December Slumps

I could be seriously worried right now.   Compared to earlier this year when it seemed like my agent was sending me out every few days, I've barely heard anything (other than those weird beating the bushes kinds of calls where they need twin native Tagalog speakers or real-life professional chefs who also have rare skin diseases).

I could be freaking out - have they forgotten me? Did someone say something and they've decided they're going to drop me and haven't told me?

I'm not worried and I'm not riding any emotional roller coasters.  Thanks to my audition tracking spreadsheet.  Since I've tracked auditions in a spreadsheet for a few years now, I'm at the point where I can see trends in the audition calendar - and, it turns out that for every year I've tracked December is just a slow month when it comes to auditions.  So I'm fine - it's the calendar, not me.

I'm using these quiet weeks to work audition pieces, look at the bigger picture and think about what I'd like to accomplish in 2013.  Because if it's anything like the last few years have been, January is going to get really busy!

My new favorite organizer and some news!

I am loving workflowy.com!  It's a way to put all of your lists in one place as a master list and sub-lists.  Super easy to click through and manage.  Set up is fast and it's really easy to learn and use.  Check it out!

Also, I'm really excited to have been chosen by Theatre Bay Area to represent their 35 Faces campaign!  It's a fantastic group of people chosen in honor of TBA's 35th birthday.  My profile is here.  And, I've also got an article in the March/April issue of Theatre Bay Area's magazine.  At this time, it's not available online, just in the print edition.  It's called 'Equity: Year One' and you can find it on pages 21-22.

Reel Resources

Bonnie Gillespie answered some questions yesterday about actor reels in her terrific Showfax column, and linked to some great resources worth checking out - additional info as well as links to docs that actors can get filmmakers to sign to specify details about the copy they'll be providing.

I'm pretty happy w/my recently edited reels, which you should be able to see here.  The editor I worked with is Deva Blaisdell-Anderson.  I had a great time working w/her and she was very helpful, insightful and knowledgeable about the tech side of things.

The actor's closet

I've written about wardrobe and wardrobe choices a bit before. 

But because of some recent industrial work, I'm thinking about it again.

I'm thinking about how it's helpful for an actor to know what colors they look good in, and to know what colors and clothing styles work well on camera. Lots of us know this already but thanks City of Alberquerque for spelling it out so clearly!  To their page I'd add the following: avoid logos/writing/images on your clothing, but everything else they're saying is spot on.

For industrials in particular, it's helpful to know the difference between formal business attire and business casual.  This page has some great descriptions and images, maybe a little bit more for women than men.  Here in the Bay Area, with Silicon Valley's influence, we're sometimes asked for a slightly more hip version of business casual, so you may need to ask for clarification if things aren't clear.  Another great way to figure out where your current project or audition falls on the formal to casual spectrum is to go to the website for the client company or to companies w/a similar culture/industry, and see what the people are wearing in photos on their site. 

I'm not the most conservative dresser in my everyday life, but I keep a few pieces on hand for things that I'm often asked to do.  I have my mom slacks (light colored khakis) and a few sweaters, as well as a few business suits, with the appropriate accessories.  I've watched for when the suits go on clearance at department stores, and taken a few runs through places like Nordstrom Rack, H&M, etc. to round out what I need.  Clothing swaps with friends have also helped me round out these areas of my wardrobe.

I make sure that I keep all of this stuff clean and ready to go too.  It sucks to have to spend extra money on a rush turnaround at the dry cleaners. 

And last of all, I've got a garment bag for hauling too and from set!  It's always surprising to me when people show up w/stuff jammed in grocery bags, or just carrying a bunch of shirts on hangers in from their car.  Both you and the clothes look better and more pro when you can bring it all in in a good bag. 

A Checklist

for those who are primarily actors, but may do other stuff too:
headshot - is it in color? Is it less than 2 years old? do you have headshots for stage? commercial? business/industrial?
resume - is it up-to-date? proofread? do you have versions for stage? on-camera? different resumes for other slashes (teaching, directing, etc)
website - is it up-to-date? does it have your headshot and resume in easy to download formats? your contact info? your current projects?
reel - is it around 1 minute long? do you have different reels for your different types of on-camera work (commercial, industrial, film, comedy, dramatic, etc.)? are they labeled appropriately? on your website?
voiceover demo - do you have demos for the diff voiceover categories you work in (commercial, industrial, character, promo)? on your website?
postcard - does it have your image (or logo if you're voiceover only)? your web URL?
business card - your name? your contact info? an image or logo? a tagline?
tagline - do you have a short, accurate, on-brand description of yourself? do you use it with your online profiles?
elevator pitch - can you describe who you are and what you do in less than 1 minute and also convey your professionalism and personality
monologues - do you have at least four awesome monologues of contrasting tones and styles ready to do right now if I said 'go'?
professional bio - do you have bios for each of your slashes that are up-to-date, proofread, and on-brand?
references - 3 of them, with phone number, email and mailing address, typed and ready if I asked for them?
press clippings - one page of them, give or take, where critics from major sources have said complimentary things about you?
additional professional photos - of you in productions or at work, that could go in a press packet if asked
modeling portfolio photos - if this is one of your slashes, do you have a portfolio of images? is it on your website?
professional online profiles - are you listed in the appropriate places for your industry (imdb, theatre bay area, casting search sites)? are these up-to-date? include the appropriate media (reel or photo or voiceover demo)
contact list - are you keeping contact info of people who've hired you, that you've auditioned for, etc? 

