Entries from July 2008 ↓

Dear Friends,

Central Park West Studios is Open for Business!

I’ve decided to put my skills up for sale. If any of the technical and creative services below interest you, contact me and we can work out a price. In some cases, we could even work on a barter system (a bicycle, metrocards, movie passes, etc.). I’m new at this so my deals should be pretty economical, prices will be based on the amount of work you need. If you have another type of project not listed let me know, if I can’t help you myself I might be able to refer you to someone who can.

Digital Conversions
Got an old tape that you would like to put on the web or save as a DVD?

* VHS to DVD*
* VHS to DV (burned on a data DVD (or CD if file is small enough), ready to be used in a digital editing program)
* VHS to Quicktime
* VHS to Youtube
* MiniDV to DVD*
* MiniDV to Quicktime
* MiniDV to Youtube
* MiniDV to DV (burned on a data DVD (or CD if file is small enough), ready to be used in a digital editing program)
* Hi8 to DVD*
* Hi8 to DV
* Hi8 to Quicktime
* Hi8 to Youtube

*Unfortunately, at this time I can not mass produce DVDs, but I can make a couple copies and help you learn how to make copies on your own computer.

Other Technical/Computer Services

* Cheap Web Design (photos text, graphics, I can format your resume for HTML, add youtube videos, help you set up a blog, etc.)
* Website Updates to an existing site (photos, text)
* Help set up a video or audio podcast (RSS feeds, directory listings)
* Minor digital photo retouching (remove blemishes, red eyes, bloodshot eyes, shine, whiten teeth, etc.)
* Mail Merge, Mass Mailing Help
* Videotaping of performances–I have a digital8 camera (digital video) which has higher resolution than common miniDV cameras but not as good as the pro-miniDV cameras
* Videotaping of monologues
* IMovie, iDVD Help
* Ebay help (photographing items and posting them)
* Mac/PC Help

Creative Services

* Monologue Writing (for auditions, etc.)
* Comedy Writing Coach (developing characters, jokes, sketches, scripts)
* Show Flyer Design (examples available)
* Button Design (I can work with a button company’s template and add your photos & phrases)
* DVD Label Design (help with a design for the kind of labels you can print from home, or I can print them for you–for reels, short films, home movies, etc.)
* Improv Coach (warm ups, exercises, scenes, developing characters)
* Myspace/Facebook Photography

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer, feel free to pass this on to anyone who might be interested.

Jeremiah Murphy
Central Park West Studios
jeremiah (dot) murphy (at) gmail (dot) com

I noticed a few people find my Acting Tips page by googling “Improv Acting Tips.” So I thought I’d share some.

I first started studying and performing improv comedy around 2000. There are various ways to improvise on stage, here are the main ones that come to mind: short form (sometimes called “Theatre Games”), long form (typically a 20-45 minute show based off a suggestion or two), stand-up comedy/hosting (ad libbing or riffing with a crowd), and improvising in a play when something goes wrong ( a dropped line, a misfired sound effect, scenery falling, etc.)

Whatever way you end up improvising on stage (or even on camera), here are some techniques/tips I’ve learned/ try to use:

Agreement. Agree with whatever’s given to you by either your scene partner, uncontrollable events, or whatever it is you’re playing with. If you’re in a play and someone calls you by the wrong name you can mention that it’s your middle name, you can say you haven’t been called that in ages, etc. Audiences love when a snafu is addressed and incorporated. You can’t lose. A common way to teach the technique of agreement is “Yes and” where you say “yes” to what your partner offers you and then add to it. This is a good way to make party chit chat more amusing.

