Actor, Voice Actor, Former Teacher. Morecambe lad living in Manchester. Extremely Northern, Working Class and proud! Opinions my own.
Rep: Atius Management
I'm so incredibly happy to say that I've only gone and booked my first TV role and it's based on a book by one of my all time favourite authors. Excited is not the word!!!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳
Well, I want to share some things I’ve learned about casting after £1000s in workshops and also personal experience as a casting assistant. Mostly common knowledge but worth posting for people new to the industry. I could add more but don’t want to spam. Warning. Long thread. 1/8
@ShowreelShare
.
@ShowreelShare
- Well, it's 12:01, will be on here all day supporting everyone and watching some amazing reels. I'm a recent Acting graduate based in Manchester and trying to put myself out there! Not in that way you filthy lot!
#casting
#showreelshareday
I'm extremely working class + didn't see a pro show til 31. Fell in love with it so decided to train age 33. No drama qualifications so did 2 years of College followed by 3 years of Drama School, graduating in 2019. I've not done much until now. Keep going it's never too late!
Well this smug looking fella here made the cut and his first TV credit is streaming right now on Sky Max Comedy and Now TV in the UK! Eeeeeeeeee
#funnywoman
And I'm on my way to film my first TV role, I was so nervous last night that I only got 2 hours sleep but I'm running on adrenaline and caffeine so let's go!!
Not going to lie, I've had a terrible few months and struggled with everything from getting teaching work to getting self tapes. Today I've got 2 self tapes, filming dates for a potential series + even a Tinder date. Lesson learned is don't give up! Keep going as best as you can!
Well I've spent the day applying to agents. Even if they all say no, that isn't going to stop me from continuing to do what I love. I'm still going to continue with my training, work my ass off researching and basically just keep doing what I do.
It upsets me how much of a financial burden it is to attempt a career at acting. Degree/training costs, workshops, travel to auditions, time off work, showreels/headshots etc. I can't think of a career that can limit you so much by your finances and people just expect you to pay.
I don't ever really post about my auditions/self tapes but I just found out I've got a live, in person audition very soon for a piece of theatre that I'm extremely excited about. Not gonna lie, just a bit giddy about getting into a room with others and performing something!
Still heavy pencilled for 3 days last week. Lost £300 wages (have to give work 24 hrs notice). The week before, London recall losing £220 wages, £40 Megabus + Spotlight/Equity so most of my wages gone in days just to act. Just glad there's no barriers for working class actors!
Well tomorrow I'm in London recording a Voiceover that is going to be HUGE for my career and I'm so incredibly nervous and excited. I am also staying in London for a few days to cat sit so if anyone is around and wants to say hi just DM me :P
Well, my first TV role has a release date and a trailer! I'm honestly so excited to see the finished version as I know it will be incredible! Gemma Arterton is just amazing and the loveliest human I think I've ever met.
Well, it's time for a new showreel since I have some new footage so hopefully my editing isn't too shocking. I've also decided to try and be more accessible so have added subtitles to it. Let me know what you think and all feedback is greatly appreciated, positive or negative!
I sometimes don't realise how lucky I am. I really struggled after graduating in 2019 but in the last year I got a fantastic agent who I really get on with, my first credited TV role (coming soon) and some amazing VO jobs. Just keep at it and persevere, it's hard but keep going!
So I've finally updated my Showreel to add my first TV credit, Funny Woman, on it. Please let me know what you think as all feedback is good as I'm still tinkering before putting on Spotlight. I'll add a version with captions as well when I've finished tinkering.
#showreel
#actor
Well, it's balloon day and I got the absolute best gift for it! I'm now officially repped by the fantastic Lucy at Atius Management! Eeeeeeeeee is an understatement! Lot of exclamation marks in this tweet 🤣
@AtiusManagement
What a queen!
If acting makes you happy, then pursue it any way you can! Create your own work, join local productions, do some am dram. It doesn't only need to be about TV or West End. Don't pressure yourself to get the work only 1% of actors are doing because it'll hurt your mental health.
As I'm self employed, I'll have to pay 8 months rent up front for my move to Manchester leaving me on £20 a week til work picks up. I've also left my agent recently. It's a shitty situation but I'm optimistic. I'm getting auditions (got one this morning) and will be working soon!
