Teaching Yourself

Ladies and Gentelmen: I *love* Hulu!! They have so many shows about the business of acting available now! To kick things off, here's a clip of Russell Crowe on Inside The Actor's Studio:

Once you're done watching that, explore the other clips available from Inside The Actor's Studio.

Then check out these other options for self-tutoring that Hulu now has available:

• In Character With - Actors reveal their process for creating characters.
• Life After Film School - Film school students interview filmmakers to learn about the reality of Hollywood.
• Casting Session - Explore the challenges of how a movie or TV series gets cast, featuring extensive interviews with filmmakers and talent.
• Making A Scene - Explains how a pivotal scene from a movie or television series was made - from script to screen.
• Writer's Draft - Get the story behind the story in these in depth interviews with popular screenwriters.

The reason I'm so excited about all of these being available is I believe that the more I know about how all aspects of the business work, the better off I'll be. I feel it's important to know how award-winning writers write, so I have a better understanding of that process when I need to start picking scripts, and perhaps I'll learn a new way of understanding how my character serves the overall story, etc. Making a scene: wouldn't it be nice to have an idea of what to expect when I walk on set for my first special effects scene on a green screen? And an understanding of how much effort goes into the technical side of that. I believe this kind of self-teaching fosters respect for the other non-acting professionals who work in the business. 

So I'm super-excited about all of these new resources! YAY!! I already watch every second of Behind The Scenes bonus features on the DVDs, sometimes that's more interesting to me than the actual movie/TV show.

Another new resource I've discovered is a book -- (Shout out to Erin Cronican for the suggestion: Thank you!) -- A Star Is Found by Janet Hershensen & Jane Jenkins of The Casting Company. They have been the casting directors for some of Hollywood's biggest movies and have "discovered" some of Hollywood's biggest stars. 

This book is an education about how the casting process for big budget movies works. Even for smaller projects such as my web series. Things I never would have taken into consideration (when we get around to casting), things that I would have thought didn't matter, such as how tall the actors are in relation to each other, are suddenly important things to consider. And as an actor, I feel it is important to know how casting works, why CDs make the decisions they do, what they are looking for in discovering new talent. A Star Is Found explains all that.

---

Main | IsabelleRobertson.com