Well I think some of you are rising to Paul's comments far too much, and in the process, some of you have turned a potentially interesting debate into a bit of a childish squabble….how old are we?!
Paul you did well with your Harry Potter role....but perhaps learn to be humble within your posts...I am sure you mean to be though, and so i for one give you benefit of the doubt. Also, one can easily be cut from a film....it's happened to me on more than one occasion, and I dare say many more reading this...trust me it can be very grounding when your mates and collegues say..."where were you then?"
I will try and put another point of view to the drama school argument based on my experience, for what it's worth and I am also testing a new keyboard!
I started as an actor 20 years ago. I started late at around 32 but I always set out to treat this as a business with myself as the product….the product simply being "me" a professional actor. If you have a product, you need to sell it, and if you can't make any money from selling it, it's pretty much "professionally" worthless isn't it! Blunt I know…but true I think!
To me, a "successful actor" is one who can maintain a career without depending on other means, Dole, Mum and Dad etc…and only very few actually get to do that. This is something you perhaps need to think about Paul, or at least get accross in your posts….you did well getting a role in Harry Potter, you used your loaf and on this occasion it worked! However, it's the final cut which will show us how good you really are and what happens over the next few years which really counts, but I'm sure you know all of that Sir!
I thought very carefully about Drama school at the start, and quickly worked out what this investment would cost me, and what I would gain from it all. I worked out a 3 year drama degree at a good school, could cost me around 21k in fees, plus loss of earnings of at least another 36k over the three years. Total nearly 60k minus a bit of low paid work at weekends or evenings! Yes yes…I realise some of you got grants etc!
It didn't take a lot of working out! OK so you might think of yourself as being more than just a product, but that's all we are really. This business is 95% selling yourself and 5% working for most of us!! We're nothing special because we are actors are we...especially when we are not working with a degree of regularity?
I can take direction, I can imitate and or become someone else with a change of voice or accent, a change of walk and a clear understanding of the characters emotions and thoughts, or whatever else is needed to play the role convincingly without looking as though I am acting me socks off! Does that make me fully equipped to be a pro actor though? I don't think so!
The only advantage of a good drama school I could see was the repetition of acting and learning with others over such a long period of time? I wondered how much my skill was going to be perfected always acting opposite people who were also learning and in the same boat?
I do appreciate one can study different aspects of various playwrights and differing acting methods. However, is it not the case we all chose a method that suits us best at the end of the day, plus, isn't acting a natural and organic ability and it's real experience which does the proper honing?
The best advantage of all is one gets to perform in a showcase in front of the industry at the end of your course…..but to wait three years for that opportunity without a guarantee of a good agent, was not a sensible choice or financial option for me. I did not want to be an expert in method acting and Shakespeare, only to find I was without an agent at the end of it, and saddled with a huge debt I woudl find hard to reduce. I know that will be seen as a simplistic view…..but is it so far from the truth?
I joined a couple of good extras agencies, which proved to be a good early learning school on film sets, however, I soon learned how disrespected extras..sorry..."Suporting Artistes"... are, and I knew I needed to learn what I could quickly, stop doing it and get a good agent quickly!
I auditioned for 1-2 organised drama showcases, The casting couch was one of the main Showcases at that time, and from that evening alone, I was pleased to be offered places by three agents. I chose my agent carefully, choosing one that suited me and my needs, and it got me started with small featured roles and plenty of adverts in TV and Film all of which had to be auditioned for and won! I do not feel Drama school would have given me such a worthwhile experience.
This enabled me to save a little money to take on some fringe theatre roles and create further awareness of my "product - ME" within the industry. I have to say, I only had very little success, and I soon learnt how Fringe theatre and working for nothing was mostly a fruitless part of the industry. I am not sure that is taught at Drama school...it should be!
With this in mind, I also realised the value and importance of a show reel, and in those days the only option was sending a big VHS tape around. Apart from a few little roles on TV, I added some made up scenes and videoed them as best I could, and farmed the tapes around all over the place. As the internet grew, and editing on PC's became the way to go, I fully capitalised and learned the technology as it became available. To me this was equipping me with proper tools of the industry. A growing collection of TV roles meant I could use those and replace my made up scenes on my reel. Would drama school have taught me any of this I ask myself?
I set up my own team building and Entertainments Company, which was a real financial and self learning help through the varied and extraordinary experiences I have had over the years. If you can win over and gain the attention of corporate clients and audiences at the drop of a hat, you can win over anyone, I assure you! No drama school in the world will give you that experience!
I personally could not see drama school setting me up for heaps of temporary dead end jobs, and constantly awaiting the next very low paid theatre tour, from which I would never have paid off my mortgage. I would probably have to have taken the TIE route of experience, whilst useful; I did not see any real earning potential from TIE. I would have probably not got as good an agent and so on. I thought that was all too risky.
Drama school might be the only option in your eyes, especially if you have worked hard and done three years and got your drama degree. If that's so, that's fine, it suited you and I salute you! However, I wonder if you really think about it, could you not have invested a fraction of the total cost in time and effort and gained more worthwhile experience? Isn't that the centre of this debate?
One can get extra singing, vocal and breathing lessons at anytime without having to stand in front of a drama school board who may or may not give you permission to pay them 3 years worth of fees! One can also take extra specialised courses without disrupting your life over three years, plus you would almost certainly save a small fortune in fees and lost earnings.
These days there is more technical opportunity to get yourself in film online, and drama showcases, or make up your own work to get noticed than ever before. I wonder if Drama school has possibly become more of an ageing tradition than the "only" route to being and maintaining a career as a professional actor, as some on here would have us believe.
I don't denigrate those who feel their drama degrees were the only way to become a professional actor, but I have found it's certainly not the only way of getting oneself into the industry. I have met some superb drama school graduates, but I have also come across many more who despite their training were pretty roppy actors!
How many RADA students are maintaining a career over and above the ones who have given up and whose drama training never achieved any form of living from their 3 years of training?
Surely the simple fact is this, there are no clear cut rules, nor rights and wrongs in this business. What is right for one, might not suit another, but one thing is for certain…. resourcefulness, talent, commitment, business and common sense as well as humility are all very much required, and I am not convinced Drama school can always teach you all, or any of that.
Therefore my advice to any person starting out or thinking of entering this business, is think carefully about what you expect and need from it, study what is really required to be able to survive and get noticed in this business, and perhaps get a training in "those" skills before rushing off with a cheque book to a drama school.
The only exception to all of this is probably Musical theatre, in which it would be vital to have a solid sensible vocal and dance training under your belt, as long as it's a really good school and training module.
There….I don't think I have been rude, or childish towards Drama students and or graduates... just shown they are not always correct in what they say!
I would never be presumptuous enough to say my way is the only way, nor do I think it's always going to be right for everyone, my ramblings are simply based on experience only, and I hope, benefit and generate further debate.
Learn to be humble, because this business will be very humbling at times!
