The Acting Blog

Ten Warning Signs About Your Acting Teacher

When you’re looking for a new acting teacher, how do you know that they’re the real thing? Can you tell a credible acting coach from a fraud or a high school English teacher with a passion for drama? Here are 10 warning signs that your potential acting teacher may not be all they’re cracked up to be:

ONE: Credibility – If your acting teacher has no traceable history, the chances are they’re not a bona fide acting teacher. So what would make the acting teacher credible? Formal qualifications would help of course, plus professional experience but most importantly that they trained at credible theatre institutions, in the UK that usually means an acting conservatory or drama school, and not usually a university.

TWO: Guarantees – A good acting teacher will never make you any guarantees about fame, fortune and your future. They may whole-heartedly believe in what they teach you, they be sure that their way works, but the moment they start making promises and guarantees, engage your common sense.

THREE: References – If asked, your potential acting teacher should be able to supply you with a dozen names of students that would be only too happy to provide a reference. Furthermore, a great acting teacher will be able to provide testimonials from people who actively work in the acting business. If they’re the real deal, your acting teacher should be drowning in positive testimonials.

FOUR: Impractical - If you sign up for a couple of classes and you have a strange sensation that what you’re being asked to do is ridiculous, perhaps it is. Ask your acting coach to explain. If they give a good explanation, give it another month. If they don’t…. scram.

FIVE: Google Test – Use Google to search for the acting teacher and read the results. You’ll be able to find out about your acting tutor instantly.

SIX: Online Acting Lessons - Believe it or not, some acting coaches are offering online classes. Actor training requires a connection between teacher and student, and I don’t mean a broadband connection.

SEVEN: Big Money – If you’re signing up to a class, you should expect to pay upfront by cheque, PayPal or some other payment method. However, if your common sense tells you it’s a huge fee for what you’re getting, maybe reconsider.

EIGHT: Mail Bomb – You sign up to their website newsletter and receive a never-ending campaign of emails designed to move you to sign up to one of their very expensive courses. A few emails is one thing, a systematic mail campaign is another. If they’re liberal with the word ‘FREE’ start using the delete button liberally!

NINE: Off the Topic – Once you sign up for a class, you notice that the acting class is a discussion rather than a practical class. Obviously, there should be some discussion of relevant matters, but the bad acting teacher will be happy to talk about anything rather than teach you.

TEN: Living Room Studio – Many private acting teachers use their home, but if they seem to teach all of their acting classes from their crusty, untidy living room. You may want to get out of there!

Mark Westbrook is an acting coach and acting classes in Glasgow, Scotland and across the UK and Europe.

Acting Books

I own a lot of books on acting, as you might imagine.  I bought a couple of acting books over the holidays, one that I always meant to buy and one relatively new one.  I’m not going to assist the authors with their sales by talking specifically about them, because that’s not the aim of this blog post.

I’ve read hundreds of books on acting but since reading True and False, I can’t help it, but I find most of them full of shit.  I’ve tried to put it differently, but that’s what I mean.  These two new books are no exception, they are deeply disappointing.  Why are they disappointing?  Because they cannot help you act, not in a million years.

Now to be fair, all of these books carry a warning, they say ‘you cannot learn to act from a book’.  They’re absolutely true and they should also say ‘you cannot learn to act from a book – so don’t buy this book’.

My problem is that having read all those books, I truly believe that most of the advice found in these books isn’t particularly helpful.  It sounds good, it may even have merit, but I just… find it impractical.  Don’t misunderstand me, by impractical, I don’t mean that it’s theory, instead I mean that it is not capable of being put to use.  And this I suppose is my main point – whatever the contents of the book, most of it is not capable of being put to use for the betterment of actors.  This is where most of these books become problematic.  The craft of acting is learned in the body of the actor, a book is an interesting commentary, but it’s advice is often impractical to the point of frustration.  And so the reader feels idiotic.

So am I saying that all acting books are awful? No, I’m not.  Some are very, very good.  Am I willing to tell you what they are, yes, I am willing to tell you which books on acting are really worth buying because I believe they are absolutely not full of shit.

A Practical Handbook for the Actor – Melissa Bruder

True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor – David Mamet

Actions: – The Actors’ Thesaurus – Maria Caldarone & Maggie Lloyd-Williams

The Monologue Audition – Karen Kohlhaas

The Actors’ Art and Craft – William Esper

Yes, the link is clickable, yes, I’ll make 3 pence off something that you buy, but at least the book will help you, and that’s got to be worth more than 3p.

Tags: Acting Books, Books on Acting, Emotion in Acting, Truth in Acting

What Parents Should Know About ‘Becoming an Actor’

Quite often, the parents of would-be actor ask me a number of questions about acting and the acting profession.  I’ve reproduced the questions that they ask here and formulated considered replies.

