Tag Archives: spotlight

Spotlight interview with Maya Pieris

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Spotlight interview with Maya Pieris1

 

Pinning down this writer was easy as it’s me, trying out the Spotlight idea: 

 

In this new series, conversations with writers, I aim to shine a brief spotlight onto what makes someone begin that uncertain path from brain to book, and to consider what makes us write.

 

Have I always written? Yes and no- I thought about it, had periods of trying but too often gave up. For a few years I attended various workshops but it’s since being in Bridport, Dorset, that writing has become almost a reflex reaction. There’s something in the air here that really encourages people to write to be read. And to be published.

 

And now ideas run about like kids in a playground. I keep pens and paper around the place though on occasions thoughts have been scrawled on the back of my left hand. This affliction does affect others as the need to make notes comes at any time, and from any and everywhere. Writers are like grave robbers: plundering anything- ourselves, others. My response after the recent French tragedy was to write 2 poems though it’s not always a comfortable thought that creativity and inspiration come from such events.  Seeing a dead mole led me to write a poem about an Islamist group whilst another idea came from seeing thousands of whitebait washed up on the shore near Bridport.

 

Spotlight interview with Maya Pieris2

 

And what do I write? Poems, short stories, magazine articles and plays. The last time I tried writing one I was aged 10 and the play was a “who dunnit” written in turquoise ink.

 

The writing challenge is to focus. It really is important not to get seduced by too many possibilities. And validation from peers is also invaluable, though I write firstly for myself- to try and fix a feeling or thought in words. I’m not sure why but I seem to have to. But I do have people I trust to edit and critique work.  It is, however, necessary to let your work go. In a way once it’s written it’s on its way to becoming public though it was a year before I could look at my first published book without wanting to change it.
Future plans are to write more regularly and finish work- too many unfinished “jumpers”.  Writing is a private process.  You have to enjoy the jigsaw of arranging your thoughts and ideas. There are lots of excellent courses to join and so many other writers to read but in the end it’s you, your pen or computer. And for me it’s an entry to a large uncharted world.

 

Spotlight interview with Maya Pieris3

 

 

Spotlight On Escada | Fashion

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Escada has come a long way since being founded in 1978 by Margaretha and Wolfgang Ley. The luxury international fashion group is now in over 60 countries and their clothes, accessories and fragrance are as beautiful and high-end as ever. Escada is a Frost favourite.

From beautiful clothes, to stunning shoes and bags, we have a little obsession with this brand. We love their use of unusual, bold colour combinations, patterns and embroidery. Not to mention the great fragrances it has launched. We had fun browsing the Escada lookbook and picking some of our favourite outfits. Sigh, we want it all.

Be brave and go for bold patterns. Add stunning red accessories for a statement look.

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Yellow is big this season. Be on-trend with this patterned look.

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This red dress is so stunning it is worth planning a party just to wear it.

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We love these two-tone shoes.

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This look is great for the office.

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What do you think? What is your favourite look?

 

 

Emma Dyson Interview: Acting Advice From Spotlight’s Career Expert

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acting tips, acting career, acting, advice, book, how to be a successful actor, quit, Catherine BalavageI interviewed a lot of great casting directors, actors, directors and experts in the acting industry for my book How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur. One of those interviews was with Emma Dyson who gives actors career advice for Spotlight, the main casting site for actors and casting directors. Spotlight is also the essential casting site for actors, if you are not in it, you are invisible. An extract from the interview is below. Read it and learn.

Emma Dyson works for the main casting website for actors in the United Kingdom, Spotlight. She also does one-on-one talks for Spotlight members to give them career advice.

So tell us about you.

