Jennifer Carrillo of Bella Rosa Photography is an amazing photographer, whose expertise ranges from Editorial to Weddings.  She’s worked with several celebrities and I was lucky enough to do a photo session with her this week.  Jennifer rarely does headshots for clients, so working with her was a real treat!  As with every photographer, they have their favorites when they do a session and Jennifer has posted hers on her blog.

Tags: Acting, Bella Rosa Photography, Headshots, Jennifer Carrillo

On February 19, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presented  “The Power of Communication”, featuring author and public speaker Gary Hankins.  Mr. Hankins’ latest publication is “The Power of the Pitch” and the seminar focused on making presentations.

The Television Academy has a diverse group of members, from all facets of the business, ranging from concept to completion.  So, understandably, not all of the topics that were covered during this seminar about effective presentations would be appropriate for performers to follow during the audition / job seeking process.  Performers have a unique challenge in this area, because in one sense we are the product as we market ourselves and we also create a product by creating a character for a project.  Since our work has this unique blend, many of the typical methods that work in a corporate environment would not render the same benefits in our line of work.

The portions of Gary’s seminar that would apply to performers had to do with the “likeability” of a person.  We were given a breakdown of the 3 elements that people typically use to assess one another.  According to Gary, “what you say is 7%, how you sound is 38% and how you look is 55%”.  This was a helpful reminder about how others perceive us and how we can use that information to better communicate, regardless of what career path we choose to follow.

On February 12, the Academy of Television of Arts & Sciences hosted “An Evening With Samantha Who?”.  The panelists were: Co-Creator/Executive Producer  - Donald Todd, Executive Producer - Peter Traugott, Executive Producer - Matthew Carlson, Line Producer - John Amodeo, and the cast: Christina Applegate, Jean Smart, Barry Watson, Jennifer Esposito, Kevin Dunn, Melissa McCarthy, Tim Russ.  The panel discussion was moderated by Craig Tomashoff, Executive Editor, TV Guide.

Cecelia Ahern and Donald Todd are the co-creators of this wonderful comedy series.  Ms. Ahern wasn’t in attendance, but Mr. Todd talked about the writing process and the method used for writing the show.  Donald Todd, a clearly witty and fast-paced person, kept the audience engaged by sharing his perspective on how the writers consistently make an effort to write storylines that have an honesty to them, keeping the show easy for many people to relate to on different levels. He summed up the overall style of the show by the creation of characters that are so self-involved that they don’t really help the person who truly is the most vulnerable, the character of Samantha.

Throughout the evening the actors gave insight into how they created their specific characters, citing the experiences that had an impact on their creative choices.  Christina Applegate talked about being influenced by a documentary about a man with amnesia just prior to being offered the role of Samantha, which helped her to have insight into the challenges facing that character.  Each of the actors also mentioned why they chose to be involved with the show.  The recurring theme among the actors was that their made the choice based on the opportunity to work with peers who could enhance their experience.

To me, one of the highlights of the evening was the gag reel they shared with us.  It’s really wonderful to see the organic moments that happen between a cast and crew that most networks would declare unfit to air, even on reality TV.  Seeing the camaraderie shared by the cast and crew in the clips shown was a great reminder of how so many people who work in the industry tend to have a team attitude when working on a production.

Tags: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Acting, Add new tag, ATAS / TV Academy Events

On February 3rd, the Screen Actors Guild Foundation hosted the seminar “Making Friends with Rejection: Empowering the Working Actor”. David Ackert taught this useful workshop.  He is pro-active, working actor/producer, author, educator and public speaker that is known for his positive approach to the business side of acting.

What I enjoy most about David’s workshops is that by being a working actor, he has the ability to be compassionate and humorous while he teaches other actors good business skills. David used dice as a metaphor to explain the emotional aspects attached to the audition process.  He explored ways in which we can play the numbers game to the best of our ability by controlling the elements we can control and using perspective with the things we can’t control to feel empowered.

According to David, there are 2 main ways to increase a booking average (a.k.a the bottom line):
1. Increase the number of auditions, typically based on headshots.
2. Increase the number of bookings based on performance, training, and being properly prepared for an audition.

Now that submissions are mostly digital, many casting directors make their “first cut” based on the online thumbnails of a headshot.  David gave us tips on how to discover how others might envision us and how to translate that into images which will represent those characters, increasing the likelihood of getting called in to an audition.

Another element of dealing with rejection is to gain perspective by identifying any self-destructive habits we may have learned during our journey as performers.  By reducing any rejection and pressure we might be projecting onto ourselves, we can increase our overall self-image.  Several actors were able to share their experiences and ways to cope with or change bad behaviors, illustrating how once we are willing to acknowledge where we can improve, it’s possible to choose our path thoughtfully to get better results.

This workshop was full of great reminders to have faith in our abilities and the wisdom to keep learning. David has a talent for being able to help people embrace the lessons learned during the pursuit of their dreams – not only actors – any individuals who are courageous enough to create from passion and inspiration.

Tags: David Ackert, SAG LifeRaft, Screen Actors Guild, Screen Actors Guild Foundation