Staying focused

It's been a while since I've updated this blog.  Nearly a year has passed, and I've grown not only as an artist, but as a human as well.  I don't feel you can separate the two - ie. who you are as a person versus your artistic talents.  The two are intertwined, and an adjustment in one will have a profound impact on the other.

Probably the biggest lesson I've learned over the years is staying focused.  I think it's one of the greatest struggles an artist will face.  

For most, talent generally isn't an issue.  If you're crazy enough to pursue an acting career, it's probably because somewhere along the way you felt or experienced a quality of work that gave you the idea that you could play in the big leagues.

So what separates talent from success?  To quote one of my favorite authors, Charles Dickens (from the semi-autobiographical "David Copperfield"):

I have been very fortunate in worldly matters; many men have worked much harder, and not succeeded half so well; but I never could have done what I have done, without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one object at a time, no matter how quickly its successor should come upon its heels, which I then formed.

Order.  Concentration.  Focus.  These are the things that separate the wheat from the chaff.  Unfortunately, we live in a society with tremendous distractions. Facebook.  The Internet.  Shopping.  Alcohol.  Video Games.  TV.  None of these things are inherently evil, but they will not make you a better artist. They will not propel you towards success in your goals.

Focus is knowing what you want.  Focus is knowing what's important in your life, and having the strength and wisdom to realize when something's a distraction.

Suicide Math (formerly known as "Life Could be a Dream")

I'd just like to give a shout out to the cast and crew of Suicide Math (one of the plays I'm producing).  We sold out our opening night, got a glowing review from nytheatre.com, and more importantly we had a terrific show.  I was also just notified that we'll be listed under "Best of the Fringe Festival" at nytheatre.com come Monday.

If anyone's curious here's a few quotes from the review:

"A tight, bright script that does not let up, even for a moment."

"What makes Suicide Math such an engaging work is that the characters are organically gifted with the ability to describe their cages, even as they are fundamentally unable to escape them.

"[David] Gelles digs into his mountains of words with a carnivorous vigor that alone is worth the price of admission"

"[Jonathan Randell] Silver rises to the challenge"

We have a show today at 2:15PM, and we have a handful of shows before we close next Sunday.  If you're in the area, come check us out.  Tickets are $15 online and $18 at the door.  We play at the Robert Moss Theater (440 Lafayette St) and you can find more information at www.suicidemath.com

Great Piece of Advice

Just want to highlight a terrific piece of advice for any actor:

http://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/secret-agent-man/advance-your-career-yourself/

If you read this blog you probably know that I produced my own play last year.  The aftermath of that:  I'm involved in three productions right now.  A short film, a play in the NY International Fringe Festival, and a feature film.  One of them is paying me a salary.  One of them has the potential to put me on the map as an actor and a writer.  ALL of them are giving me invaluable experience and improving my network of connections.  I wouldn't be doing ANY of them had I not produced my play last year.  Every single one of these opportunities sprung out of the work I did for my play.

Create your own work.  It's the way the industry is moving these days.

Keep It Professional...

I've recently signed on to produce the play "Suicide Math" at the New York International Fringe Festival.  We're currently in the process of casting, and I'm reminded again of how often actors get in their own way.

So I'm combing through the submissions, and I finally see a headshot I like.  Solid resume.  Solid training.  Great.  I'll bring him in.  Then I look at his other headshots and I see something that resembles a family vacation photo.  I shake my head and move on.

We get hundreds of submissions.  We bring in maybe 40 people.  Every detail counts.  We want to work with perfectionists.  We have to be picky.  If you can't manage to present yourself in a professional manner then what does that say about the commitment to your craft?

Why Actors Get Paid

It's been a while since my last posting.  I'm happy to say that things have been busy for me.  I was cast in a new play (which had a staged reading a few weeks ago), a short film, and this weekend I'll be acting in a trailer for another short film.  I'm also revising my latest script ("Nice Guys Finish Last") which I'm happy to say is nearing the end of its development process.  Last week I attended Vanity Fair's 2013 Tribeca Film Festival party and got to rub elbows with acting legends like Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken.

