Movie TV Film News

By: Brittney L Dunn
The need for talent is in an ascending spiral. Television, motion pictures, the legitimate stage, musical shows and night clubs are burning up talent as fast as it comes along.
So almost everyone connected with casting is more than willing to give promising new people a hearing.

The emphasis today is on speed, especially in television. Many parts are cast from a cold reading. More than ever in the history of show business, it is important to be a "quick study."

How fast is a quick study? Well, a better-than-average quick study can memorize two pages of dialogue in thirty minutes.

If you should get a two- or three-line part, congratulate yourself, its shortness is no disgrace but a good indication that your interviewer thinks you can "deliver." He believes you will look good to the director, the producer and-if only for one fleeting moment -to the audience.

If you try to fake phony credits, the truth will come out the minute you are set for a job. At that time you will have to show proof of your professional union affiliation or affiliations.

At the present time, all professionals must belong to at least one of the organizations in the "four A's." The four A's are the Associated Actors and Artists of America. There are more than four now, but they are still called the four A's.

Among them are AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), SAG (Screen Actors Guild), Equity (Actors' Equity Association), AGMA (American Guild of Musical Artists), AGVA (American Guild of Variety Artists) and SEG(Screen Extras Guild), which is devoted primarily to the interests of people appearing as general atmosphere in motion pictures and in filmed television.

Under the Taft-Hartley law, a newcomer is allowed thirty days after his first professional performance before he is obliged to join one of the professional guilds or unions.

The one he joins first becomes his parent union. There is a reciprocal arrangement among the four A's that acts in favor of the performer who works in the various mediums under their jurisdiction. When an interview is over, leave.

Don't drag it out, wasting the interviewer's time-and yours. If you've left pictures, or a list of credits, with the interviewer, tell his secretary on your way out of the office. Give her an extra word of thanks when you say goodbye.

Secretaries fill a highly specialized position in show business. Often they are the trusted aides and "antennae" of their bosses. Besides, as guardians of "the portals through which you seek to pass," they can sometimes open the door to courteous and appreciative actors.

Many people work a long time, perhaps an average of six years is typical, in order to secure the first beachhead on the island of success.

Some actors, and it happens all too often, mistake that first beachhead for the island. They think they've clinched the career itself when all they've really got is a foothold on it: a foothold on the first rung of a very tall ladder.

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