Friday, 22 July 2011

Twentysomething Actors

There are so many. An entire generation of beautiful 27 year olds who all want to be actors.

But there's nothing inherently interesting about that. No reason why a casting director or an audience for that matter will give a shit.

The best actors quietly go and do the work. They just get better and better and work really hard. They get three lines in a movie but they really really work on making sure they have it nailed.

But most aren't like that.

Becoming an actor is something everybody does. Becoming a professional is only done by the few. What do I mean?

Every actor gets sexy headshots, but only a handful return phone calls. Every actor hits the 'apply for casting' button, but only once in a blue moon do they turn up on time for rehearsals.

The fame or celebrity doesn't mean anything. I know celebrities, and they all know it's fake. An illusion. But even if you want it, it's a by-product. Too many actors think they're celebrities waiting to get big.. so they walk around with a sense of entitlement, like they're something a little bit special.

The professionals just do the work. Quietly and dilligently make sure they're prepared. They put in the hours.

Talent is cool, it's useful. But more important is the hard work. You've got to act, got to train, got to create your own projects, got to watch a lot of acting. I know actors who say they're too busy to watch films. They're not very good actors.

Care to share?

1 comment:

  1. Gosh, I know what you mean. There are so many actors out there, but only a handful out of the many are true artistes. Many are attracted by what they think is the glamourous showbiz life of an actor, and then get repulsed when they realise they have to do actual work first.

    In a way, it's the same with aspiring filmmakers too, though. In my school the first year classes in Film were always overflowing with people who thought that they would be able to make it big and walk red carpets and do "cool shit", and then the student population would drop to about a quarter (if even that) of the number in the second year. By the time I actually graduated my film class only had 12 people.