A USEFUL WEBSITE FOR LA ACTORS
In response to my cautionary notes last month about on-line casting websites, my friend Basil Hoffman dropped me a note endorsing Nowcasting.com. Basil, a veteran actor, author and respected LA acting coach, points out that Now Casting "offers a range of services for actors, including personal websites, online submissions, personalized postcard mailings, etc.; and they are the publishers of the Players Directory, which was created and published for many, many years by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. . . . They are reputable." He is correct of course. If you are LA-based, it is worth taking a look at Nowcasting.com. Thanks, Basil!

IS THIS THE FUTURE OF COMMERCIALS?
Take a look at this FedEx ad running on YouTube. This is one of a half dozen in this campaign. FedEx no longer advertises on the Super Bowl, but its ads are turning up on the web. This is the kind of new media evolution that has Screen Actors Guild members tied up in knots. How will the old pay-for-play television residual formula work in a number-of-hits Internet environment? For the past thirty years, SAG members have made as much money from commercials as from movies and television shows combined. But television as we have known it is going away. It will not be long before conventional TV networks disappear and, along with them, commercials as we now know them. It is all going to be a big multi-media, download on demand, make-your-own program schedule paradigm. Network television was originally invented as a sales medium, not an art medium. TV shows exist in order to deliver good-humored consumers to the ads. So what is going to happen now? It really is anybody's guess, but I suggest that these FedEx ads could be interesting harbingers. We may be on our way back to advertiser-produced shows, like in the 1950s. The Milton Berle Texaco Star Theater, for example, or the GE Theater hosted by Ronald Reagan. This FedEx campaign could, without a whole lot of trouble, be extended to half hour programs that I think would be more entertaining than most of the programming currently on commercial television. These are fascinating times for new actors who are trying to figure out how they will be making a living these next forty or fifty years. "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."

REALITY TV IS A GROWING PROBLEM FOR ACTORS
The New York Times reports (in an August 2nd, front page article by Edward Wyatt) that over 25 percent of primetime programming now is non-scripted reality shows. On-camera participants (I cannot in good conscience call them actors) are not SAG or AFTRA members and, according to the Times article, are often required to work long hours under difficult conditions with none of the protections that union members have. Undependable meal breaks, no overtime wage increases, participants kept in isolation for days on end. Even worse, on the programs in which people get angry and yell at one another, participants are often liquored up and deprived of sleep so that they will be more edgy. The shows are popular cash cows for the broadcasters, however. "American Idol", for example, is getting $1 million for a 30-second spot. Television programming tends to seek the lowest common denominator in audiences. The growth of Reality TV is, in my opinion, a sad commentary on its viewers. And it is extremely bad news for the performing and writing unions. Here is a link to the New York Times article.

ADVICE ABOUT THE BIZ
I confess that I'm not much into blogs, but my friend Mia Pascal, a creative force in San Francisco, forwarded this link to me. Jenna Fischer is one of the regulars on "The Office." Her story is honest, funny, occasionally profane (be warned!), sad and ultimately inspiring. Speaking as one who has done the Hollywood thing, I can tell you it also rings true. Here is Ms. Fischer's advice to new actors.

CHICAGO SCENE STUDY
The scene study workshop meets at The Acting Studio, 10 West Hubbard Street #2E, in the Loop. That is located half a block west of Hubbard and State streets. Hours are 7-10:30 on Thursday nights. It is free to audit once, and you can start at any time. Tuition is $135 per 4-week month.

PRIVATE COACHING
I am available for private coaching in Chicago. $75 per hour.

ACTING FOR ANIMATORS WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
Sept 15-17, Changchun, China, 2009 Jilin International Game Forum
Oct 27- 31, Beijing, China Aniwow! Festival
Planning, Taiwan, Digital Content Institute, SOFA
Feb 5-8 Animex Festival, Teesside England

CRAFT NOTES
Confidence and Hillary Clinton
An actress in my Chicago scene study workshop recently presented a contemporary dramatic monologue. I generally presume that monologue presentation in class is primarily being sharpened for audition situations. In this particular case, the actress was giving a reasonable interpretation of the material, but it was clear to me that no matter how extensive her research on the role might be, she would probably not be cast if she used that monologue at a real world audition. The problem was not in the script, but in the performer's lack of confidence. As unlikely as it sounds, it is entirely possible for an actor to hide on stage, to send out the message, "I am not ready for this. Do not look at me." It is a conflicting signal to auditors because, by virtue of the fact that the actor is on the stage, the implicit message is "Look at me."

I am going to tell you something very important - and possibly surprising - right now. If you do not think you should get the job, neither will the people who are interviewing or auditioning you. Success and failure are self-fulfilling prophecies. Everybody wants a winner. Success breeds success. An unassertive actor makes auditors nervous.

The thing is, no amount of acting lessons can correct the problem of self-doubt. Stanislavsky himself could not have fixed it. Confidence in oneself is what an actor brings to the party in the first place. Confidence is the base upon which an actor's craft and art must be erected. This is such a crucially important characteristic that confidence alone can sometimes carry the day. I have seen some woefully un-talented people making big money in Hollywood simply because they suffer under the delusion that they are wonderful. If you arrive on the scene believing that everybody is going to be happy to see you, they likely will. Talent is definitely essential if you are going to enjoy a long professional career. However, a talented actor who does not feel confident standing in the spotlight, is in for a world of frustration.

Back to that actress in the workshop. Rather than talk with her about character analysis and such, I asked her to try an unusual exercise for me. "Please present the monologue again, this time as Hillary Clinton would do it." Sounds like an odd adjustment, doesn't it? Well, let me tell you that the actress was utterly transformed when she took it. She may personally lack self-confidence at the moment, but Hillary does not. In presenting the monologue as she thinks Hillary would do it, she was actually doing it as if she had confidence. As Hillary, she was projecting the dynamic of a winner, and I feel confident she would get into callbacks using that approach. In time, and with some success, she will undoubtedly develop her own self-confidence. Until then she's probably better off channeling Hillary.

One of my many psychiatrists (stop laughing - all good actors have spent time on the couch) asked me during a session if I could imagine how things would be if I didn't have the psychological issue of the moment. "Can you imagine how you would feel getting up in the morning if you didn't have this problem?" I thought about it for a while and then smiled in recognition of the feeling. "Have you got it?" he asked. "Yeah. Got it." "How does it feel?" "Marvelous!" "Good. Start acting like that. See you next week."