Expert: Taylor Sheppard - 7/3/2007

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I'm 13 and really want to get in to acting. I don't have experience, but I really want to start. I dream of doing professional acting, and would love to start doing so soon. But are there still chances if I'm from Scotland?

ANSWER: Hey Rachel,

Sorry for the delay, love computer issues!

It's great to know so young what your passion is!
You are in a perfect place to be an actor, if you aren't
aware of that! There is a great respect for formally trained actors from Scotland and the U.K. in general.
It is the equivalent of being a classically trained pianist.

Many actors here have gone to Europe (specifically London) to train at the Royal Academy and other respected schools to gain the cachet of being a "serious" actor.
It is desirable to be trained as a stage actor rather than just film, even though the styles are somewhat different and sometimes stage actors have an issue with "toning down" their performance. If you acted on camera like you project on stage, it would be horrifying to watch! The camera is best dealt with if it is ignored and you just behave as you would in real life. Many actors you see in film spend time between films at theaters performing in Broadway plays and in London.
A side note, I have always admired British actors. Generally, they seem to view acting as a blue-collar job rather than being caught up in the "star" trip...believing that money or fame somehow make you anything more than you really are. That's refreshing.

It won't be easy to get where you are going, but if you work hard to get accepted (taking classes well beforehand) you will be repaid for every ounce of sweat you put into your craft. Just expect that it will not be tomorrow or the next day. I have found that nothing worthwhile in my life has come without effort, but what I have strived for was worth every moment I've invested.

Break a leg!
Taylor


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hey, thanks for your answer :) It really helped.
There are auditions on for an acting company and you have to do a 1 minute piece. I don't know what they mean by this. And if I were to go, what sort of thing would they be expecting.
Thanks again, Rachel.

Answer
Hi Rachel,
I hope this doesn't come too late for the audition.

What they mean by a one minute piece is a monolog..or in Europe, a monologue. It's all English, right?

Basically, they are wanting a one minute scene that you perform for them that is: realistic, interesting and makes them want to hire you! What they don't want is: something they have seen a million times ("The Key Exchange") something that doesn't have a point, something that lacks a beginning, climax and end, something that you haven't worked out. By haven't "worked out" I mean something that you don't know like the back of your own hand, that you haven't read and re-read a thousand times until you fully understand every nuance of meaning.

Tip #1... Learn the monolog several different ways.
         Many a time I have had a director ask me to "try it this way now". After I have done it funny, they want it sad, or angry, or like I have just come back from war and have aged from all the horror I witnessed there, or.....
Why? Because when they ask you to do it another way, you will have memorized it and locked it into your mind connecting even your physical body movements to the phrases and turns of emotion. When you attempt to change the delivery, suddenly you can't remember the words! I personally have experienced this phenomena and watched other strong actors start, abort and re-start several times in a struggle to overcome this. Just know it in as many emotional variations as you can! That way, it will appear to the director that you can "take direction". There are actors that are very good, but who have trouble getting jobs because they are too headstrong to listen to the director's ideas. Guess what? The director's name is on the credits -that says it's HIS movie.

Tip #2....Don't just rehearse lines in your head. Speak them out aloud! You feel goofy walking around outside a casting office yelling at the squirrels (many casting offices are in business office "parks" -collections of different businesses in one area with gardens between) but if you have a reason to be doing it, you just ignore the stares. The reason you want to speak out loud is you will get used to hearing yourself and it won't startle you upon hearing your own voice for the first time when you try to perform it.

How do you find monologs? Local bookstore and the Internet.
Be prepared to look for a while. If you just grab the first thing that you find, will it be interesting enough to face rehearsal after rehearsal? Will it be so-so? Granted, it mustn't be the hardest piece or you may do poorly trying to pull it off, depending on how advanced you are.
My "pocket monolog" -the one I have squirreled away for doing at a moment's notice, is interesting because the guy is a supposed friend who is basically a bastard who is trying different ways of explaining away his sleeping with a good friend's girlfriend. Very entertaining.

Hope this helps!
Best,
Taylor