14 Acting Tips From Jeffrey Tambor’s SXSW Workshop

Jeffrey Tambor gave his annual Acting Workshop at SXSW this year and no matter what, I was not going to miss it.

I arrived an hour early and was the 5th person in line. When Tambor got on stage, he brought out  the stars of Bryan Poyser’s Lovers of Hate – Chris Doubek and Heather Kafka. The idea was to have them do a scene from the film and he would direct it.

Over the next 90 minutes, he would have them act the scene in different accents, make Doubek act like a child, sing their lines and finally do the scene as an opera.

And it made the scene better once was all said and done. His idea is to destroy the scene before you can build it.

Tambor has acting classes in Santa Monica and from what I saw, his style totally inspired me. Watching him is one of my SXSW highlights. I highly recommend taking his class. Click here for the website.

I took a massive amount of notes and below are the best of the best.

1. “In Meet Joe Black, they gave me size 13 shoes. I’m a size 12. I was on my way to do a scene with Anthony Hopkins and I was walking to the set from my trailer. Walking and I just started to sway a little bit. I had been working on the role for a couple of months. On that, maybe, 1 minute walk, he became a lush. And by the time I hit the set, I said to Marty [Brest - the director], “Lets make him about 5 drinks into this, shall we? [Pretending to be the Director, he puts his thumb and gives the 'OK'] That came, literally, from some kinetic thing that I learned to listen to.”

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South By Southwest: The Good, The Great

I’m back from South By Southwest (SXSW) and let me tell you, it was an experience! If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know what I mean.

In five days, I saw 10 movies and interviewed 19 actors and directors.

And now, I’m exhausted!

I interviewed:
Edward Norton and Tim Blake Nelson for their fun and incredibly entertaining film, Leaves Of Grass.

Kyle Gallner and Brittney Robertson for coming of age story, Cherry.

Jon Foster and Director Will Canon from the great film, Brotherhood. How good was it? Well, it won the SXSW Award for Narrative Feature.

Patrick Wilson, Judy Greer, Chloe Sevigny and Director Chris D’Arienzo for the hilarious, Barry Munday.

John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill and directors Jay and Mark Duplass for the also hilarious, Cyrus.

Lee Turgensen, Paul Fitzgerald and director Joe Infantolino for the incredibly acted, Helena From The Wedding.

Ashley Green and Shiloh Fernandez from Skateland. I loved this move… what more can I say?

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Must Read Blog: “The Working Actress”

I got an e-mail this weekend from someone named, “Working Actress.” It said that she really enjoyed this website and that she had a blog and thought I might enjoy reading it.

I get e-mails like this quite a bit and usually the blog stinks but I went ahead and checked it out.

I loved it!

“Working Actress” is currently in the position any one of us would kill to be in. She does major guest star roles and is currently auditioning for leads in pilots.

One day she gives her view of the casting process, on another day she tells us what is in her purse in case of an acting-emergency (staples, highlighter, deodorant!) and another she says what its like to audition for a huge casting director.

Most posts, I could take something from out of my experiences and I’m sure you will as well.

I asked her permission to re-print one of my favorite posts. It’s called, My Mantra.

From workingactress.blogspot.com

“I’m a booker. I book all the time.”

That has been my mantra for about a year now. I was swimming in negative thought during the day, and needed to tell myself (trick myself, even) that I would work. That I would keep working. That I didn’t need to worry about the lulls in between jobs, when the next check would come, or the sadness that hits after your wrap a show, because, well…I had to trust that I was a booker. If that’s what I wanted to be, then I had to trick myself into being just that. (Even when I wasn’t booking a f-ing thing).

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Theater Review: Duncan Sheik’s ‘Whisper House’

This past weekend I saw Duncan Sheik’s new musical, Whisper House at The Old Globe Theater in San Diego. I say musical, but it’s not really a musical in conventional terms. The cast don’t burst out in song and dance across the stage. No, they leave the singing to the Ghosts.

Set in World War Two (1942), Christopher (Eric Brent Zutty) is sent to live with his aunt Lilly (Mare Winningham) in a remote lighthouse. Christopher soon begins to hear music that no one else can hear and to top it off, he begins to suspect his aunts Japanese worker, Yasuhiro (Arthur Acuna), of being a spy.

And that’s all I’m giving away.

The Ghosts played by indie rockers, Holly Brook and David Poe, come and go in the scenes, singing and pretty much doing whatever they want. They take off lampshades and turn the stand into make-shift microphones, fling off Christopher’s covers when he’s trying to sleep and make general mischief for the cast. They act as… narrators of the show? I’m hesitant to say narrators because at some points they deliberately sing their songs to screw things up. And that’s what makes this show so great. The Ghosts are having a fantastic time messing with everyone. And usually to a bad outcome.

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Independent Producer/Director Zak Forsman’s advice to actors

This post is one of three in a series of posts from the San Diego Film Festival. If you ever get a chance you really should go. Great films, great people and incredible access to filmmakers.

The festival is in — and I would have posted these sooner but I had some major audio issues and transcribing the panels were difficult.

Zak Forsman is a writer, director and producer of independent films. His films are mostly improvised which makes all of the performances look completely real.

Take a couple minutes to read what he said on the panel. It’s a peek on what the other side is thinking… and if you look at it from an actors perspective, it can be excellent advice.

