acting creativity

 

When you begin to act on your creativity, what you find inside may be more valuable than what you produce for the external world. – Eileen M. Clegg

 

When we spark creativity, we’re sparking a moment of self-exploration and inner understanding. This is important to understand from the outset: many people mistakenly think that “creativity” and “productivity” are synonyms.

The problem is that creativity isn’t necessarily about producing work. A creative mindset can help you to produce more inspired work, but putting pressure on a moment of self-exploration might actually harm your creative process.

As an actor, you are obviously concerned with the creative process and having art to show for your mental work. This is very possible, but your first forays into creativity should focus on understanding your process instead of enacting it.

Seeing your creativity in terms of output can ruin your sense of self and prevent further creativity. Author C Diane Ealy, Ph.D, writes that she has witnessed women describe fantastic creative experiences and then immediately discount them because there was no immediate material gain:

 

These women dismiss, discount, and rob themselves of their most powerful aspect, the characteristic which defines who they uniquely are as individuals – their creativity. – The Women’s Book of Creativity

So Why “On Demand”?

Sparking creativity on demand seems like it would ruin the moment; but for an actor, it could actually make the moment. This is because during a performance, a good method actor will be tapping into their own inner life and memories to enhance the character. Creating a moment of self-exploration will deepen this connection to the character and enhance an emotional performance.

 

Techniques

Daily Training

 

The creativity we invest in our day-to-day lives is often the most extraordinary since… it can give far more meaning, and even sanctity, to our lives. – Riane Eisler

 

Attempting a creative mindset once a day will make attaining it easier over time. It also gives you the chance to delve into your own psyche regularly, understanding what motivates your creativity and inspiring you for, at least, the rest of the day.

There are habits you can form, which if done daily will improve your creativity at all times and help you to induce the right mindset on demand.

In the Moment

If you’re in the middle of a rehearsal, you might find yourself needing to find a new angle for the scene, or a new way to approach your delivery. This is when you need to spark your creativity immediately – “on demand”

 

Sense Memory

Because we teach method acting here at Brian Timoney, we make frequent mention of sense memory: this is using your senses to delve into an emotional memory that triggers an emotional performance. You can similarly use your senses to trigger a creative mindset.

When you do organised, daily exercises – such as mimicking someone’s art or exercising – play music, perhaps one particular album. Something without too many lyrics is a good idea. Now, during rehearsal, you can play a song from that album and enter a creative mindset much more quickly.

 

Visualisation

One more trick to enhancing your creative powers in the moment is, very simply, to look up. This is because your mind and your body are very closely connected, and can influence each other’s behaviour. Try looking down at your feet and feeling ecstatically happy – it’s hard, isn’t it?

When you look up, you not only lift your head but also your spirits. You feel happier, and a broad ceiling or sky to look at gives your brain – very literally – room to visualise. You will think of a new psychological gesture or tone of delivery in next to no time.

 

Change Your Perspective

If you’re in the middle of a scene you can’t exactly socialise and bounce ideas. However, you can change your perspective by putting yourself in someone else’s shoes.

If you’re struggling to answer the question, “how would my character enter the room?” instead try asking, “how will other characters react when I enter the room?” You can then work backwards to answer your original question.

If the script says people are shocked to see you in the room, you might take from that a bold entrance, or a sinister one. Instead of struggling over the same question for hours, you can spark a creative train of thought by asking questions from different perspectives, just like this.

 

The greatest scientific discoveries were all made by young people, who were able to say ‘Well you know, damn it, two plus two equals five because why not?’ They are at that time in their lives where they want to risk. – Jodie Foster

 

Ms Foster is talking about scientific discovery, but as an actor she relates to this mindset because she knows that creatives must take risks. When you’re sparking creativity on demand, or in the moment, it is always a risk. However, it’s a risk that’s worth taking; understanding yourself, your potential, and how to act with authenticity is a gift.

If you’re passionate, creative, and willing to push yourself to increase your acting creativity then why not apply for our Ultimate Acting Programme?

Acting as an instrument

 

For a professional musician, knowing their instrument is second-nature. They know just how hard to blow into a mouth piece, caress a string or stroke a key in order to get exactly the sound they need.

You might think actors have little in common with musicians when it comes to this, but for an actor, you and your acting ability are you instrument. Learn to play that instrument, to control exactly how you use yourself and your abilities and you can create far more subtle, nuanced and real performances that are ultimately much more powerful. But how do actors learn how to play their instruments?

 

Freeing your instrument

In our everyday lives we all tend to learn from a young age to hide how we are feeling a lot of the time. We are told that being too loud or too happy or too upset is “annoying” or “attention seeking” and we learn to hold in our emotions and downplay them to fit in.

Actors need to unlearn this social conditioning in order to be able to start expressing their emotions more freely. This does not mean that actors need to be hugely overemotional about everything all the time. Rather, they need to stop being afraid to show emotion and learn to consciously control exactly how much emotion is appropriate in any given scene.

One of the key techniques method actors use to overcome this societal pressure is private moment exercise. This revolves around taking an activity you would normally do in private and doing it in public instead. This starts to get you used to the idea of acting in public in the same way you would if nobody was watching, meaning you can start to express yourself more freely without worrying about the judgement of others.

Another important element of freeing your instrument is letting go of the learned behaviours and tensions we all carry with us. The founder of method acting, Lee Strasberg, invented relaxation exercises to help his students let go of their normal ways of holding themselves and their personal emotional states to create a blank slate on which to start building a performance.

 

“The idea is to get the physical body, the emotional body and the mental body into neutral. Then you should be able to hear through the voice what’s actually happening inside.” Jack Nicholson

 

Training your instrument

Once you have your instrument in neutral and have let go of your need to behave in a “socially acceptable” way, you can begin to focus on actually training your instrument. Effectively you need to recondition yourself, honing and tuning your acting abilities to give you the best possibly range of acting “notes” that you can hit during a performance.

Method acting involves a number of different techniques which can help to shape your instrument. A lot of method acting revolves around using your memory to stimulate your emotions by recalling moments of strong emotion from your past. As such it makes sense to focus on improving your memory so you can remember key memories more accurately and vividly.

You also need to practice the core method acting techniques such as affective memory and sense memory so that using them becomes second nature to you when the time comes to perform. These allow you to produce real emotions on cue, an absolutely fundamental part of being a top-level actor.

You should also not overlook training your analytical skills as being able to analyse and interpret scripts is an absolutely key part of your acting skill set. Think of this as being like a musician knowing how to read music. You have to know how to read a script as an actor in order to know how to play your instrument.

 

Playing your instrument

Of course, ultimately all the preparation and fine tuning of your instrument is for nothing unless you can play it effectively. This is where method acting really comes into its own.

Techniques such as affective memory and sense memory don’t just allow you to produce great performances that feel totally real and engaging, they allow you to do this consistently and with minimum fuss. Other method acting techniques such as living moment-to-moment and the objects exercise mean you can keep performing convincingly under any circumstances.

This is the key to playing your instrument at a professional level. It’s not enough to be able to pull out a good performance when you happen to be in the right mood or feeling particularly inspired. You need to know how to inspire yourself every time you are called on to perform and deal with any problems in a professional manner without disruption to your performance.

The high level of training involved in method acting means you can rely on your instrument to work for you every time you need it and thus others can always rely on you to deliver a great performance.

This ability to reliably produce the goods on demand is what separates professionals from talented amateurs and is the real crux of learning your instrument as an actor. Once you have mastered the art of method acting, you can have confidence that you have a process in place that produces exactly the same exceptional results every time.

 

Learn to master your acting instrument in just one year

If you are serious about becoming a professional actor, you need to get the hang of acting as an instrument. At the Brian Timoney Actors’ Studio we provide world-leading method acting tuition to help our students master their instruments and take their acting to the next level.

Our 1-Year Ultimate Acting Programme is a complete guide to the art of method acting, giving you a thorough understanding of the various techniques involved, both in theory and practice. We also take our students through the business side of the industry so they come away with all the knowledge needed to go out and start finding work straightaway.

If you are tired of waiting for your professional acting dream to take off, then stop waiting. Apply for the 1-Year Ultimate Acting Programme today! To find out more or for general enquiries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Method Acting Techniques

 

Method actors use a number of different method acting techniques to create performances with a depth and believability most other actors simply cannot match. Learning these techniques allows actors to find inspiration on cue, meaning they can always deliver the goods when required.

This is why method actors are so often praised, not just for the quality of their acting, but also for their high levels of professionalism. By mastering the core techniques of method acting used by the likes of Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep you can become a truly elite actor.

 

Relaxation

The founder of method acting, Lee Strasberg, believed that “tension” was one of the main issues that could get in the way of an actor’s performance. Strasberg worked out that by getting his students to relax effectively, they were more open physically and mentally.

3 time Oscar-winner Jack Nicholson is a keen student of method acting. According to Nicholson:

 

“The idea is to get the physical body, the emotional body and the mental body into neutral. Then you should be able to hear through the voice what’s actually happening inside.”

 

When in “neutral”, method actors put aside all of their natural expressions and mannerisms, turning themselves into a blank slate. This allows them to build their character from the tiniest movements up to create a complete physicality for their role.

Strasberg created relaxation exercises that actors like Jack Nicholson still use to this day. Nicholson explains:

 

“It’s a way of locating the tensions, the tiny tensions, the problems with your instrument that get in the way of getting into a role.”

 

Learning to properly relax, identify any issues with your instrument and give yourself a neutral canvas on which to work is the absolute foundation of method acting.

 

Affective Memory

The job of an actor is sometimes described as the ability to “feel on cue”. This means being able to walk into an audition, onto a stage or in front of a camera and produce believable emotion at the drop of a clapperboard.

Affective memory means using our own, real life experiences as a source for generating those emotions we need for our acting. This is based around something we have all experienced – when we think of a particularly happy, sad, embarrassing or otherwise emotionally charged moment and feel a surge of that same memory all over again.

Christopher Walken famously used this technique for the Russian roulette scene in The Deer Hunter. Needing to produce a feeling of being betrayed, ostracised and alone, Walken recalled how he had felt upon being sent away to summer camp as a child. The result was a standout performance that helped to secure Walken’s reputation as a young actor to watch, giving a significant boost to his acting credentials and career.

As method actors, we learn to harness and refine this process allowing us to instantly and naturally produce the emotions required for a performance. Learning to control this process gives you a high level of control over your own feelings meaning you really can “feel on cue”.

 

Sense Memory/Emotional Memory

Sense memory is one the most important method acting techniques for using affective memory. The theory of sense memory is based around the realisation that our emotions are often tied to our memories through our five main senses. For example, the smell of a freshly baked cake may remind us of our last birthday and the happiness we felt. Or the sound of a song might remind us of an ex-partner and the sadness we felt when the relationship ended.

Our senses have a way of cutting past our logical brain and connecting directly with our emotions. This is why deliberately evoking a sensory memory connected to a powerful emotional memory can allow us to produce real emotions when needed for a performance.

Learning to use sense memory involves recalling moments of strong emotion in high sensory detail, pulling up a version of the memory so rich and real that the associated emotions are instantly triggered. When done correctly this method is highly effective and completely safe, unlike some myths you may have heard in the press!

 

Private Moment

This is one of the most powerful method acting techniques we teach. One of the signs of a good actor is that they never appear to be performing for an audience. Instead, they give the impression that they are behaving as they naturally would in the situation they are acting out. This is what we call “public solitude” or being “private in public” i.e. an actor is able to be exactly as they would in private while performing for an audience.

The first step to achieving this sense of public privacy for method actors is to carry out a private moment exercise. This involves taking an activity that you would normally do in private and then doing it in public in order to get comfortable with the feeling of sharing private moments with multiple people.

Perhaps one of the more extreme examples of this was when Jack Nicholson once spent the best part off a year being naked almost all of the time when at home, even when people came around. This was to help him get used to the idea of being naked in front of lots of people so it wouldn’t faze him when required to do so in front of a camera.

The goal is to overcome our natural sense of self-consciousness so we can learn not be affected by the knowledge that what we are doing is being observed. This is absolutely crucial and is something many actors take years to master, if they ever do. The private moment exercise speeds up this process significantly allowing you to have the confidence of a professional within months rather than years.

 

Animal Exercise

Creating a unique physical presence for your characters is a key part of bringing them to life. Giving a character a distinctive way of moving, including the way they walk, hold themselves and any particular ticks or habitual actions they have gives real depth to a performance.