I’ll tell you a bit about my background. I trained as an actor at the Guildford School of Acting in the 1990s and then, having got the training out of my system, I quickly realised I couldn’t be an actor. I probably didn’t have the talent or the perseverance or the backbone. Then I was an agent for six years. Then I left being an agent thinking that I would go into a different career, something entirely different, but every job that I was getting was pulling me back to the business so first of all I was working at my old drama school back at Guildford, I was the personal assistant for Peter Barlow who was the then assistant director, and then I left two weeks into the job because he was leaving. Subsequently a casting director put me in touch with Thea from United Agents, and I was temping at United Agents sort of off and on for about six months which is when I got the job here at Spotlight being the PR manager.

I used to do castings within the agencies and get the Spotlight breakdown and put roles and the actors that fit them together. It was interesting, having worked in an agency, because the first point of contact that you do in casting work is Spotlight. Now I am very happy here as PR manager and I go to the drama schools and talk about acting and Spotlight member benefits. How to get a good CV and photo, what type of letters to write to casting directors, agents. Time and time again they are incredibly green. They are in their final year of drama school and have hardly written any letters to agents or casting directors. They leave thinking ‘Here I am, come and get me!’ it just doesn’t work out like that. It’s really important and I empathise that it is very important to write letters, to hopefully reach your future employer, who will, across the course of your career, become your friends, and keep re-employing you.

acting, acting advice, acting book, how to be a successful actor, actorpreneur, auditions, castings, casting breakdown, how to be an actor, It is such a shock when people leave drama school. They don’t really know what to do.

I know and it is such a shame. They go to Central, LAMDA and RADA. Those are very central London schools. They get so spoilt for choice because it’s awash with agents and casting directors, it carries the kudos of being at the best drama school. Where I was at Guildford  we were terribly cut-off  despite the facts it’s only a twenty minute train journey, but, we felt very cut-off.  It’s a shame that schools that are not in central London get kind of left out and not thought of. There are some interesting actors in regional schools. The Welsh college is a very good school with a lot of good courses and a brilliant reputation. Conversely Rose Bruford has some really good students and that is in Kent.

I think you have got to train, you have got to workshops, you have got to keep classes going. Try to teach yourself as many skills and techniques as possible because the more skilled you are as an actor the more you should work. I always like the actors who go into musical theatre, straight theatre, film and do a bit of everything,  And what we are noticing is that there is more of a vogue for musical theatre and films are being made from those musicals. I know of a few film directors who are making films which are musicals. It is kind of a renaissance or a nod to the 1950s. The MGM sort of musicals. Musicals are very popular.

So learn to sing

Learn to sing if you can, and if you can dance then I think you will probably work all the time.

Daryl Eisenberg, an American casting director, told me two things when I met her: One, you are not special. Don’t think you are more special than anyone else and are just going to make it,  and two, whatever is stopping you from getting a job, remove it.  So if you can’t dance then learn to dance, etc.

I think that is just a roundabout response to what I just said. If you do just keep yourself as skilled and as tuned in as possible then you will get work. You have to do as much theatre as you can and as much film as you can. Not only that but I extend it to: if you are a London actor or a London based actor see as much art as you can, culturally exploit everything which is on your doorstep. Because I think that tunes you in to everything. It keeps you aware of what is current. You pick up on working trends and that reflects across the arts.

Tell me about Spotlight events,

Yeah, we do events. Being PR manager. ..We did one in October in conjunction with the London Film Festival. I got three casting directors. I got Karen Lindsay Stewart and Lucinda Syson. It was held at the British Film Institute and it was chaired by Pippa, my boss, and myself, it was just about how to become a working actor, keeping your CV up to date, how to get an audition, and also I do seminars where I talk a lot about being a working actor, how to network, all of those things, and at Spotlight offices on every Monday we have Spotlight Mondays where I operate 20 minutes chats with people who are stuck in their careers. They are incredibly popular. They always sell out very, very quickly. And the seminars are sometimes in conjunction with Actors Expo or other bodies. We just hold little seminars in house.

How do you break through?

