Background, commercials, verticals, soaps and student films. Why the only good reason to decline is that you do not want it, and where bad habits actually come from.
9 Things Actors Should Know About Work They Think Is Beneath Them
Drawn from what is actually said on camera, so you can decide whether to
spend the 6:55 watching it.
Not wanting it is a fine reason. Feeling above it is not
Background, commercials, verticals, soaps, web series, student films. Decline any of them because they do not fit what you are building. Declining because you think they are lesser is a different decision, and she does not think much of it.
She did them early and rates the experience: that many lines, that fast, on a real set, with real directors. Those are specific skills that are difficult to acquire anywhere else and impossible to acquire in a classroom.
Her argument for taking this kind of work early is that you have not yet developed anything a fast set could damage. It builds the reps while there is the least to lose.
Laziness has nothing to do with the tier of the job. She names a production that shot 86 pages in a day, against a normal six to eight, where you are effectively filming the rehearsal. Speed like that is where habits form, at any level.
Background work puts you on huge films and marquee series where you can watch how a set actually operates, and sometimes watch serious actors work. If you have never been on one, that is a large amount of learning for a day's pay.
Commercials were once beneath everyone and are now full of Academy Award winners. Soaps and telenovelas have produced an enormous amount of talent, and some people stay and build real careers there. The hierarchy people are defending has already changed.
If you and your reps disagree, have the conversation
It works both directions: they want you doing verticals and you do not, or the reverse. That is a discussion about where each of you sees the career going, and it is better had deliberately than through a series of declined auditions.
And be explicit with your team in advance about the countries, locations and subject matter you will not do. Auditioning for something and then refusing the offer is unfair to the production and to you.
You are always allowed to decline. If you are declining, ask what you are doing instead: class, shooting with friends, writing. And note the distinction she draws between paying to work in her class and being paid to work on a set.
You're never too good for background work, commercials, verticals, soap operas, web series, student films. There are so many opportunities for you to work and be on set. And a lot of my students will say, "Well, I don't want to do this or that." And that's fine if that's not what you want to do. Don't do it. But don't just do it because you're looking down on it or you think it's a lesser form or you think you're better than it. Hopefully, we're better than all of those things. But I did soap operas in the beginning of my career and it's wonderful experience to have to learn that many lines and to be on set and to work with directors being verticals are the new thing that everybody's doing and complaining about you know there's an old joke how do you make an actor complain give them a job. So yes, there becomes a time where for a lot of actors, these things aren't satisfying on a creative level, but doing a few of them, starting doing them before maybe you have any bad habits. And I I do want to talk a little bit about bad habits because bad habits can occur even if you're doing what's considered prestige work. If you get lazy, if you stop doing your work, if you move so fast that you aren't being able to give your due time. I have uh some students who have worked on projects that are well known for being very fast. A lot of TV shows will shoot about six to eight pages in a day.
And this one particular producer had 86 pages in a day. 86 pages in a day is insane. You're basically shooting the rehearsal. You don't really have a chance to do quality work, but you're doing work. You're on set. You're working. You're turning out a product. Fantastic. It experience is the name of the game. You're getting in your reps. Don't automatically look down on those things. Now, there might be a time where you have to have a discussion with your team.
Maybe you don't want to do them and your team wants you to. Or maybe you want to do them and your team doesn't. Your team being your agents, your managers, the people representing you. Then it's time to have a talk about where they see your career, where you see yours, the things you want to do. Way back in the day, nobody did commercials. Now you've got Academy Award winners doing commercials. Things change. Times change. Everybody needs work. And there's some wonderful creative commercials, soap operas. You look back on some of the people who started in soap operas and tel nollas. It's fantastic the amount of talent that's come.
Some people stay there. They love it. They don't want to do anything more and they become stars in that realm. Great. Uh no no shade being put on them. It's whatever it is that you want to be doing as a career and to have a career as an actor. If you're unemployed, I would not be looking down on somebody who's doing verticals or soap operas. Now, don't look down on them, but if it's not your bag, it's not your bag. Don't turn down auditions. I wouldn't turn down an audition unless you know that you won't do it. there's a country or location that you don't want to do. If there's subject matter that you don't want to be involved in, be really clear with your team about that because it's not fair for you and the production team for you to audition for those things and then refuse to take the job when it's offered to you.
A student film is wonderful experience, background acting. You get to be on a set. I've had students who've been on set for huge movies, big marquee television series. You can learn so much, especially if you've never been on set before. You can be on set and see and understand how a set operates. You know, you might not be working with the name talent, but you might be as well, and you get to watch them and their process. There might be a time where you're done doing background. You've decided, I've gotten what I need out of it. I don't find it creatively fulfilling. I don't need to do it anymore. That's fine. Or you might always want to do that.
There might be a time where you say, I don't want to do verticals anymore. I don't I'm I'm getting lazy and I'm developing some bad habits. That's fine. If you don't ever want to do them, but what are you doing? Are you in class? Are you shooting projects with friends? Are you writing something? What are you doing to further your career? You of course are always allowed to say no. Got a video on that. You're always allowed to say no. But what are you saying no for?
You might go on a vertical and meet one of your best friends, another actor, and you guys might say, "Well, let's get together and write something. I don't want to be doing these anymore. Neither do I, but they pay the bills. Great. It's really something when you can pay the bills being an actor. What it boils down to is get off your high horse. You are always welcome to say no. You are always welcome to not take a project and not do something that doesn't fit with you. But really ask yourself why. Because work is fantastic. There is nothing. It's all you want to do is work as an actor.
You know, if you come and you take class, you're paying me. You're working. You're working as an actor. I'm watching. I'm giving really fantastic notes, but you're paying. If you're on set, you're getting paid. There is a big difference there. I would choose the getting paid as long as it's something that you feel comfortable doing. When you are ready to do what you came here for, come and take a class with us in person or online. We can cut that. RI GHD. Awesome.
I guess we can cut
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