10 Reasons Why University Trained Actors Don’t Get Hired

For some actors university courses are fantastic. They are the ones whose names are trumpeted as alumni. But for others it isn’t such a great experience and they may never act again, once they leave.

Why such extremes?

There are two kinds of actors.

The first are …

# intelligent with high aspirations,

# are passionate about acting,

# believe in the values they bring to the craft,

# are excited about the complexities that a performance can achieve and

# are often driven by important story values.

Despite the fact that they should do well, they often do badly in tertiary courses. These actors do not get rewarded for their extraordinary passion.

the second are …

# full of confidence,

# have a great instinctive sense of what needs to be done,

# play adventurously when needed and

# always portray the same version of themselves. 

They are frequently engaging and real. They are few in number and do well in tertiary acting courses – but they would do well anywhere.

The reasons this first group doesn’t succeed are … 

1.    University actors aren’t taught to prepare and execute a scene quickly. That’s because the processes they are taught are old fashioned. These techniques are born in an era where theatre was the main form of employment.  They take too long to apply. The modern actor needs to work fast.

2.    Too many teaching experts are each focused on their own specialist area. No one brings a focus on unifying the techniques. A complete step-by-step process is what is needed.

3.    Those who can do it succeed. Those who need …

• more time
• logical explanations or
•  a different way of learning

… fall by the wayside. These actors are left floundering.

4.   University techniques focus on finding the correct choice. The reality is that there are many very practical ways to approach any performance. Looking for the perfect performance is very restrictive. This creates actors who can’t be flexible in the professional workspace.

5.    The focus of university training is on traditional techniques and the classics with not nearly enough time given to screen performance. Acting for the screen has a number of specific requirements. It demands that actors work fast. It is also the most likely source of the majority of an actor’s income. Screen performance skills are essential for an actor.

6.   Most traditional techniques taught at university come from the books of the teaching greats. Back in those days psychologists believed our minds worked in a linear fashion. Acting teachers followed that understanding. Psychologists now know that our minds work erratically and randomly. Characters created by those traditional techniques often have a regimented, organised or ‘acted’ vibe. Whereas, an impulse driven realistic performance is the modern way. 

7.    Actors need to understand productive and practical decision-making processes when preparing a performance. These are rarely taught in a practical way at university. Actors need to create complex characters. They also need to understand that their own complex minds can make random choices that undermine and over complicate their performance. Modern mind management techniques produce more centred and creatively free performances.

8.   Too many processes to manage. Often actors resort to using the process that feels best rather than the one most suited to the job. Filling up a course with lots of different techniques makes the University look good. Completely understanding how to move from script reading, to audition, to final performance is what makes the actor look good.

9.   One actor gets more opportunities to perform than another. This is because of the large numbers in university courses. More experience in lead roles means some get much more opportunity to learn than others. It is not an equal opportunity environment.

10. Actors trained at university get little instruction and experience at auditioning. But an actor must know how to prepare and look good in an audition. The audition process is the first step to any employment opportunity for the actor. Audition techniques must be taught so that an actor can be relaxed, professional and effective when they audition.

SO, WHAT DO ACTORS NEED FROM A GOOD EDUCATION PROCESS? 

10 ESSENTIAL SKILLS THAT BOOK GIGS

To succeed in the professional world actors, need to be able to … 

1.    Prepare quickly

An actor never knows when something different will be asked of them. A process that enables the actor to prepare a performance quickly is essential. Knowing which elements are the most productive is key.  A clear understanding of how those essentials work is the next step. Then an actor can make big changes and be prepared to deliver them in minutes and make changes in seconds.

Short preparation time – loading the essentials has to be quick and effective.

Long preparation time – has to avoid confusions and overloading.

2.    Craft the Conversation

The vast majority of scenes an actor will perform are dialogue driven. Understanding the mechanics of conversation is essential. In life, conversations have very identifiable patterns and structures. For example, you must decide whether you are the Instigator or the Responder in the conversation. Those two functions have different patterns of behaviour. Understandings those patterns and structures enables the actor to make clear decisions. Clear decisions put the actor in charge of their choices enabling playful performances. Understanding conversation structure is an important and powerful tool.

