The Importance Of Staying In Class

The Importance Of Staying In Class

There are always excuses why actors don’t stay in class – money is the biggest, but there are others as well, such as, time and even feeling discouraged.

In an actor’s life there are always going to be times when you are flush with success and down times. Staying on top of your game is essential. Actors don’t know when that big opportunity is going to come. An audition for a lead in a TV series, or a great role in a film can come when you least expect it. Actors will take an expensive 6 week course in cold reading for example and 10 months later they get the biggest audition of their lives and have an afternoon to prepare for it, but they are not at the top of their game the way they were 10 months earlier. That’s why I teach an on-going class. It’s like acting yoga, it keeps you facile and ready all the time.

Human beings find lots of ways to sabotage themselves from success, but actors especially do this unconsciously a lot. If you’re serious about making acting your career, yet you aren’t in a class and doing the other things necessary for whatever excuse, you are kidding yourself.

Before I was writing and directing movies, I was acting and sabotaging myself. For example, I wouldn’t work a day job so that I had to book something, but if I wasn’t working, I couldn’t afford the class I loved that kept me spontaneous and flexible and I would freeze up on auditions.

You have to find a way to balance focus on your career by doing the things that nurture it and putting a roof over your head and eating in the meantime. Be honest with yourself, put money into the things that are going to get you into the room, at the top of your game:

• Great headshots, regularly

• Great cold reading skills

• Do your research on the shows that cast your type and then …

Get in front of those casting directors BUT ONLY WHEN YOU ARE READY AND AT THE TOP OF YOUR GAME. I know money is a big factor, so find a class that is affordable for you to stay in on a long term basis. You can find classes that are affordable so it can be worked into an actor’s budget.