So, last week, I opened up the Your Turn section for the month of July to actor introductions. I asked you to share:
- How you’d pitch yourself if someone invited you into the room and said, “So, tell me about yourself,” in one of those great actor meetings.
- How and when you first came across The Actors Voice.
- What would bring more value to the column for you, as a reader.
So, with those goals in mind, let’s meet Sarah Beth Goer.
Dear Bonnie and everyone else,
How fun that we all get a chance to meet.
Let’s see:
I first started reading The Actors Voice days after my move to LA; I’ve been reading for about a month now. I had been searching on Google for information about SAG New Media contracts. I came for the article on Taft-Hartley-ing yourself; I stayed for the positivity, the community, and the excellent free advice. 😉
As for me, well, some people think I have an unusual personality for an actor, because I’m naturally introverted and shy. When I was little, I was such a bookworm that I’d walk home from school with my nose so buried in my latest read, I’d actually bang into telephone poles. (No joke. I have witnesses.) And yet, I badly wanted to perform. I have this home video of me at three years old. Man, I loved that camera. As soon as my father turned it towards me, I wouldn’t stop singing. When I ran out of songs to sing, I made up my own.
It wasn’t always easy to reconcile these two sides of me. At my very first audition, I was so scared I sobbed through the whole thing. My poor mother was busy weathering glares from the people who thought she was some sort of evil stage mother dragon-lady. But the truth was, she was whispering, “It’s okay dear, you don’t have to do this. We can try again some other time.” And I was declaring, “No, I have to.”
Well, I’ve grown since then. I know how to bring both sides of me together. I’m (almost always) comfortable in my own skin. I’m grateful for the early difficulties, because they forced me to get to know myself well, and they made me a more interesting, more versatile performer.
Thanks for this opportunity, Bonnie. I’m looking forward to getting to know some of The Actors Voice readers, and to learning from how they pitch themselves, too.
Sarah Beth Goer
Awesome! Now, let’s meet Morgan Drew.
Bonnie!
Wow, I feel like I’m writing to a celebrity! Someone I know and respect (and now follow on Twitter), but who has no idea who I am. Does it ever feel like people are stalking you when you they say things like that? Okay anyway, on to my response to Your Turn.
(If I address these questions in excessive length and/or out of order, just bare with me, I’m only on coffee number two and haven’t taken my Prozac.)
I’ll say first of all that I came across The Actors Voice maybe three years ago? It’s taken me a long time to reconcile with the fact that my passion truly is a business and not something I can afford to only focus on during my thirty-minute lunch break from a full-time retail management job. Since taking the first step (I’m a Capricorn; slowly but surely) a year ago, and actually quitting that full-time job to free up time to focus on acting, I’ve done what I feel is… pretty much nothing.
I used to check in to your column once in a while, use the list to the left to find columns devoted to what I was thinking about at that moment, put the information somewhere in the back of my mind, and leave it to go do… more nothing. Well, lately (like, after turning 25 in January) I’ve been doing a lot quarter-life-crisis internal crying. “No one is banging on my door with job offers?! Should I quit?! Should I join a convent and blame my unsuccess on my extreme devotion to God?! Should I cut my hair off?!” After doing some soul searching and lot more Actors Voice listening (not to mention actually cutting my hair off) I began to understand that the information you’re giving us is so relevant, and that it’s not just something to take with a grain of salt and continue to walk (or rather crawl, in my case) down this path alone.
I’ve been reading your column more and more lately and really trying to act on the things you talk about. I feel like I’m ready to take my next step. I’m ready to get serious and treat my career like a business. I’m so thankful that people like you are around to help me feel like I’m not the first person to have questions or setbacks. You give so much great insight to this business that it’s hard to think of anything you could add to bring more value to the column. As a total newbie, I guess I tend to get more out of columns that are geared more toward people doing things for the first time, but I learn something from just about every column you produce. You’re freaking awesome! Just so ya’ know. So thanks!
Now, if I were to pitch myself to someone, I guess I’d have to go with just telling my story. (I feel like you’re totally judging me right now!) Obviously everyone knows that I’m an actor and that acting is what I’m interested in, so I think I’d have to talk more about why I do what I do. It may go something like this:
Well, I’m Morgan Drew! (Haha, funny joke.) I love love love coffee, even decaf. I read a lot, I’m really into theology and religion, and I have a serious passion for people suffering from high-functioning mental illness (I know. Weird.). My family came to California from Oklahoma about eight years ago when I was going in to my last year of high school. My mother is agoraphobic, and having spent 17 years cooped up in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma — my mother sometimes going weeks without being able to leave the house — moving halfway across the country was an absolutely life-changing event for all of us. It was also really hard sometimes. After we moved here I went back to Oklahoma State University for a BFA in theatre (I’ve done theatre since sixth grade), and two years later when my professors expressed that they felt I needed more advanced training, “perhaps in a conservatory or much more established BFA program, or even professional master classes,” I left OK for good and came to Cali. I never finished school.
