How to Succeed as an Actor if You Have What it Takes.

Acting is a tool for freedom of expression and choice, a mirror of possibility for humankind. Acting is a powerful medium for reflecting authenticity in the human experience.

I spent over twenty years directing and developing actors in New York and later Hollywood. Since its creation in 1989, the Hollywood Actors Studio has been dedicated to providing excellent and distinct training and to promoting the actor as artist in the community.

The worst enemies of actors are not the job market, Hollywood, corrupt and incompetent agents or producers. Competition is not the fundamental problem either.

Granted breaking into the various fields of acting is not a small picnic, but I don’t believe anyone truly thinks that acting is easy.

Lack of skill and competence and the willingness to become competent and effective as an actor is what stops the majority of would-be actors. Tenacity and endurance are also major factors.

Other traps and limitations that can affect the pursuit of acting negatively are:

• Self-defeating thoughts • Tension, struggle and lack of flexibility • Self-consciousness or chronic timidity • Lack of stage manners or body control

• Improper use of imagination • Low level of skills: too few tools and techniques to draw from • Inadequate communication skills

• Lack of professionalism, concentration and focus • No or too little passion, desire or will power • Unresolved personal issues • Destructive habits and un-released negativity.

THE RULES & PRINCIPLES OF ACTING

Here some essential rules to help you understand what acting is and what it is not.

1-Acting is a craft and an art.

Craft means that it requires ability, aptitude, know-how and skill. It also means that it is governed by specific principles, rules, tools and techniques which, when applied, produce an impact or an effect in the direction of the intended result.

Craft also implies that there is a finished "product" in mind to be delivered: the rehearsed scene, monologue, etc. Art means that acting, when executed properly, illuminates the spirit, elicits emotion from an audience, delivers understanding and, most importantly, communicates.

2-The purpose of acting is to communicate.

It is more important that acting communicates than that it is executed perfectly. The test of the great actor is how little he or she reduces perfection to be understood and to communicate.

3-The purpose of the actor.

The purpose of the actor is "authenticity of emotion and behavior in a given or imaginary circumstance and complete physical, emotional and psychological creative freedom."

Circumstance is a Stanislavskien technical terminology referring to the specific facts and events surrounding the characters as well as the facts and events that lead up to the situation at hand.

A circumstance must always be dramatic to produce behavior; therefore it is important to look for the unusual events in a scene. The scene and the characters are always imbedded in a circumstance which limits and dictates their behavior.

Stanislavsky said that "truth in art is the truth of the circumstances". Truthful behavior can only be found inside specific circumstances. Circumstance gives power and reality to our actions. It entraps us and animates us.

4-Confidence in acting means certainty or to be certain.

Only when the actor is certain of his or her circumstances, character, point of view, relationship to other characters, which dramatic conflict is taking place and what s/he is pursuing, can s/he be confident. Confidence, therefore, is not an attitude or a feeling.

5-The spine or backbone of the actor, is his or her intentionality.

Intentionality is defined as the ability of the actor to stay on a certain course of action to reach a desired goal or objective. Intentionality arises the moment one desires something. A goal or objective is then established which gives birth to an intentionality for the purpose of reaching that goal. Therefore, the spine of characters is also intentionality. Characters live for the attainment of their goals. There are immediate and long-term goals. There's also an overall life goal for that specific character and all other minor goals are subordinate and aligned to it.

6-The essence of acting is confrontation.

It is also called clash of wills, conflict or drama. Every scene has a confrontation in it. If one cannot see it, it means one hasn't found it, not that it isn't there. Characters confront each other regarding items of interest and pursuit.

A confrontation almost always results in a negotiation. Negotiations get resolved through the clash of the characters' wills and points of view. Disagreements or difference of opinions are not confrontations.

Furthermore, a confrontation exposes the characters' points of view to the audience. Risk in acting is in the confrontation because confrontation exposes the true feelings of the characters.

Every scene is a confrontation.

To confront means having the ability to face without fleeing. The tension between facing without fleeing and the thing being confronted is what brings about feelings and emotions.

When one acts in the direction of one's goals, one always finds obstacles. If one persists in spite of the obstacles then emotion will occur. Emotion is always a consequence not a tool_–it is to be left alone.

An actor may be blocked emotionally or psychologically which would keep him or her from experiencing certain scenes fully. A scene is always a specific circumstantial "trap" or "set-up".

I hope you enjoyed that. The complete rules of acting can be found in The Challenge of the Actor: Freeing the artist within by Eric Stone. Available on Amazon.com