Acting in Film and TV || Start Your Acting Business

1. Introduction: mark seeing 40 to be Take one. Stop moving and action. Hello, my friend and welcome. Thank you so much for stopping by and so glad to see you. I'm Laura Leven and I had the privilege of working as an actress in films shot right here in my home province of Alberta, Canada, to the coast of Vancouver, British Columbia, to beautiful mountains of Colorado. I was even flown to a palace in Croatian Europe and paid to do what I love. But just a few short years ago, I knew nothing about the film industry. I didn't even know you could work in movies without living in Hollywood. Well, I've since discovered that working as an actor in film and television is not just a pipe dream for the lucky few, but it's actually a viable business that anyone can get into regardless of your age or experience. Now, this is something you might like to pursue. I would love to help you get started. I've had a ton of fun putting care of this little course for you and breaking down the whole process into floor pillars designed to get you ready for action and killer number one , we're gonna position you for success. So we'll take a look at what really sets the pros apart from the wannabes so that you can position yourself as a professional right from the start. And Pillar number two, we're gonna refine your unique product. So we'll take a look at what makes you awesome and how you can really harness that uniqueness to market to the industry. And pillow number three. I'm gonna help you create your acting toolbox. So we'll get you set up with all the tools you need to get started from your professional headshot, you're acting resume and your website. And trust me, my website has played a big part in helping me book work. Outside of just my own little space here in pillow number four, we're gonna take everything we've learned, and I'm gonna show you how to market your acting business so you'll learn we're fine casting calls, how to get yourself in for auditions and eventually how to become represented by a legitimate talent agency while avoiding all the crazy scams out there. Because there are a few you know, what this course will not teach you is how to act Well, I do recommend some great books to help you get started. I also highly recommend that you work with a professional coach and take some classes and workshops to really help you hone your acting skills. I'm also not gonna promise you fame and Fortune is the next big star on a Disney hit. But sit down with me for a while, my friend and I can share with you a zero height. No fluffy stuff, friend. A friend Chat just demystify the mysterious world of show business. By the end of our time together, you will have all the tools and all the knowledge that you'll need to begin your own adventures as an actor in film and television. I think that's enough for today. So what are we waiting for? Joined my class today and let's get started 2. PILLAR #1 - Position Yourself for Success!: thanks for joining my class. And congratulations on taking this exciting first step. Now, before we dive right in, I have a confession. I almost scrapped this entire chorus. I did. I was putting it together for you and working on the outline. And then I just took a break for a while to go working on audition that I had coming up. And as I was working on this audition, I guess because I was thinking about you and how you're just getting started on this journey, and it just it took me back, Teoh what it was like to just be starting out. And, you know, when I when I discovered this, I was so excited about it. This was my dream. And I just knew my dream was gonna come true. And I almost quit high school to pursue this because I was just so certain. This is what I wanted to do. But then I realized that many film schools require English 30. And so I thought, Well, I better not. I better I better finish high school just in case. I want to take that route. So I finished high school, but I sunk my entire childhood savings into workshops and classes of head shots and everything I could to set myself up for success because I knew that as soon as I was done high school, as soon as my bank account was running out that I would be working as a professional actor . Well, reality hit when my bank account hit zero and I had not booked a single acting job and I had poured my heart and soul into so many auditions. Andi just faced a lot of rejection and disappointment and criticism, not all of it constructive. It would be very nice of me to drag you into this with me. So I thought, you know, I'm gonna Scott this. They don't need this. I don't want to set anyone up for disappointed hopes and crushed dreams. So I decided to scrap the course. But about an hour later, my little sister came up to me just so excited about, um, her favorite TV, Siri's Heartland that she just watched an episode of. And she says, Every time I watched that Laura, I just I want to be an actress whole bad, and it just hit me that if you really want to do this, You're probably gonna pursue it with or without my help. And so I thought, you know, I wouldn't want my little sister pursuing this on my own, and I don't want you to have to go at it on your own. So if you want to pursue this, I am absolutely here to help, and I'm excited to help you get started. But I think it's just only fair to warn you. And so I thought I'd read JIA for a moment here out of the Great Book of Audition by Michael Short Lift, which is actually one that I highly recommend in this book, he says, isn't generally known that an actor's life is a difficult one, not glamorous most of the time, and filled with disappointment, rejection and hard work. Well, you spend our lives working in the working in the theatre or film. Know this so well that we may mistakenly assume that the rest of the world knows to yet clearly not where no one would come from the ranks of civilian life to enlist in the world of acting. Yet many dio the dream still exists. One's name up in lights one's face up there on the giant screen, the adoration of the public, great romance, fame and glory, he goes on. To say to go into acting is like asking for admission to an insane asylum. Anyone may apply, but only the certifiably insane are admitted. In my actor card file are 50,000 actors. I would hazard to say about 500 of them earn a living acting and a large part. Other income comes from doing commercials, which is not exactly acting, is it? So it's clear right off the bat that from any rational point of view, to become an actor is an act of insanity. Why would one go into a profession in which it is nigh unto impossible to earn a living, he says. I've always thought it's better to give up sanity, settle down and admit you're crazy or you wouldn't want to act. When you find out what acting is like and what the odds are and you still persist, the proof of your own insanity is inescapable. Accept it. Most actors make themselves unhappy by searching for sanity by insisting on their normalcy . It is a grave mistake. The life of an actor is a bit easier to take. If you admit your bunkers, may I propose that, yes, it's difficult. Yes, it's challenging. Yes, it sucks sometimes and yes, it's probably going to be harder than you'd imagine. But isn't that life? I mean, think about it. Who in their right mind would choose to bring new life into this world? Life sucks. Life is hard. Nobody gets through without a broken heart skinned knees, and nobody makes it out alive. And yet we fight for life. Why? Because there's things in life that is so worth fighting for. That is magical. That is incredible. I mean, life is beautiful in the middle of all the other hardships, and that's how I feel about this industry and about this career path. And I love what I do. Doing what you love is gonna suck 95% of the time. But that other 5% is freaking awesome. So go into this, knowing that it's okay. If you don't love the whole process, it's gonna challenge you. It's going to stretch you, but is it worth it? That's something you have to decide. Just know that there is no guarantee that you can pour your heart and soul into something and still be rejected that there is no guarantee. But like the famous Clint, Eastwood says, if you want a guarantee by toaster. 3. Show Biz: Hello? Are you still here? Wow, I was ready to pack up and go for a hike. But, I mean, if you want to do this According to this book, my friend, you and I are both bonkers, which is great. I think we'll get along splendidly. So welcome to the world of show business. The first thing we need to understand is that this is show business. So this is not at all like working as an employee for a boss. You are actually, from this point on, consider yourself he CEO of you incorporated. So, as the CEO, you really are responsible for a lot more than you might imagine. There's this common misconception. And I certainly thought this way when I got started that all you need to really do is find a good agent and your agent is gonna bring you the jobs. Well, it's not exactly true at all. Three Agent does play a very important part in your success and which we'll talk about more later on. But, um, you know, ultimately, your success is really up to you. As the CEO, you are responsible for your business policy, your product development, profitability and growth relationship with the board of directors standards of performance organization planning, community relations. Now, if you're looking at this list and freaking out a little bit, please don't be intimidated by it. This is fancy language and fancy wording, and and by the end of this course, we really will have broken this all down into, um, actor language and how it applies to you and into much smaller steps that you can take to get started here. And so you'll have a much better idea of how this whole list fits into your career and your responsibilities as an actor. 4. How Movies are Cast: so you'd like to be cast in movies. It's probably agree, idiot, Understand actually, how movies are cast. So I'm gonna walk you through the process real quick here. So first of all starts with a writer without a story, you have nothing. So when you got a good story to tell, that's where things can happen. From there, the producer will find a great story and usually buy it from the writer. Sometimes this is the other way around. Sometimes, as in the case with Steve Jobs, the producer knew they wanted to produce a movie on this guy's life. And so they hired Aaron Sorkin to write it. Um, so it's a little interchangeable that way, but in essence, that's what happens now. The producers that people who really make everything happens. So they're doing all the behind the scenes work. They're the ones who really do the magic and somehow work the business in such a way to get a movie in production. So they're amazing from there. If they have the budget for and it's a big movie, they will hire the celebrities first, so they're actually called a list actors. Those were people like Karen nightly. Johnny Dad, Brad Pitt. People who get butts in seats they say they want. People are gonna bring people into the theater so they will usually make an offer to say Julia Roberts would be perfect for the part. So they make an offer to Julius Agent. The agent can then pass on the script to Julia Roberts, who will read it, and if she wants the part, it's hers. She doesn't have to audition for it at all. From that point, the casting director really comes into play. Casting director is hired to read through the whole script and then make a breakdown of all the characters from everyone from, you know, the main cast to write down Teoh, a waitress who comes in and and offer someone a cup of tea or something. So they really break down the whole thing, and then they actually send this breakdown. It's actually called a breakdown they're posted online on, and it'll go out to all the agents who will then have access to it to see what kind of characters they're looking for. So from that point, the agents will take a look at their roster and agents can click and drag your headshot into whatever character they think that you would be appropriate for. So from there, casting director comes back. Looks at all these submissions. This poor soul has to go through hundreds or thousands of submissions and shoes say, 20 max, usually to come in for an audition. So from then, all those actors of the casting directors chosen will go in to audition and spend anywhere from two minutes to maybe 15 minutes tops in a room with this casting director. Um, from those auditions, the casting director will break it down if they feel they need you to have callbacks. And the callbacks are really so they can just maybe try it with a different scene, or they might even get you in there with the character. So if you're trying out for the costar rule, they're going to get the star of the show in so that you can do your audition with this person to kind of see how you play off each other. You can actually watch unexamined of this if it's still on YouTube. If you look up Rachel McAdams audition and you can actually see her, her audition with Ryan Gosling for The Notebook, which is It's It's beautiful. It's such a good audition, but technically, that's what a callback looks like. Her story was a little different because somehow her agent managed to get her in for the callbacks, even though she wasn't seen for auditions. So that's that's rarely heard of. But that's what happened for her, and I guess it worked for because she got the role from callbacks. If they're not completely certain, if it's not obvious which actor they want to cast, they will break it down even more to have a few actors come in for a screen test and a screen test is when they actually set up everything, as if you're filming on set. So they might even get you into the wardrobe that your character we wear and they'll actually get the cameras that would shoot the different angles much like they would in a movie. And your screen test just gives them a much better idea of how you play off the other characters and what you're gonna look like in the film. And you can see a beautiful example of a screen test. If you look up on YouTube Kate Wind split screen tests and you can see her screen test for Titanic. And she's actually the one on YouTube is not with Leonardo DiCaprio, so she's testing with a different actor who was being considered for the role of Jack. So very interesting, highly recommend you go check that out. By that point, they have to choose one person to cast for the rule, and usually that choice will come down to the director, even though the producers of one paying all the money and the casting director is one doing all the work up to this point, the director is the one who really has to work with you very closely throughout the whole process, so that final decision will often come down to him. So if you're listening to this and thinking, Wow, this is crazy odds. Yeah, it is, It's It's crazy. I was just to get in for an audition and then from there to get narrow down and book the part. But you know, some of that, I found, is that competition. It's overrated because really there is only one version of you. There is only one person who could do the character like you can and the competition have tends to eliminate themselves. My aunt, who works in film, she was casting for a show at one point in, and I was amazed to hear that 20% of the people they invited in for call backs didn't even show up. So that's 20% of the competition who are already eliminating themselves of that. The people who did come in, some of them weren't really prepared. Some of them weren't really. They didn't really know their stuff. They haven't taken the time to work on it on. But they weren't professional, and the others were just not a joy to work with, you know, so there are so many things you can do to make sure that you are at the top like little simple things, like showing up. Um, like Woody, Allen said, 85% of success is showing up 5. A Scenario: allow me to paint you a scenario. Okay. Have hired a plumber to come and fix your pipes. Your pipes are broken. So, uh, this fella shows up at your door, knocks at your door. It's nervous. Sweat off his hands. Hi. 100. You want me to fix your pipes? You let him in? He comes in, takes a look at the pipes text. Look at you. Uh, so I should probably tell you, I've never really done this before. Um, and I was gonna practice. I was, but I just ran out of time today. But, you know, all my friends told me I'd be a great plumber. So, you know, I thought, Why not? I'll give it a shot. So, um, how do you want me to start? I should I sit? Should I stand? Um, how do you feel about hiring this person toe? Help you fix your pipes Yet? This is how actress coming to auditions. Ah, lot, especially in the beginning. Um, you know, we feel like we don't I don't know. It's like we've failed to see this as a craft that we're in control of. And so the temptation is to