Here are 5 things that as an actor will make you squeal with delight…like a little piggy:
1. The phone call saying ‘You got the job!’ This is as much fun as you can possibly have with your clothes on. It’s a moment of pure ecstasy.
2. A director comes up to you and says ‘That was amazing’. A moment of pride for any actor.
3. A standing ovation. The crowd get to their feet at the end of a show. Nice!
4. Royalty fees. It’s cool to get a cheque in the post because they have started showing a TV programme you were in, in some far-flung part of the world. Money for old rope basically.
5. Meeting some very cool people. As an actor you are constantly meeting new actors and people behind the scenes. Some of whom become lifelong friends.
There you go.
You have to admit they sound very cool.
Brian
I saw a brilliant video the other day.
It’s Shia LaBeouf giving advice on following your dreams.
Go and watch it here and come back to me.
I love his passion and share his frustration.
You can really feel how frustrated he is with the idea that people don’t just do it.
He’s right; most don’t.
It’s a shame that most people stay stuck in a ‘normal’ life because they fear what would happen if they threw caution to the wind and followed their dreams.
To sort this out once and for all, I have a wee test for you. It’s called the rocking chair test. Imagine yourself as an old geezer or geezerette sitting in your rocking chair and ask yourself this:
‘Is there anything I regret not doing?’
If you get a ‘yes’ to that question then here is what I suggest:
JUST DO IT!
Shia and I have a very similar view on this. What are you waiting for? No excuses or logical reasoning because you will only talk yourself out of it…just do it.
Now, if one of those things is becoming a pro actor then you know what you need to do, don’t you?
Come along to my seminar on – How to Become a Professional Actor from Scratch next Monday.
JUST DO IT!
(Imagine me doing a Shia power move when saying the above)
https://www.briantimoneyacting.co.uk/live-seminar/
Brian
There is an old Scottish saying
“Fur coat and nae knickers’’
Roughly translated, it means someone pretending to be a bit more upmarket than they really are.
Well, at the Cannes Film Festival this week there is a lot of that going on…but guess what?
If you weren’t wearing high heels then you wouldn’t get on the red carpet.
Yes, you did read that right. Ladies who were destined for the red carpet were turned away because they had flat shoes on.
No, I’m not making this up it was all over the news.
(I assume men wearing white soaks were turned away too??)
It’s hard to believe in the year 2015 that we refuse entry to ladies on this basis.
It’s crazy if you ask me, surely it’s the work on screen that counts?
Yes, I know that may be old fashioned these days but there you go.
That’s all I got for you today. Well, it is Saturday and I’m off to LA in a moment.
(More on that next week)
In the meantime, why don’t you book your ticket for the live seminar?
https://www.briantimoneyacting.co.uk/live-seminar/
Brian
One of my favourite films is the Pursuit of Happyness.
It tells the true story of Chris Gardner.
Chris is struggling big time. He is living on the breadline. His wife leaves him and he has to look after his young son by himself. He has little to no money. He and his son have to sleep in toilets and night shelters at night because they can’t afford rent.
This would defeat many a man (or woman), but he keeps going and finds a way to become a top stockbroker.
It’s a very inspiring film.
The main relationship in the film is between him and his young son, also called Christopher.
Here is a quote that I have never forgotten from the film:
Christopher (father): Hey. Don’t ever let somebody tell you… You can’t do something. Not even me. All right?
Christopher (son): All right.
Christopher (father): You got a dream… You gotta protect it. People can’t do somethin’ themselves, they wanna tell you, you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it. Period.
Yip, he is absolutely right.
This happens a lot when you say you want to be an actor. People look at you as if you have said you want to go to Mars and set up a new colony of the human race.
(Not a bad idea as it happens)
But here is the thing. The reason you may get some negative reactions is that it reminds others of what they could have done but didn’t.
So, what do they do? They throw scorn on it. Sometimes obviously, sometimes suitably, either way they are worried that you may actually make it happen.
Which reminds me, if you want to put the wind up a few of the scorners then come along and learn how to become a professional actor at my ‘almost free’ live seminar.
Well, you gotta have a plan sunshine…otherwise they could be right!
https://www.briantimoneyacting.co.uk/live-seminar/
To your acting success!
Brian
This week there are young people all over the country sitting SAT tests.
As you can imagine, this is quite stressful.
