New Direction & Back In The Game

Once again it has been so long since I’ve posted and this because I felt obligated to do it, like I had to do it or something. I realised that I wasn’t enjoying reading my acting books as I had to go and write all about it on here so I had a thought. My blog should be something I love doing and want to do, not a task right?

So I’m heading in a new direction and instead of posting all about the different books I read I think I’m going to post about my career and everything that I feel I want to post about in my life. This will include posts about jobs I get, shows I watch, performances I give, my studies and so on and so on.

On a positive note an, independent, film director whom I have a good friendship with asked me to be in another one of his movies. Granted, it isn’t stage acting which is completely different to film acting however I’m doing something and opening myself to different areas of acting. I can’t disclose any information about the movie or my role within it but I will post links to the company’s site for everybody to check out.

Needless to say I’m very excited to get back in the game of acting and this role is very interesting. It is something to keep me busy over the next week or so before heading off to Birmingham on 19th August to watch Wicked and escape my Life until 22nd August 😉

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Actors and amateur auditions

Jack O'Brien

Hi there! How are you? You’re looking dashing next to your shmancy keyboard. For those who just randomly found this blog and don’t know who I am, I’m Jack! I’m an actor, comedian, writer and general whatever I can do to avoid a 9-5job-er. So, with that in mind, I’m going to take a moment to talk about student and independent films, feature, short or otherwise.

First off, this is going to be a blog about all the professional things I do, so if I’ve auditioned for you, you can be almost certain that I’m not talking about you specifically (unless you were a real jerk, in which case, kudos to you for recognizing it, now go away). I’m talking in general terms.

Also, I swear. So, you know. Be prepared for that.

I’ve been a professional actor since 2009. By this I mean that I have been paid for…

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I Think I’m Changing Or Phasing….Again

I think there’s something wrong with me, I am halfway through my second, and final, day off work for the week and I became anti social. I was supposed to spend today with two of my friends but cancelled on them both because I wamted to be alone. I don’t want to go out, I don’t want to socialize, I don’t want to live….I just seem to want to be alone. It’s strange because I’m all about living, especially since acting is all about life experience…….right?, and not moping around wasting time. For some reason that seems like all I want to do.

Maybe I’m “growing up” and becoming the person whom I will be for the rest of my life. My Mother said that it’s the transition from teenagehood into manhood “so your hormones are going to be all over the place.” I don’t even seem to have the energy to want to be that loud, noisy person I always am at work. I don’t think I’m changing as a person but maybe I’m becoming more mature and this my mind’s way of telling me?

It’s strange and it’s not something that I would consider to be easy to talk about. Every time I tried talking to Mother about it, I ended up spinning off into another topic and just getting mixed up in what I was trying to say. I know I might be overreacting and this could be just one of those “phases” that people go through but I’m not sure. I’m back at work tomorrow so I guess I’ll see how I react to the typical situations I am placed in at work and go from there. Tomorrow I need to bring positivity and dedication back to work making the day fly by.

I will no doubt post something tomorrow about what happens and how I fare. But for now, as always, goodbye and I hope you enjoy the post!

Life Is Dull…..At The Moment

I’ve been doing this full time thing at work pretty much ever since I left college. I’ve been doing it for around five weeks now and it’s honestly so dull. Fair enough I worked my arse off on my BTEC and deserved some rest time which I had and enjoyed. I auditioned for a role in a local show and wasn’t granted it so I have no acting until at least September. I’ve found that on my two days off a week, Monday and Tuesday, all I seem to do is sleep till late then play video games and read books. Now this doesn’t bother me, I think I’m just missing acting or moreso the workload that comes with it!

I’m spending so much time at work and it’s just become so dull and meaningless really. Life just seems to have nothing worth doing until September rolls around and I get to be stressed out and stop sleeping like I used to. I guess you could say I’m not a lazy person who can sit around and do nothing, this freedom thing is strange, I need to find something to make everything worthwhile. I think tomorrow I’m going to try and sort something before another week of full time rolls around.

What Are You Fighting For?

I apologise for the length of time it has taken me to post the second guidepost from Audition but I will give you a reason why. I had to read this particular section a vast number of times to wrap my head around it. I found it very confusing at first and then remembered that this book is about auditions, not acting!!

The second guidepost is simply called Conflict. It talks about the idea of the actor finding the conflict within the scene and running towards it instead of away from it. Michael believes that actors  look for conflict and that conflict creates drama. This inevitably makes a performance much better. Of course no person is going to work out the ins and outs of a relationship between two characters just like that. However they can get an initial idea which allows them to play something.

Michael speaks about the typical starting point of breaking down a script into “sections” or “beats” however he believes that, although necessary, it does not dive deep enough. He says that the actor must go even further to find the deeper reasons which will make them understand their character more.

He even goes to speak about a certain actor being unable to identify emotionally with the character in the scene and tells him that he shouldn’t be an actor after all. As you can see there is a lot to this particular section however the only thing that truly applies to this guidepost is the conflict.

Reading, Reading, Reading

So here I am sat in bed at 3:01 in the morning not being able to sleep. I’ve had a pretty busy day from reading to more reading to socialising to watching a movie to reading again….oh I know it’s normal busy for me but it’s something right?

Of all the books I purchased I decided to attack Audition by Michael Shurtleff first. I read two chapters of Audition. The first chapter was a form of FAQ and Q&A with the writer telling the reader what and what not to do at an auditon. Within the first chapter was stated the twelve guideposts that an actor can use to ensure they are giving themselves every chance to get that part.
The first guidepost is about relationships. This isn’t talking about relationships such as mother and daughter, father and son but moreso about the deeper areas between them. It talks about looking at the way each character feels about each other at that moment in time, the scene that is happening if you will, which enables the actor to be more truthful within the scene. Look at this example:

Your character loves their mother more than anything in the world. Recently their sibling died “accidentally” and your character has just been told by their mother that their sibling’s death wasn’t an accident. Their mother killed them but tried covering it up as an accident. Your character at that particular moment in time is not going to act or even feel the same way towards their mother as they did yesterday at breakfast.

This is only the first guidepost and of course I will be posting the other eleven for everyone to look into and hopefully use to their advantage. Even within the first two chapters I have found Audition to be extremely useful, not to my technique, but towards how I prepare for auditions and what I do when I’m there. This book is going to prove invaluable to my work and chances of gaining such work.

As always, thanks for reading……until next time!

My Weekend Off

I booked this weekend off of work to take a break and relax away from everything and do you know what? I did just that!

I spent most of this weekend playing video games, watching movies and reading books! I have really enjoyed this weekend and I think it is what I needed to get my positivity back for work. God knows I need it since my appraisal is on Tuesday…….oh it’s alright………just four months late.

So I figure as it is a new week as of tomorrow or well today, depending on the type of person you are, I am going to get cracking on my career. When I say that I don’t mean I’m going to apply for jobs, sort headshots and contact agencies….no! What I mean by that is get reading the books I need to find my technique! I mean I have a technique that has taken two years to work on but I need something more, something is missing. These books will fill that void and I need to get working on it! I can guarantee an entry will be shared tomorrow with an update on what I discovered and how my day went.

Thanks for reading, as always!