Professional, process-driven classes for young and adult actors, serving the Chicago suburbs and North Shore.
Blog Posts: Blog
Headshot Printing special
Check out this headshot printing special from A&B Photography (where I personally print my headshots)! - Philip
From: Headshot Printing
Date: Thursday, July 19, 2012
Subject: Dog Days Summer Special
To:
Categories: Acting Tips, Blog
Helpful info from O'Connor casting
From O'Connor Casting - must read!
Subject: PLEASE PASS ON TO YOUR TALENT
To all agents,
Lately, we’ve been running into a couple serious issues that we feel we should bring to the attention of everyone and not just those that were involved.
One issue involves talent on set and how they should behave.For the most part, talent are professional and respectful of others as expected. However, we’ve received reports from productions of some unprofessional talent. It mainly comes from talent being either uninformed or just plain idiotic in their behavior. Please make sure that if there is some issue on set and talent feels that something is wrong or they are not being treated properly, etc, they should first of all try to resolve the issue amicably with production. If it’s not getting resolved between talent and crew, including the production managers and producers, then talent should get [their agent] on the phone to help deal with the situation. They just need to know this protocol. This means they must have [their agent's] after hours number on them. We know it’s common sense, but some parents and actors/models are uninformed and have resulted in them making us all look bad. One thing is certain: talent should never walk off set. Walking off set is one of the most unprofessional things a talent can do and the most assured way of us not working with them as we cannot trust them to behave professionally. So whether they’re an extra, a principal, a back up, or a parent, talent need to remember that this is a job they’ve been hired for and they are expected to represent not only themselves, but also their Talent Agent, O'Connor Casting and Chicago performers as a whole. No matter how crazy a set can become, we all benefit from talent who get the job done.Along the same lines (and I wish I didn’t have to say this), talent should not show up to work, whether to an audition or to set, intoxicated or under the influence of any recreational drugs, late, or unprepared. Again this is far from the norm, but unfortunately not every actor seems to be aware of this. Can you imagine showing up late, intoxicated and then being asked to hold a prop gun… Pretty damn laughable, but it occurred.
THIS NEXT ONE IS A MAJOR ISSUE (thus the CAPS). Product conflicts. Talent in general (the ones who are working consistently), and agents many times, are not aware of their current talent product conflicts. When we put a breakdown out and list the exclusivity, there should be no confusion as to who can or cannot come in to audition for it. If you have a talent who may or may not have a product conflict, it’s your job, along with your talent, to figure out (prior to confirming them for an audition) what their current conflict is and its terms. The hours wasted and problems caused by this are countless. Talent need to be educated and aware of this in the business. So you (they – as they may be multi-listed) have to be on top of the length of their buyouts/holdings as well as the exclusivity category. So if your talent has a Kmart that is seasonal and not holding conflicts, that’s all well and good for Kmart, but if we’re casting a Target that is holding conflicts, then we don’t audition your Kmart talent. Works the same in reverse. If we’re casting something that is not holding conflicts (meaning most non-union projects), that doesn’t mean you don’t need to check your talent for current product conflicts that may impact it. Yes, things are not governed as much as UNION projects, but talent need to use some common sense and not have two or more health care, or insurance, or fast food conflicts when they air or broadcast in the same markets. It’s not fair to the client, unless cleared by them both. It’s bad business any other way. Print gets away with booking non-conflict projects most times (still doesn’t make it right), but broadcast is a different story altogether. We, of course, have no control over this, but ask that with projects being cast out of my office you adhere to this as it’s a disservice to my client and will cause me to lose work because of it. Bottom line, it’s common sense and it’s up to you and your talent to keep track of it all. It’s harder to do when talent are multi-listed, but it still must be done properly. Talent need to fully understand what they are signing and understand the rates, hours, usage for all things called WORK.Thank you for stressing the above to your talent. The more aware we can make our talent of the proper way to work in this industry, the easier our jobs will be! And we will continue to strengthen our acting community even more.My best to you all, always.David O’ConnorDirector of Casting
Categories: Auditions and Casting Calls, Blog
Why you should see CABARET this weekend
Categories: ATC Classes, ATC Students, Blog, Performances
Write-up on OLIVER!
A write-up in the Wilmette Patch on OLIVER which recently performed at The Wilmette Theatre!
http://wilmette.patch.com/blog_posts/oliver-the-musical-comes-to-wilmette-theater
Categories: ATC Students, Blog, Performances
Bruce Moore's experience at Steppenwolf
Buce Moore, an adult student of ours at ATC, is in the ensemble of THREE SISTERS at Steppenwolf Theatre. He sent us this lovely update about his experience - we'd like to share it with you! Go Bruce!
ATC students - if you want the tickets he is offering, feel free to shoot me an email at philip@actorstrainingcenter.com
~~~~~~~Dear Carole,
I hope the summer is going well for you and you're enjoying the warm weather. I haven't seen much of it because, if I'm not at work, I'm deep inside Steppenwolf Theater waiting to go on stage. I understand what you mean when you said you like TV, film, commercial or voice over work better than theater because in theater they "got cha" or own you for the duration of the run. But I wouldn't trade it for anything right now. It's been a great experience! When I could, I attended rehearsals even when I wasn't called just so that I could watch Anna Shapiro and Tracy Letts work. It's like attending a master class! They're both very kind and generous but also very precise and it's all about the story we're trying to tell.
Our Opening Night is Sunday, July 8th at 6 PM. I have 4 (four) tickets. I'm giving two of these tickets to some friends of mine who have been very supportive through out the years but I would like to give the other two tickets to ATC. You folks in the office can use them or you can give them to some ATC students who might not otherwise be able to afford tickets to Steppenwolf. I'll leave that up to you. Just let me know. The tickets will be waiting at the box office.
Each cast member is also entitled to 2 (two) complimentary house seats during the run of Three Sisters. I would like ATC to use these for you guys in the office or for students. The tickets are subject to availability and I would need a few days advance notice in order to reserve them. I don't know where these seat would be located but there aren't many bad seats in the theater. Let me know if you want to use them.
In addition to these seats, Steppenwolf has what they call Row 11. During the run ofThree Sisters I can use 4 (four) of these seats. The location of the seats is a row of chairs set up at the back of the main floor of the auditorium. I don't know what this looks like but again it's probably still a good seat. I need advanced notice and I can only use 2 (two) at a time. Tickets can only be picked up on the day of performance on hour before the show begins.
Steppenwolf has also given the ensemble CTA cards to use for transportation. I have three of them. I'm keeping one just in case I need it but do you have students who take the CTA to take classes at ATC? These passes are 30 (thirty) day passes and begin after the first use. They're good until October, 2013. Let me know if you have students who can use them, otherwise I'll give them to folks in the ensemble.
Again, being in the play has been a great experience. I'm only on stage to move furniture and, near the end of the play I'm on stage for about 2 minutes but that's OK. When Eric Woodall was here a few weeks ago, he said there were thousands of New York actors who would gladly move furniture for Anna and Tracy. Many of the people in the cast and in the ensemble have a lot of experience on stage and in TV, movies, voice over, commercials. As I get over my shyness and get to know everyone more, I've been asking more questions. Two of the young girls have threaten to "knock me over the head" because I don't have an agent. According to them, there are a lot of "them" out there looking for work but not many of "me." They seem to think I could find a lot of work just based on my "look."
Let me know if you can use any of these tickets or CTA cards. Friends and co-workers have been asking about tickets but I wanted to offer them to you and the students at ATC first.
Thanks for all you do and for all of your hard work at ATC - Bruce
Categories: Acting Tips, ATC Students, Blog
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