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Diane Christiansen Kids & Teens

Prepare to Succeed – Build Your Professional Team and Support System

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By Diane Christiansen

Success = Preparation + Opportunity

I learned this equation as a kid, and it is still the most valuable math lesson I have ever been taught. Success is not a fluke. It is the result of countless hours spent in preparation for the opportunity of a lifetime. We must prepare for success in order to seize it. A big part of preparing to succeed is putting in place the people and the infrastructure to keep your enterprise afloat. Even before your career is fully off the ground, you need to assemble the team that is best-suited to take you to the top. Some people make the mistake of waiting for opportunity to arrive before seeking out support. Surely you’ve heard the horror stories of successful individuals who somehow lost it all and later discovered the people they called friends were taking them for everything they had. Support is easy to obtain after the fact, that is, after you have attained success. Just ask MC Hammer. But the people you want to have on your team are those who truly believe in you, so much so that they are willing to accompany you on your journey to greatness, starting at the ground floor. In essence, they are investing in your future. They give their time and energy to help you fulfill your potential, and only when you succeed with their support will they get a return on their investment.

So let’s talk about who you need to your team.

  • * Devil’s Advocate – The much-needed opposite of a “Yes Man,” this is the person who you can always count on to give it to you straight. Since straight-talk can hurt feelings, this person needs to be someone you trust implicitly and who has weathered a few storms with you. When everyone else is telling you to go right, your devil’s advocate will help you consider the possibility of going left. Ultimately, the decision is yours, but at least it will be an informed one.
  • * Cheerleader – Whether you didn’t land the role you wanted or you don’t like your new headshots, this is the person who will always help you find the silver lining in a bad situation. Your cheerleader is not there to enable delusion, but rather to help you maintain perspective. Especially in this industry, you’re going to need a reality check to keep you grounded in what matters and to avoid losing yourself in what casting thinks of you.
  • * An Agent – Obviously, right? But not just any agent will do. You and your agent need to be on the same page about the direction of your career. If you see yourself as an ingénue and your agent is submitting you for villains, then there’s a mismatch. Of course, one school of thought might encourage you to take whatever you can get. But how committed will you be to landing roles you don’t see yourself playing? Remember that you and your agent are in a partnership. Therefore, it’s best to find an agent that understands your niche and can find you the roles that allow you to shine.
  • * Mentor – You need to have a person on your team who has walked the path you’re traveling and can alert you to potential pitfalls ahead. A good mentor will be a sounding board for the ideas you have about your career, never telling you what to do, but serving as a fountain of knowledge and experience to help you make the best decision for you. Whether by directly advising you with tips to improve your odds of success, or indirectly by connecting you to others in the industry with a good referral, your mentor can be an invaluable resource.
  • * Hollywood Outsider – We’ve all heard of those folks who “go Hollywood,” and it never seems to be a good a thing. Having someone in your circle who could care less about who’s who in Hollywood will remind you that there is life outside of acting. So whenever you need to get away for a minute, your Hollywood Outsider can give you the balance you need to refill your tank from the depletion of Hollywood.
Holly Powell Audition Technique

Walking Into The Audition Room

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By: Holly Powell

They call your name. The viewers are looking at you when you walk in the door to see if you are at all right for the part. First impressions are everything. If you walk in nervous or seem unprepared we can spot it a mile away and don’t want to take the 3 minutes to read you. If you do feel nervous or unprepared out in the audition lobby, I want you to think of something you do in your life that makes you feel confident. Are you great at singing, cooking, playing tennis? Watch how your body adjusts: your shoulders go back, your chest moves from caved-in to centered…and then walk into the room. Your body language has sent the “confidence” signal to your brain so that you now actually start to feel confident! So as your body “fakes confidence”, your thoughts become confident…”Fake It Till You Make It”!

You must treat walking into the audition room like the moment before you walk onstage from the wings when doing a play. You must be in your “zone” or your “bubble”, with the mental focus of an athlete. As you enter the audition room you need to be in a hybrid state: a focused actor ready to go, looking the Casting Director, Director or Producers in the eye and say “Hello”. Just by saying “Hi”, we get a taste of your personality. The “Hi” can let us know that you will show up on time to the set, know your lines, be courteous to your fellow actors and not complain about the size of your trailer. Or not!

When I talk about walking into the room with the mental focus of an athlete, I don’t mean that you should walk into the room in character. DON’T WALK INTO THE ROOM IN CHARACTER! There have been a few actors in my classes who have been told to walk into the room in character, and in doing so had disastrous results…or maybe confusing results. One walked in, in character, and the role was for a drug addict. Her Agent was called by the Casting Director and said that the actress was really on drugs. One actor auditioned for “an asshole bad guy” and walked into the room in character. After the audition was over, he continued to chat with the Casting Director in character…and of
course, the Casting Director thought he was a jerk and didn’t want him any where near the set. If the Casting Director or Producer or Director chat with you, they are trying to get to know YOU. Not who the character is. Your audition will show them who the character is.