 Control of the conversation structure enables an actor to instantly offer 9 options for any scene.

It also enables the actor to move between those options in 10 to 15 seconds.

3.    Create a Character

Creating or changing character is a very simple skill. Yet, character creation is generally veiled in mystery and misinformation.  An actor needs to be able to offer a wide range of characters and be able to change them quickly when auditioning. The fact is, character is revealed by behaviour. Changing a character’s pattern of behaviour can be achieved by using a short list of very active verbs (see that list at the bottom of this document). Using this list means that changing a character’s nature only takes ten seconds.

For example, restricting use to only 9 of these very simple character triggers can deliver a huge range of character types. Pair one of those choices with one of the 9 simple Conversation Goals and 81 performance options are suddenly instantly available. These can be confidently switched between in seconds on the set or in the audition room to produce richly complex performances.

4.    Balance All the Ingredients

There are many ingredients for a performance besides the big ones of character and conversation. The actor is also juggling pre-history, feelings, intensity, relationship, impulse and much more. Finding the balance between those elements is the key to delivering the story. Any change in the balance of those elements produces a different story outcome. So, being able to measure the size of those changes is essential. That’s how an actor takes direction.

All the ingredients of a performance are connected.

Those complicated connections must support each other and interact. It is finding the balance between them that prevents a chaotic performance outcome. There are many practical ways that balance can be achieved. You simply need to know what they are and how they work.

5.    Listen Authentically

Understanding relationship and conversation enables authentic listening.  Listening is driven by the organic interaction of those two elements. It is impossible for any actor to know, in advance, what the meaning of another actor’s line will be until they have said it. That’s why listening is so important. An actor must listen to the meaning of every line afresh in every new performance. On the basis of what they now understand, the appropriate response can then be decided.

Conversation Goal guides the actor towards the next choice, but it is their listening that determines exactly what that choice should be. Listening is not driven by what you are feeling. Authentic listening is stimulated by what you are hearing. Listening must be active and real.

It is not possible to rehearse what a character is listening to. 

Listening can only happen in the now. That’s what makes acting fun.

6.   Be Open and Flexible

Understanding how process works promotes trust and confidence. It is the trust an actor has in their knowledge base that produces vibrant performances. It is confidence which encourages an open creative freedom. Freedom permits risk taking and boldly adventurous choices. While the strong foundations of this process deliver consistency. Spontaneous, flexible, consistent interactions engage audiences.

It is that combination that enabled The Rehearsal Room production of “The Memory of Water” to succeed. It delivered a different performance every night.  Audiences loved the exciting freshness of every show.

7.    Understand the Story

The actor is the instrument who creates the character. The character is the vehicle that delivers the writer’s story.  Understanding the mechanics of the storytelling means the actor can focus on the most productive pathway.  The character’s job is to drive the story’s drama forward.  Knowledge of how story works enables an actor to clearly and effectively create a character who fulfils their role in the story.

8.    Managing the Mind

An actor must understand how the human mind works to implement their acting techniques successfully. Every mind is different, but many functions are the same. Understanding how the mind makes decisions is essential. It is also important to understand how the mind then applies good decision making to acting technique. Once an understanding is reached the actor can teach themselves very effectively. 

An actor’s skill can be easily corrupted by bad decision making. The mind is a complicated instrument. It needs to be guided to simple pathways.

Good acting tuition needs to explain practical applications of the theory.

9.   Make Sure You Do the Job

Once your selection of balanced choices has been approved by the director the next step is to make sure you do them. Suddenly the focus swings to delivery. That’s when, desires to be good and to seek applause can corrupt the execution of the performance. They will even corrupt the way you set yourself for the start of the scene. If the launching pad is unstable the performance will be erratic. It is essential to have a check list that loads all the key elements into your mind in a manageable way.

The Rehearsal Room Pre-Shoot check list is a high-performance tool. This is when your understanding of how your process works unites with your understanding of how the mind works to deliver an exhilarating outcome.