The point of all this work is to make an income, and so I thought a good topic for today's blog should be Why Actors Get Paid.

The business of acting has huge supply and demand problems, and from an actor's point of view the numbers are not in your favor.  For every role that goes out, there are literally thousands of talented actors that are willing to do it for free to advance their career.  So with all this free talent floating around, why would a producer pay anything at all?  Two reasons:

1)  Your Marketing Value.  Producers need to sell tickets.  They need to fill seats.  You can produce the best film in the world, but if it's marketed poorly, you won't make a dime.  One of the best marketing tools a producer can employ is casting a well known actor.  Actor's like Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise have huge fan-bases.  When they star in a new movie, millions of fans will flock to the theaters and buy a ticket.  That's why these guys can command their $20 million+ salaries.

But this works on a smaller scale too.  Producers also need their films reviewed by critics and seen by industry executives.  Contrary to what you might think, the press does not review everything that's submitted to them.  It's actually just the opposite.  They're very selective.  But casting a up and coming young actor can get their attention.  So suppose you don't yet have a fan-base, but you've won a few minor awards and your work's been generating a lot of buzz in the industry.  Critics and studio heads are mildly curious about your work.  That's an extremely valuable commodity for an actor to have, and producers will pay well for it.

So how does one develop market value?  Or a fan-base?  Well... ultimately it boils down to talent.  Which is why it's so important for an actor to master their craft.  It's not enough to be "above average."  You have to excel.  You have to be among the very best.  Movie stars have fan-bases because at some point in their careers they did some incredible work.  Their "break out" role.  And people enjoyed it so much they're willing to pay money to see them again.

But what if you're just starting out, and you're name doesn't have any marketing value?  Shouldn't you get paid too?  Of course you should, and that brings us to the second reason why actor's get paid:

2)  Unions.  Every actor should get down and thank God that unions exists.  Because without them most of us wouldn't get paid a dime.  It's a cut-throat business and producers have to be very tight with how they spend money.  If they could get away with hiring actors for free, they'd probably do it.  If you don't believe me, just look at all the non-union work that pays nothing.  Unions require producers to pay us a fair rate, and since all the big name actors are union, any production that wants to hire them needs to be union as well.

This is why it's so important for actors to join the union.  It's nearly impossible to make a living if you don't.

The Golden Rule

I'm working on several projects right now - one of which is a staged reading for a new play called The Darling Siblings by Ty DeMartino.  I'm one of the producers, and one of my responsibilities is to find and book a venue and a rehearsal space.  I've checked out a dozen or so small theaters, and something happened the other day that reminded me just how important it is to treat people with love and respect.

I was touring a space that we were considering for a venue, and the woman at the front desk was incredibly rude to me.  I won't go into details, but suffice to say, I'm generally a really nice guy, and it takes a lot to upset me.  So I politely excused myself and left.  Not worth my time.  Here's the aftermath:  

• They lost out on the rentals for the event which totaled around $1,500.  
• I've used this studio in the past for auditions, rehearsal rentals, etc.  Won't be doing that anymore.  Over the the next five years that could total several thousand dollars.
• People ask me all the time about where to rent space for theatrical projects.  Guess who I'm not recommending?

In the grand scheme of things it's not that big of a deal.  It was a small slip of the tongue.  But that small slip cost that company several thousand dollars over the next few years.  In today's economy that could be the difference between being in profit or operating in the red.

Apply this lesson to anyone working in a creative field:  it's hard enough to make it as it is.  It's even harder when you act rude to people.  Doesn't matter if you had a bad day or if there is some small misunderstanding.  People don't forget it when you're rude.  And you never know who it is that you're speaking to (or who they might become).  Nobody makes it alone.  That relationship you just burned?  It might have been the one person who would've propelled you to success.

People will forgive you for doing a bad job (always strive to do a good job, but we all know nobody's perfect).  People will not forgive you if you're rude to them. 

