Writer vs Director

Posted: May 18, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Blogs | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

A cheeky title today suggests a struggle between the inventor of the script and the executor of it. I do not want to write about fighting however, but about cooperation. I’ve been to a reading yesterday. The director decided to see how the script would stand the test of giving it to actors. It is an interesting script, and an interesting form used by the writer, who actually wasn’t there. He did not come only because the director asked him specifically not to.

I know this director well, and the writer not at all. But I cannot help but wonder what would the writer say if he was in the room. We could have used his insight in some places to smooth out some uncertainties. We would also point out some practical problems we encountered. What would his reaction be? Would he be able to help us in our struggles? Would he graciously accept our feedback or lash out protectively?

Authors, and writers especially, are often protective of their babies. They can be deadly afraid of feedback and take it as downright criticism. They may be the stern gatekeepers, protecting their words from disuse and abuse of others, who “don’t understand”. Their sensitive dispositions regarding their work often make them think anyone proposing changes to their precious writing is an enemy. Persons, who displays this behaviour, in my opinion, should not write for theatre, nor tv, nor film.

A play is a collaborative effort. The script is its central part of course. But it’s the people who make it come alive on stage and screen. And, in great part, the writer’s finished in the moment when he hands the script out to a director. That’s when the director takes over. He finds actors he thinks will be suitable for the characters. He supervises the rehearsals until the day of performance comes. He interprets the script in dramatic criteria. The writer – unless he decides to take up directing, or acting, or technical part of performance, or all of these or something else I can’t think of – becomes obsolete. Sometimes he/she becomes a liability.

I’ve heard stories of writers clashing with the directors, directors leaving because of the insatiable writers, writers withdrawing their scripts because of the directors. There is a fine line between creativity and abuse, and I understand sometimes the writer needs to intervene to rescue his work from being slaughtered. But, if a play/film/drama is being made on a certain script, the writer needs to learn to step back and let it go, believe in the director and the actors. A good writer knows how to command the page. A good director knows how to empower the actors to command the stage. The boundary is clear.

Writers are strange animals

Posted: May 11, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Blogs | 2 Comments

I mentioned in my previous entry I might say something about a book I want to write. Or books, actually. I want to write a fantasy saga. Why? Because I like fantasy. Because it’s imaginative, because it’s not mundane. People don’t like reading mundane. People want thrills. Or information. I don’t consider my goofy self a good source of reliable information. Besides, information isn’t fun, it isn’t sexy. Well, not as much as writing gripping fiction is.

My main inspiration is George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (better known as Game of Thrones, “now a major HBO series” as promoters like to remind us. By the way, the series are good. Watch it. But the books are better. Read them!). Of course I don’t want to copy it mindlessly. Like Picasso said (and lately Stephen Fry on the shoot of Doors Open film in Edinburgh) bad artists copy, great artists steal. So yes, I’m stealing ideas. Not only from Martin. From history. From life. From stories I hear. From stories I watch. And lately I started reading more again. I’m “researching” fantasy genre. Yesterday’s I bought Abercrombie’s “The blade itself”. Maybe I’ll write here what I thought about it later. It didn’t start bad.

Anyway, I have about 11 pages – the prologue and chapter 1, written. Not finished, and not final draft. It’ll still be edited. Perhaps majorly. It probably lacks the bang it needs to keep the reader tied to the story. Heavy on descriptions and reminiscences. Which is important, because the world is complicated. But it’s not as crisp and interesting to read as action and dialogues. I need action and dialogues. Stat.

I also have a map or two. Every true fantasy book has a map. Tolkien had maps. Martin has maps. Every major fantasy saga has maps of varied detail. It’s a necessity. It’s canon. Apart from the map I have pages of notes about characters, noble houses, plot devices, religion, to put it simply: everything a well crafted world needs. I also have a good name for the main kingdom. And for the ruling dynasty. Yes, it’s all falling into place…

I’m doing some research on publishing. More and more people go into self publishing. Kindle has been very popular these past few years, I hear. Booming. Spreading like wildfire. So I started looking for advice on that, for the time I’m ready to actually publish something. I found a very useful thread on an internet forum, and the author of one post had some really helpful advice. Tons of it. I decided to send her a private message and she replied almost instantly. Very kind  of her. Turns out she used to be an escort, is addicted to crystal meth and married her mother’s ex-boyfriend. Sounds like an interesting life. She published a memoir and offered me a free copy. Bracing myself for “something else”.