walk into an audition and, you know, introduce ourselves, shake the hand, say hi, and then then ask I should I should I sit? Should I stand? How do you see this character? That's your job. Okay. As an actor, as the CEO of your business, you need to come in prepared with that's kind of stuff. Um, but it's very difficult to feel confident with something if you don't really know what you're doing. If you're just winging it and hoping it goes well, I guess when we see actors working on television, it looks like they're just being themselves. It looks so normal. But trust me is it is challenging. It is not easy to be emotional and riel and interesting yet honest and hit your marks and cheat the camera angles. All all the other technical things that come with working for a camera and an audition is it's a beast of it. So when you have to learn how to audition because it's very different from actually working on set. So, um, you know, and if you show up like an amateur in your audition that you're not prepared for because you haven't done the training, then you could blow it with that casting director before your career ever get started and they'll never invite you back. And I say this from experience because in my first few months of, you know, doing my acting thing, I auditioned for the biggest casting director in my province, and I did some silly things that looking back on now like Oh, Laura, that was so unprofessional and she's never invited me back. It's 10 years later. I'm not saying that to scare you and to make you extra nervous that that's not the point. The point is that if you go in confident and prepared, you're going to give a much better audition and make a much better impression than you are if you are not trained. So absolutely, I recommend acting classes training and there are some different options for this. Okay, it doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg 6. Honing Your Craft: The first option is, of course, film school, and that might cost you an arm and a leg. Um, the advantages of film school are that you can if you know that you want to pursue this, and this is a good time for you to just put your heart and soul into it. And you're a brand new beginner, and you don't really know much about the industry at all. Film school really subversive in that environment, and you'll get to meet people who are pursuing the sale a similar thing to you. So you might even meet some people that you'll go on to work with in the future. So that's great. Second option is you could go to an acting studio. Many studios will offer weekly classes so you can actually go weekly to learn your skills and practice of other actors that will cost less than a film school. It also gives you freedom to actually pursue your career at the same time, cause in a film school, you can't be going out on auditions and booking rules. You have to be committed to the school. Whereas weekly classes gives you a lot more flexibility. The other option is weekend workshops. Very often, coaches will teach a weekend workshop, and you can go and, you know, book the weekend off and just go for the weekend. Learn from that coach. You can then go learn from a different coach, and I think the advantage to that is that you get to learn from a bunch different people. It's also more affordable. The disadvantage is you don't have that consistency there. You know, you don't have that sense of accountability that you would have if you have weekly classes . So what I did, Um, because I don't I wasn't born into a place where acting schools or even acting studios existed. I did the weekend workshop thing, Um, because I was actually, it was only 15 when I got started, so I couldn't go into film school till I was out of high school. And at that point by that, I had actually, because of my work shops and the training I'd done, I had been able to get into film beforehand and so to go to film school. Three years later. I just didn't make his much sense because I had already learned a lot of that stuff from experience and through workshops. And so it would be a thousands of dollars for stuff that I don't really need to relearn. So that was what I decided to dio and, um, workshops, you know, or often held. You know, when coaches would fly in from a bigger city like Vancouver, Toronto, New York L. A thes air the big cities where it's happening at London, England, of your in Europe. Um, so coaches would fly into my little town occasionally or two. That my closest city, which is about an hour away in Edmonton, Alberta. Then then I'd also go to classes in Calgary, Alberta, which was about a 3.5 hour drive. So there was a little bit of travel involved, and you got it kind of prepared for that. If you are like me and live out in the middle of nowhere, um, as well. Also, books are an excellent way to learn, and I recommended I recommended this one already auditioned by Michael Shirt Lift. I also highly recommend how to stop acting by Harold Gus Skin on I would recommend that one first, like is the very first thing you look into. Once you go through that book, I don't know three or four times and do the exercises and really get to the point where you you got it and you're comfortable with it, and maybe you're even getting bored of it. That is an excellent time to bring this book in, and this book will just use the skills you've already built and help you take your audition to the next level. So your action step for today is to order yourself a book and also to Google acting classes and workshops in your area and just kind of get a feel for what's out there. Start doing some looking into it and think about what you might like to do for training as an actor. 7. The Makings of a Star: I think we've all seen actors on television who are maybe not the most talented in the world, and I don't know about you, but I've sometimes wondered, How do you get there? I mean, of all the talent out there, Why you You know, um, well, there are many reasons I have since discovered that an actor maybe cast for a role. It's not always that they're the most talented actor. In fact, it's very often not, um, to fit into a movie sometimes have to choose actors that maybe look like the main character if they're trying toe fit people into a family. So you may have an actor who's gives an extraordinary audition and comes away, you know, beating themselves up, thinking I could have done this better and could have done that better. And really, it was the best audition, but someone else was just more suited to the role. Maybe their periods was more what they're looking for, or they just brought something a little special to the character that someone else hadn't thought about. Um, and an example of that is I actually had the opportunity to work as a reader for a casting director in Toronto for a session. And and so as a reader, you're reading opposite the person who's auditioning. So you get to kind of be in the scene with, um, without being on camera. So there was this one rule that they were casting, and this guy who had to come in and audition was supposed to act drunk. He was Character was very drunk. Andi. So this one guy came in and he nailed it like I almost wondered if he was drunk, except that he was very sober, you know, in between takes but so convincing. It was so well done. And then after him. This other actor came in and he really wasn't nearly as convincing. But something about the way he played the character was funny. Like he just he brought something really interesting to the character, even though he wasn't nearly as good at acting and convincing us that he was drunk and that was the guy he went getting the rule. So that's one example. You never know why you're not cast. There are so many reasons that you could be or couldn't be. Another reason is that you'll be cast is if you're a joy to work with. So if there's two different actress, think about this. Put yourself in the casting directors shoes. If there's two different actors who both suit the part, they're both great. They would both work there, but one of them is obviously gonna be a joy to work with while the other not really sure. Of course, they're going to cast the one who you want to work with because you want to work with this person. So and I think that's a big part of what gets some stars, too. Their their level is that they stars shine, you know. And if you've ever met um, a celebrity, there's something about them, at least some of them many, most of them. I would say that just shines seem they just radiate and, you know, people say OPIC stars or just regular people. I don't believe that's true. I believe they're born regular people, but they are consistently working on becoming interesting, fascinating, beautiful people who you can't help but fall in love with, you know. So in order to become something on the outside, I truly believe you need to become that on the inside before it can reflect out into your life. So I'm gonna offer you. There are so many ways to do this, and I encourage you to commit to a life of personal development. But there are three main things I would like to share with you today as some just three keys. Three of my favorite keys to shine like a star. 8. Three Tips to SHINE Like a Star: stuff. One shine your light on others. Now imagine you're holding a flashlight and your shining it up yourself. You know, you get those big, ugly shadows. It's not flattering to shine your light it yourself. But if you take that light and you shine it on other people, then it makes them stand out. And it kind of takes the attention off yourself to, but people think you're awesome. You know, it doesn't when you're focused on someone else. Um, it doesn't really matter so much what you're doing, what you look like, what you're not so focused on on you. I guess it just doesn't matter as much. And I guess what that looks like is, um, just finding something in the other person, finding what is enviable about them. You know, seek out what is awesome about them and compliment them. Praise them for it. And I don't mean being fake, you know, Don't be fluffy. Fluffy is for cats. Be authentic. Be riel genuinely taken interest in the other person. Asked them questions. Don't wait for them to ask about you or don't wait for moments to jump in and tell them about yourself. But just take a real interest in the other person. Learned to be an interviewer's of other people on and something that I use all the time. That really makes a world of difference for me when I'm going to situation, maybe is a little uncomfortable, like on audition were like a networking event were like making a scary phone call. I go into that situation thinking I'm really gonna like this person. I'm really gonna like this. I'm so excited to meet this person. And when I go in with that intention, it takes the whole focus off of myself. And, oh, how does my hair look at? Oh, I hope I don't mess. This happen. All that stuff, you know, um, how does my hair look? I know another. I'm thinking about it. Um, so, yeah, shining is an outward thing. It's It's taking attention away from yourself to maintain your vehicle. Now think about this. If you had your dream car. Okay? If you have a dream car, insert dream card here. I don't really have a dream car, but I'm thinking, you know, a really expensive car like a Lamborghini or something massive. Would you give that car regular fuel. Would you change the oil only when it really needed to be done? No. You would take excellent care of this vehicle. Now, if you don't think in cars thinking horses, What have you had? A prize race? Worse. A stunning race. Worse. Who's winning? Incredible things for you. Would you feed that racehorse chips and pop? Where would you feed it? Quality food. The best you could buy. Now translate that to you. You have one vehicle, your body toe last your entire lifetime. And as an actor, your vehicle. Your body is also your instrument. Take care of your body. You know Exercise, move your body. It is. It is not only good for you physically, but it's good for you. Mentally exercise boosts endorphin levels and puts chemicals in your brain that make you feel great, you know? And it cures many forms of depression, anxiety, stress. So there are so many reasons to take care of your vehicle and maintain your body. The third and final thing I wanna share with you to get you started on this is to live intentionally. Okay? Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but by how we react to what happens to us. It's not about what life brings us, but the attitude we bring life. And if you take that and you use that, I promise you things are you're going to see some changes, and I think you're really gonna like him. So, you know, for example, if you believe right now that you're pursuing a pipe dream, you're probably gonna treat this venture like a bit of a pipe dream. You're gonna treat it fluffy or you're not gonna put your heart and soul into you're not going to put your mind into it and treat it as a business. But if you believe you are building a business, then you're much more likely to treat this as a business and to keep a sound mind about it and to be consistent and to do the things that a CEO needs to do for their business. Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become habits. Watch your habits for it becomes your character and watch your character for it becomes your destiny. We are what we think. So choose your thoughts wisely, my friend 9. PILLAR #2 - Refine Your Unique Product!: All right. Welcome to Pillar number two. I hope you are excited because this is where things start to get interesting. Today we are going to be refining your unique products. So remember, you are the sales person, your CEO. And so in order to sell your product, you need to know your product. So this is a little tool that some marketing experts used to figure out how to market their product. So if you look up in this top left for you Square and this is something that is wanted but not unique, so in actor scenario, this would apply to, say, extra work. So pretty much any film and TV Siri's that is shooting need extras. They need people in the background. And so, because there are so many people who are willing to perform this service but beyond a film and do background work, they can charge very low. It's It's typically close to minimum wage to get extras to work, depending on the production. So if you want to work is an extra and I don't, you know, I wouldn't say, Don't do it. Um, I've done extra work before, and I think it's actually really valuable to just get you on a film set and get you seeing how things work. I think you'll find that after you do that a few times, you may not want to do it because I don't know. For me, it's It's torture is to be on a film set and not be called on to act and could be a part of the scene. So it's a great experience. I wouldn't recommend you stayed in that square for sure. Square Number two is unique but not wanted, So say you have a skill that pretty much no one else has will say you can. You can ride units cycle while playing harmonica and singing and playing the drums. I don't know something so unique. Chances are you're the only one in the world who's who is doing this and marketing this skill. But very few projects they're gonna want such a skill. So well, you know, I had the recommend that if you have special because you put them on your resume, might even put a picture up in your website. I wouldn't market something like that is like your primary marketing tool. So the third square is unique but no system. And for that I would say that applies to actors were very, very much artsy actors. Their focus is primarily on themselves and on the fulfillment they get from their craft. They're not at all thinking about the productions needs or about the audience and how they respond to their work. It is all about them. They despise commercialism, and they hate the idea of prostituting their art. Now I don't want a prostitute my art either. But there is a fine balance. You know, it's interesting when you meet artists like that who are very talented, very skilled, who focus so much on their craft. But they wonder why they can't work, you know? And so it's a good reminder that there this is a business, you know, It's not all about you. You're actually a very tiny part of a much bigger thing. So the fourth square is unique and wanted, and this is the sweet spot. This is This is where we want to be. So you want to have something that is unique that no one else can offer, and that is wanted. So in order to find yourself in this place. We've got to find your sweet spot. And so that's we're gonna be doing over the next few videos here. 10. Your U.C.P.: I think I might have mentioned that when I started acting, I was very shy. I was very secluded. I didn't I wasn't the kind of person that was the life of the party by any means or that wanted Teoh stand up in entertain. So acting for me was it was actually more of an escape. You know, I