Kevin Spacey urges TV channels to give control to viewers

Image Credit: Patrick Harbron/Netflix

By Lindsey Bahr on Aug 28, 2013 at 9:45PM
From EW.com

According to Kevin Spacey, in the future there will be no differentiation between films and television.  In a speech at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, the Oscar-winning actor told the audience of television executives that it’s all just content to him and to consumers as well. Words like “film” and “television” are signifiers that are useful only to “agents, and managers, and lawyers who use these terms to conduct business deals,” he said. The people, he added, just want stories, and it’s their responsibility to give it to them.
Spacey thinks the consumer should be able to watch what they want, when they want to, and the success of his original Netflix series House of Cards proves it. He spoke out against the network model of requiring a pilot before ordering a series. Spacey went to Netflix, he says, because he and director David Fincher didn’t want to audition. “We wanted to start to tell a story that would take a long time to tell. We were creating a sophisticated, multi-layered story with complex characters who would reveal themselves over time, and relationships that would need space to play out,” he said.
Below is an edited version of Spacey’s speech. Check it out:

Do we need to revamp how we consume and produce television shows? Will labels like “film” and “television” fall by the wayside as the pre-established mediums shift and disperse? Is Netflix the future? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Marina Abramovic and Ulay were artists who met and fell in love in the 70s. For a decade, they did avant-garde collaborative work, even referring to themselves as a collective being, “The Other.” Yet like many intense collaborations, it ran its course. The flames that burn the brightest sometimes burn out quickly. They parted ways after one final trip across The Great Wall of China. They began at opposite ends, each walking the 2500 kilometers to meet in the middle before they said goodbye.
At her 2010 MoMa retrospective, Marina performed a piece titled, “The Artist Is Present.” She sat in silence for a minute with each stranger who sat in front of her. At the opening night of the show, Ulay was among them. This is that chapter of their story:

Why you need to write 2013 Goals

Resolutions are often the punchline this time of year, they break easily and are just as quickly dismissed.  So what do you do if you want to make a positive change in your life coinciding with the new year?  Goals.
Tips for the most successful completion of your goals:
-Keep them attainable, creating unrealistic goals like "I want to make a million dollars this year" box you out of your goals and result in lack of confidence and lack of interest in perusing goals.  Look at what you are working with to create the attainable.  If you made $40,000 last year make this years goal $100,000, not a Million.
-Give yourself hard dates.  When you hold yourself accountable you are more likely to achieve as opposed to some oblivious date in the near future.
-Be aware of goals that require large amounts of time and energy from someone else, these are more difficult to accomplish.  If you want to book a national television commercial this year you are only in control of being prepared for the situation not the actual booking.
Lastly; Look at your goals often and work to accomplish some part of them every single day.  Here is to a great and prosperous new year for all!  Be smart actors :)

all content copyright AEC Studios, L.L.C.

The Absolutes of the Actor’s Audition by Tom Jankowski

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Power, Presence and Performance

~ The Absolutes of the Actor’s Audition ~

Five Reasons (and Causes) Why You May Be Giving Away Your Power, Presence and Performance in an Audition

1.     You’re Worried About the Lines

a.     You fear the audition will crash at the moment you don’t get the lines perfect.

b.     You believe the lines ARE the audition.

c.     You close up, apologize and self deprecate when you say a wrong word or line.

2.     You’re Self Conscience of Your Looks

a.     You are not happy with something about your looks.

b.     You think others are focusing on all your personal and physical flaws.

c.     You think you didn’t dress or appear “right” for the audition.

3.     You Feel Inferior to Others in the Room

a.     You believe that the Auditors are more important than you.

b.     You think you are not going to meet the expectations of the Auditors.

c.     You lack confidence and don’t own who you are.

4.     You Try To Be Something You Are Not

a.     You indicate to the camera/Auditors a character or emotion that is disconnected from the real YOU.

b.     You try too hard to show an emotional range that you are not prepared to emote.

c.     You perform the audition like some other actor or character would perform it.

5.     You Have a Bad Attitude

a.     You think that you’re exactly what they are looking for and you have it in the bag.

b.     You think you are more important than the Auditors.

c.     You have an agenda and try to drive the casting to your favor.

Five Remedies (and Actions) To Retain Your Power, Presence and Performance in an Audition

1.     Stop Focusing on the Lines and Focus on Being You

a.     Understand the intent of the lines and deliver them as YOU in the moment.

b.     Understand that the Auditors want to learn who you are and could care less about perfect line readings.

c.     Realize that the lines are only guideposts to your emotions, and never apologize for errors.

2.     Understand that “You Are Who You Are”

a.     Realize that once you walk in the room, it is impossible to change the real YOU—period!

b.     Celebrate the fact that you are beautiful and unique, and for that reason, you are very castable.

c.     You prepared, you arrived, now you must commit fully as you are. There is no other option.