I have a passion for acting for so many reasons, but mostly because I’m a great storyteller and life is such a great story! I do my job differently than some others because I feel this great responsibility to tell people’s stories and tell them well. Not just anyone can be another person’s voice, you have to really care about telling their story, or no one will believe it or feel it. No one will buy it. Of course, I want to make money. I want to help you pay your bills and I want to pay mine. But not because it just sounds like a fun thing to do or because it’s the only thing I know how to do (because it’s not), but because it’s what I’m going to do either way. Here or there, inside or outside, with or without you (like the U2 song).
Okay, so maybe I wouldn’t say “with or without you,” and obviously things would be different, probably less romantic in spoken word, but that’s the gist. That story is who I am. Crazy life, up and down, acting being the center, the world unfortunately revolving around cash. In hindsight I would probably throw in stuff about how I know that my look and age range (about 17 to 23 or 24) is really marketable and because of that I know now is a good time to build those smaller credited roles so that when my age range shifts a little I’m good on the resumé to start working on meatier, more mature (and bigger billing) roles. Yeah, I would definitely say that.
So anyway, that is me, one of your readers, in a rather large nutshell. Please please please point me in good direction with this whole “actor meeting” thing. Not having an agent or even ever meeting with one, this seems a little far-fetched at the moment, but my fingers aren’t crossed, they’re working really hard to bring it closer! Thanks Bonnie!
Morgan Drew
Fab! Definitely too soon to start approaching an agent, but I love Stephen Book’s book, The Actor Takes a Meeting, if you’re looking for insight into how to prep for that eventuality. But first build those credits, get that pitch refined and shorter, and start networking so the relationships come organically. Then you’ll begin to intersect with agents who get you, and that’s more fun, for starters! Next, let’s meet Frederic Heringes.
Hello Bonnie!
As a native Californian who’s been living in New York City the past 22 years, I’d just like to ask: Can I come back? Please?
I’m now 52 years old and I figure I’m at that stage in my acting career doing the things I should have been doing when I was 27 years old, but I’m not complaining. I’ll explain: I went to a really great acting conservatory in California (PCPA). After three years of schooling and five seasons of repertory theatre I had an opportunity to work at a small opera company, though no one had ever said to me: “Gee, you have a great singing voice; you should be in opera.” Well, I took a road less-traveled and had a nice career in opera and oratorio for about 20 years, singing medium-sized roles all around the US and even a bit of Europe. Along that path I got sucked into a principal role in a Broadway musical and about 2000 performances later found I needed surgery for sleep apnea, as I was progressively getting more and more sleep-deprived. Even though I was not sure I’d ever get my voice back, I went ahead with the needed surgery.
During the recovery time, I landed a job in setting up a new art auction house in New York City. “Well,” I thought, “maybe this is my new career.” I really enjoyed my work handling wonderful pieces of art. Then, even though business was pretty good, the owner disbanded the company in December 2005. Ummm, now what? I had made the “mental shift” of not singing again and working in the fine art world. I couldn’t find a job at another auction house (I don’t have a fine arts degree, just lots of real-life experience dealing in art). And even though my voice came back, I think I’m too old to start singing professionally again. “Well, I have an Equity card, I’m in New York City, maybe I can exploit my acting chops. I can do that well into my 70s probably.”
I re-entered the acting world just as online submissions, DVD reels, and YouTube were coming of age. As an old dog, I had no tricks, so the new tricks were easier to assimilate. I discovered Actors Access and, along with that, Bonnie Gillespie and your immensely helpful columns and books. I was just like a 21 year old starting over. I had read the “Starting Out” forum at Actors Access every day, now I read “Peer-to-Peer.” I built my own website. I not only began to submit for plays, but film, commercials, print, and television.
Four-and-a-half years later, I’m just at the point of making the leap “up” to the next level. I’ve been busy performing in showcases, student films, regional theatre, network soap operas, off-Broadway, indie films, print, extra work, network promos, and even an online webseries still in the works. I’m finding my type, either as the chubby character guy or the bad guy. (I’m told my neutral, at-rest look is scary.) My aim is to eventually find a way back to California in the next five years and keep the career going.
As for the column, I’m usually amazed each week that you can find a yet another topic to write about! My one thought for improving it would be the search function. Perhaps there’s a way to assign meta tags to the columns, rather than bringing up every past column that has the word “headshots” in it, for instance. Otherwise I get about 300 articles to swamp through. A lot of work to change the search function but we all need work right now. Hey! You could fly me to California and I could assign meta tags and oh… you do? Well I just thought… ummm. Okay… okay… thanks… okay bye.
