Throw Out the Sides:  If you don’t know what audition sides are, they’re selections from a script chosen for an audition.  When I walk out of an audition I throw out my sides.  Well, that’s my second choice.  The first choice is to leave them outside the casting room so another actor can use them.  If I left my copy in my car or at home I throw them out the first chance I get.  If I get a callback I just look them up again.

Archive Any E-Mails About the Project This includes any casting notices, copies of the script or love letters from the casting director.  I get it all out of my inbox.  If I have anything to look up in the future about the project I can search for the e-mails.

Try to Forget Anything Anyone Ever Told Me About the Project: I ignore posted “callback” or “shoot” dates which are often wrong anyway.  I try to forget any compliment or slight the director gave me and I stop myself from analyzing them (What did he mean by “nice job?”).  I try my hardest to not calculate how much I’d get paid on that national commercial.

Take Five Minutes to Analyze the Audition: After forgetting all the nitty gritty and putting business stuff out of my mind I take five minutes to think about what I did in the room and what I could have done better.  This step doesn’t take an hour or a week, five minutes is more than enough.  This is a great activity to do in your car.  It’s famously known that the best audition you ever do is to your rear view mirror on the way home from the actual audition.  I take whatever lessons I can from each audition and then move on to the final step:

Forget The Rest of the Audition:  Forget those lines you flubbed or the flat line reading and go on to something else.  Go hit the driving range, read a book or just watch some TV.  Obsessing over a past audition isn’t going to help you land the role or improve as an actor.

This was all prompted by my audition about an hour ago.  It was flatter and less inspired than I thought it should have been.  By the time I got home I had pretty much forgotten all about it.  When I thought back about the audition I said, “I was flat, didn’t do enough with it.  Next time I’ll reach a little more with it and let them dial me back.”  Those were my only thoughts.  I wasn’t thinking about shoot dates or anything, simply that one thought.   It took me years to get to that point but it’s probably my most useful skill as an actor (besides acting).

Obsessing over audition and waiting for the phone to ring can make the whole acting experience miserable.

Eitan is about as manly as a tutu-wearing pink princess drinking a chai latte in the middle of American Girl Place.  But to each his own.

A hearty welcome to the AOM readers visiting this site for the first time.  Become Eitan’s fan on Facebook so this poor biographer doesn’t have to write updates on this website.

C’mon guess.

Here are a few hints:

1. He’s goofy looking.
2. He doesn’t like touching squishy things.
3. He’s a hack.

Do you give up?  It’s Eitan!  Yup, Eitan has signed for representation in TV/film as well as for commercials (it’s called “across the board” in the “biz”).  With luck this will result in a stream of bookings and lots of work for this poor freelancing biographer.

Now, I’ve been on some pretty popular TV shows. Most memorably I’ve been on Ghost Whisperer and iCarly, two shows with huge followings online. I’ve also written two very popular articles that come up a lot in Google searches on how to write an actor bio and taking a good Polaroid.

Those four posts draw a huge amount of traffic to my website, which is awesome. So what do you do if you were an actor on Battlestar Galactica? It doesn’t matter if your scene was with Admiral Adama (Edward James Olmos) or Caprica Six (Tricia Helfer), your’e going to be able to draw huge amounts of fans to your website. What if you were on an episode of Lost? You could have had two lines with Jack Shepard (Matthew Fox) in the airport bathroom or you simply handed Kate Austin (Evangeline Lilly) her latte, you’re still going to be able to pull in huge numbers of people to your website because both of those shows have massive online followings.

So how do you do it? Well, you need to write about it. This doesn’t mean you need to share juicy on-set gossip about which two actors were secretly dating or write about who has a nasty drug habit. Write about your experiences on set. Be positive. This is less of a “draw traffic to your website” advice than a “be nice” piece of advice. If you want tens of thousands of people to read your post, don’t make it mean. It won’t help you in the end.

After that you need to link to the post. Go onto BSG or Lost websites and write a short snippet about being on the show. When I was on iCarly I went on a few blogs/forums and posted a quick thing. I know from watching my site statistics that many people clicked those links. I’ve seen other blogs pick up these actor posts and repost them. That’s the best way to build up your page rank and drive traffic to other pages on your website.

