Master Thespian Master Thespian© Archives Back to Archive Links Page For your maximum enjoyment, please use Microsoft Internet Explorer set to resolution of 1024x768. Contact 12/16/02: Last Thursday I had my first 'major' scene in our TV/Film Acting class 'indie' movie with no less than the beautiful Kristi. Kristi's character was supposed to be coming on strong to mine with hints of alcohol induced sexual fulfillment. And I was supposed to be responding like I believed her, or as the director grimaced after about the third run through, "Robert, act like you REALLY believe you're going home with her TONIGHT." While the screenwriter, who knows I'm a filthy, dirty old man, with an active imagination, moaned in the background, "We wrote this part for you!" But you see, being I'm agéd and what some callous individuals might term just plain obese, I don't spend much time at all preparing for sexual encounters of any stripe, because they just don't happen in movies to actor's of my 'type'. I think Kristi did a fine job with her part, but I let myself down with mine. One technique I forgot was how important it was to concentrate on what she was saying and how it made me feel. With all the blocking changes, cheating out, moving chairs, handling glasses full of wine, faking wine being poured on my privates and knowing the camera is picking up every facial twitch and acne scar, and doing it over and over, I was, once again, just about overcome by all these things that I didn't ever have to deal with on stage . . . and getting down on myself. I later realized that what kept me from treating Kristi simply as her character was the fact that I know too much about her and that knowledge, that my actor-self held, inhibited actions by my character. And it's almost impossible to avoid learning "too much" about someone in an acting class of nine people over a period of several months. That's why, when I work in theater, the other actors call me a 'method actor', because when I step into the dressing room I become 100% my character and I treat everyone the same way my character would treat their character. That is a major part of why I enjoy acting. Acting allows my brain, that is constantly spinning along at 7,200 rpm, Every. Single. Waking moment. To be totally distracted, taken over, obliterated by the need to recall dialogue and blocking and to dredge up created memories, rather than attempting to solve all the troubles on the planet. (I think if I was the type to use drugs or alcohol to excess - of course, ahem, I never touch the stuff - the reason I would use them is to escape the every-waking-moment, constant churning of my grey matter. Not that I'm psychotic. Not that I'm psychotic. Not that I'm psychotic.) <brrrzzzaaappppaaappp! Sometimes, though, I do need to use a stun-gun on myself. > Another thing that Kristi and I discovered together was, when we later watched a part of the scene, where we felt like we were rubbing facial hairs we were so close, but yet on video tape it looked like we were still six to eight inches apart. Once again, I am so glad I stumbled (or was led?) to take this class the first year of its existence and that my fellow guards were more than willing to come in early so I could leave my post early to attend class. 12/15/02: Saturday, December 7th, I drove the 24 miles from work to the offices of Darlene Wyatt Casting to audition for the student film titled, "The Last Hunt." While shepherding the Suburban Assault Vehicle beastie south on Highway 51 at speeds it hadn't seen for months and praying something didn't fly off the engine, rather than getting myself hyped up for an audition, I was thinking about how today was my last day in my six day, 48 hour work week. That was mistaken and mis-directed, thinking. Once I inside the office I saw that yes, indeed this was a real live casting agency, with bins clearly marked for each of the SAG franchised agents in the Valley. As I penciled-in the audition sheet, I was shocked to find out that due to location shots in Payson, Arizona, one week away from work would be required during filming. I thought long and hard about that and then decided that, if cast, I would expend a week of my dear vacation time to appear in the movie. Hah! My worries were greatly exaggerated. For once my time came, in addition to having no energy, I forgot everything I knew about acting and came across about as animated as a sleepy Al Gore. I felt so sorry for the auditing team of Judy LeBeau and Ron Phillips. I knew I was in "trouble" when instead of slapping me on the forehead with a lead-weighted beaver-tail, as my performance merited, they had me skip to the last page of the sides. The death knell was sounded as I changed characters and read for "Crow", described in the break-outs as "Thin, villainous, derelict." At 263 pounds, I'd have to be six foot ten inches to be considered "thin" . . . However, Ron and Judy did perform admirably as they smiled, passed the barf bag under the table between them, and simultaneously complimented me. After having thoroughly embarrassed myself and having disgraced all my acting teachers, I shortly found myself in the cramped parking lot once more as I carefully laid my salt and pepper topped noggin behind the driver's side front Goodyear of the still steaming Suburban, hoping to somehow back the SAV over my head and end it all. However, I could not discover a means to release the parking brake to