Drum roll please! And the winner is . . . .
It's impossible to flip through the Nashville Scene without noticing the depth behind these eyes. Emily Landham, a working on camera and theatre actress was presented with the BEST ACTRESS by Martin Brady in the Scene's "Best of Nashville 2012" issue. What did Martin have to say about Emily's year thus far?
BEST ACTRESS: EMILY LANDHAM
Landham recently fractured her leg rehearsing Shakespeare. If that
doesn't attest to her all-out approach to her craft, then her
performances in three major shows in the past year certainly do. Her
brilliant Juliet in the 2011 Shakespeare in the Park production of Romeo and Juliet was followed by a classy turn in Tennessee Rep's major effort with Arthur Miller's All My Sons. Then Landham starred in Studio Tenn's acclaimed 2012 revival of The Miracle Worker
as Annie Sullivan, a role that's as strenuous as they come.
(Fortunately, Emily was working with two good legs at the time.) We hear
she's on the mend, positive news for Nashville theatergoers. (But so
much for "break a leg.") —MARTIN BRADY
Emily may have been slowed a tad over the summer due to her big break, but in the past few weeks, she has been busy reading for multiple movies, episodics, and commercials continuing to pursue her on camera endeavors. She is also launching a non profit locally, so watch for more to come on how you can be a part of giving back! Emily's well rounded business approach in building her craft, her community, and the lives of others is worth watching and following for any aspiring actresses / actors.
To read the full article, including other accolades, visit the Nashville Scene's Arts, Music, and Culture article.
Just today, I had a talent walk into the office telling me a story about being asked her real age during a casting session. She is the exception to the rule in that she does not play anywhere near her real age, but she decided to answer the question with her legal age. The Casting Director and she had a short and kind conversation about her not fitting the client's requested age range. She was advised she would not be submitted because the CD did not want to have to lie to the client, should the client directly ask. No one did anything wrong, so why isn't she being considered for the gig?
In an industry of perception, these words from NYC casting director Scott Powers are timely!
If you haven't been on the receiving end of this question yet,
you will. How you deal with it is critical to the future (productive or destructive) relationship between you and the person asking for this intrusive information.
Keep in mind we're in a visual industry. What you look like is a big part of being submitted and booked for jobs. This includes your age - your empirical age. If you truthfully look 35 - 40, but are in reality 65, you should be submitted for 35-40 year olds. Not for roles that are looking for 65s. You don't look that age, so you shouldn't be going out for them. You will not get that 65 year old part! You will be wasting your time and your energy.
The age question comes up often in agents' interviews. It's also on a lot of stat sheets. That doesn't mean you necessarily have to answer the question specifically. We never advocate lying, but did you know it's against the law to ask your age as a condition of employment, with the exception of alcohols, tobaccos and certain pharmaceuticals?
Here's the smart way to handle the question of what your age is: put down or tell them the middle year of your age range. In dead earnestness, as if your own mother doesn't know how old you are. We all try to get the skinny on you. Now "they" think they got some illicit information about you. "We know how old she really is!"
Step two of this process, determining what is your empirical age range. This is not the time to get too creative crazy. As a rule of thumb, age ranges tend to be max in a 10-year range (for older actors) down to a few years (for younger actors. Each year on an older actor is not as specifically registered as on a younger person.) To be objective on this, you don't do the numbers. Have a trusted agent, casting director or manager do this. Ask more than one and get an average.
BTW, did you know you'll drop to the bottom of your age range (the youngest you'll look) when you are smiling? So on those oh-so-blue days we all have, smiling will make you the youngest you can be.
Every few years, recalibrate your age range so you stay current and competitive.
AND, now you will be submitted for roles that are truly age-appropriate for you. AND will continue to have a constructive, rather than destructive, relationship with whoever is doing that asking.
No one in the casting room is going to bother with checking an ID in most cases. (You shouldn't be taking unnecessary
materials in with you anyway, so leave it outside.) You're an actor, after all! It shouldn't be difficult to convincely state your character's age if you are in character. The casting session isn't about you -- it's about your character!