Pupils get themselves into all sorts of states worrying over these and teachers know it.
Which led to an amazing letter sent out by three teachers to their pupils this week.
It went viral on the net because of how inspiring and true it is.
Have a read….
Next week you will sit your SATs tests for maths, reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation. We know how hard you have worked, but there is something very important you must know:
The SATs test does not assess all what makes each of you special and unique. The people who create these tests and score them do not know each of you the way that we do and certainly not in the way your families do.
They do not know that some of you speak two languages or that you love to sing or draw. They have not seen your natural talent for dancing or playing a musical instrument. They do not know that your friends can count on you to be there for them; that your laughter can brighten the darkest day or that your face turns red when you feel shy. They do not know that you participate in sports, wonder about the future, or sometimes help your little brother or sister after school. They do not know that you are kind, trustworthy and thoughtful and that every day you try to be your very best.
The levels you will get from this test will tell you something, but they will not tell you everything. There are many ways of being smart. You are smart! So while you are preparing for the test and in the midst of it all, remember that there is no way to ‘test’ all of the amazing and awesome things that make you, YOU!
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”
Aristotle
Sleep, Rest, Believe!
Good luck!
Mrs Brown, Mrs Quinn and Mrs Brierley
What a great letter.
The funny thing is, acting is one of the things in life where someone can bring all of their uniqueness to their craft.
It doesn’t matter how clever you are, it’s about bringing you to the role and expressing yourself in the way that only you can.
The last quote on the letter is so true. The difference between being good at acting and being brilliant is heart.
This is something that is (or should be) instilled in student actors so that they can reach their full potential.
Are you ready to reach yours?
Come.
Join me at my – How To Become A Professional Actor From Scratch – live seminar on June 8th.
To become a great actor, you need a great teacher…look no further my friend.
https://www.briantimoneyacting.co.uk/live-seminar/
Brian
One of my favourite birds is the woodpecker.
It finds a tree and has a little peck.
A tiny bit of wood comes off and falls to the ground.
‘No big deal’ you may say to yourself.
But the woodpecker doesn’t stop there.
It pecks and pecks and pecks until the whole bloody tree comes down.
The moral of the story- a lot of little pecks can have a huge impact over time.
This is a great approach to apply to your acting.
Each day do something small to improve your ability, even if it’s just for 10 minutes. It’s all about consistency.
Overtime, you build up strength in your acting instrument and before you know it, you are bringing down the house…with applause.
The Japanese have a word for this sort of activity. It’s called Kaizen. Small improvements made every day.
When you are looking at a large task, such as becoming an acting genius, you need to approach it bit by bit. It’s not something that happens all in one go.
This reminds me of the old metaphor about how to eat an elephant…one bite at a time.
If you are ready to take your first bite at the acting cherry then you should come along to my live seminar on – How To Become A Professional Actor From Scratch.
https://www.briantimoneyacting.co.uk/live-seminar/
Places are limited and it’s an ‘almost’ free event so you have nothing to lose.
https://www.briantimoneyacting.co.uk/live-seminar/
Brian
Natalie, my wife, told me this bizarre but true story from her childhood.
Her dad went to the local pub one night and came back with a dog.
It was the 70’s; things like this happened back then.
At first, all seemed well with the dog.
But then things took a turn for the worse.
While Natalie’s dad was at work, it would start playing up with the rest of the family.
It started snarling and barking and generally looking like it might attack. It became a regular occurrence that the family would be pinned against the wall trying to appease it.
All this would happen while Natalie’s dad was at work.
When he came back home, the dog would revert to being nice as pie. It would look at him with those big dopey eyes as if butter wouldn’t melt.
But as soon as he went to work the next day, the dog would kick off again.
Natalie’s dad didn’t believe this at first and thought they were exaggerating, then one day he came home from work early and caught the dog red handed.
Natalie was a baby at the time and was crawling around the floor whilst the dog had laid siege to the kitchen and had pinned Natalie’s mother, brother and sister to the wall.
Natalie’s dad took one look at the situation and did the only thing he could to protect his family. He jumped the dog and wrestled with it on the kitchen floor until it had piped down.
What a sight it was; a grown man in what looked like a dog wrestling competition.
So, there you have it…the champion dog wrestler.