Don’t Go Crazy/Don’t Try To Be Funny/Reacting Vs. Creating. I learned this out through crash and burn. In improv its easy to have funny ideas in your head that don’t go with what’s going on in the scene. It’s OK to use your ideas to start a scene or to fix a problem, but I find it’s always better to go with the flow of a scene instead of trying to overpower it with your ideas. If you think your idea fits into the scene use it, if it doesn’t–save it for another scene, another show, a comedy sketch, or amusing email forward. For example if you’re doing a scene and you think it would be funny to just start yelling in French and making poop gestures, its going to look more out of place than funny. Save it for your Fringe festival show. A good technique is just to react with what’s in the scene by listening and not worrying about generating material. You’ll be surprised at the ideas that come to you if you just listen and react. One of my favorite improv class exercises is the “Boring Scene” where two people do a scene and they can’t do anything they consider amusing. It sounds dull, and a lot of these scenes take place at bus stations and waiting rooms, but they always come across as hilarious to me. I think because it removes the pressure of generating ideas and you just focus on reacting. This may not seem like it applies to Stand Up and Hosting style ad libbing or improv, but sometimes riffing with the audience can be as entertaining as a few bits.

Singing, Music, Dance, Movement, Mime Work. It’s easy to improvise with just two people talking. Any way you can get out of this mold is a sure fire way of amusing the audience.

Use Your Audience. Some audiences are timid, some aren’t. If you’re audience seems cool nothing pays off like using a suggestion from the audience, dropping names of members of the audiences, or commenting on noises coming from the audience (when someone sneezes, God Bless them). Audiences like feeling involved.

Eye Contact. Make eye contact with your scene partner (and in some cases your audience), this will help focus. You don;t have to keep it for the whole scene but you should start a scene by making eye contact with your partner.

Names. Give your scene partners names if they don’t have one already.

Do Stuff. If you give yourself things to do in a scene (tie shoe laces, wash dishes, any action) it will help the scene. It only works however when you don’t talk about what you’re doing. For example tie your shoe laces and talk about what a great lunch you had. Comedy!

Relationships. Keep the scenes about you and your scene partner, don’t make them about things the audience can’t see. You can add details but keep the scene about your relationship with your scene partner. Do you guys like each other? Is one of you high status? Decide these things early on.

Juxtapose. I think it’s always easy to get a laugh with juxtaposition. If you play against the audiences expectations you’ll probably get a laugh. A example I can think of is that I have a character Sealegs McGoo who’s an old sea captain and grumpy. As a gag, I made him the author of an advice column, so during shows he pulls out letters asking for advice. Or another example I have, my character Chuckles The Birthday Bear is always looking for a pack of smokes he lost.

Chuckles the Birthday Bear Audio MP3 files:

Chuckles the Birthday Bear 1

Chuckles the Birthday Bear 2

Chuckles the Birthday Bear 3

Dear Acting Diary,

I’ve been keep busy since I last wrote. I’ve gotten my mailings (some of them) off in the mail. With my DVD reels and a complimentary pack of gum, they came to around $1.50 per mailing. I might want to try the drop off method in the future. I also have been performing at Character Dogville
as well as perform in a couple video projects. I even did a little graphic design work helping a friend with a poster layout for a feature film he directed.

I noticed a couple people have found my blog by doing a search for cover letters for headshot submissions.

Here’s my actor cover letter formula:

Dear (first name),

First Paragraph: I try to be a little personal. If I’m submitting to someone who recommended me, I mention that as soon as possible. If I met the person in the past I remind them of where I met them. I might also give a short summary of myself–”I’m an actor and comedian.” I also state why I’m sending them my stuff. Am I looking for agent representation? Are they casting a project which I think I would be good for? Do I simply want to add my information to their files.

Second paragraph: I pump myself up a little by saying what I’ve been working on recently, where they might be able to see my work: upcoming shows (also include a flyer), web videos, TV appearances, Post Office Wanted Posters, etc.

Third paragraph: I say that I look forward to hearing from them and try to add in a little joke in an attempt to be memorable, irreverent, and stick out from the pile. If I’m including any materials like a DVD I also make a note of that in case it falls out of the envelope.

