An Uncomfortable Truth

I once asked a collection of actors what they thought they needed most in terms of professional development. Of the twenty responses, not one of them said ‘acting’.

A friend said recently “I don’t understand, I’ve been to drama school, I’ve got an agent, I just never really achieved my potential.” He then asked what I thought the problem was…

I told him that I wanted to say something to him, and he wasn’t going to like it, but as a friend, I would like to put something to him. But that it was an… uncomfortable truth.

I looked into the eyes of this friend and slowly, patiently, carefully, tactfully, but sincerely told him that the problem was that his acting wasn’t really that good. He wasn’t very believable, he didn’t seem to have a craft and he had more bad habits than good.

It wasn’t nice to hear.

So I told him a story about Rachel. I recently worked with an American actress, who was really struggling to book jobs in LA. She had taken tons of workshops, lots of casting director workshops and horse riding to continue her professional development. But it hasn’t worked, so Rachel blamed herself.

But what was the real problem? She hadn’t address the one area that she really needed to address, her acting.

You see the problem is that what Rachel learned in college didn’t really prepare her for acting the scene. She had learned all sorts of things about acting, done lots of shows and lots of exercises, but she didn’t have a concrete technique of acting to help her build her ability. 

But the truth is that Rachel couldn’t use it because most of it was useless baloney taught by well-meaning but misguided acting teachers.  Most schools just can’t give the intensive 1-2-1 tuition that actors need to get really good. 

As soon as I started to talk to her about acting in a language of action, a language she understood, she started to light up.  Within a few hours, she was working more confidently, more truthfully than she had in years. With a simple action-based technique I was able to release Rachel’s talent and give her the tools she needed to bring her acting to the level she always believed she could achieve.

All the casting director workshops in the world won’t help, if your basic skill base needs help.

All we had to do was change how she looked at acting, and gave her some simple tools of action and bingo, she was a changed actors. I loved the confidence with which she went into her next big casting. And yes, she booked it. 

When I told my friend this story, I thought I might offend him. I was pleased to hear him ask “Got a few hours free next week?”

If you’re a professional actor but you aren’t booking the jobs you deserve, you probably blame yourself. It’s not your fault, BUT it is your responsibility to do something about it if you want to remain in the industry.  Just like my friend, and just like Rachel, you have to have a good long look at yourself and ask yourself if it could be the ONE thing you don’t want it to be, your acting. 

We are our art. Therefore if our acting is the issue, then WE are the issue. But the good news is that we don’t have to change who we are, we just need to change how we think and do our acting.

At Acting Coach Scotland, we offer affordable 121 coaching in-person or online that might just make the difference. If you think we can help, get in touch.