Zak Forsman:
How many filmmakers are in the audience?  Because that’s about all I can share.  I can’t really share the actor’s point of view on this.  But I can tell you some lessons I’ve learned and some of the experiences that I’ve had and what I’m hoping for.

The key thing that I’m looking for with an actor is whether they’re able to internalize direction and actually make a change.

So, we provide them with 2-3 pages of sides.  They’ll come in.  They’re asked to read it however they’ve prepared it, and if that goes well enough and we like them, I’ll give them an adjustment that could be ridiculous.  It could be off the wall.  But I would like to see them chase a different objective using the same words to see if they can truly internalize my direction and be authentic.

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Book Review: “The ABC’s Of Soaps”

Have you been looking to break into the soap market? Need a road map to get there? Try The ABC’s of Soaps! It gives you exactly what it says in the title, the ABC’s of breaking into the soap world.

With the recent cancellation of As The World Turns (don’t worry, it’s not going away till late next year) those actors who want a career in soaps better get in gear before they all go way of the dinosaur.

This book is a great way to start.

Along with informative interviews, its basically a workbook with action plans at the end of each chapter. The book begins with getting a headshot to finding an agent to booking the job to your first day on the set.

It’s very detail oriented to where if you follow the steps, there is a very good chance you could break into the market.

I thought one of the best things about the book were the interviews.  At the end of each chapter they have interviews with actors, casting directors and writers giving helpful advice on what they did to break into the business. One thing I noticed, in most interviews, each person stressed training. Actress Eileen Fulton tells us that “you better know your craft. You don’t get a starring role on a soap and learn how to act. You learn how to act and if you’re good, they’ll hire you!” Amen.

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Top 10 Dumbest Mistakes Make In Their Careers – Part 2

Here’s part 2 of the the dumbest mistakes thread from Backstage.

This was written by TRUTHTELLER59. He always has some great things to say on the forums board.

1. Do extra work in hopes of getting “discovered.” You won’t!

2. Show up on time. In this business, on time is late and EARLY IS ON TIME!

3. Take classes or hire a photographer based solely on name/”Guru” status. What might be awesome for some might not be for you. You need to audit/meet before making a smart decision.

4. Shake a casting director’s hand when he or she does not offer it first. CDs meet so many people and the last thing they want to catch is a cold.

5. Not reading the contract. Too many actors don’t read their GSAs, SAG Contracts, etc. carefully and start complaining and can’t get out of their contract because they weren’t smart about it.
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Top 10 Dumbest Mistakes Actors Make In Their Careers – Part 1

I found this on the Backstage message board and thought it was really insightful.

Written by Broadway2Hollywood, its well worth a read.

There’s another top 10 list that I’ll reprint tomorrow – both with permission from the original authors.

1. The top dumbest mistake is Being Dumb!
Includes not knowing even the simplest of industry vocabulary.
(upstage, downstage, slate, scale, sides)
If you don’t know something, do research, look it up or ask around until you get a proper answer. Everyone wants to work with intelligent people. Don’t perpetuate the idea that actors are dumb and untrustworthy.

2. Not getting training.
In this reality-show era, many people show up in town and think they can start an acting career just because they (think they) have a really great personality. Most of them don’t think they have to learn how to act.

3. Being Unprepared (or underprepared). — see #1 and #2
Also includes going to auditions without looking at the material, not making any choices, or knowing anything about the project (often including its title or the casting director’s name).

4. Sending out sub-par materials.
Headshots that don’t look like them, or are poorly photographed. Demo reels that are endless and/or look like they were made in a basement by teenagers and shot on a cell phone, and include bad acting.

5. Thinking that getting an agent is the end of the rainbow and that the agent will do all the work.
An agent only gets 10% — they should only reasonably be expected to do 10% of the work.
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Behind the scenes of the Old Globe’s new musical, “Sammy”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tommy. Thoroughly Modern Millie. Jersey Boys. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

What do these shows have in common? They all started out in San Diego and went on to be smash Broadway shows.

The new musical Sammy will not be any different (at least I hope so). I was invited to watch a rehearsal and I have to tell you, what I saw was fantastic. When I see great theater, it makes me jealous…only because I wish I were a part of the show and this was no exception. I wish I could have weaseled my way into watching the whole show!

Sammy is based on the life of Sammy Davis Jr. and stars Obba Babatundé. The part fits him like a glove and I’m looking forward to seeing the whole performance from start to finish.

The show runs from September 19th-November 8th!

To order tickets, click here.

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Book Review: "The Chris Farley Show"

The Chris Farley Show is the biography of the brilliant, late comedian Chris Farley.

I remember watching him on Saturday Night Live in those first couple of episodes when you had no idea who he was and he had only one or two lines in a sketch.  I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him. He had this energy that radiated off screen.

Through motivational speaker Matt Foley, the Chippendale’s dancer and Tommy Boy, he created characters that will live on in our memory for years to come.

The book has Chris Farley’s friends and family reminiscing and recounting his life as they remember it.  From David Spade, Tim Meadows, Chris Rock, Alec Baldwin, Norm MacDonald and Lorne Michaels, this book is equally funny as it is heart-breaking.
It’s divided into three acts. Act 1 is his early years in Wisconsin and Chicago. Act 2 his SNL days and Act 3… well, I’m sure you can figure where the book veers off at that point.

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