Freeman Actor? Avoid These 10 Mistakes: A blog about acting that lists common acting mistakes by beginning actors.
Freeman Actor? Avoid These 10 Mistakes is a blog about acting that lists common acting mistakes by beginning actors.
The site was founded by actor and director Freeman Williams in June 2004. Its tagline is “A blog about acting that lists common acting mistakes by beginning actors.”
Before we begin, I have a disclaimer to make. This blog is not for the purpose of bashing actors and pointing out all their flaws. It’s also not meant to be a condescending look at the “do-nothings” in the industry. In fact, if anything, I hope that this blog inspires these actors to work harder on their craft. However, there is a difference between being an actor who simply acts and an actor who works hard to perfect their craft. Here are the top ten mistakes that beginning actors make when they first enter the business.
1: Being An Actor Instead Of An Artist
Being an actor means being an artist, first and foremost. The primary focus of any artist is to create art by following their passion(s). Once you become an artist and start creating your own art, then you may consider yourself a true actor. Until then, you’re just playing dress up.
2: Trying To Be A Star
A lot of beginning actors confuse “being famous” with being an actor in general because we all grow up absorbing media from our childhood that instills this idea into our minds. And it’s not entirely our fault for thinking this way! Sadly, it takes time for us to grow out of this mindset as we
I’ve been acting for over 30 years. I’ve worked with some amazing actors and directors. And I’ve seen a lot of mistakes made in acting classes, auditions, and performances.
My name is Freeman Davis. I’m the founder of The Freeman Davis Acting Studio in New York City.
I have an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, where I studied with Sanford Meisner, and an MFA from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts.
I have a bunch of awards and accolades from my career, but you can find those on my IMDB page.
You don’t care about that stuff anyway. You want to know how to act better than you do now so you can book more work. This blog is for you.
In my acting class this semester, most of the students are beginners. Many of them are making mistakes that I see often from beginning actors. So, I’ve decided to create a list of “top ten” acting mistakes I often see at the beginner level. I’m sure some of these will apply to you, if you’re a beginning actor, so here’s my list.
1. You try too hard to be liked by your scene partner and by the audience.
2. You’re judging your performance instead of just performing it.
3. You’re over-analyzing everything instead of just doing it and committing to your choices and actions.
4. You’re afraid to look stupid or foolish or vulnerable in front of your scene partner or in front of the audience.
5. You don’t know how to listen onstage, so you talk at your scene partner instead of talking with them (and listening).
The purpose of this blog is to offer new, beginning and experienced actors help in their craft of acting by discussing common mistakes that are made.
Let’s look first at the definition of mistake: “an action or judgment that is misguided or wrong.” Basically, a mistake is something we do that does not work.
I have heard many questions from actors about scenes, characters and emotional preparation for roles. As I listen and offer my opinions, I find myself repeating the same advice over and over again. It’s as if actors repeat the same mistakes over and over again.
And maybe we do! If a mistake is something that doesn’t work, then it must be because we don’t know any better. For example, there was a time when you didn’t know how to drive a car. You made lots of mistakes driving in the beginning. You didn’t know what gear to be in or how to look for traffic in all directions or how fast to go around curves. But as you learned more about driving, you made fewer mistakes until now you can drive automatically with little thought at all.
So…if there are common mistakes that actors make because they don’t know any better, then we can learn from those mistakes and make fewer of them ourselves.
Therefore
In this post, I will discuss the ten most common mistakes I see young actors making. These are not mistakes that are exclusive to young actors; we all make them, even the pros. But they are mistakes that young actors make more often than their more seasoned counterparts. And because these mistakes happen so frequently, it is important that you learn how to avoid them.
The first nine items on the list below pertain to attitude and approach. The tenth item is something that you do. If you are guilty of any of these ten things, don’t be too hard on yourself. It takes time and work to change your approach to your work, and even if you were able to do so overnight, there would be plenty more to learn tomorrow!
1. YOU THINK YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW TO ACT.
This is a tough one for young actors because they have grown up watching television and movies with thousands of other characters who have an awful lot in common with the character they have been cast as in a play or film: They may be popular or unpopular or both; funny or serious or both; rich or poor or both; smart or dumb or both; brave or cowardly or both; etc.
The problem is that these characters are archetypes–the
1. The first mistake on our list is the belief that you can go to Hollywood and be a movie star.
2. The second mistake is going to acting school with the idea that it will teach you how to act.
3. The third mistake is not preparing for an audition.
4. The fourth mistake is choosing the wrong monologue for your audition.
5. The fifth mistake is not being in the moment at an audition or during a performance.
6. The sixth mistake is not having a headshot that looks like you and gets you work.
7. The seventh mistake is believing someone when they say you need their help to get into show business for money, fame, or other material gain.
8. The eighth mistake is thinking you don’t have what it takes to do this job because of your age, gender, race, height, weight, hair color, ethnicity, disability, or any other personal attribute which has nothing to do with your ability to act well enough to get paid for it in the entertainment industry as a professional actor.” “The ninth mistake is not believing in yourself and what you have to offer as an actor.” “The tenth mistake most beginning actors make is not having the courage of their convictions to
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