wanted to escape myself and my insecurities and dive into another character and get to hide behind other characters, dialogue and have lines given to me. So I didn't have to think about what to say. So what began as an escape? And, you know, it was helpful for me because I don't think I would have started acting had I not seen it this way. Um, but what began as a trying to escape myself? You know, the more that I learned about it, the more I realized that acting is not. It's not about escaping yourself. It's it's not actually faking anything. It's really every character you play is an extension of yourself. So it's not about becoming a character, you know, stepping out of your body and becoming a different character. If that was the case than anyone could do that. Anyone could set themselves aside and jumping insane character and played the exact same way. But in reality, if you give a seen a character, 200 different actors, every single one of those actors are gonna make that character look different, it's gonna talk different. He's gonna act different. He's gonna walk different is gonna you know, it is so very different, depending on who plays it. So the cool thing about that is that you are completely unique. Your product that you can offer is completely 100% unique from what anyone else can bring. Um, but the truth is, you can't be just any character. Well, perhaps in the theater, you could be any character, but certainly not in film. So your key to success in Vilma television and getting started and then bringing something to this industry that people will want to buy is to find your character your sweet spot and to market that character. So on dure meeting, that sounds like type casting, and you'd be correct. Um, see, his actors, I think many of us are afraid of typecasting and and I certainly waas I wanted to be able to play any character. But the truth is that typecasting is it's pretty much inevitable. So you have two options. You can either one typecast yourself. So figure out the character that you want to be typecast as the character that you believe you can do so well on the heritage will motivate you, inspire you and bring you artistic fulfillment. And you can tug. Cast yourself as that character so you can show the industry. This is what I dio or you can throw yourself out there, try to do whatever you want and then wait for other people to typecast you. And this is kind of what happened with Johnny Depp. If you go back far enough in his career, you'll find that he actually got his start as a romantic lead as the pretty boy, as you know, the teen idol and from his role primarily in 21 Jump Street. And that was that was what he was cast as, and from that point his career was made, you know, they saw what he was doing. They saw who he waas. They typecasting is his character, But the thing waas Johnny didn't want to be this character. He wanted to You like quirky stuff and, well, the stuff he does today. So he made a bold move after his career was pretty much made for having he could be making millions. He decided to very changed his path and start typecasting himself for the rules that he wanted to go for. And so he If you look back in his IMDb and his credits, you can see the stuff that he did. He had some very quirky characters, but in very, you know, indie films, low paying films on and they were a little bit few and far between compared to what he could have been doing. So he took us her and in his career, and it end up working for him beautifully. Some actors could never make that transition, but he took that bold step, and now he's he's please all sorts of stuff, and he has a little more freedom over the kind of characters like total Freedom over the kind of characters that he wants to play. My point is that before selling your product, people have to see what it iss, so that's your job to show them like Bill Cosby said. I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. In the business world. Professionals often like to use what they call the U. S P, which is the unique selling proposition now for actors. We use something a little different called the unique character proposition. So the UCP So that is what I'm gonna help you to find is your UCP over the next few videos . So I haven't download for you called the UCP Worksheet. You could go ahead and download that now, and you'll want to follow along on, Answer some questions to get yourself a pin, and we'll get started. 11. U.C.P. In Action: Hey, it's future me and I'm popping in very quickly with this little video to offer you kind of a bonus that of content here. Some of my students in the past have said they loved the course, but they'd really like some more examples. So I'm coming to share with you some specific examples of what the UCP looks like in action. Now, Bob Fraser was an amazing acting business coach who I learned a lot from. And unfortunately he's no longer with us, but I don't think he would mind if I summarize a few of his ideas of the UCP and action. He had some really great examples and I just know they can help you out. So as I share these, which characters you feel like you resonate the most with, and then also which time of characters you already fit in the best. All right, The first one is the regular guy or gal. Now this is a person whose primary desire in life is to connect and to find a place to belong. The strategy is to be a down to earth person with solid virtues. This is the good old boy, the girl next door, the working stiff, the solid citizen, the trusty neighbor, the regular Joe, and so on and so forth. Some examples of actors who fit this type are Sandra Bullock and Harrison Ford. Next is the Explorer. Now this is the kind of character who wants to have a better, more authentic, more fulfilling life, conformity and the feeling of being trapped or what the explorer is avoiding. This is the seeker, The Wanderer, the pilgrim, the pioneering spirit. And some examples of actors who play this type are Hilary Swank and Christian Bale, the sage. This is the type of character whose goal is to use intelligence and analysis to find the truth and the meaning in life, the sage uses information, knowledge, self-reflection, and expertise. This person is often the mentor, the teacher or the guru. Some examples of actors who frequently, for our Judi Dench and Morgan Freeman, the outlaw, this is the character who wants change, usually through revenge or revolution. This person is a misfit who rebels against the norm. The strategy here is to disrupt, destroy, or shock. This starts with an uncontrollable kid and goes all the way up to the aging hippie and senior activists. They're often a social outcast. Some examples of actors who play this type are Al Pacino and Jennifer Tilly. That gesture, this character has a goal of entertaining and kitting the world. The gesture often uses jokes or games and they can be the trickster. This person never wants to be boring or to be bored. Usually this type of flows a strategy of creating fun and living in the moment. Some examples of actors are Adam Sandler, Queen Latifah, and Robin Williams, Of course, the ruler, the goal of the boss is to create a prosperous family community or team. Success is a result of this person's core desire to control the situation. The strategy for this UCP is to exercise power, leadership, responsibility, and authority. Some examples of this are Sean Connery or Meryl Streep. And I put Meryl Streep and here she's kinda Johnny Depp, she plays everything. But I'm specifically thinking of her character in movies such as The Devil Wears Prada and the giver, the caregiver. This is a type of character who cares and protects others selflessly. The goal of this character is a to do things for others with compassion and generosity. And this happens to be my UCP. I get cast all the time and roles of the nurse, the waitress, the secretary, the best friend, the sister, the encourager, the listening ear. Basically selfless characters who care. That's where I seem to fit as far as my acting roles go. Now the UCP that I would really love to move into is the hero. And that's the character who believes to their core that where there's a will, there's a way their main goal and desires to prove one's worth through courage. The strategy here is strength and competence. This person wants to improve the world through mastery over fear. Now, you may hear a few of these resonate with you. You don't have to sell out to just one type. As you can see, you can probably find actors who play multiple types, but they're generally is one particular type they fall into more than any of the others. And if you can find the type that you play best that you can just ease into easier than anyone else. It really is a great place to start your marketing. It helps to set you apart and makes it easier for you to get in the door, at least for this character, knowing that you can always kinda make a transition to another one. For example, a really smooth transition for me to go from like the caregiver to the hero would be to play a role such as tourists in divergent, right? She's genuine, she's a living beating heart. She's definitely a carer. She also has that morph into the role of the hero. Another one is the role of Alen in Lord of the Rings, who is put in the position of being a carer and caring for her family and her community. But she has this drive to go and be the warrior. And so ideally, I mean, those are my dream roles. You can also find roles that would help you morph from one UCP into another one. Part of discovering your UCP simply comes down to exploring, practicing, discovering, figuring out when material, what characters you connect with the best. Also getting feedback from your coach and from fellow students on which roles they see you playing the best. That's why it's really good to go to acting classes and other of many reasons, it's good to acting classes so you can get that feedback from your peers. But there are two other parts that come into your UCP that you can start exploring right now. And they are, number one, your silhouette, and number 2, your essence. So those are the elements that we're going to be diving into, right in the very next lesson. I'll see you there. 12. Your Silhouette: So there are two basic elements to discovering your you see, P first of all is your silhouette. So that is very simply put. We're looking for the roles that you look right for, regardless of your personality. Just the stuff, your appearance, the characters your appearance would lend itself to. So a really great way to figure this out, I think, is to once you have your head shot, which we're gonna be talking about in future videos. Once you have your working headshot or maybe a few different shots, you can pass those out to people and ask them questions. Family and friends are OK, but preferably even people who don't know you who don't know your personality happens people and ask questions like What sort of characters do you see? So I actually put together a little print out for you called Typecast Me. You can download that, and you actually print this out and cut out the the cards to hand to people with your head shots so they can actually check off different things that this reminds them of and makes it easy to get feedback. I also just recently discovered a site that is pretty cool called Typecast me dot com, And it looks like you can upload your headshot there and actually get feedback from other actors who have never met you before, so that could come in handy. 13. Your Essence: the second part of your UCP puzzle here is called your Essence. So while silhouette was about the roles that you would look right for purely by looks, essence is more your inner self. So in order to help you find this, um and this is this is kind of fun. I think you're gonna enjoy this stuff. Go ahead. And if you haven't downloaded that, you see p worksheet do that now, you will probably want to follow along with that if you don't have a printer. I mean, you can always just open a journal and and write these down yourself to, but I'm trying to make it easier for you here. Your genre. What sort of genre are you most drawn to again? This is not to say you can only do that drop of that genre, but it helps you to market yourself in that direction and helps you focus on learning and growing your skills there. For example, comedy is very different skill to learn than drama. Um, so it's good to have an idea of what you really want your focus on and work towards and market yourself towards, and then answer why? Why does it appeal to you? What is it about that genre that just likes yet that you love? So go ahead, posits video. He needs you to write that down and I'll be waiting here for you. You back? All right, So dream role. What is your dream role? Of all the things that have already been cast the movies that you've seen TV series you've seen. So go ahead and least list at least five actors. I think I think the more you have, the better this exercise is gonna work. So posits video for a minute. List those actors and their performances. And on the far right column there you can put down some descriptive words. Um, that kind of describe the performance. So if you need some examples some of the things that I got some characters and performances that really resonated with me. Our Shailene Woodley has tress in divergent. She's a leader, a dreamer. Pure, innocent, driven, loving difference maker. Amanda Crew as tests in Charlie ST Cloud Independent, Free spirit, Spunky bubbly. Another one is Blake. Lively is Adaline in Age of Adaline, and I think she's very independent, guarded burdens and responsible Go ahead and do that and then pause this video. Also be waiting here for you when you get back. All right, you have that done. So now that you have got your your words listed your characters down, you might have a better idea of the kind of characters that you really drawn to. So from here, I want you to go through that list of describing words for these characters and find common themes. So what is it that tends to recur? That tends to be a similar thing for lots of your characters. So find, you know, three basic common themes and that is really gonna be narrow down the characters that you are most drawn to. Your next question is Donnellan, who is your favorite actor? If your mail you're going from male rules, she's your favorite actor. If you're female, go for your favorite actress. So who is your favorite actress? Take a moment to write that down. And also why? What is it about that actor that really resonates with you? What is it that you think is awesome about them? So take a moment posits video Stop! You ready? Okay. I'm gonna make sure you're ready. You get that down. Okay? If you're sure you're ready. That was a little bit of a trick question, and a coach reminded this in our group is Well, for some reason, your favorite actor actress is very often, um and the reason that you're drawn to them is very often you feel free to comment. Post your favorite actor. You want to share with me and with the rest of the actress here, I think that's a fun question to kind of throw around and to share, so feel free to leave a comment. 