New Name, New Mission

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acting advice, acting careers, actor goals, actor marketing, actor's life, actorslife, actorsofservice, auditions, filmmaking, learning to act, start acting

Goodbye, Acting Made Stupid Simple.

Inspiration occurred today and led me to change the name of my blog. Despite not actually blogging the last two months, I have been giving a lot of thought to the future of this space and what I want to accomplish with it. Service frequently became the keyword in those thoughts and I believe service to others is the basis to everything we do as actors.

10 Reasons to Age Characters in Casting

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#actingmadestupidsimple, acting advice, acting careers, acting challenges, actor goals, actor's life, actorslife, auditions, filmmaking, start acting

I have more than a few actor friends over the age of 50 and the common complaint seems to be the lack of roles in many film projects. Not lack of good roles. Lack of roles period. The most recent comments I read about he subject prompted me to think about ways to change this situation.

I’m not using this space to take on the ageism in Hollywood. That’s a battle for other people. Instead, I want to talk to the people making independent films. Short films and feature films that get private screenings for cast and crew, end up on YouTube and Vimeo, or get submitted to festivals. I have some ideas for you newer filmmakers to rethink how you see people over the age of 50. 

Stop Using the F Word

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acting advice, Acting Made Stupid Simple, actor goals, actor's life, auditions, david bowie fame, falseness of fame, fame, filmmaking, john lennon watching the wheels, learning to act

It’s Spring Break here and my daughter insisted we go rollerskating at least once. I looked online for a place in Milwaukee, and when we got there I saw little rooms decorated with themes for kids’ birthday parties. The one that caught my attention had The F Word on the wall.

Okay, it’s not the one you’re thinking of right now. That would be crazy! But it’s a different four-letter word that gets thrown around a lot:

Coolest Spot on the Ice for Actors

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actor's life, audition tips, auditions, people watching for actors, start acting

I’m not an expert skater so it’s not on my list of special skills. I do enjoy getting on the ice once in a while, and a couple of days ago I took my daughter to the Pettit National Ice Center in suburban Milwaukee. While skating for a couple of hours, I discovered the coolest spot on the ice for actors. 

What’s Wrong with This Ad?

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#actingmadestupidsimple, acting challenges, audition tips, auditions, Improv for Auditions, pizza commercials

Does anything seem unusual in this screen grab from a commercial for a popular pizza chain? When I saw it on TV this morning, I immediately noticed a detail that struck me as completely illogical. Then, I realized this one detail beautifully supports the need for actors to be able to improv and take direction in auditions and on set.

I’ll point out the detail in a moment, in case you haven’t spotted it yet. First, let’s consider the story here. A customer came into the store to get pizza after a frustrating experience trying to order it online, presumably from another chain. We first see him with his hand through one laptop screen. When the employee behind the counter hands him the hot-and-fresh box of pizza, he lifts his left hand up to reveal it’s through a second laptop screen. The joke is nicely delivered, but the pesky detail remains.

Overcoming the Objection

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acting advice, acting careers, Acting Made Stupid Simple, actor's life, actorslife, audition tips, auditions, filmmaking, last minute auditions, learning to act, overcoming objections, start acting

When I worked in small market radio as a salesperson, I routinely encountered business owners who had trouble seeing the value of buying advertising time. Unlike the ads they placed in a newspaper or a local school calendar, radio ads were an intangible no one could see. It was there, nearly twenty years ago, that I first heard the phrase “overcoming the objection” that would influence my later career as an actor.

Simply put, almost every potential sale back then for me started with a No from the client. I would ask for more information so I could better understand the business, and I would attempt to schedule a return visit so I could reconnect with ideas, a spec commercial, or a suggested schedule. The whole process really just involved creating ways to turn a No into a Yes eventually, whether it took weeks or months. Last week I had a lot less time to do the same as an actor.

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast

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acting in short films, audition tips, auditions, Backstage, callback traps, callbacks, filmmaking, making strong impressions, sample TV audition, scene partners, self-taped audition sample

Ever see those No Loitering signs at stores? The idea is to keep people from lingering aimlessly without actually making a purchase. As actors, we do a bit of lingering after auditions at times so we can catch up with people we haven’t seen in a while. Sometimes that lingering can lead to very good things.

Despite the power and reach of social media, there’s nothing like great face-to-face time for reconnecting and discovering new opportunities. I wouldn’t suggest hanging out for an hour after every audition. I mean, who has the time? But rushing off and giving the appearance of having somewhere better to be urgently is not necessarily wise either.

Here’s an example of how sticking around a bit can help.

Living Not So Large

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actor's life, auditions, casting breakdowns, holiday weight gain, personal image, weight gain, weight loss

Big Man Or Little Big Man?

During my holiday visit to North Carolina recently, I gained some weight. (I won’t say how much.) I credit the great meals out and the even better ones, including gourmet pizzas, made at home by my brother-in-law Eric. He’s a real foodie and made sure the whole family never felt hungry during our stay. Just take a look at what he served for breakfast on my last day there…

10 Reasons Why 2014 Sucked for This Actor

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acting challenges, actor advice, actor goals, auditions, professional failure, struggling actor

Pathetic.

That’s pretty much how I rate this year overall in my career. It wasn’t the banner year I expected. I certainly didn’t make much money, a fact supported by my nearly negative bank account balance. Also, I didn’t book any big jobs, with proof on my slow-growing IMDb page. Even what was supposed to be the final two acting gigs of the calendar year got yanked away due to low ticket sales for live shows I regularly perform in with an acting troupe.

No, as I look back at the last 12 months I see plenty of bumps in the road, a road often traveled by Greyhound or Megabus. Despite having 4 agents, even auditions seemed slim some months. What made it feel worse is seeing peers nationwide achieving success in bookings and creating momentum. We never look at people doing worse than us, do we?

So let’s rattle off the 10 reasons real quickly here and maybe you’ll find a kindred spirit in your equally pathetic year. 

Make Excuses, Make Tracks

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actor's life, auditions, bob coonrod, last minute auditions, make excuses, make tracks, Texas actors, traveling to auditions

Last Monday I got a call from my agent in Dallas. That’s not unusual. What is unusual is the time she called: 10:48 pm. Why so late? She didn’t get a reply from me about an audition the next day. (Maybe the email got lost on the way.) Without hesitating, I told her I would get to the audition. It’s hard to turn down one for a national union commercial.