Tom: One of the things you and I have talked about
in the past is the balance between the craft
of acting and the business of
acting. For a lot of actors, “business” seems like a dirty word.
Why do you think that is?
Austin: I think – and this is mostly me projecting
from my own experiences – that we start out in the arts because we want to be
creative, we want to make a contribution to society. As such, “business” has
been portrayed as the enemy of creativity.
But honestly, the arts and money have had a love/hate relationship since
the dawn of time!
Tom: It’s true, and while we may all want to be
“artists” (picture me saying that while flipping a scarf around my neck), the
fact is we have to be businesspeople, too.
Austin: I’m going to imagine you in a beret as well.
Tom: Well, duh. But maybe we should step back from our scarf and
beret and define some terms. When we talk about craft, what are we
talking about?
Austin: The craft has evolved into the process and the creative
contribution of the actor. It’s the element that we have control over, if
that makes sense.
Tom: Absolutely.
Austin: I think it’s also the passion-driven center
of an actor’s creativity. Now I sound
like I’m the one wearing the scarf!
Tom: We’ll trade the scarf back and forth. I
like “passion-driven” a lot. One definition of craft says “a skilled
activity or profession,” and that’s what drama schools and private classes are
all about: working on those various skills that make us better actors.
And maybe that’s the rub: we spend so many years working on the skill,
that few people bother to mention the business side as well.
Austin: Well, actors NEED to be more business-minded
in today’s market more than ever! Maybe fifty years ago an actor
could focus on being a hired gun or going to work for a repertory company and
all the business side of things would be handled by others. But now each
actor is their own company AND product!
Tom: Yes! I
just read Carolyne Barry’s excellent book (Hit
the Ground Running) and there’s a quote in there that actors are “the CEO,
VP of Finance, Personnel, Housekeeping/Maintenance, Marketing Development AND
you are also the PRODUCT!” Exactly what you’re saying.
Austin: It’s true.
Tom: And I think this comes as quite a shock to
many actors when they leave college. Which
raises the question: how should this issue be treated in colleges and training
programs?
Austin: I believe we’re seeing a major shift in creative
training here in the United States. There’s
a stronger push toward artistic entrepreneurship, and I have a classmate from
grad school who’s spearheading a new curriculum in this very subject down at
SMU.
Tom: That’s really interesting.
Austin: Actors have to be given at least
a taste of this information at some point within the training, but with funding
issues and cutbacks, it’s difficult to address these issues within a four-year
undergrad or three-year post grad. I mean, how do you work in these
classes within a full creative curriculum?
Tom: Balance. It all comes back to balance.
I agree with the notion of a “taste” of this information. Where I
have trouble - and maybe I’m just playing devil’s advocate here - is if there’s
too much attention, too many classes devoted to “the business.”
Austin: I know.
Tom: I would even use as an example our own
graduate school training where there was virtually zero emphasis on the
business. It was all on the craft - movement, speech, voice, acting,
styles, etc., etc. - and while there was a major showcase at the end of that
time, the thought was that if you are seriously “trained” to be the best
craftsperson that you can be, the rest will take care of yourself. Now I
know that’s not a popular philosophy, but I have to say … I kind of like it.
Austin: And that IS the way, in my heart, I would
have things be as well. But we all know
that’s not always the case and it’s no longer the world in which we live.
Tom: True enough.
But I don’t know how much faith I have in a lot of training programs in
terms of the balance they give. I see a lot of young actors paying more attention
to their websites and their number of Twitter followers than their craft, and I
want to say to them: Get back to the acting classroom. Yes, work on your
website, do all that, but get in acting shape! And keep in acting shape!
Do you know what I mean?
Austin: I DO, and I’m right there with you. And I believe that an actor HAS to know why they’re
acting to really grow as an actor. If they’re more interested in the
career side of things, then their craft suffers. I mean, if you’re more
focused on getting the job and what that job could do for your career then the odds
are that you’re going to blow it because your priorities are in the wrong
place. Because the bottom line is that a
strong set of skills is what is going to play a major role in booking the gig
WHEN the business opportunities arise.
Tom: Absolutely.
Austin: Do you think this is a maturity issue?
Tom: I don’t, actually. I think it has to do with being “young” in
the business.
Austin: Maybe more of an artistically mature idea.
Tom: Exactly.
Austin: I keep coming back to my own experience, and
I know that even after four years of undergrad and a couple years in the
business before the three years at Yale, by that last semester I was full of
the Kool-Aid and ready to go out and accept my "fame." A fame I really
had no idea how to manage. BUT! The career was the major focus, at
THAT point, and I wonder why? And all I can think is that I was just
chomping at the bit to discover or experience the career I had spent years
fantasizing about, but could someone have offered better advice or was this
just my own shortcoming?
Tom: First off, I don’t think you have any
shortcomings. Secondly, I don’t know
about the advice that we receive at that age. I think we drink the Kool-Aid
- and hopefully it’s the Kool-Aid of craft - but we’re going to hear what we
want to hear. Teachers can cite all the dreadful statistics in the world,
but students are going to go out and try it anyway. As well they should!