14. Your Stage Name: All right, Welcome to the last step of pillar to before we jump in a pillar three where we're going to create your acting toolbox. So this video is really just a little bit to talk about stage names. You may be familiar with the idea that actors often don't have their They don't use their real names in film. Why would you choose a stage name? A few reasons for this one. Maybe you want. It's a little more showy and memorable if your name is really hard to pronounce. And, well, that didn't stop Arnold Schwarzenegger. But you know you have the choice to pick a more showy, easy to pronounce name, if you'd like. Second is privacy reasons. It's a lot more difficult for people to stock you down if they don't know your real name. So, um, you know, if your career was to get to the point where you're you have fans and people who may want to get creepy and stock you down, it helps to have a different name. Third is union compliancy now. We're not going to die of too deeply into acting unions at this point because you really don't need to know about them in the beginning, you can't even join them until you have more experience in the industry. So I highly recommend you, you know, familiarize yourself with, um, I'm just so you know what's you know what they are, but it's not really necessary at this point. But what you do need to know is for Canada, the primary big union is actress, and for the States, it's actually sag AFTRA. So if if an actor is already in union with, say, the name Billy Joe, Joe, Billy, Bob, Joe, Billy. But that's a good one. If there is a job Billy Bob in the union, you can't join as Joe Billy Bob. So if that's your real name, it's too bad you're gonna have to change it and get a different stage name. You can join the union with some ways to look into this. If you've got a name in my view, want to use? Maybe it's your own. I recommend you go on to imdb dot com and just type that name in the search bar at the top there. So if you want to use your name, see if there's anyone else out there with your name. And if you see some names come up, you can click on them and just look at their credits. You know, maybe these people aren't actors. Maybe they're just working with set decoration or behind the camera on. And if that's the case, they're not gonna be in the union because these actor a sag after their only for actors. So chances are your name is available. Um, of course, there's always a possibility. There's an actor who's doing commercials, and they're not up on my and TV, but that's the slim. So if you see someone who is an actor, I look at their credits. You know, maybe they only did a roller to, and maybe it's been years since they worked. In that case, you're probably still available because they probably would not still be in the union if they were there at all. So some name ideas. If you're thinking about changing your name, you know, I don't know what I would use. You could maybe use your mom's maiden name. You could shorten your name. For example, Brad Pitt, for all we know, could be Bradford Pitchfork in real life. So you can pick a nickname. You know, Beatrice in the movie divergent shows tress, which was kind of a cool thing. Or you could just change the spelling of your name, you know? So it's the same name you changed spelling you can. Also, there's no set rules for this. You know, you can do a total name change if you want change to something that doesn't even make sense . But you just like the sound of it. If you'd like to do that, my only suggestion there is to maybe keep your first name the same to avoid some confusion . I was working on set once with some an actor who his name was Max something. And, um, but he's really was something totally different, you know? And And it was It was confusing because we we'd go to call Max to the other side of set. And of course, you don't. You're not used to hearing that name. You don't really react to that name. So then we'd have to think, Okay, once is what's his real name on. And so it just is a little confusing. So I think if it were me, I would definitely keep my first name, um, or shorten it to you. More of a nickname. So, my friend, Congratulations. You have made it to the end of pillar two. That means you're halfway done. So and the next part gets really fun. We're going to dive into creating your acting toolbox. 15. PILLAR #3 - Create Your Acting Toolbox!: All right, Welcome to Pillar Three, where we are going to dive into creating your acting two lakhs. Somebody set up with things such as your head shot and your resume, and this is what you're to use when you actually go into auditions, you're going to have a hard copy head shot and resume. This isn't eight by 10 photo on then that the resume is something that you can actually print off a home on. Ben, I actually like to get my head shots printed and I'll you know, some options for that. But you can pretty resume home and then simply cut it down to an eight by 10 to match and then just staple it together at the back. And that is what you take into every audition or interview that you're going to go to 16. Acting Resume: Alright, So first let's get started with your acting resume and you can actually go and download the resume template that I will have put together for you on. Do you can follow along with me? It's a word document. So if you have Microsoft Word, you should be able to just type in in the space is provided. Otherwise, you can at least see how I'm doing it here. So you can see here how I've got this set up for you. You got your name at the top there. So that is where you will put obviously your name. Then you're going to put on the far left. Here. You have a spot for your phone number. Your email address. I don't recommend you put your actual address, but if you have an agency of Europe, when you become represented by an agent, you can put their contact information their instead down here on the right side so you can put your height weight. That's pretty pretty basic stuff when it comes down to your film credits. This is where you will put the name of the film. One of mine, for instance, Waas, um in his steps that was one of my favorites and then in the middle section is where you're gonna put the character and also the length of the role. So your character, there's different types of of rules. Whether it's leading, I've actually got them listed for you down here. So it's a lead. You're the star of the film. It's essentially you are the person the film is about, or your character is who the film is about. Supporting is right after the lead there, the very supporting characters. And you can see this in the Oscars where you get the best lead actor in the best supporting actor, the words there so supporting a very important characters. They're just not the ones that the story is about. Their more helping this story to go along principles a smaller one. So it's six lines or more to have six lines of dialogue, but you're not or more. You're not quite a supporting character that's called a principal character actor. Is five lines or less line of dialogue could be anything like saying No, that's not mine or a longer line. Um, nonspeaking actor. This is kind of like being an extra, but if you're actually directed by the director background is when you're you're directed by the 1st 80 Okay, so, for example, minus in a steps. I played the lead. Rachel Winslow was the character's name, and it's kind of up to you. You don't actually have to put the character's name. I like to say I feel like every character is a part of me and I like to have him on my resume. You can put just lead or supporting um, like there. As for the right hand side, is when you actually put the production company or the director again, I like to put both if they fit, but typically, you'll put which everyone is most notable. If it's a known director, you'll want to put that otherwise you may want to put the director or the production company standing son sections or make that short like that so it fits. Then you go into your television section same sort of thing. But then you'll put the TV channel that it was played on there in that far right side. If you have booked a commercial what you will put whether you have one proposal or 10 commercials or more is available on request. That is because let's say you have a commercial for Mr Clean on, and then you're being considered for another cleaning commercial. They might pass you right by without even giving you a second chance if they know you've already worked for Mr Clean vs miss spiffy or whatever. So it's a good idea to you just put available on request. And then when they ask, you didn't partials, then you can actually talk to him about the marshals you've been in. So they don't just turn it down flat without knowing, You know, maybe that Mr Clean Commercial is 10 years ago and you have no affiliation now. So that's a different thing now for future sitter for your fears of credits. And still, I think, name of the production. I also I'd like to leave. His name's in in italics. Um, I just I think it looks nice. It's the name of the production of Sita. Um, well taught lesson. And again, those should be capitalized. I'm just being lazy, very are. Then you put your character, and in theater, they say, you know, it doesn't really matter to put the type whether it's a lead or anything like that. You can just put the character and name, because apparently theater is typically more well known. I guess that, you know, if you play Hamlet in Hamlet, you don't need to write that. It's a lead character. Um, I like to anyways, but you don't necessarily need you. And in the name of the theater name of the theater. Oh, yes. Okay, so you put the name of the theater. Now let's say you have just done ah, school project or a church project. You're not gonna put the name of the school. And this goes for the film as well. Whether it's film or theater, you're not gonna put like the school Drama Theatre. You could put you know instead of, like Spruce Grove Alliance Church, you could put S G A C theatre. So it sounds like a theatre. It just sounds more professional because, you know, let's face it, some church place could be very well done. Um, but if it says church on there, or it says school on there, it's not taken nearly seriously. So for the theater name, Same with the film. Let's see, um, if It's say you have a film that is a student project. I did one called Pieces and Pieces was a short film. So if it's a short film, you're actually gonna put short in there in with the and with me. So I'm in pieces I played supporting and you know it was character, and I'm gonna take the italics off of backs. It's not the name of the film, and then you can push the d. M. I t production. So I did this as a part of the students class for the digital media and information technology class in a college the d M I t. Class. So I put that down. It's D M I t productions, so it's like a production company rather than being glaringly obvious. So this is a school project is actually beautifully done. Project Very professional. Very proud of students. Incredible. Um, training. All right, we've got on the training, training what you've learned. So rather than putting the name of the workshop, have a coach. I work with Peter Skagen. Fantastic on he does audition hell addition. Hell, why an audition health too? So rather than putting those names, it's a good idea to put down what you learned. So you could say stuff like Cold reads and seen Study will say. And then the name of the coach and then the name of the place. Oh, the city that you took it in that one in Calgary. Um and then if you're currently working with the coach, it's a good idea to put it right up there at the top. So I studied truthful by many characters over one year of training with meal shell. Um, and if you list that right at the top, then they know that you're currently working with someone that you're not. You're not just lazing around that you've got something on the go special skills. If you have any special skills listening here, anything that can really help in film. So, for example, if you can ride a horse, if you can do something that you can't lay fake if you can swim to do something currently fake very well on film, don't put so found like typing. You can always, you know, fake that really well on film. You don't need to watch your hands, will you type. So don't put that kind of stuff down after the special skills, accomplishments and awards. This is something that I would recommend you use that I used it when my resting that was very empty in the beginning, and I was coming out of school stuff. I had got some, you know, Pony Club awards that got riding a warrant, had some soccer awards and that kind of thing Music awards. So I put that kind of stuff down, and it helped to fill up my resume because it was very blank in the beginning. So if you have stuff like that, that's a really good idea to put that kind of thing down there. Um, and and if you and as your resume gets bigger, you can get rid of some of that stuff. If you work as an extra on anything, I don't recommend putting extra work in there. You certainly can in the beginning again just to fill out your resume. It's kind of up to you, you know, in one sense, it it helps you look like you've actually been on set. This is good. This is a good start. In another sense, you know you don't want to look like an extra actor. You don't want A you want to look like someone who's going to work in the business as an actor because that's what you want to do that not just someone who's playing in the background. So if you want to list those credits just to get your resume looking bigger, go ahead and do so. Just make sure they come off as soon as you get a real credit on there. I would get rid of those. Yeah, you have questions about this. Please feel free to leave a comment, and I will do my best to come and talk to you. It's pretty straightforward, you know, kind of follow your instincts. Everyone's gonna tell you there's one right way to do things. I'm just showing you the way that I do it, that I have learned that has never really gotten me in trouble. And you know, people seem to understand it so and this is something that I want you to post in your class project. I would like to see your resume now. If you're if you're looking at all this once you get your stuff down, you're going, Oh, there's there's nothing here. It's OK, you know. Don't fret it everyone started there. Oh, my goodness. I remember that feeling of just having nothing on my resume. The quickest way to build it up is to get out there and start doing some training. You know, start taking some classes and some workshops and just people can see that you are getting stuff done and that you're building it. So that's what we're gonna end here for your resume. I'll go over your head shot with you next. 17. Acting Headshots: All right. Let's talk Acting head shots. So your headshot is your calling heart. I guess this is remember how we talked about the casting process and how the agent will submit your headshot to the casting director. So I'll show you a few examples here in just a minute. But basically you want your headshot to be truthful and accurate to accurately represent you so that when you walk in the door and people recognize you from your headshot. And so that's why it's important to keep them updated. I've gotten a new headshot probably almost every year. And when you're when you're younger for sure you need to be doing that. As you get older, your parents stops changing so much then I guess you don't need to get a new one as often. You don't necessarily need to buy expensive photos, especially if you're just getting in, because in the beginning you're not going to be going for big roles in big movies. You're going to be going for smaller things in student films. And so they don't really care as much of your photos don't look great. That being said, I mean, I personally like to be as professional as I can at all times. So, you know, you may not want to go out and spend $400 on a photo if it's going to be your first session because you're going to be a little nervous. You know, you might be uncomfortable, it might come across on camera and then you've wasted that money. So I prefer to go cheaper first. Okay, let's look at some examples here of headshots. This is one of my very own, and I share it with you because it's not very good. You can see how distracting my wardrobe is there that your eye goes right to the pattern instead of to my face. It's also, there's big shadows under my eyes. There's a shadow under my chin. It's not a great angle that's kinda looking up at me, which is not usually a very flattering angle. The only time you might want to use that angle is if you're trying to represent like a villain or someone of power and having that camera looking up at you can be a neat idea to do that. But this particularly is not a great headshot. I also feel like I look really disengaged, like just uninterested, wouldn't go with that head shot. Here's another example of a bad headshot. And I know that he'll forgive me for sharing this because he posted this publicly on a on a page online as well. So that's why I shared here. The lighting is, again, not very good. It's kinda darker on that one side. The background is so boring. His head's turned to the side. Generally speaking, and I know I am at fault for this. You usually don't want to turn your head to the side too much. You want to be fairly direct onto camera. It's more engaging. It tends to draw in the viewer a little more than posing to try to get the good side of your face, which I've done and I'm working on it. Generally, they want a headshot that is fairly direct onto your face. So ultimately, this headshot, I think looks more like a high school yearbook portrait than a professional industry standard headshot. So let's dive into some different ones. This is a shot of me. Nice shot. I'm smiling and happy. It's warm and inviting, but this is not a head shot. This is what you think of as a portrait. The background here is a little distracting because it's so much lighter in the background than it is on my face. You find the viewer's eye directly goes to that plant on the back instead of on my face. Again, it's also two angled to be a head shot. You should see my face a little more direct on. Here is another shot that is also not a headshot. And the background there you can see as really distracting. Of course, we need to crop this in a little closer to make it an eight by 10 headshot. But even at that, the background is distracting. It also looks kinda pose looks like I'm not just existing, I am actually posing for the camera. And what else? What else can I pick apart? Yeah, the