Applying to drama school: How to get started

Hi again,
So it has been just over a week since I had to worry about revision for exams and trying not to have panic attacks before every exam.  And I have been enjoying the experiance immensely. Since then I have experiance my first night out clubbing with my friend's, which was... interesting. And Ive been going to the movies to catch up on all the good films that I've missed.
Note: If you are planning on going to see The Fault in our Stars then bring plenty of tisssue's, it gets emotional
But to cut the crap I realise that it is time to start getting ready for next years round of auditions. And as I was starting to get my stuff ready I realised both how much there is to do and how tough this was last year to do without any help.
So here are the top tips on starting to apply to drama schools:
1. Start the research now
This may seem like an obvious thing to be doing but I know the question "but where should I start my research". To start off your research I would suggest checking out the Drama Uk website (http://www.dramauk.co.uk), This is the organisation which accredits courses which meet a high quality standard in training actors, and lists all the school's with some basic infomation about them. The website also includes articles on advice on how to apply and what to expect in the audition process.
Another website which is brilliant to check out is CUKAS. (http://www.cukas.ac.uk/) This isa website owned by UCAS and is brilliant in talking you tthrough the application process for both UCAS and CUKAS applications.
2. Get organised
This means gathering all the research that you've done so far and putting it in a file (either a digital or paper) where you can refer back to it to make an informed decision on where you want to apply in the following months to come.
I would suggest that you file the infomation into cattegories such as " course overviews", "audition procedure" etc.
3. Open Days
I know that there aren't that many schools that offer open days but I would seriously advise you to get to as many as you can afford to go to, That way you can get a feel of a school without having wasted a UCAS place when applying.
4. Figure out what you want from a drama school education.
With the infomation you have researched you should now be able to figure out what you want from a drama school. This will then help you cut out the infomation you don't need and allow you to consentrate your efforts into the schools which suit you.

Hope this helps,
Hasta la vista
Terri ; D

Freedom!!!!!!

Hello everyone.
I have officially finished my exams, which means that I will never have to do another academic exam again! (woooh)
And what this actually means is that I am now able to concentrate on working towards getting to drama school next year. This means looking up all the drama school courses (again), writing a personal statement (again) and choosing modern and classic monologues (again).
While my "again"'s may not make me sound like I'm looking forward to it too much I actually am, and I am determined to improve myself in trying to get a place at drama school.
And I'm going to start now, by going to my college and print off all the information on the different courses available and work out where I might want to study for three years.
Enjoy the summer guys, I know I will.
Terri ;D

Advice For Actors: How To Get Signed Repost

Hi guys,
Still three more bloody exams to go.  But here is a follow up of the reposting from Acting Coach Scotland where he discusses in detail the different stages for becoming a successful actor. I realise that I have been doing an awful lot of reposting lately, but I promise you these lot all kinda carry on from one another so I might as well do them all if you want the information.
While this advice is interesting, whenever reading blog posts (even mine) always take a pinch of cynical thinking along with you. Not everyone will follow the same path to becoming an actor otherwise more people would "make it".
Anyway enjoy,
Terri ;D x

Dear Actor
Today is the fourth in my series on getting the acting career that you want.
You can read parts 2 and 3 on GETTING GOOD and GETTING NOTICED here (i.e. last two previous posts :D ).
Today is about signing with an agent.
You may or may not go to drama school to get good, drama school offers you the best chance to get noticed, to get seen by casting directors and potentially signed by agents…but it’s not the only way – however, if you’re going to get access to premium jobs, and make the career you want, you’re going to need an agent. A decent agent.
I get many messages from people all over the UK asking if I can suggest agents that might take them on. IT DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT.
If you aren’t GOOD, and you haven’t NOTICED them, and got them to NOTICE you, no one is going to sign you. Not in a million years.
Of course, because agents = work, every Tom, Dick and Jenny wants to get to them. And so they make it difficult for you to see them. I don’t blame them. As the clueless and the profoundly NOT GOOD assail their real and virtual doorstep, they find it hard to spot the diamond in the rough.
First get GOOD. Then get some experience of good quality. A few high quality reviews. A few pieces of worthy showreel material. If you really are good, they won’t all reject you. But you have to be good, not hopefully good, not done a bit of training, not tired of trying to get good – so might as well give it a punt – really. actually. good.
Of course you can work without an good agent, and if you’re happy with SA (Supporting Artist) work, or a few lines here and there, then settle for that.
But if you’re not, then investigate the agents that you think might be amenable to speaking with you. Don’t contact the big dogs straight off, they get hundreds, thousands of enquiries, don’t waste your breath, ink, postage, efforts. Start small, start reasonably local, not extra agencies, not rentacrowd style, – only actors’ agents.
Now think. Why should they even have a meeting with you?
What is it they want in a client? Do you know? They need to make money, they need someone good, some mature, with a head for the business, will you waste the opportunities they create for you, will you fold, will fail to meet your potential?
And then it comes down to this. Get a recommendation from someone you know, someone who is already signed with them. If you didn’t go to drama school, this is the best way to do it.  And don’t let them down, because you won’t get another chance. And people in the industry have LONG memories.
Don’t know anyone? Then you aren’t even in the business. GET GOOD. GET NOTICED (get quality experience and notice the industry) – GET NETWORKING.
Tomorrow we’ll talk about GET WORKING…
To You, the Best
COACH