One of the key ways method actors come up with a coherent, naturalistic physical performances is to base them on members of the animal kingdom. For the film Taxi Driver, Robert De Niro envisioned his character, Travis Bickle, as a crab. He saw the methodical, side-to-side motion of a crab as fitting the way of Travis’ indirect way of approaching people.

For his Oscar-winning performance in A Streetcar Named Desire, Marlon Brando imagined himself as a gorilla. This helped him create a sense of his character, Stanley Kowalski, as powerful, confident and intensely masculine.

These animal exercises allow method actors to explore the connection between the physical and psychological aspects of a character – how the way we think and feel affects the way we move and vice versa. By understanding this, we can help to create a rich and believable psychology for our characters by finding the appropriate way for them to move.

 

Improvisation

“You talkin’ to me?” Robert De Niro’s line from Taxi Driver is arguably the most famous line in the history of cinema, but did you know it was improvised?

Being able to improvise effectively is really important for actors, especially during auditions and the rehearsal process. One thing people often misunderstand, however, is that improvisation is not all about tearing up the script and coming up with your own lines.

Improvising as a method actor is as much about developing your character and learning to follow your instincts about how they would say their lines as it is about the actual words you are saying.

De Niro is a big believer in following your instincts as an actor. He once explained:

 

“I always tell actors when they go in for an audition: Don’t be afraid to do what your instincts tell you.”

 

One of the key improvisation techniques method actors use is sensory improvisation, which relates back to sense memory. This is where an actor tries out different sensory exercises to stimulate different internal emotions to see which is most effective for the scene. In this way, even though the words the actor is speaking are the same, the way they are said can be very different. This allows other actors and the director to try out different versions of a scene to find which is most impactful.

 

Speaking Out

Even the best method actors will experience moments during rehearsals when what they are doing isn’t quite working. This might be a particular line that they can’t figure out how to deliver, or perhaps not being able to decide on the best action to take during a key moment.

This sort of confusion and tension can ruin a performance, making it very hard for everyone involved to move forward. “Speaking out” is a method acting technique that resolves these issues. An actor who is speaking out will break from the scene they are rehearsing and articulate exactly what problems they are experiencing and then return to the scene.

By vocalising the problem in this way, the actor brings it to the attention of their co-stars and the director and saying the problem out loud can often be enough to help the actor figure out a way around it.

Learning to identify these moments of difficulty and being able to recognise and articulate the reasons behind them allows actors to quickly resolve problems and move forward with rehearsals in a productive way.

 

Learn the core method acting techniques in just one year

If you want to become the best actor you can be, learning method acting techniques is an absolute must. Over 80% of Oscar-winning actors this century have used the Method and you could learn to act just like them in just a single year.

At the Brian Timoney Actors’ Studio, we offer world-leading method acting techniques tuition to actors from all around the globe. Our 1-Year Ultimate Acting Programme is a comprehensive programme of study which gives in-depth training in all aspects of method acting. What’s more, we give a strong practical grounding in the business side of acting, meaning not only will you have the skills, you will also know just how to get out there and get paid work using them.

If your dream is to become a professional actor, then stop dreaming and get in touch now so we can make your dreams a reality.

acting weaknesses

 

To err is human, but to acknowledge it on your CV is an even bigger mistake. Whether it’s a personal demon or a small gap in your training, acting weaknesses don’t need to ruin your career. We’ve found the three biggest weaknesses that actors starting out their careers face, and how best to deal with them.

 

Nerves

Stage fright and nervousness are considered weaknesses by many actors. However, they’re not only universal experiences; they’re also vital ones. A “rush” before performing can spike adrenaline and keep an actor alert and emotionally vulnerable during the performance.

We have previously covered the importance of emotional vulnerability for a good method actor.

However, sometimes “nerves” can become overwhelming. This is when it starts being called fear. The amount of stress an actor has during an opening night is equivalent to what someone in a car crash experiences. If you don’t realise that this is common and normal, your fear could incapacitate you.

 

Relaxation

How do you cope with the fear of failure? Simple – just relax.

No, really. Lee Strasberg’s method acting includes the technique “relaxation,” which all actors use before a class, rehearsal, or performance. Even film greats like Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep use relaxation. Relaxation recognises that the physical and mental are closely linked, and so by ridding your body of tension you help your mind to become calm; and vice versa.

  1. Begin by sitting in an armless chair, all your limbs hanging loosely at your sides. You head, too, should be limp and lolling.
  2. Move each limb – one by one and head to toe – in a circle. Flail each joint and appendage until there is no tension remaining.
  3. Let your jaw go slack, and release a steady noise from your throat: “ahhhh”. If you feel lingering tension inside your body, feel free to grunt, scream, or yell. Relaxation is primal. While you do this, roll your head one way and then the other.

Go slowly, taking about 20 minutes to fully loosen yourself inside and out. Afterward, you will feel relaxed; but keep in mind that a little residual tension isn’t a bad thing.

If stage fright is something you struggle with, this video on nerves might help.

 

Giving Up

There will come a point in every actor’s career where they consider giving up. Maybe an audition went badly, or you were dropped by an agent. When you’re a performer, knocks to your confidence will come nearly constantly.

Even the most famous actors feel like giving up – sometimes very dramatically. When Ewan McGregor saw Daniel Day-Lewis perform for the first time, he set his equity card on fire.

 

Re-Gain Confidence

Giving up is one way that low self-esteem can manifest, so the best way to combat it is to build your confidence. It might seem contrary, but stepping out of your comfort zone can be the best way to pump your ego.

Try taking a course in a new style of performance, for example in dance or clowning. Not only does this build your repertoire of skills, but you might find that you have a natural talent you’ve never explored before. Even if you don’t, you’ll make new friends – and that’s sometimes all the boost you need.

 

Under-preparation

Talent is one thing, but honing it is another. A huge weakness for many actors is underpreparedness; they think that they will land roles based purely on their “X factor”. This is far from true.

No matter how skilled an actor you are, you need a reality check: your “X factor” doesn’t matter if it’s not on paper. Here’s how you can make sure your acting CV is as strong as your acting.

