BONO MAKES AN EXCELLENT POINT
the singer/activist Bono lists some areas in which he expects to see significant change during this new decade. Under the heading "Intellectual Property Protection," he has this to say. I think he is right on target, and I hope SAG leaders and members are listening.
"Caution! The only thing protecting the movie and TV industries from the fate that has befallen music and indeed the newspaper business is the size of the files. The immutable laws of bandwidth tell us we’re just a few years away from being able to download an entire season of '24' in 24 seconds. Many will expect to get it free.
". . . Perhaps movie moguls will succeed where musicians and their moguls have failed so far, and rally America to defend the most creative economy in the world, where music, film, TV and video games help to account for nearly 4 percent of gross domestic product. Note to self: Don’t get over-rewarded rock stars on this bully pulpit, or famous actors; find the next Cole Porter, if he/she hasn’t already left to write jingles."
GROWING PAINS: VOICE WORK IN VIDEO GAMES
Video game producers generally resist the idea of paying residuals to the artists who work on the games. In this regard, they think a lot like early Hollywood movie producers did, before Screen Actors Guild held their feet to the fire. "I hired you. You did the work. I paid you. Now go away." It didn't work then, and it won't work now. Whether it is in the form of residuals or larger up-front buy-outs, the entire creative team - including voice performers - must ultimately find a way to share in the ever-growing grosses. Video games are a huge industry, even bigger than movies, and fair is fair.
THEATRE STUDIES (THE BASICS), by Robert Leach, Routledge, $19.95
I recommend this book with enthusiasm. Robert Leach is the Drama Pathway Leader at the University of Cumbria and, take it from me, this guy knows his stuff. As far as I am concerned, the book ought to be required reading for any serious student of theatre and acting. In concise and highly readable form, Professor Leach introduces the various dramatic genres, from tragedy to political documentary, then goes into theories of performance, the history of theatre in the West, acting and directing. It is the kind of book I wish somebody had given me when I was in my early 20s and beginning to pursue a career in acting. And, right in step with this month's craft notes, Leach names the very first chapter of the book "Play" - as in the opposite of work. Check it out.
CHICAGO SCENE STUDY RESUMES THIS WEEK, JAN. 7
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
Feb 14 - Staffordshire University (Staffordshire, England)
CRAFT NOTES
“Advanced Pretend”
Jeff Bridges was recently being interviewed on The Charlie Rose Show in connection with his latest film Crazy Heart when the conversation turned to his opinion about the art and craft of acting. “Basically,” he explained with a grin, “acting is advanced pretend.” I really like that description because it is so uncomplicated and is correct. There is a library full of books and DVDs that will tell you how tough it is to be an actor. A newcomer takes a look at the list of techniques to be mastered, including sense memory, emotional recall, substitution, staying in the moment, voice projection, diction, repetition exercises, active listening, how not to indicate, and on and on. First thing you know, acting is not so much fun any more. It is not at all like it was in the high school production where everybody just had a good time. Now you have to “do the work” and “prepare the instrument." When you didn’t know much about it, you simply jumped into the pool and splashed around. Now you dare not get wet until you are absolutely certain that you can do five laps with alternating strokes.
When my daughter, Dagny, was five or six years old, she would occasionally see me on television. If my role called for violence or tears, the performance was disturbing to her. I remember explaining to her that I was pretending, that nobody really hit me, and that I was actually having a good time when I cried. She thought about that for a very long moment. In her 5-year-old mind, pretending was what she and her friends did when trying on clothes and shoes from her mom’s closet. Pretending was what she did when she played tea-time and served her doll a cookie. She therefore concluded that there must be a distinction between her kind of pretend and the kind of pretend I was doing on television. “So that is not pretend-pretend? It is for-real pretend?” Exactly, it is for-real pretend. Or, as Jeff Bridges put it, “advanced pretend.”
Fade Out/Fade In, Present-day Ed Hooks acting class: A new student enrolls, an attractive woman in her early thirties who has been chasing an acting career for twelve years. I can tell when she walks into the studio that she is gut-level unhappy and frustrated but that, by God, she is ready to work. She is determined to lick this career monster yet! I sit her down and ask when was the last time she had fun acting, and she doesn’t have an answer. She wants to tell me about her Meisner training or whatever. I ask her why she came into acting in the first place, and she has to reach far back into her memory before replying. “I don’t know. I was maybe nineteen when I started….” “Was it fun back then?” She smiles, “Yes, it was.” I tell her that she must recapture that feeling of pretend, of playing. She has enough technique already. What she is lacking is perspective, confidence and optimism. I tell her that, for the first couple of months in my workshop, I want her to simply get up on stage and make mistakes and learn how to laugh at her silly self. “Acting is not neat and pretty,” I explain. “You are never ever going to get it ‘right’. It is all pure process. And part of that process is the audience recognizing that you are having fun being on stage.”
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