Workshop report--

My baptism into the showcase world is complete. It's a tough one. Grueling is more like it:

I arrived a little after 7 for the 7:30 showcase because I had to pay for it and I wanted to order some more. This was unnecessary; I don't think I actually turned in the VISA form until about 9 p.m. Anyway, there I was.

Part I. The first order of business at a One-On-One Studios showcase is the one-on-one interview/meeting with the guest of honor. Each person is allowed 5 minutes to chat with the guest so that he or she gets an idea of your personality. My tête-à-tête mostly covered my new proof sheets and my agent. Ken said the shots weren't so great, and that I shouldn't be so tough on my agent, that most agents would have trouble getting an inexperienced, non-union actor with mediocre headshots out on auditions. Great. (He said my new headshots looked like ones from a girlfriend's wallet photo, not a professional actor's headshot.)

Part II. Each participant is given a scene partner and a two-person scene to prepare for the agent/casting director. I got together with Patty, who was also there for agent night, and we worked on our "When Harry Met Sally..." scene. In fact, we worked it to death in the over 2 hours we spent waiting for the one-on-one portion of the evening to end. Finally, a little after 9:30, everyone went into the studio and each group performed their scene. About half of the people were decent and half were bad, but every scene was way too long. While a minute was all that was necessary for the agent to tell what he wanted, the scenes went on for 5, 6, 7 minutes. It was awful. Patty and I had a mercifully short scene, 2 minutes or so, and it went well. It ended with Patty slapping me, so it was a crowd pleaser. And it got some laughs as well.

When we sat down, the guy sitting two seats down from Patty leaned over and said, "Nice work." I regret to admit that I believed that he was seriously so impressed with our acting, and blocking, and abilities that he just had to lean over and acknowledge the supreme professionalism we brought to the showcase environment. I realize now that he probably just wanted to take Patty out for a drink afterwards. Never accept face-value in Hollywood.

Part III. The scenes probably wrapped up at around 11 p.m. And so we moved into the final portion of the evening, the general question-and-answer session.

Let me see what I can recall: He explained how Savage Agency used to be just kids, which is still all that Judy Savage handles, and he was brought in to foster the adult arm of the business. He now handles 60-65 clients.

He talked about his aggressive follow-up calls. He won't let a headshot sit unopened, he'll keep calling until he gets some feedback on the actor he submitted. He doesn't rely on just the breakdowns, but calls around to producers and casting directors to see what's happening.

He went off on what a bad time it is to try to break into the business. He said that people on the outside don't realize the severe effect the recession has had on the industry. Jobs are scarce. People who are established actors are excited to do FBI Unsolved Mysteries episodes. People aren't willing to consider non-SAG actors when they can just as easily find their type in SAG.

He countered this depressing tirade by saying that they're always looking for fresh faces. "Who can you get me that's new?" And so, don't despair.

He said that he likes to represent quality actors, and gets annoyed when descriptions such as "sexy, knockout, buxom blonde" come through on the breakdowns.

He was definitely in favor of meeting people and auditioning for people as much as possible, to work your way into people's minds and, eventually, the roles they're casting.

Part III took us up to the midnight hour, thus rounding out over 4 1/2 hours of "showcase" madness. (If I remember anything else from Part III, I'll add it later.)

STUFF: