Depending on the level of production, actors have varying degrees of control over their choice of costume, and what it might say about their character. Costume can denote time period, class, occupation and even personality of your character. In productions where costumes can be chosen by the actor, considerations must be made that accentuate the character without feeling too obvious to the audience. 

In this article, we’ll cover a few basic facts around costume, and examine the differences between costume for stage and screen. Finally, we’ll speak to some more expansive ideas about how to find your character within the way they dress. It’s one of those areas that all too often goes unconsidered by actors, which is a shame: it’s a great place to explore a character and bring them to life!

What is Costume?

Costume is the clothing worn by a performer for a performance. Most people tend to think of it in terms of acting, but it can extend to the choice of clothing selected by, say, a musician for a performance on stage. Costume has been a part of drama as long as all the other aspects of the form: you can trace a clear line through history from the helmets of the Star Wars stormtroopers to the masks of actors in Ancient Greece.

The word itself can be traced back to the Latin word consuetudo, meaning “custom” or “usage”. Its more contemporary roots in 17th century Italian and French liken it to the English word “custom”—meaning that a costume is of the style, the fashion. To some degree, this usage carries through today: a costume is the correct clothing for a particular time or place. For an actor, the costume is what their character wears on stage or screen. For a mourner at a funeral, the costume is formal and black. And for a police officer, the costume is a uniform.

Costume in Professional Productions

Costume is a vitally important part of any contemporary production—be it stage or screen. As costumes adorn the actors who take up most of our attentions when watching a narrative unfold, they are extremely visible part’s of a production’s design. For this reason, they require highly skilled designers, fabricators and stylists to ensure they look authentic and correct.

Costume on Screen

Costumes for screen are typically referred to as “wardrobe”, as is the department in charge of their procurement and upkeep. A feature film employing extras could have over five hundred costumes for one crowd scene alone, and multiple costumes will be required for every major character as well.

In film and television, continuity is a significant challenge with costume, as the same piece of clothing will need to be kept in the same condition for months on end. In certain situations, wardrobe may produce several versions of the same item of clothing in case one is damaged beyond repair.

Costume on Stage

Costume in the theatre taken extremely seriously, as the scrutiny by a live audience is arguably higher than that of a person watching a film in their home. Every item of clothing has to feel ‘real’, as it is literally existing in the same space as the viewer.

Similarly to screen, stage costumes are designed to accentuate the characters or setting; however, their role may also be symbolic. Placing Hamlet in a dark suit might not be the traditional choice that Shakespeare envisioned, but still speaks to his status and mood. Modern costumes, or costumes that don’t fit a traditional understanding of a play are a terrific way to shake up the interpretation and breathe new life into a well-trod story.

Can I Choose my Own Costume?

The answer to this question depends on a few different factors. On a professional shoot like a film or a Netflix series, you’re unlikely to have too much of a say as to how your character dresses. Costume is handled by the wardrobe department (or designer on a stage show) and will be determined by the larger aesthetic of the production design. You’ll have the chance to give them your measurements and not much else.

However, if you’re in a starring role, you may find you have some sway as to how your character dresses—especially if you consult with your director. It all comes down to your influence and industry clout: if you’re Leonardo DiCaprio, they’ll probably let you film the movie in sweat-pants.

On lower-budget, independent or student productions, you are actually more likely to provide your own costume. Costume buying or hiring is expensive, and it’s a smart way for the producer to cut costs. The director or designer will likely ask you to “bring in some options” chosen from your own wardrobe. This has its advantages: such as you have a greater choice over how you look on stage or screen (see below)! But it can also put your own clothing items in jeopardy of being damaged or lost.

How to Choose what your Character Wears

Let’s say you’re gearing up for an indie theatre show, and the director has asked you to “bring in some options” for your character to wear. How do you choose what your character wears?

#1 Read the Script

First thing’s first. Do some script analysis. Look for any indication within the text that might give you an understanding of how your character might present themselves to the world. Are they tough? Do they like to stand out? Is fashion important to them? Do they wear a particular tie-pin that was given to them by a now-dead relative? Some writers will give you a complete description of how a character is meant to appear (thanks, Sam Beckett!) While others might skimp on details, that’s not to say there won’t be clues you can discover.

#2 Consider the Production Design

Next, think about the design of the production itself. Time period, location, genre, style, colour scheme… all of these things can be determining factors in the costume you pick for your character. If there is a designer, why not ask them for their opinion; if anything, it’ll help you find an outsider’s perspective on how your character might be viewed.

#3 Be Comfy

As you start to narrow down your own wardrobe, take a step away from character and imagination to consider the practical. Don’t choose a costume that is uncomfortable. Depending on the run, you may be wearing this costume over and over, night after night, and on a hard floor beneath some very hot lights. At least consider this when picking options. Is it hurting you? Can you move around in it? Will it constrict what you have to do in the performance?

Note: It’s also worth choosing something that is easy to wash and dry. You don’t want your share of the profits to be eaten away by constant dry-cleaning bills.

#4 Dress Up and Play

Once you find yourself with a shortlist of costume options, wear your choices and ‘play’ as your character. You can try moving as they do, finding the physicality and stance. Speak through some lines, perhaps a monologue if you have one. All the while, check in with yourself and ask how it feels in this particular outfit: does it resonate with the performance you’re giving?

If you complete this step early enough in the production, you can actually try wearing some options to rehearsals to feel and see them in action!

#5 Trust Your Director

Throughout this process, your director is going to be an invaluable resource. With the exception, perhaps, of the writer, your director will know your character better than anybody else on the production. Use them as a resource, as a sounding board, for how your character might dress. Are you in agreement? Or will a difference of opinion open you up to something not yet considered?

Ultimately, the call on what your character wears will be made by the director. When all is said and done, they are the one in charge of unifying the various threads that make up the production. So the more you can work with them to find your character’s look, the more you will be aligned with their overall vision, and how you fit into that.

Finding Your Character in Costume

When considering the importance of costume, I often think about this short promo clip for Netflix’s Mindhunter. Cameron Britton speaks about how the character of serial killer Ed Kemper emerges from a single act of costume preparation. If costume for actors is something you don’t spend a lot of time thinking about, it’s definitely worth your time. Because the character is often there, in the clothes and shoes and glasses, waiting for you to discover them.

Putting on your costume is the cornerstone of any pre-show or pre-shoot ritual. It’s a time where you step out of your everyday clothes and into those of the person you are going to become on stage or screen. You are no longer yourself in a costume—because these clothes belong to somebody else.

So the next time you’re putting on your costume, or picking out some options to show an up-and-coming filmmaker, take the time to think “How can I find the character in this costume?” Often, as Britton tells us, they can simply appear…

Good luck!

The post Costume for Actors appeared first on StageMilk.

Video game acting requires a unique set of practical skills. You’ll need to be able to give physically embodied performances and, in some cases, stretch your voice into larger-than-life characters. You’ll need a solid agent, and you’ll also need to know about game studios, local and international, and the kinds of games they are developing.

Voice Acting or Plain Old Acting?

This article isn’t strictly about voice acting for video games. That’s because nowadays, companies with big budgets will often use motion-capture to create their characters. If you’re lucky enough to act in one of these massive projects, you’ll get strapped into a funny suit and act out scenes from the game in a studio, as if you were acting in a film or a stage play. Check out this behind-the-scenes video from The Last of Us Part II. It’s unreal.

Even on projects that are strictly voice-acting, your ability to stretch your voice will depend on your physicality. Video game characters are often heightened, and most of the creature or monster sounds you hear in video games are created by people pushing their voices to the limit and making sounds that seem impossible. Vocal fitness and physical fitness are intrinsically linked: the voice is not separate from the body after all.

WFH

The beauty of voice over work is that you can work from home. You need a good home studio, which does require some startup capital. But once you’ve got it, you’ll have it for as long as you need and it can open you up to international opportunities. Voice artist Misty Lee, works from her home studio and creates some truly harrowing sounds for major video games made all over the world:

How Do Our Voices Work?

In order to be a proficient video game actor, your vocal range will need to be somewhat superhuman. The way you get there is just like anything else. Practice. Having a good understanding of the different components of our voice will help us practice safely, so here’s a crash course.

It all starts with air. If you want to speak or make a sound, you take a breath in. The louder you want to be, the deeper the breath you take. The air then travels up through our oesophagus through our larynx where our vocal folds hang out. These pretty things look a bit like butterfly wings as air travels between them. They are delicate, but capable of some crazy stuff if the right amount of air is travelling through them at the right rate. Your voice doesn’t stop there, though. If you got your head cut off just above the larynx, it would make a sound similar to a duck. The things that shape this duck sound into words and noises are your teeth, your tongue, and your lips. 

So, to make sounds and voices worthy of a great video game, you need:

1.  Well-supported breath which comes from regular breathing exercises and good physical fitness. 
2. Just the right amount of air flowing through your vocal folds. If you’re experimenting with sounds or voices and you ever feel any kind of scratchiness in your throat, stop. That’s your limit and it shouldn’t be tested.
3. Muscular and precise articulators. We have some amazing warmups on our YouTube channel that, if practiced regularly, will strengthen your vocal muscles and keep your body relaxed and loose which is the best state of being to make crazy sounds.

The essence of this paragraph is to train. If you want to be a video game actor—if you want to be any kind of actor—you need to train. We’ve said it before, we’ll say it a million times more. Whether it’s at drama school, in workshops or your own consistent personal practice; be sure to train.

The ‘Style’ of Video Game Acting

In 2011, now-defunct Australian developers Team Bondi created L.A. Noire (published by GTA juggernaut Rockstar Games.) The main pull of the game—revolutionary at the time–was your ability, as a grizzled, 1940’s Los Angeles detective, to read facial cues and determine if a suspect was lying. L.A. Noire revolutionised the way that performance capture could give video game characters a sense of naturalism.

In the decade-plus since, technology has allowed for more nuanced performances to be captured. With announced projects like OD (a collaboration between game developer Hideo Kojima and director Jordan Peele, trailer below.), the blur between film performance and game performance has never been, well, blurrier.

What does this mean for actors in this field? Without old mate Kojima on speed-dial I can only speculate. But it’s safe to say that performances for games will become smaller: intricate, nuanced, cinematic. Not every game will have the AAA budget to make this happen, but the trend towards this will ensure that actors trained in stage and (particularly) screen will find acting in video games a lot like their usual gigs, than something they have to completely retrain for.

Physicality in Video Game Acting

So how do these technological advancements translate to physicality for the actor? Our advice is to develop a complete understanding of how your character moves, stands, interacts with the story world. Returning to the example of L.A. Noire, one of the limitations of that game was ultra-realistic faces being mapped onto computer-animated bodies. It sometimes looked like a robot wearing a human face—and it’s about as scary as it sounds…

If you want to act in video games, be ready to get physical. Move, crouch, jump, fight and get killed as many different ways as the devs can dream up. But that’s not to say that you’re not shooting for a sense of truth or naturalism. Even in stylised movement or performance, there are still rules that dictate the way you traverse the plot.

For some inspiration, check out what we have to say on mask work, animal work and clowning. If you wish to become more comfortable with physicality as an actor, these are some fun places to start!

Types of Video Games

Okay, now that we’ve discussed the practical skills required to act in video games as characters/creatures/robots/monsters/et al., let’s talk about a few of the different types of video games and what kinds of characters they’re likely to contain.

Action Games

The biggest games in the billion dollar industry are overwhelmingly action, FPS (first person shooter) titles. Expect lots of performance capture, exertion and fight choreography. And while you might think action games are light on dialogue, there is often a lot of talking to propel the plot forwards.

The other thing these games require is a lot of foley: sound effects that undercurrent the action added later in the production. You can expect to do a lot of screaming, shouting, grunting, growling, breathing–anything you would expect from a high-stakes action scene with explosions and bullets. Action games usually have a lot of background characters, too, who will need someone to give them the scream they always wanted.

Adventure Games

Fantasy, role-playing games (RPG) are usually the most character driven, because they are needed to prop up unfamiliar story worlds that make the player feel welcome. Expect plenty of dialogue, and large casts of characters that require a voice. As an example, the script for fantasy epic Baldur’s Gate 3 had two million words in it: not only can you speak to every character, you can cast a spell that speaks to every animal.

In adventure games, vocal work is essential: you’ll need to provide distinct voices for human characters, as well as supernatural and monstrous beings as well. Experiment, have fun, but don’t sacrifice the truth of the thing.

Simulation Games

Simulation games span a few sub-genres, including real-time strategy (think a board game come to life), life-sim (in which the player lives an alternate life through a character in a fictional world) or the replication of a real-world job/event/career: Acting Simulator 2024 might have you going to auditions, submitting self-tapes, sneaking out of work early to see a friend’s showcase…

These games are trying to create something as true to life as possible, which means that any and all voice work for them will be highly realistic. You can expect to be doing things like radio chatter, news broadcasts or perhaps giving orders. Space simulation games are pretty popular at the moment and there is always a lot of background dialogue to enrich the world.

Indie Games

This is a term used for smaller games developed by smaller game companies. Due to budget constraints, they won’t often have big chunks of voiced dialogue but they’re very likely to need sounds for creatures or humans. These kind of projects are the ones you’ll start out on because there are more of them and the demands of the performance are not as high.

Where It’s All Happening

Most video game companies, even the smaller ones, operate out of major cities around the world.

Canada

The Canadian games industry is one of the most robust in the world, sporting international heavy-hitters such as Bioware, Ubisoft (from the French parent company) and EA Canada. While most companies are moving west to establish studios in cities with government and provincial support, Vancouver, BC, is known as a staple for production of both independent and studio titles.

United States

Measured by sheer size of its industry, there is arguably no better place to develop games than in the United States. It has the largest number of game developers employed anywhere in the world. If you want to act in video games, this is the place for you. A lot of companies are based out of California, which makes that LA acting dream all the more appealing.

Notable companies include Naughty Dog (responsible for The Last of Us series), Take Two Interactive (the parent company of GTA’s Rockstar Games), Riot Games and Blizzard Entertainment.

Japan

Japan has a rich culture of video game development, and its industry is an enormous supplier of games to both domestic and international players. Unless you speak Japanese, you’re unlikely to find this industry readily hospitable, although the need for dubbing games into English does necessitate actors from all over the world.

Nintendo, Capcom Konami, From Software and The Pokémon Company are just some of the major players, along with Sony Interactive Entertainment—whose PlayStation Studios (U.S.-based) are responsible for many of the AAA titles that have revolutionised performance capture in modern gaming.

Australia

There’s a pretty decent indie game development scene in Melbourne and Sydney, though there aren’t a lot of big studios. If there’s a game or company you like the look of, look up some gameplay from one of their recent releases and see what kind of voice acting it makes use of. 

There are a couple of big studios based in Melbourne and Sydney that produce larger games. Activision/Sledgehammer Games are a heavy hitter in the industry. They’re a global company that own a lot of smaller companies. But take the time to find the interesting indie developers as well: Big Ant, Massive Monster.

Universities

Not a specific place, per se, but a great place to stumble across up-and-coming developers with projects needing voices and performers. Look to your local university or college and see if anybody is putting something together you can be a part of. It won’t necessarily be paid, but you’ll be able to network and build your profile. Think of it like doing a student film.

How to Get Into It

Like any other form of acting, working as an actor in video games requires a whole lot of patience and consistency.

Build a Reel

The first step is to build up a couple of demo reels. You can take some dialogue from existing video games, or write your own, and record yourself putting your own spin on it. A lot of phone microphones are good enough for starter reels these days. I would recommend having two reels: one for character dialogue and one for creature/monster sounds to demonstrate your range. Play video games or watch gameplay to get an idea of what to put on your reel. Best homework ever.

Once you have something to show off, I would start by sending emails to local universities that offer game design courses. Introduce yourself and tell them you’re an actor looking for voice-over work and send them your reel. You can also keep an eye on job boards like StarNow and Casting Networks for video game gigs. Recently, a friend of mine has landed a couple of voice over jobs through Fiverr…

Network, Network, Network

As you start to pick up work on student projects, you’ll naturally start to build a bit of a reputation–just make sure it’s a good one. There’s no prescriptive way of doing it, but you’ll hopefully start to gain more contacts with people who are well-connected in the industry.

University lecturers are great for this because it’s their job to know at least a few companies they can put their students in touch with. There’s also nothing wrong with sending a polite email directly to any game development companies you’d like to work with, similar to how you would contact a casting director, explaining who you are and giving them your reel.

Get a Good Agent

And make sure they have a voice-over branch. There are dedicated voice agents out there who you can sign with. But most good agencies will also be on the lookout for voice work. Just be aware of the city you live in and the video game scene there. As someone based in Melbourne, I haven’t ever received an audition for a major game development company because there aren’t many of them based here. That doesn’t mean there aren’t smaller opportunities to look out for, but it’s usually on you personally to seek those out.

If you have a mind to make the move to Los Angeles or another hotspot for game development some day, seek out smaller opportunities to get experience and to build on your reel. It all adds up over time and you could find yourself in the studio of your favourite game designers if you stick with it.

Conclusion

Video games present exciting and interesting opportunities for actors. The skillset you develop from working on them is essential to any other kind of acting you’ll do throughout your career. It’s important to note that bigger opportunities are more likely found in places like California, but it is entirely possible to do voice acting on these projects from home. As long as you’ve got the studio and equipment to do it. 

The steps to working on big video game projects are very similar to that of film and theatre. Starting small and building up. You have to run before you can walk. Keep your eyes peeled and ears sharp for smaller projects, keep developing your skills and delivering a great performance when you work. And you may very well end up in a weird suit in a weird studio working on the next major video game.

Hope this helps, see you around the traps!

The post How to Act in Video Games appeared first on StageMilk.

Awards season allows us to check in with the entertainment industry. It grants a broad understanding of what audiences and critics are responding to, which allows us to identify trends and recognise where our industry might be heading. If there are glaring omissions in awards season, we can also learn from this as well: what films or people failed to be mentioned? And why?

Star of Patton and Best Actor winner George C. Scott famously described the Oscars as “a two-hour meat parade, a public display with contrived suspense for economic reasons.” If your opinion of such (self-) congratulating is similar, we respect that. But this article isn’t here to defend such opinions either way, more speak to the cultural importance of these events.

Envelope poised? Nominees leaning forward? Let’s begin…

What is Awards Season?

Awards season refers to a time period in the entertainment industry calendar in which the major awards are nominated and bestowed. They are primarily associated with the film industry, although this period can also refer to awards in music (Grammys) and television (Emmys).

The period sits loosely across November to April, and is generally thought to peak with the Academy Awards (Oscars) some time in March. The nominations process, for which actors and studios alike campaign vigorously, is highly publicised and is thought of as a part of awards season—even before no firm nominations have been announced.

Which Awards are part of Awards Season?

This is a big list, and one that is fluid depending on who you ask (and which awards are being offered.) Some of the major industry gongs include:

• National Board of Review (December)
• New York Film Critics Circle (December)
• Primetime EMMY Awards (January)
• National Society of Film Critics (January)
• Golden Globe Awards (January)
• PGA Awards (January)
• SAG Awards (January)
• GRAMMY Awards (February)
• DGA Awards (February)
• Satellite Awards (February)
• BAFTAs (February)
• Independent Spirit Awards (March)
• Golden Raspberry Awards (Razzies) (March)
• Academy Awards (March)

The leading theatre awards follow this list slightly later, with Olivier Awards occurring in April, and the Tony Awards in June.

Why You Should Care About Awards Season

Before we get into our list of topics on the subject, take a second to remove your bias. We’re going to forget, at least for now, that awards season can be a lot of fun. And we’re going to set aside your lifelong dream to win an Oscar—although do be sure to check out our article on the topic.

For all you artistes and buzzkills reading, leave your cynicism at the door. (No shade if you are, by the way: so is the person writing this thing.) Hit pause on your personal judgements and look at awards season as something to learn from.

Check In with the Industry

Who’s being celebrated? Who has come out on top? Who is (forgive us) king of the world? Nothing clues you in on the state of the union like awards season. It’s a snapshot of the winners—and in an industry that prides victory and success above all else.

Keeping track of nominees, winners (and snubs) can help you build a picture of the kinds of artists being valued. What can you learn about whom Hollywood might be searching for? Can you market yourself in the same way?

Learn What is Celebrated

Related to the “who” is the “what”. What kinds of stories are resonating with viewers, critics and industry colleagues? Can you identify trends as to the kinds of stories people want and need?

During the COVID pandemic, we saw an incredible trend towards heartfelt, feel-good stories being told in film and television—particularly in streaming services, where series such as Schitt’s Creek and Ted Lasso wrapped the world up in big, folksy hugs. With swathes of nominations and wins for each, we were able to determine exactly what kinds of stories were deemed to be important, just by tuning into an awards show filled with all-masks and no-audience. Strange days.

Know Your Audience

None of the major entertainment awards are voted for directly by the general public. But this is not to say that the audience opinion of a film or television series has no bearing on its awards season success. Awards season help you identify which films resonated with the public—the stories people truly loved.

Cynicism break: most awards shows are big business. They rely on audiences tuning in, generating buzz, maintaining relevance and prestige. So it’s safe to say that many awards do nominate films that capture the attention of the movie-going public. How are you meant to cheer on your choices if you’ve had no chance to see them? The same benefit is applies to the people, films and series being nominated. Their careers bolster the prestige of an award, which in turn bolsters their own critical esteem and fame. One fuels the other.

Of course, this is no hard-and-fast rule. There are many films out there that received incredible reviews and awards, but received little love from audiences. But as a general point, you can look to award nominees and winners and learn a great deal about those who sat in the dark to experience their stories.

Look for the Gaps

Here’s where things get interesting. You can learn a lot about your industry, the people and stories it celebrates, by who isn’t being recognised or awarded. Look for the gaps in nominees and winners and ask yourself why that is.

Consider Paul Thomas Anderson’s magnum opus The Master (2012). It received Oscar nominations for Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix), Supporting Actor (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Supporting Actress (Amy Adams) but nothing for director, writing, picture or any of its technical components—which were stunning. Some suggested at the time that it was due to the film being critical of a Certain Organised Religion popular in Hollywood. Which is, just, ridiculous.

Can we confirm this? Absolutely not. But even the conversation around this supposed sci-fi snub speaks to the entertainment culture of the time. Find the gaps and ask yourself why.

Find New Passions

Leaving aside the politics and conspiracies for a second, awards season is a great opportunity to discover new, great things to watch. How many of the Oscar-nominated best films have you seen? All of them? Then move onto the actors, the cinematographers, the original scores…

Here at StageMilk, we are always encouraging our members to watch more films and read more plays: to engage with the canon and immerse yourself. Awards season is the perfect chance to do exactly this. It also helps to stay relevant when speaking to directors and producers in auditions; prove that you’re up with current trends, and maybe even recommend a hidden gem that you’ve found in the process.

Our advice on this point is to look beyond the Oscars. Check the BAFTAs, the foreign awards and independent gongs that signal new work from fresh talent. Find it all, see it all. Be a sponge, not a stone!

Conclusion: It’s Fun

So there you have it: all the reasons that awards season is important for you to engage with as an actor. Before we wrap this up, let’s go back to something we consciously steered clear from in the above arguments.

Awards season is fun. It’s exciting! It’s lovely to see who and what are being recognised—especially if it’s somebody you really admire and think deserves the nod. Even for an Oscars-cynic like myself: it warms my heart when the right person wins and it feels like justice has been done.

And if the only reason you pay attention is to sit with your peers, your creative community, and cheer on the people who inspire you on your acting journey … that’s reason enough. Have fun!

The post The Importance of Awards Season appeared first on StageMilk.

An actor can build a good reputation by being gracious and uncomplicated. With so much uncertainty facing actors in their careers, it pays to become known as somebody who can roll with the punches and mitigate the unexpected. Learn to market yourself, to network in ways that project confidence whilst never coming across as cocky. And above all else, an actor will build a good reputation by being generous: with their time, with their efforts, with they way they build up those around them.

This article contains twelve different pieces of advice on how to build a reputation you can be proud of. There’s no real order to them, and some are bound to be obvious to you if you’ve had any industry experience to date. But the point to take away from a list like this is that there are multiple things you can do to improve your standing in the eyes of others.  Work on it, invest in it, and your career will pay you dividends.

Be Uncomplicated to Work With

Build a good reputation as an actor by requiring minimal support. Be known as the actor on set who isn’t fussy, doesn’t make demands, who respects that their role in a production is one of many—no matter how many lines you might have over everybody else. This is especially important when Everything Goes Wrong; actors who can weather misfortune, disaster and delays are rare and therefore coveted by directors, producers, etc. No matter the outcome a production (however cursed), you’ll receive a look-in during the next project, and people are sure to sing your praises in between.

However. “Be uncomplicated to work with” does not equal “put up with crap you get dished from anybody.” Stand your ground and you’ll command a different level of respect—particularly when you can step in to aid the plight of others. Ever seen that clip of Keanu Reeves hauling camera gear up the steps during a John Wick shoot? Class act, that one. Be like Keanu.

Be Confident, Stay Humble

Confidence is important: it lets people know you have belief in your own abilities and that they should back you accordingly. If you’ve worked hard to cultivate your career and hone your skills, you better believe you’ve earned the right to declare your efforts loud and proud!

A confident actor is a happy actor, an inspiring actor. They’re good to have on a team because they build up their peers and make them feel like they have a similar worth. So cultivate your own sense of confidence, and be assured that collaborators will find themselves drawn to you.

Let Your Work Reflect Your Values

Here’s a hypothetical for you: is there a job you wouldn’t take as an actor? Is there a playwright whose work you really hate? A certain product you wouldn’t advertise, or brand you wouldn’t want to represent? Everybody has their own opinion on where they draw those lines; there is no judgement about the jobs you take to pay the bills, even if you find yourself shilling a product you either don’t use or wouldn’t personally recommend.

Whenever you can, let your work reflect your values. And stand by them—be a force of good and change that people rely on, and identify you by. There are plenty of reasons to say no to a role, and having the guts to do exactly this will put you in good stead in your creative community, as well as the wider industry.

See Theatre, Talk in the Foyer

At StageMilk, we believe that theatre (particularly indie theatre) is the best place for an actor to train, learn and grow as an artist. Theatre is where your creative community needs the most support, and where the most exciting, innovative work is always done.

So take yourself along to the theatre. Bring a friend or a romantic interest! Buy a drink at the bar to support the venue and talk in the foyer with your peers. When the cast come out, make a point of telling them if you thought they did well. The actor who does this is always held in high regard.

Market Yourself

It’s as simple as it sounds: put yourself out there online and in person. Make sure people know about your brand, your type, and the kind of work you like to do. Good marketing builds awareness, and lets people know that you’re looking for opportunities to work.

Marketing also contributes to a good reputation. It allows you to craft your personal narrative, and promote your attitude towards the actor’s life and your own journey. If you market yourself as positive, hard-working and an eager collaborator, you’ll find yourself surrounded by like-minded artists.

Give Gifts

Gift giving is a very quick path to raising your rep as a kind and caring collaborator. It shows that you’ve taken time out of your day to think about the people you work with, and how you might show your appreciation for what they do.

It could be as simple as a fun-sized chocolate bar you hand out to your castmates and crew. The smallest gesture can lift your colleagues’ spirits on a challenging day and forever ingratiate you in their minds.

Do remember that gifts should always be appropriate, and you should avoid them altogether if it could even be perceived as transactional. Don’t give gifts to potential agents or casting directors, this will come across as desperate. For your director, or your producer, consider writing a letter or a note about your experience working together. (And, speaking as a director/producer, a little chocolate never goes astray…)

Be Generous with your Time

Related to the above: the most precious thing you can give as an actor is your time. Arrive early to rehearsals, stay back if somebody needs help. Can you give a castmate a lift home on a late night? In between jobs, try to be a reader for auditions your friends are shooting. Read their scripts and participate in their devising workshops.

All that being said, don’t forget to set boundaries with your time. Give generously, but don’t place yourself in a situation where you’re strained or denying yourself opportunities because of commitments you’ve made. Being up-front about when you can and can’t commit to things is a reputation booster all in itself. And know that the people who understand that are the ones who respect you the most.

Remember Names

When you’re on set, when you’re in a theatre, if you’re in an acting class or a networking event, learn names. Remember names. More than that, get to know people and their stories. Most of them are on the same journey as you, and it’s a helluva lot easier to walk the actor’s path with people you know and respect.

This point is particularly important as you start to do higher profile jobs, and begin to enjoy greater amenities and pay (and, sadly respect) than the crew or your other castmates. Learning names keeps you grounded, and builds you a reputation as somebody who cares to make connections and respects everybody on set, not just the bigwigs.

Celebrate the Success of your Peers

At some point in your career, you may have the pleasure of watching your friends and peers book amazing jobs and receive accolades you’re yet to attain. When this happens, don’t be bitter. Celebrate their success and let them know how proud you are. Remind yourself that it’ll be your turn before long.

Jealousy is a part of the actor’s life. It’s something to be acknowledged, addressed and—if you’re close enough with the person enjoying success—openly discussed. But know that a good reputation and bitterness are mutually exclusive. If you’re known to be a sore loser when it comes time to hand out the jobs, you’ll not only drive away your friends … you’ll lose out on work as well.

Teach

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received at university was that if you can teach a concept to somebody else, you can understand it for yourself. Take every opportunity in your acting career to be a teacher of others. Work with kids, work with actors starting out, start a scene study group and work with your friends!

A lot of actors I know are scared of teaching; I think it’s because teaching is what a lot of us are told to do when we ‘fail’ in the arts—which is to say, ‘not made your first million in Hollywood by age 25’. But there is nobility in it; it not only improves your reputation, but your ability as an artist of any kind.

Think back, right now, to a teacher that changed your life. They still seem pretty amazing, right?

Keep Learning

Let me speak briefly as a producer/director. I love all actors; those I respect the most (besides the ones who bring me chocolate) are those who are constantly learning and improving their craft. They might take a class, they might work with an acting coach… Many of them work with us, here, as members of the StageMilk Scene Club.

Some actors do a year or three in drama school and come out feeling like they’ve learned it all. They’re not bad. But they often feel like their progression is stuck, tied to the latest commercial they’ve booked, rather than the latest technique they’re perfecting. Keep learning and you’ll keep growing. People respect that at every level.

Stay Positive

Michael Prince, the Big Bad of Showtime’s Billions, describes the phrase “must be nice” as a battle cry of the perpetually bitter. It’s fair to say that these three words are some of the most toxic in an actor’s vocabulary. If you ever find yourself wanting to say them, swallow that impulse immediately.

Develop a reputation as an actor who remains positive about their goals, their careers, their peers, etc. Will you always feel that way? Not a snowball’s chance. But what you feel and what you project/say/post online as a professional actor goes a long way to how you’re perceived. Build your rep as a supportive, positive member of your creative community.

You’ll be invited to far more readings, auditions and parties if you do.

Conclusion

So there you have it: our twelve-step guide to building your reputation as an actor. As a final piece of advice, let us leave you with something so important it almost defies being mentioned in the first place. Have fun. The actor who has fun, stays positive and considers their career a joy for to navigate (however precariously at times) always has the greatest reputation. People like them, people want to hire them, people keep them around.

Good luck!

The post How to Build a Good Reputation as an Actor appeared first on StageMilk.

Learning how to market yourself as an actor is a vital part of a successful career. It requires an online presence, fostering authentic ways to engage with your community so that you can extend your network. Marketing yourself also requires consideration as to your branding, or ‘type’ so that you pursue correct and achievable goals.

Building a Brand

When I was in drama school, we had a class called Professional Practice which was all about the business side of acting. It took me a fair bit of mental gymnastics to get my head around the idea that, as an actor, you are your brand. You are the name and face of your own brand and you should treat your branding in the same way that any good business does. 

In my article about stage names, I briefly touched on the Twelve Brand Archetypes. This is one of the easiest and most effective templates that an actor can use when it comes to building their brand. The twelve archetypes are aesthetics that brands use to market themselves. What makes them so effective is that they represent different personalities. People are more likely to connect with personalities rather than features or benefits. Here they are:

• The Outlaw: “Rules are made to be broken.” This archetype makes you feel like you’re out of the ordinary, you’re not going to play by anyone’s rules but your own, you’re a bad boy etc. James Dean is a good example of an actor who was an Outlaw.
• The Magician: “It can happen.” You’ll see this archetype in a lot of tourism campaigns that want to make a place feel enchanting and magical. This archetype makes you feel like there’s more to life than meets the eye, that your dreams can come true. Michael Gambon in the Harry Potter franchise suits The Magician well.
• The Hero: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Sports brands like Adidas and Nike love The Hero. They want you to feel unstoppable; like anything is possible. Actors like Matt Damon, Tom Holland and Gal Gadot fit The Hero.
• The Lover: “I only have eyes for you. Feminine fragrances will often market themselves as The Lover. They want to make you feel sensual, beautiful, delicate and graceful. Think Rachel McAdams in The Notebook.
• The Jester: “If I can’t dance, I’m not a part of it.” This archetype has become more popular in modern advertising, it fits well with The Everyman (see below). It appeals to the goof in you, it’s off-kilter and sometimes a bit bizarre. Jack Black is textbook Jester.
• The Everyman: “You’re just like me and I’m just like you.” This is another archetype that is getting more and more popular in film and television. Think about all of the Netflix series these days that have main characters who are everyday people with everyday problems. The Everyman is all about relatability: Tom Hanks, Jason Segel, Jennifer Lawrence.
• The Caregiver: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Most charity organisations market themselves as Caregivers to appeal to peoples’ inner parent. They want to make you feel like you can do good, that you can lend a hand to those who need it. Julia Roberts usually plays The Caregiver.
• The Ruler: “Power isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” A lot of luxury brands such as Mercedes, Rolex and Louis Viton use this archetype, because money equals power in this day and age? The aim is to make you feel mighty and respected. Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada.
• The Creator: “If it can be imagined, it can be created.” Tech companies love this one. They want you to feel like the world is at your fingertips, if you can dream it then you can create it. Anthony Hopkins in Westworld is a great example, as is Richard Attenborough in Jurassic Park.
• The Innocent: “Life is simple and simplicity is elegant.” A lot of cosmetic brands such as Dove and Aveeno want to provoke a feeling of simplicity and elegance in their commercials. Timothee Chalamet suits The Innocent well.
• The Sage: “The truth will set you free.” Apple, Google and BBC are all about knowledge and understanding, and so is The Sage. They want you to feel like there are answers to your questions, that with learning and knowledge comes power. John Hurt made a good Sage in my eyes.
• The Explorer: “Don’t fence me in.” Any outdoorsy brand markets themselves as The Explorer. They want you to feel a sense of boundlessness, like the world is out there and waiting to be explored even though we have satellite navigation. Emile Hirsch is a good example of Explorer.

Tl;dr? Personalities are marketable. A great way to start building your brand is to figure out which archetype you suit best and, yes, it can be a combination of two or even three. Think about the way you like to dress, the things you’re interested in, ask your close friends what archetype they think you are.

“But wait, this is typecasting!”

Yes, it is. I think we need to dismiss the belief that typecasting is always bad. Playing diverse roles is fun and varied, but when it comes down to it, you have to play by the industry’s rules and generally, the industry wants you to represent something specific whether that’s a rebel without a cause or a paragon of virtue. You’re more likely to land more roles if you can fit a specific type of character rather than being a blank canvas upon which anything can be painted – even that is falling into Creator or Magician territory.

Now that you’ve got your brand to think over, let’s look at some ways to develop it.

How to Market Yourself as an Actor Online

Marketing online can feel a little overwhelming—given how many different platforms and websites you might feel require your attention. Below, I’ll give you some advice on the major ones to hit up, but don’t feel as though you need to be everywhere all at once. Wherever you are posting your fine features, here’s a few rules to follow:

• Consistency. Try to post to a schedule, with content planned in advance. Sporadic posting means that people don’t retain awareness of you, and fewer posts will mean you’re pushed down the scroll of endless content. It’s like treading water: keep your head up!
• Professionalism. The internet is written in ink. Anything you post will be there forever … and discovered at the worst possible time for your career. There’s no rule against having fun, but post/speak/comment like you’re at a job interview. Be proud of the things a person can trace to your name online.
• Boundaries. In a post-influencer culture, there’s a real blur to the line between posting as a professional and posting as the human you are. Increased access and contact with people may raise your follows and likes, but know that drawing the line with these interactions is your fundamental right. Stay safe, feel respected.

Instagram

Everyone and their dogs, quite literally, are on Instagram these days. It’s very well suited for actors because of how aesthetically focused the platform is.

Create a professional page that is dedicated to all things actor-y. The name of the page should be something like “@firstname.lastname” or, if that’s taken, “@firstname.lastname_actor”. Your name is also the name of your brand so keep it simple and professional. The bio of your Actor Insta, as it shall be referred to from henceforth, should have links to your website, your representation and any projects that you’re currently working on.

Any photos or videos you post should showcase you, first and foremost. Snaps of your lunch and sunsets are reserved for your personal Insta; your Actor Insta is all about you, your talent, and your gorgeous mug. While you should throw in the odd headshot or self-tape you’re particularly fond of, don’t fill your page up with just that. It’ll end up looking bland and repetitive, and like you’re constantly going for the job but never booking it.

This is when your chosen archetype(s) come into play. Try posting content that showcases your archetype. For example, if you’re The Explorer, get some shots of you hiking through the great outdoors. If you stick to your archetype, your Actor Insta will have a very clear theme and colour palette, and signify to potential employers that you have an understanding of branding. You can also post good quality production photos and any photos you take with other artists to start building up your links and demonstrate that you’re active in the industry.

X (Twitter)

I think I speak for many fellow Gen Z’s when I say that Twitter is a mysterious place to me–I don’t know anyone my age who actually has an active Twitter account. But my research has told me that Twitter is a great platform to engage in conversation with other artists and influential people such as directors and casting directors. You can and should be doing this on your Actor Insta too, but if Instagram is mostly for looks then Twitter is mostly for chat.

When you engage in online conversation on any platform make sure it’s genuine. Being unnecessarily controversial or contrived will damage your reputation and make people less inclined to follow or engage with you. Make sure if you’re replying or reposting something, that you have a personal and vested interest in the topic itself and not just that it was posted by a high-profile casting director.

Showcast, Casting Networks, StarNow, Altai and many, many more

The list of profile-based casting websites seems to get longer every single day. But they’re important to be represented on, as they are how many casting directors, producers and directors first engage with your brand. Casting networks depend on your locality, but the heavy-hitters are Backstage, Showcast, Casting Networks (inventive title, right?) and StarNow.

Bear in mind that most of these websites are subscription-based services; before you throw down your money make sure you have good material for your profile: headshots, showreel and an updated CV. Without these, curious parties won’t have anything to look at when they stumble across you.

