Two week crash-course: filming Misfits (Channel 4)

I am a better actor for the time I spent on the Misfits set this past two weeks. It's as simple as that.

Wayne Yip and Alex Garcia are two fantastic directors who really let me play with my character and try a myriad of scene interpretations, subtle nuances and shadow moves. I really let go and I'm so excited about it.

Like all good things, this has come to an end and I'll miss the people and the screen times. But onwards and upwards! Here's to more exciting projects with other cool people.

I love my job. Not many people can say that :) I am one of the lucky ones...

Location:Richmond, UK

Grenade Cam: filming A TV show - with guns!

What a week I have had. I began filming a special episode of a well-known TV series.

I can't tell you too much about my character without giving anything away but the techniques that have been used on set have been world class. Grenade cam, gun fights and exploding glass; armourers, pistols and exploding squibs. It was weird firing blanks and seeing things explode; it felt like we were doing all the damage ourselves. Very authentic. And very cool. It was like playing with the most expensive toys money can buy. It was every boy's dream!

But the character I play is such a dreadful person, it's great fun to play him. Being a villain requires a level of letting go of everything that is nice and wholesome in the world. Imagine accessing what you really wanted to say to the man in the pharmacy queue; or what you'd want to do to him. It's not for the faint hearted because we as humans have great potential for doing really bad things.

Next week is going to be darker for my character but me, I'm going to be the boy playing with the expensive toys again, trying not to eat too many chips in the catering truck :)

Location:London

New website!

I've just been through the process of commissioning a new website and I've been confronted with so many decisions in the process:

• How much information?
• The order of information - what's most important?
• Who is my audience and what do they want?  I wanted to make it super quick for them to get to key information about me.
• Where do I host audio and video files? Do I surface them on my site from other CDNs like YouTube, AudioBoo, SoundCloud and Flickr?
• Where do I host my website so that it will open quickly and perform well?
• What file formats for video and audio will play on all devices - from laptops to iPhones?
• What social media items do I include - since I'm active on many!

It's a minefield!

I'm happy to say that I went through this process and we've come out the other side.  

Let me know what you think: www.glennspeers.com 

A summary of 2010

I have to say that this has been a great year.  Yes, it hasn't been jammed full of jobs, but the jobs that I have had have been amazing.

This has been a year of theatre, of characters, of accents and of stretching my existing repertoire and of learning more about my craft.  This has also been a year of film, of different roles in different places.

2009 was a dreadful year for us all.  I have to say that it was a hard time for many actors and people in the business.  I am so glad that 2010 has been better.

Here's to a magnificent 2011 - after I've totally let myself go over the Christmas season and panicked my way into shape in February, it's going to be great!  

Ah, it's the actor's lot: a lovely, lovely lot.

The view from the other side

I have had an amazing day.  I had the opportunity to sit in on auditions for a director friend's theatre production - and read with other actors.

I'm of the opinion that you never, ever know enough, so this was a good opportunity to watch, listen and learn.  I got some valuable insight on how to be a better actor.

I have come up with a short list of things you should and shouldn't do at an audition because I saw the effect of each of these on the director:

• Turn up.  Yes, you wouldn't believe how many people just don't turn up.  No text, no call, no email.  It's just rude and you're not doing yourself any favours.
• If the part calls for a certain skill, have something prepared.  They asked for people who could sing and some people 'couldn't think' of something to sing.
• Be consistent.  When you audition with one actor and then completely change your performance when you're auditioning with another actor (for the same scene), that isn't good.
• Know your accents.  Don't go from LA to New York in one monologue.  
• Believe in yourself!  Go in there, look them in the eye and know that you're there because you've been selected to be there.  Believe that you can do it and you will do yourself justice.

I also realised that for all those times us actors have moaned about the casting process and the people involved, I think that before you judge those people, it's good to have walked in their shoes.  They don't have it easy either.

Headshots: airbrushed and wind swept or gritty and dramatic?

A headshot is often the only item that will get you into a casting room.  That and a fairly decent CV but mostly, it is the headshot. Casting directors don't often look at showreels unless the headshot has piqued their interest so if you don't have a decent headshot, you're stuffed.

It is hard to know what kind of headshot will get you noticed:

Option 1
Is it a headshot that makes you look as good as you possibly can (with amazing lighting, makeup, a stylist and a hairdresser)?

Option 2
Or is it a headshot that makes you look like you on a good day. You know those days: you get up and your skin looks clear, your hair is behaving itself, you don't see the extra pound or two (your zips do up without strain) and you have a spring in your step. No make up and no bleaching studio lights are involved but you still look like you have a sparkle in your eye.

I have considered both. Wouldn't it be great to go with the first option - to look as good as you can? This is all well and good until you walk into the audition and are met by quite a disappointed casting director who complains (and quite rightly so) that you don't look much like your headshot.

Wouldn't it be better to have the You On A Good Day headshot on his/her desk so even if you walk in 2lbs heavier, hair between cuts, and sweating from being under hot stage lights all day, you still look quite like the guy in the photo.

That's my take on it.

So I'm watching my diet, I'm going to the gym as soon as this cold of mine clears and on 6th November, I will be shot, in natural light, outdoors, warts and all and with grey sideburns at the ready.  Watch this space!

A mirage - the mouth-watering money in commercials

Twice in one week, I've been for auditions for rather large sums of money.  I have tried not to think about those sums but if I'm honest, I already have the money spent. It is the curse of being in the running for commercials.

I can almost understand why some agents don't bother trying to find their actors dramatic work on stage or small parts in TV; they go for advertisements and voiceovers because they have that wonderful word in the invoice, 'Buyout'.  And it's always for a few grand.  15% of a few grand is better than 15% of a few hundred pounds for a week on a stage.  So very sad but so true.

Adverts are so hit and miss for me.  The directors tend to see me in the role but the client - Michelle the product manager - tends to stick to a safer choice of actor (home counties and the guy next door).  I'm neither of those things so I personally don't hold out for getting much ad work.

I have to say though that some of the lengths you have to go to during an ad audition, you'd swear they were casting for The Godfather IV.  Some of this is all for a mere second of the ad.  I remember going for an ad for a van driver that was being filmed in Prague.  They got me to do so much improv and called me back three times; when the ad eventually aired on TV, you saw the safe choice of guy they eventually chose in the van for a fraction of a second. And they were paying the jammy beggar five grand!  It's crazy money. He couldn't quite say, "Look mum, I'm on TV!" but he got a holiday or a 'new' car out of it...

So wouldn't it be mighty if I hit pay dirt and got one of those well paid ones.  It's unlikely but wouldn't it be luverly.  Luverly.  Loverly.  Luverley.  Lovely.