@sydneyamee
For a first round casting it's frustrating for actors paying for expensive travel, time off work, potential childcare covers which could cost around £250 to the actor for just the audition.
Recently, I've massively struggled and still am massively struggling with things but I realise cutting myself off from everyone and everything that I care about is not the way to go. I'll be quiet for a bit but believe me, I'm trying my best and taking things one day at a time
Been quiet on here recently because I've been a bit down as felt my career had stalled. My agent is working hard and I've had some amazing opportunities in the last year it's just the waiting game. Grateful for all opportunities though and count myself lucky to have had them.
Ooh so Waterloo Road is coming back. As a fan who is an actor and also a qualified teacher, this seems like a pretty good fit for me so if anyone has any information on the casting directors I'd be eternally grateful!
Casting Directors are wonderful humans not the gatekeepers people can sometimes see them as, they are kind, approachable, friendly and want you to succeed. Most of them are former actors so know what it’s like to be in that position. 2/8
Shoutout to all the amazing actors and freelancers in general who are struggling to make ends meet at the moment. It's bloody hard right now, but the love and passion I see daily for the industry genuinely inspires me to keep going!
I think it's time for me to step back a bit and reassess my current situation. Gonna take a bit of me time and look after myself til I get my shit together. This is not a woe is me post. Just me needing to focus on my life in better ways before I become an absolute liability 😄
I've been working on this for a while. I'm looking a set up in person Casting Director workshops as a non profit. It's aimed at those who have financial struggles and those in underrepresented groups. Eventually I'll aim for funding from arts council to offer free workshops.
So I won an award last night for Spirit of MAP48 at
@MAPlatform
which was absolutely incredible, watched a film we made in a weekend that I'm massively proud of AND I got my new headshots! Good night if you ask me!
As actors, we aren't entitled to roles. I'm one of only a few actors from Morecambe and have never taped for The Bay. The casting team are amazing and I got my first TV role from then as well as other auditions I simply don't fit anything on The Bay. They know what they're doing.
I really enjoyed filming this scene recently as I got to do 2 of my jobs at once! In real life, I'm a nice, happy, fun teacher. This teacher however, is a massive dickhead so it's me playing the evil twin version of myself. I mean I'm still a bit of a dickhead but not this much!
Don't define yourself by amount of credits or aim for a certain level of fame. Be an actor because you love it. Write your own stuff, do local plays, post your work + take the pressure off yourself! The industry is hard and never guaranteed so don't let it affect your wellbeing.
If you email them, do your research and send a unique email to them. Keep it short and sweet but add a bit of personality. Say why you’re emailing, a LITTLE about you to show your personality. Spotlight link and include a small headshot somewhere (best in signature). 3/8
I think it's important for people to acknowledge the toxic people in this industry. One such person, Jim Parker briefly deleted his account and blocked me because I called him out on his bullshit. I stand by what I tweeted as I know a lot of the people affected.
Extremely happy to announce I'm now represented by the extremely lovely folk at Pride in Performance.
I could not ask to be included with a better group of people! Got old friends and new here so I'm currently grinning from ear to ear. Cannot wait to see what the future brings!
There's a lot of good resources out there for free such as
@_IgniteInsights
and
@CCI2020
to learn more about the industry and CD's/agents. There's also
@ActOnThisTV
who helped me out a LOT when really getting to know the industry.
After having my train cancelled as somebody has sadly died on the line it's a reminder that if people need to talk, or if they're lonely over the Christmas period my DMs are always open.
Well, I did a thing and wrote a cheeky last minute entry for the Mandy Monologue Competition. It's all a bit of fun so not gonna spam everywhere with links for people to like it, but if you really want to....
@NoContextBrits
Hello!
Is it me you're looking for?
I can't see him on the pitch.
I thought he had been subbed.
It must have been a red card,
his team are getting drubbed.
I don't know how I missed it,
it's un-believ-able.
Jeff you know what to say....
I've no clue.
For showreel scenes, all they need to see is you interacting with another person shot in decent quality. They don’t need to be massively expensive or have huge production values. The focus is on your acting not how fancy it is 7/8
I legitimately cannot wait for tomorrow. I'm gonna be watching so many incredibly talented peoples showreels and trying my best to support everyone whether it's a comment or a retweet. You're all amazing and I hope we, as a community can help people out as much as possible!