Writers are crazy people…

I’m a terrible blogger…

Posted: May 1, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Blogs | Leave a comment

I’ve actually forgotten all about this place. I’ve never been good at keeping one thing going for a long time. I lack self-discipline. Procrastination is my guilty pleasure – as I’m sure stands true for most members of the human race. Mea culpa.

It’s been almost four months since my last post in here and inevitably things have changed. Last time I reported I’ll be looking for a new job. Well, I decided a 9-to-5 is not for me. Self employment looks like the way to go. So now I interpret, translate, and recently had my first extra job. Been shot along Stephen Fry and Douglas Henshall. Good times.

In the realm of acting, I’ve just finished a three show run of Some Just Can’t Bite where I played the lead – a troubled Vampire-turned-Vegetarian named Piotr. Had a great time with the cast and the director, Stewart Schiller. Kept me busy. I have another small part lined up in a play, Generations Apart, which goes live in June. And I’m waiting for a word from Shoogalie Road Productions about the webseries they’re planning to shoot and want me on board.

I’m finally setting my sights on getting an agent. Should have started looking a long time ago. I’ve absolutely no idea how many opportunities for Eastern European actors come by in Scotland, but this is where I live, and since I want to work, I need to give it a fair shot. No more fanning about. While on the set of Doors Open, I met a German actor who says he gets roughly one part every month, so hopefully that indicates demand. If any director is reading this, I can do Polish, Russian, German and variety of Eastern Europeans…

A friend of mine, John Wilde is writing what we call “The Polish play”. A very interesting and ambitious project set on rediscovering the stories of Polish immigrants in Scotland after WWII and currently. We’ve held series of talks and he made contacts with Polish communities and descendants of Poles, especially in Fife where he lives. The nature of the project may draw in publicity and funding, although I’m drawn to the impact of the subject first of all.

I’m going to end this lengthy entry by covering the personal. I need a new flat. The one I’m in is cheap, but I only rent one room and it’s in a remote location of Glasgow. I need to move closer to the City Centre. Plus my wonderful girlfriend will be coming over in August and this time she’ll stay permanently. She’s been here for the first time in March and absolutely loved it. The eclectic mix of old and new architecture is what makes it for her. I can’t wait for August. Long distance relationships – you are a pain.

Stay sharp.

PS. Whenever I beat my procrastinea maxima, I’ll get back to working on a book that’s been on my mind for several months now. Next time I might mention something about it.

Job Hunting Time

Posted: January 6, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Blogs | Leave a comment

A bit of good and bad from yesterday.

I received papers to sign for my first ever acting job. Four days of rehearsal and two performances on the fifth. I am hugely excited since acting is my passion, it’s what I want to do, and by securing my first paid job I’ve achieved more than 99% of the people who were ever serious about becoming professional actors. It’s a great feeling to finally achieve this level after two years of trying.

But you know what they say, no good deed goes unpunished. And in this instance, the good is slightly leveraged by the bad (although I am definitely on the plus side). In those two years I clinged to a job I absolutely hate but use to pay my bills. And just yesterday one of the managers showed me exactly how unimportant I am to her, to the workplace, and she unloaded a full tank of rubbish at me. So it’s definitely time to get out of my comfort zone, drop that useless vocation and look for something else.

Job hunting I will go. Anybody hiring?

2 Years

Posted: September 25, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Blogs | Leave a comment

It’s this time of the month where I shall be reminding myself of this blog and posting something. Five days ago was the second anniversary of my coming to Scotland for a permanent (so far) stay. It came and went without me even realizing. But it’s true, I’ve been living in this rainy/windy/pawky country for over 700 days. 13 months in Inverness, half a year in Livingston, and finally Glasgow from April to this day.

Is there something I would change about that time? Definitely. Do I regret the move? Certainly not. It’s an experience, a learning curve, kind of a daring adventure (even if it’s massively boring most of the time). I have to say I do not feel Scottish at all, I’m still very much an alien in this strange land. But I am picking up bits and pieces of it at my slow pace.

