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How the Disabled Community Wants to Be Seen

Photo Source: Margaux Quayle Cannon

By Marci Liroff

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act. The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else.

Within the acting community, changes are happening every day. The Casting Society of America has been on the forefront of these issues. I spoke to the Equity in Entertainment Committee about their mission. “CSA is focused on amplifying underrepresented actors and empowering our members to cast authentically.  By engaging our members and the acting community alike in training events and discussions, we continue to introduce and advocate for actors in theatre, film, and television. To date, we have held open calls and training events for Performers with Disabilities, Trans and Non-Binary Actors, Native American and Indigenous Actors,  and Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian, and Senior Actors. Creating a rich fabric of representation across storytelling in all media is of paramount importance to our organization and with the current climate, we are more focused than ever on our upcoming initiatives and collaborations that broaden our relationships with underserved groups.”

Tony Winner Ali Stroker (“Oklahoma”, “The Glee Project”) told the NY Times,

“I promised myself that I would no longer accept jobs where I would have to be carried onstage.”

“That was a boundary I needed to set for myself. My feeling is, ‘If you can’t accommodate me, then you don’t get me.’ I believe I’m worth it.”

Oscar winner Marlee Matlin (“Children of a Lesser God”) spoke to the NY Times as well “On this 30th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, we must reaffirm the fight for inclusion. We can do this by creating opportunities for people with disabilities in every aspect of the entertainment industry: casting directors, producers, writers, directors.”

I spoke with Keely Cat-Wells, an entrepreneur and disability activist dedicated to making social, systematic and economical change. Currently, Keely has a management company based in Hollywood called C Talent which represents disabled artists.Keely is currently building a major film and TV studio fulfilling the need for studio space in the UK. Zetta Studios will be the world’s first-ever studio to be fully accessible for people with disabilities, that is carbon neutral, and founded by a female.

It seems that accessibility is one of the hurdles day-to-day. How do you navigate?

Yes, there are so many doors a lot of us cannot get into… (Literally!). Being accessible, in every aspect of the word is vital for this industry to be truly inclusive and authentic. The Disability community often asks for the most basic needs and they are rarely met. Designing with us in mind is an ideal. An invitation to the party, then access to the party, and then the resources to throw our own, is the goal. We navigate hurdles with a sense of familiarity in a world that was not made for us. We adapt to our environment and we get on with it – but imagine what we could do if there was true equity!  

What kind of role would you like your clients to play vs. the roles they get offered or audition for?

I would like to see more characters that are disabled not getting a trophy for going to school, leaving the house, or ‘overcoming’ their disability or achieving through their ableist viewed adversity. Please give us storylines where we get applauded for doing something genuinely brilliant. I would like to see roles breaking stereotypes, not re-forcing the ones the world has already painted of us. I don’t believe there are positive or negative depictions just wrong or right depictions. I would like to see disabled characters playing storylines written by people with disabilities. Roles that were not intended for someone with a disability to be played by someone with a disability – where the disability itself is not what makes the person scary, inspirational, or the odd-one-out. Having a disability is a lived-in experience and not a technical skill one can learn.

With all the information out there, do you ever tire of having to educate people as to your disability?

If who I am and if my disability can change the way people think and allow them to have an epiphany or even slightly rethink what disability looks like to them, then I am satisfied. I will never be tired of using my voice, but I am certainly exhausted of those who do not listen. Education is knowledge and knowledge is power. I am privileged to be able to give people first-person knowledge, what they do with it is up to them, but I will not stop using my experience to shape the future of others. Let’s create to create change. 

Make sure to check out my online course “How To Audition For Film and Television: Audition Bootcamp”. You can view it on your laptop or your mobile device and your subscription gives you lifetime viewing privileges for this course. I’ll be adding lectures throughout the year.

Warning: I grant permission to share my blog as written with no additions or deletions. Posting my blog is in no way an endorsement of another site unless you obtain my written consent.

These 3 Mistakes Might Be Ruining Your Chances of Getting Cast

By Marci Liroff

Photo Source: Margaux Quayle Cannon

This is the last week of special reduced pricing. Grab your discount now by purchasing one of the steeply discounted packages or single coaching sessions and use it before the end of 2020. Check out the info here.

There are countless career land mines begging to be stepped on by an acting newbie—but that’s where people like me come in. If I can stop you from making these three mistakes below, my job here is done.

You’ve got an audition. How do you prepare? You should read through the script a couple of times or, if you just have the sides, read them through several times. Learn your lines, make distinct choices, and be ready to read for the casting director.

I can immediately tell in an audition when you’ve never rehearsed the scene with another human. I understand that everyone has a different process for preparing, and no one practice is right for everyone. That said, you cannot have a natural conversational rhythm unless you have practiced with another person. That can be done by phone or in person—however your go-to scene partner is ready. Email your sides to your father, girlfriend, whoever; just make sure you’re not reading your lines for the first time in front of the casting director at your audition. And, no, reading to yourself in the mirror doesn’t count.