Facebook

You won’t find yourself using Facebook in the way you may think: I’m not going to recommend you build yourself a fan page (unless you’re looking for a hobby, in which case you do you.) Facebook is a great marketing tool if you’re willing to join and participate in Groups and related pages for actors, theatre and film in your local area. These communities are a great way to get a few lines of credit on your CV, or gain some much-needed on-set experience. You’re unlikely to book any high-paying jobs this way, but you also never know what kind of exciting project you might stumble upon.

Personal Website

There are two huge benefits to having your own website: one, it makes you look like a proper professional and two, you have complete control of the content. DIY website tools are hot property at the moment, with WordPress, SquareSpace and Wix being the most popular. They do have a slight learning curve and are “freemium” services that lock certain features behind a paywall.

If you’re tight on cash and time like the rest of check out about.me to get yourself a free, one page website. It’s certainly the quickest way to centralise your online presence, but you won’t be able to make it look as schmick as a properly designed website.  

Design, colour, layout and font are all important to consider. Remember that you’re building a brand for yourself, so you want to make design choices that align with your archetype. Think of your personal website like a slick, online CV. Much like your Showcast and/or Casting Networks profile, your website should have your big, beautiful headshot on the front page, showreels and voice-reels and list your credits and skills.

Electronic Press Kit

The last thing you’ll need is an Electronic Press Kit. This is basically what you would include in an email to casting directors: your headshot and CV. You can include a compressed showreel file, but its a lot easier these days to include a link on your CV (and one in the body of the email you send them, if you want them skipping straight to the good stuff.)

You have every right as an actor to send a friendly hello and your EPK through to casting directors you admire. You aren’t guaranteed a reply so don’t bank on getting one, but a lot of industry folks appreciate it when actors reach out. It demonstrates professionalism and ambition, so don’t be afraid of sending an email once a year as your material updates. 

The Real World

So much of our lives are spent online these days that it’s easy to forget that there’s a REAL WORLD outside our homes and muggle jobs. The real world is very important for actors when marketing, as a lot of their early career support will come from the connections they make with other artists in foyers, classes and on the sets of some student- and low-budget films.

Independent Projects

We’ve written a couple of articles in recent weeks about the importance of working in independent theatre and student films. From a marketing perspective, these projects are relatively easy to access and they are the single best ways you can build your network as an actor in the early stages of your career. I feel that it is worth mentioning not every independent project you work on will guarantee you a great cast and crew. Sometimes you’ll work with people who you don’t vibe with or don’t have the same level of interest in the craft as you do. That’s okay. If you extend your network by even one person, that’s a win. Get chatting to the good eggs, show them your Actor Insta and keep an eye on the things they work on next to see if any of their new projects need actors.

Screenings and Showings

As well as working in theatre and film, you should be watching it, too. Not only is it essential to expose yourself to art to better your own practice, going to theatre shows and film screenings are great ways to meet like-minded industry people.

Here’s some personal advice that’s really worked for me. I get socially anxious and the idea of waltzing up and introducing myself to a total stranger, so an opening night is an express ticket to said anxiety. If this is something you can relate to, think about it like this: instead of going up to someone in the hope that they’ll remember you and put your name forward for a role, go up to someone to tell them that you really enjoyed the show and they should be very proud. That’s it. Don’t attach any kind of networking goals to the interaction, just congratulate them. If the conversation goes nowhere from there, great: you’ve just made someone feel good about themselves.

It goes without saying that if you’re going to congratulate someone and you didn’t enjoy the show, don’t pretend that you did. They’ll know. I’ve made that mistake for us so you don’t have to. 

Workshops and Classes

Here at StageMilk, we push every performer we can to take an acting class—regardless of their level or previous study. As well as honing your skills in classes, you’ll meet a lot of people with similar goals and a mindset to you. Make friends with the good ones and try to make a regular meeting time with them to read plays, run monologues, shoot self-tapes and all that good stuff. 

Within any of these scenarios, the key is to be selfless and focused on the other person/people. Much like acting, where your greatest successes on stage or screen will come from supporting your cast member to their best performance, rather than your own. People love that person. People remember them.

Conclusion

Woo, that was a big article! Because acting is such a people-focused profession, marketing it is especially important and unique. Seeing as how you’re marketing yourself, a big part of doing that effectively is a simple as being authentic. It can seem contrived when we talk about building a brand for ourselves and putting ourselves out there, but it should feel natural, and even a bit exciting, if you’re passionate about what we do and staying true to the brand: you.

Hope this helped. See you around the traps!

The post How to Market Yourself as an Actor appeared first on StageMilk.

Actors may play characters that differ from their own identity/race/background/gender, particularly in contexts where the originating material is antiquated and is being interrogated and/or challenged. With consideration and respect, actors may find themselves portraying somebody wildly different to themselves. However, consideration and respect are key factors: just because an actor can play somebody doesn’t necessarily mean they should.

Some actors worry that opportunities to work diminish as casting shifts to better representation. They bemoan limited chances to play roles that may once have gone to them, sometimes claiming that, as actors, it’s their job to play people different to themselves. However, these actors usually find themselves delivering a performance that is limited in nuance and understanding of a character’s lived experience: and denying an opportunity to an actor of that actual background whose current representation on stages and screens may still be marginalised.

Breaking The Mould

Shakespeare never saw women perform any of the incredible female roles he wrote. Is wrong to let women play them four hundred years later? I’d say not. Ian McKellen was in his eighties when he played Hamlet in 2021. Not quite what the Bard had in mind, but it worked a treat!

Diversifying the pool of actors who play certain roles, especially roles from older canon texts, is a fascinating way of keeping these plays relevant. In this context, playing a character different to your own identity can open up the more universal themes—and draw in an audience that may previously have felt like they were excluded from that space. Remember that when the majority of theatrical and filmic texts were created, the straight white man was so dominant—so hegemonic—that he was considered the default setting: a blank canvas on which characters could be layered.

As a society, especially in the creative industries, we’ve moved beyond the concept of every character being white, or heterosexual, or male until proven otherwise. And what has it done? Kept our art form alive and brought in people (and, let’s be honest, paying customers) who would never have shown up before this. Everybody benefits, everybody wins. So bring on the queer Falstaff, the black Willy Loman, the 12 Angry Jurors!

In a Class, In Private Study

As a long-time acting coach here at StageMilk’s Scene Club, I am asked about this issue a lot by the performers I work with. In an educational context—which is to say in the context of a class or self-tape you’re creating for the sake of honing your skills—my advice is to ignore certain character traits and focus on what draws you to the character.

A gender swap, an age up or down is more than acceptable when it’s your accent, or projection, or action plotting you’re working on. You may even simply want to do a deep-dive on a character whose themes or motives intrigue you. And, yes, the character may go against your natural type. But a class is not a casting, and there is no reason not to experiment and see what you’re capable of.

Most actors I work with completely understand the different circumstances of the educational context. It is completely different if you’re going for a professional job, but it’s unlikely that the casting director (or your agent) would even let you in the door. Sending a self-tape for King Lear if you’re 25 years old is just silly. Any serious actor would know that doing so would look like a huge ego trip.

Where is the Line?

So where do we draw the line on playing a character different to you? What is and isn’t acceptable?

I’m not here to tell you where that line can be drawn: that’s entirely up to you. But I would suggest that line you do so with respect and consideration. Think beyond your own career and opportunities, just for a moment, and ask yourself some questions. Start with: how might my casting benefit this role?

Will the part be better off if the role is played by somebody different than how it was written? Does it enhance the text, or challenge the original in some way? If you were to play this role, would it seem like stunt casting? A cop-out? Like the producers couldn’t be bothered to find an actor more closely identified with this character?

Questions such as these (and there are plenty more) are important, because they take you out of the equation. And while that might sound counter-intuitive to your actor’s journey towards fortune and fame, it may also help you from making a fool of yourself in a role you have no business playing.

The Actor’s Lived Experience

We hear more and more about this concept in the “who can I play” debate. More and more, an actor’s relationship to their lived experience or background is having a bigger part to play in casting.

It’s the argument against casting a cis- performer in a trans or non-binary role, or somebody of a different racial or cultural background to portray a figure written as being of a specified culture.

Is there an upside to this? Absolutely! Characters are portrayed with far more understanding and truth by actors with a comparable lived experience. They can tap into cultural understandings an ‘outside perspective’ could never hope to bring to the role. Such representation on screen and stage can inspire a next generation of actors who may not ever have considered they had a place in a mostly-Western-centric entertainment landscape. This can equal new audiences, new viewers, new ticket holders.

Most importantly, respecting the lived experience of an actor can lead to new stories being told. Voices are found and amplified that have been silent for far too long. What a treat for audiences convinced they’ve seen all film and television and theatre can offer.

Is there a downside to this? You might not get the job this time. That’s okay! If you’re worth your salt you’ll book the next one…

“bUt It’S mY jOb!”

Let’s address the counter-argument. It’s a popular one: spewed by everybody from that resentful actor friend you know who never quite books it (be honest, you know exactly who we mean) to the great ScarJo herself. “If it’s all make-believe, why can’t I play somebody from a different background, or gender, or race? Isn’t that what acting’s all about?!”

The problem with this position is that it seldom rears its head in a context that serves the casting—the nuts-and-bolts portrayal of the character—as much as it does the actor behind the complaint. Actors who take this position usually do so in response to the casting of an actor of lived experience over them. They might not mean to sound bitter, but they do. ’cause that’s exactly what it is.

The elephant we’ve yet to address in the room is the overwhelming demographic of actors who take this position: caucasian, cis-gendered straight men. Is there something inherently evil or begrudging about this group of artists? As a member of this group, I’m relieved to report no. But the reason they so often fall into this category is they have the most to lose.

If you find yourself asking this question, let me prompt you to read over the above paragraph about the benefits of such casting decisions. While it might not further your career, today, it will strengthen the industry around you. Plan for the long game, and cheer on your peers!