Advice for Actors: Getting Noticed Repost

Hi guys,
I'm now officially half way through my exams! Only 4 more to go (they still wont go away) but here is a follow up of the post from Acting Coach Scotland where he discusses in detail the different stages for becoming a successful actor.
While this advice is interesting, whenever reading blog posts (even mine) always take a pinch of cynical thinking along with you. Not everyone will follow the same path to becoming an actor otherwise more people would "make it".
Anyway enjoy,
Terri ;D x


Dear Actor
GET GOOD – GET NOTICED – GET SIGNED – GET WORKING – GET BETTER
This is the third of my ‘Getting’ blogs. The first explained the stages of getting the acting career that you want.  The second explained how getting good is the foundation step – of course it’s the one that most people want to skip.
Today’s is about getting noticed, the third step:
Don’t miss the first step. Only the very lucky get noticed without being good, and if you are noticed and aren’t very good, it won’t last. Everyone wants to skip straight to ‘get working’ – of course they do! It would be wonderful. But it isn’t how it works, unless you are very, very lucky, everyone has to go through this process.
Everyone wants to get noticed.
Don’t expect anyone to go out of their way to notice you.
Of course, the easiest way is to go to drama school, get noticed and the rest should fall into line. But what if you don’t manage to make it into the top 1% of applicants for drama school?
No one will notice you, if you don’t know who they are.
Who casts the television shows in your area? Don’t know? How will they ever know you? The biggest change in getting noticed, is to notice who needs to notice you! Do your research and then slowly start to make polite contact with them.
Getting yourself into some good short films or perhaps semi-professional plays will now help. It’s something to prove that others have noticed you, don’t expect agents or casting directors to come, but it does demonstrate that you might be worth paying attention to, others have noticed you!
If you’re at this stage, and you aren’t good – and I’m sorry to say it is very often the case, they are going to be noticing all the wrong things and it will take a long time to change their perception of you.
Getting noticed is giving them reasons to notice you, but your job is to notice them, to know who they are, what they do and make gentle but deliberate contact. 
To You, the Best
COACH
Mark Westbrook is Senior Coach at Acting Coach Scotland

Advice For Actors: Getting Good Repost

Hi guys,
Still studying for my exams, (they just wont go away) but here is a follow up of the post from Acting Coach Scotland where he discusses in detail the different stages for becoming a successful actor.
While this advice is interesting, whenever reading blog posts (even mine) always take a pinch of cynical thinking along with you. Not everyone will follow the same path to becoming an actor otherwise more people would "make it".
Anyway enjoy,
Terri ;D x


Dear Actor

Yesterday, I wrote a blog that introduced you to the 5 stages of getting the acting career that you want.  Today’s blog tackles the first stage, getting good.

What do I mean by getting good? Being good enough to impress, to act well enough to get noticed – which is Stage 2.

Now I can’t tell you how many actors that I’ve met that are so desperate to skip to Stage 2 and 3, that they can’t wait to get good.

You know what happens? They disappear and make a few crappy short films or do a bit of amateur theatre and then wonder why they haven’t been noticed, why they are really working, or if they are working, why it’s never more than a line here or there.

They want to work, they think that working to get noticed is the best way. If you aren’t any good, getting noticed is a waste of your time.

And yet, having the patience to wait and get good, it’s very difficult.

So what does good look like? Well, after many years of working with actors, I can tell you it’s pretty simple. It’s not some mysterious intangible ‘talent’ that others will verbally masturbate about. Talent – if it exists, is subjective, and while yes, some people do seem more inclined towards excellence in acting, without a conduit to bring that ability to the surface, the person will struggle.

When I look to give someone an honest assessment of where they are at, they may not want to hear. Most people aren’t really that good, even those that have been told they are talented.

You may not be good but I’ll tell you something, you can get better, and if you are willing to work, to learn, to grow and develop, you can get really good. Most won’t. It’s hard work.

When I look at an actor to give them an honest assessment of their acting, I am looking at just a few very simple things:

1) INVISIBLE ACTING Is your acting visible or invisible? If it’s visible, you will be consciously performing, if it’s invisible, it will be just like you were when I was chatting to you before you began to act. It’s the easiest test. Record yourself talking about something, then record yourself acting, if you can see a performance, you are Acting, and no one will believe your performance. Good acting is invisible. No one can see you doing it.

Most people don’t want to change, are you like that? They would rather protect what they believe they have, than risk failure by changing to be better. The very best will never fear improving – they know it’s the only way to get really really good.

2) SCENE INTERPRETATION Have you gotten to the dramatic heart of the material you’re performing? Do you understand the dramatic action of the scene? Do you understand why the character is there – what they want (MOTIVATION), what they doing to get it (TACTICS) and what will happen if they don’t? (STAKES)

3) TENSION Is your body leaking tension, nerves, discomfort or stress? This can be fixed, but it immediately shows any problems.

4) CHARACTER I don’t mean the fictional one – I mean YOU. Are you mature? Fun? Playful, respectful, professional and determined. Are you easy to work with? Do you listen? Are you early? (but never too early).

5) FULLY HUMAN  - This is an odd one. When people act, they become boring. They become too simple, too singular, they act only what they can see happening in the scene. Real people, scratch their face, stretch, smile – they are fully human. If you are really good, then you ‘live truthfully’ as Meisner said – LIVE – be fully human.

These are the areas to focus on – but will you pay attention? Will you just ignore these and hope the same dumb luck that made you the lead in your high school play, or got you cast in that semi-pro stage production will also help you get noticed, signed and out into the industry?

The choice is yours. Get good, or try to get noticed before you are.

In tomorrow’s blog, I’ll discuss getting noticed…

To You, the Best

COACH
Mark Westbrook is the Senior Acting Coach and Studio Director at Acting Coach Scotland. 

Getting the Acting Career You Want repost

Hi guys,
So I am into the last two weeks of my exam (woooh) and I realise that I haven't written anything new in a while, but I came across this post from the Acting Coach Scotland blog and thought it would be brilliant to share with you guys.
To any aspiring actor who is currently tackling exams, then my heart goes out to you.
Enjoy (and good luck),
Terri ;D x


Dear Actor – Do you have the Acting Career You Want?
These are the FIVE steps or stages that I believe EVERY actor must take to achieve the acting career that they dream of having….
Get GOOD
In order to get noticed, you need to get good. Not good because your parents say so, or your friends or your high school drama teacher or even a few reviews, but good enough to get noticed, and really noticed. Most people can’t tell if they are good or not. That’s my job as an acting coach, and I know how to look to see if you are good. In tomorrow’s blog, I’ll tell you how to get good, so that you can have the acting career you want. Most people don’t have the patience to wait for this stage, they want it all now. And that’s precisely why they don’t make it. 
Get NOTICED
It’s pointless getting good, if you don’t give yourself opportunities to be seen, and seen by the right people. Sending out endless CVs and head shots is pointless. Getting noticed requires a strategy and a lot of hard work. Most people won’t have either, so on Monday, I’ll show you how to make sure you can get ahead of them and get the acting career you want. 
Get SIGNED
Having an agent IS very important. Of course, you can work without them, but to have access to the premium job opportunities, you need an agent. There are different levels of agent, some can get you work on local television commercials, and some can get you major roles, but your acting career won’t really take off without one! Getting signed is what we’ll cover on Tuesday.
Get WORKING
Once you get a job, you can’t stop. This is the stage where you have to put your money where you mouth is. If you get to this stage, without an agent and without getting good, then you will have been noticed somehow. That’s great, but without skills and technique to fall back on, you may now really find yourself struggling. Wednesday’s blog, will deal with this. 
Get BETTER
They say that the best way to learn is through doing. The secret to getting better is to learn FROM doing, not through doing through. In Thursday’s blog, I’ll deal with learning on the job. 
Over the next few days, I will cover all five of the above in much more detail and if you read each one and start to take action, you can push your career forwards and get the acting career you want. Most won’t. Most are sitting at home waiting for the acting career you want to happen to you. Is that you?

To You, the Best
Coach
Mark Westbrook the Senior Coach and Studio Director of Acting Coach Scotland.