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Why You Should Stay Curious

CURIOUSITY

By Marci Liroff

They say that curiosity killed the cat, but that simply cannot apply to actors. I find curiosity one of the sexiest qualities a person can have. As an actor you’ve got to be continuously curious and fearless to dig deeper into your role while being open to discovering what’s behind the closed door.

As you can imagine, I get dozens of Facebook friend requests daily. I’m one of those people who like to keep my personal Facebook page private, so I created a business page to interact with the acting community. I check each request to see if it’s someone I’ve met recently and my addled brain can’t make the connection, or if it’s an actor I don’t know trying to “friend” me. I usually send those actors a friendly response: “Hi there! This is actually my personal page, for friends and family—I’m sure you understand. Thanks so much for reaching out! I set up another page where we can talk so please feel free to connect over there to get all the updates on casting, private coaching, and my Audition Bootcamp.” I give links to my Facebook business page, my Twitter account, my online class for actors, my website, my blog, and the archive to my articles on Backstage. The usual response is one of gratitude to be exposed to so much information.

That’s why I was so gobsmacked to receive this response after sending my usual “connect with me over on the other page” reply. “Joe Facebook” said, “I went to Stanford and I’m on national TV. I’m good, but thanks.” “I’m good.” Really? You’re good? Believe me, I’m not so full of myself to think that everyone has to follow me on Facebook and Twitter, but are you really going to close yourself off to learning anything new? At the very least, check out the Resources page on my site, which is chock-full of industry-related links and useful information.

When I was in my early 30s, I thought I knew everything. Of course, that was my ego talking, as I didn’t want anyone to know that I actually didn’t know everything.

It took me quite a while to let down my defenses and open up to stop talking, listen, and learn.

Does “Joe Facebook” really not have anything to learn from someone who’s been in this business for decades? This weighed heavily on me for a few days until curiosity got the better of me (see what I did there?) and I looked him up on IMDb and Actors Access. Sure enough, there’s not a single credit. Going further down the rabbit hole I found his YouTube channel, where he has no personal acting videos posted but has subscribed to a number of musicians’ channels—still no acting-related channels.

I spend hours each day doing research to make me a better casting director. As an actor, you never stop learning and studying. I teach my students to read several websites daily to know what’s going on in their business. You need to watch at least two episodes of all the shows that are on TV. Not only do you need to watch the latest movies, I urge you to be a walking, talking library of film history. See plays, concerts, and art; unplug from your devices and plug into nature. Be curious. Trust me, you don’t know everything.

Make sure to check out my new 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.

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Always Trust Your Casting Director

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By Marci Liroff

A few years ago I was casting a film and a teenaged girl came in to read for the lead character. I knew she was somewhat green because she didn’t have many credits and minimal training – but she had an intriguing look. Since I had spent quite a lot of time with the director in the week’s prior, I knew what we were looking for based on his feedback and the feedback of the producers who watched all the auditions thus far.

We had worked on the scenes in a very thorough way. When I work with an actor in a pre-read or coaching, not only do we break down the character and go through the script for clues, we also talk specifically about what they can do in the audition room to help the filmmakers see them as the role. We talk about questions they can ask, what to wear, and for the women, their hair, make-up and clothing. This role (and one of the scenes) was very physical and we had chosen a physical training scene to see how the character could move by showing us simple sparring moves while reading the dialogue.

When we rehearsed the scene in the initial audition, I could tell that she was coming from the wrong place emotionally – at least wrong for what we were looking for. I re-directed her and shaped the performance and her objectives so that it would be more in the direction of what the filmmakers were looking for. She had worked out an elaborate kickboxing routine (including dropping onto the floor and springing back up) to show-off her kickboxing skills. I told her this wasn’t right for the audition setting and wouldn’t work on-camera, and we simply wanted to see her spar – if she got the part we’d train her for the fight scenes.

The day of the audition she came in looking like a teenage version of a Bond girl. Hair coiffed and curled, make-up just so, and high-heeled boots (we specifically said no high-heels when we gave out the appointments).

She wanted the role so badly she had worked herself up into a nervous frenzy and came off so desperate that she could barely speak and truly wasn’t herself in the audition.