So, walk into the audition room with confidence…a focused, prepared actor ready to go who has made specific choices. Just by saying “Hi” the viewers will get a taste of your personality. And the good news is, you are only in the audition room for 3 minutes! And, “You Can Do Anything For 3 Minutes”. (The title of Holly’s upcoming book on “Auditioning”).

How to Become a TV Host - Part 4

How to Become a TV Host – Part 4

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In Part 1 of How To Become A Host we reviewed what it takes, the (3) T Core Values it takes to become a host.
-Think, Talk and Teach-

In Part 2 I broke it down to (3) Key Areas of connection every host needs to understand. TV Hosting is a Mind Mouth and Body Connection.

Part 3 continues with the importance of a “Mental Workout”.

Here is the final piece, Part 4: Read more

Carolyne Barry Commercials

Acting Workshops vs. Scene Study Classes

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by: Carolyne Barry

When you are ready to start training realize their are numerous techniques to choose from (i.e. Sanford Meisner, Method (Strasberg), Stanislavski, Chekhov, Uta Hagen, or Stella Adler.) Find the one that is right for you.

After researching all the various techniques and auditing different teachers then choose the training discipline you feel is the best fit for you.  Next choose if want to take acting class or scene study.

Often actors think that Scene Study is the way to study acting. Yet, Acting technique classes for many actors is often a better way to build a strong foundation. I used to think that Scene Classes were the same as acting technique classes but have learned the difference and the value.

“Scene study” primarily involves individual scenes or monologues from a play or film, which are assigned to the student actors. The instructor directs and teaches his/her approach using scripts as the vehicle. He/she might have some warm-ups or exercises, but their major focus is the scene work.

Whereas “acting classes” offer a step-by-step process utilizing specific techniques and exercises before scenes are assigned.  Once scenes are introduced to the students, the teacher continues to add more challenging techniques.

Essentially, it is like the difference between a “house-building” class and a carpentry class. One has the instructor t oversee the construction of the project, advising the students everything that needs to be done, helping direct him/her to build a particular house before moving on to the next one. Whereas in a carpentry class, the instructor teaches each student how to master every tool, thus making him a master carpenter first, then he is empowered to go off to work.

The actor who has no clear set of “tools” is more dependent on his scene study teacher, Whereas, a good acting technique teacher teaches the tools to be a great actor then applies them to scripts. (AND there teachers who do both.) For the most part,  a scene study class may initially make students feel good about their scene work, but in truth they will learn more about their scene than they do about themselves as artists. 

How to Become a TV Host – Part 3

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In Part 1 of How To Become a TV Host we reviewed what it takes, the (3) T Core Values it takes to become a host.
-Think, Talk and Teach-

In Part 2 I broke it down to (3) Key Areas of connection every host needs to understand. TV Hosting is a Mind Mouth and Body Connection.

Here is Part 3: Read more

5 Ways Technology Changed the Demo Reel

5 Ways Technology Has Changed the Demo Reel

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A demo reel is an absolute must for actors. In this video, Retta Putignano of Create Your Reel talks about the value of the demo reel for getting you in the door of casting or an agent, and exactly how it should look in today’s market.

Savvy Actor Business

What Does it Really Mean to Get S#@t Done?

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by: Savvy Actor Career Coach Doug Shapiro

As an artist and performer, you are running the business of YOU! Let’s look at some business recommendations to be as efficient as we can be in terms of getting things done for our careers.

Let’s say you’ve made your task list of 6 things that HAVE to get done today and you have allotted how much time each one will get. How to prioritize? Here are three schools of thought to help you MAKE A CHOICE and GET THINGS DONE!

Priority Idea #1: PUT IMPORTANT TASKS FIRST!
In his National Bestseller, The Ultimate Sales Machine, Chet Holmes points out that people tend to put important tasks last because they take the most time or most mental concentration. Well, if you put it at the end of the day, you will either not get to it or not have the mental energy to give it the attention it deserved.

Priority Idea #2: START WITH THE TASK THAT WILL BRING IN THE MOST MONEY!
My husband the Financial Advisor comes at it from another angle. We’re running a business, right? If we’re going to finance the growth of our business through mailings, classes, and seeing the shows in which we’ll one day be performing, the money has to come in first.

Priority Idea #3: START WITH A TASK THAT IS SMALL, TANGIBLE, AND FINITE!
Robert Maurer, Ph.D., in his book One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way, recommends approaching daunting tasks (such as tackling your huge to-do list) with small steps. This way, it’s less overwhelming, you have a feeling of completion, and can see that no one died. Some of us just need to have a feeling of completion to get the juices flowing and make ourselves ready to dive into the task-list mindset.

Know thyself, choose your method, and begin!