We all know the steadfast workshop rule. Take workshops with guests that are working on projects that you'd be right for, bla, bla, bla.
Well I wanted to take a minute to talk about the exception to that rule. Because there are always exceptions to rules.
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS take a workshop with a NEW guest. Always. ESPECIALLY if you haven't seen them frequently around town in other places. Even if they are doing something that not in a million years you would be right for.
WHY? You say.
Because it's probably one of their first workshops, or one of their first ones in a long time, so before they get inundated with a million postcards, a gazillion phone calls and pitches and emails of "I met you at... blank" be the one they'll remember. Those first few people they meet. They'll remember you, and that can make all the difference.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Friday, October 18, 2013
Great Audition Days
I'm curious. We've all had them. Really really great audition days. It's been awhile, and then you get the call, or maybe two calls, and you think, WOW it's all happening.
You're pumped, you're prepped, your hair looks great, you nail one after the other.
And then you wake up the next day.
What does everyone else do?
How do you spiral down into depression? Stay up? Stay distracted? "MOVE ON"
Someone once told me that Bradley Whitford would go to the bathroom after every audition rip up his sides, throw them in the trash can and literally "wash his hands" of it. I've tried it. It doesn't quite work for me.
What do you guys do?
You're pumped, you're prepped, your hair looks great, you nail one after the other.
And then you wake up the next day.
What does everyone else do?
How do you spiral down into depression? Stay up? Stay distracted? "MOVE ON"
Someone once told me that Bradley Whitford would go to the bathroom after every audition rip up his sides, throw them in the trash can and literally "wash his hands" of it. I've tried it. It doesn't quite work for me.
What do you guys do?
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Nuns?
Did anyone see the new pilot that was just bought? About a nun / lawyer? Yeah....
Alexa's New Plan for How to sell a network TV show:
1. Take two jobs and combine them together. nun/lawyer, doctor/mob member, shoe store/lawyer, ghost/cop
2. Call it a "new kind of procedural"
3. Grab an aging movie star
4. Promise ideas about having viewers choose endings and plot lines while still promising really engaging stories.
5. Get a mega star to guest star as your victim in the first episode
6. Sell it for lots and lots of money.
Alexa's New Plan for How to sell a network TV show:
1. Take two jobs and combine them together. nun/lawyer, doctor/mob member, shoe store/lawyer, ghost/cop
2. Call it a "new kind of procedural"
3. Grab an aging movie star
4. Promise ideas about having viewers choose endings and plot lines while still promising really engaging stories.
5. Get a mega star to guest star as your victim in the first episode
6. Sell it for lots and lots of money.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Why Trophy Wife is Going to Get Canceled - And Why That's Wrong
Anyone watch Trophy Wife last night?
Normally I don't watch episode #2's of new shows. It's the first episode they shoot once they've been picked up, everyone's coming in with their own baggage, things have been reshot, roles recast, everyone had a summer off, maybe they were hoping it wouldn't get picked up, maybe they were, anyway, it's usually a mess.
By accident my DVR recorded episode #2 of Trophy Wife. I said, "eh I'll watch it" then I said: "But what if I do and it's a standardly awful episode #2, and then I won't stick around for #3?" But there was nothing else on, so I pushed play.
And guess what? Not only was it pretty good for a episode #2 of a new show, it was actually just pretty good in general.
It has great actors, top to bottom, a really cute kid, Marcia Gay Harden and Bradley Whitford just being fabulous, and Malin Ackerman is endlessly like-able, and there's some really genuinely sweet moments, and some actually genuinely funny not trite, predictable, overplayed, classless or gross moments.
And I was so excited, and I said, my God, this is really cool, this show actually has potential, I mean with pretty good writers, great actors, imagine where it could go?!
And then I thought, oh right. That means it's going to get canceled. Because that's what this town does. Instead of allowing a show to grow and develop and find its audience, which it will take time for Trophy Wife to find its audience, because it's not hit you over the head "categorize it as this or that kind of show" with "this or that kind of humor" the network isn't "going to get it" and it'll be gone.
Now, look, I really hope for their sake, and the sake of the future of network television that that doesn't happen, but who out there thinks I'm right?
