Acting Newsletter Article Archive

REDUCING THEIR ABILITY TO REJECT YOU by Neil Schell   Date:  3-9-2009 What an interesting career you have chosen! An actor for hire. Or, more appropriately, a character for hire, for stories.... (Read More)

The Responsibility of Actors by Neil Schell   Date:  3-3-2009 Actors carry many responsibilities. To many such a word as “responsibility” might seem a bit repulsive or scary. Equating the word “responsibility” with negative ideas is usually borne out of past experiences.... (Read More)

In-Between Work by Neil Schell   Date:  2-24-2009 Actors at most every stage of their careers experience the phenomenon of being in-between work. Dealing with this situation with the correct mind-set is important to your career and well being.... (Read More)

IT’S A NUMBERS GAME by Neil Schell   Date:  2-10-2009 How many times have you heard that? Does it apply to acting? You bet. It is obvious to me that if you want to increase your bookings, you have to increase your audition numbers.... (Read More)

The Purpose of Acting by Neil Schell   Date:  1-5-09 Actors become actors for many reasons. With most, it’s an emotional leap into a dream-like land that may some day provide an exciting life of betterment for them and their family and friends.... (Read More)

Acting and Persistence by Neil Schell   Date:  11-30-07 Anyone who has every gotten anything valuable done knows about the quality of persistence.  There really isn't anything new about this concept when it comes to establishing an acting career.   But there are unique problems that many actors encounter on their way to being established that blinds the actor from digging deep into themselves and pulling up the strength of their persistence.... (Read More)

BEING IN THE MOMENT by Neil Schell   Date:  09-25-07 Ah yes, that illusive thing of “being in the moment.” You’ve heard many an acting teacher tell you how important it is.... (Read More)

STILLNESS by Neil Schell   Date:  08-24-07 The power of an actor's ability to be still is emphasized in many places.  You can read about it in most any book on acting and hear about it from professional actors themselves in various interviews they have done.  And, of course, there is the old cliché of 'Less is more!'  But what does it really mean?  What is this quality of stillness and power and so on?... (Read More)

CONTINUITY FOR ACTORS by Neil Schell   Date:  07-27-07 A professional actor provides material for the editor and director to cut into the final product, which is an episode of television or a feature film.... (Read More)

SUPPORT by Neil Schell   Date:  07-09-07 Every actor needs support. Without it an actor flounders. Support is not always an obvious statement like “I totally believe in you and your acting career and will do everything in my power to make you a star!” Sometimes it is very subtle.... (Read More)

DISCOVERING CHARACTER by Neil Schell   Date:  06-11-07 The most essential aspect of any great acting performance that I respect is the character that is portrayed. Some outstanding characters that come to mind are Daniel Day Lewis’s character Bill ‘The Butcher’ Cutting in ‘Gangs of New York’ or Gary Oldman’s character Stansfield in ‘The Professional’ or Meryl Streep’s character Sophie in ‘Sophie’s Choice.’ These actors are completely committed to their characters and you cannot catch them ‘acting.’ Another interesting quality of these actors is that they never play the same character twice.... (Read More)

The “Need to Perform” vs. Freedom by Neil Schell   Date:  04-30-07 Learning to properly utilize one's intellect as an actor is always a challenge. Anyone's intellect has been trained by authority figures throughout one's schooling and in society.... (Read More)

MAKING YOUR ACTING CAREER A REALITY by Neil Schell   Date:  05-15-07 I just love quoting Billy Bob Thornton when he said, "The hardest thing about acting is not acting." I saw him say this on one of those biography programs on T.V.... (Read More)

BE the Actor you want to be NOW by Neil Schell   Date:  04-17-07 Acting can sometimes feel like an elusive career. When one starts out there is always the question of "Am I talented enough?" or "Can I really do this?" The drive to be an actor is obviously strong but the question of acceptance is forever lingering.... (Read More)

THE FREE ACTOR by Neil Schell   Date:  05-08-07 Ever wonder what the casting directors are really looking for? After producing over 50 casting director workshops over the years, I decided to tally up the results of a basic question I asked every actor who was attending.... (Read More)