angle of my face again, it's not great. It should be more direct on. Here's another shot. This is getting a little better. This is a little better. For a headshot. We would crop it in, of course, to an eight by 10. So we'll pretend that happened. Let's see. It's a better angle, is a little more direct on. So that is good. Well done, Laura, I still feel like the shadows maybe a little dark there in my face. But of course, I'm very picky because it is It is my shot. But this is definitely getting better, getting closer to a good headshot. Now, I had a friend's take this one. I paid him a $100 to do a shoot with me with his fancy camera. And so this is the quality level you're looking at for like a $100. Now the next one is one where I hired a photographer. It was about $400 Canadian. And you can see the quality difference. It just stands out. It pops a little more. So that's kinda the quality difference you're looking at. If you go with a real professional and pay a little more money. Again, if it's your first photo shoot, I think it's just fine. Go for the cheaper route to do the $100 option just to practice and get a little more comfortable. And then when you're ready, you'll want to upgrade to something a little a little fancier that just pops a little more. I can, I'm turning my face to the sides. This wouldn't be a great head shot. But at least there's something interesting going on in my eyes. It doesn't look like I'm totally zoned out. I am connected to the camera. So that is something going for me in this one. See what else? Well, and this was from the same shoot. This is just an example of how you can put on different wardrobe to get a little bit of a different view. So this is this is a shot that I would submit to you to go for something like the secretary or the waitress or something in a professional realm like that. This is what I'm actually going to go and do very soon here, I get cast as a nurse a lot. So now that I'm working in a bigger city, I want to have a head shot that really represents me as that. So that when I submit for those rules, It's a no-brainer to bring me in an audition for the role of a nurse. And that's kind of a way to try and start getting into the room to meet new casting directors is by just making me the very obvious choice for those roles. This is another idea, is bringing the stethoscope in. Now typically speaking, props are a no-no for photo shoots, you should go without them. But to be honest, I kinda feel like this is an instance where it might be okay to break that rule, I would just maybe crop it a little closer so it's not as noticeable that she's wearing a stethoscope, but it definitely brings across the feeling of a nurse. That really is a preference though. I know that my agent is going to tell me no distractions. We need the camera drawn directly to your face. We need the viewer to see your face. So you can see that is a little less distracting without the stethoscope. I'm still not sure what I'm gonna do though. Another no-no is usually wearing hats is not a good idea. However, I saw this headshot and I thought, like this really sells a very specific character and this just wouldn't be the same without the hat. So I think personal preference, I think if you need a hat to sell a character, and you can do so without. Casting shadows on your face or being distracting. I think a hat can be okay, as in this shot, I think it really serves this shot very well. This guy is obviously putting on the police officer. Look, again, some people will say, don't wear the badge because it's distracting. I'm going to leave that up to you. But you can see how even without the badge, this outfit and this look in this environment really could sell police officer. So he doesn't even necessarily need the badge to get the cell that he's looking for. This, you can see is a villain shot. This guy lends himself to villain. He's got the black leather jacket going there. Now, the shadows, normally I would say it's a little too heavy for a head shot. However, the shadow element really does help sell a villain look. So if you are going for the look of a villain, I'm going to say shadows, a little shadows done well like they are in this photo, can really serve you well. This guy also thought was an excellent example of a villain. And you can see how the one on the right there is kind of a rough fill in like the previous chart we just looked at. The one on the left is a white-collar professional, but I don't know what do you think? I think it's still kind of speaks villain. Like he doesn't exactly look trustworthy in this photo. Like he, he might have a trick up his sleeve. You might trust them and you might take all your money. I think he could still go for a villain in this photo. And I'd be curious now to look up his work and see what he does. But so those are a few examples of how different wardrobe and different looks can sell a character. Let's dive into a few more of those to give you some more examples of some headshots and how they might apply to your UCP into different character types. I'm going to take you directly to the vein employees website. She's a photographer who serves LA and surrounding areas and Detroit as well, I believe. And she's got an excellent post on this. I'm going to give her a little free publicity and just take you directly to her examples here because they are excellent. So you can see here, we've got the same guy, two different characters. Sam farmer, who is posing as either the jock or the anti-hero. Now to fill you in on what these types are, because I wasn't really sure. A jock is basically someone who was in high school or college whose athletic. Now an anti-hero is someone who is maybe the hero of the story, the main character of a story, but someone who lacks the conventional heroic attributes like courage, good morals. They're almost kinda like a villain, but we find ourselves cheering for them. So a great example of that is Captain Jack Sparrow, who's not your typical hero, but we love him in the parts of the Caribbean. Here's another example. Rochelle. She's computer tech on the left here, and she's just a friendly sidekick, which is like the regular guy, regular girl, the girl next door, the faithful friend, you know, that kinda person. I've always heard that you should not have patterns in your clothing in your head shots, but she's doing that for both of these here. So I guess that shows that you can break the rules a little bit. Typically, I think that's a no-no. Let her get away with it. Nathan. So here's a blue collar. Fellow. Blue collar is basically manual labor worker. So people who engage in hard work such as agriculture and manufacturing and construction, mining, maintenance. Some other physically exhausting task versus like a white-collar someone who's like suit and tie. That's someone like lawyers, office workers, service industries that don't require physical labor. So this is the type He's trying to sell is the blue color look in this one she calls him hip urban. Same guy, two very different looks. This gal has got best friend. She looks like someone you can trust. The middle one there is more like a period piece. So from the 1900s, from an earlier era. And the one on the right is the victim. So you can see she seems like she's got more of a rough past here versus over here. She looks like she's just friendly and she's ready to help me out. Again. The hand in the shot is also typically a no, no. I wouldn't do that if I were you, I'd been told on multiple occasions that's not great. I know my hands tend to get into the shots and I've been called out for it. So again, not generally what you're supposed to do, but I do get the look you're going for here. Man hipster or the helpful employee, you can see the one on the right light like you just want to hire her as a helpful employee. She just looks like she fits the part. So same person, two very different roles. Then we have got o, who do we think this is? Looks like it could be a teacher on the left, on the right, how no, I'm seeing or maybe it's like a mom, someone who's friendly, playful, and what do they say? Oh, secretary. Alright, secretary, I could see her as a teacher as well. Young grandmother. Yeah, I can see are the young grandmother someone friendly and lovable musician and blue color, blue collar lady. Musicians. So this musician shot would be an excellent sort of shot to put on your website to show the different kind of things you do. If, if musician is like a special skill that you have, I would put that on your website. This would not be considered a headshot. It's not something that you would submit for a role. It's just a good thing to have as an extra so people can see if they're looking to cast that, that that is something that you actually do. All right. Krista, so we got on the left. She could definitely pass for a teacher. The middles like the girl next door, the friendly neighbor. The right lobe interest. You see it's a much more, it's much more romantic connected kind of a look. Sanely, very different styles between her wardrobe choices and just see expressions and the characters that she's playing here. And these are two different people obviously. But you can see this one is like a computer geek. And this is definitely the more businessy, white-collar kind of a thing. All right. Edgy, anti-hero. Yeah, so again, she could be the lead in a film, but definitely not your typical hero. And then she's got the love interests you can see here being that girl in high school who's kinda awkward and insecure in the beginning, but gets the guy in the end. I think that's a great story, so I use it a lot. And student on the right definitely looks like a student. So you see how just some simple wardrobe changes. She even got the glasses going there. You can do that kinda stuff to help you really sell a particular character. Got a villain. He looks like a villain there. I don't know if I were you, I think I'd Google actor headshots and villain and get some more villain ideas. I'm not totally sold on the villain idea, but yeah, the darker background, the darker kinda look a little more shadow can definitely help to portray that villain. Look, if you've got some villain in you, I don't, I think he might be too friendly for that, but she's calling it a villain, grad student, best friend, same guy, very different looks, just with a different choice of wardrobe. All right, so I hope that helps you out a little bit you guys to find to find your ideas for your headshots. You may want to have a few shots on hands like these guys do. So do a few different looks that you can submit for different roles. And yeah, Google actor headshots to see some more examples and save a few of them to show your photographer. So your photographer also has a clear idea of what you're going for and can be on your team with that. All right. And in the next video, I'm going to help you prepare for your photoshoot. 18. Preparing for the Photo Shoot: So when you're meeting a photographer, there are a few questions you're gonna wanna ask on. And I've actually put together fully for you with our story, A document with questions that you can ask so you can download that under headshot photographer questions, things like You know how many looks are included in the price. So if you want to go for you know, a more professional feel, thinking back to your unique character presentation that you put together if you want to go for more professional look, you can do that. And yet, if your horse back rider like myself and you also would like to incorporate those kind of skills, you can grab like a jean jacket and wear something a little more rustic. And eso some photographers were good. They want you to, you know, try two or three different takes some. I want to just do one, so just make sure you get that figured out with them ahead of times you're on the same page , but I've got some other questions for you as well that I like to ask any photographer little work. OK, so you found your photographer. You're excited to go get your head shots. How do you prepare for the session? First of all, of course. You want to get your wardrobe out? You figured out how maney looks You can go for in the photo shoot. So figure out your wardrobe, determine what you're going to do for if you're gonna wearing your jewellery. I I wouldn't wear things like these earrings to a photo shoot. Doesn't really want to be a blank slate, right. So either don't wear earrings Or if you are a lady like myself and you like to feel a little bit feminine, you might want to wear just like little studied, um, little diamond earrings or little, you know, something small. That's not gonna, you know, grab people's attention and pull away from you, but still give you that little bit of femininity that we like to hold on to. You can either higher, So much to hair and makeup. If you do that, of course I recommend you. You go with someone who has either done this stuff before or you could be very clear with them about just the importance of being very natural for men. You may not even want makeup you might launch just a little powder so you're not shining in the sun because that's not the kind of shining that we want to do. Andi for ladies, just very basic like just do a little bit of a little bit. Foundations, mascara, anything to make it to highlight your appearance without making it look like you're wearing makeup. Unless your character type is something Goths or M. O. R. If that's the kind of role you're going for, you can hinted that a little bit. I still wouldn't go full on out, but consider that a little bit with your wardrobe. So it kind of Vincent at what that sort of a character would be. Get out there and practice of the friend. If you're not used to being in front of a photo in front of a still camera, it can be kind of awkward standing there, sitting there and thinking, What do I do right now? And I still kind of get that, although I've had quite a bit of practice, so it's got much better. But the first time I was on a photo shoot was like, You know what to do with myself so get out there and practice with a friend. If you have a little sister, even who wants to hold the camera and snap some pictures, it just helps to get out there and just kind of learn your angles and learn what works best for you, Um, and just get to know yourself a little bit. For example, I know that the left side of my face is the side that I want to show the camera because the right side no one else is going to notice this. But I know little things about it that is just it's off kilter. It's not right. My teeth aren't is great on that side. My hair doesn't frame. My face is well on that side, just the way it grows. So I have learned this is my better side. You only really learn that from experience. I'm going out there and doing that. So that's why it's good to practice with a friend. Also different angles or interesting. I've recently discovered that I it doesn't link for my look if I and that just a little bit lower than the camera, so I can do that by waiting for the photographer to go up and get that angle or you can even kind of cheated. You know, like I found if you just kind of lean over on your chair a little bit and lean into the camera, that works really well for me versus just being straight up and down, so little things like that just play with it. I find it really helpful to think of the camera as a human being and to look into that lens like you're looking into someone's eyes. This is a lot less about posing and a lot more about just existing and letting your thoughts flow. And and that's why it's important to go on practice of the friends. So this become this more natural for us while before you get in front of a photographer that maybe you're paying for it. Another thing that really helps and this is a little more homework is to go back to your unique character presentation. You see P. And remember that list you made of the different kind of characters you play and the the attributes and stuff that make up the characters that you would ideally like to play you can from there watch those characters, if you would like to, or even just make your own characters. So write a character description of the ideal character that you would like to play and kind of what they're like and what their personality is like, Um, and just write down something like that and imagine yourself in these characters and then come up with certain lines were freezes these characters would see. Now you can do that for your own characters. You also can kind of cheat and go to movies where actors have already played these characters. And, you know, it's like your ideal role, um, and find different lines and phrases that they might say. Or that your characters might say that and put yourself in a story so that when you're on the photo shoot, you're not just stun posing for pictures, but you're actually putting yourself through a story 19. Choosing Your Headshot: choosing