Your First Screen Test

To begin with a positive note, screen tests are not something that is impossible to crack although it might seem tough and nerve wrecking for many. But remember you don't get these opportunities too often so you have to make the best use of it to demonstrate your talent to the talent agents, casting directors and directors. You should not be let down by the outcome of the screen test and always look ahead, you should always take it in a right sense after all the failures are stepping-stones to success. Keep in mind only one fact that you have to work hard towards your goal and having a positive attitude can do that. Apart from the attitude, one should be passionate and ambitious to achieve goals. Also enjoying the work you do makes the quest easier. 

Do not forget to take your resume and a headshot most preferably 8"X10" with you to the audition. Some talent agents also need social security number, so take it with you. Sometimes the aspiring actors are called in the number of hundreds, be prepared to stand in line for hours. But most of the times you are called for screen test through an invitation. It is very common that you will get few pages of the script that you may be asked to read during the screen test. Read the script thoroughly and get into the character and ask yourself questions about the character. After getting into the skin of the character you should learn your lines properly using the best way you can. 

How to find an agent?

You may have the talent and skills to make it big in the show business but the attempts to break into the industry are futile without an agent and to be precise a right agent. A good agent is critical to the success of your efforts to get into show business. There are many agents who advertize to get candidates, some look out for them on the roads and malls promising a bright future to the prospective actors. But beware of these agents. Reputed agents never advertize to get actors. They already have a bee-line at their door and thus would never be required to advertize, their hands are always full with aspiring actors willing to get a break in this fantastic industry.

But before working with an agent question yourself what you are looking for in an agent. Decide whether you want a union or a non-union agent. Also important is to do a self check of your desires, your talents and decide what type of agent you need at this juncture of your career. It is well understood fact that though not impossible but actors seldom sticks with one agent during their career. Also many a times agents provide only extra work to the aspiring actors instead of principal roles due to their limited reach to the well known directors. Also look out to see if the agent has a big list of names or only few. The fewer the clients he may have the lesser the demand or popularity of that agent. 

Writing for Television

People think that writing for television and film is the same but on the contrary both the industries are different. The main elements of the television industry are networks, studios and production companies. Writers are basically hired by a studio to write for a particular network or channel. They even have the rights to sell the material elsewhere. This material is then used by the production companies to bring the script into action. 

The writers face two kinds of deals, a development deal and overall deal. Development deal requires the writer to write for only a single project. Only a single story is being developed for which the writer gets paid from $30,000 - $50,000. Overall deal requires the writer to write on a long term basis and the income is more than development deal. 

After the initial filtering, about 4-10 writers are selected and they are placed in hierarchy. Showrunner is at the top and is the program creator. They are the ones which have maximum experience in writing and receive an Executive Producer status and earn up to a million. Later in the hierarchy of writing team are co-executive producers, supervising producer, producer, co-producer, and executive story editor and at the end is the staff writer, also known as baby writers as they are the starters.   

Writing your first Screenplay

Introduction to the story, characters, location and time frame should usually be the start of the screenplay. Setup is an important part as the audiences have knowledge about the movie or the performance. It's better to start with a picture rather than an unknown voice on a blank screen as that will be good to absorb the audience into the story. The image can be of anyone, either that of the actor who plays the central role, or any place like his hometown, whatever conveys the theme? Like in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, a snake is shown crawling which later gets killed by Potter in order to save himself and the students. 

Starting with characters interaction is also a good idea as the audience concentrate on them for a while to decide whether they want to pursue them or not and also keep them wondering about the plot of the story. But it's very important that whatever is portrayed in the first few scenes or the first ten minutes should be directly related to the story. If any irrelevant stuff is being displayed it will simply confuse the audience and can also make them lose interest.

After gaining audience's interest the next ten pages should explain about the unfolding of the story and at the same time holding the suspense of the story. Most of the characters can be introduced, environment can be created, past events can be enacted and the villain can also be introduced but that isn't a must. To build the suspense the villain can be pictured as a good guy but his reality comes to light after a bad incident or when he caught red handed by another character. But this shouldn't take long to test the patience of the viewers.

How do I break into show business?

Many people have the dream of breaking into Show Business one day in their life. While many have the inborn talent to make it big some may have to work hard to polish it. But irrespective of whatever everybody has to plan and take a right approach to get a break in Showbiz. But remember success doesn't come overnight; you have to work hard and even harder to make it big in the Show business. So the first lesson to learn is stay away from agents who promise you to make a big star overnight. 

The first and foremost thing to know before entering the Show Business is that you should analyze yourself whether you have it in you to break into Show Business. Somebody can teach you acting but cannot make you an actor unless you have it in you called the desire. Question yourself whether you will be able face the challenges like different work environment, different style of living, new people, new places and many more that might come in your way and the tough competition ahead. A lot depends on how flexible and adaptable you are. If you have a rigid personality then forget about getting a break as this industry demands you to work with people having different kinds of personalities and the possibility of differences creeping in cannot be ruled out.

Once you analyze yourself and you are confident you must be willing to pack your bags and get started. But a piece of advise here, do not quit your job or even if you quit your job to move to a different place keep working part time to keep yourself financially supported. Do not wait until the time you are broke. Many big actors kept working until they made it big. Find a job which is flexible and doesn't come in the way of your auditions or plan things in such a way that you get to attend at least one audition a day.