Independent Film & The Actor

Welcome to my new newsletter! The world is a mixed up crazy place where the artist has the duty to inject beauty for the minds, the souls and the bodies of their culture. It’s an effective and powerful counter to the cooky things we see going on. This newsletter is designed to assist you in the mission.

INDEPENDENT FILM
The Severe Drop in Auditions & What To Do

INDEPENDENT FILM AND THE ACTOR

The signs are everywhere, a few years back the big studios launched into streaming in an attempt to dominate the sector. After billions of dollars and an onslaught of content, Netflix is still the leader.

This new space for movie and series viewing is starting to stabilize with a more certain pathway to the future than it had just two years ago.

After COVID 19 and the industry strikes, there was a flurry of production but that has now curtailed into a dribble. The studios, I believe, are assessing the damage and re-strategizing. They are, and in the last several decades have been, risk averse. Sticking to their good ole franchise strategy and the world-wide audiences are getting somewhat tired of it.

This has created a vacuum from the lack of new, quality content which I believe has created a grand opportunity for the independent filmmaker to seize.

Independent filmmakers are known for taking risks. This is inevitably where advances in filmmaking techniques and stories take place not in the studio system. Sure, the studios might buy up a successful risk already taken but they will be the last to actually take that risk. It’s much easier to just look at the successes after the risk has been taken and absorb them into their system.

This is exactly what Disney did with Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise. The first Star Wars film was indeed a movie of high risk. The studios left all the ownership to George Lucas. They were certain it would be a flop. After it’s successes for several decades, the big studio of Disney gobbled it up. The direction they have taken with that franchise is debatable as to whether they have been successful but the pattern I mentioned above is exactly what happened with Star Wars.

There is another phenomenon like this in present day. The animated feature film Flow which was made with free, open source software Blender for a budget of 3.5 million euros (around $4 million US) just won a Golden Globe award over such titles as Moana II ($150 million) and The Wild Robot ($75 million). An independent film that took a risk and landed on top of the awards with a fraction of the budget. It is nominated for an Academy Award as well but my guess is, because there are no actor voices, it will not win since the vast majority of the Academy voters are actors. The Awards are tonight so we’ll see how accurate my prediction is.

As you can see with the void of content opening its gaping hole that needs to be filled at the demands of a starving audience for something new, the independent filmmakers can and must step in with their risky projects so our industry can take a new turn toward better stories and talent who can attract the love of the worldwide audiences.

How does this affect actors and what should they do about it?

My finger is pretty much on the pulse of the industry through all the actors I personally coach. Last year was abysmal for auditions through the regular standard system - studios hiring casting directors who then audition actors for roles. There has been a slight pick up this year but nothing like it was just 2 or 3 years ago.

Actors need to go outside the “system” they are used to and start rubbing shoulders with the independent filmmakers. I am not talking about A-list movie stars here. I am talking about the vast majority of professional actors and those who know in their heart they are actors and have yet to act upon that knowingness. More than likely, you who are reading this newsletter are one of them.

Start locally. It is my experience that there are independent filmmakers everywhere. From Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to Los Angeles, California to Nairobi, Kenya you can find independent filmmakers actively making movies and moving forward in expertise and the art of storytelling with moving pictures. They are everywhere.

Contact them. Get to know them. Help them out. Attend any social activities or functions that are organized. Organize one yourself. For these are the people who are going to break into this void and fill it with wondrous new stories that the world is waiting for. Flow is a case in point. And it won’t be the last.

Not only does this create opportunities for you the actor it also helps the filmmaker. Inevitably you will gravitate to those who you work well with. Those who love your ability to collaborate and help make their films better. This happened between Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp and many more.

Now is the time to catch this wave of risk-taking independent filmmakers who are searching for professional quality actors that don’t break the bank. That means you. But if they don’t know who you are, where you are and what you are capable of, the two of you will never meet. It is the actor’s responsibility to improve your craft, build a resume and demo reel and connect with the independent filmmakers. Make yourself known and keep reminding them that you are there and are in business.

Connect with them on social media which is pretty much where most people’s attention is in this day and age. Utilize it to your advantage. And don’t worry about the number of followers you have. That adage of you will get hired if you have a ton of followers is old hat. It’s about relationships not followers. I have never cast anyone based on the number of followers they have on social media platforms. And I have cast hundreds of actors.

What you need to do is connect, be truthful about your opinions and insights and honest about your love for this fabulous industry. That is the road to building a career as an actor.

The same applies to filmmakers. Connect with people who are like minded and who are collaborative in nature. There are thousands of young filmmakers with advanced skills just looking for someone like you to combine their skill set with yours and make some incredible new movies and series that the world is starving to see.

For actors looking for an easy and inexpensive way to advance your acting skills and rise to a higher professional level, I highly recommend my new online acting courses. You can find them here:

Within these courses is my knowledge and experience of coaching actors for over 30 years. There will be a total of 15 courses uploaded this year. Right now there are three and one of them is free. Try it out at no cost to you to see if you like my teaching style and what I have to say.

And finally, to my subscribers, my apologies for being a bit late with this newsletter. Next weeks’ will be on time! (Famous last words!)

P.S. I also offer consulting for independent filmmakers, personal private coaching for actors and a service for actors who are ready to own their own IP, advance their demo reel quality and learn how to play the producer game.