Regards,

Jeremiah

***

Here are some photos I took this weekend in the Catskills:

Please sign: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/eddie-mcowskey-on-the-colbert-report.html

Dear Acting Diary,

Friday I worked on burning my DVD reels. I used iDVD on my mac. it’s a pretty simple program to use. I used the template with the theatre curtains that seperate and show the menu. I took out their music and added Three Dog Night’s Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog. I also pulled some footage that I didn’t use in my reel to make a little movie that plays in the DVD Menu. After that I decided to add a bonus feature, a short film I made The Cry of Dracula .

In iDVD it takes a while for the iDVD project to burn a DVD, but after the initial DVD is burned its easy to make copies of that DVD because iDVD prompts you to insert another DVD burned. You just pop in a new DVD and it burns one in a fraction of the time it took to make the first one. This works fine, but after a few I accidentally closed the iDVD window asking if I wanted a new one made.

I started swearing at myself because I knew it was a tricky process to burn copies of DVDs on macs as opposed to copying CDs or data DVDs, it has to be formatted right to play on a DVD player. Also, it would take an hour or so to start over again straight from iDVD. After my mumbling died down I found this great site with simple instructions on how to copy a DVD on your Mac: http://www.gbradhopkins.com/archives/2004/09/duplicate_dvds.html

This allowed me to burn the DVDs pretty quickly. I think I have around 8 so far. I was able to attach my labels easily too with the “ExPressIt DVD/CD Label Maker” from Memorex. It worked pretty well, Memorex has this device that you put your label on face down then just press the DVD onto it. I didn’t have any problems with wrinkles. And the DVDs played in my wonky DVD player from circa 2000.

After I made my DVDs, I went to Rite Aid and found some DVD/CD envelopes. They also sell jewel cases but (a) I think that’s too bulky and (b) at my last desk job when we had a lot of people submitting things such as DVDs and various other files, the more packaging (folders, etc.) made it more annoying from a file keeping standpoint. I think the more streamlined my mailings are the better. I just have to think of some clever way to bind the cover letters, DVDs, and headshots. I might just use a paper clip or manila folder. After my previous job I was always happy to get people’s job applications already in a manila folder because it made it easier to file.

Then last night, I went to Actors Connection and had a seminar with a commercial agent from a large NY/LA agency. The agency covers all fields but this agent worked for the commercial division. Like usual, the agent seemed nice, very honest (but not critically so), and professional.

At Actors Connection the “seminars” start with around a 30 minute Q&A with the guest and the rest of the group, then you have an individual 4-5 minute session with the guest (agent, casting director, etc.). I took some notes from the Q&A:

• The agent freelances occasionally, byt mostly works with signed clients. Although the Actors Connection staff member that ran the seminar said that she freelanced with the agent and got two national spots.
• The agent will work with union and nonunion talent but will only send the non-union talent out for union projects if they’re willing to join the union. She also mentioned sending non-union talent out for foriegn jobs.
• Someone asked about the commercial market in NYC. The agent said it’s depressed with the rise of non-union commercials and the internent but there is still a market. She went on to say that its pretty rare these days that people will make $40-60K on a national spot. She said $20K is a more realtistic figure.
• She said they do communicate about certain clients with the LA office.
• Someone asked what kind of traits make a good commercial actor. The agent responded that she doesn’t like the term commercial actor and that all actors are actors. She continued that with the increasing number of film directors directing commercials, directors expect “good” actors, i.e. actors with training and acting experience. She also mentioned that an actor who wants to do commercials should have a pretty good idea of who they are personality wise. “Own what you are,” she said. Actors wanting to do commercials should also enjoy the process of auditioning and performing. She said there’s a great many who look down on commecial work and they don’t get booked as much.
• In regards to training, she said the more high caliber the better: Julliard, Steppenwolf, etc. She also mentioned that there a good studios in New York: William Esper, Micheal Howard, T. Schrieber. She named a bunch more but the names escape me. She also mentioned that improv training in is important for commercials. She mentioned something about if you don’t have a strong theatrical background to maybe get a strong improv background. She mentioned the Upright Citizens Brigade as a good place to take classes. Lastly she also mentioned that a good commercial technique class in valuable. She mentioned a few names but I was distracted by the woman sitting next to me shaking her head and making audible affirmations, but the one I remember is the Brooke and Mary class.

