Nikolai Guzov and the Ups and Downs

4.10pm and enjoying the safe-haven of home after a big morning.

I haven't written for a few days because I haven't wanted to bore you with the negative ramblings of an out of work actor.
Suffice to say my confidence took a bit of a dip and that of course Serena did get some of those ramblings anyway.

Feedback from my first audition was that it was pretty average and that I seemed too concerned with my accent and offered no interesting choices about the character. Words every actor loves to hear. My enterprising agent rang to tell me and to set me up with a russian acting coach to help me find my mojo again. I rang Nikolai and the only time he had available was 8.15am the next morning over the hills and far away, with my next audition the opposite direction in the afternoon. Naturally. And when you're taking the bus, that's a 6am start ladies and gents. (Those who have lived with me, shut the hell up, I can see you smirking!)

Nikolai Guzov (http://guzovactingstudio.com/index_files/Page370.htm) is a busy man. He sees a lot of actors. He was brilliant.
He sized me up pretty quickly and told me he had nothing he could teach me about acting in 45 minutes. But he laid out for me how auditions work over here, what I was doing wrong, and how to approach them from here on in. What follows is Nikolai's advice in a nutshell. This will get a little boring for the non-actors, you may wanna skip a paragraph here ...

NIKOLAI SAYS ...
In New Zealand there are how many actors? In your city?
Gareth - "Ummmm... 300 registered Equity members. Probably 200 in Auckland, when I go for a role there's probably 30 submissions. The A-list maybe 10-15 actors. 5 recalled tops."
Okay. Listen to me now. There are 300-000 actors here. Maybe 15-000 have representation. 3000 actors seen per project.It's a cattle market. Do not expect to be treated with any kind of respect. There are 50 other guys who are as good as you, and look like you or better looking. Let it go. You have an advantage with a manager. In the horse race you have a jockey riding you, that;'s good. Casting directors are filters. Shit filters. They have no power, but think they have a lot. You are in their element, their office, you have to make it your element. Your space. You are trained and accomplished, but this is american t.v now. You have broken your script up into beats, no no no. There are no beats. No objectives. This is all to complicated. This script is all information to get across. Process on the lines, don't pause and think. It's not film. Verbs. What are you doing here? Reprimanding him? Good, Just do that. Nothing else. Engage the casting director. They're a weird bunch. They may be a 50 year old gay man, or a 26 year old hottie. Either way, bring them ito the scene, Reprimand them or whatever, and they will forget about your accent or what they're having for lunch. Simple simple simple. There is one turning point in the scene. That is your beat. You are thinking too much. Let it go. Most U.S actors are into their 'method' and bring pre-meditated performances. Don't fall into this trap. PLay verbs, strongly, and stay relaxed and open to surprise yourself. Make it real for yourself, it will feel real for them. A lot of Kiwi's and Aussies learn their lines. Fine. But hold onto the script, don't let them think this is your polished final perfromance. It's just a read. Don't look for any chemistry or anything from the Casting Director. They aren't actors. Play strong verbs, make them your scene partner. Most of all, this is just a pre-read. It's to see what you look like, whether your voice matches your look, whether you're complete rubbish or not. If you score in all those things and are even a little bit what they're looking for then you get a call-back to prove it wasn't a fluke. Then you give them acting. Let it go.

So, there's a stream of consciousness of what I have running round my head. Phew!
So the afternoon, sure enough, surrounded by guys mostly better looking and bigger built versions of me I took Nikolai's ideas into my pre-read and was 10 times better. Got told I was a lovely actor and had a great accent by weird casting directors. All I needed to bounce me back up to full confidence. well ... that a great pep talk/email from Serena. I'm taking her advice too and just knuckling down on my accent work and remembering what my first auditions out of drama school were like. Terrifying!

I remember when I first started working in front of the camera, how I enjoyed feeling like I was back at square one. All the theatre work stood me good stead but it was a whole new ball game. I'm reminded of that feeling now. I know I have the goods, the work I have done stands me in good stead. I'm just learning to play a whole new ball game. It's going to take a bit of mastering it before I can really apply my skills.

Right, I have to scripts to not overwork, a pilot to read socks to pull up and dinner with some kiwis in a few hours.
Sorry for boring the non actors and for the overly liberal use of the comma, I just can't help myself.
Thanks for staying with me.

G