I read an article about a guy that was on a mountain retreat for the last few months. During that time he was completely unplugged, no electronics, no internet, and no contact with the world outside of his campground.
When he returned home his jaw hit the floor when he realized everything he had missed and the state of the world right now.
It’s no secret that there is an insane amount of upheaval all around us right now. I try to keep it at arms length for the most part, because Boost My Star is about you and what you need to do to make huge progress as an actor.
In light of that, I wanted to take today to point something out.
See, I get tons of emails and messages from actors. Recently, I’ve seen the same topic come up over and over again.
There is a huge amount of uncertainty about what’s going to come next for the industry: what it’s going to look like to be on set, how auditions will change, and even if the box office experience will ever go back to the way it was.
Those are all valid concerns and no one, no matter how plugged into the industry they are, has all of the answers at this point, and that’s what is nerve racking for so many.
Over the last several weeks, I’ve been bringing you details about the decisions that are being made for how to reopen the industry, the box office, etc.
For you as an actor, that’s not what your focus should be on.
Regardless of what “the reopening” is going to be like, you have to be prepared for the role you play in it so that you are ready, not rusty.
For most actors, this has been the longest period of inactivity (or at least it should have been) they’ve ever gone through.
The actors at the highest levels of the industry, have found ways to stay engaged and keep their skills sharp.
If you have stayed on the sidelines, in terms of working on your craft, now is the time to get back on the proverbial horse, and this time we’re going through is affording you some incredible opportunities to work on your talent and even to dramatically improve your career...
For many actors I’ve spoken to this entire year has been like a giant exercise in method acting.
Many actors fall short in their performances when they can’t put themselves into their characters shoes. Sometimes that’s because they don’t resonate with the character on a personal level and so they don’t have a bank of experiences and emotions to pull from.
That’s where method acting can be a big game changer, when it comes to putting together an effective performance.
In some ways, all acting is method acting, but what makes the difference is the level of commitment to the character.
When you are engaged in method acting, you don’t “get into character.” You and the character are one in the same.
There is no breaking character when the director calls cut, and for many actors that even extends for the entirety of a production.
That’s kind of an extreme, and not everyone is built for that...in fact, I’d say that almost no one is built to handle something like that, but nearly every actor can benefit from method acting.
Some choose to practice a “watered down” version of it and practice what is more like enhanced character research.
Take Johnny Depp, for example. As part of his preparation for Pirates of the Carribean he asked himself what it would be like to be hot and sweaty and draped head to toe in pirate gear.
To find out, he put himself in a similar situation, using a sauna and pirate gear of course.
The result was the rather disoriented, if not delirious nature of his character’s speech patterns and coordination.
He ended up delivering an iconic performance, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role.
Rainn Wilson did the same thing when auditioning for The Office. He built the character, then embodied it with every move. During the screen tests, he didn’t break character in between takes and his future castmates were rather put off in the moment.
They thought he was a weirdo because, well, Dwight Schrute (his character) was a weirdo and Rainn Wilson was committed. So, in between takes he didn’t participate in the typical small talk.
It wasn’t something Dwight would do, so Rainn didn’t do it either. He stuck to bears, beets, and Battlestar Galactica.
There are so many ways to approach method acting and it is the fastest and most effective way to brush yourself off, polish your skills and get yourself set-ready.
Think of some characters and challenge yourself to go all in on them for an extended period of time. Depending on what you’re doing, you could challenge yourself to do it for as little as an hour or even several hours.
The key is to jump into the character fully and unapologetically.
Put yourself in situations that the character would find himself in. Order a coffee, pick up some take out, call a friend, etc.
Even going for a jog can give you some insights. How would your character carry themselves while running? Are they the disciplined, slow and steady type or do they swing their arms wildly while huffing and puffing along?
Thinking back to the Johnny Depp example, consider how you would enter a room. His character stumbled with practically every step, as he was on the edge of heat induced delirium.
Dwight hardly ever smiles, because in his own words “chimps show their teeth as a sign of submission.” So, when meeting someone new, his character greets them with intense eye contact instead of a smile.
Do this now and have fun with it, so you are fully prepared to get back on set. If you feel yourself pulling out of character, recommit. Don’t acknowledge it, just slip right back into character seamlessly.
Sometimes, this happens because of something unexpected.
Maybe you’re fighting traffic, get cut off by an 18 wheeler, and narrowly avoid an accident. In the moment you might respond with an expletive at the top of your lung (understandably). Would your character react the same way?
Part of what helps top actors perform their best is being able to offload as much as they can to other people, so they can focus on their characters and showing up to the fullest every day.
Getting or rid of as much monotony and stress as possible is really key to delivering stand out performances.
They are driven to set, not as a luxury, but as a way to manage their state. Fighting LA traffic for an hour and a half, doesn’t typically provide much of a benefit when it comes to getting into character.
While I can’t drive you to set, here’s a way that I can help take some of the pressure off so you can make career progress, by focusing what you do best.
We’ve all had some downtime recently in one form or another, but your talent is like a muscle and you have to flex and exercise it.
World class athletes don’t have an “off season” because falling out of their routine, even for just a day or two, causes them to lose a bit of their edge. When the stakes are high, that edge is the difference between winning or losing.
The industry is no different and your edge can be the difference between being booked solid and constantly hoping that something comes your way.
So take some time and polish your skills and also make sure your reputation matches what you want to accomplish on the other side of all of this. The process starts with delivering a great audition but after that, casting will still into you and your reputation before moving you along in the process.
It impacts your castability quite a lot and I’ve seen so many actors who were incredibly talented, never make the progress they should have made because of this.
Here’s how I can help you avoid that and make sure you are on the right track.
Just like world class athletes never stop, the top levels of the industry haven’t completely stopped during this time. Show industry decision makers that you haven’t stopped either.
You can do this by putting your best foot forward in auditions of course, but also by making sure that what they find about you when they look into you is up to the standards of an actor that deserves to be making big progress in the industry.
So plan out your next steps now and let me how I can help. You know I’m always happy to lend a hand however I can because my fulfillment comes from your success, and I can’t wait to...
See you at the top,
Scott