a head shot. That is, when you go back to that unique character presentation and you look at your headshot from the perspective of what kind of character is this gonna get in for? What kind of characters is? What kind of story does this tell rather than my nose looks a little weird in that Lenin. No, I really like my hair in that one. I'm a sucker for that. If I have good hair in a photo, I don't notice anything else like That's the one. But that's not going to get you the job. If you want a post on Facebook, share with your friends. Share with your family. That's cool. I'm just make sure you're asking the right questions because these people are not in the industry and they don't exactly know what to look for. If you go to typecast me dot com, you can actually post your headshot there, and you can get feedback from different people. You want to order a few hard copies. I like to use Rocket re pro dot com and they're out of Vancouver. Um, Vancouver, BC. So, obviously, you know, if you're on the other side of the country. You might. I know some actors in Toronto still use them, though, so they're very good. Um, so look into that. And make sure you get a few hard copies, but you're only really gonna need them to take to auditions. It used to be that you would mail them in the mail to people and this pretty much all that online now. So you don't need a lot of copies. Depends on where you are. If you're in a place like Alberta Canada, where I grow, we probably get maybe five auditions a year. You know, if you're in Toronto, you might get more like five auditions a week. I don't know. Yeah, I would love to see your headshot. So this is another, um, Part of your project is to get a head shot. I want to see your headshot end your resume If you decide it first. To just have a friendship. Your headshot. That's great. It gets you started and just know from there that you can always upgrading, even pay money for a headshot later, So I'd love to see, um I love to see your portfolio. So show me what you got 20. Your Website: welcome to my own line, huh? But this is my little website and I thought I'd walk you through it so you can get an idea for what you might like to do for yours. So I think of my website as kind of an Elektronik press kit. It's a way for people online to kind of get my idea of what you are, what you're about and the kind of work you dio now this website them and show you is a little more a little more advanced just cause I have more stuff to add to it now. But when I first started, I literally just had some pictures on my website. I had a little blurb about myself and had my resume which was fairly empty on Guy actually still ended up booking a rule purely off my love site because the guy who was casting for this feature film, his actress had to back out last minute and he needed to recast. And he found my website because I had posted it to some some groups which I will show you in a bit here in the upcoming pillar pillar for we learned how to market your career, So he saw my website and he literally hired me on the spot. I didn't even have videos or auditions on the website you guys. So that is the power of having just on online presence. And so I'm going to show you a little bit about what you might want to put on your website . So front center, I think it's important. Have a picture of yourself, have your name and what you do. So actor I love working with horses, too, so I put my actress equestrian there. That's when my primary skills I'd like to use in film. I thought a button there were. You actually click and and watch a click of my work. So if you have a clip of your work, if you have even a tape of your audition or anything, you may want to put something up there. If you don't have anything that's really decent quality, I would leave it off just cause we don't want it to look unprofessional. So you don't need video if you don't have it. That's the way I have. This Web site is kind of like I've got everything on one page. I've also got a menu up here that you can click to go to different pages. So I've got my demos, which you're my demo reel events in various clips. I've got my resume, got a gallery with different pictures. I've got my biography, I've got some press. So any time you ever showed up in the paper or an interview on a block or anything, it's nice to put something there and I've got a link to my IMDB account and then I got a contact page. So, um, I kind of have that hidden there because I, like, well, just scroll through my page and then I have different links to go there. So I have some recent appearances, so people could just kind of see what I've done. Um, I've got some links with them to come and kind of click and go through. There's something that feels to them, and then I have a link for my full resume. So rather than just having a full resume, their I'd like to have just a few highlights that may catch some attention. And then, if they want Seymour, there's a link to the resume. If it's just a blank resume out there. I just feel like people are not as likely to connect with it and to really even want to read through it what people were saying. So I like to have some testimonials there. And you can do this. Whether you've worked on a film set or not, you can get testimonials from other people. So maybe from a teacher in school, maybe coach, maybe from Unemploy. Er so when you worked for If you want to reach out and ask for some testimonials for people , it's also nice to kind offer to repay the favor. So you know, if someone might want a testimonial for themselves, maybe you'll write one for them. If they would write one for you. I just I had a lot of credibility. If you have some stuff like this up there and I've got a button requesting audition, I mean, I just I think it's nice have as many calls to action as possible, so people know what they should do next. I'm not. I've got to keep in touch spot there. I've got a few images and I've got my links to my social media accounts, which you don't necessarily need at the beginning your career, but social media is something you're gonna wanna look into in the future. It's just it's taken over the world, so you kinda gotta join it. Um, and then I have a little at the bottom, a blurb that is just about myself and just personal connection. It's up to you if you want something like this. But I found that it actually helps to make a personal connection with people. And actually, it helped me book that role in Croatia because the producer again was looking for an actor to fill a role last minute and she talk to my agent to shoulder my website, and she really connected with with my faith and with some of the things that I had written about that I am passionate about. She had that connection to. So it just gave her that confirmation that she wanted to work with me, and, um there we go. I've got a link there to my bio and career highlights. And then at the bottom of the West that I just have my agents contact information and again my social media links. So feel free to go and check out my website. If you want to look, dive even deeper into you know how I have all this set up? Um, this looks really complicated, my friend. If you've never built a website before, it's not. It was so easy. There was just a template online that I literally jizz field in the blanks. So if you want access to this template, if you like this website, I've put the link for you into the recommended resources document along with some other options for various website platforms so that you have something to shoes from there. All right, so ultimately, just make sure that your website has your resume, some photos of you and a way to get in touch. That's really all it needs from there. You can have fun with it. I like to make it kind of like just make it reflect to you, kind of it's kind of an extension of your personality. So so do something that appeals to you and something that kind of goes along with ur characters and stuff. You've bills, and I would love to see what you come up with. So if you do decide to make a website right away for your acting, which is certainly not necessary. But it's it's it's great to have. You know, um, I would love to see it. So be sure to post a link to your website in your projects for this class, along with your resume and your headshot. All right, my friend. That's all for now on. This is the last video in our pillar number three. So be sure to tune in again for pillow number four, where we take all this and I'm gonna actually show you how to market. You're acting business and find work, so that will be very exciting. I will talk to you then. 21. PILLAR #4 - Marketing Your Acting Business!: All right. Welcome to Pillar number four. You were on the home stretch and this is probably my favorite part is when we actually get to use all the things that we've built so far in our training and we get to learn how to market, you're acting business. I'm gonna show you how to find agencies and how research them to find the right agency for you. We're also going to dive into some of the websites that you're gonna need Teoh get on and and to look for casting calls and auditions and then how to put together your package. So your resume and headshot as well as a cover letter that's gonna help get you in the door . Eso to make the most of this section, you are gonna want to get yourself on IMDb pro account. So it's like I am DB, but imdb pro goes a step further, and it's where you actually have the contact information. You can see a lot more detailed information about the people you're looking up, which is gonna help us. Research are agents. So, without further ado, let's jump into, um researching agencies 22. A Word on Talent Agents: All right. So, agents, there is this some this misconception that you need a nay Geant to get work. The opposite is also true that you need work to get an agent before a professional agent is going to be interested in representing you. You have to prove that you are an actor, that you're doing work. See, agents don't represent people who want to be actors. They represent professional actors. So you can do a big part in showing them your skills and in showing them your proven track record of already booking some stuff and having some success. So the key to this is really Teoh to go for the lower hanging fruit and to take the smaller jobs, put yourself out there for things that are maybe student films, smaller things that are, you know, I haven't actually done a lot of student feels, but I've done some low budget stuff, so I'm gonna show you how I kind of find that that stuff and find the jobs that you can book that are gonna help to build your resume along with, Of course, doing training training is a great way to build your resume as well and Phillips some of that white space. So we're gonna take a look at some of those websites and stuff in a bit where you can find some casting calls. But first, I think, let's just dive into what you'll need to do to research agencies and to find a good one. And you can start compiling a list right now. If you'd like where you can just walk through the strings, you have an idea of of what you need to do when the time actually comes. So the first thing you need to understand is that agents legitimate agents will never actually charge you to bring you into their roster. And that's it's a really easy waited to find to target a scam. You know, there are many things out there. Actually, my cousin actually almost got sucked into one of them that I've just I've heard of so many people who get sucked into these things where this television see will come posted, posted an ad out somewhere, try to draw and talent, and and people will come and audition for them and they'll tell them, Oh, you've got You've got talent. You've got a lot of potential, but you're gonna need some training. And so they've got this whole training thing set up. They show you their that their credits like, Oh, yeah, we've hoped all these actors book work on the Disney Channel and all that stuff, and then they charge you hundreds or thousands of dollars, and in this case, I think it was $10,000 but they make it seem like it's so worthwhile. But you've got to stop and, um, recognize that a legitimate agency will never charge you. But they will only take a percentage of whatever you make. And it's usually between 10 to 15% depending on what market you're working it. So, um, that's really important to remember. Don't get sucked into those things. So I'm going Teoh, walk you through how you can do your own research on agents and, um, I also after this point, we're gonna we're going to go on to to the different websites and stuff that you can look for casting calls. And so there's there's quite a few things to go through in different places to search. So, um too help you not have to take crazy amounts of notes I've put together a document called Recommended Resources, and it's gonna list all these different different links for us. So if you haven't downloaded that yet, um, you want to Eventually you got it downloaded and follow along Or just take it leader. So you don't need to take notes on this. So let's dive in, my friend. We'll start by researching some agencies. 23. Search for Talent Agencies: Alright, in this video, I'm going to walk you through the process of finding an agency. And in the next video we'll dive into actually how to research the agencies that you find to determine which one might be a good fit for you. So there are two possible options that I have found for finding agencies. And number one is to go to the websites where they're listed. So that's what we're going to do. Right now. We're gonna go to Acura dossier. If you are in Canada, this is the place you'll want to go to search for agencies. Now once you're here, this might change a little bit as a website updates, but you're going to want to find a map. Now you can just scroll down in the past, it's also been listed under a link called branches. So you may have to do a little searching that as of now, you can find this map here and you can click on whichever province you are involved in. Go to their website there. And from there you can do a search for talent agents or you can also search for casting directors. They are defined who's casting cases. They have a blog here on choosing a talent agent. And I click that. And yet they've got some good information here about agents. And they also have a list of all the agents in Alberta, which is the province we clicked on there. Now, if you are in Vancouver, it's a little different. I don't think they have the agents listed here last time I checked, but you can go to then Hoover actors guide.com. And from there, there should be a link. There we are. You can find auditions, you can find headshot photographers training, and you can find agents. Here's the big list. All right. Now, if you are in the United States, we would go to SAG, AFTRA DOT ORG. Once you're there, you're going to want to click on locals, which again, this may look a little different depending on how they update the website. Now you can choose anything here and you can literally go to any one. It doesn't matter because they're going to ask you the same question. Again. When you scroll down into the left, you'll want to find agents. So they have a link for SAG franchised agents. And after franchised agents, I have tried to figure out what the difference is between them, should be honest, I'm not exactly sure if it matters. I'm not in the States. I'm personally a Canadian, so I don't know the industry very well, but I know that sag and after a merged into one union. So I expect it won't really matter what agent your width. So let's click on SAG franchise agents. Scroll down. Now you get to select a local and you will actually want to select the state that you are in. Hawaii. I would love to work as an actor in Hawaii. Let's pretend I live in Hawaii and we can search there. And there are the agents in Hawaii. Beautiful. Now, if you are in the UK, a website that I have found that isn't very good is acting in London, dot-dot-dot CIO dot UK. And when you get to this website, they have an acting guide. This is such a beautiful resource. I think, whether you are in the UK or anywhere else in the world, this acting guide looks like it would be a very good place to just really dive into getting started in acting. But that's a bit of a sideline. In this website, there's a search bar and you can search for talent agents. You can also search for casting directors and see what we got here. Lots of good resources when I'm hoping to find a list of agents. We'll talk 26 casting directors in London. That would be a great list to know about. Let's switch up this search a bit. Maybe instead of agents will go, agents sees their top 10 best acting agencies in London. Beautiful, that would be a really good list to start with. For the UK or Australia. Backstage.com is an excellent resource. And you can kinda weird, they don't have a