After the Q&A everyone had their session with the agent where we had to read commercial copy. i didn’t have any of my own so I looked through the Actors Connection binder of copy. I found one that I remembered doing a while ago. I remembered the agent I did it for said it was good for me. After reading it a few times I grew to hate it. There was lots of repetition. I rationalized that as an actor it was my job to make it interesting.

My audition went OK. I wasn’t too happy with it. When I walked into the room I felt the agent had an indifferent attitude, which may be the poker face one has to have after seeing so many readings, but I felt like I was already disliked. The agent had me read my copy, directed over her left shoulder. I then sat down and we chatted. She seemed more friendly then my initial impression.

Here are the questions she asked me, which seem pretty standard for meeting an agent:

• What types of roles do you see yourself going out for? I kind of babbled on this one, but I said “the temp who never gets hired.” She liked that answer and told me of a spot one of ehr clients got with a similar role.
• Who do you remind people of? I didn’t like my response to this one, lots of babbling. I named a couple celebrities. I hate doing that.
• Where are you from? I think this was the first question.
• How long have you been in New York?
• She looked over my resume and noted my improv experience and training at Michael Howard. She also asked about what I did on The Naked Brothers Band , a TV show on Nickelodeon that I was on a while ago.
• Who took your headshots?

____________________________

That was my Friday. Next week, I want to focus on mailings, one or two more seminars at Actors Connection, and EPAs. And comedy writing!

Some work habits I learned this week: I need to have a daily schedule (which includes meals and exercize), I can’t spend all day in my apartment doing computer work (email, design, videos, resumes, etc.), I need to seperate my tasks, and I need time to review my work and plans.

Dear Acting Diary,

it’s been a somewhat busy two days, although after reviewing the exact details, it has seemed so busy. I think that’s the problem of having my days devoted to "pursuing acting" and other creative projects, i constantly feel that I’m working or should be working. As soon as I get out of bed I want to check my email, Actor’s Access, and get cracking which leads to getting distracted by some computer issue for most of the morning (and sometimes day). From hereon out I think it’s important to set time limits for certain activities.

Anyway, on Wednesday I finally called Actors Connection and bought a 10 pack of seminars (with their summer special this bought me two extra seminars). I signed up for a couple and have ten left which i hope to use within the next few weeks.

I also designed a McOwskey flyer/headshot to include in my McOwskey mailings

Then I went to a nice air conditioned library and worked on some hand written cover letters for my mailing. I’ve decided not to do a shotgun blast style mailing to all agents but target specific agencies and casting directors that look like they’re interested in comedy types.

That took a long time and I didn’t get that many letters done. I know some frown upon handwritten cover letters in the computer age, but I thought (a) I’m sick of typing on the computer (b) I have had it with databases and mailmerge and (c) maybe handwritten letters will stand out more and seem more sincere, interesting, and personal. Like in all things acting, I should make bold choices. If you’re going to fail, fail big.

My cover letters were pretty similar with minor changes for each person. I tried to keep my penmanship as neat as possible. I used my homemade stationery i designed myself.

I’m still looking for movies to edit myself into for my "reel." My Ghostbusters scene has gotten some good feedback. Wednesday night I watched ’12 Angry Men." Great movie! I wish I had seen the play. I highly recommend it. if you’re a fan of character actors there are some great scenes.

THURSDAY

I felt like I wanted to take it easy Thursday. I had scheduled an Actors Connection seminar with a New York Theatre Casting Director and wanted to work on a monologue.