I think it depends because some actors burn out very quickly, and other actors, they see an opportunity and they become very successful and popular when they are in their forties. So I think it just depends because there is so much reliance on good luck and you have to have a lot of charisma, a lot of talent. But then the rest of it is luck. I think you can make your own luck, but a lot of it is out of your control. Probably one of the reasons that I didn’t become an actor was because I couldn’t stand being in a career with no control.

To answer your question, I think it depends on many things. They have to have a good agent behind them and the rest of it I think is luck.

What is the most common mistakes actors make?

Not being proactive, not writing letters to casting directors. Even with a good agent you should still do your own work. Not looking after themselves, not working out, not eating well, not networking, I think all of these things, the actor has to do that. It is part of their homework.

How many actors are on Spotlight?

Just over 40,000

 

For the rest of the interview, and great interviews from our acting industry professionals get your hands on a copy of How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur now.

 

 

 

Spotlight On Coffee By Wendy Breckon

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Espresso, Cappuccino, Americano, Flat White, Skinny Latte, Mocha, or Frappuccino

Which one do you choose?  Have you ever wondered why you drink the one you do.

Mine is an Americano with cold milk and a jug of hot water.  I have been known to enjoy a cup of filter coffee too, (although wrestling with the individual ones can be very stressful). Occasionally, for a change, I lose myself in the froth of a cappuccino.

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In the 60s, my younger brother drank endless amounts of liquid Camp coffee … remember that iconic, nostalgic brand?  Apart from a few subtle changes, the bottle  looks the same today, as it did when it first appeared on our shelves in 1876.  I am convinced my mother mixed this with the milk in his bottle.  He is still totally hooked.

The first time the significance of coffee had an impact on my life was in the early 1970s.  As students, we wrote our essays fuelled by cheap instant coffee and cut price biscuits.  A group of us at a teachers’ training college in Hertfordshire had just heard the news.  It was what we had been waiting for … WOW.  Noel Edmonds was opening a new record shop nearby.  Not to be missed. One of those occasions. My friend Sally, the original lateral thinker, grabbed our very large tin of instant coffee from the common room.  She led us briskly down the street … we followed with more anticipation than the excitement of a first date.

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All four girls squeezed into the smallest of spaces to see Noel. In our flared jeans, tie-dyed t- shirts and hippy beads, we bopped to Elton John’s ‘Crocodile Rock’, one of the chart sounds of 1973.  The wonderful Noel Edmonds scribbled a good luck message on the side of the tin.

“Keep up the good work!  Hope you become great teachers love Noel x”

So off we went, Sally still in control, newly motivated and inspired.  And … of course a cup of cheap instant coffee suddenly became liquid heaven.

NEW YORK! NEW YORK!  Don’t you just love that vibrant city.  The energetic people; noisy yellow taxis; sparkling Times Square and the coffee…

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I joined the queue of busy office workers, circling round the side of a lively, New York deli at eight o’clock in the morning.

“Next.”

“Coffee please.”  Boy was I thirsty. “Just a cup of coffee”.

The waitress yelled in her New York drawl.  “Just a cup of coffee?”  Her desperate eyes gazed out for sympathy.  “What kind of coffee?”

There was a collective gasp, a bit of a shudder.  The line of workers collapsed like a pack of cards behind me.  Panic set in.  Sweat ran down my cheek bones.  I hurriedly chose a coffee from her recited list.  Off I slunk, suitably chastised, clutching my take-a-way frappuccino. Welcome to the ‘Big Apple’ Wendy.

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In pursuit of my favourite beverage, I slowly saunter down Broad Street in Lyme Regis, to the Bell Cliff cafe on the right.  The enchanting sea, sometimes still but often stormy, peeps out as you reach the bottom between the old buildings.

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On a warm day, it is relaxing to sit outside by the old canon and black railings, overlooking Lyme Bay and the magnificent Jurassic Coast.  Sometimes, I perch upon the cosy seat by the window inside.  Tucked away, it is easy to find inspiration.

