Acting 101 (Book Trailer 2)

Whole Brain Teaching

The first Whole Brain Teaching strategy was first suggested to me about a year ago by my mentor, it made me nervous because of two reasons; One I did not know how administration and more importantly, I did not know how my students would respond. I looked it up on YouTube as she suggested and never looked at it again. Right away I decided that it was not for me. As I reflect on it now (because of this class) I have a chance to reexamine this method of engagement, and after careful consideration I have come to the conclusion that not only is it a proven method, and one that I’ve seen meaning times before, by military and ancient and current Sub-Saharan cultures and their descendants.

When I was in the Navy and stationed with the Marines I saw it used during field and classroom instruction during training exercises and maneuvers, and in the form of cadence as well. Both African and African American teachers have used the teaching method of “Call and Response” to get their point across during lesson for years. Call and Response has found its way into Gospel Music, and now mainstream classrooms call WBT.

I myself have used some of these methods without even realizing it. I begin my class with “Eyes Front!” and the class responds “Mouths Closed!” they turn and face the front wait for instruction. As I teach I have my students repeat critical information in strategic parts of the lesson, rather than the entire lessons as seen in the YouTube videos. I plan to use it more in the future, perhaps next year.

Financial Freedom, Where do you begin?

Financial Freedom, where do you begin? It has to start with your mind. The way you think about money. You can either work for money, or have money work for you. Stay tuned, there is more to come.

How to Make a Living as a working Actor in LA (Book Review)

In January 2000 I signed a two year contract with Central Florida and before you new it I was doing it; appearing in commercials, Television Shows, Movie Spots every week there was something. With Disney MGM Studios classifying themselves as a "working studio", as well as Universal, Orlando was supposed to be the new Hollywood East.

Then on September 11,  2001 my career came to a screeching halt and all production returned t Hollywood. Believing that the industry would continued to hang around here but it didn't and I was forced to find another career, so I choose education, I became a substitute teacher.

One day while class was ending, I over heard a student say that her mother was going to pay this school $6,000 to get her into acting, and when I got home that day, I started writing my first book "How to become a screen actor and or model in Florida" was very specific to Florida, simply because this is where I started my career. I was proud at first but it was a rushed job, and I made a lot of mistakes and after saying it ten times fast I began to hate the tittle. So I rewrote and republished under a new tittle Acting 101, The How to guide for beginning Actors. This book is more specific with listings all over the United States, However there is another book "How to make a living as a working Actor in LA" by Michael- John Wolfe.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-make-a-living-as-a-working-actor-in-la-michael-john-wolfe/1012952447?ean=9781425987350

This is book is Hollywood specific written by a man who has tried and test this industry. Anywhere is a  great place to start but if you really want to be an actor Hollywood is where you really want to be.

Death March

This is the story of a band...........

FALL 1982

It was my first day at Walker High. In spite of its bad reputation it wasn’t a bad day. It was 6th period and I would be going home soon, but to my surprise they cut 6th period short and instead of sending us home they sent us back to homeroom for a pep rally, and I had no desire to go. 

A pep rally? How lame. Lame cheerleaders with their lame cheers, to cheer on a bunch of football players that were going to lose anyway;  just like at my last school. 

And the band? Oh man. Don’t get me started on the band. A bunch of nerd losers playing loud, out of tune fanfares in the bleachers. All day they were dressed in brand new jeans and special made red shirts with white letters and white shoes. What I couldn’t understand was why they thought they were so special.

When we made our way to homeroom, everyone sat down quietly and waited. Shortly after the silence was broken by the all call “May I have your attention please? Teachers when the bell rings please release all advance band, varsity, B-team cheerleaders and football players for the pep-rally and only those students. Once again, please release all advanced band, varsity, B-team cheerleaders, and football players for the pep-rally.  And only those students.  Thank you.”  After that announcement the bell rang  and everyone in the pep rally and only the pep rally: cheer leaders, football players who was distinguished by their jerseys  and band members who wore the War Hawk symbol on their t-shirt  got up and left quietly.  But to my amazement everyone else stayed seated. If this had been my old school, first, it would not have been this quiet and second. you would have had all kinds of class clowns pretending to leave just to get a laugh.

As those students gathered their things and began moving into the hall way, I started planning my escape. No one would notice or care if I slipped out the back I thought. No one knows who I am, they will never miss me. It’s not like I would be skipping school, technically class was over.