Have your [birthday] cake and eat it, too! What age are you playing?
One of my personal favorite bloggers is Back Stage's Secret Agent Man. In the following post on his blog, Secret Agent Man poetically clarifies why good actors do bad things . . . and how it ends up sabataging all their best efforts and intentions.
I met Lucifer in a bar the other night, and he confessed that he
likes to put bad ideas in the heads of smart actors. Curious, I asked
why he did this. The author of all sin smiled. “Creative people annoy
me. Just look at the so-called great works of art that claim to capture
my image. You would be upset too.”
Lucifer had a point. The man in front of me wasn’t a horned monster with a red tail. He actually looked a little like Jeremy Irons.
We ordered another round. My new friend went on to explain that actors are especially open to suggestion because they’re such desperate beings. “Convincing them to get in their own way requires little more than a whisper in their ears.”
I was stunned. Actors are always cutting their own throats for no apparent reason. Could the devil himself be the root of all that self-destructive behavior?
Just last week, a client shocked me by ruining an opportunity I created at her request. Clara, an established actor in her 40s, had been begging me to get her in the room for one of her favorite TV shows. So when the right part crossed my desk, I convinced the casting director to give her a shot.
The show’s office was on the Universal lot, up in the Valley. Since it was hard to find, casting sent me a detailed map with parking directions. I told Clara to leave early, just to be safe.
After the audition, she was in a state of shock. Everything went wrong, and it was all her fault.
Here’s what happened. Clara barely glanced at the map before leaving her home. She just assumed it would all make sense when she got there. Well, it didn’t. Clara couldn’t find the right parking structure so she left her car in the wrong place, a spot which was half a mile away from the casting office. And this was on a summer afternoon when it gets past 100 degrees in the Valley.
So she arrived at the audition 20 minutes late, covered in sweat. There was no time to waste because the director had to leave, so casting rushed her into the office. Naturally, the audition didn’t go well, and now it’s going to be a hundred times harder for me to get her back in the room.
When I asked Clara why she had behaved in such an unprofessional manner, she wasn’t able to give me an honest answer.
I finished my drink and turned to Lucifer.
“Was that you?”
He grinned.
My mind started to race. I remembered the time I had to drop a young client because he was badmouthing me in public. The idiot had been at a workshop, waiting for his scene partner, when he decided to talk some trash. A passing casting assistant heard him and called me in the morning.
Then there was the time an actor followed me into a restaurant, interrupted my dinner, and begged me for a meeting.
And what about those clients who passed on auditions because they didn’t think they were right for the parts? Why wouldn’t they allow the casting director to make that decision?
Or worst of all, how about all the actors who write in to Backstage, begging for a meeting with Secret Agent Man when they don’t even know who I am or where I work?
Lucifer stood up. It was time to move on. He explained that Hollywood was keeping him busy.
I had to ask.
“Will I see you again?”
“Perhaps.”
As the Prince of Darkness strolled off into the night, I made a mental note to pick up some holy water and a few crosses on my way home.
To see more of Secret Agent Man's blog posts, visit his site.
Are you listening to the angel or the demon sitting on your shoulders? Choose wisely!
Agents, managers, and casting directors find it amazing that actors and models so frequently start a conversation with the words "I'm so sorry . . . " Insert any completion to the sentence. We've heard them all!
. . . I didn't get the message.
. . . I haven't checked my email.
. . . I'm not off book (e.g., I didn't memorize my sides).
. . . I'm late. It's the a) traffic; b) I was up really late last night; c) nobody called me; d) my alarm didn't go off; e) I didn't know I had to be on time.
. . . I forgot my a) headshot; b) resume; c) pen to take notes
. . . I'm too busy right now to write down the info. Shoot me an email!
. . . My headshot is still black and white. I've been meaning to . . .
. . . I didn't return your phone call the other day. Can casting still see me?
