How to deal with rejection in your acting career.

Rejection is an important part of most everyone’s path in life, and given the right tools it can strengthen your resolve, toughen you up and force you to think outside the box. Scientists and entrepreneurs see it as part of the process, but sadly many actors take rejection personally and make the terrible mistake of tying their self-worth to it.

There are actors who are lucky enough to achieve success early, but many others may see a decade or more go by before their careers take off. During that challenging journey, there will be humbling times when you’ll have to take jobs to support yourself. On this marathon you’ll come across people with an inflated sense of their own importance, who will take great pleasure in finding creative ways to tell you that you’ll never succeed.

Some talent agents, producers, directors, casting directors, critics, not to mention family and friends, can be incredibly supportive. Others can be tough but fair, trying to prepare you for what's ahead. And then there are those who seem to enjoy being cruel and dismissive. There are many reasons why people have a need to crush others' dreams, and none of them have anything to do with you or your talent. They could be a reflection of their own unfulfilled dreams, their rage or their own unprocessed traumatizing experiences. There are also people who can only feel powerful by putting other people down.

Any time you feel hopeless, when your confidence is shaken, when you feel like you'll never make it or when you find yourself doubting your talent, head over to my Instagram page which is filled with stories of famous actors who did make it, in-spite of being told in many hurtful ways that they had absolutely no chance of making it as an actor.

It can be really tough to focus on your lane and not worry about what other people say to you or about you. Incorporate words into your daily routine that will strengthen your self-love and the belief in your dream. Look to other people's challenges to remind yourself that You Are Not Alone.

KMaseng Acting Coach

One-on-One Coaching Los Angeles Portland Seattle

I hate doing Self-Tape Auditions!

As a coach and a casting director, I’ve come across many actors who dread Self-Tape auditions. Some will actually turn down an audition if it’s a Self-Tape. Honestly, I just can’t believe any actor would waste such an opportunity.

I've auditioned actors in person for well over 20 years, and I get why actors love it. But the reality is that Self-Tapes save production a lot of time and money. The new normal is a hybrid of Self-Tapes, Virtual Auditions and In-Person Auditions and I suspect it's here to stay. Actors who are serious about their career, must learn how to feel comfortable auditioning in ANY environment. This will only benefit their work, because it will force them to become more focused and resourceful.

Best Self-Tapes

So what’s to love about Self-Tapes?

I personally think that Self-Tapes give you an incredible opportunity to be creative, take your time and audition in a space that is far more relaxed and intimate than the audition room could ever be. That intimacy, that familiarity can produce a unique audition that will help you stand out from the crowd.

I know that many actors have roommates and very limited space to play with, but with a little bit of imagination and ingenuity, you can create a nice little area for your Self-Tape Auditions. Invest in a frame that can be put away easily. Buy several backdrops to see which one is more complementary. Play with lighting until you find the perfect setup. You can create a set

in-front of, around and behind your camera to help you get into the world of the scene,

AND you get to pick your scene partner. Self-Tapes are the only audition situation where you have a say in who you’ll be reading with and where you’ll be doing it. This is where your support network of fellow actors can be incredibly beneficial.

When you have an audition at a casting facility, a studio or an office, you have to get in the car, get stuck in traffic, look for parking spaces and pay a fortune for parking that might be blocks away from where you need to be. Once you get to the audition, the lobby is a great place to meet fellow actors and catch up, but that could be very distracting and disrupt your preparation. In some instances, you might be intimidated by the talent you see waiting to go in, which could cause you to second guess yourself and lose your confidence. Other times you might be stressed because casting is way behind schedule, and you’re worried about being late for another audition across town.

Once you get into the audition room, if you’re lucky, the person auditioning you is wonderful and gets a great audition out of you. But there are those times when the Casting Director or their associate might be unapproachable, distracted, humorless or stressed for a variety of reasons. And you can bet that most of the time the person you’ll be reading with is not an actor.

None of that to worry about when you're doing a Self-Tape Audition! So, you could complain about having to work harder for your auditions these days, or you could get to work learning how to love the Self-Tape. It might take a little time and practice, but the payoff is worth it!

KMaseng Acting Coach

One-on-One Coaching Los Angeles Portland Seattle

Your best take is ruined! What do you do?

Here’s a scenario that happens quite often and if you’re not prepared to deal with it, it can haunt you for a long time.

You’re on set and you just shot a pivotal take in the film. The stars aligned, everything went perfectly, you were present, in the moment and you had full access to your emotions. This

was the best work you've ever done. The director tells you it was incredible. Pure joy!

Then you find out something went wrong – there was a problem with the sound, the

lighting cast a weird shadow – who knows, there are a myriad of things that can go wrong, and now you have to reshoot it. But you are so attached, so enamored with the take you just shot that you get frustrated, you get upset and you cannot imagine how you will ever be able to recapture the moment. The director you’re working with is not equipped to guide you and talk you through such moments in a productive way, so you’re going to recreate that take no matter what. You take a deep breath, center yourself and then you dive into the scene trying desperately to relive every moment but of course, it doesn’t work. The reason it doesn’t work is because now you’re in your head trying to recreate, instead of living in the moment. You can never recapture any moment in time just as you can’t relive the past. You can revisit the past and learn from it, but you can only live in the present.

Don’t hold on to any take. Each take is its own entity. Move on and honor what you’re feeling in that new moment and never, ever compare it to the previous one.

KMaseng Acting Coach

One-on-One Coaching Los Angeles Portland Seattle