cintilaird.ws/SoYouWantToBeAnActor&rss Cinti Laird's blog en-us Sun, 20 May 2012 05:30:47 PDT Sun, 20 May 2012 05:30:47 PDT http://someurl.com http://cintilaird.ws/SoYouWantToBeAnActor&p=BF13946519385282E040A8C0AC007207 Let's Talk Union First of all, please accept my apology for not a posting for the month of April.  It got so busy that it slipped away from me.  My intention is to post at least one useful tidbit a month.  I will post two during the month of May to make up for it and ask your forgiveness and understanding. We had a lot going on with the unions between March and April.  The Screen Actors Guild EEOC participated in the NFL Filmmakers Bootcamp, and the Screen Actors Guild voted to merge with the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists.  I am a member of both unions so the merger does not affect my standing in either union.  As a mater of fact while, I have been serving on the Screen Actors Guild National EEOC committee, AFTRA is my parent union.  The way I look at it, if you serve one union you serve all.  I am new to EEOC and am not sure how things will configure as we iron out merger committee details, but I will keep you posted.  Merger talks began and before we knew it, we voted and now we are officially one union.  We are ONE - it's like a marriage.  How will that effect you?  If prior to the vote you were in SAG but not AFTRA, now you are in both.  If you were only in AFTRA before the vote you are now in both.  The new union SAG-AFTRA, covers actors, singers and journalists working under television, film, internet, radio, music video, new media and (*new content rich devices are invented rapidly these days) voice over contracts.  One primary order of business is to streamline contracts to meet the needs of our membership in all areas covered by SAG-AFTRA. You will want to be sure to have any contracts you are presented with for agency, management representation or work in any media platform reviewed by a union representative before signing on the dotted line.  Print and stage are the only areas not covered by SAG-AFTRA.  There maybe a little grey area in print, if the still is actually taken from a film or television commercial.  Your union is there for you, so let them see what you are up to before you make a mistake like, for example signing on with non-franchised agency. Now, only stage actors need seek a separate union, and that is Actors Equity Association.  Print and fashion models are still with modeling agencies like Eileen Ford.  If you haven't heard, On May 19-20, the SAG-AFTRA National Board will consider a unanimous recommendation by the Executive Committee to implement a Do Not Work notice against music video productions. It seems that the music video area requires some looking into.  If you are slated to appear in one, check in with SAG-AFTRA before stepping in front of the camera.  The first ever Membership meeting of the New York Local SAG-AFTRA is scheduled for: Monday, May 14, 2012 at 5:30pm at the Directors Guild of America Theater 110 West 57th Street.  No bags larger than 14 inches will be permitted, no food or drink.  Your union card, paid up through April 30, 2012 represents your admission.  Doors open at 5pm. These are my tidbits for today.  Congratulations fellow actors, SAG-AFTRA is finally a fact!  May we live long and prosper, plus secure better working conditions that lead to better living conditions for our membership families. Check Http://www.sagaftra.org/events  for the first membership meeting in your local area as well as all other SAG-AFTRA Union Business.   2012-05-11 07:53:05 http://cintilaird.ws/SoYouWantToBeAnActor&p=BA32067B1ED48CE1E040A8C0AC007358 The Audition Process      The audition process is different for every individual.  What you do to prepare for it is key.  In February, I had two very important auditions.  One for a major motion picture and one for a Broadway show.        Needless to say, focus and concentration are the most important elements when it comes to giving your best performance.  So, what you do - or don't do and what the actors waiting all around you do or don't do can pull your focus.  I was standing in the line waiting for my chance to audition for a Broadway show just minutes away from my audition, when the actor behind me was just getting on my last nerve.       I was trying to read my lines and hear myself read in a whisper while he was reading, in the line at full voice.  I removed myself from the line and found a quieter place to prepare for this cold reading.  Stage actors get the sides just a few minutes before the audition.  20 minutes before according to the Actors Equity Rule Book.  So, in preparation, every moment counts.  I was able to focus and collect myself in the few minutes that followed before my audition and received a lovely compliment from the casting director.      After our audition I had the chance to walk and talk with the fellow who had earlier been a point of contention.  He was actually very nice.  It just goes to show how frayed nerves can be just before an important audition and how very relaxed one can be almost instantly, after the deed is done.        We must all, as actors learn who we are and how best to calm ourselves in the midst of confusion in order to focus on putting forth our best possible performance.  We don't always have an environment that allows us to lie down on the floor and close our eyes to get centered.  So sometimes we must, in the midst of chaos find the center within ourselves.  Happy auditions.  We are right now at the height of the regional and stock theater audition season, not to mention next summer 2013's block buster films, so have fun and break a leg! 2012-03-13 18:48:20 http://cintilaird.ws/SoYouWantToBeAnActor&p=B75FBF5024D4FCA3E040A8C0AC003011 An Actor Prepares by Cinti Laird An actor, who is not performing is always in preparation to perform.  Subconciously, we watch the behavior of interesting personalities.  We listen intently to various dialects and speech impediments.  An unusual walk, mannerisim, a sly grin; all are subject to possibly appearing in the life of a character one is taxed with creating a life around when an audition is finally won; and making the performance uniquely and believably brilliant.  So we prepare, in classrooms, at bus stations, in grocery stores and in rehearsal halls all over town.  We prepare for an audition by reading the script in advance and preparing monologues or songs for similar characters if the reading of sides do not apply.  We prepare by losing or gaining weight, studying medicine so that we can at least prounce medical terms correctly and to understand the job of the Physician we've been cast to portray.  We prepare because it is invariably always the actor most prepared to meet the challenge who is cast to play the part.  At least that is what we want to believe.  However we know all too well that casting is subjective.  Yet we want to be prepared just in case today is the day that we get cast in the job! 2012-02-05 20:18:14 http://cintilaird.ws/SoYouWantToBeAnActor&p=94AB4027F7B0C550E040A8C0AC001F64 When I set out to become an actress some years ago, I was told that it is not wise to dwell on an audition; to go over and over it in your head after the fact trying to figure out what you could have done different, what you might have done better.  It's over, move on.  Move on because the ratio that an actor will land a role is about 1 out of 100.  That's the ratio and those are the odds.  So move on and get that next audition, put all of that energy into making it as good as it can be and then get the next audition and do the same.  If you book more than 1 out of 100 auditions, you are doing far and away better than the odds.  2011-12-27 19:54:01