Another thing I strongly suggest is to learn a scene every day, even if you don’t have an audition coming up. When an actor comes in to audition for me and says, “Hey, I just got this last night, so I’m not quite off-book yet,” I immediately tell them, “So did everyone else.” I’m not saying this to call them out or to be nasty, but to give some perspective to rejigger their thought process. Casting directors love to give you as much time as possible with the material, but sometimes we don’t get the material from the writers until the day before it shoots, leading to a rushed session. Learning a scene every day will keep your memory muscles fresh and get you in the habit of learning something on a quick turnaround.

And you won’t just need this skill for auditioning; it’ll save your ass on set, too. You’ve probably noticed on previous projects that scripts are constantly shifting and changing. Sometimes, you can spend the entire night learning your lines before a shoot, only to arrive on set the next morning and have the first assistant director hand you a set of sides with full rewrites.

If your brain isn’t already in the habit of learning lines quickly, your head will explode.

And, finally, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen an amazing audition, at the end of which the actor says, “Ugh! That was terrible. I’m so sorry! Can I please do it again?” Stop talking us out of liking your performance. Admittedly, we all have bad days, and actors can turn in bad performances; if you feel you’re not in the zone at the top of the scene, by all means, stop and tell us you’re going to start over. No excuses, no apologies. Just say, “I’m going to start over,” and do it. Learn to trust yourself and have confidence in your performance. So often, I see actors make great choices and bring authenticity to an audition, just to then show us that they don’t believe in themselves by expressing how much they think they sucked. Sometimes, being vulnerable and showing us your interpretation of a flawed and complex character can leave you feeling uncomfortable. I suggest you try to work through that uncomfortable feeling by embracing it as a natural human reaction to showing us your true heart; don’t apologize for it.

Make sure to check out my online course “How To Audition For Film and Television: Audition Bootcamp”. You can view it on your laptop or your mobile device and your subscription gives you lifetime viewing privileges for this course. I’ll be adding lectures throughout the year.

Warning: I grant permission to share my blog as written with no additions or deletions. Posting my blog is in no way an endorsement of another site unless you obtain my written consent.

How to Become an Actor Later in Life

Photo Source: Margaux Quayle Cannon

By Marci Liroff

In light of the pandemic, I am offering special pricing for my private coaching (remotely of course!) You can buy a steeply reduced package now and use it later (must be used before the end of 2020) Check out the info here.

Reaching out to my Twitter followers to find out what they want to know is one of the best ways to connect to my community. This week’s column answers two great questions I received recently:

1. What is the best way to get back into the industry later in life?
Surprisingly, it is very similar to when you were first starting out, except that you already have the basic foundational acting skills and you probably have a lot of old connections. Now is the time for a refresher course. You wouldn’t run a marathon after having hung up your sneakers 20 years ago, would you? Get yourself back to a weekly acting class and warm up those old muscles. While in class, you can network with the students to see if they can refer you to their agent or manager.

If you have good relationships with your old representatives, reach out to them to make them aware you’re in the game again and see if they want to jump back into business with you. Get all of your materials up to date. You’ll need to update your headshot and résumé and upload your reel and clips online in order to subscribe to submission platforms like Actor’s Access and Backstage. As you build new credits, switch them in for your reel’s older footage, which may no longer be relevant.

Then, register with film schools in your area so that when they are casting student projects, they will call you in to audition. Join a theater group.

Reach out to the casting directors who used to hire you to alert them to your re-entry into the biz.

It may feel overwhelming sometimes, but taking it step by step will make it easier.

2. Where do you find new actors, and how do they stay on your radar?
I think about the good old days when I would pore over the Academy Players Directory looking for new faces, and it makes me laugh. Times have changed! I still miss those giant books, but I wouldn’t go back.

Most people I know in the casting field will say they are working all the time. A good CD always has her eyes and ears peeled to discover new talent who can move us with a great performance. When I’m watching television, for instance, I always look up actors I see who are new and interesting and immediately add them to my database. When reading a magazine or newspaper, if an article on a new actor pops up, I rip it out and put it in my “to file” pile. I’m constantly going to theater, screenings, and film festivals; I visit acting classes; I scour YouTube and Instagram. Agents and managers constantly call me to take general meetings with their new clients.

In terms of staying on my radar, if you’re going to send out postcards or email blasts, make sure you have something to say. Don’t just send out a notice with your picture and contact info. It should include your latest work and an action item, such as “Watch me on the latest episode of [fill in the blank] on Tuesday at 9 p.m.” or “Come see me in ‘Man of La Mancha’ at San Diego’s famous Old Globe Theatre.” 

Make sure to check out my online course “How To Audition For Film and Television: Audition Bootcamp”. You can view it on your laptop or your mobile device and your subscription gives you lifetime viewing privileges for this course. I’ll be adding lectures throughout the year.

Warning: I grant permission to share my blog as written with no additions or deletions. Posting my blog is in no way an endorsement of another site unless you obtain my written consent.

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