She then went through the scenes and did exactly what I told her not to do. Her scene objectives and choices were the exact opposite of what we’d worked on. Then we got to the sparring scene. Like we always do, we instruct the actor how we want the scene blocked – just some simple sparring moves and no elaborate physicality. Instead of what we just told her to do, she went into the kickboxing routine. The scene was about the dialogue and the relationship between the two characters, not about a choreographed routine. The director was less than pleased. I was so disappointed that she didn’t follow my directions from the other day – along with the director’s on the day.

She begged to come back to prove that she could do it. She pleaded that “this character was her – she knew it in her bones.” Because I love that sort of passion from an actor, I said I’d read her again – without the director this time. I worked with her again to get her back I shape. I told her exactly what to wear and how she should look: leather jacket, flat boots, jeans, and a sleeveless top to show her arms. I was so excited to see what she would do now that she had another chance to prove herself. She came back wearing a long-sleeved blouse that was not form fitting, thigh-high boots with heels and, very long and full false eyelashes. Not the look of this character at all. Not what I had explicitly requested based on the director’s wishes. Again, her reading was off.

When we talked it over a week later she told me that she had also been going to her acting coach. She figured more information and guidance could only be a good thing. Her acting coach was giving her info that directly contradicted what we were looking for and basically undid all the work that we had done together.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t go to your acting coach for your auditions. Hell, I’m an acting coach so that would be ridiculous. I’m suggesting that if you get specific notes and direction from your casting director at your initial audition, make sure to integrate that into your coaching sessions and alert your coach if he’s sending you in the wrong direction.

Make sure to check out my new 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.

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Can You Hear Me Now?

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By Marci Liroff

Acting is reacting. If you aren’t truly listening and reacting to your scene partner then you might as well be a bump on a log. I love to watch an actor soak in information and see it wash across her face. All you have to do is live in the moment of the scene, think, take in the information, and actively listen—the camera will do the rest.

I always like to read with actors rather than hire a reader, because I can always tell if they’re acting on their own or actually with their scene partner. I can tell if they’re just waiting for their cue line or truly listening to me. I notice this mostly with child actors who seem to shut down between their lines.

An audition the other day perfectly illustrated this issue. The scene called for a child to have fallen into a deep hole that was filling with water. He was panicked, wet, cold, and in serious pain from having caught his foot under a large rock below. Deeply wedged in below the surface, he was frantically calling out for help. Each scene called for him to maintain and sustain a greater level of panic. There was an enormous amount of dialogue being delivered from the rescue crew up top. The child and the rescue team were able to communicate through a phone they had delivered below through a PVC pipe, so he was hearing their plans and directions.

I noticed several times that his face seemed to go blank when the info was being delivered, as if he wasn’t even there. He would only perk up when he heard his cue line. I directed him to use his breathing to help him connect to the fear that he was feeling.

When you’re scared, your breathing changes.

Even though he was trapped and didn’t have a lot to say, he needed to listen to all of the dialogue coming from the rescue crew so that he would know what they were planning to do with him. It’s always good to make the stakes high—he literally wouldn’t survive unless he listened to what their rescue plan was going to be. He needed to know every detail in order to get out before the water rose above his neck. By the last reading he was fully aware of his surroundings and dependent upon hearing every word spoken so that he could stay alive. He was almost hyperventilating. His attentiveness and acute listening skills produced a scintillating, edge-of-your-seat performance because not only was he fully committed to the scene and his character, he was listening to every specific detail that the other characters spoke as if his life depended on it.

When I’m auditioning actors, I always instruct my camera person to shoot plenty of “heads and tails.” This means they roll the camera for a few moments before you start the scene and keep it rolling for a while after the scene, until I call cut. A good director knows that there are priceless moments to be caught just before the scene starts and just after the scene ends. Make sure you stay in character in your audition even though your dialogue has stopped and the scene has seemingly ended. Your reader may throw in an extra line at the end and segue into an improv when you least expect it. If you’re truly listening, you will be ready to catch that ball when it’s thrown to you.

Great actors are those who are good on their feet and on their toes during a performance onstage, in front of the camera, and in the audition room.

Make sure to check out my new 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.

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