Category Archives: The Film Set

Interview with Homeland Actor David Harewood

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David Harewood is the British actor who plays David Estes, the director of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Centre, the the brilliant Channel 4 drama Homeland. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Harewood has been a fixture on the London stage for many years, earning praise for his work in such plays as Sam Mendes’ Othello at the National Theatre, which later went to Broadway.

Harewood appeared in Separate Lies, written and directed by Julian Fellowes; the 2004 screen version of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons; and Blood Diamond, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly.

On British television, Harewood was a regular on such series as The Vice, Robin Hood and Babyfather. He was also seen as Mandela in the television movie Mrs. Mandela. Harewood also guest stars in a number of series including Doctor Who, Strikeback and Criminal Justice.

 

A surprising number of fans of Homeland don’t realise that you’re a Brit. Explain where you’re from…

I’m from Small Heath in Birmingham. It’s hilarious to me. I’ve been acting for 26 years, in everything from Casualty to The Bill to The Vice, I’ve played Othello at The National Theatre – it’s taken me 26 years to be an overnight success, as the old gag goes, and it’s hilarious that all these Brits think that I’m American. And here in America, whenever I turn up on the red carpet, they’re all stunned to find out that I’m British.

 

That’s particularly impressive that the Americans themselves are stunned. That clearly shows that you’re doing something right.

Well, yeah. It’s always something I try to do. I’ve always tried to put character ahead of personality. I’m really glad that, even today, people kind of recognise me, they kind of know where I’m from, but no-one’s able to place me. I think that’s because I’ve done so much stuff, and hopefully it’s a testament to my ability to act.

 

Growing up in Birmingham, you were a very useful goalkeeper, weren’t you?

Very useful – The Cat, I was once known as. [Laughs] I used to play a lot as a kid, and I had trials as an All England Schoolboy. But I was never going to do it too seriously. Whenever it rained, on a wet, windy Saturday morning, I’d stand there thinking “What on earth am I doing here?” My heart was never really in it. But I played with some fantastic footballers, and it was a huge part of my life.

 

You went to RADA at the age of 18. Did that open up a whole new world for you?

Completely! I’d never really paid much attention at school – I was always a bit of a clown, really – that’s why I started acting. I wasn’t particularly attractive, and I wasn’t particularly academic, so the only way I could really get any attention was to mess about and be a bit of an idiot. At the time it was fantastic, but I suppose it was to the detriment of my education. Then I turned up at RADA, and went in on my first day, and they’re all talking about Brecht and Moliere and Dostoyevsky, and I’m thinking “Who the hell are they?” It was a real eye-opener. I really started to appreciate literature, and it was a wonderful journey. I was very lucky, I had a wonderful few years there.

 

Did you struggle to find work after you left?

I was very lucky, I came straight out and got a job. I played Romeo for Temba Theatre Company, which was the biggest black theatre company at the time. I’ve always been really, really busy, I’ve been very lucky. I think I spent the first five or six years just not stopping. I didn’t have any difficulty – the difficulty came much later on, when I got older and started to play roles with more authority on stage, that there were fewer and fewer roles for me on screen to do. That’s when I started to struggle, because of the frustration of playing really authoritative, strong roles at The National, but really struggling to match that on screen. I’ve been really, really fortunate to fall into this role [in Homeland].

 

Landing the role must have been a great thrill – acting opposite actors of the calibre of Claire Danes, Damian Lewis and Mandy Patinkin.

I hadn’t worked for a year when I got the gig – partly for personal reasons, and partly because I just couldn’t get a gig, and then suddenly to find that I was sharing a screen with them was just extraordinary. I’ve just had a wonderful year. I suppose it’s like football – you play with better footballers, you get better. I’ve really found that just by watching them and working closely with them, seeing how they prepare and how they execute, has been a real joy, and I can only hope that there are more roles for me of this calibre, working with this calibre of actor. It’s been an absolute pleasure, it really has.

 

When you’re filming something like Homeland, do you get a real sense that you’re making something that’s going to be really, really good, or can you never tell?

A bit of both. I think everybody was very surprised by the immediacy of the success of the show – we were still filming the show when it became a massive hit in America. It’s kind of a goldfish bowl filming here in Charlotte, North Carolina – I think people do watch it here, but I was really surprised when I went to New York how many people were coming up to me and saying they enjoyed the show. I think in LA it’s such a huge show – it’s on posters and billboards everywhere, and this isn’t that kind of town, where there are billboards for TV shows.

 

David Estes is a fairly ambitious character, intent on climbing the greasy pole. What are your feelings towards him?