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The owner of the cafe is the very friendly and delightful Paul Ranson, who took over fifteen years ago.  Originally, this building was two fishermen’s cottages and was constructed from beams reclaimed from ships built in the seventeenth century.

The delicious coffee which I am addicted to is called Narobi American Filter. Paul feels that the type of water in an area can affect the taste.  The soft water of Lyme Regis compliments the brand they use perfectly.  As a customer I could not agree more.

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Naomi, the manageress on the right, and Jayne the waitress are both very friendly and welcoming, especially when they are serving cake!  Jayne told me an irresistible fact that seven years ago she married Chris, the man who delivered the coffee.  A charming story.

As I enjoy my second cup, surrounded by yellow spring flowers in the window, the days of cheap instant coffee, flares, tie-dyed t- shirts and shaking hands with Noel Edmunds seem very far away.

 

 

How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur Book Review

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The daughter of a friend of mine is in her second year at drama school. She’s good: can sing, can dance, can act – particularly in comedy. So, she has it all? Trouble is, so do so many of the rest of her year group. And so do all of those other aspiring actors in all those drama schools across the country. She’s beginning to ask how she can show she’s different, that she deserves to be remembered from one audition to the next. How she can avoid annoying someone whose off hand influence can close as well as open doors for her?

howtobeasuccessful_actor_book become How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an ActorpreneurI’m going to give her a copy of this book. It may be the single most useful thing I ever do for her. How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur by Catherine Balavage is one of those practical, down-to-earth guides which doesn’t try to hide the obstacles and difficulties of choosing an actor’s life but does give solid and sensible, practical, advice on making the best impression and avoiding the worst pitfalls. Equally valuably, Balavage makes suggestions for networking, for working with others to help each other through teamwork (e.g. helping film each other’s showreels), working for nothing except getting your name out there, remembering names, and never, never, never forgetting to say thank you – even when you don’t land the part. She is upfront about the chances of success in acting: ‘Only act if you cannot do anything else. It is the hardest and most competitive industry you can go into. Your chances of success at making a full-time living for the rest of your life are small.’ And then she offers clear and straightforward, practical advice about how to shift the odds just slightly in your favour.

 

This book seems, at first glance, rather plain, with no images and most chapters simply divided into paragraphs with explanatory headings, or questions followed by responses. I like this format. It’s no-frills and underlines the fact that this is a handbook. A ready reference tool which will be highlighted and annotated by anyone who uses it regularly. The pages of useful contacts and Top Tips are invaluable. I also liked the interviews with others in the profession: the replies to questions overlap with each other in ways which reinforce what Balavage has already said. This reinforces my conviction that this author really is writing from experience and passing on advice distilled from her own hard work. Which I really hope my young friend will take.

 

[Editorial note: Catherine Balavage is an editor of this magazine]

 

Frost’s Editor Catherine Balavage Writes How To Be A Successful Actor Book

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Frost’s Editor, Catherine Balavage, has written a book on How To Be A Successful Actor. It is called How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur. It has gotten as high as number 5 on the Kindle charts under Stage & Theatre. It will also be released on paperback and Smashwords soon. Handpicked Future did a great piece on it and Catherine was on the front page of the Entertainment section in The Huffington Post with her Actors Who Make Their Own Work article. You can also read an article by Catherine written on her own blog.

howtobeasuccessful_actor_book_cover The book is available here for UK readers and here for US readers. It is also available worldwide.

Cover art by Steve McAleavy

 

 

Economics of crowd-sourcing under spotlight

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A team headed by an economist at the University of Portsmouth has won £750,000 to establish why people give up their time to help scientists better understand some of the biggest mysteries, from searching for the cure for cancer to trying to understand the galaxies that fill our Universe.

Dr Joe Cox, of the Portsmouth Business School, will lead a team from Oxford, Manchester and Leeds Universities and colleagues from Portsmouth’s world-leading Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, to find out more about the people who volunteer to help online science projects.

The grant for the three-year project was awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as part of the Research Councils UK digital economy theme.

