28-02-2010 by admin
Self-centered, vain, conceited, egocentric – these are some of the variations on the idea of being narcissistic. We need a healthy degree of positive self-regard, of course, but when it becomes distorted, it is considered narcissism, a personality disorder in its extreme form.
A number of actors have talked about some of the problems with being too self-obsessed, and how it interferes with creative expression.
Ben Affleck thinks narcissism is “the one quality that unites everybody in the film industry, whether you’re an actor, a producer, a director, or a studio executive.”
But, he adds, “It’s a nightmare. Narcissism is the part of my personality that I am the least proud of.”
Kristen Bell says that for her film “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” she “just looked into the depths of the most hard-to-admit or vulnerable or bad characteristics of my own personality and what an actress can become if given that kind of self indulgence or that amount of vanity.”
She also thinks actors and especially actresses tend to be self-obsessed, because that’s part of the nature of their career.
But what is narcissism? The basic idea is being obsessively self-absorbed, always putting your own needs first, having poor empathy or appreciation for other people’s needs etc. But what is behind someone operating that way?
Alice Miller writes in her book The Drama of the Gifted Child about childhood harm leading to compromised emotional life as an adult, including those kinds of behaviors and thinking.
She writes in the book about “how inconceivable it is really to love others (not merely to need them), if one cannot love oneself as one really is.”
For an actor, it may be difficult to maintain contact with and love of your authentic self, if you are continually portraying “other people” and getting notice or even fame for those personalities.
Stephen Sherrill writes in his New York Times article Acquired Situational Narcissism about how fame can stimulate narcissism.
He refers to the work of Robert B. Millman, professor of psychiatry at Cornell Medical School, who developed the idea of “acquired situational narcissism.”
Sherrill explains, “People who aspire to stardom tend to be more narcissistic than others, but they don’t develop a true narcissistic personality disorder until they begin to achieve success: the first platinum album, the first appearance in Vanity Fair’s ‘Young Hollywood’ issue, the first public fling with Winona Ryder.”
Having these sort of narcissistic tendencies doesn’t mean you are “crazy” or necessarily need therapy.
But it can be helpful to our emotional growth and power as creative people to be more aware of how we operate emotionally and mentally.
Richard Gere once commented, “The more I grow, the less I become this egocentric thing that is prone to anger and hatred and all this other stuff. The trick is to get out of the way of the ego, so that whatever is of value illuminating inside you or me or the waiter or anybody else can be seen. The job of the creative person is to get out of the way.”
Actor Vera Farmiga cautions, “This business is tough, it is so tough. But my first and foremost thing is like, ego always gets in the way. You gotta keep that in check – you got to.”
There are many excellent personal growth books on emotional intelligence, spirituality, awareness and positive psychology that can help any of us develop healthy self-regard.
Tags: Creative Expression, Emotional Life, Sherrill category: Arts And Entertainment | comments disabled
22-02-2010 by admin
Everyone knows that in baseball a pitch is when the ball is thrown for the batter to swing at. But, in the world of entertainment, a pitch has a whole different meeting. A pitch in Hollywood is when the “pitcher”(the person with the idea for a TV show or movie) explains the idea to a “catcher” (a person who works with a company that could produce this idea). Pitching is the lifeblood of how deals get made in the entertainment world.
There are many people who watch television and movies and think to themselves, “I’ve got a better idea than this….or if this actually got on TV or in the theaters, then surely my idea could do the same.” But, they think that if they don’t have any industry contacts or experience, then there’s no way that they could get someone in Hollywood to take them seriously. However, what they’re not aware of is that there is a vehicle created by the enterainment industry that gives novices a chance to pitch their ideas to real industry players who could possibly produce their concept.
So, while for the most part if you are an outsider to the gates of Hollywood it’s very difficult to get such a chance to pitch an idea, there are certain components of the Hollywood system that give outsiders a chance to get their voices heard.
The truth is that while it’s the job of the gatekeepers to keep unknown outsiders out, there is still an interest from the “powers that be” to hear what ideas these unknown outsiders might have….because everyone in the television and movies is scrambling to find the next great big “home run” project.
Thus, a concept called a “pitch event” was born. What happens is an organizer assembles a group of producers who are willing to hear pitches from people without representation and credentials. Then, the clients (the people who want to sell their ideas) pay a fee to the organizer to receive a certain amount of pitch meetings.
Although these meetings are brief (usually about five minutes), they often take place with legitimate people in the industry. I have personally concluded successful deals that began from a meeting at a pitch event.
I have pitched my projects at these events several hundred times and the way it breaks down is always the same. You quickly locate the company you’re going to pitch to at the table they’re sitting at which will have their name on a sign. There is a quick exchange of names, but you don’t want to waste much time on pleasantries as the duration of the meeting will be very quick…usually about five minutes. If I think I know what kind of projects they’re interested in, I’ll confirm that or if I’m not sure, then, I’ll say something like, “I’d like to pitch you the projects I have that are most likely what you’re looking for. Is your company looking for something specific?” Once I’ve gotten an idea of what’s my best chance I give them a brief explanation and then be quiet. If they’re interested they ask questions or sometimes they just say it sounds great, go ahead and send them more information. Or if there’s no match, they explain why. Before you know it, the meeting is over and you wish them well as you vacate the seat to make room for the next hopeful pitcher.
