Ask a Healer Metaphysical Acting Section

We are all but actors on a stage ....

If you consider life, we did come in to be a certain someone. We had an idea about what life could be and what we could be in it.

The role each of us chose may have been different yet the experiences chosen always seem to show us more about ourselves, about others, about life, about the human experience of divinity in form.

Who am I? I am a sometimes working actor. This is by choice. I left Hollywood for the last time a few years back and since then, have only acted sporadically. If you wanta see anything I've done, check my imdb creative artists profile. Also, I've uploaded an example audition I did for a film and also an original comedic monologue: Fun acting auditions

Acting from a Soul Level:

When I first discovered acting, I did not immediately see how profound a process the creative arts were or the opportunity they provided for quantum leaps in consciousness. By stepping outside my own reality and literally embodying the reality of another in a play or on film, I was expanding my perception of what reality could be.

What I Learned In Hollywood:

I've had several stints in tinseltown. The first time, I went as that starving artist we all hear so much about. I was fairly miserable because of the situation -- if I had money for classes and food and transportation, I had to work ... but then, I wasn't available for auditions. If I was available for auditions, I didn't know how or if the rent could be paid.

The next time I went, I was in better shape but still got wore down by the money thing.

The third time was a charm in many ways because I actually had money to take every class I wanted and free to do any audition that came my way or struck my fancy.

What I learned in Hollywood (partially) was this:

1. Choose your acting classes with care.

A lot of the acting classes I tried out in Los Angeles (most will let you audit at least one free class) were structured to teach a specific way of acting, a specific technique based on this or that acting method.

I found most of the classes limiting and some even damaging to my innate ability to bring a character to life.

Some acting classes are taught by inspiring, fun and talented actors who get a real kick out of helping another actor hone their craft. The best of these notice the way you approach your craft and work within what is already working for you, adding gems of wisdom and skill tools that help you polish your unique performance abilities.

Some of my favorite teachers: Stephen Tobolowsky, Lisa Dalton, Patrick Bristow, Mark Pinkney and Carly Rothenberg.

Some acting classes are taught by frustrated actors who hate what they are doing, don't want to be there and generate a pretty nasty vibe from the beginning. I'm grateful I walked out of a few of those classes, even after paying for them. This business is hard enough without taking abuse in the classes which should be nurturing and offering creative freedom for developing your craft.

2. Improv gives the most bang for the buck.

Improv classes, with a teacher who is not invested in you becoming another whatever they are, is by far the best investment I made in my own craft. Improv taught me to go out on the tight-rope of my own imagination and risk falling off and going splat on the stage, which I did on numerous occasions.

Improv taught me the importance of listening with your whole body and of respecting the other actors on the stage with you; in fact, looking to them for gems of inspiration for your own response in character and relying less on being in the mind and trying to "come up with something clever" on the spot.

3. Your real job, if you choose to act in Los Angeles, is driving.

You get to work every once in a while but mostly, you drive. L.A. county is, I believe, about 55 miles wide. There were times when I had auditions about that far apart in one day.

I recall the day I decided to come back home to the south. I was driving home from an audition and had just passed that huge billboard that counts up the number of cigarette-related deaths in real time. If you are in Los Angeles, you've had time to sit and watch those numbers go up in traffic.

I realized it had taken me an hour and a half to drive 18 miles. OK, I get it. I get what all the Casting Directors had been saying. Driving really would be my main job if I stayed, unless I became one of the 4% of actors who made enough work to hire anybody to drive them around.

Then, my real job would be riding or flying.

Hmmm, something shifted in me. I left tinseltown. I may go back for work in Los Angeles but I don't wanta live there. It's something I would never have known, had I not tried it. I may have wished to be there forever so I'm glad I went and saw what it was really like for me.

4. Some Casting Directors are in love with Casting!

Some CD's are a joy to read for because they love actors, love the craft and truly want what's best for the project. They have vision and clarity around what is needed. These Casting Directors will give you all the information they have, about direction, style, etc. because they genuinely want to help you give the absolute best audition you can give.

These casting directors get a gleam in their eye when they see someone come in who is prepared and brining something unique to the character, and they will do all they can to nurture and support the actor thru the audition and call-back process.