To be honest with you, I really struggled with him during the first season – I just didn’t know who he was. I told that to the writers at the end of the season, and they’ve done a fantastic job of really filling him out this year and giving him much more of a personality. Last year he was just the authority figure in the background who was always anti-Carrie. That was difficult, because I didn’t know why he had such antagonism towards her, and I didn’t know who he was. I only really discovered that when I played a scene right at the end of the season, when I played a scene with Mandy Patinkin, when you realise that actually he is implicated, and inextricably linked to this whole bomb attack on Abu Nazir, and how much he’d buried all of that information, and how much he was linked to the Vice President. I didn’t know any of that until the very last couple of episodes. It was a huge revelation to me that the reason why I’d been so antagonistic about Carrie finding out about Abu Nazir was because I’d been responsible for this drone strike. It was a huge piece of the jigsaw for me, when I read those scenes, and it’s been like taking a cork out of a bottle. This season has been fantastic for me, because now I know who he is, I understand him, I like him. Yes, okay, he may have sold his soul to a certain extent to get where he wants to, but who wouldn’t? A lot of us, to get where we want to be, would do what we can. It’s fascinating being out here in the world of American politics during an election. You see the real dirty side of politics, with the ads they’re running. If you want to get where you want to get to, you might have to do things that are seemingly unpalatable.

 

Why do you think they went for two Brits in key roles in the series?

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? It’s what everybody’s been asking. And we’ve got a third Brit – we’ve got Rupert Friend joining in this series. The director just says that they were the most interesting tapes that he saw.

 

When you’re on set, between scenes, or when you break for lunch, do you keep talking in an American accent, or do you revert back?

It’s quite extraordinary – all three of the British actors have almost an unspoken rule that nobody’s ever mentioned – we nearly always stay in our American accents when we’re at work. Damian’ll come to work and I’ll be like [puts on American accent] “Hey, man, how’s it goin’?” And he doesn’t look at me and say “What the f*** are you talking like that for?” It’s just unspoken. Every now and again one might drop out of accent and talk about the Olympics, or about something political that happens in the country, like the riots last year, when you have to get out of the accent. But most of the time you just forget, it becomes second nature.

 

You’ve mentioned that it’s election year in America. I hear that Homeland is Barack Obama’s favourite show. Is that a great thrill?

Oh it is. He’s metnioned it several times in interviews – it’s a fantastic thrill. It’s unfortunate that we were on hiatus when he was here for the Democratic convention. I’m sure he knows that we film the show here in Charlotte. Apparently, because his big speech was moved from the stadium to indoors because of the weather, he might be coming back to the state just to do something for the volunteers. Wouldn’t it be amazing to get a visit from the President?

 

Dare I say that it probably wouldn’t be as much of a thrill to have Mitt Romney visit?

Not really! I am astonished it’s so close, to be honest with you. It’s just beyond me that people are even considering him. But there are a lot of people who aren’t convinced by Obama. A lot of people are saying they’re not even going to bother voting this time. That’s bad, that people feel that politics doesn’t mean anything to them. That’s the scary part, that he’s going to lose because the people who voted for him last time just can’t be bothered this time.

 

Season 2 is about to Premiere in the US. Are you excited?

I’m really genuinely excited. From a personal point of view, it’s great because Estes has been given a lot more to do in this series. But it’s just such a fantastic show, I think people are going to be really, really excited to see it. I’ve read so many tweets and blogs where people have said it’s just a one season show which they can’t take any further, but these writers are fantastic. They’ve managed not only to recreate the same amount if tension, but to ratchet it up again. I think fans of the show are going to be very, very pleased.

 

Are you allowed to give us any hints about what we can expect from the series?

I can tell you that the second season begins in Israel. And I can tell you that Carrie will be back in the CIA in some capacity, and that, from what I hear, though I still don’t know, the mole will be revealed. You’re all going to be very surprised.

 

You were awarded an MBE at the beginning of the year. How did that feel?

Absolutely tremendous. It remains, and always will be, one of the proudest days of my life. To have gone there and got that pinned on, and had my daughter and mum be at the palace watching me get that award, it’s one of the proudest things that ever happened to me. I’m really, really chuffed about it.

 

Series 2 of Homeland will be on Channel 4 in October.

Miki Yamashita On Acting | Frost Interviews

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What made you go into acting?

I think I was interested in the arts and performing even before I was aware
of it. My mother says that as a child, I danced and sang around the house so
much that she put me in lessons as soon as I was old enough, because she
wanted me to learn how to do it right. My parents are both teachers, so their
solution for everything is education. It’s actually a pretty good philosophy.
As I grew conscious of my passions in life, I consistently made life
decisions that propelled me towards a life as a performing artist. Let’s just
say I never gravitated towards coal-mining.

Could you ever do anything else?

I guess the right answer is that I actually do many other things. Having
spent my life around many other actors, I have observed that I may be a
slightly different breed than most. I have a group of actor friends that I
started out with performing improv and sketch comedy with at Walt Disney
World, who are still doing only that; I have another group who I did a lot of
musical theatre with, who are still focusing only on Broadway; same with
opera people and comedy writers and commercial actors and episodic
television actors. I am really lucky in that I am actively able to book work in
all of these areas, and I consider that huge spectrum of interests to be my
pursuit as a whole, so if my universe is that huge, understandably there
really isn’t an “anything else” for me.

You famously said: ‘If this business kills me, it will be after everyone in it has my
headshot.’ That’s a go-getting attitude that can be missing in a lot of
performers. Do you agree?

