Expert: Taylor Sheppard - 5/4/2009

Question
Hi Taylor,

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my question. I get sick and tired of
seeing so many messages from naïve kids and teenagers "dreaming" about
getting to Broadway or Hollywood, without any real idea of what they're
talking about. No doubt you do too.

That's why I hope this e-mail is going to be different. I'm not after moral
support or someone to say "you'll make it, go you!", but objective, realistic
information based on the specifics I provide. Hopefully this will make it easier
for you to help, and I would greatly appreciate any advice you can provide.

Essentially, here's the state of play: I am a 16-year-old aspiring male musical
theatre actor based in Hobart, Australia, hoping to eventually work on
Broadway. I have a decent amount of experience under my belt, with at least
half a dozen amateur productions under my belt and one or two professional
gigs. The theatre scene in my city is really quite vibrant and active for such a
small state, and I think it will be a good place to start making a name for
myself. I have now been taking private singing lessons for a year and a half,
and have had private drama lessons for around a year, although these have
recently stopped due mainly to financial issues. I have won numerous prizes
in the Hobart Eisteddfods over the last few years, including a couple of "best
of" overall adjudicator's prizes. I've also been told I have a great stage
presence and natural acting aptitude by a few pros around the place. My voice
is strong, and I recently managed to pin down the lead male role in my school
musical. I am also good at adapting to directors' and teachers' requests,
which I hear is a good skill to showcase at a Broadway audition.

I'm still trying to work out my career plan, because there are other things I
could see myself doing and I can't decide whether I should jump in the deep
end and try to go professional. At the moment, I'm thinking that my main
priority would be to get private dancing lessons in tap and jazz. I can move
well, but dance is definitely my weakest area. Would I be right in thinking
this?

After that, I plan to go to university (or college, if you're American) and get a
degree in something else that interests me, such as law or computing. This
should give me an enjoyable career to fall back on if I don't make it bigtime.
Then, I'm thinking I'll try to get into one of the good theatre schools around
the place, or perhaps get a study visa and take a course over in New York,
like a friend of mine did. After getting to New York, I'll wait tables until I
finally get myself an agent by begging, which should allow me to finally start
getting professional jobs.

I'm trying to do as much music theatre as I can, because I've often felt that I
left my serious study too far down the track, and I'm not sure whether this
will render me incapable of achieving what I'd like to do.

Is there anything you recommend I do apart from network, network, network?
Do I seem to be going about this the right way?

Sorry for the long question, I tend to rant :).

Thanks again.

Cheers,
Will Pridmore

Answer
Hi Will,

You are indeed a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, in America, we seem to be in the throes of the "New Narcissism" -where everyone could be, and SHOULD be famous, regardless of any real talent or work. (Thanks Paris Hilton, Kim Cardashien, et all!) I think they took Andy Warhol's saying waaay too far. Why he thought "everyone SHOULD be famous for 15 minutes in the future" is beyond me!

I find nothing wrong with your plans, they all sound solid. It's good that you are identifying your weakness and attacking it instead of avoiding the work.

The one thing that a lot of film actors do is try to go do Broadway for the "street cred" it provides, and let's face it, the money between films. It makes them appear more serious. As far as a role model, I think Hugh Jackman is very good. At the Academy awards he wowed everyone as a host and proved he had the goods to be a song and dance man as well! If you feel serious roles would be helpful, by all means concentrate there for a time. I believe that is easier than comedy to do!

I applaud the fact that you are covering your bets by going to university too. Life is fickle and you don't want to regret what you didn't do. Many of the kids that write me don't have the slightest when it comes to "plan B" -they just want to hurry up and be famous so they can go to parties. Hey that is great IF it happens...that's gravy, but if they plan on it, well, it can be hard. It's easier to get it taken care of when you are young and adaptable, rather than later when you are not supposed to eat noodles out of a box.
Matthew McConoughey finished his degree at University of Texas before he launched. He was smart -but then, it isn't a school for dummies!

Keep up the good work, keep me posted as to how things are going!

Best,

Taylor