10. Assess the Outcome

Because adrenalin, emotions and expectations are involved it is impossible for an actor to easily assess whether a performance actually worked. Often, there are too many unconscious biases and fears ricocheting around your mind to reach a logical conclusion.

To be able to analyse in seconds whether your choices worked is a very useful acting skill. The following formula is unerringly accurate.

THE POST SHOOT CHECKLIST

a.    Did you set yourself at the start with a clear understanding of relationship? (The Rehearsal Room technique achieves that with the choice of one simple verb – see below.)

b.   Did you stay on your conversation purpose?

c.    Did you listen?

d.   Was the next thing you said more important than the previous?

e.    Were their surprises for your character?

f.     Did you land the ending?

If you can give yourself a mark of 5 out of 10 to each of those items, your performance will be between good and very good.

If you give yourself more than a 5 for any of the items then the performance will be between very good and excellent.

Even if you can’t confirm one of the items the performance will still be between perfectly fine and good.

An actor who can consistently deliver performances that are between ‘fine’ and ‘excellent’ is a very hireable professional.

TOO MANY HALF-TRUTHS

This industry generates a lot of hype about the value of creativity. Unfortunately, that gives permission to many inept practitioners to spout half-truths with confident authority. There is much talk that sounds good but often means nothing because it doesn’t have a clear path to an active outcome. Such talk can be inspiring to an actor without having any identifiable tools in place to deliver the promises 

It happens all the time. Larry Moss in his applauded book “The Intent to Live” will explain a principle in one paragraph that is clear, practical and active while in the next espouse a concept that is vague, illogical and will produce erratic outcomes.

It is not uncommon for him to justify explanations with … “I believe” or “my belief is.” He is not lying. He does believe it when he says that. But there is no actual logical evidence. A lot of creative talk parallels philosophies based on belief. What is needed is more science.

It is common for people to explain creative processes with an illustration of what one famous person did once. But there is no evidence of testing that process out to see if it might have the same effect on someone else. Furthermore, they then often confirm the validity of that first choice by using an additional quote from another famous person. That quote may be referring to something that is completely unconnected. The principle seems to be, if it sounds good it makes sense.

Beware. 

A constant question every professional should be asking is … “Where’s the proof?”

The creative process, no matter whether it is painting, dance, music or writing must be driven by technical theories that work if they are to have a consistent outcome.

Acting should be no different. The kind of processes that an actor uses should be constantly tested out to make sure there is ongoing evidence that they work.

That is the entire basis of every element of The Rehearsal Room acting process. The techniques can be referred to as - delivering ‘a high-percentage return’. 

This is why London based actor Crispian Belfrage explained …

I have done 14 years of training, including 3 years at L.A.M.B.A. in London, 2 years in Stella Adler technique in Los Angeles, I’ve done Meisner and 1 year with Ivanna Chubbuck. But after 12 months online with you at The Rehearsal Room I am booking great roles in high end projects, through top casting agents.

Thank you. It is simple and it works.

CRISPIAN BELFRAGE

What Crispian has achieved is to simplify his approach so he can be confidently in charge of it.

AN EXAMPLE OF A PRACTICAL SIMPLIFICATION

Many actors refer to a Thesaurus of verbs to find the perfect ‘action’ to play. This massive range of options is far too cumbersome to produce clear results. What is more, choosing a verb from such a source generally guarantees that it will be so vaguely evocative that it will have no practical input on the performance outcome.  

You don’t need a Thesaurus. This list of verbs is all you need to create a vast range of compelling characters. Crispian selected one of these verbs and combined it with an equally simple Conversation Goal in both his job winning auditions.

When an actor keeps their choices simple and clear they free their mind to listen openly to the interaction of the scene. Complicated choices restrict listening and inhibit actors from trusting their spontaneous impulses.

It doesn’t need to be more complicated.

FOOTNOTE: Practical formulas are the most valuable tools for building professional skills. Formulas deliver high-percentage returns. Every area of work endeavour is driven by formulas. That is how skill is passed on from one participant to another. In every arena of work, formulas are mind management tools to deliver effective performance outcomes. It is no different for the actor. Actors need to understand the formulas that deliver story and performance.

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