Austin: Right.
Tom: Maybe the “taste” we should be offering is
simple: you need to spend 30 minutes a day (or whatever the number) on the
business. Work on your website. Iron your shirts. Be prepared
for auditions. Have a great headshot.
Etc., etc. The rest is being a darn good actor, and being as
authentic as possible when you go into that audition room.
Austin: Exactly!
Wesley Fata used to always remind us that “the cream rises to the top,”
and I loved that because it put the focus on being the best actor you could be.
But what if the cream doesn’t rise? Are you then forced to accept
that you aren’t the cream or maybe you aren’t working hard enough?
Tom: I think a lot of it comes back to what we’ve
talked about recently: luck.
Austin: I knew you were going to say that.
Tom: Luck is a HUGE variable in all this.
There are sooooo many talented actors out there, that you need some luck.
You can put in all the work in the world - and the right kind of work -
but it may not land you the big break. However, I go back to what the
golfer Gary Player once said, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”
Austin: Man, I love that quote!
Tom: All you can do is work hard at it ALL: the
craft, the business, everything, and hope that some chips fall your way.
The fact is, life is unfair, and that’s especially true for artists, but
there’s no getting around it. Don’t you think?
Austin: It’s funny because after we started talking
about “luck,” I thought that maybe luck isn’t the best word. Maybe it’s “chance.” I think that luck
might imply that some are lucky and others are not but chance is a great equalizer. Chance comes to
us all in many shapes and sizes and it’s just what we have to deal with
everyday.
Tom: Chance is such an interesting word – I’ve
never thought about it before. I guess the ONLY thing I prefer about the
word luck is that you can “make your own luck,” as the saying goes, and that
implies being active, and working at it. And while there are those cases
of actors getting jobs (and sometimes careers) SOLELY on luck, they’re by far
the exception. I tremble when I see actors not doing the work and instead
relying on luck to pull them through.
Austin: So if we agree that the taste of the business
side is needed, then how can we articulate and pass that on without sounding
bitter or jaded or even cynical about the industry side of things?
Tom: I think it all comes down to how you frame it.
I’m really not bitter or cynical about the business at all … because I
recognize it’s a fickle beast. Maybe it took a while for me to reach that
mindset, but that’s where I’m at. And if you can say to actors early on, “Listen,
we’re going to focus on the craft of acting for these four years, but we’ll give
you a taste of the business from time to time so you’re prepared for that, but
please know: there are many, many variables out there and you may very well not
get what you want.” It goes back to how you frame it, don’t you think?
Austin: Like you, I don’t feel bitter anymore, but I’ve
gone through some bitter moments, and I do think that keeping bitterness at bay
does take a healthy dose of faith. Whatever that faith is is up to you,
of course, but faith in something does keep one happier I find.
Tom: Man, do I ever agree with you there!
Austin: And as for “the taste of the business,” I
believe it should be examples of our own experiences. For me, I try to
relay all the mistakes I’ve made along the way because I feel I might be able
to help a young actor avoid the pitfalls that tripped me up.
Tom: Sure.
Austin: But I like to frame the conversation as a set
of facts and not an end result. More like: here are the facts based on my
experience and the experiences of others that I’ve collected, but that doesn’t
mean this is law. If that makes sense.
Tom: It makes perfect sense. But here’s the challenge: it’s like the fable
of the six blind men and the elephant, and they each experienced a different
part of an elephant. So one touched the elephant’s tail and thought an
elephant was like a rope, and one touched the elephant’s side and thought an
elephant was like a wall, etc. Same with actors. Every single person’s experiences are so wildly
different that it sometimes seems we’re in different fields altogether.
Austin: You are so right, and it’s not just with
acting that every one of us will have dramatically different experiences, but
that sharing can remind us that we’re not alone.
Tom: True.
Austin: I was with a former classmate recently and we
were talking about auditions and he said “I never think about THEY anymore,”
and I LOVED that because we all talk about the struggle to give “them” what
they want and it always messes with the craft side of it. Listening to a
fellow actor discuss the same struggles and confirm the same lessons learned
gives me more confidence to put faith back into the work … and let the chips
fall as you say.
Tom: I love that about the THEY. And you’ve
also hit on a hugely important point, which is the value of friends and
mentors. I think the college/grad school experience should prepare for
the business and give the taste, but where we can most learn is from those
already out there and doing it, people taking us under their wing. That
happened for me when I got out of school and I’ll never forget it, and I tried
to do it for others. It’s like professional sports – the veterans taking the
rookies under their wings. It’s really necessary.
Austin: That’s a wonderful way to look at the actor
training experience, isn’t it? We are more mentors than “teachers.”
Tom: Which implies more give-and-take between the
two, less “I’m teaching you,” and more, “Let me share what I know, knowing full
well you can and will take it from there.”
Austin:
Well put.
Tom: The bottom
line: it IS a business, and a craft, and it’s all …. a balance.
Austin: And having faith that you CAN balance it all
if you work hard and have a little luck!
Tom: Amen.