My dear friend Bonnie Gillespie was kind enough to include that in her
brilliant book, “Self-Management for Actors.” When a newer edition came
out, she asked if she could include it again, and I said of course, except that
I didn’t want to imply that manically blanketing an acting market with
headshots was the technique I was espousing. I believe in being fiercely
motivated, but in a very focused and strategic manner. There’s a young actor
in LA, I haven’t seen him in a while, but this crazy kid literally plastered the
exterior of his car with his headshots. I swear! He drives around in this car
all day long hoping for, I don’t know, to get pulled over by a casting
director and get asked to do a monologue by the side of the road?? I don’t
know! But it’s pretty delusional and highly misguided. I guess what I meant
to say is that “If this business kills me, it will be after everyone in it whom I
have researched and targeted as potential buyers for my product has my headshot.”

Over the years, I have met so many actors; some have almost zero
motivation and ambition to do the basic work that is necessary to even have
a chance at success; others are rabidly foaming at the mouth and doing
everything they can desperately and inefficiently so that they can get ahead.
What I’ve learned from these actors is that there is a better way, there is a
sweet spot, where you have a calm, cool, focused energy that propels you
forward slowly, steadily, and intelligently. Wow, I think this is officially the
most Asian thing I have ever said!

I find you incredibly funny, has your sense of humour helped you survive in
showbusiness? Is it possible to do this without one?

Thank you! I think it’s literally impossible not to develop a sense of humor
as a professional actor. I was once asked to sing opera while running full
speed on a treadmill in a sequined gown. I was once told to continue
reciting my monologue while the casting director got on her cell phone and
ordered a chicken salad. I was once physically threatened by a male chorus
dancer. I mean, as actors, this is daily life, okay? And I think if you don’t
find it hilarious, you become seriously mentally damaged in a way that
prevents you from functioning in society as a normal adult. And then it
becomes this wonderful tool to help you consistently cope with the vast
array of indignities that actors face all the time.

What’s the hardest thing about being an actor?

The hardest thing about being an actor is when Chanel sends you so much
free couture from their latest collection that you run out of assistants to re-
gift them to. JUST KIDDING!!! That’s what most people think actors’
problems are. The general public is fed nothing but lies about our
profession, and they are only provided with the success narrative. It’s part
of the machine that allows the industry to maintain its operations, so you
have to accept that civilians are not ever going to get what most of us go
through. The most difficult thing is really how seldom we are actually able
to do our work, and that we must spend an inordinate amount of time doing
work that has nothing to do with performing in order to bankroll the pursuit
of our REAL work.

And the best?

The best thing about being an actor is getting to crash your car into an 18-
wheeler, blaming it all on your assistant, and showing up 4 hours late to set
where they will still tell you you’re the perfect choice to play Liz Taylor. HA
HA HAAA. Seriously, the best thing about this profession is that we are
constantly challenged to imagine what is possible. Every time I get an audition,
whatever it is, a commercial where I’m a pretty Asian mom, or an
opera where I’m a flying ghost bird-spirit, or a daytime drama where I’m the
secretary to the family patriarch, I get to make decisions about these
characters based on my imagination, my life experience, and what is on the
page. And no one else is going to make the same set of choices that I will.
Even if I don’t get the part, for a brief moment, for the duration of that
audition, my humanity was merged with that character, and I find great
fulfillment in my ability to execute that with consistency and quality.

What is your favourite thing that you have worked on?

My favorite thing that I have worked on is an original new work in which I
sang a principal role, with Los Angeles Opera. The piece was called “The
White Bird of Poston,” and it was newly commissioned specifically for the
purposes of educational and community outreach in the city of Los Angeles.
The opera is about the Japanese American Internment during World War II, a
very dark part of American history. The music and the story are so
beautifully written, I felt so honored to be a part of it, and I felt like it used
so many of my skills simultaneously—my classically trained voice, my
acting training, my dance training, and even a little bit of my abilities as a
comedienne. And on top of that, it had such profound cultural significance
to me as a Japanese American.

You have a great niche as an actress: you studied opera, has this greatly helped
your acting career or is it separate thing?

As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of people that I started out with,
training and performing professionally as serious classical or musical
theatre singers, who are still completely focused on only that sector of
performance. For me, singing eventually became something glamorous and
glorious that I could just keep hidden in my back pocket, and whip it out
suddenly and just stun people with it as needed. This evolution mostly took
place because I moved from the New York acting market which is very
heavily theatre-based, to Los Angeles, which of course focuses much more
on, well, speaking and not singing. But even without the move, I think I was
really adamant about transcending musical theatre; I felt that I had more to
accomplish in other areas, and my interests had a much wider span than just
singing in musicals until I was dead.

Advice for actors?

My advice for actors is pretty depressing, but realistic. If at all possible, get
a degree in a subject that has nothing to do with drama or music. I’ve made
a lot of hideous mistakes in life, but the one thing I did right was to earn a
college degree in English literature instead of acting or vocal performance.
Even though many would say a degree in English is almost as useless, I
would have to argue otherwise. The acting business becomes more and
more competitive every day, and what sets me apart from many others is my
relentless desire to articulate my own experience. As a writer, I have a
heightened sense of power because for the most part, words on a page
cannot be refused or rejected because the writer isn’t blond or skinny. I am
shut out of thousands of performing job opportunities a day simply because
of my physical appearance, something that cannot be transformed by
“working hard.” Trust me, I’ve tried. Exercising cannot change your race!