Acting can be bloody frustrating at times. 🤣🤣 I've lived in Manchester for over 3 years now and literally nobody has seen me actually act in the place I live. Tried all of the open calls, never been lucky enough to get seen. Ah well.
It'll all work out eventually.
The stars have definitely aligned today. It's my brothers wedding so suited and booted for that and also got a self tape request where I have to be in a suit 😅
There's too many actors getting taken advantage of at the moment. If an agent is requesting any kind of money upfront to represent you, they are not a legitimate acting agency and you should avoid like the plague.
Before it ends in Manchester please do yourself favour and watch The Ocean At The End Of The Lane at the Lowry. It was absolutely phenomenal and I think some of the best theatre and most beautiful theatre I've ever seen. I nearly cried multiple times 😅
@OceanOnStage
@neilhimself
As I'm relatively new to Manchester and don't know many people here yet (stupidly moved here during Lockdown) it's been absolutely brilliant finally getting out and meeting new creatives this weekend.
@53two
is a godsend. I cannot wait to spend more time there!
I know I keep banging on about
@ShowreelShare
but I legit am trying to watch everything which will take a week. I'm only an actor but I think it's bloody amazing the amount of support everyone is getting. Here's some showreels of unrepresented people to see the quality of talent!
Just letting people know I am alive but have had to take time off from all social media for a while due to mental health reasons. A lot happened at once and it broke me but I'm doing my best to work through stuff and will be back around soon. Just not yet. Basically.....
Can we make this showreel share week instead of
@ShowreelShare
day :P I'm legitimately trying to watch every showreel on the thread and help spread the love. There's so many incredibly talented people out there currently 1.5k replies so I'm gonna need a crapton of coffee :P
Again, CD’s want you to succeed because they are just fantastic people. I’ve met a LOT of them in the last couple of years and it’s the same across the board, just genuinely nice people. They do check emails sent to them but are also massively busy so it’s hard to reply to people
Had a lot of fun filming the wonderful "Moving On" by Joe Groves. Thanks to
@DoorDieStudios
and
@thepeterhunt
for giving me a fantastic opportunity to work on new writing. Also shout out to the innocent people who had to Google "pegging". Hopefully they never used image search!
Have had absolutely zero sleep and just about to go and spend the morning filming. Good old post covid anxiety 😅🤣 Let's hope I'm back to normal when I get on set!
A lot of us may not be the most successful actors in the world but we genuinely love what we're doing or wouldn't keep chasing it. Just keep going. At times it's going to suck when you don't get the audition or job you wanted, but just remember you do this for you! You got this!
I've taken some huge steps in my career recently. I moved to Media City and became self represented. Not gonna lie, I'm shitting myself.
I've learned a lot over lockdown and look forward to putting it into practice. Priorities now are getting a new showreel and a new agent.
Well I enjoyed this
@DoorDieStudios
#castmecomp
with a fun script from Amy Walsh. I can neither confirm nor deny having similar experiences in my youth.... Thanks to
@MissStaceyJaneH
for reading in :P
Short deadlines and turnarounds for tapes sucks. Actors know this, CD’s know this but 99% of the time it’s out of the CD’s hands + they have to fight to get as much time for actors as possible. This is not to lay the blame at producers. It’s just an industry that moves very fast.
I've battled with mental health and often thought about quitting as didn't do anything for 3 years after graduating even though I put my heart and soul into it. I'm having a good period now but next week may be different. Just love yourself and do what you love. You never know!
Well I got stir crazy today while recording a dub so I thought I'd work on some impressions. They're terrible but all a work in progress. See if you can guess them :P
Don't be worried and self conscious about the people on here telling us they've had 10 self tapes in the last week. Most of it is bollocks. These things take time and you'll get something that fits you. It's a marathon not a sprint so don't compare yourself to others!
When you get an email with multiple people CCed in, REPLY TO ALL. If you don’t you are just replying to the casting assistant who sometimes cannot help and then has to spend time forwarding things on or trying to find out for you which takes time away from other jobs. 6/8
Be patient with them when it comes to yes/no and feedback. For a small project, CD’s can receive 1k+ submissions. They could ask 50 people to tape and sending feedback to each can take a LOT of time whilst also trying to juggle other parts of the job often without much help. 4/8
Starting my day with a cheeky bit of writing. I've realised that if I'm not getting seen as much as I want to, I should try and put myself out there even more. Got a lot of new footage coming in the next month that I'm planning to film so eeeeeeee!
