To even be considered for a manager or an agent, you need to be a GOOD actor. You may have the looks and will, but if you don’t have the necessary skills a good actor requires you won’t be booked for jobs and a manager is unlikely to consider you.
How Do I Become a Good Actor?
Simply, do your training and get experience before you even consider getting an agent. There may be caveats regarding very cute and lively children, but other than that you’ll need a lot of training before you hit those stage floors or studio lights.
Where Can I Get Training
Easy, ask around actors who are already in the business. Check out your local acting, drama, improv, voice groups in your town, city or location. The more of a population, the more likely you’ll be able to enroll for acting classes.
There are a myriad of acting/performance classes out there, and you’ll need to try at least one by calling and or enrolling in their online sign up forms.
What Are the Best Classes for You To Sign Into?
For beginning actors the best classes to enroll are typically classes that build up your confidence are:
Improvisation classes
are a good way to release your creativity and imagination skills because these are what you’re going to have to have to have when you are acting on stage with others. Typically improv classes will focus on activities and games to loosen up your inhibitions and obstacles. Hopefully you’d gain enough confidence to work with different personalities in a creative environment and showcase your skills.
Scene Study Classes
Are scene study, where you work with other actors on a given scene. You learn the dialogue and study the motivations, objectives of each character. You learn different ways to approach dialogue and use your motivations in a role. You also learn how to work with different personalities, both actors, acting coaches and directors.
Often scene study involves two handers at first where you rehearse with one other person on a given scene. Sometimes you’ll be cast in a role with more than one person. Often the basic stagecraft will be learned, such as stage directions, blocking, use of basic props, connection and projection in some cases.
Audition Classes
These could be either for the stage and or for screen. Both have very different ways of auditioning however.
Theater auditions can have you standing with your script, music or yourself in front of a panel of people who are typically the director, producer and other creative people. So working on skills which help you project, conduct yourself, deliver a meaningful dialogue or song is beneficial.
Auditioning for the screen is somewhat different in that you’ll be working with a casting director, or a director on a script infront of a camera. You’ll be taught to introduce yourself, but your acting head shot and information where needed, hold your script so it can be seen on camera and act when you are directed.
You should learn technical jargon like hitting your marks and eyeline. You need to work to the casting director’s instructions. Agents need you to take these classes to show you’re serious about acting, especially if you’re a beginning actor.
You’ll need to learn how to confidently read ‘cold reads,’ or reading a script with little to no preparation. Also how to correctly perform a personality slate. Product handling improvisation skills, how to bring in a headshots with important info. And at times some courses may offer you advice on how to send in taped auditions of yourselves or even Zoom audition tips.
You also need to be a ware that you are a commodity and earn money for the Agents and Casting Directors so you need to be bookable.
Voice Classes
Voice classes help you to work on projection, especially if you’re working in the theater, diction, articulation, resonance and dialogue delivery.
Some actors need to find their natural voice, which is often a little lower for both women and men. Working on the diaphragm is a must.
Of course some voice classes offer accents such as the Standard English Accent or the Standard American Accent. But with the voice, you need to work on your communicative skills, expressing who you are, and that you’re ready to talk to Casting Directors with confidence.
If you are looking for excellent books, to help you develop your voice if there are no classes nearby, please check out Kristen Linklater’s book ‘Freeing the natural voice.’
You can also check out the classes by going in for a visit to see if they fit you. Having said that, in each class you take you might not always remember everything, but you’ll always take away some excellent advice or points.
Make sure the classes challenge you out of your comfort zone. Make sure they challenge you to stretch and reach higher than you’ve been pushed before. The more you do this, the better actor you’ll be. All great actors today, learned from taking many, many classes, learning from others and about the business in general.
Usual Classes Beginning Actors Might Take
- Script analysis
- Dialogue/voice
- Character development with and without scripts
- Improvisation
- Cold-reading scripts
- Self-tape technical skills
- Self-tape auditioning
- Commerical auditioning
- The business of show (roles/responsibilities of agents, CDs, film/tv structure, set terms & function)
- Actor resources (headshot, resumes, demo reels/clips, actor sites, social media, etc.)
- Type and What to Expect
For more excellent Acting books reviewed from our website please check out our other post here. The best screen acting books.
Here are some Excellent Practitioners To Help Your Audition Techniques
Recommended Acting Coaches: For Meisner Technique: Houde School of Acting Scene Study: Howard Fine, Margie Haber, Kevin Scott Allen Self-Tape Auditions: Jordan Woods Robinson For Audition Techniques: Amy Lyndon, James Ciccone, Christine Horn, Angela Michelle Davis For Commercial: Mike Pointer, Terry Berland, Judy Kain, Killian McHugh For Comedy: Scott Sedita and Lesley Kahn For Improv: Upright Citizens Brigade or Second City.
Keep in mind that a lot of these classes are now offered online so students from all over the world can sign up. If these classes seem too far away or you’d like classes closer to home, simply search for your local or closest audition classes.
Here are videos of Casting Directors, Actors and Directors giving you advice for Beginning actors or those who want to obtain a manager.
This is Wendy Alane Wright who is an actor’s agent. She gives tips and tricks about what is needed to be a good fit with casting agents and managers.
Here is Mat Damon talking about auditioning when trying to break into the industry. How he built up his skills and confidence and he also talks about rejection in the business.
Overall Views
Even if you are a natural actor and have nailed your Highschool roles, now is the time to polish and work on your strengths as well and work on your weaknesses. For example if your voice isn’t has a think tone you’ll need to work on resonance skills to make it more fuller, especially in theater.
Short Films/Show Reels
You really should be trying to act in as many films, theater productions as you can. Audition for student films and once cast, send that off to talent agents and potential managers. You might need to send a reel of your work, basically snippets of your work edited down well, so they can see your eyes, and acting close up.
There is no use sending footage of you in rehearsal for serious talent agents, they want you to go out of your way to showcase yourself in role, filmed on showreel that they can easily view. From there they will make a decision to take you on or not.
Your job as an actor is to read as many scripts as possible and try out different characters. When you are on down times, research plays, monologues, film yourself and critique yourself. Note your energy levels, connection, voice, physicality and overall demeanour. Are you what a manager would want? If in doubt keep going, but do the work and some degree of success will follow if you do the work.
Research how to put together a showreel and make the effort to make it as credible with good lighting and filming as possible. You can hire people, worth with film students who need actors in short scenes to practice their skills etc. Buy your own lighting or ensure outside lighting is good and have someone film you acting outside.
Example of a Show reel.