 

Train

You might be a natural, but casting agents won’t know this until you get in the room; and you won’t get in the room without training. This could be a tertiary degree in drama, a certificate of completion for a course, or a line stating that you’re currently seeing an acting coach. If you don’t have experience, you need some kind of qualification.

More than that, casting directors want to know that you’re open to further training. Even internationally famous pop stars still have voice coaches; and star athletes, too. Keeping up a training regime or doing the odd course will make your CV shine.

 

Look the Part

Headshots are a weakness that many actors don’t realise they have. Often, young actors are tempted to take the picture themselves, slap an Instagram filter on it, and go – this isn’t good enough.

Headshots should be taken from the shoulders up, and in black and white. They need to be high quality and unedited, and require direction to get the best depiction of your face’s potential.

Hire a professional photographer. Often drama schools will know of someone who takes them at a discount. When choosing a headshot from the selection, get the opinions of several others; often we have a distorted view of ourselves, and will be unable to objectively choose the best picture.

 

Acting in Motion

A committed actor might have a showreel – because some people just look better in video. You should have film from performances you’ve been in, or footage of yourself performing a monologue, dance, or song – showcase any skill you have.

As with headshots, quality is important. Unlike headshots, a professional showreel is likely to be expensive; it can cost anywhere from £300 to £850. If you have the funds or the tapes then make it, but otherwise leave this section blank! No showreel is better than a poorly-made one.

Even if you don’t fully overcome your weakness, just facing it can improve your career. Acknowledging our flaws allows us to develop strengths that combat or even compliment it; for example, if you’re a particularly nervous actor then why not be a character actor, and use that trait?

Whether there’s a gap in your CV or you have a general fear of failure, you can rest assured that your acting weaknesses can be overcome. If you want to boost your CV, your confidence and your connections then consider the Ultimate Acting Programme – one of the best Strasberg method schools in the UK.

Practical Aesthetics

 

At first glance, practical aesthetics might seem to be the same as method acting. They both come from the theories of our favourite, Konstantin Stanislavski; and like all acting techniques they both have the goal of evoking “truth” in an acting performance.

The difference is how these two techniques were shaped after being sparked by Stanislavski. We’ve covered the rise of the Lee Strasberg method before, as well as Stanislavski himself. The “method” and the way we teach here is based on the work of Lee Strasberg.

Practical aesthetics, on the other hand, arises from the work of Sanford Meisner. Like Strasberg, Meisner was a huge fan of Stanislavski. The two of them studied together with others to expand his system before going different ways in interpreting truthfulness in acting; Strasberg preferred psychology and Meisner preferred physiology.

 

The Actor versus The Writer

The Meisner Technique involves a more fantastic approach to imagination; the “scenic truth” comes from an actor’s total belief in the fictional world they’re performing. In the Strasberg Method, actors’ reactions are more grounded in reality. Practical aesthetics ties into Meisner’s version of a performance by being writer-centred.

Focus on the writing and the creation of the world means that a practical aesthetics actor isn’t given a character to interpret, but instead a creative moment. The actor takes their lines and scripted actions and creates their own persona using imagination. Words, context, and the actor’s own actions combine to create a “character” that varies with each iteration of the play.

This means that an actor trained in practical aesthetics is not as focused on emotional truthfulness as a method actor. There is no looking for parallel experiences, or ways to trigger genuine emotional empathy with the character. Instead, the practical aesthetics actor is focused on physically embodying the script; the actor’s body is a vessel for a plot, not a person.

Don’t mistake practical aesthetics for an emotion-free style of performance; each action is still carried out with intent and truthfulness, often in a much more vulnerable way because the actor has freedom to feel whatever comes naturally.

 

Developing a Character

The method is all about the actor; there is little differentiation between the actor and the character. It’s all about truly living the life of the scene. However, in practical aesthetics the actor is defined by everything around their “character”; other actors, the text, and the scene that’s set.

Because of this external focus, practical aesthetics is often a creative playground of sorts; there is constant contextual feedback. The questions the actor asks of themselves are focused externally, and often not on the minor details a method actor would obsess over.

 

As-If versus Emotional Memory

Emotional memory is something we talk a lot about on our blog. In a nutshell, it’s the use of personal memories to evoke genuine emotion during a scene. The practical aesthetics As-If exercise is often taken to mean the same thing, but it is different.

In As-If, your memories are used to understand your behaviour in a scene; but your emotions don’t factor into it. Instead, the focus is on your physical embodiment of the action. Past memories help you to form a personal connection to the actions you carry out; similar to muscle memory, this exercise makes physical movement on the stage seem natural and realistic.

As-If is an improvisation exercise. There is an action scripted for the actor, and so they run through every possible way of doing this action: with a heavy sadness or with an ecstatic joy; facing the back wall or facing the audience. It’s termed “As-If” because by creating as-if phrases the actor can verbalise these actions. For example, the action is a physical expression of “seizing an opportunity”. The as-if might be “it’s as if I got a job in New York but I’m afraid to take it up”.

The difference in what is achieved is straightforward: emotional memory produces an honest depiction of emotion; and As-If produces an honest series of actions, without excess drama or pomp.

 

Practicing Practical Aesthetics

An exercise many actors trained in practical aesthetics will do is script analysis; this is very different to method actors, who try not to over-analyse their performances. Practical aesthetics, however, is so built on fitting into a context that the actors who do it have script analysis down to a fine art.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how you might analyse like a practical aestheticist:

  1. On first reading of the script, make a note of every literal action your character takes. A step to the left, a friendly wave, etc.
  2. Next, determine your character’s “goal” in the scene – this will inform the manner in which you carry out those actions described in step one.
  3. Find one action – your “essential action”- that encapsulates your character’s goal and personality. It may not be scripted, and is very similar in nature to Meisner’s psychological gesture.

Actions are vital to analysis because practical aesthetics is so focused on physical interpretation of a script. Each action you take carries the weight of emotion a method actor would carry in their face or voice; practical aesthetics uses the actor’s whole body.

You should now be able to see that, despite their common ancestry, method acting and practical aesthetics couldn’t be more different. Where Strasberg’s method acting is built on inward reflection and psychoanalysis, practical aesthetics is focused on getting the actor out of their head and into the physical realm.