Should my son or daughter become an actor?

No.  There are too many actors already.

Are you serious?

Yes.

So you think people shouldn’t become actors?

No, I want to discourage as many as possible, and if they still want it.  Good for them.

How do I know if my child is good enough?

This isn’t your call.  Support them in going to auditions, help them get some audition preparation training and if they get in, you’ve got your answer.  If they still want to try again, support them, but tell them they still have to support themselves financially during that period.  It’s important to instil financial self-sufficiency.

Isn’t It Impossible to Get a Job?

Yes, it’ s very difficult but plenty of people do it for a living.  If they’re good enough to get into an accredited acting school, they’re good enough to earn a living at it.

Is it sensible then to send my child to university, so they can get a proper degree first?

A proper university degree never helped a single actor to act.  University degrees in drama are a way of hedging your bets and so, they are practically useless.  If you want to be a plumber, go to plumbing school.  These days most acting schools offer degrees, they’re worth as much as toilet paper because no one cares if an actor has a degree, and they just want to know if they can act. But then again, personally, I feel the same way about a degree in English Literature.

Well, what about they go to a very good drama course and do a combined degree?

Bit of an accountant, bit of a carpenter.  Would you employ them? I wouldn’t even let them wax my car.  Bit of a writer, bit of a bricklayer? No thank you.  Bit of an actor, bit of an economist/psychologist/chemist? -  Even worse.  Combined courses aren’t what you think, they are not combining the subjects, it means studying less of two things.

Isn’t it best to have something to fall back on?

No, it’s sensible to have a fall back, but it isn’t best.  Why? Because necessity is the Mother of Invention.  If the necessity is there, they will have to make acting work, if there’s another option, it will be easier to fall back.  You should get a fall back such as teaching, only if you can’t commit to actually becoming an actor.

What is the one thing that an actor needs to succeed?

Well, one of these two things.  Either tenacity – the indomitable desire to get what they want without giving up. OR resilience, the ability to have sand constantly kicked in their faces and still get up and get on with it.  I’d go with resilience personally.  That’s what I like to see in actors.  On the other hand, I don’t kick sand in their faces in my acting classes; it’s a personal quality they must learn for themselves.

Mark Westbrook is a professional acting coach in Scotland.

Tags: Acting Coach, Child Actor, Mark Westbrook

10 Top Tips for an Actor’s Head Shot

ONE: More and more actors are having their head shot done in colour.  Don’t. It may have become ‘en vogue’, but it still doesn’t have the blank
canvas effect that black and white shots offers you.  Remember, the casting director must be able to read what they want to see on your face.

TWO: Leave the exposed flesh for the glamour models; never show cleavage, ripped abs and biceps etc on your head shot.  It’s all in the name – Head Shot.  A simple shot of your head, from the shoulders up is just fine.  No exposed skin please!

THREE: Your head shot is your sales tool as an actor.  It has to look professional, but it needs to stand out.  The only legitimate way to do this is to have your personality come out of the picture.  The only way to do this is to HAVE a personality.

FOUR: I once set up an audition with a great looking guy, early Thirties, blonde hair, from his head shot, he was perfect for the role.  The problem is, when he arrived, his head shot was fifteen years out of date.  And no, it didn’t help him get a foot in the door, I was just mad at him for wasting my time.

FIVE: When you come to choose what clothes to wear for your actor’s head shot, choose something very simple.  No patterns, no stripes, just a simple black top, t-shirt, jumper or blouse.  Help the casting panel see you as the character.

SIX: Absolutely no jewellery, so remove the earrings, tongue ring, nose ring and any other types of jewellery that might be on display in the head shot.

SEVEN: To smile or not to smile? Is that the question?  Don’t be an idiot.  The professional photographer take lots of shots of you, take some smiling, some not smiling and then make your own choice.

EIGHT: Do not make love to the camera.  Yes, you’re trying to sell yourself, but too many actors try to make their head shots unnecessarily ‘expressive’.  Please don’t.  Let your head shot be a picture of you.

NINE: Your budget is essential.  Remember you’re going to be using this to open doors with people you’ve never met.  A crappy head shot will look crappy, they won’t be won over by your good looks.  Work out what you can afford to spend, get the best head shots that you can afford from a reputable photographer that other quality actors use and make sure that their reprint rates are affordable, because you’re going to be sending a lot of head shots out.

TEN: This shouldn’t really be last, but… get a good photographer.  It’s essential.  They’ll know how to get your personality out in the photograph, even if you don’t.

Mark Westbrook is a professional acting coach based in Glasgow, Scotland.

Tags: Acting, Actor, Headshot, Mark Westbrook