Normally I don't watch episode #2's of new shows. It's the first episode they shoot once they've been picked up, everyone's coming in with their own baggage, things have been reshot, roles recast, everyone had a summer off, maybe they were hoping it wouldn't get picked up, maybe they were, anyway, it's usually a mess.
By accident my DVR recorded episode #2 of Trophy Wife. I said, "eh I'll watch it" then I said: "But what if I do and it's a standardly awful episode #2, and then I won't stick around for #3?" But there was nothing else on, so I pushed play.
And guess what? Not only was it pretty good for a episode #2 of a new show, it was actually just pretty good in general.
It has great actors, top to bottom, a really cute kid, Marcia Gay Harden and Bradley Whitford just being fabulous, and Malin Ackerman is endlessly like-able, and there's some really genuinely sweet moments, and some actually genuinely funny not trite, predictable, overplayed, classless or gross moments.
And I was so excited, and I said, my God, this is really cool, this show actually has potential, I mean with pretty good writers, great actors, imagine where it could go?!
And then I thought, oh right. That means it's going to get canceled. Because that's what this town does. Instead of allowing a show to grow and develop and find its audience, which it will take time for Trophy Wife to find its audience, because it's not hit you over the head "categorize it as this or that kind of show" with "this or that kind of humor" the network isn't "going to get it" and it'll be gone.
Now, look, I really hope for their sake, and the sake of the future of network television that that doesn't happen, but who out there thinks I'm right?
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Episodic Season in Full Swing
How to Make the Most of Episodic Season:
First of all, watch EVERYTHING on television. I watch at least one episode of every single show on television that is casting in the fall season, and keep one additional episode stored on my DVR. (Tones in shows can change from pilot to episode 3 or 4, always valuable to have a later episode, especially with new shows)
Theoretically you could wait until you have an audition to go find the show and watch it, but there are two problems with this:
1. You get the audition on Monday you have to be there Monday afternoon. Do you really want to spend your time scrambling to sign up for 30 days on Hulu because the show isn't available on Netflix or On Demand and there's only clips available on the website, or, wait, maybe if I go to YouTube then I can- no, just have one on your TV.
2. If you watch one episode of every show on TV when they come out at the beginning of the fall season, then you know which casting directors to target for workshops, because you can pretty quickly figure out, I fit on this show or I don't.
Do you have an episode re-airing? Or something new that you just booked? As the season gets busier and busier, and scripts start coming later and later CD's turn more and more to their files, it's a perfect time for a targeted mailing.
Try to stay in town over the major holidays, so many people leave town, that even if you weren't top of their list for an appointment for a role, if you're in town you just might get in the room, seems silly, but it totally works!
Be in class. Have a coach. As the turnovers get shorter and shorter, because scripts are later and later you don't have a lot of time to prep, sometimes they may be day of. Have a class that you are taking so you are fresh and prepped and tuned up, and have a coach lined up for those last minute emergencies in your back pocket that you can call at a moment's notice. (And have a back-up in case they're busy) Find it ahead of time, you don't want to spend your audition prep time, looking for someone who can help you.
Further - have someone lined up that you can go and put something on tape with, again so you don't have to spend your audition prep time calling around finding someone who can squeeze you in. (And have a back-up in case they're busy.)
Good luck!
First of all, watch EVERYTHING on television. I watch at least one episode of every single show on television that is casting in the fall season, and keep one additional episode stored on my DVR. (Tones in shows can change from pilot to episode 3 or 4, always valuable to have a later episode, especially with new shows)
Theoretically you could wait until you have an audition to go find the show and watch it, but there are two problems with this:
1. You get the audition on Monday you have to be there Monday afternoon. Do you really want to spend your time scrambling to sign up for 30 days on Hulu because the show isn't available on Netflix or On Demand and there's only clips available on the website, or, wait, maybe if I go to YouTube then I can- no, just have one on your TV.
2. If you watch one episode of every show on TV when they come out at the beginning of the fall season, then you know which casting directors to target for workshops, because you can pretty quickly figure out, I fit on this show or I don't.
