Last week, I visited three different acting classes. I brought directors with me to two of them, as we’re scouting and making lists for projects I’m casting. Who did we love? The actors who had fun. It’s that simple.
Really, I could just end this week’s column there, but I won’t. I’ll tell you a little bit more about why the “fun” makes all the difference.
Basically, there were three types of actors we saw in these classes this week: Actors who have fun, actors who could take it or leave it, and actors who make it look like a ton of work. Obviously an acting class is where you should work through the kinks if you have them and that means sometimes the work will look like work, but even the “working hard” actors can have fun doing the work, and that makes a difference. Because if actors appear to be struggling through their lines, forcing their blocking, or feeling contempt for the process at all, we’ll see it. And we won’t like it. Even if we’re not sure why.
I suppose that’s true in any line of work. I mean, I can’t imagine that it’s exciting to watch someone sitting at a desk working at a computer for eight hours in a row, but it’d be more fun to watch the person who has fun doing that than the person who works at doing that. Professional athletes who have “the joy of the game” reading on their faces are far more entertaining and charming and captivating — and therefore more watchable — than those who work at it.
But sometimes it is work. So how do you make it look like fun when it’s feeling like work? Start by enjoying the process. Know that while there is hard work going on, there is improvement afoot. There is still the joy of performing. There is the bliss of self-expression through your craft. When you’re truly in love with what you’re doing (acting, not necessarily this particular scene or acting class exercise), there should be a sense of joy at the foundation of every moment you’re doing it. If there is that base of fun, it will always show through, even when you’re struggling to overcome a hurdle of craft that has been a creative block for quite some time.
I’ve noticed that people who begin pursuing a career in acting “late” in life (after 30, let’s say) seem to have more of a sense of joy about it all. The younger-start actors somehow carry a sense of entitlement mixed with bitterness combined with “yeah I already know that” and a dash of “shouldn’t I be famous by now,” it seems. Not everyone, of course. And obviously, there are “late start” actors who get plenty bitter too! But it’s a trend I’ve noticed, that those who had to earn a living doing something other than acting for a good bit of their adult lives bring a sense of joy to their acting. They’re so dang relieved not to be rolling around on a plastic pad behind a desk that — even when the lesson is a tough one and there is real work going on — they’re blissed out to be acting for a living. They’re having fun.
What about those who can take it or leave it? Yeah, well you know those types do really well in auditions and the actors who care a whole dang lot get really jealous of those “take it or leave it” types. Because, “I wanted it more! I should’ve gotten cast.” Nope. Wanting it more doesn’t yield better results in this business. You have to want it and also be okay with not getting it. And you have to care about it and also be detached from the outcome — every time. But you DO so want it and you DO so care. So how do you pull back from that a little bit? Having fun is a great way to start.
Having fun “reads” more than anything that might be underneath. We love to watch people having fun. Sure, if you’re confident and talented too, that’s an outrageously good combination. But are you having fun? Shouldn’t you be? You’re living your dreams, right? So what if you’re working through a creative block? So what if you don’t have your perfect-fit agent yet? So what if you’re not yet a member of the actors’ unions? So what if you’re not where you thought you’d be in your career by now? In the end, you’re doing something that millions of people grow up wishing they could do. Every moment you’re hustling to get better, to meet with future collaborators, to build success, you are still doing something more fun than digging ditches. Let that fun “read” in your every encounter. We’ll want to tap into that fun.
Note: Wanted to give y’all a heads up that I’ll be doing a free Q&A and book signing at the Studio City location of the Samuel French Bookshop on Monday, February 2nd, from 7pm to 9pm. Hope to see some readers of The Actors Voice there!
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/000978.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.