Dr Cox said: “Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world are giving their time to help find a cure for cancer, or to better understand the nature of the Universe, or patterns of global warming, but we don’t yet have a detailed understanding of the processes that drive these initiatives, which are more complex than they may first appear.

“The growth of the digital economy has dramatically affected the ways people interact with each other and engage in different activities, but little is known about the changing nature of volunteering and crowd-sourcing in this context.

“This grant will allow us to formulate new economic models to explain the choices, motivations and behaviours of digital volunteers.”

The project will also investigate ways in which volunteering can be optimised and sustained through strategic interactions and interventions on the part of the managers of these resources.

Dr Cox will be working with Dr Karen Masters of the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at Portsmouth to study the Zooniverse (www.zooniverse.org), a highly successful and diverse cluster of online citizen science and crowd-sourcing projects inspired by the success of Galaxy Zoo and now includes more than 20 projects including  Cell Slider  and Seafloor Explorer. Volunteers on these initiatives give up their time to interpret and classify data of scientific interest, ranging from images of distant galaxies to weather patterns and cancer cells.

Dr Masters is project scientist for Galaxy Zoo.

She said: “We hope this grant win will help us to understand how to improve the volunteer experience on Zooniverse projects so that people can feel confident they are contributing to real science when they spend time on our sites, and also gain the maximum enjoyment from the experience.”

Dr Cox said: “Technology has made it possible for the average person on the street to make a real contribution towards our understanding of the universe, the modelling of climate change and the development of a cure for cancer.

“Our research will show how these initiatives can encourage more people to volunteer, as well as enhancing the depth of their engagement, which will help to push the boundaries of scientific knowledge and create significant social value.”

The findings will be of “considerable interest” to web communities and the broader voluntary sector, he said, and is likely to also have significant implications for commercial projects that make use of crowd-sourcing, such as Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.

The research partners include Dr Chris Lintott, Oxford University, Dr Anita Greenhill, University of Manchester, and Dr Gary Graham, University of Leeds.

Spotlight Fashion Models Launch

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Spotlight Fashion Models Launches their Brand with a Charity Event and a Catwalk Show in Aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust.

On the 22nd of September 2012, just after London Fashion Week SS13, Spotlight Fashion Models, a recently formed fashion agency, launched their brand holding a private, glamorous, charity event at the Kensington Roof Gardens.

The profits made on the night were given in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust, a British charity aiming to reduce the spread of HIV and promoting good sexual health.

Shakeel Rabbaney, Laura Moore, Sola Cash and April Banbury were the designers showcased on the occasion. Nomy Khan, director of Spotlight Fashion Models, wore a trendy-chic black suit with silver accessories and a tiny white fashion silk scarf.

Ms Pily Mirazi, founder of the company, went for a very classy and stylish, long red dress with sparkling, crystal stones nicely shaping her chest area. Manpreet Singh Flyinglion, at Di Gran Moda, designed Pili Mirazi’s dress.

The event was, hosted by Heaven Afrika (former model and Big Brother 2011 participant), which, despite her 8 months pregnancy, energetically kept the guests entertained through the night during the catwalk show first and later in between live performances.

Diet and delicious Skinnie Minnie Cupcakes by Serendipity Cottage were served on the night.
Spotted in attendance – above numerous fashionable guests like Melo, the finest UK Johnny Depp lookalike – Sara McLean (winner of Miss Edinburgh 2010 and former Miss Scotland 2011 runner-up) together with Shievonne Robinson (ex playboy bunny), both former Big Brother 2012 contestants and, super sexy footballer Rimmel Daniel, working the catwalk in underwear. Well, who could ask for anything more?

Spotlight Fashion Models, said Mr Khan and Ms Mirazi, are now planning even more successful future fashion events to promote new fashion designers.

More info of the company available at: www.spotlightfashionmodels.com

Written by Paola Berta
Photography by Guido Vera