However, the two styles of acting don’t have to be exclusive of each other. Because method acting is such a mental endeavour, it can help to have physical techniques in your toolbox to ground you. On our Ultimate Acting Programme we largely teach Strasberg’s method, but we appreciate techniques from all acting schools; after all, the more technical acting knowledge you have under your belt, the better.

If you consider yourself capable of the tough mental and physical work of acting, why not apply for one of our courses?

Find an acting agent

 

 

‘How do I find an acting agent?’ is one of the questions I get asked most by my students. As an aspiring actor, you probably know that it takes more than just talent, skills and determination to succeed in the industry. Once you’ve built up your career, finding an acting agent is the next step towards your success. Although it’s true that not every actor has an agent, representation makes the life of an actor much easier. Not only do they do a lot of the the leg-work in finding you suitable auditions, but casting directors and industry-insiders will take you much more seriously if you have an agent. But how exactly do you find an agent that is right for you, and are they worth the cost?

 

What an acting agent does for an actor

An acting agent is a crucial part of the business-side of the acting industry. They’ll know the industry inside and out and have key contacts with casting directors that you otherwise may not be able to reach. As well as connecting you with the right people, they’ll be able to advise you throughout your career and steer you on the road to success.

Having an agent also enables you to demonstrate your professionalism and show industry leaders that you have someone willing to represent you – someone who is convinced of your skill set and confident of your acting ability. Directors and casting directors rely on credible agents to provide them with the right candidates for auditions. A good agent will also be able to secure the best payment deal for the actor.

 

How to find an acting agent

Finding the best agent for you can be challenging, but the following steps will help you along the way.

 

Research

First thing’s first. There’s a lot of different acting agencies out there. These range from the large and prestigious, representing a lot of the big names, to the smaller agencies who only have a handful of clients. Finding the right type of agency for you is key to kicking off the whole process.

So how do you do it?

The first step is to visit a prospective agents’ website and browse their client portfolio to see who they represent. If they don’t have many actors similar to you and your skills, chances are they’ll be more interested in you. Agents love to have a variety of actors on their books. Try to put yourself in the agent’s shoes and envision what they might be looking for and whether you fit into that description.

 

How To Approach Acting Agents

Contacting an agent for the first time requires a thorough approach on your part. Remember, the agent is most probably being approached by actors constantly, so you need to think what you can do to get their attention. When agents look at taking on new clients, they’ll need to think about whether they can market you to the industry. It’s up to you to tell them why they need you and what you can do for them.

Find out what the agent’s preferred method of contact is and make initial contact. Remember to keep your letter brief and interesting – your role history, your availability, your ‘castability’, how marketable you are and what you’re currently working on. Always include a professional and up to date headshot – and make sure it’s a good one!

In order to get noticed by an agent, you need to grab and hold their attention. This is the time to get creative – invite them to one of your performances, send them a clip of your work, include a link to a Youtube video, send them your showreel or if you’re just starting out, think of another way to showcase your creative side and what you’re capable of. This will make you stand out from the crowd and show the agent how committed to the trade you really are.

 

Responses

You’ll increase your chances of a response if you contact as many agencies as possible. Leave about two weeks of breathing space before sending another email. You don’t want to seem too pushy, so a brief follow-up to your submission needs to be short, concise and charming. The more time you spend interacting with the agent, the more likely you’ll establish a rapport, so keep the dialogue going.

If you don’t hear back from the agent you had your heart set on, or you didn’t get the response you were hoping for, don’t take it personally. It won’t be because they don’t like you, it’s more likely that they have a lot of actors similar to you that they already represent. Don’t get disheartened and don’t give up.

The same goes if it’s taking a while to arrange the initial meeting. Acting agents are very busy people, so take the in-between time as an opportunity to work hard, focus on the positives and better yourself – it’ll work in your favour when you do eventually land the right agent.

 

The Interview

The hardest part of finding an acting agent is getting an initial interview. So once you’ve got to this point, preparation is key. Think about your personal presentation – dress with confidence and impress your future agent. Prepare some answers for questions that an agent is likely to ask you and be sure to have some questions of your own. As much as you want the agent to take you on, you have to be sure that the agency is trusted and reputable, and will work in your favour.

This is another opportunity to get creative and really showcase your talent. Invite the agent to a show you’re performing in, if you’ve not got enough material for a complete showreel yet, take a DVD of a performance you’re proud of or tell them about a future performance you’ve landed.

Last but not least, remember to be yourself and let your personality come through.

 

What happens next?

When you’ve found an acting agent, you’re in a prime position to find roles that suit you as an actor. However, as with everything, this may take some time. With new clients, the agent will generally start to set up meetings with directors and producers to start to introduce you to their contacts. When suitable roles come up you’ll then be sent to auditions. The time it takes is unpredictable, but within the year you should see the process progressing and be getting regular auditions.

The process of finding an acting agent isn’t easy, but with commitment, creativity and hard work you’re certainly on the right path. If you really want to be in with the best possible chance of finding an acting agent then you need to make sure your acting ability is as good as it possibly can be. Here at the Brian Timoney Actors’ Studio we offer a range of courses to help you on your way to achieving acting excellence, including our 3 day Introduction to Method Acting Bootcamp and our Ultimate Acting Programme.

acting and emotion

 

The secret to moving the passions in others is to be moved oneself. – Aristotle.

 

Moving yourself to tears, for the average person, is a sign of hysteria or misery. For an actor, it’s a sign of success. To be able to tap into your emotions and express them as a character is acting at its core; failure to move oneself is also the first thing a critic will point out in a poor actor. Being told you “lack range” is one of the worst things an actor can hear. Acting and emotion go hand in hand, the sooner you can embrace that fact, the easier your career will be.

To avoid being stuck in narrow, emotionless roles, an actor must prove they have a wide emotional repertoire; for the method actor, this is easy. Your emotional repertoire in character is just as broad as your range of emotions in everyday life.

This is because method actors recognise that it’s impossible to experience the emotional life of anyone beside themselves. You can’t live Hamlet’s life, or Al Pacino’s. You only have your own emotional life to draw on. When you’re on stage performing, the emotions you express come from you, not the character.

The Three Pillars

To access a complete emotion, there’s a checklist of sorts: the three pillars of emotion. Tapping into each of these three pillars – the mental, the physical, and the linguistic – is how an actor truly re-experiences emotion in a performance.