I met a friend and fellow comedy actor for lunch and he advised that I do a medley of my character monologues. I did this and the casting associate said it was "refreshing" and seemed to enjoy it. I felt like a medley of my character monologues (which I sort of improvised) represented my talents a lot more than any of the two (I’m embarassed of that number) monologues I’ve been using for the last (mumble) years I’ve been in New York.

The Actors Connection seminar itself was very informative and I was glad I signed up. Here are some notes I took:

Her theatre, which is a wide known and busy, Off-Broadway Theatre casts year round, there are no lull periods and its particularly busy in the summer.
Her major pet peeve is actors who come into audition and put down their sides. She said nobody expects an audition scene to be a final performance scene. She particularly dislikes it when people paraphrase the text in an audition (this theatre performs new plays and works closely with the playwrights).
She said it isn’t bad when agents call for feedback after an audition.
The theatre does cast from EPAs even though the EPAs are required
Original Monologues are a fine audition choice.

I felt for my audition I was a little nervous but it seemed to go over well. Although who knows. I asked her if she recommended any monologues for me and she listed a few plays and playwrights and said she would email me some ideas. I thought that was very nice.

FRIDAY

It’s already noon! All i’ve done is work on this blog and think about my birthday party, which I want to be an outdoor reading of some old sitcoms with my friends.

Today I want to burn some of my reels, attach the labels (I know this sounds simple but with DVDs it will be a little bit of a process), and actually get some mailings in the mail. I also want to work on some writing. Tonight I have another seminar at Actors Connection with a commercial agent. For this audition all we have to do is read some commercial copy which we can bring ourselves or select from Actors Connection’s samples.

A note about Actors Connection: Some people sigh when I mention it. I know it sounds a little shady, paying to meet people. However with the amount of money people pour into mailings and never meet the people they contact, I think its OK to pay to meet people. I don’t see any other way I’d meet some of these folks unless I barged into offices. For the most part all the folks I’ve met at Actors Connection seem nice and professional.

Today began at 10:00 am, after going to sleep around 6/7 am (see previous entry). I scoured through Actors Access, submitted myself to around 4 projects (1 of which I’m probably suitable for, but I say let the casting folks make that decision). Later on in the day I even found something on Craigslist to submit myself to.

I also went through the list of folks having seminars at Actor’s Connection. I didn’t call to reserve any spots yet, the day got away from me.

I finished up work on stationery (editing graphics on Photoshop and pasting them into a word document) and my temp resume then took up a very generous offer to use someone’s home office to print everything up (on nice resume paper).

Since I had access to a nice color inkjet printer I wanted to print up some labels for my DVD reel that I want to start mailing to agents and casting directors. That’s where most of the day went. I decided I wanted to use some kind of circular imagery to be the background. Then I found a picture of an old View Finder reel. I then thought it would be fun to remove the text in the view finder reel picture and replace it with my info, i.e. "Jeremiah Murphy’s Reel," "Scenes and Characters," etc. That was easy enough to do with the clone stamp tool. I used the color picker tool to try to match the font color with the text on the reel. I positioned the text by manipulating the corners of the text box (you can rotate text using the arrows when you place the cursor near the outside corner). You can alos hit control T and manipulate the text as a layer. Control T initiates a "free transform" which allows you to rotate and resize a layer. Then using cut and paste I adjusted some of the reel’s text to free up space (mainly the numbers). I then decided that it would be cool to cut out the slides on the reel and insert pictures of our hero as if they were the view finder’s slides. I wasn’t using my computer so I just pulled the pictures from Myspace, Facebook, and my email. I cut and cropped them in Photoshop and placed them in layers behind the View Finder Reel. Then I used control T to resize and rotate the pictures. I also played with the coloring on some. Then I pasted it on the DVD label template and printed them up. i haven’t put them on the DVDs yet, nor have I made the DVDs but that should be a lot easier. See above or below for a picture of my day’s labor.