If you think you have an idea for a reality show or a movie and would like to try attending a pitch event these are the basic steps:
1) Select a legitimate pitch event
There are a number of well known organizers of these events that you can find by doing a search on a major search engine and putting in a keyword phrase like “pitch TV and film.” A few examples of legitimate organizers are: Fade In Magazine, Hollywood Film Festival, Hollywood by the Bay, and VIP Pitch Player Tours.
2) Prepare your pitch:
You will only have five minutes to convince the producer that your idea is a blockbuster in the making, so you need to be concise. You will want to create what’s called a “logline.” This is a one sentence explanation of 30 words or less which explains the gist of your idea. For example, if you were creating a logline for ABC’s reality hit, “Dancing with the Stars,” it might be something like:
“Celebrities are paired with ballroom dance professionals and compete each week in an elimination contest to see who can become this year’s champion.”
Besides a logline you’ll want to have a few other items:
If you’re going to pitch a reality TV show, then you should have a breakdown of what will happen during shows and a sample of what a season’s worth of shows will contain.
If you are trying to sell a true life story, then you will want to be able to explain what will happen during the movie. In other words…who is the protagonist, who is the antagonist, and what is the big problem? You should also be able to explain how it will have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
3) Do the Pitching:
At a pitchmart, the “catchers” are bombarded with hundreds of ideas from a huge onslaught of people. To differentiate yourself from the crowd, you want to present yourself as relaxed, intelligent, and well prepared. Pleasantly introduce yourself, hand them a sheet of paper that has the information about your project and your contact information. Then tell them about your idea. If they like it, they will let you know how to proceed. Some producers may want to e-mail you later or others may give you a card and tell you to contact them. If they don’t think the project is for them, most will explain so.
Attending a pitchmart is a fairly intense experience that can feel like a lot of pressure, but if you’re an outsider who wants to get a shot to pitch your idea to real Hollywood entities, a pitchmart is one viable option very much worth considering. For more information on how to sell your reality shows, true life stories or your scripts go to:
http://www.smallbizriches.com/breakingintohollywood/
Tags: Baseball, Outsider, Tv Show category: Arts And Entertainment | comments disabled
08-02-2010 by admin
Here Is Some Advice For The Brand New Actor
It does happen that people get ‘discovered’. How often does it happen? To answer that question. Here’s another one. What are the chances of winning the lottery?
Getting discovered is like hitting the luck of the draw, so to speak.
On the other hand there is a saying I really like, which says:
“The more prepared I am, the more luck I seem to have.”
That said, if you want to really be discovered, you have to position yourself to be discovered. You have to work hard to build a base.
You have probably heard that it is a difficult profession to pursue and there is truth to that. If you have a method and a strong character, you can be successful. I have been in contact with young and older aspiring and new actors over the past few years and I was inspired to write a book for them.
Many successful people in different walks of life as well as successful actors have the following things in common or they do/have done them very well. It is my advice to you as well.
4 Key Areas
1. YOU: Get to know yourself better, your strengths, weaknesses, the opportunities you have, the resources you have at your disposal (and not just financial, but intellectual, skills, capabilities, talents, etc.)
Figure out what you want out of your life first (specifically). Figure out how acting fits into that. Then figure out what you want out of your acting career. (specifically) Doing these two things will help you save a lot of time, effort and maybe even money down the road.
2. YOUR ATTITUDE: Develop your creativity to invent ways for you to position yourself ahead of your competition and to find new ways to promote yourself.
BIGGIE! Figure out what it is that motivates you and learn how to keep yourself motivated to get done the things you need to get done and to help you deal with the rejection that you will inevitably encounter in this business. Figure out how to develop a strong sense of perseverance if you don’t already have it. There is much to do and you MUST be motivated or you will have difficulty.
3. YOUR PLAN: Put together a solid plan that will ensure that you will get to where you want to go in your actging carreer and have a real chance at achieving the success you want and stick to it. Learn how to plan effectively.
4. YOUR BUSINESS: Find out what the business skills you need to run your business of being an actor. You are an actor. You are a company. And you are a business. You are the CEO of that business. You are/will be a free lance professional. You have a product and that product is you. You have to know how to market it, how to sell it and how to create value for those who ‘invest’ in you.
There are short cuts, but very often, if you skip one of those steps, in the long run, unless you are lucky, it will slow you down and it just might mean that you won’t reach your goal at all.
So what could your next steps be?
1. Try to really understand what it means to be a working actor and start working on the things I mentioned above. Here are a couple of links to get you started, but I would advise you to get a lot of different perspectives of what successful and non-successful actors do in their daily activities.
2. And in the meantime, start taking acting classes. Study acting technique. Study. Study. And develop your SKILL. Without it, you won’t go very far.
3.Start boning up on the business skills you will need to be successful at promoting yourself as an actor when the time comes. I have seen many a wonderful actor, not get much work for this very reason. Not always the best actor gets the work!
Just wanted to give you some food for thought.
There’s a lot more where that came from.
Good luck to you!!!
Tags: Key Areas, Luck Of The Draw, Talents category: Arts And Entertainment | comments disabled