an actor PDF
Preview an actor
ACTION! The Professional Actors Workbook from Bob Fraser Copyright © 2008 Bob Fraser & Bob Fraser Productions Terms of Use: All rights reserved. No part of this course may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including recording, faxing, emailing, posting online or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as permitted to the original purchaser, without written permission from the Author and Publisher. All trademarks and brands referred to herein are the property of their respective owners. Contact Information: Bob Fraser Productions 3727 West Magnolia Blvd. Burbank, California 91505 United States Of America OBLIGATORY LEGAL NOTICE: While all attempts have been made to verify information provided in this course, neither the Author nor the Publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein. Any perceived slights of specific persons, people, or organizations is unintentional. This course is an information product, and is not intended for use as a source of legal, accounting, or tax advice. Infor- mation contained herein may be subject to varying national, state, and/or local laws or regulations. All users are advised to retain the services of competent professionals for legal, accounting, representation or tax advice. The purchaser or reader of this publication assumes all responsibility for the use of these materials and information, including adherence to all applicable laws and regulations, federal, state, and local, governing professional licensing, business practices, advertising, and all other aspects of doing business in the United States, or any other jurisdiction in the world. No guar- antees of income are made. Publisher reserves the right to make changes. If you can’t accept these terms, kindly return this product. The Author and Publisher assume no responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials. This workbook plus all the extra forms and materials are a gift from Bob Fraser. They are for your own private use and may not be copied or distributed without written authorization from the author. If you have friends who would like a copy, please direct them to Bob’s website, Show Biz How-To - where they can sign up as a subscriber and will be sent Action, The Agent Roster, and the email course, The Actors Tool-Kit. www.showbizhowto.com As you go through the workbook and other resources, please take the time to consider Bob’s other products - which have been specifically designed to improve your acting career results. You Must Act! The Acting Career Course http://www.youmustact.com Nail It! Delivering The Hypnotic Audition http://www.hypnoticaudition.com Headshot Secrets Revealed - Getting A Headshot That Works http://www.headshotsecrets.com The Agent Code - How To Get An Agent Interested http://www.theagentcode.com An Actor Works - The Weekend Intensive Live Workshop http://www.anactorworks.com Introduction T he purpose of this workbook is to help you in building a business plan for your career. One of the things that stops most actors when they set out to succeed in the business (and acting is a business) – is the lack of a well thought out plan. In order to succeed, it’s very important to have a plan that contains all the elements needed to actually attain success. Unlike most business plans, though – an actor’s career plan really involves putting together a lot of non-substantial things such as mindset, attitude, and artistic point of view. Naturally, there are business concerns too. The big issue with many actors is that this plan needs to be a plan that’s written down. In talking with my client actors over the past four years, it seems that a lot of them are slowed down (or even stopped completely) when it comes to the ‘writing it down’ part. I totally understand this ‘empty page’ business – because I have been writing professionally for over 3 decades and truth to tell ... it never gets easier. Facing an empty page is a daunting task. In fact, for some it may seem downright impossible. So, what I’ve attempted to do in this workbook is: (A) Lay out the steps that lead to success in a professional acting career ... and ... (B) Put together a series of questions for you to answer that will build your acting career plan, automatically. You’ll notice I didn’t say ‘easily.’ Even with some imposed structure to help you along, writing things down is almost never easy. But the results you will see – once you’ve done the ‘homework’ and you have a real plan to consult and work from – will be worth all the work involved. That’s why it’s called a ‘work’ book. T here’s an old saying in business (which actually originated with Benjamin Franklin) – “when you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” This is just the plain unvarnished truth. Almost every business requires attention to a lot of details and missing any one, can (and generally will) cause a business to fail. Acting is probably one of the most complicated businesses around. The proof of that is seen in the average time it takes an actor to actually ‘make it.’ However, there is another old saying – one that is the reason behind this workbook – “People fail, systems don’t.” So the real idea of Action! is to build a plan of action that can be used as a system for pursuing success in the entertainment industry – “Do A, then B, then C, then D, etc.” SUCCESS T he reason most people cannot figure out how success happens is because success is always built in small, inconspicuous steps. When someone shows up on the red carpet, it’s pretty easy to observe their success. But when the accomplishment is actually going on – when the work that goes into that success is being done – it rarely gets much attention. By observing the result (the red carpet) it may seem as if success is only possible for a ‘lucky’ few. But, as soon as you peek behind the scenes – a completely different picture emerges. Just as with the so-called ‘gifted’ athlete – most successful actors make it look easy (that’s part of their job) and we rarely see the years of classes, failed productions, unemployment, and mis- steps that happened along the way. But the truth is that success and accomplishment are not just results gotten by a lucky few – they are readily available to any ‘regular’ person who chooses to be disciplined, focused, persistent, committed, positive, enthusiastic and passionate about their goals. These seven words will keep cropping up as we go forward and it would be a good idea for you to start with the knowledge that these words will begin to apply to you (and your efforts) just as soon as you decide that they will. Some Instructions N ow before we jump into the first part of Action!, it’s critical that you keep in mind that there is no time limit for completing the work outlined here. And you don’t have to start at the beginning and work through it in order. You can skim through the text, take note of the questions, think about things, jump back and forth, start and stop – whatever suits your way of going about things. BUT, in order to end up with a good plan and a workable system – you will have to finish the entire workbook. The second (and maybe more important) point is this: It’s critical to getting good results that you answer the questions you will find in here as honestly as possible. Keep in mind that no one else is ever going to see this workbook – it’s not really for anyone else, anyway – and the more honestly you answer the questions, the more pertinent and helpful your plan will turn out to be. S ince I clearly cannot force you to finish the workbook or be honest in all your answers, I will resort to cajoling from time to time – and I will be repetitive regarding some critical ideas and instructions in the hope that every repetition will get you closer to doing the work you need to do. Let me backtrack a moment here, and get you ready to begin – by repeating something right away: Success and accomplishment are available to ‘regular people’ who choose to be disciplined, focused, persistent, committed, positive, enthusiastic and passionate about their goals. Despite the underlining and emphasis – the really important words in the previous sentence are ‘choose to be.’ All forward progress in our lives is inextricably tied to what we decide to be – and consequently, what we choose to do. For instance, you could choose to print out this workbook, put it into a binder, glance through it ... and then put it aside, to catch a rerun of Battlestar Galactica. You could choose to get involved in some other activities and get back to this workbook ‘someday.’ You could choose to get to it as soon as the holidays are over, or after you’ve finished your latest production, or first thing next year. Or .... you COULD choose to do the ground work – to build the foundation that allows you to succeed – by deciding to put a system in place right away. You could decide on a time-line for completing the workbook – so you can start implementing the plan that comes out of it, sooner rather than later. Because, make no mistake, a system is the best way to insure that you remain ‘on task.’ For instance, you could choose to put aside a half-hour a day to do the work in this workbook. Or twenty minutes. Just remember that what you choose to do – is what is actually going to happen. That’s what choosing and deciding are all about. Now, I hope you’ll choose to turn the page, and get started. Bob Fraser Burbank California December 2008 YOUR ‘REASON WHY’ T he starting point of any business plan is always the “reason why.” This is about formulating a compelling reason for getting into business in the first place. A reminder: There are no wrong answers – but only honest answers will be helpful. In order to get clear about your ‘reason why’ we’ll start with two difficult questions. 1. Why do you want to be a professional actor? (Although this is multiple choice – you can choose more than one answer. Use your highlighter here.) A. I love acting. B. I want to be famous C. It’s the only job which makes me happy. D. I want to make a lot of money. E. I like telling stories. F. I enjoy the audience response. G. I like pretending to be someone else – to live other lives. H. It’s the only thing I can do well. I. I like collaborating with others J. I would like to meet my favorite actors K. I enjoy the intellectual challenge. L. It looks like fun M. I want to live in California (N.Y., London, etc.) N. I want to see myself on the big screen (or television). 0
Description:The list of books you might like
