Take Advantage of Your Novelty Value.
You are new and shiny. Take advantage of this. Casting directors will give you an audition just because they have never seen you before. Not so much after you have been auditioning for years. Getting noticed when you are new can really give you a foothold into the industry as every agent, producer and casting director wants to discover the Next Big Thing. You have about six months until the next wave of graduates enter the ring. Sounds brutal and unfair? That’s because it is.
Get An Accurate Headshot.
I cannot stress this enough. Get a headshot that looks like you. I have been on the other side of the casting divide and have always been shocked when an actor comes in with a headshot that is either ten years old or airbrushed into oblivion. You are an actor, not a supermodel. The key to a good headshot is to look like yourself, only better. Have spots and dark circles removed, nothing else. Actors are hired to play real people, not robots (usually). Not looking like your headshot is also the quickest way to upset a casting director. They will look bad in front of the producer or director. Many productions also cast from pictures and, if like the women who was hired to play 1980s era Madonna on a production I was also cast in, you now look completely different than you do in your picture that casting director will never hire you again.
Write To Every Casting Director Who Ever Lived.
Slight exaggeration but you get my point. Start your research. Watch TV and film and write down who the casting director is. Do the same for theatre. Do not just throw mud at the wall however, don’t contact casting directors who only do kids TV shows if you are 30. The key is to contact casting directors who cast your type. Be concise and to the point and remember to include your headshot and contact details. This brings me to my next point…
Know Your Type.
I know, I know. You are an actor dahling. You can play any role. But the acting industry does not work like that. Casting directors have to put you somewhere and the brutal truth is that the acting industry is probably the only industry that can actually discriminate on how you look. And it will. Catherine Zeta Jones may be a lass from the Welsh valley but she is frequently cast as Italian or Spanish because, in a superficial stereotypical world, that is what they think she looks like. I get cast in period roles a lot because I am slim and pale. So work out your type. Ask friends and family. Make a list of who you are and who you are not and market yourself accordingly. It is not all bad however, getting typecast means getting work, and you can always branch out into other roles later.
Catherine Balavage has been an actor for over ten years. Her book on acting, How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur, has gotten numerous five star reviews and has been called the ‘best advice available’ by numerous sources.
(published Simon and Schuster UK 2013). It should have been a good read (interesting storyline about an English nurse working for the resistance in Crete during WW2) but there were some irritating anomalies and frequent failures to capitalise on opportunities for dramatic tension. I was left feeling dissatisfied, though I did learn some fascinating facts about Crete and WW2.
(published Sceptre 2013) and keenly anticipated reading it. But I wasn’t completely convinced by her portrayal of the main character and I found the plot unrealistic in places. However, it is well written; her use of language appealed to me, as did the pace of the book, and there are some excellent descriptive passages. I think I will try another of her books. One more to add to my list.
(published Fourth Estate 2002). This was in fact a re-read for me, but I relished the opportunity to have a fresh look at a book which has long been on my Top Ten List. It’s based on the true story of a Derbyshire village coping with an outbreak of plague in the seventeenth century and is one of those books which is almost unbearable to read, and yet equally you can hardly bear to put it down.
(published Fourth Estate 2014) and I wasn’t disappointed. Each individual story is a compelling read and all are powerful, harrowing, disturbing and haunting. In fact they made me question why I read. Is it for pleasure and relaxation? To learn? To be challenged? Or to appreciate the skill of the writer? In the case of this book, I think it is the latter two. And that is a tribute to Hilary Mantel who is a supremely good writer.
(published Pan Books 2014) Who doesn’t love Mary Berry and the Bake Off programmes? I’m a big fan, and this lighthearted tale of a harassed mother teaching herself with Mary Berry’s help to bake appealed to me. In fact I could have done with a bit more of the baking and a bit less of the rest of the story. It isn’t a book that will stick in my mind for years to come, but it is an enjoyable and relaxing read and I definitely recommend it if that’s the sort of book you’re looking for.
