Hi Bonnie,
I recently purchased your book and am really enjoying it! I’ve learned that I really need a lot of preparation before going out to LA. I am applying to AMDA in New York and was wondering your opinion on the school.
I just got to the point in your book where you said that some casting directors will look at a school or education program on a resumé and toss it right in the trash. I’ve talked to friends who have gone to AMDA and others who have graduated and they all have good things to say about it.
Now to my question: As a casting director, do you have any opinion on AMDA?
Thanks so much!
Alex Sopollec
Hiya Alex, and thanks for writing in. I’m so glad you’re enjoying Self-Management for Actors. That is always awesome to hear!
Not sure the context of the “toss it right in the trash” comment, as the TRAINING section in particular in the third edition (and previous editions) of SMFA is brought together from years of interviews with many casting directors, all of whom have different thoughts on the value of conservatory training, traditional four-year college, professional acting studios, and of course the zillion of independent craft classes going on all over the place.
The thing I’d like you to focus on is that there is NO one type of training, no method you can study, no specific coach with whom you can work, that is going to be equally impressive to every single potential buyer you’ll encounter in your creative career. One casting director will go nuts over an MFA from a league school, another will think that was probably overkill and you should’ve gotten out to LA while you were younger and started in with an ongoing craft coach here.
One agent will be thrilled that you got a degree in something business-related, because that makes you smart about the business, not just pegged to the wall in your brilliance with craft (but lacking any savvy about dealmaking), and another will think you should never mention to industry folks that you spent four years working on something NOT acting related (as if you needed a safety net).
Rather than trying to figure out what everyone values, I’d ask that you shift your focus to what it is that makes your heart sing, as you head out on this creative pursuit. Go back and read this column on expectations, and realize that success is almost never attributed to the things you may think it would be. If *you* are excited about a particular program after meeting with the alumni, current students, and instructors, and you’ve visited the space and know you’d love to call it home for a couple of years, that sounds like a great place to thrive, as you continue to work on your craft, build relationships, and learn about the industry.
Doing it because you think it’s going to impress ANYONE is just not a great motivational base. Because it will impress someone, but someone else will tell you that you wasted your time, or you should’ve gone here instead of there, or whatever.
I hope that paradigm shift resonates with you. 🙂 It really doesn’t matter what any ONE person thinks about a particular school or program or coach or method. Well, it actually DOES matter what one person thinks… but that one person is YOU. 😉
Good luck, whatever you decide to do! Keep me posted on your journey and remember to have fun.
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/001624.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.