Will I leave this place at some point? Very probably. I haven’t established roots yet, so picking my things up and just going would not be hard. But it’s definitely not in my near plans. Now if I only knew what my plans were in the first place…

Take care, and do care.

Bone is Bane

Posted: August 24, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Reviews | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

As hinted in my previous post, here comes my review of an amazing one-man show, Bane.

Bane is the product of the twisted mind (when something is truly good, refreshing, mindbogglingly enticing, it must be a product of a twisted mind, not an ordinary one) of one Joe Bone of Whitebone Productions. I do not know much about Mr. Bone, I must admit, only that a couple years back he started writing and performing his show that is now a complete (or not?) trilogy of three separate performances: Bane 1: Someone’s Gonna Pay, Bane 2: The Beast Within, and Bane 3: Welcome to Sunnyview.

Here’s what the Fringe page has to say about Bane 3, the show I had the unspoken pleasure to watch, sink in, digest, and keep alive in my mind:

Bane 3 makes it’s debut Edinburgh appearance alongside smash hits Bane and Bane 2. Hired hand Bruce Bane steps out in Joe Bone’s trilogy of high-octane one-man film noir parodies and this time he’s shooting first and asking questions later. Creaking under the weight of awards and critical acclaim these are three shows not to miss. Bone brings these quick fire comedies to boiling point with just his body, his voice and a live guitar soundtrack from one-man Morriconne, Ben Roe.

When I read this, two words struck gold in my mind: film noire. I am an afficionado of the old, gritty black & white movies from the 40s and the 50s about rough private eyes, crooked cops, cocky gangsters and damsels who provide distress. Sam Spade of the Maltese Falcon, Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, Carol Reed’s The Third Man. To me even the excellent, fairly recent Pulp Fiction holds a lot of a film noire’s charm. I was immediately entranced by a vision a not-so-stellar hero in the centre of a dark, corrupt world, yet with laughs thrown in. So, I forked out a tenner without any second thoughts, and made Bane 3 a part of my day at the Fringe Festival.

I have to admit, I almost came in late. When I entered the blackness of a crowded, stuffy room of Ace Dome and the Pleasance Courtyard, the actor and his guitarist sidekick were already starting. I managed to draw the gaze of Mr. Bone for a second, as I made it in and stopped close to the door, convinced there was no room elsewhere. Then I was chased to the back by ticket crew, and found out there was indeed ample room on the other side – but not one empty chair. Unabashed, I stood and watched the hour-long story unfold, and I hardly felt any discomfort because of it.

Bane 3 starts with a bang a Hollywood blockbuster wouldn’t be ashamed of. Only here we have one man, walking, running, jumping and miming in a 6×6 feet space, doing his own sound effects, gesturing, playing every single character, changing voices and accents accordingly. I am no expert on accents, but in my book, Mr. Bone, who is, I think, British, does an excellent job of using the American speech, from general, to Brooklyn-Italian, to a midwest semi-drawl. There is not a single person in the show like any other. Bone shows amazing versatility, and a good deal of stamina – he is sweating by the end of the first scene, a long shot of Bruce Bane being shot in the gut, and then chased through the city streets by an old enemy. The gags with the fruit vendor and the mango (“Where did the man go?” “Mango! Where’s the mango. Here you go!”), world’s largest cushion, or the hilarious run into a movie casting (“You’ve been shot. You’re being chased. Show me what you’ve got.”) grabbed the audience firmly in stitches. From then on we have a collage of jokes, retrospectives, but also tears and surprising twists and turns. Bone operates on cliches, images we’ve seen already, but in every single moment he is victorious and utterly convincing.

Bruce Bane, a hired hand (an euphemism for much darker profession), is indeed an anti-hero, as befits a masterpiece of noir. He is human, far from perfect, ravaged and living on the edge. In Bane 3 he tries to change his ways, only to realize that in his case it isn’t possible. I am not going to reveal how this show, and entire trilogy of course, ends. I will only say it is darker an ending than one might expect from a comedy.

Ben Roe sits in the corner of the stage, and provides an always fitting soundtrack on his green accoustic guitar. He changes the moods of his melodies accordingly. At one moment he provides a gripping crescendo at a fight scene. In another, he’s playing a delicate classical tune for the gala inside a posh restaurant. The moods of the show change, and the music reflects it superbly.