Conclusion

As an actor, you may well have the talents and abilities, the tools in your actor’s toolkit, to play anybody. Or anything. Perhaps the embodiment of spring, or a hubcap on the highway. And yay for you! You should always feel confident in your craft, and look for challenging roles that push you out of your comfort zone and into new characterisations.

So set your talents aside and consider the ethics of who you play. If it really doesn’t bother you personally, I respect your opinion. (Even if I think you’re shooting yourself in the foot in the long run.)

But as a parting point to be made, let me say this: I have been offered professional jobs that were not right for me. I could do them technically, artistically—not to mention I could have benefitted from them financially! But they weren’t my stories to tell. I made this point to the producer, and proceeded to help them find the best person for the job, usually a friend of mine I was keen to elevate.

There is no better feeling than stepping aside for the sake of the work, for the truth of the story, for the opportunity to put somebody in a position to tell their tale. As I said above: there’s always another job. And when it’s right, when it clicks … you know it’s yours to run with.

The post Can I Play Any Character I Want To? appeared first on StageMilk.

Dry work spells are common in any actor’s career. Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do when your acting career is quiet that can prime you for future work and opportunities. It is the opportune time to develop new and existing skills, expand your artistic knowledge, or even simply recharge your batteries before the chapter.

Before we dive into what to do when your acting career is quiet, it’s worth clarifying that this article isn’t about remedying the lack of auditions or jobs. There are, for example, things you can do if you feel you’re not getting enough auditions. This page is about preparing for the inevitable—those slow times which can easily break an actor unused to stepping off the merry-go-round.

Check your Actor’s Toolkit

This article was written in the depths of the dreaded month of January. It’s a quiet time of year, when many actors are questioning their choices )or perhaps their acting career altogether.) Our first piece of advice in this famously quiet period is always to spend time looking at your actor’s toolkit: headshots, resume, showreel, casting profile.

Does your headshot need updating? Is it time for a “new year, new me” scenario? How about your resume: does it reflect the work you did last year? Is it ready to be seen by a casting director or potential agent? The showreel is a larger commitment, and one we’ll speak about in greater detail below. But slow seasons are the perfect time to ensure that your means of being seen in the industry are up-to-date and looking swish.

Update your Showreel

In the last five years, we’ve seen two truths about showreels emerge. One: they are the best, most direct way to promote yourself, and can achieve this for you from the comfort of your home. And two: showreels are no longer about excerpts from short films or tv commercials—they are about showcasing you doing short scenes in front of a blank background. Also from the comfort of your home. What do these truths mean? That it’s harder than ever to make excuses for not having a polished, professional showreel ready to go.

Far too many actors have showreels that are either outdated or non-existent. When your acting career is quiet, take that time to update (or simply create) your showreel. Keep it short, keep it punchy. Find that connection and warmth. Get to it!

Work on Self-Taping

When your acting career is quiet, take the time to focus on upping your self-tape game—priming yourself for whatever job comes to you next. Self-taping is one of those actorly skills you will never stop working on. There’s always another way of shooting, another interpretation of the scene in question. The advantage of working on self-taping in slow periods is that you normalise the process for when a professional job prospect lands on your desk.

Self-taping can be done at home with a reading partner, enough lighting and your phone’s camera. However, if you’re looking for a little more professional guidance, why not try out our StageMilk Scene Club and get feedback from industry figures on every submission?

Take an Acting Class

When your acting career is quiet, it’s a great time to examine the way you approach your craft. Consider taking an acting class, either in person or online. You can develop your skills, practice scene work and audition technique—maybe even dip your toe into a practice totally unknown to you, such as clowning or mask work!

Even when you are going for work and booking professional gigs, acting classes are a vital part of your career as an artist. After all: you need to keep yourself challenged and growing. So a quiet period is the perfect time to instil such a process and thought pattern into your regular routine.

Invest in New Skills

Ever wanted to learn the trombone? How to sketch? Fence? Prep a kick-ass tiramisu? When your acting career is quiet, consider learning a new skill separate to your craft as a performer. The skill may not directly help you book the next job (unless you’re auditioning for the role of a swashbuckling dessert chef) but the artist’s life is about variation and consuming of knowledge.

That being said, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised by how a new skill can come in handy. Picking up the guitar could get you singing. Singing might get you playing in a musical or cabaret. Doing a stint at an improv class could lead to teaching young artists—which pays surprisingly well and gets you out of the hospo grind.

Support Your Creative Community

If you find yourself with time to spare, why not look for ways to lift up your artistic peers? Can you help a friend prep for an audition? Can you teach somebody how to improve their self-tape game (with all that practice you’ve been doing?) If you know a writer or a director, perhaps they need help in a devising workshop for a new project?

It can be tough to see people around you working and moving while you’re feeling static. Jealousy is an unattractive quality, even though it comes for us all. So remind yourself that one of us succeeding can elevate us all. We’re all in this together, and you never know who might be in a position to give you a break down the line due to something nice you did for them in the past.

See Some Theatre

Do it. Go to a live theatre show. Spend too much money on a ticket to the best show in town. Spend the price of a house red and see some strange fringe monstrosity. Catch student theatre, catch any theatre you can. Actors owe their very existence to the long tradition of live theatre performance; it’s the best place to hone your skills and build your network of peers. So take some of that free time and invest back into the form that made you.

Be a student in a theatre show: analyse what works, what fails, what was ambitious? Here’s a good question: what you have done differently/more/better? When you go to the theatre as an actor, you’re not just an audience member. You are there to learn from your colleagues, to absorb the work of others. And then take those learnings into the next acting job!

Write Something

Ever tried writing a film? A play? A sketch or a series? When your acting career is quiet, writing is a terrific thing to do. Our industry praises multi-hyphenates, which is a fancy way of saying “artists who can do more than one thing”. Set yourself apart from your acting peers by adding something to your skillset that can not only open you up to new professional opportunities, but create new acting work for yourself.

If you have any ambitions or interest in writing, pick up a pen, open a Google doc and go for it. Don’t worry about training or fancy software or some fountain pen forged in a volcano. Writing is a great thing to self develop because it’s free. All it takes is some time and effort, and you’ll be well on your way.

Listen, Read, Watch

Good actors are literate when it comes to art. If you want to be taken seriously, you need to know your Shakespeare from your Simone, your Kandinsky from your Kipling, your Pollock from your Peele. If your acting career is quiet, spend some time absorbing films, books, artworks, music. You can hit up the canon—the classics—but don’t forget the rebels and low-taste-makers as well. Just be sure to diversify and step beyond your usual tastes.

Much like our advice on going to see theatre: be an active participant when you consume art or media. Don’t glaze over, watch ten seasons of Drag Race and kid yourself it’s for your art. Engage with what you listen, read and watch critically. What can you learn? How might what you see inform/inspire your own work as an artist or actor?

Relax

If you’ve done everything else on this list, or nothing we’ve mentioned feels quite right, it might be a good time to tune out and recharge your batteries. Relax. Take a time out while you can and focus on something else: work, family, relationships, hobbies, nothing at all.

Actors, like any artist, suck at relaxing. They’re all filled with the innate desire to hustle, to upskill, to make the next milestone. Given how important it is to switch off and recharge, relaxation is actually a skill you need to develop. If you’ve got one week off between two huge jobs, you must learn how to take that time for yourself, otherwise you head into burnout territory.

Take quiet spells in your career as the opportunity to practice relaxation and mindfulness. And trust us when we say that far too few people in our industry will tell you how important this really is.

Conclusion

There you have it: ten suggestions on what to do when your acting career is quiet. Quite a lot to get done, isn’t there? Perhaps this is the biggest takeaway we can hope to impart you with at the bottom of this article. For an actor with drive and work ethic, there’s really no such thing as “quiet” parts of their career. There are times when you work less, absolutely. But choosing what you do with those times is what separates the great from the good.

Whatever you end up doing with these times, don’t forget to do it with a good attitude and take plenty of breaks. Sooner or later, that phone is going to ring. And you’ll want to be in top shape for what might be a truly life-changing opportunity.

Good luck!

The post What to Do when your Acting Career is Quiet appeared first on StageMilk.

A stage name is a name assumed by professional actors and other performing artists, for a number of reasons. Stage names can distinguish one actor from another of the same name, simplify an actor’s real name, or build on an actor’s archetype. Whether or not you should use a stage name will come down to these same factors. What you should change it to is a whole other question. But don’t worry, we’ll get to that.

As always, remember that this article offers up information and advice, but never an ultimatum when it comes to your acting career. Please keep that in mind before you dig up your birth certificate and potentially break your parents’ hearts by telling them the name they gave you just ain’t gonna cut it for Hollywood.

When to Change your Name

First of all, changing your name only really becomes a necessity once you reach a certain level of recognition. If you’re still on that very important independent theatre grind and you’re wondering about whether you’re due for a name change, you’re not. Of course, if you really want to, go for it! But you certainly don’t need to.

The most common reason that actors change their names is to distinguish themselves from other performers with the same name. David Bowie, for instance, was born David Jones and took the surname Bowie from a 1960s film called The Alamo. He did this to make sure no one mistook him for another English singer by the name of Davy Jones (of Monkees fame.)

The only caveat we’ll throw in here is that actors’ unions sometimes specify that you can’t have the same name as another performer in the same union. This rule varies, but is worth some research in your country/city/area.

Why You Might Use a Stage Name

Okay: let’s imagine you’ve hit it big and you’re on the route to worldwide fame. You’re landing some good roles, your agent is very excited and you’re being groomed for stardom. What’s your name in this scenario? Schnitzel Von Crummington III. As far as notable actors with the same name go, you’re pretty safe, but, wow… I mean, what were your parents thinking? 

