In order to succeed you must BE. DO. HAVE. Most actors start at the end. Most actors after having moved to Los Angeles right away set about trying to find an agent. They think to themselves, “I need an agent in order to get auditions so that can be the TV/Film actor/star that I want …
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Developing Confidence-Trust
No one would argue that confidence is a key component to success in our business. No other profession values it quite the same way as our industry. Over and over you see articles written about how confidence is key to a successful audition and career, and for some actors, an easy confidence just oozes out …
Developing Confidence – Faith
“If you think you can win, you can win. Faith is necessary to victory.” – Willam Hazlitt, British writer, painter and philosopher As we all know, actors hear “No,” a lot. We are turned down for auditions, roles, and turned away by managers, and agents. There seem to be hundreds of things (real and imagined) …
Developing Confidence – Practice
Developing Confidence: Practice “There is no glory in practice, but without practice there is no glory.” – Unknown So far in our discussion about developing confidence we have talked about Trust and Faith, but without Practice neither of these two can exist. Many actors know practice naturally makes them better, but how many work on …
3 Ways to Take Care of Your Audition (And Yourself)
We’ve all had audition that we didn’t feel went our way. There can be a myriad of reasons why, many of which can be boiled down to not feeling confident, relaxed and sure of yourself in the room. But here are some tips so you can feel more in control and confident in the room, …
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2 Powerful Tools to Bring Depth and Emotion to Your Film & TV Auditions
Time & Volume: 2 Simple Tools for More Powerful Film Performances The learning curve when making the transition from film and television can be steep. The two are vastly different mediums and have separate technical issues and challenges. Many of these techniques can take many, many hours of trial and error just to discover, let …
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The Benefits of Self-Awareness
Sanford Meisner defined acting as, “Living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.” It seems obvious that being in the moment is an imperative to living that truthful existence. However, I’m here to tell you that self-awareness is not only good, but actually NEEDED in our work. Most actors think that they have to be as in the …
3 Audition Obstacles Actors Create for Themselves
Sit in on any casting session and you are guaranteed to see actors who think that they are acting. They think they inhabit the character. They go through the motions of acting and auditioning, but in actuality they’re doing something entirely different. Often, many of these actors aren’t even aware that they are, in fact, …
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Re-Examining Success and Failure
The way most actors define success and failure is clear and absolute. Success seems to come only with the booking of a job, the finding of an agent, or a career-making opportunity. While, conversely, failure seems to come in so many different shapes and sizes: failure to get an agent, to get an audition, to …
3 Things From the Holiday Season That Make You a Better Actor
This season, take a moment to see how the holiday spirit can positively affect you as an actor. Here are three things to think about all year long! Gratitude The holiday season is a time for reflection. It’s a time to think over and take stock of all that you have and everything you’ve achieved over …
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5 Things Every Actors Needs BEFORE Going to Set
L.A. On-Camera is going to be creating instructional videos every week. Jamison explains why.
Success & Failure
Keeping in Contact
It’s a Marathon
It might seem like you’re not getting any closer, but you gotta keep running in order to win the race…
Pilot Season: Headshots & Resumes
Honor Your Sacrifices in Your Work
Happiness & Thankfulness
You Are a Creator
It’s time actors claim the real role we play in the filmmaking process.
Daring Choices
Your mission mission if you choose to accept it; BE BOLD!
Introductory Video
L.A. On-Camera is going to be creating instructional videos every week. Jamison explains why.
L.A. is a film and TV town
If you haven’t noticed… Los Angeles is a film and television town. Hell, that’s why the city was made. But many actors have a problem — most trained heavily as theater actors, and thus received extremely limited experience (if any) working in film prior to coming to Los Angeles. Then, once arriving here, can’t figure …
Active Listening
As an actor, I’m sure you watch a lot of film and television, but have you really thought about what elements are used to create the performances you love? Of course there’s talent and hard work, but what technical elements did those actors employ to make the greatest impact possible? Over the course of the next several …
Emotional Availability and Vulnerability
The second principle needed for a captivating on-camera performance is Emotional Availability and Vulnerability. You need stakes In our last discussion, we talked about how if an actor is Actively Listening, they will begin to have real genuine emotions; but it’s their Emotional Availability and Vulnerability that will carry those emotions through. As an actor, …
Seamless Acting
The third principle needed for a captivating on-camera performance is one of the most simple to understand, but one of the most challenging to put into practice: Seamless Acting. We can’t see you working What do I mean when I use the word “Seamless,” you might ask? Think of a magic show. A great magician …
Maximum Exposure of the Eyes
Maximum exposure of the eyes means just that; not complete, not total, not absolute, just maximum. As much a possible, the audience needs to see your eyes. I’ve mentioned before that film and television is a medium of intimacy. When you think of those people that you are intimate with, what do you think about? What do …
Playing Games
A long time ago, my teacher and mentor drew a comparison between actors and athletes. At first I didn’t understand how the two were related – but now, years later, I couldn’t think of a closer parallel. Both groups train for countless hours to perfect their craft. Both groups are competing at the highest levels …
Fail Boldy
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” – Thomas Edison Oftentimes, there is a disconnect between what we do as actors and how we were raised. No one wants to put themselves out there in a vulnerable way; we were often taught as children that to stand out is wrong, either …