Learn to work the red carpet

Sooner or later, if you achieve the least degree of success in the business, you will find yourself invited to a gala opening before which you will walk up the red carpet. This may happen even if the film is an insignificant short in which you have a minuscule part, so it's essential to learn the correct technique to employ in this situation.

You will have three sets of people to work with: photographers, fans and press. The photographers will probably be confined to a roped off area to one side and when you arrive at the red carpet they will start calling out your name to get you to look at them so that they get a good shot of you. This can be quite confusing but what you do is very simple. Starting at the near end of the line, you eyeball each lens in turn, giving it a friendly gaze for a few seconds. When you get to the end of the line be prepared to repeat the exercise if they're still calling your name out. Take your time, make sure they all get a good picture and be prepared for requests to pose with someone else, as well, someone you know or a complete stranger.

You then turn to the fans. They may be family and friends, or inquisitive people who happened to be passing by, but their presence, gathered together behind a rope, turns them into fans, while your presence in the lights and on the red carpet, turns you into a star. They will ask for your autograph and it's a good idea to have with you a brightly coloured marker pen, one that writes reliably, so that you can sign your name easily. Make your signature very large. But the important thing is to talk to them. Ask them what kind of films they like, whether they've come from far, thank them for coming. They will be thrilled.

Finally come the press interviews, some for print media and some for internet. Again it's your job to be as helpful as possible, even if it means giving the same answers over and over again. Have a few soundbites and anecdotes ready for use. Be patient and make sure they spell your name correctly. Remember who they are: you may meet them again, perhaps in a more important job than the one they have now. This is not a good time to remember things that went wrong or people you did not get on with, so be diplomatic and forgive and forget.

All this attention can be quite head turning, so it's important to keep your feet on the ground. In ancient Rome, when they held a triumph for a returning general, amid all he adulation a little man would be employed to whisper in the general's ear and remind him the he was mortal. In the same way always remember that you will walk down the street the next morning and no-one will know who you are. (If you're lucky.)

Working in a call centre is not the end of the road

The Words of Wisdom this week are working in a call centre is not the end of the road. A lot of resting actors get work in call centres. The connection is obvious. Actors have, or are supposed to have, good attractive voices and they should be fluent and able to handle a script. The work is quite easy to get, because most call centres have a rapid turnover of staff, the hours may be flexible and it's often possible to get time off for auditions or acting work.

Nevertheless, call centre work is often referred to as the actor's graveyard, as if anyone taking it up has surrendered any hope of making it in the business or ever acting again. Admittedly, the work is repetitive and not particularly well paid and it can be stressful, particularly if there are call targets to be met. But you shouldn't look down on it or hate it. Every useful task has to be done by someone and it's not good to look down on other people because of what job they do or to resent what you do because you believe you have a higher calling. Judge people by their personal qualities rather than their occupation. It's a privilege to work in the arts, which so many people want to do and no-one has a right to it.

Sometimes call centre work is receiving enquiries, as on a helpdesk. Here your person to person skills are at a premium and this is an opportunity to hone them. Sometimes you have to make the calls: cold calling people in their own homes is particularly tough, and requires great resilience. Business to business calling demands that you master some new knowledge and that provides opportunities to learn about a new industry or occupation - something actors should always be receptive to. You never know when it might come in useful.

Think positively: if you have an onerous task make sure you succeed at it: remember that success is a habit that is a good idea to get into. Take every opportunity for some character study: how do people react to you and what pushes the right button with which person? Learn how to keep a repetitive performance fresh (an important skill for actors) and, whilst remaining within the remit you have been set, experiment with your voice and accent. Sometimes you might create a whole new persona for one particular campaign.

In short, use the situation to your own advantage. Working in a call centre is not the end of the road.

Always be ready to work with children or animals

This week's Words of Wisdom refer to morose American comedian W C Fields who said 'Never work with children or animals. But the Words turn this on its head and say 'Always be ready to work with children or animals.' Why? Well, if we examine W C Fields's maxim there are two possible reasons for not wanting to work with children or animals. Maybe it's because children and animals are notorious scene stealers or maybe it's because their behaviour is unpredictable. Now, don't worry about having scenes stolen from you: theatre is a team activity and an actor's job is to contribute to the success of the team as a whole. If an actor just wants to be in the spotlight all the time they're going to be a liability to work with and a pain in the neck, so don't worry about the audience's eyes not being on you all the time. And if you're used to improvising you'll welcome the unexpected and cope with whatever happens. So always be ready to work with children or animals - even if the children or animals are adult human ones. Which brings us to Rod Hull and Emu and Michael Parkinson - but that's another story.

Let the camera and the music do their work

Next time you’re watching a film, notice how many of the shots are reaction shots where all we see is a character’s face, showing very little overt emotion, and maybe we hear some music as well. What is required of an actor for a shot like this is to trust the direction, the camera, the editing and the music to do most of the work. The danger is to do more than is necessary and therefore to appear unnatural. Remember, less is more. Just produce the inner emotion but don’t over-express it: if it’s there the camera will find it. And trust the editing: in cinema context rules. For example: the character smiles, but is he looking at a beautiful girl or a plate loaded with pasta? The smile may be the same, but the first shows lust, the second gluttony.
All of this requires a lot of confidence, the confidence to do very little or nothing. All the movie greats have that confidence. So the Words of Wisdom are Let the camera and the music do their work.

Remember that the greatest talent you can have is the talent for hard work.

The Words of Wisdom this week are Remember that the greatest talent you can have is the talent for hard work. Whatever abilities you are born or grow up with, they can be enormously enhanced by consistent, incremental, well directed, study and practice. And the converse is also true, talents not exercised and used will, in time decay. Use it or lose it. And you will find that hard work brings its own satisfaction.

Less is more: sometimes the words will do all the work

The Words of Wisdom this week are: ‘Less is more: sometimes the words will do all the work.’ That comes in two parts and both depend on the interaction between the actor and the minds of the audience. Less is more because if inner emotion is expressed in a subtle way the audience will read the inner emotion that the actor is generating and find it convincing, but if the emotion is over-expressed the audience will find it exaggerated and unbelievable. Sometimes the words will do all the work because a large part of what an involved audience is doing is decoding the meaning of the words it is hearing. Lines with a highly emotional content don’t need to be decorated with artificial histrionics, just say the words and the audience will do the rest. Less is more: sometimes the words will do all the work.