So my advice is to find tangible skills that will enable you to support your
pursuit of acting for a very very long time.

But ultimately, have faith that you are answering a divine calling by being an
artist. And know that you are in control of what you choose to sacrifice for
this calling.

What’s next for you?

I’m about to make big changes to my online presence; a fellow LA actress,
Sarah Sido, taught me a lot about building websites, so I’m going to use
those skills to rebrand my personal page, as well as start a blog about
acting. Wow, now I’ve said it so I better do it!

FAVORITE ACTORS/ACTRESSES – I think my favorite male actor is Jim
Carrey. A lot of my earlier sketch comedy and improvisational work I did at
Walt Disney World was heavily influenced by him, and I have deep respect
for his significant capabilities as a dramatic actor. He is so interesting to
watch doing anything! Let’s say if, starting tomorrow, he stopped making
studio feature films and decided to just host a vegan cooking show on
HGTV, I would watch that.

For female actresses, I would rather be executed than name just one. Meryl
Streep seems to literally becomes other human beings, to the point where it
actually scares me. Meryl is a frightening example of sheer mastery of the
craft. I would like to see her play some kind of deep sea creature or
something, because that lady would seriously prepare for the role by eating
paramecium and withstanding 500 bars of atmospheric pressure. And that’s
entertainment, my friends.

I love Julianne Moore’s work, because I find that no matter who she plays,
her characterization is so detailed and complete that I feel like I actually
live out the movie in real time as her role. The performance is so intimate
and honest and infused with inner life that I feel like I AM her character.
Believe me, it takes skill to convince a short Asian girl that she is a white
1950’s housewife.

Photo credit: David Muller

Professionally Resting Interview: Lifting the Lid on Acting.

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The talented actor behind the blog Professionally Resting first caught my eye on Twitter. She is brave, witty and accurate about the downside of the acting industry. As an actor myself I just read her tweets/blog posts and nod. I just had to interview her for Frost, so here it is! I also have a guest post coming from her soon, so look out for that too.

What made you start your blog?

I’d been reading a few other acting blogs online and I soon realised that none really covered what it’s like to be an actual working actor. Many are written by actors who are constantly in work and that was something that I just couldn’t really identify with. Most actors I know spend a great deal of their time resting and I wanted to create something fun and supportive for those of us that regularly find ourselves within the unemployed majority. I also wanted to use it as an excuse to keep busy. There are days when there’s very little work coming in and having a blog to think about really keeps me feeling like I’m at least doing something creative.

Tell us a bit about yourself (without giving too much away)!

It’s always tough answering these questions without sounding like you’re on Blind Date! I’m in my late twenties and have been acting (on and off) since graduating from drama school in 2006. I had a break for a couple of years after getting a bit trapped in a temping job that became permanent. It was a horrible job but it meant I could have a couple of years actually earning money and being able to buy things that had previously been a luxury like food that isn’t on the reduced shelf. However, there’s nothing quite like a miserable job to remind you exactly what it is that you really want to be doing and that was the catalyst to making me find acting work again so that I could finally escape.


What do you think of the acting industry?

It’s very much a love/hate relationship. I regularly complain about it on Twitter and on my blog because it honestly drives me insane. It can feel that it often has more to do with luck than talent and you are completely at the mercy of those in control of the work that is out there. It often feels like many companies and channels operate a closed shop policy and I think many of them are guilty of working with the same very tiny gang of actors time and time again. I read an article recently that said there was a very small pool of talent out there which simply isn’t true. There’s an absolute ocean of clever and gifted people out there but they often get ignored as there are other names and faces that are deemed more popular. Unfortunately viewing figures and ticket sales are placed about creating quality work and while I accept that many of those performers that are used time and time again are very good at what they do, a bit of variety really wouldn’t go amiss!
However, having said that, there are very industries that would pay you a month’s rent to mess around as a time-travelling police officer for the day and that’s why I’m still slogging away at it!

What is the worst casting you have ever seen?

There are so many to choose from! The reason I started tweeting about castings was because people were so shocked at just how insulting and offensive and downright baffling they often were. Ones such as ‘No pay unfortunately but you will get to ride in a white stretch limo with a midget and the band’ and ‘She looks a bit like a trollop but tries to dress a bit classy’ have been incredible finds. However, I think the worst has to be one that I saw recently asking for actors to play characters in a sweatshop and the company (a very well-known TV channel) were only offering expenses. I thought I was past being shocked by castings but this one was offensive on so many levels that I genuinely had to keep re-reading it just to make sure that I was seeing it properly. Sadly I was.

What was the catalyst behind you starting your blog?