Also offer to be helpful. I try to write articles (like this one) that not only promote myself but may help actors at large. People love a good “how-to” article. Trying to give back is a great way to build your popularity online. For example, Jenna Fischer (from The Office) wrote a really good article on how she made her way from a no-name actress to being a series regular on one of the top ranked shows on TV. She gave lots of advice and naturally it was passed around like a revolutionary document online by actors. She posted the article several years ago on her Myspace page and just a month ago I saw another actor trot it out. I wish I could find a link to the original, but I can’t. If you Google enough it’ll probably turn up.

It’s also important to update your site more than once in a blue moon. Google doesn’t like sites that never update and neither to visitors. I don’t update my site as much as I used to but I still try to log in once in a while and post something. Active writers draw active readers.

What does all this traffic do besides boost my ego? That’s a topic for a whole other post.

Learning how to be a good actor can be broken down into two questions.  The first question is, “How do you act?”  This seems to come from a lot from people auditioning for community theater or trying out for their first student film.  It’s natural to be nervous and wonder how the heck to perform in front of an audience or act in front of a camera.

Here are my basics:  Know your lines, know your character, know the story and then try to speak clearly and have fun.

You want more complicated answers here are a few books that I’ve pretended to have read:

Sanford Meisner on Acting
Acting: The First Six Lessons (by Boleslavsky)
Acting for the Camera (by Tony Barr)
True and False (By David Mamet)

The second part to this question is “how do I behave as a good actor.”  And here’s my personal advice on that question:

• Don’t Be Crazy – Crazy people like to say they’re actors and actors often think they have to be crazy to be taken seriously.  It’s not true.  Some of the best actors I’ve worked with are normal people who happen to be very good actors.  Don’t believe everything you read in the tabloids.
• Don’t be a Jerk - Actors somehow got the impression that they have to be mean to everyone they meet.  Series regulars are mean to guest stars, guest stars are mean to co-stars and everyone’s mean to craft services.  Don’t.  Be nice.  People like to work with nice folks.
• Roll With It – Sad fact of life is that lines change, blocking gets switched and scenes get added/deleted.  Relax and deal with it.  No one is out to get you.
• Be Helpful – Performing a play or shooting a film is a lot of work.  Depending on the union status of your project actors may be prohibited from doing anything but acting.  That means if you’re on the set of Grey’s Anatomy and someone asks you to move a c-stand around, you say no.  But when you’re acting in community theater or doing a student film do us all a favor and help as much as you can.  Don’t let it get in the way of your acting but lend a hand any way you can.
• Take it Seriously – You are an actor because you enjoy acting and that’s great.  But it’s a job (paid or not) and you need to treat it as such.  No one says you can’t enjoy work, but you’d better put your nose down when it’s time.
• Listen to Your Director – The director has one goal, make this the best project possible.  It’s not about stroking your ego, it’s not about ruining your career and it’s not about trying to make your life difficult.  If the director tells you to cry as you cross from stage left, then cry as you cross from stage left.  Try it before you start complaining about how it’s not something your character would do.  It’s the director’s decision, not yours.
• Listen to the Script – I’m stealing from one of the books above but you’d be shocked how many actors see something in a script like “Irving hits his sister” and claim, “Irving would never do that.”  Yes he would, it’s in the script.  Everything you need is in the script.  If you start making up crap outside the script you’re not performing the same play/film as everyone else.
• Be Friends With Everyone – This is the most important advice I can give, especially starting out.  This doesn’t mean you have to buddy up to everyone and kiss butt.  It means you have to smile, be nice to everyone on set and help in any way you can.  This goes triply so in small projects that don’t pay.  People don’t do student films forever.  They go on and do bigger and better things.  Or maybe their college roommate goes on to do bigger things.  Either way, they become a good ally in this industry.  Everyone says the entertainment industry is about “who you know” and that’s completely true but more importantly it’s about who likes you and wants to help you out.

There, I squished them.

It’s darn quiet around LA this time of year.  Pilot season is over, commercials slow down and even student film makers are done for the summer.  It seems like there’s nothing going on from now until July.

Even the past few months have been only quiet for me.  The entertainment business is cylical.  Last year there were hundreds of auditions for hilarious late 20s guys, this year there are less.  Next year there may be even more.  It all comes around.  Patience.  Patience.  Patience.

But what do you do when the summer hiatus hits or when you’re experiencing an invoulentary personal hiatus?

Well, let me tell you what I’ve been doing:  Writing.  Obviously not on this blog.  I’ve been working on a screenplay.

