An Actor Struggles

WARNING: This blog post is not very positive, but necessary.

Last night, I sat alone, in my flat thinking about how I was going to survive.
To take you back a few month, I was a married man, living at my family home with my wife and two of my beautiful children. Things had not been perfect for some time and after much head burying and a few difficult conversations, my wife and I decided that the best thing for everyone would be that we seperated.

I won't go into detail but over the next few weeks, while I was trying to put my new life in order, I decided to see our seperation as an opportunity to get back into acting.
So far so good, I set up my blog, my twitter, my email, my headshots, joined starnow and casting call pro and since then I've been pretty focussed on my goal.

Last night however, when I checked my bank and saw my overdraft almost entirely depleted, and with 18 days until pay day, I began to worry. I have a lot of bills which my current full time job just about covers, I have an old car which is in the garage being repaired and have no idea what that will cost yet. I have an empty fridge but a full freezer and I still have my financial responsibilities to my children.

Is this acting a real possibility, or am I niavely trying to convince myself that I can make it. The road ahead, is very long. At actor expo at the weekend I found so many opportunities for training, showreels, courses, online casting sites and more but the reality is without money I can't do any of them.  I need to stay at my full time job to pay the bills and survive. I also need to stay based in Newcastle, even though the majority of opportunities are in London, as I want to be there for my children especially as my 2 youngest are 5 and 2 so currently going through their formative years.

My heart says it will be ok but my head says I need to do something to focus on my immediate position.

This is my struggle and last night it really hit home.

EDIT: But it's not as bad as it seems, I know I'm lucky to have 3 beautiful kids, parents that are there for me, good friends, a regular wage coming in, a roof over my head and some food.

If this is all I struggle with, then I am a fortunate man.

Actor Expo: A review

So after weeks of anticipation, yesterday I set off from Newcastle to London to visit the Actor Expo

I arrived with enough time for a coffee and a trip to the loo and then I entered the Camden Centre.

To be fair, I tried to keep my expectations low but excitement coupled with nerves had built up in my mind and I just wanted to get in there and see what was happening.

I wasn't dissapointed. The place was buzzing, from the second I walked through the door, well even before then, in the queue outside I began talking to other actors.
Once inside, there were actors, producers, agents, production crews and more everywere and this was at 11am. It did feel like a lot of other trade shows I've been to, lots of stalls and sales staff marketing their products and services but this time, I was actually interested in all of them.

The only thing I was expecting that wasn't clear to me is where all the agencies were. I was hoping that there would be representatives from casting agencies there, with stalls, so I could meet, chat to and leave my headshot/business card with. Failing that, name badges so people could see who others were. Example: Chris Gotts: Actor or A. Nother: Agent just would have made it that bit easier.

After a few hours of walking around, meeting people, talking to professionals and service providers and learning a great deal, I was shattered, it had been a long day after 4 hours sleep and I could not face the prospect of a bunk bed in a hostel, so I went online and booked a coach trip back to newcastle. I eventually got home around half 11 last night and fell straight asleep.

On reflection this morning, here are my key takeaways:

• CV's, Headshots, business cards are good but I need a showreel.
• There are a lot of online casting sites but they can't take away from having an actual agent represent you.
• No matter how much experience or training you've had, there's always another course offering something different and unique. Choosing ones that are right for you can be dificult but having someone at actor expo to discuss your needs with was inspirational.

I picked up a few books, an actors handbook from casting call pro, The Actor's yearbook 2012 from Methuen and the latest contacts book from spotlight.

My next steps are to go through them, pull out advice and begin my search for an agent. I also need to begin to compile my showreel.

I've updated my account at casting call pro and I now need to speak to Pippa from spotlight to see if I have enough experience to join them. I hope so.

If you are thinking of going to the next Actor Expo, I highly recommend it. No matter how much experience you have, I'm sure you will get something out of it.

Help me choose my headshot.

Having had my photoshoot on Sunday, I've now seen the 300+ photos and after much deliberation, I narrowed it down to 30, then 20, and I'm now sitting at 11 possible images to use for my headshots and business cards.

I need to decide quickly so if anyone reads my blog I would love to know you're opinion.

Possible headshots:

And for the back of my business card. ( I can probably rotate these but would like to cut it down to around 5)

 









I like them all so much, please help me decide.....

Photoshoot

I know it's been a couple of weeks since my last post but I've been getting things in place for my trip to the actors expo on the 5th as well as sorting out my new apartment, working an seeing my kids.
Well today I had my photoshoot with mike tulip. He's a great guy and came with ideas for locations and shots. We went local and found a garage with old wooden doors and a great brick wall. We shot for a couple of hours with some costume changes and with any luck there will be some amazing shots.
As we work together, we are also planning some studio and office/indoor shots through the week and I'll upload them as soon as I can.

Shoot me now

Since writing the last post about the Actor Expo, I've began my search for a photographer to take some headshots.
To be fair, I've not had to search far. In my current position working at a large software company, I'm fortunate to work closely with our internal agency who produce our marketing material. Within that team there are three professional photrographers.
I sent them all the same brief and after some light hearted discussion between us all about whether I should wear smart, casual or village people attire, I opted to work with Mike Tulip http://www.miketulipphotography.co.uk/

Mike has a lot of experience in people photography, portraits, weddings and has covered a lot of our business events and exhibitions and some of the ideas he put forward for our shoot sounded really promising.

