Launching That Acting Dream

How do you REALLY get started on your dream of becoming an actor?

I believe that keeping your dream alive requires:

• Reveling in your belief that your dream WILL come true. 
• Believing that your dream CAN come alive
• Trusting how IMPORTANT your dream is to YOU

• No matter how old you are when you begin.
• No matter how long it takes.
• No matter how little encouragement you receive.

It’s important to identify how your acting dream evolved.

What sparked your passion in a way that made you want to become an actor?

• Perhaps you were in a school play?
• You sang in the choir? 
• You played a musical instrument? 
• You saw a live performance?
• You were inspired by a classic movie? 
• Maybe you love to dance? 
• Perhaps you have a close friend or family member in the entertainment industry? 

Or maybe you love to juggle oranges, or an acting performance made you cry or, a performer made you laugh, or you identified strongly with a character in a book, movie or on television.

Understanding what drives your passion to become an actor is important in helping you focus on what makes YOUR dream the reality you want it to become.

How does acting speak to you?

It’s great fun realizing that YOUR acting journey will actually be your first movie!  It will be a film about YOU. Where’s a good place to start?  I have often felt that setting reasonable attainable goals can lead to promising success.  It can go like this.

Short term goal #1  

It all begins with first nailing down the actual ABC’s of acting. 

What are the abc’s of acting?

You can think of it SORT of like getting a new phone and learning all the buttons and icons & then how to navigating through all the options.

This is when your career truly begins. Your movie opens with your first scene & may:

• reveal you enrolling part time or full time in an acting school or drama class
• reveal you attending acting classes
• reveal you working with an acting coach or an acting mentor……

Any of these can help teach you the basic ropes of the industry. You will learn the language of acting such as:

• audition
• on set
• method
• improv
• frame
• hit the mark
• background
• action
• wrap
• camera left
• camera right 
• theatrical
• SAG
• commercial
• sides
• copy
• director
• boom
• headshots
• back to 1
• and much, much more

You are probably wondering.

How can anyone juggle daily life & also learn to be an actor?

If you are like the majority of actors, you are either needing to work another job to pay bills or are finishing an education whether it be grade school, high school, college, professional school or perhaps a specialty training school. You may be:

• living alone
• living with family
• living with roommates,
• married, divorced or separated
• independently wealthy

It simply does not matter Some tricks are:

• To set reasonable attainable short- term goals that will fit into your schedule
• To keep your eye on each goal finish line
• To surround yourself with positive influences
• To believe that patience & perseverance will pay off

Short term goals are exciting & reachable. It will mean carving out time every week or better yet every day if possible to focus on doing a little more work on your acting craft. 

Now that the ABC basics have been mastered, the first finish line has been crossed!

CONGRATULATIONS! 

Whatever your short-term goal is,

• it is a great step toward reaching your acting dream!  
• it launches confidence & faith
• it fuels motivation & commitment.

Stay tuned for next week’s post.  For questions or comments, please submit them on this website.