As we waited, the other students started talking about how excited they were about the pep-rally. I couldn’t believe it; they were talking about it like it was the best thing ever. 

At my last school we got excited, but not like this. We got excited because we were happy to get out of class, but these people were actually happy about the pep rally. It’s all anyone ever talked about. 

“Oh I’m so excited about the pep-rally” said one girl; 

“Yes me too. I can’t wait” said another.

“I heard they have a girl drummer this year.” someone whispered.

“Oh yeah, her name is Tina.” another one answered back.

Then someone said “I heard they have a boy majorette”and I thought that’s not possible.

Seriously I hadn’t seen this much excitement since the Jackson’s Toured in 81, and was convinced that no person, or group could ever rival that, especially a bunch of band geeks at some stupid pep-rally. 

Finally the chatter was interrupted. This time the announcements called for the dismissal of the remaining student body to enter the gymnasium. 

We quickly gathered our things started heading for the door.

As I approached the gym, my eyes began moving towards the exits which I thought would be covered by teachers and administration but wasn’t. 

I couldn’t believe it, Didn’t they know that someone like me could easily slip out on the way to the pep-rally and go home or where ever? Were they that confident in this whole pep-rally thing?

The students continued moving like cattle towards the gym. I begin to hear chanting from inside. The juniors and seniors were chanting back and forth “JUNIORS!!! “ SENIORS!!!” while at same time the sophomores and freshmen who took on one another were shouting  “SOPHOMORES!!!” “FRESHMEN!!!”.  Only the sub-freshmen stayed quiet.

I eyed the last exit before walking in, but when I decided to go for it, the excitement from inside drew me in like a magnet.

I found a place to sit and sat down.  At first I watched the activity but kind of felt left out so I made a feeble attempt to get into the spirit. I yelled, “SOPHOMORES!!!” but feeling rather foolish I looked around to see if anyone was watching. There were a couple of girls behind me with expressions of indifference who seemed to be watching me make a fool of myself. So feeling embarrassed and ashamed of myself, I quickly sat down.

I’d heard about the pep rally, and now I was here. I still didn’t get it. I couldn’t understand why everyone was so into this and I wasn’t.

As the last few students took their seats I began to survey the scene. I saw cheerleaders on the floor and foot ballplayers sitting on the stage with the coach, but no band and no band stand. No wait  .Are they going to march in? I wondered.  How lame! I was embarrassed for them. While everyone continued screaming for this pep-rally, in my mind I screamed at myself for not slipping out of  the exit when I had the chance.

Without warning, the lights went out, and the Gym was filled with screams, myself included. For some unknown apparent reason, I lost control. When I realized what I was doing, I got a hold of myself and stopped immediately. 

I thought the screaming had reached its peak and could not get any louder, but then there was a whistle blast and a loud BOOM of the bass drum followed by an intro cadence of the snare, and Quads in a slow tempo coming from outside, and the screams began to crescendo to a higher level. 

Then there was a slow cadence, and the band entered two by two, lead by the drum majors in a slow deliberate high step march, and the steps always fell on the BOOM. tThey lead the band into the gym with perfect military bearing that would rival any college or military marching band. 

As they marched in the screams continued. The tempo of the cadence started to speed up, and the BOOM was more frequent, and so were the steps. They came in sections: woodwinds, brass, and percussion, followed by the flag corps, and finally the majorettes And just when I thought the screams couldn’t get any louder, the feature twirler, Carlos,  came in., The band was finally in the gym and running around out of control to the sounds of the snare drums. And the screaming continued.

The drum majors blew their whistles and the bass drum and cymbals crashed bringing chaos to order. By the time the drum section beat the final cadence, the band was split into three sections.  Each section had six columns and each Marching Warhawk stood at attention in perfect formation. The drum majors blew their whistles and the band played a selection while dancing. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen as far as pep-rallies go. 

The flag corps and the majorettes performed as well and when the selection was over the football coach and team captain came out to say a few words. Even though no one could hear them, the student body cheered them on. Next the cheerleaders performed and after that the people got what they wanted, another selection from the band. The principal concluded the program and by the command of the drum major, the band marched off and the pep rally was over That’s when I got it. I saw why everyone was so excited. But I also knew exactly what I wanted.  As the band marched out I followed behind them looking for someone, anyone I recognized that I  could talk to about joining the band.