search bar on their website right now, but you can go to the More tab and then search backstage. Search backstage. We're going to look for London talent agencies. Go. London town agencies. I'll actors need to know about beautiful. And I've noticed that you can also look for Australia. Talent agency is six acting agencies in Australia that you should know about. Beautiful. And you can try others to this backstage is a really big resource. So if you live in a place that I have not mentioned, you may want to just search for other areas as well here. Now, if you are international, If you do not live in any of these areas that I've covered, I am afraid I do not know all the industries in the world. But if I was in your position, this is how I would do my research to find websites like this. I would go to Google and I would look for talent agents in any of the places that you might live. Also, of course, look for talent agencies. In these places. Again, a talent agent is just a part of a talent agency. So a talent agency usually has multiple agents in it. But just for the sake of switching up the search results, you may get some different info and some different results there. You can also look for casting directors in or you can look for the film industry. Film industry in wherever it is that you live. You can also search for training this way so you can look for acting classes in wherever you are, acting workshops. And if you can find some classes or workshops in your area, that might be a really good way to start getting to know the film industry in your area. Because your coach will have a lot more insight than I will simply because I don't live there. So if there's nothing in your city, try the next city out. Try your province, your state, your continent, and just start small and expand out. Now, realize you might not find anything really, really close to you. I know when I started, the city that had most of the film work happening was about a 3.5 hour drive away from me. So that is where I would go to take workshops. That's where I would drive almost every weekend for additions when the season was busy. And so you may have to do some of that. Now the industry is changing a little bit. You can actually do a lot more self tapes and you can find people to help you with self tapes or you can learn how to just do them on your phone. Now, I'm not going to dive into that in this class, but you can look up how to record a self Tape audition and you will find some information on that. Google is going to be your best friend as you're doing this guy research you guys. So that was option number one for finding a talent agency is to go to one of the websites where they're listed. Another option that you can use, which is actually what I use to find the agent that I just partnered with last month actually is to go to figure out first what's filling in your area. You can go What's filming in? Uber in LA in Langley. What's filming in your area? And you can figure out which movies have shot in your area. You can Google which TV series have filmed in my area. Sometimes you'll find this information on Acura. Extra again, is a great place to search for What's shooting. If you are in Canada. What's filming? Maybe it's what's filming. Oh, you know what? You're going to have to actually go to the end of the dual maps. Again, that's my mistake. Go to the individual maps. What's filming? Alright, we are what's shooting in Alberta. And this is an updated list or they will continue to post the projects that are actually filming there. Now let's say you know the name of the particular TV series that is filming in your area. Let's do a big one. Let's go lost because I really enjoyed the first few episodes of that. Before I got distracted. Lost. We'll click on that. We will go into the cast of lost. And we don't want to start at the very top because chances are the actors at the very top could be flown in from anywhere in the world. But let's say we specifically want to find the actors who we know live in the area that we're in. We're going to click see full cast. They'll very often fly actors in from who knows where to play the bigger roles, but for the smaller roles the day players, Let's see polymer. So we'll take a look at Paula's spot here and then you can view agent publicist on IMDB Pro. And this scowl. You can see her agents here. And she's got quite a few happening. So a better thing to do would be to look up a series that is filming right now. Because this series lost as much as I'd like it was filming a while back. Okay. Let's say DC legends of tomorrow because I know that's filming right now. We can click on that. Go in, try again, take to a lot of this, you guys is just patients and searching. Going to scroll down. The bottom, find the actors at the bottom. All right, we'll say this guy. Take a look at this actor. Okay, so we wanna see his agent, his publicist is legal information, okay? And we can see that he's with the characters talent agency and he's represented by Esther. So in every agency, and if you click on them, there are multiple agents and the characters is huge. There's not usually this many agents, but it's a big one. So what I like to do is go through some of the TV series, some of the movies that you know are filming. And just do a lot of research on, on the different actors you can find. And by that I mean, find their agents. So find the agent, we can go back, try another one. I would make a list of that so I know that he's with the characters. He's with ester at the characters. So I would make a note of that and then continue searching other actors in that area. Okay, so we went back, back, back, we're back into the TV series now. Click on another actor. We will scroll down. I have to keep clicking on this content digital thing because I'm actually on IMDB. Imdb, yeah, not the pro version. I should be on the pro version so I don't have to keep clicking. So she's with red management, Eleanor Krishna. So I would make a note of that as well. She also has a talent agent for voice, but I'm going to say I'm not personally interested in that, so I'm just going to figure out what her primary agent is. I've made a note of that. And as you do this, this might take a while. I wouldn't spend days on it, but ours maybe. You will find that some agents repeat themselves. So you will see some agents come up again and again. And that's how you know, you're on the right track, their cage Briscoe talent management, Dylan. So when you do things this way, I find it really helps you to know that the agents you're reaching out to, agents that you're considering reaching out to really do have their actors working. I'm quite a bit, so that is how I found my most recent agent. I was able to narrow this down to a list of about 15 talent agents that repeated again and again in the projects and the shows I wanted to work on. And so I was able to make them the top agents that I decided to reach out to you rather than if I had gone the other way of finding the big long list of agents that work in the city I just moved to. It would take a long time to then research all of those agents to figure out who is actually getting actors booked in the kind of projects I want to work on. So this is a great way to do it if you maybe are international, so you don't have a specific website to search for agents on. Or if you live in a very big city that has a lot of stuff going on in the film, that history. And you want to shorten the process a little bit and just figure out which agents are really worth taking the time to reach out to. Ok, so now that you know how to find agents in the very next video, I'm going to show you how to research and agency to determine which ones maybe the best fit for you so that you can decide on a few to reach out to you. 24. Researching Talent Agents: so to begin my search. This is where I am to be. Pro comes in. I'm gonna actually copy this talent agency gonna go into I am debry v pro and go up to the search bar there and paste that agency so you can see it brings her up there. Honolulu. Very cool. So this is the staff at Cathy Muller. Talent modeling agency is Joy Cam. So it actually lists there's a website so you can go investigate the agency's website. There's their phone numbers. There's an email address and their mailing address, and you can look at the list here to see their clients. Now they have 25 clients according to this list, and that is an excellent number. I would say when I'm looking for an agency, I don't want to go work in an agent with an agent that already has several 100 clients because I'm just gonna get lost in the shuffle. I don't feel like she will give me the individual attention that she could if she had a smaller client list like this. So this to me, looks like an agency that would be good to submit for now. This is a smaller agency. It has one staff member, But you can actually click on different staff members if you find a larger agency and you can click on each staff member to see their individual clients. So some of the agency has hundreds of clients. But there's five different agents, so you can get a better idea of how many people are there now. The everything I would look at is I look through her clients to see if she has anyone. That's kind of my type. Um, for example, I found an agent once that I was interested in working with, but I found that she had an unctuous looked very similar to me and have the same style. And she was a horseback rider and was working in the exact same projects that I wanted to work in. So I decided not to go for that agent because she already had one of me there. She didn't really need another one, and I didn't want to get lost to a more experienced actor who would go for the roles that I want to go for. So this looks good. I don't see any of me in here, so I might click on some of her clients and just take a look at what they're doing. Um, so this sound fella, I can see his projects. I can see that. Yes, he is actually working. He's got some movies. Several in 2018 1 coming out in 2019. He's working on a TV series shot in Hawaii, a TV movie. So I would say, so far, this definitely looks like, um, his agent is helping about. And this would be an agency I'd be interested in submitting for, so I would I would list that agency in my contacts, and from there I would do some more research on this agent, he said, to help you find your agent and stay organized, actually put together, print out for you, Kobe Agent Target list on and you can download that. That's just a handy thing for you to be able to write in. Agents name their address, their company, their email just to keep them all together. So these will be the agents that you are especially interested in working with. Um, you may want to list them all there if you're super organized and then you can just you make your notes about you know what you recognize about them so about, Oh, this one's great, but has a client that is very similar to my type, Um, or, you know, put notes on any articles or anything you find on them when you're looking up. Agencies. Yeah, you should Google them. You should look them up online and see if there's very often there's there's articles or interviews that have been done with them, and it's It's just really interesting to have that you might find little bits and pieces that you can use to inspire your cover letter or to help you in an interview with, um so just yes, I've put this on two different, um, on two pages, two sheets of paper so you can use that printer option and print double sided. And just make a binder of these guys as you do your research. 25. Request a Meeting with an Agent: Okay, So how do you submit to these agencies? So, first of all, of course, you should have your head shot and your resume ready to go. You can also the cover letter. You may find instructions on their website about how to submit to them. Um, some people prefer mailed in, actually sending things the old fashioned way in the mail, and others prefer Elektronik submissions. Or like we looked at it on imdb pro. When you can find the individual agent and their personal email address, I always like to send a personal email toe one agent rather than just sending a blanket thing to the whole agency. I think it's more personal. I can make that connection with one person. I wouldn't send a personal email to all the agents in the agents, though I would actually pick one agent based on, you know, the stuff we've talked about that you think would be possibly the best fit and send your stuff personally to them. Okay, so you've never down your list of agencies that you'd like to reach out to. Now I'm gonna show you just ideas for what? To write in a cover letter in the body of your email that you're going to send them to request a meeting. So there are a few things that you want to get in there. You want a subject line that's gonna catch their attention that they will actually open. You want to introduce yourself? You want to give a quick career highlights or just an update? You want to make sure you request a meeting and seminal link so they have a call to action . So this is an email that I actually sent quite recently to reach out to an agency that I would love to work with. So I'm gonna read it through for you so you can see what I have done. And actually, I did get invited in for an interview, and I've not had that interview yet, So, um, I can't actually let you know how it wouldn't. But I can tell you that this email did help to get me in the door so you can use this confidently. All right, So for your subject, I would not put something like submission or anything that's gonna let them, like, blatantly tell them that you are submitting to agency many agents receive a lot of submissions, and so you don't really want them to see an email come and then just not even open it. So for subjects, I would put something that's gonna draw their attention and have moved in it. So for mine, I put subject name of the agent and quick question. You also may want to just put inquiry something as simple as inquiry as a subject line is interesting, too, because it could be from an actor, or it could be from a casting director or anyone looking for their clients. So inquiry is a good one to use. I might start with Thank you. And you could thank them for being such an awesome agent and let them know that you have heard something about their client, that book to recent rule and just, you know, thank them for serving the industry. So of course, whatever you do has to be authentic, so definitely don't feel fake about it. If you were referred by someone to the agency, it's a good idea to just put that in the subject line referred by the name of their client . So I start with hey, hello from the name of the agent. And then I said when I reached out to you about this time last year, you were not taking on new clients, but I haven't forgotten you. I could also have simply said, Hey, Roxanne Loralee been here and I have just wrapped filming on stolen path the feature phone so you could go right into your career. Highlight and keep it just really short and sweet. Or you can see something a little more personal about yourself, and I think that's even better. You can add something that kind of shows them what that says something about you. Like one cover letter I sent before started with a quote, and it just simply said, Wow, you must do a lot of westerns and then explained That is what this particular casting director said the moment she saw me. So that just gives her a little idea of like, Oh, that's the kind of person I'm hearing from right now. So there's something about you that stands out or that you want oh, you know, highlight. That's a great place to just do it in a few words very quickly. There, I think, even share career highlight. So I put. Since then, I've booked paid work on two short films and Web Siri's all without the Partnership agency as money agent retired, committed to continually holding my skills. I am also currently studying improv with Rapid Fire Theatre. From there you want Teoh included. I included a link. You could also request a meeting first it's up to you. I'd love to meet to discuss the possibility. Working together, you could see the short clip which only the nomination for best performance by an Alberta actress on my website. And then I link to my website there. If you're interested, please do let me know what a meeting might be possible. I appreciate your time, Laura. So you want to keep your cover letter as short as possible? This example here is the very longest I would dio, if you can get it into four sentences, even that's fantastic. So see if you can beat me on this one. I have a hard time summarizing, but the shorter your cover letter is, I would say the more likely they're gonna actually read through the whole thing. And if you incorporate all these things at the top here, it can help get you in the door 26. Finding Auditions (Even Without an Agent): All right, We