I know, I know, everyone in LA has a screenplay, but mine’s good.  Well, it will be when I finish it.  Most people write one draft of a screenplay, fix some typos and say they’re done.  I’m on probably the fourth major draft of the story and the second of the screenplay itself.  Writing isn’t just having good ideas, it’s actual work.   And wouldn’t you know it, there’s a very good part for a late 20’s slightly overweight (slightly) funny guy!

Nothing may ever come from the script but I’m doing something to try to move my career forward when there’s nothing going on in the industry to help me.  Being stagnant is the worst thing you can do in the entertainment industry.

Next time someone asks me what I’m doing I may not have a play, commercial or TV appearance to brag about, but you know I’ll mention my script.

It’s a great time to launch that new web series, do a show or start your own writing project.  It’s not like the phone’s going to be interrupting me in the middle of a brainstorming session…

Eitantheactor.com – My official site.  You’re on it.

Twitter – I tweet quite regularly about my auditions and other day-to-day things in my career.

Facebook – This is my “fan” page on Facebook.  If you’re a fan, join up.  Show your allegiance to the cult of Eitan.

Actors Access – This is my “official” profile which is used to submit me on breakdowns for real big-time jobs.

Those are far and away the best ways to keep on top of my acting career and see what’s up.

I love having this blog.  Once in an odd while I feel an urge and I hop on to post.  I do this with no regularity.  My very helpful biographer posts updates when I book something but I only post when I feel like it.

I hope no one reading this is running their acting career in this manner.  Most people do.  Heck, I’ve been guilty of this at times myself.

Who among us has not neglected to check the breakdowns or send out postcards because they “just didn’t feel like it today?”  Fair enough.  I have a very nice life outside of my career and some days I’m busy doing other things and don’t have a minute to spare to even update my Twitter account.

But those days are rare.  This is a job.  You must be out there busting your butt five, six or seven days a week.  Any less and someone else is going to take an oppertunity you would have otherwise gotten yourself.

Someone who merely reaches out to agents “when they feel like it” is going to be left in the dust.  There are scores of actors in Los Angeles who send out a big salvo of postcards two times a year and that’s about it.  Then they whine and moan about not being able to get work.

When you pledge a huge amount of time to getting work you’ll find all sorts of ways to persue the work you never dreamed of before.  You can become more active in online networking sites, you can attend more “industry events,” you can write your own material and you can even hunt down contact info for people in the industry and reach out to them. There’s many ways to fill your time if you allocate it towards becoming a working actor.

I’ve said this a million times before: if you want to be an actor it’s going to take huge amounts of work. If you want to be a professional blogger you can’t blog like me and only do it once every month or two.  Get off your butts and start hustling.

photo credit: Ali San

Happy New Year to All!

Here’s a very simple exercise.  Examine your 2008.  Look at the records of your auditions, meetings and all the tactics you’ve used. Write them down, you’ll be surprised at how many there are.

I talked about making good resolutions over a year ago and all that info still stands.

This year I want you (as I am doing) to look at all the opportunities, accomplishments and actions you had and took in 2008.  You can make the list as extensive as you like.  Here is an example of some of mine:

• Got WAY more callbacks than ever before.
• Got MUCH better at “feeling out” which jobs I would be back for and which I wouldn’t.
• Helped produce three pretty amazing showcases and helped transition the show from a tiny 66 seat theater in 2007 to a 260 seat theater.
• Started writing my first screenplay.
• Made contact/friends with many new “industry folks” online.
• Started a Twitter Account to keep my fans (I assume that’s you) up to date and build a bigger fan base.
• And on a personal note ran two half-marathons and a full-marathon having not run more than a mile straight since high school while raising over $2400 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Now, instead of making brand-new resolutions or “goals” as they really should be called I simply want to focus on improving some of these things.  How?  Well, as you can tell from the title of this post I really want to book more jobs in 2009, I want to finish my screenplay, meet even more industry folks online and in person and finally run even more.

These look more like typical resolutions.  They’re not actionable, most aren’t quantifyable and they’re pretty vague.  This is where I go back to how to write resolutions.  I then focus my goals on improving things I’m already really proud of.  Build success upon success.

The show is modeled after a dysfunctional family celebrating the Bar Mitzvah of one of their youngest.  Eitan plays the boy’s rowdy uncle.  Reservations can be made through the website above or through Goldstar.
Please go just to heckle Eitan and try to make him break character.  The show runs every Sunday, 3PM at the Sportsmans Lodge in the valley.  There’s a Winter hiatus coming up but shows resume late Janurary.