I LOVED auditioning for these types of Casting Directors. If I had my time to do over, I'd stay in touch with those CD's and forget the others, regardless of what they were casting.

5. Some CD's are jerks!

Some Casting Directors are just, quite simply, people who are inconsiderate, rude, even nasty ... and ... in a position of some power.

If I had my Los Angeles time to do over, I'd refuse to audition again for some of the Casting Directors I met. It's hard to refuse when you are hungry so, like most, I took some condescension and rude treatment that would not be socially acceptable in any other business interview. Of course, that isn't just true of Hollywood; I've been treated very rudely by CD's in the south as well.

I felt I was selling my soul every time I did an audition like this. I would hope I would not repeat that pattern now, if the situation faced me again. Be respectful or I'm outta here.

6. Some Actors Are Jerks!

Of course, that door swings both ways.

I've seen actors be rude to CD's too, wanting to push the envelope on how much time they were given, wanting to talk their ear off beforehand, pestering them afterwards about what they thought, sending a deluge of headshots thru the mail (headshots that end up in the trash can, by the way) or worse yet, dropping headshots by the casting office every other day Don't pester CD's unless you want them to dread seeing you coming.

7. As a Rule, in Casting, There is Zero Empathy.

Most CD's I read for did not care if I had to take three busses, had a terrible cold and didn't have money for supper.

I don't blame them. If they cried with every starving actor who has a sad story, they'd never get any casting done. I get it. And ... it can feel as if they are callous and uncaring.

In auditions, an actor needs to bring it, every time, or skip the read. There is also little if any margin for error. Flub the first take? Sorry. It's probably your only one. And if you did fine with the read but didn't take the tack the CD knows the producer or writer or director is looking for in the project, you may never know. I did have some CD's that were kind enough to redirect and allow for trying it again but not many.

8. Casting Directors are people, just like you.

The best CD's have a true eye for not only talent but the right talent for the right role. Casting always looked a little like doing a puzzle to me; all the pieces need to fit to make the total picture come to life.

Yet, human beings are just that -- human. A CD can have a filter that blocks some talent, just like any other person can have a filter that blocks some information.

Shock of shocks, they don't always see the talent in front of them clearly. You can nail it and still not get submitted. I know this because I've done some intern work, reading with actors for commercials.

 

If the CD doesn't like what they see in the brief pre-audition phase, they may not even turn the camera on for the audition. I'm sorry. I know this is not generally known, or at least I never knew it before I did that internship.

Even if the camera is rolling, if the CD doesn't like what they see in the entirety of your audition and the way you behave yourself on exit, they may delete your audition after you walk out the door.

I am thinking of one man who ... well, he had talent but he was so very hyped up that he couldn't leave afterwards. Kept talking and explaining this or that about the audition, til asked to leave. His audition got deleted from the tape.

Every role that a Casting Director casts puts their job at stake so I understand they only want to submit the best. I understand deleting troublesome actors and those who flub badly in the middle, on a day when you simply don't have time to retake.

On the other hand, as an actor, it rankled because I know too well that actors put so much time and money into driving to all these auditions. The thought that their audition would never even be seen was upsetting to me.

6. Casting Directors don't really cast you.

Even when Casting Directors do see your talent, and want you to win the role, they only get you thru the first level of auditioning. Although a good CD may have the ear of the director/writer/producer, they don't untimately hire you.

I've noticed that the ones that have cast a lot for the same director seem to be valued more, like Jane Jenkins and given more leeway in hand-picking submissions. If I had it to do over, I'd focus on casting directors that have develope a long relationship with the directors I wanted most to work with and nurture those relationships more.

9. The Writer's sister or brother may get your role.

Nepotism is alive in Hollywood, just as it is in every other business on earth.

Relatives and friends of those in power do sometimes get the role. Quite honestly, if I had a relative who wanted to get into acting and I had a chance to give them a leg up in a small role, I'd probably do it again.

I don't think most would risk a large role just to see a relative follow their dream, unless the talent was there, but I saw small roles sometimes go to friends or relatives.

Hope you find something of benefit for wherever you are in the industry of creative performance here.

Metaphysical Acting Class Information:

Intro to the Power Connection Technique

Course Description for this online acting class

Creative Moments Series

Cosmic Casting Office

Resource from my favorite acting guru:

On the Technique of Acting and To the Actor