Tag: soft skills
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How Do I Market my Acting Career?
Casting directors and agents share their advice for how to promote yourself as an actor and why Spotlight is an important tool for this. When it comes to the performing arts industry, you – the actor – are the product. And as with any product, marketing yourself well will increase the chances of the right…
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How to Network as an Actor
Tips from casting directors for how to successfully network yourself as an actor and get connections in acting. In the performing arts industry, who you know can be just as important as what you know. Casting directors have fantastic memories and will keep actors they’ve met in mind for future roles. Anyone you’ve worked with…
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3 Exercises to Prepare you for an Audition
Simple exercises you can perform before auditions to keep calm and gain confidence We can all use an extra kick of confidence before something as important as an audition. It can be daunting to enter the room or record a self-tape, armed only with a few pages of a script (if that!) and our own…
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How to Write a Play
Writer and founder of ‘Write Like a Grrrl’ Kerry Ryan shares the essentials for writing a play and taking care of yourself during the process. Have you ever wanted to write a play but felt too scared to begin? When I first started out, fear and self-doubt held me back. My inner critic was relentless. I would…
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How to Handle Criticism
Eight steps for handling feedback, whether it’s constructive or misguided As actors, feedback is a necessary part of our craft. We can’t see our performance from the outside, so we rely on teachers and directors to guide us. However, criticism is sometimes less than constructive. It can be ill-intentioned, clumsily put, misguided or plain unhelpful.…
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An Actors’ Guide to Surviving Panto
Dust off the false eyelashes and smack me in the face with a lump of glitter, it’s panto season again! Like it or loathe it, panto is as essential to Christmas as pudding, and as essential to performers as a steam inhaler. It’s a British institution based on Christmas frivolity, the festive merriment of children…
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Five Ways Actors Can Use Twitter for Networking
How actors can use Twitter to network and build professional relationships online. Whilst plenty of actors have run with the idea of using social media to promote their acting business, for many of us, it can feel deeply uncomfortable. Self-promotion may even feel wrong, as if it goes against who we are, but what if your…
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Perform More, Audition Less with Due Diligence
Actor and Voice Over Artist Sandra Gayer explains how due diligence can streamline your audition process, saving you time and energy to spend on actual jobs. “What do you do?” “I audition full time!” Does that send a chill down your spine? It does for me! Some performers get stuck in an audition rut. But what…
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Five Ways to Manage Homesickness on Tour
Actress and writer Michaela Bennison shares her top tips to prevent homesickness from striking on tour. Whether you’re filming on location or touring around the country, at some point you will likely land a job working away from home. It can be a challenging time, and suddenly travelling to new digs every week can feel…
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How to Manage Days on Set as a Young Performer
Advice to all young performers, for their first time on set… Spending our days on a film set is the ultimate goal for many aspiring performers. You are able to witness first-hand the high level of craftsmanship required to make a production. You can enjoy creating while watching others do so too. From working on…