Preparing the Hollywood Actor

On set - Famous Crime Scenes VH1

Want to know what it is like to be a typical actor in Hollywood? First you take actor training--maybe improvisation with the Groundlings or learn the Misner technique, the current "hot" method in LA. You have to get in shape, even if your "look,"  is fat slob, because a lot of acting is physical hard work. Once you have your type identified, hopefully something unique, you have headshots taken that feature your big beautiful face, especially the eyes, the windows to the soul...and you take 3/4 shots as well, so the casting directors can see if you fit their vision of the character. Bring money, because all this stuff is not cheap and the expense goes on top of your food and rent. Next comes costumes. What!  You have to bring your own costumes! Yep. In the beginning, if you are lucky, all the films/TV pilots you may get will be non-union with budgets as low as yours, where most of the crew and fellow actors work for free. What do you need?  A dressy outfit (suit for guys) for parties, business people, detectives, etc. A white lab coat (about $50) for doctors, scientists, etc. Western stuff like jeans, boots, hat. And something I added was a priest collar. Everybody ready now?  Then you subscribe to the casting services like Actors Access or LA Casting, sign up at Central Casting and start reading the postings at least twice a day and calling the CC hot-line. You can also hire a service to do that for you, but it's another 50-60 bucks a month.  More next time on the auditioning process-the Hollywood actor lifeline.

Jonah Hex (based on DC Comic)

Hello friends:  I got to do my first big Hollywood movie this year...Jonah Hex.

The experience was all I expected from the costume fitting, makeup, props, to being on set with movie stars like John Malkovitch and Josh Brolin. Exciting when you are actually in a scene, with the weapons master providing me with a loaded gun (blanks of course) and the director shouting "action." Yes, they really do that. Not so exciting is sitting around for hours and hours 12-14 a day waiting for that one moment. This is the typical work day of a movie extra. Sometimes you get treated nicely. But mostly you are human decoration to fill the frame. I met a few fellow extras who do this for a career. They bring their own comfortable chairs, Kindles, and sit around praying the filming goes slow to reach "golden hour" when the pay doubles. They also taught me about all the pay "bumps" for late meal calls, working in smoke, stand in work, bring your own costume, stunts, etc. These guys had it down to a science. No thanks. I still do the occasional extra work for the money, but prefer doing real acting, developing a character, having lines, making make believe believable.  Like with Book Club, a new web series, I got to do. More on that next time...rich