Frederic Heringes
Ha! Hilarious. I’m excited to see where the next bit of the road takes you, Frederic. I did pass along your tech suggestion to the in-house tech team, and I hope they’ll come up with a great plan for getting these columns tagged, so that the most popular search terms don’t return overwhelming results. Thanks! So, now let’s meet Nigel Lawes.
Hello Bonnie,
My name is Nigel Lawes, I am a new reader of The Actors Voice, and I wanted to introduce myself and thank you for your detailed and informative information.
Ms. Gillespie: So Nigel, tell me about yourself.
Nigel: I am humbled you asked, so I’ll fill in the gaps. I was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1974, the year that Nixon took the dollar off of the gold standard. My mother was born in Trinidad and immigrated to the US when she was 17. She was one of 19 children, so I truly understand the value of teamwork and of a big family. My father was born in North Carolina to mixed parents, his mother being Spanish and Indian, and his father African American. Both of my parents were headstrong, determined, educated, and those qualities were directly instilled in me with my own sense of personal power included.
We moved around a lot when I was a kid, with my father being a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines. We moved to Atlanta in 1978, and to Miramar, Florida, in 1985, where I went to middle and high school. My passion for excellence got me to college on an athletic scholarship, so off I went to Grinnell College in Iowa. I became an All-American in baseball and All-Conference in Grinnell, and wanted more, so I transferred to Florida State University in 1994. I walked on the football team and experienced the feeling of winning a Sugar Bowl Championship, and ultimately graduated in 1996. After graduation, I traveled the entire country (Only state I haven’t been in is Maine, and I might wait until Fall.) to get exposure and experience in self-responsibility. I went to graduate school in 1998 at St. Thomas University, which allowed me to work in the NFL for the Miami Dolphins media relations department as an intern. I worked alongside coach Jimmy Johnson as well as Dan Marino, and this helped me to understand how to handle the life of a public figure. I graduated with my MBA in 2002.
Since then, I have run several businesses, from music production to personal healthcare homes. I have always wanted to pursue acting, and within the last year, I have started to make a move thankfully. I am currently in a stageplay playing small theatres. I am in a master acting class as well, honing my craft to the best of my ability. Even though I didn’t take the conventional road to become an actor, I feel that I am well positioned now as a result of my education, experience, and exposure to really be the best that I can possibly be. That’s my story, Ms. Gillespie, and I am sticking to it!
Ms. Gillespie: Okay, Nigel, when and how did you first come across The Actors Voice?
Nigel: I was searching through the breakdowns within Actors Access and they provided a link to The Actors Voice. Once I started reading the advice, I had to grab a paper and pen to start writing notes!
Ms. Gillespie: Well, Nigel, what would bring more value for you, the aspiring actor and reader?
Nigel: Any advice that helps perspective actors and actresses break through the mirage of the movie business and make a living is all that I could ever ask. It is so nice to meet you, Ms. Gillespie, and thank you for all that you do!
Thank you again,
Nigel Lawes
Wow! This is so much fun. I’m really getting a sense of what some of you fine folks are like, through this process. Oh, I’m so glad we’re doing this. 🙂 Yay! Finally for this week, let’s meet Christina Cupo.
Hey Bonnie!
Thank you so much for giving all your readers a chance to weigh in. I swear by your columns. Each epistle is an actor multivitamin: essential and good for you.
My pitch (culled from my personal website’s bio page): I’m the girl you wish lives next door. To paraphrase Truman Capote, I talk salty but wears my heart on my sleeve. I’m the honors biology major, the cub reporter, the young newlywed. The Hitchcock blonde with a sardonic sense of humor. I survive to the end of the horror movie. Nancy Drew for the new millennium — resilient, intelligent, inquisitive — with a sprinkle of quirky sex appeal.
I came to your columns a few years ago. Since then, I have read every single one. Cross my heart. I made it my mission to catch up after winning a contest Bob Fraser sponsored (I won several amazing acting tomes, including Acting Qs). And I believe you also know my buddy Jonathan Spencer from Atlanta (he worked with you on The Entertainer, if I’m remembering correctly).
I love your actor anecdotes and could never get enough of those. You recently profiled an Emmy nominee. Even though each actor’s journey is different, I like to see the universalities that exist. And then I also enjoy when you clarify and add your own two cents (but never in a condescending way — that takes skill and tact). I like hearing things from a CD/producer perspective as well. And I love how you never shy away from the fact that it takes work — hard work — to be in this industry in any capacity. And I also like to know how other actors handle important real-life things: having a day job, affording health insurance, balancing all the balls in this crazy world.
Many, many thanks, Bonnie. You have my appreciation and highest recommendation.
Best,
Christina Cupo
How very cool! Keep the intros comin’, y’all. We’re doing “meet the readers” all month long. Hope everyone is learning from the various forms (and lengths — and you know I’d always recommend shorter) these pitches are taking. I look forward to seeing more! This is fun! Thank you, awesome readers. I really do enjoy getting to know you a bit.
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/001206.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.