HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We survived and surpassed Orwell's "1984", and now we pause to consider Stanley Kubrick's "2001". The closing words of Roger Ebert's original Chicago Sun-Times review of the movie seem particularly relevant in this new Presidential year. "'2001: A Space Odyssey' is not about a goal but about a quest, a need. It ...says to us: We became men when we learned to think. Our minds have given us the tools to understand where we live and who we are. Now it is time to move on to the next step, to know that we live not on a planet but among the stars, and that we are not flesh but intelligence."

MIRAMAX WEB SITE A BEAUTY! Boy, do I love this web site, designed to promote current films for Miramax. ("Malena", "All the Pretty Little Horses", "Chocolat"...) Probably it works best if you have a DSL line but, even if you don't, check out this site. It is elegant and captivating, and it will for sure make you want to act in movies. http://www.miramax2000.com/home.html.

SPEAKING OF MOVIES ... I have seen two of those Miramax movies, "Malena" and "Chocolat" and can recommend them. The plot line of "Chocolat" has a couple of hiccups that will keep it from becoming a classic, but any movie with Juliette Binoche (my personal favorite film actress) and Judi Dench in it is a must-see for serious actors. The two of them are mesmerizing in their scenes together. The craft on display will dazzle you and cause you to nod your head in wonder. When "Chocolat" is ultimately released on DVD, I will buy it to show to my film classes as an example of excellent film technique in acting. In fact, the acting in this film is terrific throughout, including moving performances from Lena Olin and Johnny Depp. Alfred Molina, who plays the villain, has perhaps the most difficult acting task because his character arc is one of the hiccups. He rises above that and evokes plenty of empathy from the audience.

"Malena" is directed by Giuseppe Tornatore ("Cinema Paradiso") and is set in a small town in Sicily during and after WWII. It's gritty, funny, often disturbing, and truthful in its depiction of male pubescent fantasy. It's not for children. Many Italians will not like the self-portrait, but Tornatore's vision resonates. Somehow, you just know he is getting it right. During the war, many people did things that were later a source of shame. I've said enough. Go see the movie.

One more.... this one a Sony Pictures Classic. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", directed by Ang Lee, is another winner. I'm not myself deeply into Eastern philosophy, and I'm even less into martial arts, but this movie works on a mythic and romantic level. The acting is top notch, the camera work is likely to win an Academy Award, the locations are from picture books and the final scene is breath taking. The gravity-defying fight scenes are actually pretty, with warriors running up the walls, across roofs and into tree tops.

ARE YOU AN ANIMATOR? I have a new web site for you. Check it out at http://www.ActingForAnimators.com. Upcoming Craft Notes are about Disney's new movie, "The Emporer's New Groove".

TEEN ACTING CLASSES IN PALO ALTO... Meredith Hagedorn (F/TV - '00) teaches acting classes for teens. For info, contact her at meresie@hotmail.com.

Film Demo WorkshopES COMING UP!

We shoot scenes on digital video in the Film Demo Workshop. They are edited (actors in the class get hands-on with editing), titled and transferred to VHS for a demo reel at the end of eight weeks. This is a very ambitious agenda, and enrollment is limited to ten actors. With each class so far, actors have been turned away because they waited too long to enroll. If you want to participate in the classes beginning Feb. 13th (Tuesday) and Feb. 14th (Wednesday), let me know soon. Contact me at: edhooks@best.com.

UPCOMING CLASSES

Commercials workshop --January 27-28

Acting for Animators --January 20th (Saturday), 10am-5pm

Scene Study SF -- Monday nights, 7-10:30

Scene Study Palo Alto - Thursday nights, 6:30-10pm

Film Demo Workshop --New classes begin Feb. 13th (Tuesday nights) and Feb. 14th (Wednesday nights)

HOOKS ACTORS WORKING
JEAN MAZZEI recorded v/o's for Webex.com (commercial), a new Konami CD-ROM game and Heald College CD-ROM campus tour. She also recorded some radio spots for Heald and is on-camera in commercials for Nexium, Breathe Right Nasal Strips. Jean also has the lead in a 16mm short (title in progress) and has signed with Tonry Talent for representation. NEIL HOWARD (comm'l, '99) will be appearing in "Wit" at the San Jose Stage Company. He also landed an industrial VO for Netscape and wrote and performed a national radio spot for the 2000 Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. DEEANN WEIR (f/tv and comml - '98) is heading up a new theatre company in New York called The Queen's Company. They do all-female productions of classical plays. Their first production, "Macbeth", was very successful and they are currently prepping for "The Rover", to open in March. After that, "The Duchess of Malfi" or "Edward II". For more info, contact Deeann at deeannwr@mindspring.com. I'm a big fan of all-female Shakespeare and send a rousing, "Yeah!" to Deeann and her company.

