Being Heard vs Being Believed

Interesting read about the use of social media

Musings of a Serial Procrastinator

People don’t say things on social media solely for the sake of communication. They trade in subtext and reaction.

Subtext has always been there. No one says anything on social networks without considering, if only briefly, “what does what I’m about to write, say about me?” You generally don’t notice the exceptions to that rule, because you’ve already blocked or unfriended them.

That awareness of brand YOU is natural. But this widespread need to create reaction is a little newer and a little scarier.

Just as X-Factor has made the once mystical art of music stardom doable, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have turned everyone into one person PR agencies. With video shows like Rude Tube giving brief exposure to anyone with a camera-phone and print and TV news outlets turning to hash-tags for live reaction where they would once interview a witness, it’s easy to see the appeal in going…

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Mind your own Business!

Acting is a business just like many other professions. I believe that every actor’s journey should be unique to themselves, as it is about you and it’s your business. Every actor has their own story. Being an actor means being self employed, even if you have an agent. I personally have my inspirations. I look at some of the very successful actors in Hollywood and I look at their journey, but I am very much myself and I do things my way. I’ve been blessed with the amount of work I’m getting, especially as I haven’t got an acting agent yet. I lost my agents when I left Canada.

However, I would like to point out that I’m getting a lot of unpaid work in order to pad out my resume. I am also getting paid work, and have signed with two agencies, but they are modelling and commercial agents. I’m working on applying to UK acting agents at the moment, but I looking to present strong applications. Why present a mediocre application when I can produce an outstanding one?

When I decided to take acting seriously as a career, for some reason I quickly managed to meet many other actors. Before this, I knew absolutely no actors. A small number of the actors I initially met were/are doing relatively well, i.e. getting a lot of commercial work, auditions and even spots on US TV programmes. They are also new to acting so this is pretty good! Nevertheless, the majority were not getting as much work, or weren’t/aren’t even signed to an agent. I really don’t know why some do well and others don’t. I tend not to dig too deep into what other actors do to manage themselves and their business.

Initially, I was happy to give out advice to actors who asked for it, and readily gave out my phone number to any actor who seemed friendly enough. However, after two-three months of doing this, I now see that I was really naive. I understand that in this profession it is about who you know, but I’m also realising that you have to be really discerning about who you connect with in this industry. Acting is competitive after all, and unfortunately I have found that there are some people who will use your resources, and advice to build themselves up and knock you down. Like I said acting is a business after all, a very enjoyable, and fun business, but a business nevertheless.

Now when I get small parts which may be on TV, for example a commercial, I quickly hear from these ‘actors’ who never bother phoning me beforehand. They read my tweets, or facebook status (I really need to delete them) and then a day or two later I get a text asking me about how I got it. It frustrates me as I see through them and their motives. Dreams don’t work unless you do; that’s my motto.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I have some acting friends who I’ll happily help out because I like them and they just want a break. These people are different from the ones that have a motive to use you for what they can get, and then try to take you down. The ones I want to help out aren’t leeches. I would be interested to see how many actors have had similar experiences with these people. Maybe these types of people were responsible for Britney Spears break down in the 00s. Maybe.

Just be yourself.

So I went to get some new headshots done a week ago. I had currently been using my American style headshots in the UK, but UK style headshots are different.  Although I was getting a lot of interest, and some work, I wasn’t getting enough of the work I wanted. Paid work. I knew that part of the problem was that the headshots I had were not great. A friend of mine in Canada offered to do some ‘professional’ headshots for $100. They did not have any experience with doing headshots and their photography business was fairly new. However, as I was new and naive to this acting thing I snapped up his offer and did a shot with him. Professional headshots in Canada normally cost around $400.

I did my own make up and styling, and did not really do any research. I did however check out a friend’s headshots and decided that I would model my facial expressions on that person’s expressions. I thought he looked hot in his photos and I noticed that he was getting a lot of work and castings. His expressions in his headshots ranged from sexy, but intense to vulnerable and coy. I really liked what I saw.

The day of the shoot arrived and I was tired from going out the night before, dehydrated from drinking lots of coffee and no water. Nonetheless, I did do a good job with the make-up so the bags and dark circles were well hidden. So away I went! I started with a general smile, laughed a bit for a commercial shot, and then I tried the sexy but intense look….a few times.

A few days later I got my photos sent to me, and I picked a few to be retouched. Did I like them? Some of them, but the ones where I did the ‘sexy, but intense’ expression looked more like an ‘I’m going to kill you’ look. Not pretty. I picked the two best photos (and one of the ‘I’m going to kill you’ photos) and started using them. They were not the best headshots on the market, but they got me lots of unpaid work, and the odd paid job.

Now, here I am, back in the UK, and I had to repeat this process again. However, doing the process over again has taught me a few valuable and important lessons. Being yourself and being true to you gets you the best results. You are the best you and that will always come through.

How did I come to this conclusion? Well, this time I did some research on getting a good headshot. I made sure that I got plenty of sleep and drank lots of water before the day of the shoot. Nevertheless, I really wanted that ‘sexy but intense’ face as my main headshot.  “I’m a sexy lady”, is what I told myself every day before the shoot.

So the day of the shoot came, and I meet my awesome professional headshot photographer. I learnt that it’s better to spend more money on a good and professional photographer with experience. Once again, I started with a few smiles to get my commercial shot. Now, I’m normally a happy person. I always smiling, even when I’m upset, for some reason I smile. I’m also pretty fun to hang with, so I laughed a lot in my session, and it was captured on film. I couldn’t resist attempting the ‘sexy but intense’ expression again, so I did it for a few shots.

Now, I received my disk with my shots within two days after the shot, and that’s when I realised that it is better to just be yourself. There were a mixture of some really good shots, and awful ones. The worst shots were the ones where I was doing the ‘sexy, but intense look’. It really didn’t work for me. Maybe it’s my almond shaped eyes? Or more likely, it doesn’t work for me, because it’s not me. I can be intense, and I can be sexy, but for some reason not together, and definitely not in a photo. My best shots were the ones where I was keeping it real. The ones that looked natural and not forced. I can’t wait to show my agent.