I was privileged enough to meet Robert Townsend today when he hosted a seminar at my church. Simply put, it was amazing. The advice he gave goes beyond acting and filmmaking. It applies to any career path. It applies to everyone’s life. It doesn’t take much to inspire me, but I really left there feeling like I hadn’t been doing enough to further my career, and I consider myself a pretty hard worker. Not only did he wake me up to the fact that I might not be doing enough, he made me believe that doing more would be enough. It’s all about the work. If you do it, you have no choice but to find success.
The seminar was more about filmmaking, pitching, writing, and directing rather than acting, but it was still all too interesting to hear advice from an individual who is a master in every area. One thing that stood out in terms of acting and getting cast is that you have to audition even if you fit absolutely none of the roles. If you’re too good to turn down, they might write you a part! He has done it before, and sounded like he’d do it again.
In regards to getting your foot in the door, he made it seem as though there was no door to get in. You and I are no different from the A list actors who have movies on the shelves. The only difference is they’ve done the work that you have yet to do. He mentioned that we usually don’t watch the most important part of movies, the credits. We turn off the TV, change the channel, or just walk out of the theatre. That’s where we actors can find casting directors who cast movies that we enjoy and parts we want to play. Next time you watch a movie, study the credits. Take down the name of the casting director. Google him/her. They want to hear from you. It’s their job!! He also spoke about a term he calls, “Playing without the ball.” It’s when you start doing without any resources. You write the script without actors or a director. You prepare a budget without the funding. You learn the lines without the part. You submit for roles without an agency. You play the game, without the ball. If you can play the game well even without the most essential part of the game, imagine how well you’ll play once you get it!
In terms of preparation, when I dared ask him how I could cast in one of his next projects, he mentioned nothing about an agency. He uttered nothing about LA casting or Nowcasting. He asked if I had 5 monologues prepared at the moment. I told him I had 3. Had I thought about it another second, I could’ve thought of one more. The point is that you need to have a monologue for every role you may want to play. It needs to be committed to memory, committed to life. One of my instructors heavily suggested that we start a whole notebook dedicated to monologues we like or may need. Monologues are like spare tires in auditions, you never know when you might need one.
It seemed like every other sentence was quote worthy. So I wrote them all down to share with you. Thanks for reading! Love Tiffany!
Quotes from Robert Townsend:
· What are you willing to give up to get your dream?
· Attack! Attack your own script so that by the time you pitch it to studios, they have no choice but to buy it.
· Excuses? Who cares!
· Profanity in scripts is the ace in the card game: Only use it when you have to.
· You only get born once. When you do good work, it’s around forever.
· Trust your vision.
· You can’t stumble if you’re not moving.
· How many chances did you take this week?
· Play the game without the ball.