It's my 40th on Sunday but have no plans on Saturday night in Manchester so just gonna drink in
@53two
followed by Canal Street and make it open to anyone I know as I honestly don't know many people in Manchester yet. It'll either be quiet or chaos. Either way it's good for me.
Being an actor absolutely fucking sucks but if you love doing it and you're proud of the work that you're putting out, that's all that should really matter. Just keep doing you and the rest will follow!
Whatever you're going through at the moment, just try your best to keep going. Hold on to the people that can offer you warmth and support. I know it's hard but you got this so don't doubt in yourself and just keep doing what you love doing!
Actors, please remember to label your self tapes. If all it says is IMG 214078 with no idents or name in the tape then it makes life a lot more difficult for us to work out who you are.
Got a few days off work so heading to Edinburgh Fringe from Monday - Wednesday. Does anyone have any recommendations or is anyone I know in a show so I can support them?
Took this on the way to the shop before and thought it was a nice picture. Couldn't put it on my Insta because I already made my yearly post on there this afternoon so have to share it with Twitter
@MediaCityUK
Okay, I'm not a person who dresses up in outfits for self tapes but if I happen to randomly own a Police uniform..... I'm gonna use it. Just don't ask why I have it or why I own a pair of handcuffs. Some things are best left unanswered!😅
Well it's finally happened. I'm listening to Nirvana on Spotify and I'm rudely interrupted by myself in an advert. Gonna have to get premium to stop me hearing myself 🤣🤣
I'm so happy that I finally got myself a Voicereel. Huge thank you to Nick
@notablevoices
for such an amazing experience! Would love for people to give it a listen!
#Voiceover
Just keep cracking on. You've got this! I know it can feel impossible at times but reach out to people, take things at your own pace and just know that whatever it is, you're strong enough to get through it because you've made it this far!
If you love something whether it's acting or something else, keep chasing it. It sounds wanky but at least you'll be doing something you enjoy so balls to what other people think! You do you honey boo boo! If it happens, it happens. If not you're still doing something you love!
Screw it, I'm going on that holiday I thought I'd have to cancel due to other commitments. Finally managed to sort out some cover for work so a week in Corfu all inclusive that I paid for ages ago seems like a shout right now!
What I love to see: Actors celebrating each others successes.
What I hate to see: Actors with success but complain about not having more.
We're all on individual journeys and sometimes things take time. The industry is hard but relish every opportunity. You're luckier than some
Update: I had an absolutely amazing day. The cast and crew were all absolutely fantastic human beings and they were all lovely. Thanks everybody for all the support and let's hope I don't get cut 🤣
I'm usually a private person but I feel I have to post as I'll potentially be letting people down in the future. At the moment, my step dad is in the ICU after developing Pneumonia during COVID. This has meant I have had to take over his role at the family DJ business. 1/3
Looking forward to finishing work, grabbing a bottle of Pimms and chilling out in the park writing short scenes to film to help boost my creativity. No point feeling sorry for myself in life. Just crack on and do something I love doing. The rest will come at a later time!
Well I'm an idiot. I'm waiting for a train to work and wearing a white shirt. Tried to take a big swig of some coffee and forgot I had a mask on. My shirt is no longer white.....
Note to fellow voice actors and practically everyone else out there. KEEP HYDRATED. I've been in a non air conditioned booth all day and my laptop has overheated twice and I've lost about a stone in sweat! Just be careful, look after yourselves and take breaks!
Well that was a quick turnaround for a job. Sent an application an hour ago, was asked to work a trial shift tonight. Sadly I'm not in Manchester this evening but am doing my trial shift tomorrow so woooo!
Well, I've been told by directors that I look and sound like a b*****d so I wanted to play against type. Here’s my submission for
@DoorDieStudios
#CastMeComp
written by
@KateCoogan
. Thank you for the opportunity to try something new! Full vid on
Absolutely loved filming a short scene today out in the sun. I even got to be a teacher so finally managed to do something for both of my professions 🤣