Designing a Website

The past few weeks I've spent a lot of time creating my own personal website (JonKakaley.com) so I can promote myself to casting, agents, directors, and producers.  

Back when I was working on A Hole In His Heart I learned a lot about how powerful a website can be if properly designed.  Just to give you an idea, 20% of the people who visited our website wound up getting a ticket.  That's a phenomenally high ratio, and I used a lot of the same concepts when designing a site of my own.  I figure a lot of other actors, singers, and artists would be curious, so for this blog post, I present you with a bullet point list on how to create a website:

• Adobe Dreamweaver - Dreamweaver is the best web design software on the market.  It's an industry standard.  In addition to creating complex sites quickly and efficiently, it has an array of other great features - like a tool that will help you resize your site to look good on mobile devices such as an iPhone or iPad.  Dreamweaver is not cheap (and there's a learning curve as well) but it's an investment that will pay you big dividends in the future.  I also recommend getting Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere.  With these tools you'll be able to design your own art work, retouch your own photos, and edit your own reel.  That way you won't be dependent on anyone else for your marketing materials.

• Choosing a Good Color Scheme.  Some people have a gift for matching colors.  Most people (including myself) do not.  Fortunately, there is an amazing tool called "Kuler" that does the work for you.  Go to  http://kuler.adobe.com/  and you'll find a catalog of great looking color schemes that match each other perfect.  And if you have Adobe Illustrator, this tool is already built in.  Pick a color scheme that matches your personality and that goes well with your media.

• Know Your Audience.  A personal website is something that you'll be showing to agents, casting directors, and other players in the industry.  That's a very different audience than say, TomCruise.com, which is a website devoted to his fans.  Think about what your "audience" is looking for when they visit, and let that guide you.

• Keep It Simple.  Agents, CDs, etc are very busy people.  And every day they are inundated by submissions from aspiring artists.  If they look at your site, they will have a very short attention span. Probably one or two minutes.  The layout should be simple and easy to navigate.  You should have a short bio, a reel, a handful of photos, your resume, and a link to some sort of site where you can post updates.

• Don't Make the Font Too Small.  There's a good chance that people with bad eyesight will be visiting your site.  And some people aren't too tech savy and don't know how to navigate through your site.  Using larger fonts will help with that.  To give you an idea, my menu bar is an 18 point font in uppercase bold, and most of the text is a 16 point font.

• Only Use Your Best.  A personal website is not a catalog of every single photo you've ever taken or every single film you've ever done.  It should be your best work.  You do not want an agent or CD to see anything other than your best work.  One great photo is far better than twelve mediocre ones.  One great reel is far better than two hours of film showcasing all your work.

• Make It Very Easy to Contact You.  Back when I was working on A Hole In His Heart, we made a simple change to the website that dramatically increased sales.  We put a large "Get Tickets" button on the top of every page.  I was blown away.  How could something so simple make such a big impact?  What it means is that a lot of people wanted to buy a ticket, but couldn't figure out how to find the small ticket page at the bottom of the screen (and after fifteen or so seconds they gave up).  It's a lesson I'll remember for the rest of my life.
  
  Now apply this same concept to a personal website.  What do you ultimately want them to do?  You want them to contact you and bring you in for an audition or job.  So make your contact information large and obvious, and put it at the top of every page.  If you're represented by an agency, their contact information should be at the top of every page too.  And make sure any email address is a clickable link.

• Posting Updates.  It's a good idea to link your site to some sort of blog so you can post updates about your career.  I'm using blogpot, but there are other sites (such as twitter) that are just as good.  There are also ways to embed your blog in your site, and so long as it doesn't look tacky, that's fine too.  Word of warning - if you're going to use Facebook, make sure you keep it professional.  If people in casting see a post about how bad your date was last night they won't take you seriously.

That's all I've got for today!  If you'd like to see a template of what these concepts look like when put together, check out my website at JonKakaley.com