While I do exaggerate with this example, if you have a complicated name—too long or too difficult to pronounce, or an unfortunate sounding name—it’s time for a change. You also may want to consider whether your name has the potential to pigeonhole you. If you heard the name Schnitzel Von Crummington III, what kind of person would you imagine? Some affluent, pretentious manor lord? 

Our brains are association machines and we can’t help but make connections and assumptions based on what we hear. A lot of big companies use this to their advantage to build an effective brand for themselves using things called “brand archetypes”. Actors can also take advantage of brand archetypes, and this strategy usually begins with their name.

Building a Brand

As an actor, your brand is you, so it follows that your name is also the name of your brand. We’re getting into my least favourite part of being an actor: marketing. As much as I complain about it to my friends on weekends over a glass of red, marketing yourself well as an actor is crucial.

Let’s talk specifically about archetypes. Archetypes are associated with psychology and also literary analysis, and speak to the common examples of character or behaviour that we might use to classify figures in a narrative. 

The examples listed below have their roots in Greek Mythology. I’ve provided a quotation to give you an idea of what each of them represent.

• The Outlaw – “Rules are made to be broken.”
• The Magician – “It can happen.”
• The Hero – “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
• The Lover – “I only have eyes for you.”
• The Jester – “If I can’t dance, I’m not a part of it.”
• The Everyman – “You’re just like me and I’m just like you.”
• The Caregiver – “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
• The Ruler – “Power isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”
• The Creator – “If it can be imagined, it can be created.”
• The Innocent – “Life is simple and simplicity is elegant.”
• The Sage – “The truth will set you free.”
• The Explorer – “Don’t fence me in.”

I’ve got some homework for you that you can do right now: Open Instagram and scroll to the next ad that pops up, paying attention to the company it belongs to. Then, try to fit that company into one of the archetypes.

Weird, right? Just about any company you can think of makes use of one or maybe a combination of these twelve archetypes. We can apply it to actors as well. Jennifer Lawrence fits nicely into “The Everyman” archetype—she’s relatable, humble, and down to earth. James Dean was textbook “Outlaw”—rugged, alluring and rebellious. 

The reason these archetypes work so well for brands is because people connect best with personalities, not features or benefits. When you get the chance, take time to figure out which archetype best suits you. It’s useful information for an actor.

Let’s return to our up-and-comer friend Schnitzel.

How to Choose a Stage Name

So, Schnitzel Von Crummington III has been working hard and recently landed a role in a major television series. It’s only a few seconds to midnight for Schnitzel but they’ve realised a few things about their name:

1. It is too long and complicated.
2. They will probably be made fun of for it.
3. Everyone they meet seems to think they’re a wealthy English lord when in reality they worked in construction before their Big Break.

Schnitzel does some research on the twelve archetypes and thinks that they align best with “The Outlaw”—they’re a bit rugged from working outdoors all day and they have a gorgeous charlatan grin. Based on that, they decide to drop “Crummington III” and use the surname “Von”. Von makes a great surname: it’s punchy and it’s got a rough edge to it that fits with “Outlaw”.

As for their first name? Some actors use nicknames as a part of their stage name. (For example, Whoopie Goldberg was nicknamed “Whoopie” when she worked in theatre, because she was constantly breaking wind) Back to our friend Schnitzel, when working construction, their friends called them “Schnit”. It’s short and catchy, but it does sound a bit like a cuss. Something else actors do when changing their name is think about someone they’d like to pay homage to. Olivia Wilde took the surname “Wilde” to honour the great writer Oscar Wilde. Schnitzel is a big fan of Nicholas Cage. “Schnit” and “Nick” sound kind of similar, too, which is a bonus.

Schnitzel Von Crummington III is an eccentric aristocrat drunk on power and swan’s blood. However … Nick Von is an actor to keep your eye on. They’re known for playing the villainous characters you love to hate, and for capturing the hearts of everyone with their rugged charm and knowing smile.  

Sounds good to me.

Conclusion

The marketing side of acting can feel like a bit uncanny valley, as you’re effectively marketing yourself. Your name is the thing that people will remember, so it’s important to have a good one when you start to make waves. Even if you don’t need to change your name right away, coming up with a stage name for yourself is always a bit of fun. See if you can create one for a few different archetypes that best suit you. The names should evoke a certain personality or image, and they should be simple and memorable. When the time comes to make the change, you’ll be prepared with a few options in your back pocket. 

Hope this helps. I’ll see you, and your fabulous name (either stage or birth), on the credit roll!

The post Do You Need a Stage Name? appeared first on StageMilk.

It is entirely normal for an actor to think about quitting acting. If you find yourself in doubt, start by assessing your career and identifying what is causing you concern. Is there a way to modify the way you work towards your goals? A way to pause your career, or redefine your objectives? Quitting acting is always a viable option; however, many actors find that simple reassessment and planning can be enough to grant them a second wind. 

Before we jump in, it’s worth us being honest about where we stand with this topic. We love actors at StageMilk, and it is our mission to support them in their acting journeys. However, we also acknowledge that the actor’s life is not for everybody—whether by choice or simply by circumstance. In this article, we’re going to be as impartial as we can be in conveying the information to come. Please know that whatever your decision, you have our deepest affections and respect.

It’s Normal to Think About Quitting Acting

Take two points if you’ve ever heard an actor say this at a party, swilling cheap red wine: “There’s no question that I’m an actor. There’s nothing else I can do, nothing else I’d rather be doing. It’s my calling, it’s me, it’s everything I am.” Take another two points if you were really impressed the first time you heard it. How’s your score? Tell you what: take a million points if you’ve realised, yet, that this attitude is complete bulls**t.

Acting is a difficult career path. It’s wonderful and beautiful and rewarding and exciting, sure. But a lot of the time it’s incredibly stressful and painful. You know who doubts their career as an actor? People with sense, people without something ridiculous to prove.

Doubt says absolutely nothing about your worth as an artist. Doubt, if anything, is healthy. It means you’re checking in with yourself and marking your own life and wellbeing as a priority. As for blind faith? It sounds more like a person trying to convince themselves than the mark of a brilliant thespian…

Reasons for Quitting Acting

If you’re thinking about quitting acting, first try to identify the cause/s of this line of thought. Below, we’re going to list a few classic reasons actors hang up their tights, along some quick suggestions as to how they might be reframed or countered.

No Jobs

It’s hard to feel like an actor when you’re not working as one. And if it’s been a while since you’ve last booked a professional job, it’s easy to think about packing it all in. Just remember that this isn’t on you, it’s a universal woe: the statistics differ, but most outlets estimate that 85 – 98% of performers are unemployed (as actors) at any one time.

What’s to be done? First of all, remind yourself that dry spells happen. Just because you’re not starring in the next Marvel blockbuster doesn’t mean that your career is over or that you have no worth. If things are quiet, take the opportunity to train, take a class, do some scene study. Update your headshots, tweak your resume, shoot a showreel. You might be surprised as to how a little focus in one of these areas might end the work drought…

Rejection

What’s worse: hearing nothing about a potential acting job, or sending out five great self-tapes in a month and hearing “no” on all of them? Rejection sucks, and too much of it is enough to break any actor.

What’s to be done? Honestly, our advice about dry spells stands. That, and remembering that there are so many different reasons you didn’t get the job unrelated to talent or ability that we wrote an entire article on the subject. Feeling pangs of rejection is a great reason to lean on your creative community—your actor/artist friends who’ve been there and felt the same feelings. Get together, crack a bottle of wine and commiserate.

Cost of Living

How much do actors get paid? Not a lot, as we’re sure you know by now. The increasing cost of living is enough for any actor to question their career, especially as paid acting work hardly equates to long- or even short-term stability.

What’s to be done? Is there a way to take the pressure off your acting career as a financial pillar in your life? Can you seek out more work opportunities external to your acting? It might also be a sign that you need to do less jobs that do not pay, or even prioritise your financial situation over your career goals—at least in the immediate future. Don’t forget that the vast majority of actors have other streams of revenue, teaching, presenting, working in hospitality or retail. A day job is no sign of retreat, let alone failure.

External Pressures

Getting more hours at your day job? Hoping to marry and start a family? Sick and tired of explaining your career choice to parents at Christmas? External pressures are difficult for actors; they can spell the end to an acting career rather easily, as they often stem from other important things in your life you’re loathe to give up (or, in the case of friends and family, disappoint.)

What’s to be done? Find balance. Your entire life as an artist will be about seeking balance between your creative life and, well, everything else. Thoughts of quitting often signal a need to re-jig that balance and to establish some firmer boundaries.

Losing the Fire

Arguably, this reason for quitting acting is present in all the others. At the very least, it’s something that results in the other pressures mounting. One day, you may wake up and realise you don’t love it quite so much, or you’ve lost the fight in you that kept you going through previous dark times.

What’s to be done? Be honest with yourself. Try to identify why you think you’re losing the spark and acting doesn’t shine so brightly. It could be related to any one of the above reasons, or just creep in on its own—even when things are going well. However it manifests, our advice is to listen to yourself and address the fact that, hey, acting is not always beer and skittles.

But remember this: actors have far more sway over their attitude and situation than they might think. Keep thinking, keep searching, keep planning. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the options on hand.

Redefine Your Acting Career

If you find yourself thinking about quitting acting, and it’s not a good feeling, start by redefining what your career looks like. A lot of actors get into this game thinking about ways to get famous and what their address will be in Hollywood. This is fine, and a little bit of this is healthy—bet on yourself, after all.

But focus on fame and fortune is no way to prolong a healthy, lasting acting career. If you truly love the work you do, you won’t be fulfilled only by the promise of a franchise of your very own. So redefine your acting career: redefine what success looks like and what your goals might be.

What’s your definition of success? What’s a dream role you can snag in the next five years? How might you live comfortably? What’s the kind of recognition you’d like from the creative community in your life. Here’s a personal example, refined after almost ten years in the creative industry: to me, success looks like doing one thing at a time. No hustle, no thousand other jobs, no multitude of projects on the go. If I found myself working on one thing and one thing only, I’d know progress has been made.

