I would like to take some acting lessons. How do I go about doing it. What kind? What do I need to ask & find out? How much should lessons cost? Would it be group or private. I would like to become an actor & model. Would it be better to get in the model business first to open up doors for acting. I’ve had many people tell me I should be an actor or model. I’ll be 26 next month & my current profession is personal training & I’m a tennis pro at a tennis club. Personal training is great & I truly enjoy very much. Being a teaching pro is great most of the time. It’s easy & I’m a very good teacher & player. But I have to deal with rich, spoiled bratty kids alot. I’m in Florida & I get sick of being out in the sun alllll the time. It’s like 5 hrs. almost every day. Yes, it does beat working in an office. I have many talents & would like to reach for the stars. YOU KNOW, GO FOR IT! I was reading about the great actor Brad Pitt last night on a web site. He was two credits short of graduating from college & left for Hollywood. He worked odd jobs to pay for his acting lessons & finally made it. One of his jobs was to be in a chicken suit to pass out some coupons for a chinese restaurant. Anyways, if I packed up & went to L.A. what should I expect? Thanks.
I’d suggest starting out with the local rep theater as a start. See if you have talent for that sort of thing. I’m not saying to scrub it if you aren’t immediately successful, but at least you can keep the day job while you’re honing some talent.
Personal trainer and tennis pro? Don’t they have those in California? Why couldn’t you just pack your bags and transfer your job to the west coast? Some of the spoiled rich brats your teaching just might be related to someone you want to get to know.
Okay, first of all, I believe that if you want to make your living as an actor, that is a goal that can be accomplished. Thousands of people do it. However, the Brad Pitts of the world are few and far between. George Clooney for example, was connected, talented, great looking, charismatic, and intelligent. He did odd jobs, extra work, and bit parts for 20 YEARS before he “made it”. I would recommend that before you pick-up and move to LA, take an acting class and see if you even like it. Contrary to popular belief, acting is a craft that requires a tremendous amount of dedication and hard work. Also, start reading, some great books to start with are:
Acting is Everything by Judy Kerr–this book is revised and updated every year and is a great reference book. It has reputable coaches, teachers, and classes, photographers, how to write a resume etc.
The Artist’s Way Can’t remember the author’s name, but Amazon has it. This is a great book for anyone persuing a career in the arts in any discipline.
Read Stanislovsky, Sanford Meisner, Ute Hagen, Stella Adler, but definetly read Stanislovsky, His techniques are the foundation for all the other contemporary methods.
When looking for a class, be it here in LA or anywhere else, you want a scene study class first, although an improv class is also a great place to start. Scene study tends to be much more effective when you study improv concurrently. You should audit several classes before commiting to one. Not every teacher is right for every student, and likewise not every method is right for every actor, or to prepare for every part, so familiarize yourself with all of them. Stanislovsky’s focus is mainly on psycological motivation, Meisner technique has to do with being “in the moment” and paying attention to what the other actor is giving you. And so on…
Acting is like training, it doesn’t really matter what works for anyone else, it is all about what works for you. Being a successful actor means working you ass off, you pay attention to your art, learn your craft, and mind the business. As an actor (especially here in LA), you are essentially a small business. Your product is yourself, and you need to learn what it is you have to offer and how to market it and sell it. If you can do that you are ahead of 90% of the “actor’s” in LA.
If you still want to move out here, let me know, I will refer you to some great classes/teachers in LA.
Sorry, I should have re-read your post, I didn’t exactly answer all your questions. When looking for a class, like I said try to audit a few before you commit. Anyone can call themselves and acting coach so find out what the teachers credentials are. I don’t recommend private lessons. So much of acting is about relating to the other actors, hard to do in private. A good class size is about twelve people, any larger and you will not get the individual attention you need. It will help you get used to being in front of an audience, and you will also learn as much watching others as you will doing your own scenes. Classes are generally about $200/month, meeting once per week. If you can find a good on camera scene study class I would recommend that as it is quite different from theater. There are alot of technical aspects to on camera, and while the fundamentals of good acting don’t change, it is still a very different animal. It will also help you get comfortable being in front of the camera.
If you do decide to pack up and move out here expect to be disappointed, broke, disillusioned, and frustrated. But do it anyway. If you work hard and believe in yourself you will be successful here.