That’s when I spotted Andre with his bass drum. “Yo Andre! I didn’t know you were in the ban. Man you guys were awesome!” 

“Yeah, thanks man.” Andre said with a huge smile.

“Say Andre, how can I get in the band man, who do I talk to?” 

“Oh, you wanna be in the band?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey aren’t you in my class?

“Yeah”

“How old are you?”

“Fifteen.”

Then Andre reared back his head. “Dang, you kind of old ain’t ya?”

I knew he was going to say that. “Look who do I talk to? this is important to me”

“Talk to Mr. Ellis.” Andre was all smiles all the time.

“Mr. Ellis?” 

“Mr. Ellis is the band director. He’s standing right over there.  Go on over and talk to him. He cool.”

“Alright man, thanks Andre.”

“No, problem man”

“Oh by the way, I’ve never seen a band make an entrance like that before, with that high step. What do you call that?”

“Oh, that?” said Andre with a slight laugh, “It’s called death march”

Tips for the stage mom, The final Chapter from my book Acting 101; The How to guide for Beginning Actors

In theatre, a 40 year old woman could probably get away with playing the part of red riding hood on a stage production, but I doubt if she could get away with that on television or film. In television and film art often imitates life, and people want to see the role of a child portrayed by a child. So how does a parent get their child started in this business? First, make sure it’s something they want to do, if you’re reading this, then perhaps you’ve already established that. 

For children, the guidelines are pretty much the same, child labor laws may apply, if the child gets frequent work say maybe a sitcom or series, many working studios have teachers on set for the working child actors. However, if you decide to home school, be sure to register with the State or your affiliate home school report. If it’s just here and there a meeting with the teacher or school principal might be helpful. In my experience you sometimes get a call from your agent the night before so it helps to have a teacher or principal who’s sensitive to your needs. 

Helping your child follow their dream is the best thing a parent can do, enough said, here are some helpful tips if you are looking to get your child in the business;

• First make sure this is something he/she wants, I would hate to think that someone would use this to live vicariously through their child.
• It’s going to be a long day, plan for it bring snacks, games, homework, enough to keep you busy for twelve hours.
• Sometimes they feed you, sometimes they don’t, be prepared.
• Keep copies of your child’s birth certificate, social security card, and keep extra head shots and or composite cards on you. It may be wise to put together a special binder with these items.
• Do not leave your child unsupervised on any set for any reason. Make sure that you or someone you trust is present at all times. They must be supervised by you or a legally appointed guardian.

Understand that this is more than just an extra curriculum, this could be the start of your child’s career if they’re ready. So how do you know if they’re ready? Children are not shy when it comes to expressing interest in what they want. They may ask to join a drama group at school or just put on a production right in your living room. If that’s the case start small, go with an extra casting company, start out with extra work, and training.

You also may want to open a minors savings account in their name at your bank or local credit union simply because checks are going to come in their name.

                                                    

Steps to Modeling a chapter from my book ACTING 101, The How to guide for beginning Actors

The Steps to Modeling

PRINT WORK

Many people dream of becoming a model but not many know the steps to take for getting into it. Many people make the mistake of enrolling into expensive schools, which can be very costly, and produce disappointing results.

The steps to becoming a model aren’t really that much different from becoming an actor. Understand that nothing is promised, and nothing is ever guaranteed, but the difference in following the steps in my book, and going to some school that’s going to drain your bank account is spending way less.

Because it is a business there are so called agents out there that prey on people who want to become Actors and/or models. They often advertise on the radio that they will be in the area for only a limited time, and that they are looking to sign local talent to a contract. They state that they are looking for all shapes and sizes, as well as ages and that there is no cost. Others advertise that they can train you to work in the entertainment industry, and start you to work in no time. The catch is that you pay hundreds to thousands of dollars only to be given a lot of empty promises.

Understand that all agencies are out to make money, and rightly so, any business needs money in order to survive. But there is a difference between a legitimate agency who has your best interest at hand as well as there own, and one that’s only trying to fill their pockets.

With this information, I will show you the simple steps of breaking into the business without giving up your life savings doing it.