According to one New York casting director, these excuses send the deal-breaker signal to those who could hire a talent. The industry doesn't hear whining excuses daily -- we hear them hourly. No one with money behind them cares how great a talent looks or how skilled they are if the first thing we hear is multiple reasons why someone isn't up for the job. There is always another option in the talent pool!
So knowing what NOT to do is only half the battle. Should you ever find yourself in a circumstance where you feel compelled to start with an apology, bite your tongue. Apologizing at that point -- after you've already done something blaringly wrong -- will not fix the mistake. Acknowledge your failure and move past it. Choose to hear whatever frustration is shared with you from the inconvenienced professional and then choose to only say, "Yes, I hear you. It won't happen again." After that, you can move on and give them reasons to change their impression (because you'll nail it despite the stress, right?). The words "I'm sorry" have no place in entertainment. After you leave, be sure that you follow through on never letting the mistake happen again -- at all costs. Actions speak louder than words. Make yourself heard through people's experiences working with you and your mouth never has to even open!
In this business, the savvy talent must remember that in order to pursue significant well-paying work, there are NO excuses. Period. The actor who got the job had no excuses. Did you?
No, we're not talking baseball here. We are talking the leaders vs. the followers. The most important note to make is that as a talent, you must learn how to be both. The next step after that is learning how to know when to lead and when to follow.
Casting Director Scott Powers shares his advice on the subject of how to follow and when to lead.
The hallmark of a good actor is "takes direction well." Makes adjustments. As performers, we are many times on the receiving end: being told what to do by a director, photographer, agent, casting director, your teacher. Mom might even figure in there somewhere.
What can happen is that the actor insidiously falls into a trap: the permanent mode of always expecting to be told what to do. And can't move until. This is where obviously an actor runs into trouble. And can't quite understand why things aren't clicking, especially after being so obedient. Remember: only you can advance your career. So much has been written about the necessity of being pro-active [get-off-your-butt] that we won't re-hash that one more time. But what is most important is: knowing how and when to shift out of the Follow mode and into the Lead mode.
A good rule of thumb: in the in-between times of their not telling you to do something, you should automatically be telling yourself to do something.
Taking this concept one step further: know when to think and when not to think. Many actors have been in acting classes where the instructor says, "Don't think," "Get out of Your Head," "Don't Intellectualize," "Be in the Now." They are correct when trying to get a truthful performance out of an actor. Here's what's forgotten: when you're finished acting, turn your thinking switch back on and then continue to be able to take care of yourself. Some actors, in learning the craft of acting, have little by little unlearned how to think, dumbed themselves down and have insidiously become helpless, hopeless individuals requiring the care and supervision of friends, family and the kindness of strangers. Do not do this to yourself.
Knowing when to shift gears is a big key to success and longevity. If you're looking for an industry that runs on yin/yang, right brain/left brain, lead/follow, think/don't think, passive/aggressive, and an undercurrent of S/M thrown in for good measure; congratulations, YOU'VE FOUND THE RIGHT BUSINESS!
When should you take the lead? And when should you take direction?
Huge SAG-AFTRA news regarding commercial and music video residuals. "What residuals," you ask? Keep reading to find out more . . .
“This agreement . . . delivers good terms for dancers and other performers who work in music videos (and) sets the first industry-wide standard for wages and working conditions in music video production,” said negotiating committee member and dancer Sharon Ferguson, who has worked with music video artists including Prince and No Doubt.
“That’s huge!” she added.
On the commercials front, rather than begin negotiations in October as previously planned, SAG-AFTRA and the advertising industry will “pursue a ‘Clearinghouse Project’ designed to address some of the data challenges encountered during the (GRP) Pilot Project,” according to the union.
The GRP concept, which has been under study for over three years, could result in a large change to the way commercials residuals are calculated. It would have no effect on the calculation of the entertainment residuals that are more familiar to Hollywood.
Click here to read the full article published by The Hollywood Reporter.
Can it be possible that a music video might grant a talent SAG-AFTRA eligibility?
