work at about $500, of which he will get the magnificent sum of $50—less than he spent at lunch that day.

So what do you do? First, get a list of franchised Screen Actors Guild Agents from the Screen Actors Guild at 5757 Wilshire Boulevard in Hollywood. Don’t sign with any agent who is not franchised by the Guild—nonfranchised agents have little or no access to casting directors of SAG films, or AFTRA shows. The chances are he will be unable to do anything constructive for you, and he may exploit you.

A legitimate, franchised agent charges you nothing to represent you. He does not earn or see one penny of your money until after you receive your paycheck, from which he deducts 10 percent—no more, no less. If anybody propositions you with anything else in the way of representation, run the other way.

Managers are something else, but their contracts are also controlled by state law, and you should check the laws very carefully if you are ever approached by a manager.

As an actor, you will have little need for both an agent and a manager unless you become a major star. If that happens, you should examine your needs and make your decision accordingly. Meanwhile, to get an agent, send letters and composite photographs—good composites made by professional photographers—to twenty or thirty agents, asking them for an interview. Pray that three or four will answer, and that you can then persuade at least one of them that he will become a millionaire if he handles you.

If the letters get no results, the next best thing is to get into a group where you can perform and be seen by agents and industry people, but be careful not to work with poorly trained amateurs. Work with a professional group, either in a theater or in a classroom. In the latter case, make sure that the teacher is fully conversant with the needs of the profession and with film and videotape media.

You will need photographs, and you should choose them carefully. First of all, don’t rush to a photographer. You won’t need pictures until you are ready to look for an agent. If you take them too soon, you may find that your look has changed, or that the image you want to project is different. Also, if an agent becomes interested in you, you will want his advice about the kind of pictures to take or where to take them.

You should get two types of photographs. First, you need some head or bust shots that are an accurate reflection of what you are really like. They should look unposed, so that you will not look totally different from the pictures when you walk into someone’s office for an interview. These shots are for acting work.

You will also need pictures for commercial work if you are interested in commercials. In that case, you will want a composite—a group of pictures that will show you in different poses and wardrobe—on one sheet or on two folded sheets. These photos should be posed to give prospective employers some idea of how different you can look. Remember, the people hiring for commercials will not be as interested in how well you can act as in what kind of quality or character you can project for a short period of time. Can you be funny? Can you look strong? Are you feminine? Are you sexy? Can you make them believe you could be a service station attendant selling oil or a sailor who loves Old Spice? Could you be convincing as a woman who plays a lot of tennis and eats a particular kind of cereal?

A word of caution: Before you settle on a photographer, check him out as much as possible. There are many good photographers and many bad ones.

If you go to a teacher or to a manager or agent who insists you go to a specific photographer, be careful. It’s very possible that the person recommending the photographer is getting a kickback, and that the work will be second-rate.

Many places passing themselves off as talent placement centers charge a fee, send you to their photographer, then send your picture, along with dozens of others, to a few casting directors; they call that a service. It isn’t. Make sure you have a choice of photographers, and that the choice is yours. After all, you are the one who has to be pleased and proud of the pictures you send out.

Having secured an agent, you will very likely be sent on a number of interviews. There you will have a chance to meet some casting directors, and then, we hope, you’ll be given a chance to read for a part.

Cold reading, as I said earlier, is seldom required, because only a fool of a director or producer will ask you to read a script without giving you a chance to look at it first. After all, his best wish is that you are perfect for the role. If he doesn’t give you a chance to look at the material before you read it, he is not giving you a proper chance to prove that you are the right person to play the part.

Generally you will be given a script, or the pages that constitute the scene you are being considered for, and you’ll be given anywhere from ten minutes to twenty-four hours to study the role before the reading. You will then be faced (in all probability) with a terrifying group of people consisting of a casting director, director, associate producer, producer, executive producer, and studio executive, plus, perhaps, a secretary who will make notes or read with you. On the other hand, it might be the casting director who will read with you, or the director, or anyone else in the room; you can never be sure whether you’re going to have a chance to work with an actor or whether you’re going to be reading against a monotone delivered by whoever is handy.

You probably will not get any kind of decision or evaluation of your reading at the time you read. Casting people are generally noncommittal until they have seen all the actors scheduled. Your agent will have to carry the ball for you and find out if you are their choice for the role, or work like hell to convince them that you are the only possible choice for the role. If your fortunes follow the usual pattern, you won’t get the first ten or twenty roles you try out for; but if you’re good, if you keep working, if you are persistent, and if you stay “up,” sooner or later you’ll get that first part, and the ice will be broken.

A word of encouragement about reading. The people for whom you are reading are your friends, not your enemies. They are on your side, not against you. They would love nothing better than for you to be the perfect choice for the role in question. If you are, not only is their job easier, it is over, and they welcome such news. They are probably bored with the whole process of casting and would like to get on with other things. They are rooting for you to be great so they can pack it in and call it a day. Remember that when you walk into an office full of people with impressive titles. They want you to be good.

Your problems will not be solved because you’ve landed your first role. However, the first role is a toughy, and after that you can at least say, “Yes, I have worked in film! And I have my SAG card!”

About that elusive SAG card: the need for it presents somewhat of a vicious circle. You can’t get your first job until you have a SAG card; you can’t get your SAG card until you get your first job.

At the time of writing, Screen Actors Guild is fining producers who hire non-SAG members for less than three days’ work, so producers are reluctant to start new people in small roles, where most new actors must start. However, a clause in the Guild contract permits a producer to hire you with no penalty if you have studied for a reasonable length of time at a recognized school and clearly intend to make acting your career. So take heart.

Now let’s assume that you’ve gotten the role. What happens? First of all you go out of your mind with joy and have to crush an overpowering desire to kiss your agent. Then you may experience a sense of deep, deep despair because you “know” you’re just not good enough. In addition, you will receive a script (if you’re lucky) or the page or pages that involve your role. Study the pages carefully. At that point, it would be a very good idea to look over the material in this book on preparation and learning a role, because however small or large the part, the approach to learning it is the same.

Your preparation for film is done mostly by yourself, and as a consequence, it is far more difficult than preparation in the theater. There you have the advantage of hours upon hours of rehearsal with the other actors, so that the work you do at home alone is coupled with work with the other actors and the director. In film, you must do virtually all your preparation at home.

You must know the role so thoroughly that you are able to perform well even if you get no help from the director or the other actors. You must be so thoroughly prepared that nothing that happens on the set can throw you, whether it be mechanical failures, pressure and personality blowups, or last-minute rewriting of your scene. Above all, you must be so thoroughly prepared that you come to work with a clear idea of how you will perform your role; yet you must be flexible. If the director is in disagreement with your approach and wants to change it, you will be able to do that and deliver a performance that is satisfactory to both you and him without undue strain and tension.

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