Everyone loves playing a great character because you get to show off your range. That’s what being an actor is all about.
Sure, you get to do this in one way or another anytime you’re on set but playing a great character takes it to another level.
It allows you to become the center of an entirely new reality.
Most actors are stuck with characters that get a few seconds or a few minutes of screentime at best and it’s really difficult to build a career that way, even if you are booking those characters consistently.
Professional actors build their careers through great characters because weak characters don’t get much screen time and they certainly don’t make for a great lead.
If you want to become a professional actor you have to learn how to book these roles and you have to be able to deliver a world class performance on set when you do.
Here’s where to start...
We have talked about this concept recently but I have found over the years that most actors never really get around to implementing it.
They’re too afraid that they will miss out on opportunities. The opposite is true.
I’m talking about narrowing your focus to a particular category. When you do that, you can build deeper relationships with casting directors and other industry decision makers that also specialize in that category.
CDs that are really good at casting the kinds of characters you want to play are hired over and over again to cast similar projects. That’s how they end up specializing in that category.
As you’re building your career in the same category, you will end up working with the same people over and over again.
One of your biggest career decisions will be made when you decide the category to focus on.
Building a career centered on your chosen category ends up being a lot easier than simply going after anything and everything.
When I go over this strategy with actors their next question is usually about how to get opportunities to read for great characters.
That’s really where the topics we’ve discussed over the last few weeks become the most relevant.
For example, if you have a great headshot but it doesn’t really match the category you are looking to focus on, casting directors are likely to pass you over for other actors whose headshots are a closer fit.
That’s why taking a broad approach makes it more difficult to even get opportunities to read.
So let’s talk about what casting directors look for when casting great characters and how you can fit the criteria so that you’re more likely to be asked to read for them.
They look for actors that have a good grasp on the character’s nuances and that starts from the moment they look at your headshot.
If they look at it, and it matches what they had in mind for a certain character, and they ask you to read for it, what they will be looking for in your audition are the little things that make the character unique.
Those nuances aren’t always found in the script so CDs are trained to look at your interpretation of the character and how naturally you embody it.
Maybe you’re playing a complex character and you decide to play it with an eye twitch during your audition.
Even if it doesn’t turn out to be the best character choice, casting directors notice that you took the character in a decidedly different direction.
That’s what leads to callbacks and bookings.
So as you prepare for auditions do it with those nuances in mind, but don’t be overly concerned with making the right character choices for those nuances. The director will help you polish things up on set.
They just want to work with actors who bring their own flair to the character.
Of course none of that matters if you don’t even have enough opportunities to audition. That’s why I began with the part about narrowing your focus to a single category.
Even as you start to build familiarity and relationships with people in your chosen category there will still be more to do.
CDs will still look for actors that have a good industry reputation. This is how you can show them your reputation and make it stand out.
Having a good industry reputation can help open doors and your talent will help you build relationships with directors and have them wanting to work with you over and over again.
You may even find that they ask to see you for certain characters.
That’s when your career goes to the next level because things get easier when they invite you to read.
Of course that depends on whether or not you stay visible to them. Here’s how you can make yourself visible where they are already looking for talent.
When you combine good talent with high visibility and a great industry reputation, good things can happen with your career very quickly. You have the talent and I built this to help with the other things that go into building your acting career.
As you start to work through the things we went over today, remember I’m always only a comment or an email away. Feel free to get in touch anytime, even if you just want to bounce ideas.
I’m happy to help however I can because I truly want to...
See you at the top,
Scott