Thinking Out Loud – HOW TO….

Many years ago ,when I thought about writing a book about the “Industry” a very prominent Literary Agent who liked my writing, suggested that a How To Book was what I should publish.  At the time  I thought that there were already enough How books on Casting,  to Audition, Acting Techniques ..and so on and I wanted to be different – so much so that I’m still not published.

But there were and are excellent books on a wide range of subjects – albeit written by Americans . These days the Internet can provide answers about any subject, any books  -it just takes a talent to do the research. On my web page I have a Books Category in which I put my personal choices in –  and Marnie Hill’s “The Actors’ Handbook”  is the only Australian How To I know about that covers heap – even if Marnie is Melbourne-centric  (but then LA is LA , NY is NY )  So, good for me someone has done that.

But then along comes a plethora of websites offering so many Workshops..Australia-wide..so much so that no-one asks me anymore if there are any, but which one is the best/which one is a rip-off etc etc. Difficult to answer if I don’t want to get sued before my book is finished!

I have given my particular brand of  Auditioning for the Screen for many years to whoever asks me to …my only proviso is about ethics: that there must be no misrepresentation.  In other words I am not promising students that they will get work in any Production I might be working on at the time; that they will get a fair and balanced overview mostly answering the How To questions, and that all will be treated with respect.

During the last six-twelve months there has been a larger contingent than usual  of American teachers being brought in by Australians to teach here . I can only conclude the following:

The lure of work in LA, for example, is so  strong, in particular for those who don’t realise that a minimal amount of weeks’ studying over a year will only get them their fifteen minutes of fame ..only.

Where do the US teachers get the time to be over here if there’s work over there?

Where are the  equivalent  Australian teachers ?

In THINKING OUT LOUD   I’m stirring ..it’s time .. in fact it’s time for me to do some more teaching because just like everyone else I need to earn a living …see  WORKSHOPS