IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT. There is a
Hollywood hot spot I regularly go to, and they recently put on
new door knobs on some of the doors. The problem is however, the
former door knobs worked just fine, and the new ones, look as
tacky as can be. On top of that, one was about to fall off.
Models and talent can learn from this. If you are doing something
that works, don't stop it, until you replace it with something
better that you know is better upon evaluation.
CONSULT
WITH YOUR REPRESENTATION BEFORE CHANGING YOUR LOOK:
Don't change your look drastically for example, including your
hair, without consulting with your agent or manager. It might
make you less marketable. I had one model that I had signed,
partly because of her long, beautiful hair, and height. When she
acted bratty with me one day, and canceled an appointment, right
after she had chopped most all of her hair off without consulting
with me, I dropped her. Since then, she has apologized, and I'm
taking her back, but, she now has at least one strike against
her. In the modeling business there is the strike system. Most
agents allow three strikes, which are signified by a colored dot
or hole punch on a models top zed card on the wall. As in
baseball, three strikes and you're out! This goes for actors, and
bands as well.
Another model dropped her self. She ended up
getting tons of poorly drawn tattoos, and face piercings, gained
a lot of weight, and got a bad hair dye job after chopping most
of it all off. When I had signed her, she was the perfect girl
next door look. Now, she wasn't clean enough for the girl next
door look, but she also didn't look natural as a punk or alt girl
either. I told her my concerns, and she spun further out of
control, never to be heard from again. Again, if it ain't broke,
don't fix it. If you try to make it better, consult with your
agent or manager, they are after all, the ones working on getting
you work, and their opinions and what they want should mean
something to you. If it doesn't mean much to you, then don't
expect them to rep you for very long if they have any integrity
or professionalism about what they do.
NEW IS NOT ALWAYS
BETTER. I can't tell you how many actors have came in to
my office, and when I ask them what method of acting they know,
they try to tell me all proud and excited, the name of some guy
or lady with some rinky dink school somewhere in town, that no
one except them and their classmates have heard of, talking as if
they are the world's answer to bad acting. By method, we mean the
basics, Shakespeare, Stanislavski, or Meisner. Uta Hagen probably
deserves to be in there as well. Don't get sold on a name of
somebody who is a nobody compared to the masters and originators,
just because they are new. If you aren't learning Meisner or
Stanislavski, you owe it to your self to at least learn the
foundation, before you try some new application which evolved
from the standards any way.
KNOW THE RULES, BEFORE YOU
BREAK THEM. Some of my film instructors told us this
often, that we could break the rules of Hollywood filmmaking, the
traditional Aristotelian plot curve with the three act structure
for example, or the establishing shot, or such, but we had to be
able to know we were breaking the rules, which rules we were
breaking, and be able to justify why it was a good, aesthetic
choice for doing so. The same is true of acting, or any of the
arts for that matter. A true master of their craft can break the
rules, but one should be skilled enough to know what they are
doing. After all, a part of the fun of breaking them any way it
to know you are breaking them. But don't just break rules for the
sake of it. The end result should be that it is the smartest
thing to do, and that it ultimately makes you and others better
off because of it.
DON'T ADMIT MISTAKES. If you
are doing a read, whether it be from sides (lines of a script), a
cold read (lines handed to you on the spot that you have little
or no time to prepare for), or a monologue (lines you choose
yourself and memorize in advance to recite), and if you mess up a
line, don't stop and apologize. Pretend like you did fine, and keep
on going. Don't draw attention to your errors. There are times
and places to be humble and self deprecating in the world. An audition or interview is not one of them. The same
is true if you are a singer performing live. Sometimes however, a
rock band can come off looking better, if their attitude is to
look super cool, but they make fun of their own rare mistake in
front of the crowd. This can show their fans that they are human,
real, down to Earth, and not too conceited to make fun of
themselves. Sometimes, it can make the crowd love them more.
There is a fine line as a live performer between coming off as a
loser, and using a mistake to gain love and sympathy from the
audience. Things like this can not be taught easily. They must be
organic, natural for a great performer.
DON'T CRITICIZE
YOUR SELF. Don't point out your faults or errors to
people in this business. They are looking for them enough them
selves. Why make it worse for yourself? I have had many models or
talents point out things to me that they felt they did wrong,
that I would have never even thought about had they not told me.
Draw attention to your strengths, not your weaknesses or errors.
HOW TO TALK TO AN AGENT OR MANAGER: I recently
spoke with a potential model who had a lot of potential. But she
failed miserably on the phone. I was all set to invite her in to
the office, but she failed in a way that really shocked me. After
telling her about our company, what I could possibly offer her,
and the like, I asked more about her, and what she was doing now.
Was she in school? Studying acting? Did she work? Where? This
question is important to an agent or manager obviously, because
if one is working as a yoga instructor, versus working in a
doctor's office, or a lifeguard, or a waitress, or whatever,
these things will affect who you are as a talent, your schedule,
and on and on. This potential model went on the offensive. Bad
move.
"Yes, I work," she said. "Great, where at?" I inquired. "I
work in a restaurant." She replied. "Oh, OK, cool," I said, "so
you have some flexibility. Which one?" I asked. "Yes,' she
answered, "It's a restaurant in Santa Monica." She answered.
"O.K., great!" I said, "Which restaurant is it?" "It's on the
Promenade," she said. "OK, great," I replied, "Does it have a
name?!" You would have thought I asked her the size of her bust,
waist, hips, and weight, which by the way, is another question
you need to be prepared to answer if you want to be a model. "Why
do you need to know that?" She demanded defensively. "Well," I
replied, "I don't 'need' to know any thing. I don't need to
invite you in my office, but I was going to. My office is where I
work, so you know where I work and spend most of my day, and I
don't know you either, so I want to know where you work if I'm
inviting you in to my office. It's a public place, right?" She
continued to be defensive and said she did not feel comfortable
telling people that over the phone. Now, maybe this model was
employed illegally, but what was more likely, was that she was
just really paranoid. If you are that scared to tell an agent or
manager where you work at, then don't bother giving your info to
their scout, or talking with them at all to begin with. My scout
by the way, could later tell me where she scouted her at, at her
work. Duh!
Now, giving out your home address is another story.
You should not give out where you live to an agent or manager
except on an application after you have gotten to meet and trust
them. Treat this process like you would applying for any job. Be
prepared to give out your correct age, height, weight, and
measurements. If you are too shy or uncomfortable to give these
out, then you are not ready to work in Hollywood. In the next
issue, I'll cover the rules parents need to know for minors
working in the industry, basics of the recording industry, and
pilot season. Don't miss it!