3.     Think of Everyone as Your Peers

a.     Know that you are a creative artist with the same right to be in the room as everyone else. Now create art!

b.     Understand that you’ll never totally know what the Auditors want, so your only choice is to be YOU.

c.     Sell yourself. YOU are the audition, and nobody else can deliver what you can. Own your whole being.

4.     Realize That the Only Thing That Will Win the Day is Authenticity

a.     Present only what is genuinely from YOUR essence, and know that the Auditors will see otherwise.

b.     Take risk but within your capabilities, and realize that YOU, and the character you create, are enough.

c.     Be yourself, everyone else is already taken! Realize that the role needs YOUR unique character-nobody else.

5.     Dig Deep, and Humble Yourself—You Just May Learn Something!

a.     Leave the over-confidence in the car. It will hinder your power, presence and performance. Be Professional.

b.     Realize that the casting process in not beneath you. It’s necessary for the Auditors to know the real YOU.

c.     Understand that it’s not your casting. Listen, listen, and take directions literally. Be genuine and authentic.

Tom Jankowski

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3523182/

Branded for Life...

This article is originally found on BusinessWeek.com

www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-27/branded-for-life

In January 2002, a Canadian actor named Andrew Olcott got a call from his agent. She wanted to discuss an unusual opportunity. Would he be willing, she asked, to audition for a TV commercial for a “natural male enhancement” pill?

Olcott thought it over. He was new to the commercial acting business, and though doing a spot for a penis pill was a far cry from doing Shakespeare, it didn’t seem any worse than, say, pitching deodorant. For years, he had worked primarily as a visual artist. He could use the gig. Besides, all auditions are long shots. Even if he got the job, he thought, most TV spots come and go with little fanfare. It seemed likely that nobody would ever notice.
The agent told Olcott what she knew about the audition. You couldn’t show “natural male enhancement” on TV, so the campaign’s creative director, Randy Spear, had dreamed up a character inspired by silent film stars, who would convey the feeling of male enhancement without saying a word. He would just smile.

Find and read the rest of this great article:
www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-27/branded-for-life

The 7 Dumbest Mistakes You Can Make Your First Day On Set

This article is from www.TheBlackandBlue.com by Evan Luzi, the editor and founder of The Black and Blue

What’s the stupidest thing you’ve done on set?
For me, it was spraying canned air inside the ear of the director of photography. It was, to be frank, really dumb. And the reason I did it is because I was a newbie on set — I didn’t know any better.
Yet even with my humble beginnings, I still get irritated at the stupid things those new to the film industry do. Sometimes they’re cocky, or naive, or shy, or late. Most of the time it’s unintentional.
But intention doesn’t make the mistakes any less dumb, nor the consequences any less serious.
So if you’re looking to join the ranks of a Hollywood crew someday, do your best to avoid these 7 idiotic mistakes that are — unfortunately — common among first-timers.

Dumb Mistake #1: Thinking You Should Be Directing

Let’s face it: everyone wants to be a director at some point. Even if it’s only a tiny urge for one scene of one day in their entire career, I guarantee every crew member in the film industry has thought about what it would be like to run the show.
Many came into the industry with that dream. Heck, I wanted to be a director. Who dreams about being the guy schlepping cable or the PA wrangling extras?
But here’s the harsh truth: you’re not the director. And if you truly deserved to be the director, you’d be the one calling the shots, not the other guy. Instead, they’re the one with the power.
Maybe you deserve to be a director, someday, but that doesn’t grant you license to start running this set, today.
And if that bothers you too much — to have to help fulfill someone else’s vision — then by all means, walk away from the gig and start directing. There’s no shame in admitting you can’t crew well. Some people really do have a knack for leadership and can’t put themselves in any other position.
But it’s stupid, silly, and ignorant to both not be directing while proclaiming you deserve to be. That’s the kind of attitude that will make no one want to help you achieve that dream.
Further, this attitude often leads to you taking the creative high ground on individuals who do deserve to be the heads of their department. And the last thing any of those crew members who have paid their dues want to hear is a young buck telling them how to light, how to compose a shot, how to direct their actors.
Even if you’re right, you don’t deserve to be shoving that in their face.
If you want to direct, direct, but do it on your own set — and don’t mistake the ability to direct as unearned opportunity to do so.

Find #2 through #7 at http://www.theblackandblue.com/2012/06/13/dumbest-mistakes/

 

How are you spending your time?

Do you tell your friends and family you want to be an actor more than anything?  More importantly do you tell yourself that?  It is great to make these declarative statements but less than great to find yourself watching TV or surfing Facebook when you could be working to making these statements true.  It takes hard work and dedication to gain success in any career and acting is no exception.  After a long day of working a day job or going to school the last thing one wants to do is sit down in front of a computer and create an acting website but that is exactly what successful actors do, they take the time to work on what needs to be done, whatever and whenever that may be.  Don't forget to take time for yourself, prioritize and set goals.  Be a smart Actor!

all content copyright 2012 aecstudios, l.l.c.