“Can I Pause my Acting Career?”

Yes, you absolutely can! Actors take pauses in their careers all the time; often, they don’t realise they’ve done it. Life gets in the way, jobs that pay bills come up. Sometimes, you can find yourself doing something related to acting but not quite—and in the ensuing success you don’t even realise that your focus has shifted.

If you love acting, and if you’re willing to work hard at your career if you return to it after a break, then it’s an excellent option to consider. Just be aware that time out of the game is time you won’t get back, and your profile/contacts/prospects won’t be the same. A lot can change when you step off the merry-go-round, even for six months or a year.

Here at StageMilk, we have actors returning from career pauses all the time. It can be disorienting, it can make you feel old or out of the loop. But we find most actors push all such intrusive thoughts aside once they rediscover their joy, and become excited by the possibility of new acting adventures. If you’re looking for this feeling, why not give our Scene Club a go?

“Am I Making a Mistake?”

If your career isn’t working out the way you’d hoped, if you’re not finding yourself fulfilled, if you’re not having fun with acting like you used to … that might be enough to get you thinking about quitting. The important takeaway is that it’s always your choice—whether you’re actively pursuing a career or not. And if you quit and think you’ve made a mistake by doing so? Start back up again.

If you’re a year, five years, twenty years down the line and you miss the life, you can surely find your way back to acting. Your path might be different, your goals might have re-adjusted in the life lived between now and your previous attempt. But odds are you’ll find just as much fulfilment where you left off—perhaps even more, as you approach your art with more life experience and maturity.

Follow your joy. We know how hokey that sounds (it was hard enough typing it), but it’s an important thing to remember in an artistic pursuit so often caught up in career progression. If you find yourself missing acting because you gave it up, come on back. It’s not like we’re running out of stories to tell!

Conclusion

So what’s next? If you’ve clicked on this article in the middle of a career and artistic quandary, we’d suggest you take some time to think openly and honestly. Remember, through it all, that thinking about quitting acting and actually quitting are two very different things. A bit of doubt is healthy, and if that turns into a pause or change of career there’s nothing wrong with that either.

No matter what you’re thinking, no matter your decision, keep this in mind: you are an actor. If you take acting seriously, if you give it your love and your efforts and even a piece of your life, you have merit and worth as an artist. So for all the doubts and all the conclusions you may need to draw, for all the pain that honesty can bring, bear no uncertainty about your worth as a performer to be regarded and taken seriously. If that sways you one way or the other, if that helps at all, we’re happy to hear it.

At the very least, know you have our respect, and that of your wider community artistic peers.

Good luck.

The post So You’re Thinking About Quitting Acting appeared first on StageMilk.

Acting in student films allows you to develop your skills and process, gain some much-needed screen credits and on-set experience. While there’s almost never a chance of a payday, the reach of student films on studio circuits can boost your profile significantly. Furthermore, you will have the chance to work closely with up-and-coming talent in the screen industry—a favour you may be able to call in when their own careers progress.

In this article, we’re going to talk about the many benefits of acting in student films, so you can approach any potential job or offer made to you with the best possible information. While I freely admit I threw my camera-wielding colleagues under the bus in that opening paragraph, I should acknowledge that film students are still students, still growing. And the vast majority of them are excited to work, learn and collaborate.

What is a Student Film?

A student film is a screen project produced and created by students of a film school or related arts institution (university, college, etc.) It may be part of a course requirement, or simply a project undertaken by students while they study.

Student films are typically low budget, simple in script and execution. Cast will be minimal, and the entirety of production will take place in any time frame from a day to a week or two. As a rule, cast and crew are unpaid as the film is not intended to be released commercially. However, there is a chance that a student film may tour a festival circuit (see below), acting as an industry ‘calling card’ for those involved.

Is there a Difference Between “Student Film” and “Short/Indie/Low-Budget Film”?

Yes and no. Some people use “student film” and these other terms interchangeably, especially when the  filmmakers involved are current or recent graduates of an institution. The difference with a student film is that it generally has more in-kind support from that institution. It will receive production support and equipment, if not some small budget. It may also enjoy the supervision of teachers/mentors who can step in and bail out a filmmaker who finds themselves stuck or overwhelmed.

Structurally and artistically, they’re all one and the same. Just remember that a potential bail-out from a fancy school won’t save any project if it’s truly a stinker.

“Can I make money acting in a student film?”

Some projects will pay actors to step in and perform, often as they’re the one missing ingredient for a young artist with most other resources at their disposal. However, it’s pretty rare. As mentioned above, student films are not intended to be sold as commercial vehicles.

If this is something that bothers you, then that’s completely fine. Knowing when to work for free is as important as knowing when to say “no” to a role; if it’s not something you want—or, more importantly, something you can’t support—don’t bend over backwards to sign on. Do it for the love, or at least the credit.

“What’s the commitment/workload for a student film?”

As student films are low-budget and generally short in length, the lead-in work commitment is small. That being said, the shoot dates will often be long to maximise the amount of time the producer can pull together a crew for little-to-no money. You’ll be fed, but get plenty of sleep and pace yourself—especially if you’re not used to long days on set.

One final thing we should cover before we jump into the benefits is the actor/director partnership on a short film. Due to their inexperience, directors may struggle to articulate themselves or know how to get the best from you as an actor. Our advice is to cut them some slack and remember they’re just starting out (just don’t put up with bad behaviour.) Do a bit of extra homework before you arrive. Ensure that you’ve thought about character, objective, actions, as it’s entirely likely the director will prioritise these lower than getting the thing shot.

Okay: question time over. Let’s talk about the benefit of acting in student films!

Add Credits to your Acting CV

Student films are the perfect way to pad your CV in between other acting jobs. They’re quick to work on, meaning that you could potentially do a number of them in a year if you had the motivation!

It’s also a nice insurance policy in cases where the film isn’t, well, very good. It might not be something you’d include on your showreel, but it still has currency as a line on your resume because it signals that you’ve had some on-set experience and booked the gig. Truthfully, a casting director is unlikely to try and track down everything you’ve ever been in. Who’s to say it wasn’t the best film of all time?!

Gain On-Set Experience

A film set is a surreal space to traverse: a whole other reality you want to be ready for before you step up as a professional actor. Working on a student film will help you gain understanding of film set etiquette, and help you learn what everybody does.

Bear in mind that a student film set will run a little differently to a professional one—it’ll be smaller for one thing, and corners will definitely be cut. However, you’ll get the gist of it, and your crew of industry hopefuls will be doing everything they can to get the same professional experience you’re looking for. And if they lack some seasoning or seem a little amateurish? Rise above and show ’em how it’s done.

Develop Your Skills

Acting in student films is not just about CVs and set life. It’s a perfect chance to flex your skills as an actor and develop hone process. Remember those long days we talked about? You need to be a professional, you need to be prepared, you need to be on for as long as the director requires. It can be taxing, but it’s vital for progressing your career.

So use each day on a student film set to improve your acting chops. Truly build a character, find your voice and your physicality so you’re not acting for the camera (from the neck down!) And when they’re setting up lights or adjusting the sun/moon/stars, why not use that time to do some script analysis? If you’re across the part in this film, consider working on the next, or reading a play. Improve yourself!

Work with the Next Generation of Filmmakers

When you find yourself acting in student films, you’re going to rub shoulders with a lot of up-and-coming industry talent. Use this: think of the goodwill you’re investing in these young pups and how this may later become a call-back when they’re R & F! You may find a real kindred spirit with a director or producer, and discover a collaborative relationship that kicks of a decades-long partnership.

If they don’t turn out to be the next Greta Gerwig? No harm no foul, and it’s still a credit on your CV. But the attitude we recommend taking into a job is this: who’s to say what these people will be doing in five years time? So don’t risk treating the 3rd Assistant Director like a lowly assistant: they might end up running a studio one day. In our business, it happens all the time. And stories like what we’ve just described never include the name of the actor who simply faded away…

Feature in Film Festivals, Promote Yourself

Student films aren’t about making money, they’re about networking. For the directors/producers/crew, they’re a chance to show their skills to the industry and announce themselves as new talent to be reckoned with. What does this mean for you as the actor? You may end up with a striking piece of art that features you and makes you look good. Student films mean festivals, festivals mean exposure and new contacts in new places and even awards!

If you’re thinking about acting in a student film, ask the director what their plan is for the project. Do they have a festival circuit in mind? If they don’t, it’s actually a great thing to encourage them to do. You’d be doing both of you a favour.

Strengthen your Creative Community

This last one’s a bit sappy, but bear with us. The lives of creatives are difficult, whether you’re in front of the camera or behind it. Acting in student films, even in times when it’s not directly going to benefit you, helps bolster your creative community. Support your fellow artists. Make connections, support each others’ art and ideas. Do what you can to bring their projects to life.

Actors can audition dozens of times a year for multiple projects. You may find yourself reading for a play one Monday, shooting a commercial on a Wednesday and then participating in a development workshop over the weekend. For filmmakers, it’s often a lot more isolating: projects take years to reach the filming stage, and it may be years until they can afford to make a follow-up. On set, give them your everything. Once you wrap, keep in touch: make a friend!

Conclusion

So have we convinced you? Are you ready to update your casting network profile with student films in mind? Let us leave you with one final point: student films are incredibly fun to be a part of. You get to step into somebody else’s story and be an integral part of bringing it to life. Sure, they can get chaotic. But it’s a wild, vivid ride with you at the centre—doing the one thing you love more than anything else.

Student films have multiple ways of benefitting you, as we’ve covered in this article. For the people behind the camera, you’ll be like a superhero to them. So enjoy doing some good for yourself and for others in this industry. We’re all in this together.

Good luck!

For more ways to build your acting career, check out the companion article: Why You Should Be Acting In Indie Theatre.

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