Exercise

To see how all three of these pillars combine to produce a complete emotion, try this exercise:

 

Hard, isn’t it? Try it again:

 

 

It’s very difficult. This shows us that emotion is more than just thinking about it: the body is triggered physically and verbally as well as mentally.

Brain Training

The right side of the brain is the one we need to train to become a quick and effective actor. The right side is concerned with holistic thought, intuition, and creativity – all necessary traits in acting. The left side is analytical, and although letting this side wither is clearly unhealthy, training it to turn off whilst acting is helpful. The left brain often fixates on what’s ahead, and tries to anticipate the next move; this takes an actor out of the moment.

Unfortunately, the brain doesn’t take commands; it must be stimulated by the senses. This is why in method acting we train the brain to respond to senses more quickly.

The difference between a method actor’s approach and a basic approach to acting can be seen when they are asked to express emotion. If a director suddenly asks the actor to cry for a scene and they’re unprepared, the basic actor will try to force sadness. What is expressed is a representation of emotion, not the real thing.

The method actor, on the other hand, will have trained their brain to respond to sense cues. All the actor needs to do is reinvent their sadness from mental, physical, and linguistic cues; which they will have trained themselves well in. They will express true emotion, and real tears.

It’s not as hard as it seems. Most people will know the feeling of hearing a piece of music and being reminded of a past relationship. But it’s not just being reminded, is it? The music evokes an emotional reaction that transports you back to the moment, and you sense it all again.

If it can happen to you in real life, you can train your brain – somewhat like a muscle – to react on sense cue.

Acting and Emotion – Making the Link

Earlier, we mentioned using the senses to cue the brain into feeling emotion. Further explanation is needed. Our senses – taste, touch, sight, sound, smell – are how we experience events. When we are reminded of a past experience, we often only tap into sight or sound; but to completely re-invent it (as a method actor does) we must use all five senses.

It’s not as difficult as it sounds. When rehearsing or preparing for a performance, you might use affective memory to find which experience you will re-invent on stage. Once you’ve found it, you use sense memory to unlock the flood of emotion that goes with it.

This is done by going through each sense within the memory you’ve found. Go through every sound, every smell, every sight, until one particular sensation transports you back completely. This sensation is called your emotional release object.

After years of practice, you will know your emotional release object for a huge range of emotions. When asked to convey virtually any emotion, you will recall your emotional release object and your highly-trained right brain will evoke true feeling immediately.

For more formal training on how acting and emotion can work together, why not see if the Ultimate Acting Programme is for you? It’s a one-year course in one of the only Strasberg Method schools in the UK. Brian Timoney produces actors in the top 5% in the UK, so if you think you can keep up then apply for the October intake today.

dangers of affective memory

 

Drawing on the emotions I experienced—for example, when my mother died—to create a role is sick and schizophrenic. If that is acting, I don’t want to do it. – Stella Adler

 

Affective memory has always had its critics. We’ve covered several times how powerful a tool it is for actors, and how useful – but it’s time we addressed how dangerous it can be. Also known as “emotional memory,” affective memory is the use of your past experiences to help you emotionally connect to the experiences of your character.

It sounds straightforward. However, affective memory is a tricky tool to master, and then a dangerous one. You could be drawing on a positive memory, but often affective memory is acting with your scars; using a painful or upsetting past experience to fully connect to a character’s grief or anger. It’s used this way more than not because – let’s face it, actors – tears are harder to fake than smiles.

You might use affective memory while playing the role of Ophelia in Hamlet, for example. She has a suicidal fate, and connecting to that level of depression means delving into memories that could trigger a very real depression in you.

Dangerous effects of affective memory can include:

 

How to Use Affective Memory

On your first few attempts you should have a trained instructor with you. Most method acting teachers should be qualified to lead an affective memory session. They will start with relaxation, a method acting technique that prepares the body and mind for the emotions to which they’re about to be exposed.

You begin by sitting in an armless chair with all your limbs hanging loosely at your sides. Move each joint and limb in circles, shaking out all tension. Do the same with your head and neck. You can also grunt or yell to release inner tension. If this sounds confusing – or like it couldn’t possibly take the recommended twenty minutes – then that’s all the more reason to make sure you have an instructor present.

Once you’re relaxed, you should be ready to delve into your memories. Once you have chosen an appropriate memory to explore, you must then go through every detail of every moment looking for your emotional release object. This is done by using your sense memory.

When you’ve found the exact moment in your memory that floods you with the right emotion, you’ve finished the exercise. You can see where the danger arises; flooding yourself with a negative emotion could be mentally damaging. Relaxing and ridding your body of tension can help you to maintain emotional control.

 

 

How to Stay Safe

The main proponent of affective memory – Lee Strasberg – recommends that actors only use memories that are at least seven years old. While this is no guarantee of safety, it certainly improves your chances of avoiding the main dangers of affective memory.

Strasberg also stresses that when exercising affective memory, actors should not force emotion. The exercise should focus on sense memory; on recalling the sound, smell, sight, taste, and feel of every element in the memory. Letting the emotion come via one of these senses is more organic, and less harmful. It’s also through the specific details of sense memory that affective memory works best.

When recalling a memory of anger – maybe you were cheated out of a prize – try to remember in detail the room you felt that emotion in. Where were you standing? Who spoke the words that angered you? What were those words? By focusing on everything around the emotion instead of the emotion itself you can generate a new version of it in the present, free of the same level of trauma.

 

 

Imagination

Another way to use affective memory safely is to incorporate the techniques of other schools. Here at Brian Timoney we mostly teach Strasberg’s method, but are not averse to the lessons Adler and Sanford Meisner have to offer. One such lesson is the value of imagination as a supplement to memory.

The actor and teacher Michael Chekhov is the best example of how imagination can improve the quality and safety of affective memory. During an exercise as a student he drew on the memory of his father’s funeral so effectively that Stanislavski himself was floored by the young man’s raw power. It turned out that Chekhov’s father was alive and well; the power came from his imagination.

If you have the kind of mind that’s capable of this alternative, I recommend you use it for those darker pieces.

 

 

Avoiding the Dangers of Affective Memory

Avoid using the affective memory too frequently, or remaining in your memory for a long period of time. You don’t need to re-live a horrible experience, only recall the base emotion that went with it (although we recommend not using truly damaging experiences).