Do you have an episode re-airing? Or something new that you just booked? As the season gets busier and busier, and scripts start coming later and later CD's turn more and more to their files, it's a perfect time for a targeted mailing.
Try to stay in town over the major holidays, so many people leave town, that even if you weren't top of their list for an appointment for a role, if you're in town you just might get in the room, seems silly, but it totally works!
Be in class. Have a coach. As the turnovers get shorter and shorter, because scripts are later and later you don't have a lot of time to prep, sometimes they may be day of. Have a class that you are taking so you are fresh and prepped and tuned up, and have a coach lined up for those last minute emergencies in your back pocket that you can call at a moment's notice. (And have a back-up in case they're busy) Find it ahead of time, you don't want to spend your audition prep time, looking for someone who can help you.
Further - have someone lined up that you can go and put something on tape with, again so you don't have to spend your audition prep time calling around finding someone who can squeeze you in. (And have a back-up in case they're busy.)
Good luck!
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Fall Television
Premiere week is like a really bad Christmas.
You're all excited for snow, presents, caroling, egg nog, family and fun.
You're met with smog and a random heat wave, a bunch of crap you have to return, a failed caroling trip because everyone's too busy watching the voice to hear carolers outside, egg nog that's not spiked because everyone has kids now, a big fight with your mother over your hair, and fun, what fun.
That's what the 2013 premiere week has been.
Anyone spotted anything out there with an ounce of creativity, intelligence, wit, uniqueness or interesting point of view? If so please tell me, because I'm dying here, and bordering turning into the Grinch.
You're all excited for snow, presents, caroling, egg nog, family and fun.
You're met with smog and a random heat wave, a bunch of crap you have to return, a failed caroling trip because everyone's too busy watching the voice to hear carolers outside, egg nog that's not spiked because everyone has kids now, a big fight with your mother over your hair, and fun, what fun.
That's what the 2013 premiere week has been.
Anyone spotted anything out there with an ounce of creativity, intelligence, wit, uniqueness or interesting point of view? If so please tell me, because I'm dying here, and bordering turning into the Grinch.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Bad Workshop Scenes
We've all had it happen. You are super excited to meet a guest, because they're doing some hot new drama, that you think you're totally right for.
Then they hand you a scene from some 90's sitcom, playing the lead character, who went on to win five Emmys for the role, and it's not even that funny.
You spend the first couple of minutes venting at your crummy luck, then you spend another couple of minutes trying to figure out how to get the voice of that actor out of your head, then you spend another minute bemoaning your life and how they're ever going to see you when all they'll be doing is hearing how much you DON'T sound like that famous actor, then five minutes rehearsing the scene where you feel not funny at all, and then you sit in the back dreading your turn.
Happens right?
I don't have the answer. I don't think there is an easy solution. Except this: Throw It Away.
If you come to every workshop hoping for the perfect scene that is gong to match that breakdown you just saw come out yesterday, and they'll bring you in tomorrow you're coming for the wrong reasons. It's a place to stretch, to have fun, to work with your peers, to jump up on stage and be fearless, to be brave, and put the very best of you out there. The more in your head you get about the scene you've been given, the less that becomes possible, and the more likely you will be unmemorable.
Then they hand you a scene from some 90's sitcom, playing the lead character, who went on to win five Emmys for the role, and it's not even that funny.
You spend the first couple of minutes venting at your crummy luck, then you spend another couple of minutes trying to figure out how to get the voice of that actor out of your head, then you spend another minute bemoaning your life and how they're ever going to see you when all they'll be doing is hearing how much you DON'T sound like that famous actor, then five minutes rehearsing the scene where you feel not funny at all, and then you sit in the back dreading your turn.
Happens right?
I don't have the answer. I don't think there is an easy solution. Except this: Throw It Away.
If you come to every workshop hoping for the perfect scene that is gong to match that breakdown you just saw come out yesterday, and they'll bring you in tomorrow you're coming for the wrong reasons. It's a place to stretch, to have fun, to work with your peers, to jump up on stage and be fearless, to be brave, and put the very best of you out there. The more in your head you get about the scene you've been given, the less that becomes possible, and the more likely you will be unmemorable.
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