Step One: Hire a Professional Photographer

If acting is not your thing and you totally skipped the actor portion of the book to come straight back to the model portion, I’m going to repeat myself.

Step one: hire a professional photographer, and no, your grandma’s Polaroid won’t cut it, and neither will your best friends disposals. It does not matter that your Uncle has the latest state of the art digital what ever, I say again, you need to hire a professional photographer, one that specializes in entertainment photography. Glamour Shots and Olan Mills are not an option because their photos have a copyright and cannot be legally duplicated. It’s even worse to use snapshots from home because of their poor quality and, oh yeah, once again they SCREAM amateur.

You will also need to bring several different sets of attire. The photographer is going to take hundreds of photographs, the last thing you need is hundreds of photos with you in the same outfit. That would be a waste of time and money.

Agencies want to see you in different types of clothing, so you want to compose a different number of looks, such as Casual, business casual, swim wear, and underwear Modeling is more than just walking the run way. Models do a lot of print work as well. When you consider the hundreds of catalogs out there, (JC Penny’s, Sears, Macy’s,) not to mention all the stores in the malls, and mall outlets, there are dozens of looks to consider. At least one of them is you.

If you’re athletically built, then perhaps you could model for Sports Authority, let’s face it, the person that models for Gap won’t be the person that models golf wear.

Step Two: Composite Shots

(What is the difference between a composite shot and a head shot?)

Your photographer is most likely capable of putting together the composite for you. A professional is well aware of what you need and therefore may include this in their packet, or bill your separately as an additional service at extra cost. If not then you may take your photos to ‘Photo Scan’ in Orlando. This is the best and most reliable place to get duplications of your composites, and they are reasonably priced.

 Photo Scan is located at 646 Bryn Mawr St. the number to call is (407) 839-5029, from Hwy 50 drive north on Edge Water Dr., then take a right on Bryn Mawr Street. Their hours are 10:00 am to 5:00 p.m.

Step Three: Find an Agent

Here is the most important thing you need to know about model agencies. A legitimate agency never requires money up front. Instead they get paid when you get paid, and it’s only 20%. You keep 80%.

The way it works is you bring 20 Composites with stats attached. If they require you to sign a two-year contract, be sure that it is a non-exclusive contract.

In the appendix I have listed some of the most reliable as well as legitimate talent agencies in Florida. They will call you when someone seeks your talent. It is up to you whether or not you want to take the job, but if you decide to take the job, you must be reliable. Show up for your call time on time, do what is lawfully asked of you while on set, and pay the agency their 20% on time.

Photo Tips:

The first tip I’m going to give you is simple, be on time. The photographer has other appointments, and running behind on your schedule is going to cause him /her to run behind on other clients. If you are going to be late at least have the courtesy to call him/her and let them know. If at all possible, please try to arrive early.

Here are some bullet points to get you started:

·         Meet with your photographer prior to your session to discuss problems you’ve had with other photographers, and also to discuss wardrobe, and different types, or looks you may want to portray, especially if you’re doing composites.

·         If you’re getting headshots, try not to draw attention away from your face by wearing patterns.

·         If you have small children with you, please make arrangements for someone to keep watch over them. Since Florida is such a family attraction, you may want to include them in your photo.

·         Please don’t bring anyone or anything that may be a distraction.

·         Please bring your clothes clean, ironed, and on hangers.

·         Arrive with a clean face if you are having your make up done at the studio, this includes mascara.

·         If you’re doing your own makeup arrive early with everything you need such as hairspray, powder or anything you may need.

·         Please do not show up with your hair wet or dirty.

·         If you have pierced ears studs are best for headshots, for composites you can wear pretty much anything.

·         Arriving in a ponytail can be a bad idea since combing out the kinks may take time.

·         If it matters to you, bring your own music.

·         If you have any special request such as a rush on proofs or prints, let your photographer know ahead of time so that he/she can accommodate you.

·         If you are taking photos for composites and your photographer is able to do this make sure that you do not place the same look in all three photos, remember you want different looks: business, business casual, swim suit, etc.

·         Second most important even though I saved it for last, get a good nights sleep so that you may arrive on time, fresh, and with a positive attitude. Remember these photos are your calling card, so you want t look your best and feel great. How you feel will come across in the photos, if you feel great, you’ll look great. If you feel crappy, you’ll look crappy; your photo session is what you make it so make the best of it.