Do you think you have a good enough memory to be a great method actor? We take only the most driven students. If you’re ready for a challenge – and the success that goes with it – then why not apply for our Ultimate Acting Programme?

Chekhov Technique

 

It cannot be said of him that he is merely a gifted artist and director who is capable of staging the most varied repertoire. He simply breathes art. – Margot Klausner, on Michael Chekhov

 

While the name Chekhov doubtlessly brings to mind play upon brilliant play you’ve read or performed, the Chekhov this technique is named for is not Anton; it’s his nephew, Michael.

Michael Chekhov was Stanislavski’s favourite student, which should endear him to you. Along with two others – Eugene Vakhtangov and Vsevolod Meyerhold – these people helped naturalistic theatre to blossom, and actors to be recognised as artists; not serfs.

Chekhov was celebrated as one of Russia’s most brilliant actors and directors. Unlike his mentor Stanislavski, however, he didn’t subscribe fully to realism in art; this was anti-government. He was forced to flee under threat of arrest by the USSR’s government in 1928, at the age of 37. He was recognised in particular for his character work, which emerged from pioneering a ‘psycho-social’ approach that we now term The Chekhov Technique. It’s largely due to his exile that we know about this technique; had he stayed, it would have died with him in Russia.

Chekhov’s belief was that truth could be inspired; that on the stage, an actor must be bold and traditionally dramatic whilst maintaining a realistic element. His ‘psycho-social’ take was based on the connection between the body and psychology.

His technique allows actors to be free from limitations on their character’s personality; he has an imaginative approach to truth. In this way, Chekhov’s technique shares more similarities with later iterations of Stanislavski’s system, or Stella Adler’s techniques.

Creative Individuality

Imagination is what sets Chekhov apart. While still a student of Stanislavski, he was exercising affective memory (still a highly valuable tool for method actors). He recalled his father’s funeral in great detail and to great effect in performance; but his father was still alive. Chekhov’s vivid inner life and imagination would become the core of his technique, and inspired Stanislavski in later years to incorporate imagination into the method.

The Chekhov technique emphasises a holistic attitude: the actor’s “inner life” should be a complete collection of the character’s imagination, intellect, and emotions. The second step is to express this inner life with the body. This inner event and outward expression are called “creative individuality” because the inner life of the character is imaginative, and separate from the actor.

 

The actor must divorce his own personality and mannerism from those of the character, and give himself over completely to the will, feelings, habits, and appearance of the character. – ‘To The Actor’ by Michael Chekhov

 

Unlike other forms of method acting, creative individuality is about much more than working small details of an actor’s life into a role to make it more realistic. Chekhov thought it was necessary to also allow the subconscious and its archetypes to flow into characters:

 

“[Past experiences] being forgotten by you, or never known to you they undergo the process of being purified of all egotism. They become feelings per se. Thus purged and transformed, they become part of the material from which your Individuality creates the psychology, the illusory “soul” of the character.””

 

Because creative individuality is such a complete union between the actor and the character there is little chance of the personalities of the actor and the character being muddled during performance.

The Psychological Gesture

This is one type of outward expression. It’s a particular movement that conveys your character’s psychology; its complete inner life. It captures the whole personality in one movement, like a logo for your character.

The psychological gesture expresses personality to the audience, but more importantly it helps the actor to awaken the inner life within them. It is performed before a performance to help you embrace the character, and during it, before your inspiration begins to fade.

Finding the right psychological gesture for your character is sometimes simple. It will come to you spontaneously as you read a script or watch a performance. If this doesn’t happen for you, there’s another option: Leading Questions. In this exercise, you ask yourself to express outwardly various aspects of the creative individuality until you find the right expression.

If you’re playing a villain, you’d ask yourself to physically express power, malevolence, domination, hysteria, or any other trait you feel the character has. When you find an expression that makes you feel fully villainous, you’ve found your psychological gesture.

You don’t have to stick to one psychological gesture over the course of an entire play or film. It can help to come up with one to embody each scene or emotional moment. Characters, like people, can change over time. Embodying those changes is useful to the actor’s psychology, but also helps the audience to recognise the character development.

The Legacy of The Chekhov Technique

 

Why be narrow-minded, why cut ourselves off from any of these rich heritages when…we have the freedom to make the most of the best in all techniques? There are no prohibitions against it. All it takes is a little wisdom, imagination, and courageous experimentation.

 

One of the reasons so many actors use Chekhov’s technique is that he did not require total dedication to it. He believed many acting techniques offered great value – he and his mentor Stanislavski remained close and inspired by one another even when their methods differed. You can use Chekhov even while being a method actor as according to Strasberg or Meisner.

His books on technique are still recommended to actors, writers, directors; anyone in a position even vaguely related to the theatre. More than that, some of the most acclaimed method actors – including Jack Nicholson, Johnny Depp, and Anthony Hopkins – have acknowledged the power of his technique in lifting their art to new heights.

If you, too, want to lift your art to new heights then the Ultimate Acting Programme might be for you. It offers complete training in method acting, including affective memory – which can only be improved by incorporating the Chekhov Technique.

Getting creative

 

Being a great actor is about much more than just saying someone else’s line. You have to bring your own creativity to the parts you play to bring them to life for an audience. It’s up to you to make choices about how you take the words on the page and say them, the emotions you invest them with, and the physical actions you place around the words. All of these require creativity on the part of the actor.

In this sense, a script can be thought of like the blueprint for a building – it’s important, but it’s nothing without the people who actually turn it into something real and three-dimensional. Your job as an actor is to take that script blueprint and build a performance around it.

Without your own creativity this is impossible and will result in a weak, thin performance that never feels real or alive. Getting creative with your acting is about knowing how to stimulate and exploit your own creative instincts in order to turn a script into a fully-rounded performance. If you can do this, people will be fighting to work with you because you make their jobs easier. Get the hang of being creative as an actor and building an acting career will be much, much more achievable.

 

Always be prepared

It’s often said that “nothing is created in a vacuum” and this is just as true for acting as for any other field. Creativity needs to be fed and the way you do this is by carrying out extensive research. For actors, this usually takes two main forms.