As I said, it was because I felt like I couldn’t relate to the other acting blogs out there and I felt that there needed to be a voice that represented normal working actors who often find themselves out of work. However, although I knew that it was something I wanted to do, it took me a while to actually get it started. It only happened when I was coming back on the train after a month performing at the Edinburgh Festival. I’d stupidly forgotten to bring a book and my boyfriend and I were unable to sit together so to keep myself occupied, I just started writing. After nearly 4 hours of solid writing, I realised I had a lot to say on the subject of acting and after a bit of encouragement from my boyfriend who’s also a blogger, the blog was born.

What can be done to improve the kind of roles women get?

It has to start with the writing. There is not a day goes by that I don’t see at least one casting where a woman isn’t required to either be a stripper or a prostitute and although I often make a joke of it on Twitter, it is very worrying too. There is such great writing out there for men but female roles are so often overlooked. So many times I read castings where all the male characters are given weird and wonderful characteristics while the women are just written to look nice. There are some incredible writers out there who are really trying to make sure that there are strong, interesting roles for women but they need support from the major producers for their work to get made and seen. I do think that it’s changing and television and film is starting to listen but it feels like a very slow process that needs to speed up a little!

What is your favourite, and least favourite, thing about the industry?

Let’s start with my least favourite and get the negative stuff out the way. It has to be the lack of good, paid work out there for actors. So many companies expect actors to work for free and although I completely understand how difficult it must be working on a tight budget, it’s tough when you’re faced with it day after day. Acting is something that I stupidly want to do for the rest of my life but it’s hard when people seem to think that by offering you a limp cheese sandwich and £5 to cover your travel expenses, they’re doing you a favour. I’ve done jobs in the past where I’ve essentially been paying to be part of them and that’s when you know that something has gone wrong.

And my favourite thing about the industry? It’s that you just don’t know what’s coming up next. A few months ago I was whinging on Twitter about how there didn’t seem to be any work out there and literally minutes later, my agent was on the phone with an audition for an incredible part in a feature film. I didn’t get the role but I do love how your luck changes from one minute to the next. Although it can be pretty unnerving at times, especially when you’re going through a particularly quiet spell, it’s incredibly exhilarating too. I think it’s a little bit addictive which is why actors put themselves through such torment.

You blog and tweet under a pseudonym, do you believe it would harm your acting career if you didn’t? Can you be critical?

The decision to write under a pseudonym was made so that I could be openly critical about the industry. As an actor you have to be so careful because you never know who you’re going to be working with next and I think that means a lot of actors are worried about speaking out about how infuriating this industry can be. Writing anonymously gives me the freedom to be brutally honest about the problems I face without jeopardising my acting career. Although there are days when I wish I could just tweet under my real name, I’m sure I’d have been in a fair bit of trouble for some of my comments, especially about casting calls and auditions.

What was your favourite ever job?

Despite going on about getting paid, my favourite job was one when I didn’t receive a penny. It was one of the first jobs I did after graduating from drama school and was a devised piece. It was pretty shambolic most of the time and we didn’t even get expenses but it was incredible experience seeing a project from the first meeting where we had some terrible ideas to the final night of performance. We barely sold any tickets (mainly because it was listed incorrectly meaning that most audience members turned up about 5 minutes before it was about to end) but it was great fun and real learning curve for me as a new actor.

and your least?

A summer-long Shakespeare festival. It was fun for about a fortnight but after three months away from home on only £25 a week, I was a state. The plays were performed outdoors and it was a particularly bad summer which meant that we spent a lot of time performing in soaking wet velvet dresses. British audiences are incredibly resilient and would determinedly sit there huddled up in anoraks and shelter under umbrellas while we battled with wind, rain, thunder and lightning. Because I was earning so little money, I was mainly living off value bran flakes and tomato soup so I ended the three months malnourished, exhausted, utterly sick of the sight and sound of Shakespeare and with about £4 in my bank account. That was something they really didn’t warn me about in drama school!

You can read the Professionally Resting Blog here and follow her on Twitter.

Gabriela Hersham | Ones to Watch

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Gabriela Hersham is a British born actress who has appeared in a number of independent films
and fashion productions.

Born in North London, Gabriela originally studied at a London business school before deciding to
pursue acting, which has since taken her across the world.

In 2009, after an extensive search, Director Ross Hockrow chose Gabriela to play Shelby, a
troubled young girl struggling with depression in his film A Happy Ending, where she played along
side Lou Martini JR, from the US hit The Sopranos.

In 2010 Gabriela played a large part in the film The Burningmoore Incident, a horror film based
around the renovation of a house interrupted by the slashings of a serial killer. In this film, Gabriela worked closely with Geoff Tate of the cult American heavy metal band Queensryche. In late 2010
Gabriela filmed a number of short fashion films for hot young London based designers Nonoo
Lyons, Corlette London and Mechante of London, filming both in the UK and in New York City.
Working in both independent films and short fashion productions, Gabriela has been able to hone
her acting skills whilst working with prominent directors and costars.

Having formed a strong working relationship with her costar, Johnny Ramey and writer/ director
Ross Hockrow, Gabriela is now in undergoing extensive accent coaching in preparation for the
lead role in American Gypsy (to be filmed in New York City) which tells the story of a disturbed
young woman who puts on different disguises and personas to lure men into compromising
situations before robbing them of their possessions.