My only slight concern is the timeframe. Our shoot is planned for Sunday 23rd of October which by the time he does his post shoot work (could be a long time with my ugly mug) I should have the final photo's for Thursday 27th. This will give me just a week to get my business card and resume compiled and printed in time for the expo. I am hopeful this will be enough time.

I now have the internet at home so access to resource and progress should improve.

Oh and I've been contacted by the casting agent of Jack Whitehall's forthcoming entertainment show which is being filmed in Newcastle. They have asked if I am available next week for filming. I am on tuesday morning so I've let them know and hopefully they can come back to me if this is suitable for them. Fingers crossed.

Remember Remember the 5th of November

As an actor just starting out in his career, I think it's important to do my research, find out what's happening in my industry and start to network woth professionals and other actors.
So, after a search on google last week I found the website http://www.actorexpo.co.uk/ the only trade show for actors in the UK.

A trade expo for actors?

Having been to a few trade exhibitions in the past, I kind of know how they work, loads of exhibitors vying for your business, offering their services and advice and a few seminars which are always overcrowded and talk about how social media can transform your business (whatever that may be). They are also very tiring on your feet. So why should this one be any different and just how would it work for actors?

• Well for a start, it's only a one day event so I don't need to be off work for a few days.
• It's on a Saturday so actually, I don't need to take any time off at all.
• It's realtively cheap to attend - £3.40 for spotlight and equity members or £5.40 for non members (I say relatively becasue that doesn't involve classes or travel)
• It provides an opportunity to mix with professionals and other actors which as I mentioned earlier is a goal of mine.

If I try to imagine how a normal trade exhibition works where everyone and every company try to get your business, I just don't get it. Surely as an actor, this is what I should be doing, marketing myself and my skills. So I doubt very much that exhibitors will be jumping to catch my attention, especially if the average attendance is between 3000 and 5000 visitors per day. Yet for some reason, it is still tempting me, even just to see what it's all about.

So where and when is it?

It's on at The Camden Centre, London WC1H 9LZ
11am til 4pm
Saturday 5th November 2011 (Bonfire Night)

Making the most of the day

If I am to go I've found the best way to deal with trade expo's is to go with a plan. Just haphazardly walking around and spending time queuing for seminars to find you can't get in or that you're right at the back is, for me, a wasted opportunity I could be using elsewhere taking to someone beneficial. So to get the most out of the day I would need to:

• Arrange return train travel, or possibly stay over on one of the nights if it's cheaper.
• Ensure I wore comfortable shoes.
• Pre book the classes I'm interested in.
• Find which exhibitors I really want to speak to and plan out where they are and when to see them.
• Make time for a break and to network.

Next steps.

I've just watched the video filmed at the last expo and I have made my mind up. I'm going.
I've now
Booked train tickets via the trainline (down on Saturday, return Sunday)
Booked a bed in the Smart Russell Square Hostel via laterooms (£14.99 and just round the corner)
Booked my ticket for the event itself
Pre booked my classes

Out of the classes available, I've chosen the three which I feel I'm most interested in and would be the most beneficial at this stage in my journey. They are:

Casting for TV and Film. Room 3. 11.45 - 12.30
Business Skills for Actors. Room 1. 13.50 - 14.30
Acting for Film and Television. Room 2. 15.15 - 15.55

This spread of classes should give me enough time between to visit some of the exhibitors and get some lunch.
I'm now committed to going so I need to find a photographer and get some headshots taken and design my business cards and resume for handing out.
Then it's good old London Town on bonfire night, bring on the fireworks.

I'm so excited, hope to see you there.

Chris (the geordie actor)

Oh, if you want to connect with me before then, I'm now on twitter, so you can tweet me, follow me or whatever you do on it to get in touch. My twitter name is www.twitter.com/thegeordieactor

And in case you want to see the video that convinced me, here it is:

apply apply apply

What can be done in a day?

Tidy up the apartment - done
completed final cv (found a few mistakes in previous version) done
complete application form for sales and box office manager at local theatre - done
joined starnow - done www.starnow.co.uk/chrisgotts
applied for the following roles:
Male actor for paid commercial
Indie horror movie looking for male actor
Historical feature actor and extras
Supporting artist required for comedy (they are wanting east indian origin but thought I'd chance it in case another role is available - shy bairns get nowt they say up here)
Cast and crew needed for production company
Horror film needs actors
Extra required for house party
Extras for 'The Sweeney' Nick Love film ( i would love this. Ray Winstone, Ben Drew, sweet!)
Tough guy needed for romantic film
Actors and real people wanted (this is a two day course in wales in November)
Actors for scary live performance
Actors required for thriller
Strawberry Lemonade - Extras (local production)
Actors needed for short film (local production)
89th Street - UK (local production)

Done

I've also been to print my cv and I've posted my application for the box office manager role. fingers crossed I will hear something, closing date is 5th October.