$1000.00 5 minutes short film fantacy

**capul8** · April 9th, 2001, 01:34 AM

Before the fur starts to fly on this one, let me toss my two cents in.
First, my calling card (resume):
Twenty years in NYC as a working actor(theatre, film & TV), director(theatre),and producer (theatre)

I've taught acting at various studios and was on the faculty of Princeton U.

Now, I may be an amatuer at shooting film, but working with actors is my profession.

I think that roxics makes a very good point when they say that if the format is important to the actor, you don't want to work with that actor. Point being the character should be the most important priority for the actor. Does it challenge them, does it have an inner journey they can connect to, does it allow them to stretch and reach for something they've never tried before? Does the script engage them on an artistic level? Does the language have what we acting teachers call "resonance" for them personally? If it does, then that's what they should work on, even if it's a play in a garage at midnight on Wed. Never mind the format.

HOWEVER...it's just not that simple. Acting (and film and TV and theatre) is a business too. I've seen too many bright young actors lose their souls to mind-numbing temp jobs. Serious actors, attempting to make a career out of something besides waiting tables, need to choose their projects carefully. All else being equal (see above), of course an actor would rather appear in a film than a video.
Even though we all know the film may have started out as a video and the VHS as Super8.
It just looks better on the resume. That's the business aspect of the art. I sense that's what mattias was getting at.

Alright, you guys can come out of your corners swingin', but in this age old brawl between art and business nobody ever wins, cuz you're both right at different times.

Bernie "Heat From the East" Duffy

**mattias** · April 9th, 2001, 12:37 PM

word!

the reason i said "producer" is that i normally associate that with the business side, or at least the making it happen side. as a director, i'd probably like to kill an actor who said no because of the format, but since i often produce my own films, i try to be realistic.

by the way, since i've been working in new york as well as in stockholm and other parts of europe, i can tell you that american actors care a lot more about the format and such, so i guess i can agree that if a european actor says no to a european production beacause of the format, you don't want him. :-)

[This message has been edited by mattias (edited April 10, 2001).]