Gabriela has three feature films lined up for 2012 in Europe for director Tony Jopia and is also
involved in several other productions which are filming in the US and Middle East.

In addition to having studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York, Gabriela has also been
trained by Susan Batson and Jack Garfein in New York and London.

With her unique looks and strong personality, Gabriela is an important new talent to the film
industry.

"It's the Audition, Stupid!" Book Review and Interview with the Author.

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“It’s the Audition, Stupid!”

It’s a brave opening gambit; a book that insults without giving you a chance to buy it a drink first. But if that upsets you then you’d better grow some thicker skin because Brendan McNamara’s 2011 book about casting doesn’t shy from delivering a few home truths.

And quite right too.

If you purchase the book then you probably are, or are intending to be, an actor. Good luck.

It’s a cruel and unforgiving career and, while the book gives invaluable advice on casting, the real value of “It’s the Audition, Stupid!” comes from its realism – a realism which newcomers to the industry would do well to embrace.

The book itself discusses the intricacies of the casting process in refreshing detail. As an actor popping in and out of castings, which may, on occasion, only last 2-3 minutes, it seems a very arbitrary and mysterious process.

Casting directors too can seem a mysterious and distant bunch, with many actors sending off CV after CV and never hearing a word back. Brendan McNamara’s book does a great job in explaining the casting process and humanising casting directors.

Much of the advice given by the book seems, in retrospect, to be common sense – but it’s amazing how un-common common sense can be. The advice is frank, clear and given with tremendous goodwill.

The book is not just about improving actors’ attitudes towards auditions, it covers everything from drama school training to how to approach the right people. It also talks over the differences between auditioning for stage and screen work and the gulf between the two.

It’s a fascinating and valuable read, and if you’re an actor, it may just become your new best friend.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Brendan himself recently. You can find a copy of the interview below.

“It’s the Audition, Stupid!” is available now in paperback. You can find out more at www.pinterandmartin.com or buy a copy of the Kindle e-book version at Amazon. It’s the Audition, Stupid!: The actor’s essential guide to surviving the casting and getting the part

Tim Austin is a stage and screen actor based in the UK. You can read more about him at www.tim-austin.co.uk

 …

Frost Mag;

Hello Brendan. You started off as an actor – a pretty successful one too. What was it about casting directing that made you move away from the acting? And would you go back to acting full time?

Brendan;

I don’t think I’d ever act again. I was very confident as a child, I was quite quirky,… [but] I didn’t have a craft and the more I see great actors, I see a craft.

I’d no time for doing accents, which was very limiting. I was cast as a West of Ireland “cheeky chapy” and that was the extent of it, and that bored me senseless. A career of that wouldn’t’ve made me happy.

I got into casting because it started as a part time job when I was trying to pick up auditions and just became an obsession and love, basically.

Frost Mag;

Have you kept the same contacts from your acting and has that helped you in your casting?

Brendan;

Not really. A lot of contacts would’ve been in Dublin. If what you’re alluding to is “Are contacts important?” then yes. In every regard. Networking and contacts are, for an actor especially, or any industry professional, immense. You’ve got to have them.

Actors have to be pro-active. They should go to festivals, they should go to screenings and opening nights and everything because you don’t know who you’ll meet and it can help.

Frost Mag;

Do you feel that your past as an actor has given you an advantage as a Casting director? Does it, perhaps, give you an edge?

Brendan;

I think its definitely had an impact, I don’t know about giving me an edge, but it certainly helps me when I work with actors.

Essentially my job is to get the best performance from actors when they come to audition for me. The fact that I relish reading in with actors and do my best to give them something when reading opposite helps the actor and helps me.

Frost Mag;

Having spoken to fellow actors at castings and networking events, I’ve found that many of them consider casting to be a tad, if I may say, “elitist”. By that I mean, only interested in graduates of certain schools and certain universities. I don’t know if that’s true. I personally react a little against that.

Brendan;

I think that’s rubbish. I mean there might be casting directors who favour those schools and obviously I can’t speak for everyone but in my own terms, I have never brought someone in because they went to those schools. To be honest, I don’t even look for that any more.

I like nothing better than bringing in someone new. Who isn’t even based in London, who doesn’t even have an agent, who I’ve seen in something, I like their CV or I’ve spoken to or met them.

There’s so many myths about casting directors out there, made up by people; drama schools or people who just aren’t getting work. You have to realise – my job is very simple; I bring in the best people to make me look good because if I can bring in the best people and they all do great auditions then I look brilliant.

If you come in as an actor and don’t do a god job, I look bad. My job is to make you do a good job. Every actor that comes in I want them to be brilliant, I want them to be prepared, I want them to the best they can do because they make me look brilliant.

All these myths about a casting director being obstructive or getting in the way is rubbish.

Frost Mag;

What is it in a showreel that really jumps out at you, or is that different for every project that you’re casting?

Brendan;

Sometimes I don’t need to refer to it because I’ve seen the work that the actor has done or I’ve met the actor.

I sometimes have to refer to a showreel to check someone’s physicality or their accent or if I’m unsure how they look in their photo. But obviously if you’ve got a reel that has a great performance on it that’s what I’m going to tune into as well.