The show is minimalistic, there is no expense. Bone uses no props, making guns and phones with his hands, wearing only a coat – a hot burden for the hour of gymnastics, but he doesn’t seem to mind, except sweat glistening on his face sometimes. Roe, in his chair, focused on his guitar, tuning it silently between his gigs, wears a black fedora. Nothing else, no recordings, no videos, no flashes of light. Delightful simplicity, an occasion for Bone to masterfully depict everything with his body language, and  with a range of voices, chirps and grunts. He juggles between scenes and characters, instantly changing from an oppressed girl to the creepy goon. According to Bane’s Facebook page, the three shows star a whopping 79 characters. That’s what I call range!

I honestly can’t give this show enough praise. You just have to watch it yourself. It costs £10 for each installment of the three, and admittedly I only saw the last one, Bane 3. But what I saw and the number of highly positive comments this show gets in all the places I checked, convinces me it’s worth to see the whole bill. And you can even invite Mr. Bone and Mr. Roe to your own place for a performance and something extra after, just head on to the Bane page and click “book bane”.

But I’m not here to tell you to book them. Instead, I am telling you this: Bane is showing at the Fringe until the 28th of August. You can probably still get the tickets on the Fringe page, although the demand is high, and catch every one of the free. You can check which part plays when on the Bane page I linked above.

While I probably, sadly, won’t make it to another show before the shows finish their run (or maybe I will?), I am putting Bruce Bane in my blogroll. That’s how much I liked Bane 3. They are not going to rake much traffic from my measly blog, but that’s a little way of showing my appreciation and support for the project. Plus a tenner for the ticket.

Take care, and do care.

I am alive

Posted: August 22, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Blogs | Leave a comment

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am still here.

It’s been a month, so naturally something happened and I have topics to write about. First of all, I’ve been back home in Poland, seen my family, a bunch of friends, it was a good week. Also, I found a new respect for Polish health service. Definitely better than the NHS!

I’ve had my audition at the Acting Coach Scotland. It didn’t go so well. So I might do a post about rejection soon. A major topic in the actor’s career. Everybody goes through it.

And I visited the Edinburgh Fringe yesterday. Dang, show tickets, train tickets, lunch, among it all it was a pricy day, but worth it! The focus of the day was comedy. I am going to blog about what I saw, and definitely post a recommendation of a show that will rock your shoes off (spoiler: the Bane trilogy by Joe Bone at Pleasance Dome, go book your tickets now!).

That’s my short update, with a flimsy promise of three new posts coming soon. Of course I’m bad on promises regarding updates, but I’ll do my best.

Take care, and do care.

Small Update

Posted: July 27, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Blogs | Leave a comment

Just blogging to say not much has been happening. Going to a class in the evening, have two sets of lines settled in my head, and the longer is actually starting to come automatic. Pity today’s the last time I need to use them. The other set’s shorter, so it’s easier, and I guess I’ll have it in the right frame before four weeks are past.

Signed up for a deal voucher – two hour introduction to fencing for 19 quid. Normal price is 60, so I consider it a bargain. We’ll see if the old Polish noble blood still sings in me – Poland has quite a history with the fencing arts, especially in the sabre, but our rapiers and florets do quite well in the world of sports.

Going to Poland for a week from 9 to 16 August. Can’t wait. Will be good to see friends and family again.

Take care, and do care.

Two Sides of the Foreign Coin

Posted: July 18, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Blogs | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Hello, my name is Michal, I’m Polish. I’m an actor.

I speak English fairly well, but with a distinctive accent. With passion, hard work, sweat and time spent to nail those stresses and vowels, I may be able to lose a great deal of it. I probably will never lose it entirely, however. I will also not change my looks and my personality, but let’s focus on the language. English is my second, it will always be, because I wasn’t born or raised in the English speaking world.

What does it mean for me as an actor? I live in Glasgow, a place where many distinct nationalities mingle, but it is primarily a place full of Scots, and other Brits. There are some Americans, some Aussies, some South Africans. Point at every English speaking country in the world, we have them here. This is an English speaking world. If you want to achieve success, in anything, you need to speak English, and speak English well. The acting industry is even more specific: you need to speak English with a specific accent, specific flair, grammar, regionalism. In short, to be eligible for most opportunities in Scotland, you must speak like a Scot. Of course, there are some opportunities for the English, the Irish, the American, and so on. And once in a while, there’s even a spot for a foreigner with English as their second language.