allow the vehicle, straining in reverse gear, to flatten my head to the same thinness as my crushed ego. I saw that in the weekend Arizona Republic that The American Academy of Dramatic Arts will again be in Phoenix, Saturday, January 18th, 2003. So those of you with large amounts of money to spend in the hopes of genuinely furthering your acting career, feel free to visit their website at www.aada.org to schedule an appointment. Best of luck! Speaking of the Arizona Republic, there was a nice article in the Sunday, December 1, 2002 issue about how the new Valley freeways have made it easier for both actor's and audience's to get to formerly remote venues. On the E1 front page, we see a horrible, horrible photo of Theater Works director, Grand Canyon University alumni, Scott Campbell, gesturing toward the D.O.T. green Peoria Avenue off ramp sign that leads to his theater. 12/12/02: Congratulations to Phoenix's own Bob Sorenson for his recent appearance on the NBC hit show Law & Order. Your Master Thespian was caught unaware when he glanced the familiar Sorenson beak on the face of the M.E. (Medical Examiner) in the middle of the program. This episode also marked the return of former Senator Fred Thompson to acting as the 'boss' on the series, replacing the horribly miscast Dianne Wiest from last season. Being an actor, in the midst of being 'an actor,' I could definitely tell the senator was just a little rusty on his technique, but still a very appropriate choice for the part. 12/07/02: We've been filming our 'indy' movie the last few sessions at PVCC and I can only say how thankful I am that this class was available and that I enrolled. Hell, who knows, if I don't get cast on a regular basis, I may take it again! The one thing that really stands out as being so very different from the stage work that I've done, is the lack of rehearsal time. Of course, being a college class our shooting schedule and rehearsal times are necessarily abbreviated, but still it's quite a shock. And quite an emotional and physical rush. Where in stage productions you rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and if you don't get at least four weeks of rehearsing you feel cheated. Alas, in film work you are expected to have your lines down, your character's mannerism's down, some sort of blocking and way to fill the frame down and perfected the instant you venture onto the set. You are expected to have the whole enchilada down when they are ready to shoot your scenes. Film work takes a special sort of free-time discipline requiring an actor to have virtually everything at the ready the instant you step into venue of the 'Big Eye' and the 'Big Ear.' And missing the hours and hours of rehearsal that a stage production requires, is what attracted me to film work in the first place, because I just can't afford to miss the opportunity to squeeze in another eight or sixteen hours of 'day-job' overtime just because I'm in rehearsal. 11/21/02: Our old friends, formerly of O'Brien-Rottman Talent Placement have sprung up again, like the unkillable kudzu vine, over in California. Artist's Productions is apparently the current name of the talent agency that finds Mr. Pat O'Brien at its head. And, from what I've learned, it's the same squeeze they played here in Arizona and the Lone Star State. Kids are invited to audition at Artist's Productions (whose names were probably culled from a list of students who've maybe been in one school play-from a school known to be in a wealthy zip code) and are then phoned the day after to return to Artist's Productions to face an interview and 'The Squeeze' where they are offered the possibility (dare I urgently whisper the probability) to reap thousands of dollars virtually immediately in the acting game, if only they'd part with $1,890 or more of their parent's hard earned dinero. I don't know what two grand of American green would purchase in California, but here in the Sonoran Desert it would fetch 20 months of intensive actor training at the Herberger Theater Center consisting of 80 four hour sessions, one set of professional head shots (from the photographer of your choosing) and still have enough left over to attend a single semester of exceptionally fine drama instruction at one of our Junior Colleges. These Maricopa County Community College classes would provide another 58 hours of education in the dramatic arts. I also understand that Eric Rottman, the hyphenated end of the former O'Brien-Rottman scheme, has also burst upon the California acting scene. Only Mr. Rottman has boldly chosen the business name of Eric Rottman and has admitted to your Master Thespian that he was indeed the former owner of O'Brien-Rottman Talent Placement in Arizona. So, here you are faced with where to direct your financial wherewithal, either to O'Brien or Rottman, amidst hints of instant stardom and substantial evidence of their claimed past misdeeds, or endure the sometimes arduous, sometimes tear filled, always exciting, drama instruction stretching over 200 hours and two years while making connections and meeting people who may actually be able to further your acting career for no other reason than they are nice people. Or like true SAG authorized talent agents, they do not make any money unless you do first. If you feel you have been cheated visit the California Attorney General's office on the Web. What the Better Business Bureau says about Talent Agencies