First, you need to be able to place your characters in context. Say you are playing a police detective; if you can get into the mindset of a police detective, it will be easier to make believable choices about how to play that character. Getting into that mindset will usually involve research, such as reading books, watching documentaries and, if possible, talking to actual police detectives about their work, the problems they face, what it feels like to be them. The better you understand this, the more fuel you will have for your creativity when interpreting your character.

Secondly, you need to study the performances of other actors. If you need your character to be tough and intimidating, watch as many great actors as you can playing tough, intimidating characters. How do they hold themselves? How do they talk? What do they do with their hands? The idea here is not to simply plagiarise another actor’s performance, but to take elements of what various actors do, combine it with your own research and creative instincts and synthesise all of these to produce something new.

This is the essence of creativity. As the writer Mark Twain once wrote:

 

“All ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources.”

 

Actors are like magpies, taking ideas from everywhere they can and pulling them together to create a rich, layered whole. The more preparation you do, the easier this is.

 

Using your experiences

One of the core techniques of method acting is affective memory and it is an invaluable tool for informing an actor’s creative choices. Affective memory revolves around using your own past experiences to shape your performance, giving depth and veracity to your acting.

Using affective memory means recalling a past experience in as much detail as possible. By remembering the sights, sounds, smells and other sensory information associated with the memory you can retrigger the emotions you felt during that past experience. This can provide a valuable source of creative inspiration for your acting.

It’s important to understand that affective memory is not just about using memories that are closely related to what you are acting out. For example, in the film The Deer Hunter, Christopher Walken had to act out a game of Russian Roulette. Having no direct analogue in his own life to pull on, Walken identified that the feelings his character was experiencing were primarily abandonment, anger and loss. He then remembered an experience of being forced to go to summer camp as a child which had made him feel those same emotions. By recalling the summer camp experience, Walken was able to organically produce the relevant emotions even though he was acting out an entirely unfamiliar situation.

Being able to make this kind of connection between the experiences of your own life and those of your characters is an important part of being creative as an actor. It allows you to ground your choices in reality, meaning your creativity produces results which feel authentic and relatable.

 

Achieving a creative state

I’m sure we’ve all experienced the feeling of being more creative on some days than others. As professional actors, however, we are required to be creative on demand: when a director needs us to be, not when the mood takes us. Being able to get into a creative state when needed is a valuable skill and there are a number of exercises actors can use to do this.

One popular method is to take one of your favourite upbeat songs, put it on loud and then dance, sing, scream, jump up and down, clap your hands…basically just really let yourself go wild. The idea is that by letting go of your inhibitions and throwing yourself into the moment you loosen yourself up and energise yourself at the same time. By the end of the song, you should find that your creative juices are flowing and it’s much easier to start throwing out ideas.

 

Taking risks

When making creative choices as an actor, one of the most important things is to be willing to take risks. If you always stick to what seems safe, chances are you will end up producing a performance that feels safe – or, in other words, boring.

As Christian Bale puts it:

 

“It’s the actors who are prepared to make fools of themselves who are usually the ones who come to mean something to the audience.”

 

This is because you have to be willing to step outside of your comfort zone, try things which might not work and see what happens. Trying new things is the only way to generate unexpected results and it is the unexpected which audiences find engaging.

Robert De Niro is a big believer in following your acting instincts. Speaking to Esquire, he said:

 

“I always tell actors when they go in for an audition: Don’t be afraid to do what your instincts tell you.”

 

As an actor, you need to learn to develop and trust your creative instincts and the only way you can do this is by taking risks. Finding out what doesn’t work can be just as valuable as finding out what does. The more risks you take, the quicker you can hone your creative sensibilities and be more confident about what will work in future.

And remember, the rehearsal process is all about finding what works, you don’t need to get it right every time. Fear of embarrassing yourself with a creative choice that doesn’t work is absolutely crippling for an actor. You need to get over it, learn to take risks and that way you can create performances that surprise and energise your co-stars and the audience.

 

Mastering improvisation

Most great actors use improvisation to some extent. In fact, many of the most famous scenes from top films were the result of improvisation. Improvising allows you to try out different ideas and explore different aspects of your characters. Those improvisations may not end up being used in the final performance, but they can play an important role in informing the way you play your characters.

The more you practice improvising, the more comfortable you will be trying out different ideas. Coming up with ideas is also like any other skill, the more you practice it the better you get. Improv is a great way to practice idea generation and allows you to quickly get a sense of what works and what doesn’t.

Not every director is a fan of improv, however, so you need to find out how comfortable they are with the technique before trying it out. Even if your director is not a fan of improvisation, you can still use it privately as an exercise to develop your character and creative instincts, so it is well worth getting to grips with some basic improvisation techniques.

 

Effective collaboration

Unless you are writing, directing and starring in your own one-person shows, you are going to have to work with other people as an actor. Being able to sync up your creativity with that of writers, directors and other actors is a really important skill which makes you much more attractive to work with.

According to Robert De Niro, the key is knowing how to listen:

 

“As an actor, it is important to be a good listener. You need to listen to what others have to say, the director, the producer, your co-actor… everyone. I try to listen to everyone and take their inputs on what I have to do.”

 

It is really important when starting any new acting project to really take in what the writer and director are trying to achieve. Understand their goals and you can then use your initiative to guide your creativity and help achieve those goals.

When you try things and offer suggestions, be open to feedback from your creative team and your fellow actors. It’s important to realise that it’s not all about what you think works for your character, but also what fits with what the other actors are doing and the broader themes and motifs of the project.

By listening to others, you can make sure your creative instincts are pulling in the same direction as everyone else. This produces cohesive productions and ensures you are someone people will want to work with again and again.

 

Learn how to be a more creative actor

When it comes to getting creative as an actor, method acting is unbeatable. Rather than just teaching you how to say other people’s lines, it gives you the tools to access and use your own creative instincts to create more real, engaging and compelling performances.

The Brian Timoney Actors’ Studio provides aspiring professional actors with world-leading method acting tuition in our 1-Year Ultimate Acting Programme. This course offers comprehensive and in-depth training in all aspects of method acting, turning you into a creative acting powerhouse.

We also have a strong focus on professional skills, teaching you about the business side of acting. This means you leave our course with all the knowledge you need to take your new-found acting prowess and start getting paid work right away.

If you are serious about becoming a professional actor, we can help make that happen. To find out more, including dates for our next round of auditions, please get in touch.