are going to look for some casting calls. So I'm going to show you a few websites that you're going to want to keep track of. Casting workbook. This is really just for Canadians. I would say there's not really much being done on here for the states. But if you're in Canada, this is an excellent place to be. This one does require a membership and you can look at the pricing there depending on what you want. But I'm going to show you what it looks like inside so you can decide for yourself if it is worth doing this. So once you get inside, you've got your portfolio where you can add your resume, your photos, your video, whatever you need there. And this actually comes with a website of your own. So if you want a really easy way to set up your first website and you can go to your workbook live. And you can view sample websites. And you can also set up your own website that automatically all your stuff you put on casting workbook is going to go there. So the automatically have your resume up there. You can just add some pictures and customize it for yourself a little more. And then from here you can actually see some breakdowns that are put out there. So the casting notices spot here would be of interest to you. It shows you the city That's fill me in. So there's T is for Toronto, they kinda break them down for you can see, you can see what all these letters stand for. There's a music video right now filming in Vancouver. And you can click on here to decide if you would like to submit for any of those. And then it'll show you the different characters and tell you more about the project. If you'd like to request an audition, you can simply hit that request Audition button and choose the character you got a request and audition for, and then you can submit your headshot and resume that way. You can also go up to breakdowns and sides. And this is probably my favorite place because you get all the sides from all these different projects, real movies and TV series that are filming right now. And so you can click on any of these sides and you can actually download the audition script. So there's a hostess, waitress, there's Anna. This sounds good. Actually, I'm going to have to check this out a little later, but I love downloading these just simply to practice with stuff that's really shooting right now. Now many of these in the breakdowns are not available to you. You can see they're not clickable. So that is the stuff that only your agent can submit you for. So that's why it's really handy to have an agent. But there are some others that you can submit yourself for. So I, I really like this website. I think it's worth the investment for sure. Especially if you live in Toronto or Vancouver, because there's just so much that shoots that you can connect with here. That is casting workbook, Actors Access. Actors axis is good whether you're in the States or in Canada. They also have casting notices and stuff. They don't have quite as much access to sides. Audition sites. Although you can sign up for show facts.com and for a paid membership, you can get access to their sides. So I'm not gonna go into too much depth here. I'll let you figure out that site, it's a free membership, so I would recommend you get signed up now and start exploring this site. Spotlight is the big one for the UK. There we are Welcome to the home of casting. So this is the big website to get on if you are in the UK, looks like there's also some good info there for you to just read through and learn tips for auditioning essentials. All right. So in this one is a paid project, I do believe. Let's see. Yeah. So you can join as a performer. Beautiful. Yeah, I'll let you do the search through that. If that's something if that's your area that you need to get involved in. And everyone is backstage.com. This is an excellent resource, whether you are in Canada, USA, London, Australia. I believe they have some international stuff there as well. And so you can find casting calls up here. Beautiful. So you can get an idea of which casting calls are on there even before you decide to join. So you can, you can select your location. Let's see. Got a lot of states. So London, England, there's some Canadian spots. Oh, Australia and Argentina. Very cool. United Kingdom. So that's what they've got there. Again, they're going to probably be updating this as the years go on. So depending on when you watch this project, your place may not be there right now, but you might want to go check this out anyway to see if this applies to you. Another big website is mandy.com. And this is for international. Alright, we've got many UK, US, Canada, India, Australia, and international. So there are a lot of jobs listed on here, most of which are quite legit, so this is quite a trustworthy site. Now, if you want to continue searching for some more free sites, you can simply go to the big old Google and you can search for casting calls in wherever you're at. Or you can search for auditions in your state, your city, your state, your province, wherever you're at. Acting in Mumbai. So me places, actors all over the world. I think that's so cool. Or you can try o Ontario actors forum or whatever other actors forum, an actress for him, if you can find a place to get involved online, is an excellent way to talk with other actors who are in the industry. Even talk with some coaches and other people who show up online. Now, be careful of free casting sites. You can find casting calls in. I don't know when a peg star now. Okay. That's that's another big one. They might be getting better when they started out. I feel like it was kinda sketchy. Fame street, a carry casting kept. Never heard of famous street. A lot of them that are free that you don't need to sign up for can be a little sketchy, so just be careful. I'm not saying they are sketchy, but, you know, put your scam glasses on just to watch out for anything suspicious if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. It's also a good idea to scan online user reviews for free casting call websites. So you can look up like star now. Reviews. And yeah, reads, read some things that people are saying about them. Generally speaking, it's just really good idea to be, be careful on the free sites. Another thing I would do is go to film schools and submit your resume and headshot just to film students or to any university or college with a film program and let them know you're willing to volunteer and you'd love to work on their projects? I would be very careful with Craigslist or can GG or anything that's like classified job postings. They're just not not super reliable and you can find some sketchy stuff there. So I would probably avoid those if I were you. But there is a site you can go to. We're all quite familiar with it. I think Facebook. So depending on where you're at, depends what you're going to search for. So I would search for Save. I don't know you live in Chicago. I would look for first of all, maybe Chicago actors. They're Chicago casting call, Chicago actress, Chicago auditions. Facebook already knows what I'm searching for that. So funny. Chicago casting call. So there you've got a bunch of different groups there. So check out those groups. You can click on one. Say this one looks good. Auditions, three, awesome. So this looks like a group that I may want to follow. So what I would do is I would like that group and then I would make sure that following that, I, I see it first in my page or maybe I'm going to actually put notifications on. So that means I'll get a notification every time someone's posted and I'll get to see those casting calls. Now, when you get a casting call, when you see something pop up, very often, it'll have an e-mail address or something for you too. Okay. This one looks actually like it's, it's very big trend towards Chicago casting call. That might not be so overwhelming. All right, so this is a casting call for a short film in Chicago. Salaries to a 100 day. You can plot apply and they want you to apply on call cast color. So this is one actually that I see a lot. You may want to sign up for this cast color.com. Other times they just have an email address that they want you to submit you. So when they asked you to submit via e-mail, what you're gonna do is make out an e-mail. I include your headshot and your resume. And I'm going to show you what you can write for just a brief cover letter to put in the body of the e-mail that you send. 27. Requesting an Audition: All right. So you have found a casting call. You're going to submit for an audition. What do you write in your email? I have broken this down for you a little bit. So you want. Make sure that you, um start with a subject that's going to get their attention now for casting calls. People have invited you to send this email to submit for an audition s. Oh, what I would do is start with a subject that is going Teoh Catch their attention. So I will always put submission for and in the name of the role. And you may also want to put in the name of the film. Uh, will make it very clear what I am submitting for. I would like to be considered for the role of Jane in your upcoming short film. Jane goes West or something. Um I will then list my career highlights. So they know that I have some experience here. My work has taken me etcetera, etcetera, etcetera for you. If this is your first film, if you don't haven't experienced a list there, I would I let them know you're studying with you could say I'm currently studying with this coach or, um, most recently taken training with this coach to improve my audition skills. You can also, if you like, list some of your special skills. If there's something that you do that maybe what they're looking for in this project, I definitely highlight that here. Oh, yes, I got it committed to continue honing my skills. I'm currently studying with this theater. So put whatever you think is going to let them know that you're working on something and that you take this seriously, I then asked for an audition. So I like to say I would be honored to audition for you. I truly would be honored to audition if I'm not in town or if this is maybe a casting call for something with a not in my area. I will let them know I will not be in town for the audition dates. But I would be honored. Or rather, I would love to submit a self tape for your consideration. Yes, I've already used that word honored, and I love that word. Um, I'm just gonna say I'd love to submit self tape, or I would be happy to submit a cell. Take for your consideration, my head shot and resume our attached and you can click here to see my demo reel, and you can send them a link. Choose something on YouTube or cinema link to that page on your website if you have a gentle real. If not, you leave that part out about the dental real. Just make sure you do actually attach your head. John Resonate. Oh my goodness, I can't tell you the number of times I have. I sent the email and not attached my head shot resume, and that's a silly thing. I appreciate your time and maybe say their name again down there. Then you can do your signature that you're an actor or actress and get a link to your website. Simple is that so? Keep it has short as possible. Just a few sentences is ideal, so they don't just open and find a crazy long email and then get overwhelmed and leave it so short and suite is really key for this 28. Storytime: Well, well, my friends, here we are at the end. I'm so proud of you. Thank you so much for hanging out with me and for taking the time to learn this. I hope you're feeling inspired. Will be feeling excited to go out there and give us a try and pursue this on. I look forward to seeing what you come up with. Love to see your class project for your project. I simply want you to I'll post a picture of your head shot or you could link to three or four. Even if you'd like to show me some different looks. I'd also love to see your acting resume, white space and all. It's all good. And if you have decided to put together a website right away as well for yourself. But I would love to see that feel free to post a link. I just want to leave you with a short little story before saying goodbye here. This is a story that took place a few years ago when I made the decision to quit acting. I was taking a pretty full time course with an acting coach at the time, and I was working couple jobs to pay for it. And I was just, you know, I've been pouring my heart and soul into this for so long, and and I just I just kind of got the point where I was. I was sick of it, you know, I am. I wasn't enjoying it, and it just on idea came to me that maybe it's time to move on. And so I was meeting up with my coach that night and and I told him how I was feeling. And I talked to him and I said, You know, I think the reason that I loved acting so much was because I was learning so much about myself when I was gaining confidence and I was learning new skills. And I told him, You know, I just I I think I've learned all that I can learn about myself through this and Andi, I'm just not really enjoying it anymore. So I gave him a list of other reasons that I came up with for why it was time to quit. He listened patiently and quietly waited for me to finish, and when I finally stopped rambling, he was silent for a minute and he looked at me and said that it Now I said, Yeah, yeah, I think that's about it And he said, Great, I'm glad you have that out of your system. Let's get to work and you wouldn't let me quit. Um And But I'm so glad you didn't because five months later I found myself laying out in a palace courtyard in Croatia, surrounded by the cast and crew of a movie that we were shooting there. And we were all sprawled out on cushions and pillows and stuff that we could find from all over the place in this courtyard and just laying, looking up this crystal clear, starry sky watching a meteor shower. It was just a magical moment, and I thought I almost gave this up. I knew in that moment, of course, that I loved acting and that I was not gonna put in that I was crazy to even think such a thing. It also reminded me of you know, my coach, treat me kind of the way that my mom treated me when I when I first started riding lessons , you know, I love the idea of forces, but there were many times that I wanted to quit, that I got scared and that I I didn't want to get back on. The way my mom handled it was that she said, You can quit your allowed to quit But she wouldn't let me quit until I got past that fear. And then once I got past ah, particular fear like trotting. I was scared to trot on a horse, and I was having so much fun with it eventually after a few weeks or months later. And at that point now that I was having fun, she said. Now you can quit and I just Of course I didn't want to quit. At that point, I wanted to keep going. And then I hit another milestone that I was scared to face and the same rules applied. You know, you've got to get over that fear. You've got to get to, you know, the peak on that mountain and enjoy the view. And if you don't like the view at that point, then walk away. So I just want to encourage you with that that you know, whether you whatever it is that makes your heart sing, whether it turns out to be this acting thing or whether it's music or or whether it's architecture, you know, whatever it is that you want to pursue, I encourage you to go for it. And I would love to stay connected. So find me on the social media, some on a few of them. I am Laura leavin and my friends are ready for action. 29. What's Next?: Hey, my friend, Thank you so much for taking my course. It's been over a year since I released this. I'm amazed and inspired it. Just how many of you have actually taken the scores? And how many of you have taken the time to really leave me? Ah, good review on the course. Your feedback means so much to me. And every good review really helps this course get out to more people. A swell. So thank you so much for taking the time to do that for me. I won't invite you to check out my new course on skill share called Sore. In this course, I walk you through my five step time management system for creatives and artists like you and me. Now, why a course on time management? Well, I found that as soon as you know what it is you want to pursue what it is you're working towards, It will seem as though everything and everyone around you require your time and attention. And so I really had to learn how to master the art of time management and the art of making time for the things on my heart to really grow So if you have a dream on idea Ah, project on your heart that's just not getting the time and space it needs to really grow and flourish. I invite you to check out this course today. I'm gonna help you get back on track with that with that project helping make time for the things on your heart to grow and turn into whatever they're meant to become. So we should have checked out that course today, and I hope to see you there.