Self-awareness is an important ingredient in the creative process. For emerging artists, this is important to develop. An actor, who lacks the ability to recognize their type as individual, may never possess the means to effectively communicate that unique type to the industry.
These actors will find themselves in a cycle of superficial typecasting. As a Business Coach for actors and the Studio Manager of a Professional Actor Training Program, I work as a liaison between second-year students and the professional world.
In my Business Preparation Workshop I am often asked, “What is my type?” Most young actors expect me to compare their looks to a celebrity, but in essence your type runs much deeper.
If you want to work as a professional in this industry you need a grasp on both your emotional and marketable type, in other words, your range. But in order to begin to determine your type as an actor, you must first understand what it means to be trained as a complete artist.
As Studio Manager, I often field calls from frantic actors who are “looking to start training as soon as possible”. It’s either because they are “getting no where in the business”, and have come to the realization that they don’t have the fundamentals necessary for the work, or because a casting director flat out told them, “You need training”.
The first and most important business decision an actor can make is to dedicate their time to a serious professional actor training program. Be it a conservatory in New York City or one of our nations top BFA or MFA programs, the curriculum should concentrate on a core technique that meets the artistic needs of the student.
Acting, physical, and vocal technique must come first – that’s where you learn how to craft. But any serious program should ultimately culminate in a course that teaches students about life after training. As well as, in the business world, how to appropriately speak about themselves as artists.
Creative entrepreneurs use their individuality to liberate the talent that lies within. When you have talent, you owe it to yourself to get training. When you have training, you owe it to your talent to create and own your image.
The actor who embraces their role as creative entrepreneur, will know how to submit themselves for the right parts, will secure more auditions, and will walk into every audition room looking the part.
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