This story got me thinking about character. The dog was showing two very different sides of its personality to different people. Isn’t that what people tend to do in real life?
Have you ever known someone really well and then they did something that you didn’t expect?
When this happens people tend to say ‘that was out of character for them’.
The truth is that we all have different sides to our personalities, and characters are no different. Bear this in mind. Always look for the hidden side of a character’s personality.
Now, if you want to know more about this and how to get into the acting industry from scratch then I have a treat for you.
Next month, I will be holding my special live seminar on How To Become A Professional Actor From Scratch.
You won’t want to miss this if you are in anyway interested in becoming a pro.
All the details can be found here:
https://www.briantimoneyacting.co.uk/live-seminar/
To your acting success!
Brian
Let’s do a bit of ‘’Q&A’’ action today.
Question: I am a student studying Musical Theatre and recently I was told by my acting teachers that my acting has weaknesses that I am very keen to address.
They have said that whilst I am able to understand a character and convey the various emotions they have throughout a scene, I sometimes make the performance too demonstrative with a lot of emotional effort and that I lack believable connection with the character I am playing.
This is something that was never brought up with me before and I want to make sure that this does not occur again. I want to address these issues over the summer and am keen to take up intensive courses in acting to help me.
Can you please email some further information of your Method Acting Boot Camp course?
Brian: Indeed. I can completely understand.
But worry not because this is a common issue that many actors wrestle with. The good news is that there is a solution.
Step 1. Don’t try to ‘play’ an emotion. You can’t play emotions; you experience them. The trick therefore is to know how to trigger authentic emotion on cue.
Step 2: To do this, learn how to use Affective Memory. All the best method actors in the world use it to trigger authentic emotion and they could NEVER be accused of lacking connection to themselves or the character.
Step 3: Learn the Method. Sorry, there is no shortcut here. Great authentic acting has to be learned.
Step 4: You can start that process on my Introduction to Method Acting Boot Camp this July.
For full details and to apply go here: https://www.briantimoneyacting.co.uk/bootcamp/
That’s all for today folks!
Brian
I heard this interesting stat the other day.
9 out of 10 people do NOT pursue the job of their dreams.
A survey was done on what people wanted to become when they were growing up. Many said they wanted to be things like an astronaut, a rock star, a dancer, a fireman and of course an actor.
In reality, 9 out of 10 opted for ‘normal’ jobs. They would rather stay in a job they don’t like than take a risk and pursue the job of their dreams.
People usually refer to them as dream jobs to make them sound ridiculous or unattainable somehow.
There are of course 1 in 10 who don’t buy into that. They want to do something they really want to do during their lifetime and go for it.
Do you know one of the top factors as to why people are unhappy?
You guessed it…they can’t stand their job.
But, and here is the crazy part, they spend half their life doing it.
I know there are plenty of excuses as to why people say they need to stay in that job and perhaps some of them are valid, but are they more important than happiness? The answer to that question for most people is ‘yes.’ They would rather be bored and unhappy than take a risk.
Personally, I think that this is insanity.
But then again you are talking to the 1 in 10 who upset the apple cart by saying ‘no’ to doing something they didn’t want to do.
How about you?
Are you ready to pursue what you really want?
If you are, here is a very simple (and practically risk free) way of getting the ball rolling.
Join my Actors Inner Circle.
It’s for the 1 in 10 who are truly serious about becoming an actor.
www.briantimoneyacting.co.uk/actors-inner-circle/
Brian
There is no getting away from it. The election is but a hop, skip and a jump away.
I don’t know about you, but if I hear one more pleading/whining politician I think I may explode.
But it has got me thinking. Thinking about what I would do if I were Prime Minister.
So, here is my actors’ manifesto:
- I would put a shed load of money into producing more TV, Film and Theatre.
- All bona fide actors would get plenty of well paid acting work.
- All reality TV would be stopped immediately!
- Mediocre and bad actors would have to go to acting classes to improve.
- The lazy, talentless and deluded would not be allowed to get on TV…EVER.
- Actors who ‘over act’ would need to go to Over Actors Anonymous. The first step would be for them to admit that they are over acting!
- I would introduce National Actors’ Day. Everyone can go and watch any film or theatre production free of charge.
What do you think?
Personally, I think I am onto something.
I just need a Party name now.
Any suggestions?
Post them below and we’ll announce the best one.
Brian