I don’t think there’s one thing. It could be anything; it could be a flash of the eyes.

For us it’s a reference or it’s something that I could send to a director and say “I like the look of this person, what do you think?” So if the work on it is strong or a good representation of the actor then it’s a very useful tool, basically.

“It’s the Audition, Stupid!” is available now in paperback. You can find out more at www.pinterandmartin.com or buy a copy of the Kindle e-book version at It’s the Audition, Stupid!: The actor’s essential guide to surviving the casting and getting the part
Tim Austin is a stage and screen actor based in the UK. You can read more about him at www.tim-austin.co.uk

 

Jeremy Drysdale on Film, Writing and Saving The Cat.

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Jeremy Drysdale is an incredibly talented scriptwriter. I first came across his work after watching Grand Theft Parsons, I then badgered him until he gave me an interview. It has lots of great advice for wannabe scriptwriters.

Did you always want to be a writer?

I did, yes. I started out in advertising in my late teens and quickly became a copywriter. I enjoyed writing advertising and I learned the importance of words, because for the most part one had to throw away anything extraneous and concentrate on getting the message across in the most efficient way. I became a creative director – first of a small agency and then, eventually, a big communications consultancy. After a few years, I decided that I would like a bigger challenge and looked for ways to move into longer-form writing. All I knew is that I didn’t want to write novels, because they required too many words and I’m quite lazy.

How did you get into script writing?

I was the co-Creative Director of a company called Visage when I read a report in the Hollywood Reporter, or perhaps Variety, which mentioned that an American production company called Rhino Films – part of the Warner Bros empire – had optioned the book ‘No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs’; the autobiography of John Lydon (AKA Johnny Rotten.) I was cheeky – you have to be, I think – and found out who was producing for Rhino. Then I contacted him and told him that the project had to be written by an Brit, because punk was a British phenomenon (although in hindsight, I think the Stooges might actually be the first punk band – and they were American) and that I was an expert on the genre. Which was not strictly true.

I got lucky, because the producer was a lovely guy called Stephen Nemeth and he gave me an ‘in’; I could compete for the job against American writers, as long as I sent in an acceptable sample and came out to LA to pitch directly to Lydon. Well, I did have a sample, which I immediately rewrote over 48 hours to make it edgier and then I flew out to LA to meet everyone. Obviously, I was paying my own way and so I flew out on a shoestring and booked the cheapest hotel in town and I met with everyone at a lovely table at a fantastic place called Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica. I pitched my take on the story to seven or eight people: the studio guys, the finance people and Lydon and his manager and I wasn’t going to lose. Luckily, my determination and the huge amount of work I had put into the pitch worked and I was offered the job. Although I later discovered that I nearly didn’t get the gig because they thought I was an alcoholic as I had drunk four bottles of beer over the three hours we sat at the table! Then I caught flu and poor Stephen Nemeth had do leave cartons of soup outside my hotel door every day for a week, which is probably another story.

The film never actually got made, but the script was good enough to get me an agent and was a perfectly usable writing sample. I also got paid, which was nice.

What is your proudest achievement?

In writing? I suppose it would be Grand Theft Parsons, as it was the first of my projects to get made. Although Battlefield 2: Modern Warfare made much more money.

What is your writing process?

I spend a very long time working on a step-outline in order to check that the structure is correct and my story will be properly told at the end of the process. So every single scene is written down in a programme called Final Draft and then I check it against a list I nicked from a terrific book called Save the Cat, which is the only instruction book that new screenwriters will need, to make sure that everything is correct structurally. And then I just have to put in the dialogue.

To give you an idea of time spent, I work for a couple of weeks on character outlines – so I know exactly who my people are and how they’ll behave in any given situation. I know how they speak, how they dress, how they look and what their sexuality is. I could tell you what music they listen to, how they would vote and what sports they like. You have to know and love your characters, even if they are utterly loathsome to everyone else.

The step-outline itself will take about six weeks and then the dialogue will take another four. I wait two weeks before reading the thing, so by the time I am ready for the rewrite I have already spent three and a half months on the project. The rewrite will probably take another three weeks and then I’ll wait a week and do another two-week draft. At that stage, hopefully, the script will be ready to show to my agent and a couple of close industry friends. I will absorb their notes and spend another couple of weeks on the next draft. Then, assuming everything has held together, I’ll have a draft which is ready to send out to studios and producers. That’s nearly six months on each project and if you assume that only one in seven will get made (and bring in decent money) you can see why screenwriters need to be well-paid for the projects that do progress. Which is not really happening these days.

Favourite film?

What a hard question! I suppose I’ll be a bit dull and say Godfather 2, which is the film I have watched the most. I love the scope and the wonderful, vibrant, full characters. And the music. And the… everything. I love everything.

Favourite script?

Se7en. It’s as close to being perfect as any script I’ve ever read. The characters are great, their motivations are absolutely clean and the story – oh, what a story. And what a twist! When John Doe turned himself in, I remember thinking ‘what the fuck?’ and being very disappointed, because I was used to the standard ‘detective chases killer’ story. And then this wonderful script turned that convention onto its head. Glorious!