As a foreigner, I don’t stand a chance in auditions for characters who are Scottish, English, etc. I am doomed to failure because of the sheer number of local actors who represent those nationalities. In fact, I wouldn’t even be considered. The competition among them is staggering, and nobody in casting needs some foreign fake to waste their time. This is the 99%, or even 99.9% of roles offered in Scotland.

What’s left open for me are the parts aimed at Europeans, Poles first, but also Eastern Europeans, Russians, Germans and Austrians. That is the range I can do quite comfortably, as I have learnt some German and Russian at schools, and can adjust my accent accordingly. I would not fool a genuine Russian or German perhaps, but that is not necessary. The productions made here are in English, for an English speaking audience. Audiences outside that zone do not pose a concern to this industry, unless the work is specifically aimed to be viewed by them. That’s why on many occasions the foreigner parts are still taken by native English speaking actors. The first example that springs to my mind is Brian Cox in RED. He’s a brilliant Scottish actor, but the character he plays in the movie is Russian. This is the utilization of a known name, a brand, a bow towards British audiences and the actor’s fans. But even in smaller productions, where no big names appear, casting will often try to hire English-speaking actors who can do that foreign accent, because it widens their spectrum of candidates. From a casting director’s point of view, it’s better to have a hundred candidates than only ten of them. The probability of finding the right person for the job is ten times bigger, and somebody needs to land the spot, or casting won’t earn their commission for filling the part.

Still, there are the instances, when the director insists on a genuine European to play a European. I do not know how many such opportunities arise in Scotland. I don’t think anybody’s counting them, make any sort of statistic. It is a very specific circle of interest, with a limited number of actors fitting the bill. The competition is far smaller than in the remaining 99.9% It may mean that when a foreign actor comes to audition for a part that suits him, he has a better chance of landing that part, signing a contract, earning a credit, finding a gateway into Equity (the UK’s performing artists union) in the case of a beginning professional. However, they only get a chance in that remaining 1 or 0.1 percent of casting opportunities. So it is a very narrow window of opportunity. The window I have to squeeze through.

Take care, and do care.

World War Z

Posted: July 7, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Blogs | Tags: , | 2 Comments

There’s a new big film event coming to Glasgow. It’s a Hollywood blockbuster production called World War Z, a film in the zombie genre based on a best-selling book from 2006. Brad Pitt stars, and co-produces.

Apparently, some parts of Glasgow resemble downtown Philadelphia, where the story takes place. Especially St George’s Square, and probably St Vincent Street. The producers are still looking for other places in the city that will be good for filming. Store fronts will be ‘americanized’, American cars will litter the streets, and I presume there’ll be a lot of cursing about whole areas being closed for traffic for about 2 weeks in August.

It’s pretty much set in stone that Brad Pitt, the cast and the crew are coming to live in a specially erected tent town. Brad is even bringing his wife, Angelina Jolie, and the whole bunch of children they adopted. Good luck having holiday in here, with the weather like we’re getting. Well, last weekend was surprisingly good, but I suppose that’s our share of summer for this year. Expect clouds and rain for the shoot. But maybe that’s what the crew is looking for? Darkness, misery. A zombie movie isn’t rainbows and sparkles, unless it’s a comedy or something…

It’s supposed to be a big chance for Glasgow. Stream of American dollars going to the city budget. Tourists. Revenue streams. The city on the movie map. Maybe chances for more big movie shoots in the future. What I’m most interested about though, is the opportunity for extra work. Casting is looking for a 1000 people to stand in as zombies. The pay is £130 a day, and it’s going to be a week of work for the chosen ones in August. Long hours, waits, zombie makeup, a few flashes of Brad Pitt maybe. Extra work is not as exciting as it sounds, but the money’s good in this one. So I have just signed in with the agency who’s supposed to run the casting. People from within Glasgow should take precedence, so there’s a chance f or me. Even if I don’t get in, at the very least I tried. As Mark hints in the previous post: only way to get anywhere, is t0 try.

Take care, and do care.

← Older Entries