CRAFT NOTES
"Planning an Acting Career"

Becoming a professional actor is like getting called to the priesthood. It isn't something you work out with your college counselor or career mentor, although once the decision is made, there are steps you can take to properly prepare yourself. As is the case with all arts, acting is an irrational thing to be doing for a living. The odds against financial success -- no, even financial survival -- are overwhelming. Eighty-five percent of the members of Screen Actors Guild earn less than $5,000 per year from acting, and half the people who come into acting get right back out within three years because they can't make any money doing it.

So what? None of this matters a whit to a person who knows in his or her bones that he simply must act. Failure is neither an option nor a consideration to the person who must act. If you can be dissuaded from pursing a career as an actor because there is a good chance of failure, you will do yourself a big favor by never starting in the first place. Do something else, something more stable and dependable with your life, and stretch your acting-muscle in non-paying community theater. Become a banker, an Internet genius, a doctor or lawyer, but leave professional acting to those who can only move in one-direction, toward the follow-spot.

Every few weeks, I am sought out by an acting student or, sometime, by a total stranger, and asked to help him make a rational decision about acting. The sessions typically include these topics:

(1) "How about if I work hard and save up a lot of money and start acting five years from now?" ANSWER: If you have the ability to work hard and make money, and if you can live without acting, then you fortunately can forget about an acting career. Go make the money. In other words, if there is any way you can live without acting, then do it.

(2) "I don't want to move from San Francisco (...Toronto, Austin, Atlanta, Detroit, fill in the blank...) to Hollywood, so I'm trying to figure out a way to live here and work there. How about if I send out pictures to Hollywood agents and then go there for a few days for interviews? How about if I go to Hollywood just for pilot season?" ANSWER: Hollywood agents are not going to represent anybody who does not live in Hollywood unless he is a certifiable, bankable star. Paul Newman can live in Connecticut, but you can't. There are over 70, 000 union member actors in LA, and the talent agents have plenty of local talent to choose from. They do not need to invest in long distance calls to get you to an audition. If you want to work in LA, move to LA.

(3) "I'm giving it a three year (one year, five year...) window for success. If I don't make it within that period, I'm quitting." ANSWER: You will fail. Don't even begin. Do something else with your life, be a happy person. There is no shame in being a recreational actor. Do community and church theater. Stay a country mile away from Hollywood. Suppose Picasso had thought that way? "I'll paint five hundred pictures and, if none of them sell, I'm giving it up for encyclopedia sales." Or Van Gogh, who died a pauper? Art does not hold up to the litmus test of rationality and banker-like planning.

(4) "Be honest, do you think I have what it takes to succeed as an actor?" ANSWER: I may think you are very talented, but if you don't know it yourself, then my opinion does not matter. I have known a lot of people who are more talented than me, and they were not able to get off first base with an acting career. If your self-assessment is dependent upon verification from me or anybody else, you probably should not be pursuing a professional acting career. If I told you that I do not think you have the stuff to succeed, the answer of a true actor would be, "Hrumph....shows what you know, Ed."

(5) "I want to be a film actor. I'm not interested in stage at all." ANSWER: The decision you have to make is whether or not to be an actor in the first place, whether to pursue it as a profession; the medium in which you do it is another matter entirely. If you are only interested in film acting, there is a good chance your motivation to act is not based on communication with an audience, but on self esteem-buidling. ("If I am in the movies, I really must matter in the world. Screens don't lie. Movie stars have more fun.") If you feel like you want to communicate with an audience by exposing characters through yourself, then you probably are an actor. If you are an actor, you will get your opportunities to act in movies.

(6) "My boyfriend (husband, lover, parent, significant other) says he'll (she'll) be supportive if I try this. So what should my first step be?" ANSWER: Suppose your partner had said he/she would not support you? Would you consider not pursuing acting? If the answer to this is "yes", then you probably should not be pursuing an acting career. Real, honest-to-God actors are single-minded. They wear blinders and have tunnel vision. The good wishes of your partner/parent/lover may be nice, but it should not matter. True actors cannot be dissuaded, discouraged or otherwise diverted from what they know they must do. Good wishes and family support are just so much gravy.

The truth is that the odds against acting success are so daunting that only the most obsessed and determined person should even try it. You come into acting because you must, because you cannot imagine going through your life without doing it. You do not want to turn seventy years old, look back and say, "Well, I coulda....".

It is also true that the world needs actors (shamans) more now than ever. Everything is moving too fast in the 21st century, there is too much gigabyte information being tossed at us, and the human tribe needs the help of those who can put it all into perspective. Science and math tell us how to do things; the arts tell us why we should.

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