You wrote Grand Theft Parsons, a film I love, how did the film come about?

I had vaguely heard the story about a guy stealing his best friend’s body in order to fulfil his last wishes and burn it in the desert, and so I did some research and discovered that it was actually Gram Parsons’ body and Phil Kaufman – the burner – was still alive. I managed to get a phone number for Phil and he refused to speak to me on the phone, saying he only discussed the project face-to-face. So, I flew out to Nashville, where he was living at the time, and knocked on his door. I discovered that he always asked people to come to him, because most people wouldn’t bother, and that he had been approached a couple of hundred times over the decades from people who wanted the film rights to the story. So my fantastic plan about him being delighted to see this pale Englishman turn up and offer him film immortality didn’t really work out. In the end, I just wore him down and he just said ‘yes’ to get rid of me, as I had booked my return flight for five days later and he couldn’t face it.

Then I found a good producer and a good director and brought them on board. The rest was easy. (Not really, actually.) We were lucky with cast (Johnny Knoxville, Christina Applegate and the extraordinary Michael Shannon) and we had a first-rate crew. I’m still very proud of that we shot in twenty-two days on a tiny budget. I think it cost around one point two million dollars, which is really not much, considering.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Well, I need the money, which is pretty inspiring. I just start with a ‘what if…?’ and go from there, I suppose. That probably isn’t very helpful, is it?

What’s next?

I am co- writing a comedy drama and am halfway through a thriller. I have a comedy which is very close to being financed and a horror film which isn’t quite so close. And I have co-written a novel for Young Adults with a very good novelist called Joseph D’Lacey which is attracting a lot of interest. That came from a film idea I had last year, which actually worked so well as a novel that we went that way with it. You have to find an edge with everything, I think.

Any advice for people who might want to break into screenwriting?

Well, don’t. I know that sounds flippant, but these days it is exceptionally difficult to get paid. Although the industry is doing well and film isn’t really affected by recession, the money somehow seems to have disappeared. Previously, if you took the risk and wrote a spec script then you would earn more because you had gambled six months on the thing being made. You earned less if a producer paid you development money to write it, because they shared the risk. Now there isn’t really any development money around, in England at least, and yet screenwriters are being offered the lower figures for spec scripts over here. So my advice is to avoid the industry in Britain, and to be careful in the US. Although if screenwriters were logical thinkers, they wouldn’t be screenwriters, so I don’t expect anyone to take any notice of anything I say. And nor should they, of course…

Follow Jeremy on Twitter.

Is The Film Industry Sexist?

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Is the film industry sexist? It is a broad question, and unfair to label everyone with the same tag. I think the answer is; less so. I think, more specifically, some people in the industry are sexist.

I recently had lunch with a director that had cast a female friend in something. My female friend has three children. The director offered me her part, and all the future work he was going to give her as ‘she could not be totally committed to her work’ as she had children. I was appalled and turned him down. What if I have children soon? I couldn’t work with him after that. The irony is that the director has FIVE children. But no one ever asks a man how he juggles work and kids.

Most of the castings I see are for men, the rest are for women, usually between 18-35, size 8-12 and the part usually requires nudity. I don’t do nudity. The most depressing thing about the movies I see are the amount of naked females in them. Rarely any naked men. What kind of message is this? That women are sexual objects?

Some castings require you to wear a bikini or ask that actresses are a specific weight. Age discrimination is rife, so much so that an actress who was the same age as me when we started out is now four years younger. I won’t lie about my age although I have been told to. It’s a stance against idiocy. I am still young, but I am cast younger. This is a problem. They can cast someone who looks like a teenager, or an actual teenager.

I am making a film, Prose & Cons. I am buying equipment and have been asking for a lot of advice. The most annoying thing about making the film so far is how condescending some of the men are in their answers. If I ask a general question on where to buy a microphone I get a lecture on what a boom is. I have worked in the film industry for eleven years. I know what a boom is, thanks mate.

But this is what happens when a ‘girl’ makes a film, or wants to be taken seriously. When she gets sick of the girlfriend roles, which become the mother roles and go on to be the hag roles. And the constant requests for nudity.

She says I have had enough and I am not taking it anymore, then she goes off and makes her own films while finding other amazing people who make films she wants to be in.

Casting Notice For Shakespeare Project.

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We need the following cast for a Shakespeare project filming next year. Unpaid at the moment, but will be paid if we get funding. Filming in HD with experienced and talented cast and crew.

William Stanley, later 6th Earl of Derby (1561 – 1642) here aged 21
Christopher Marlowe, student and alleged spy (1564 – 1593) here aged 18
Francis Bacon, later 1st Viscount St Albans (1561 – 1626) here aged 21
Edward de Vere, 21st Earl of Oxford (1550 – 1604) here aged 32 Craig
Will – son of a local glove-maker (1564 – 1616) here aged 18
Anne, a local barmaid (1556 – 1623) here aged 26

Please audition by uploading yourself doing a Shakespeare monologue on Youtube and then post the link below. Name link ‘Audition for The Shakespeare Episodes’.

Thank you