Start reading industry trades like Variety, The Hollywood Reporter. There will be ads all over for acting classes, teachers/coaches. If you’re not in the LA area, than ask them who they could recommend in your area. That is, if you’re in a major metropolitan area. You can also look in your local rags to find ads for acting classes. If you’re in rather small town - look into joining the Theater Arts program of a local community college or University. There are also small independent films being made and they are always looking for actors/actresses. The pay is nil to nothing - but you will gain experience in front of a camera.
Just remember that Brad Pitt is undeniably talented and his "discovery" could simply be attributed to the "right place, at the right time". He also, as you noted, worked hard. Also remember that just every waiter/waitress in Hollywood/LA is a actor/model waiting to be "discovered". Hope this helps.
You can expect to do something similar that Brad Pitt and all other struggling actors go through: Working crap jobs to barely pay the bills and put some food on the table so you can pursue your acting/modeling career. Everyone in L.A. is an actor. So don’t think you’re going to get off the bus and land a starring role in a movie or something. Hey, it’s good to have dreams, but sometimes you have to face reality. If you don’t have “the look” or the right contacts, you can forget about making it. I have a friend who is an actor. He’s in NY doing odd jobs and small acting gigs. He’s hoping to go to LA soon to pursue his dreams. He’s been a struggling actor for a few years, and he’ll be a struggling actor for the rest of his life unless he happens to be in the right place at the right time and knows the right people.
Hey, I’m not knocking it. I wanted to be an actor too. I did much acting in high school and college, but I finally realized that I wasn’t going to make a future out of it, so I smartened up and did something that paid off. I went to school, got an education and now work in my field of study. I may not be an actor, but I still do some acting every once in a while (either in my job, or at a local haunted house each year!). So expect the unexpected. If you don’t mind leaving sunny Florida and all the comforts you have, then maybe LA is the place for you!
www.backstage.com Not sure where you are but they have jobs and all acting related stuff on the east and west coast. Good luck bro. My goal would be to be as good as Bruce Campbell.
You seem to have some knowledge on the ins and outs of acting in LA. I’m actually doing the move GREENMAN talked about, and I’m doing it in three weeks. I’ve already got an apartment set up out there, and I’ve been taking classes (a general acting class and improv)for awhile now, but I would appreciate it a great deal if you could tell me some good teachers/classes to take out there. Thanks for any help you can give me.
The author of The Artist’s Way is Julia Cameron (ex-wife of Martin Scorsese I believe). The Stanford Meisner Approach workbooks are pretty good. Also, I would consider to get books about the “making of” so you will receive that perspective as well. Some really good books to consider: Thinking in Pictures by John Sayles and Making Movies by Sidney Lumet. The reason I’m suggesting this is that it’s always good to get the perspective of the person behind the camera just as much from the person in front. Oh, and while I’m at it: John Shepard’s book “Acting for the Camera” is pretty decent also.
Most importantly, you must get your butt either up on a stage or in front of a camera and act. I know alot will flame you for this post - but I believe in pursuing your ambitions. Good luck.
Thank you everyone for the great posts! I’m off to the library for some of those books that were brought up. Keep em’ coming. I believe many people here on this forum have an interest in either modeling or acting & suprised there’s not more posts as of yet. Let us hear you. Take care & workout hard!
check out actorscraft.com, a good website on the craft. But acting is also a business, it doesn’t matter how good you are if you don’t network and market yourself (you are the product, and you’re going to have figure out what “type” of part you can play). For the business side of acting, I recommend “Surviving your first year in Hollywood.” You can get it at Amazon.com. Good luck…
Sorry not to get back sooner, I have been out of town for the last week. Anyway, I would recommend Playhouse West (they have a website), Jeff Doucette’s acting on instinct improv class, Brian Reisse’s on camera cold reading class, Howard Fine (I think there is a website), Carolyne Barry’s commercial workshops-not only for commercial technique, this class is great for improving auditioning and addressing the business side, there is also a website, I think it is www.carolynebarry.com, She will try to hard sell her other classes, and while her commercial workshops are considered to be the best, I wouldn’t recommend her improv or scene study classes. I think you can audit most of those before investing.