Excerpt
from Acting Class: Take A Seat
by Milton Katselas
My Approach
Acting, Attitude, and Administration -- these are the broad areas of
my
teaching. Acting is of course the craft, the technique, the process by
which you create your work. By Attitude I mean the viewpoint and
feeling of the artist towards his life, towards himself and what he
creates, towards his fellow artists and all of the people in his life.
Administration -- this is the area where the actor, through specific
choices and specific actions that are then carried out, puts this
talent and attitude effectively into the world, and so moves his or her
career forward. I believe that in order to create a complete actor, a
real artist who can function well for the long haul in this business,
each of these three areas, inextricably linked to one other, must be
cooking. A long-term career is a constant dance between the three. Let
me dive in a bit further on each:
Acting
When I was a young boy, my father said to me, "Know thyself." It sounds
even better in Greek, and more imposing when you have a guy like my
father standing over you as you hear it. I think acting affords you the
best opportunity to know yourself. Acting is a noble and respected
field of the arts, and in my opinion the most personal. It gives you
the opportunity to understand your fellow man through the depiction and
experience of living even a fraction of his life. There are essentially
two ways actors go about this journey -- two different intentions: One
is that of the poser, the indicator, the phony, and the other is that
of the honest actor who tries in his or her own way to live the
experience of the character. My approach is geared to the latter,
toward helping that honest actor develop a very personal experience.
Attitude
I've found over the years that attitude monitors talent, just as the
aperture on a camera lens monitors light. A small aperture -- marked by
attitudes like hostility, a chip on the shoulder, the monotonous
whining sound of a victim, a spoiled "I don't wanna work" viewpoint --
allows very little of the light, namely, your talent, to come through.
And so a negative attitude can very much affect your performances, your
auditions, your relations with the people important to moving your
acting career forward. But open up that lens with a good attitude --
enthusiastic, willing to learn, cooperative, charming, full of
self-esteem -- this will affect every moment of your life, and let more
of your acting talent come through. This is why you observe the
phenomenon that actors who may not be the most talented in the world,
but who have a great attitude, often can have very rewarding careers,
while those with the most talent, but with a bad attitude, can become
embittered and seemingly stuck.
Administration
An actor in tune with his administration is an effective, proactive
artist who makes smart choices to enhance his career and its potential
for development, as well as his very life, and sees to it that these
choices are carried out. I believe the actor is the true manager, the
true administrator of his or her career. Skilled and dedicated agents
and managers can help along the way for sure, but my observation is
that too many actors take a back seat when driving their own car. So
once I have an actor on my hands who I believe does consistently good
work, and whose attitude is aligned with that talent, my next question
is: What choices are you making about your career, and are these
choices moving it forward? Are you taking the actions you need to put
your talent and your good attitude into the world? Do you write letters
to directors whom you admire, congratulating them on their latest
project, or keeping-in-touch notes to people you've auditioned for or
worked with in the past? Are you up to date on the tools for
promoting yourself on the Internet? As I've written in my book Dreams
Into Action,
administration can also include having a clean, bright happy place to
live, a real desk of your own where you can work, and handling your
finances so you aren't stressed by that issue. It includes the actions
you take in the real world to keep your attitude in check -- if you
know a morning workout puts you in a better frame of mind for the day
ahead, then that is part of your administration. "Admin," as it is
referred to by my students, includes the scheduling of your busy life
to ensure you make your rehearsals on time, getting enough sleep, doing
well at your day jobs. It's knowing about fashion, looking good, not
using drugs and alcohol, going to art galleries, deepening your
knowledge as an artist and a person. All of these choices are just
about being smart, doing the right thing for your life and your career.
More artists have screwed themselves up by lack of administration than
by lack of talent. Unlike composers, writers and painters, the actor
cannot be discovered after he dies. So I want you all to be working
actors now, and administration plays a key role.
So we have these three areas of work -- Acting, Attitude and
Administration. I meet up against them in class every day. Over there
is an actor full of hostility, a chip on his shoulder the size of
Colorado, but I'll try to charm him, befriend him, get him to smile,
and just talk to him about the acting. For him, I feel the answer is
that personal connection, and the craft -- getting detailed and real
with the work itself. Next to that guy is a young actress whose talent
is unbelievable, but she's withdrawn and insecure, and if she could
just lighten up and be more charming and believe in herself a bit more,
the talent would explode -- and with her I do talk about that attitude
issue. And behind her is the dark horse, the underdog, the one you
would never think could be successful, but he quietly writes a great
letter to a known director, gets a meeting from that, and lands a part
-- he passes all the other students on the freeway from administration
alone. That's how I did it.
But I don't want you to think the class itself is 33.3% Acting, 33.3%
Attitude, and 33.3% Administration. The foremost emphasis is acting --
the development of the craft, the technique, the ability and creativity
of the actor. I speak of attitude and administration only to facilitate
and enhance the power of a skilled actor to do his or her work and get
it out there into the world. All the attitude and administration in the
world will be for naught if we don't have actors who know what
they are doing. In the end, the craft, the work -- that's what's most
important.
The above is an excerpt from the book Acting Class
by Milton Katselas
Published by Phoenix Books; October 2008; 978-1597775922
Copyright © 2008 Milton Katselas