What I'm learning is that the items on this list are actually never done, just okay 'for now' and require regular updating, maintenance, revamping, etc.  So work on one, get it to where you like it and then move on to the next. 

What did I leave off this list that you have on yours?

Resource of the Week: VoiceBank

An actor friend emailed last week to ask some questions about voiceover equipment.  She wants to pursue voiceover work and wants to start by creating a studio for home recording.  Not only is that a huge financial investment, I think it's a lousy place to start. 

First of all, the actor in question has never done voiceover work before, or even taken a class.  So she doesn't know if she has an aptitude for it, or if it's work she'll enjoy.  Second, and more important, you don't get voiceover work by having a studio (although it can definitely increase your opportunities), you get voiceover work by having quality demos.    You wouldn't get hired to work on a film just because you owned a camera, would you?  You get hired because of your reel and your audition.  Voiceover demos are the reel for voiceover work.

And, there's a cool website - Voicebank - where agencies post their clients demos, and anyone can listen to them - it's a great way to get to understand the format, what the trends are, etc.  So start listening!

Some good books

Here are some books that are on my shelf and about acting.

1. The Actor and the Target by Declan Donnelan - author is the artistic director of England's Cheek by Jowl, and this book is his ideas about what acting is, based on the idea of getting around what is 'blocking' an actor.

2. The Viewpoints Book by Anne Bogart and Tina Landau, A Director Prepares by Anne Bogart, And then, You Act by Anne Bogart - the first book has more of a workbook quality, and outlines the technique of Viewpoints.  The other two books are more collections of essays by Anne and her ideas about making theater.

3. Actions: The Actors' Thesaurus by Marina Calderone and Maggie Lloyd-Williams is a slim volume filled w/playable verbs, and synonyms for those verbs.  If you are the type of actor or director who likes to think about playable actions when analyzing text, then this book is indispensable, I'd think.

Tools: Fun with Spreadsheets!

In 2008, I started to track my auditions in a spreadsheet.  In the document, there's a page for each month where I record the necessary audition info - where, when, who my contact is, as well as what I did at the audition, what I wore, and if I got a callback or a booking from the audition.  At the end of the year, I collect all of that info into a year end 'report'

And I just wrapped 2010.  66 auditions.  A 19% 'success' rate (where the audition led to a callback or a booking).  I also know how many times I auditioned, got a callback and/or booked in theater, film/tv, commercial, industrial, voiceover and print.   So I know that my success rate for theater auditions is pretty high (30%) and for commercials it's terrible (0%).

I can also track where my auditions come from - a listing, my agent, etc.  And it turns out most of my auditions come from referrals (a casting person contacts me, and asks me to audition).

I'm looking forward to collecting more data in 2011.  Tracking bigger picture trends (what's the busiest audition month of the year?  The slowest?).   And, I need to figure out how to track the jobs I get without an audition.  Because there were several of those this past year.

Resolutions?  Nah.  But goals based on my tracking, sure!  Here goes:

• 70 auditions in 2011
• overall success rate of 20%
• book a commercial

All right 2011! Let's go!

Tools of the Trade: Resume

I have four different resumes right now: stage actor, on-camera actor, theater educator, and a 'general' resume for when I apply for day jobs that want a resume.

Stage actor and on-camera actor are basically the same resume, just with information in a different order (stage starts w/stage credits and has a truncated on-camera section, and vice versa for the on-camera one). Both are one page, and saved in two formats - one w/normal margins for when I send it via email, and one w/skewed margins so I can fit it on the back of an 8"x10" and only have to cut it on two sides.

My acting resumes mention that I'm a theater educator/teaching artist, and my theater educator resume mentions that I have acting experience. 

My theater educator resume is about two pages in length, lists everywhere I've taught, broken down by age group, as well as descriptions of some of the classes/topics I teach.

My general resume changes every time I use it (which is really only 2-3 times per year).  Depending on what I'm applying for, it may mention some of my teaching work (because I have supervised others, planned events, and managed group communications as part of that work), but it has never mentioned my acting work. It's usually about two pages long too.

The additional document which I consider crucial is my master gigs list.  Organized by year, it's a list of every acting and teaching job I do, every class I take, and anything else that I might want to include on a resume at some point.  It's not all on my resume, but I have it all in case I need it or want it.

How do you do things?