efogell

Answering this question brings to mind my response to a mother who wanted to know the best way to find an agent. I responded as follows:

Finding a talent agent in any city should not be too difficult. Finding one that takes personal interest in a particular individual requires a little more effort.

I think, however, you may be making the same error as 90%+ of everyone embarking on or thinking about getting into this profession makes by putting the cart before the horse. That is why 90% of everyone eventually gives up on their dream somewhere down the line with a lot of spent heartache and investments.

Your asking about an agent, whereas you should be asking about a school.

Although the total and complete explanation of all this would take some time on the phone or whatever. Please let me sum it up by stating that, "TALENT" and "LOOKS" are a drug on the market but learned "SKILLS" are not. A Skilled actor with no or little talent will out perform a person who is just a very talented individual. Combine the two and it is a certain plus.

It is not impossible to get cast in a major feature without training, anymore than it is impossible to become a millionaire without going to school. All you need is one dollar for a lottery ticket. Its possible to win the lottery but not very probable. We hear about the one person who won, not the tens of millions who didn't. BUT, if you go to school to become a doctor, lawyer or whatever, chances are, you will become a success. You may get extremely lucky to land a part in a production, but you need much more than that to sustain a career.

It is what you don't know that hurts you and in this business NO ONE tells you that you are bad. You'll walk out of every audition being told that you did a very good job etc. They do that for good reason. I made the mistake years ago telling people who auditioned for one of my productions what they needed. I did this in an effort to help those along, whom I had no intention of casting. I thought at the time it was a charitable thing to at least give them some way of growing out of the experience. WHAT A MISTAKE that turned out to be. We could talk about that some time.

I'm not trying to discourage you or your son. I'm trying to be truthful to help you, and insure that he is successful in his attempts to get into the performing arts.

Finally, if you look for a school, do the homework. Not with getting flyers and promo material in the mail. No school is going to say in their promo material that they stink. Get out and visit the school. Sit in on classes and evaluate what they are teaching. if they do not allow you to audit a class no matter how reasonable their reasons are, take a pass on that school. Take a pass on schools with fancy furniture, carpeting and located in high rent districts. You run the risk of their telling you crazy things that seems reasonable to the non-educated arts hopefuls, to pay those bills. Stay away from people that just say what they think you want to hear, like, "Your son is very talented and has a lot of potential"; or "You take this course and you will be ready to get cast in this or that"; or, "He should be in this acting competition. He's great and will get a lot of exposure to important people in the business"; or schools that are willing to put you in classes that you will be wasting your time in, like taking an On-Camera, commercials or audition class without them first, auditioning you. or without you having any extensive basic skills classes prior to enrollment. Take a pass on schools that have these so-called "Summer", "Winter" etc sessions that last only 8, 10, 12 weeks then break off for a couple weeks before advertising another seasonal session. Take a pass on any class that last only 8, 10, 12 weeks then ending and have you re-register for another session that begins weeks thereafter. These schools are just pushing a lot of info at you, but at the end of the course, the student hasn't been developed to the point where they can do what was put before them. You are better off and its a whole lot cheaper to read a book. The number one thing? You also want to take a serious pass on any school that does not focus on the importance of the voice and have it as the cornerstone of their training program.

Finding a GOOD SCHOOL is HARD WORK, In essence, finding out what you don't know. I get students that register in our school that have taken classes elsewhere for 1, 2 or 3 years even, and they cannot touch one of my beginning level students that have been taking classes from us for, say.... only 3-4 months.

I took way much longer with this response than I had initially intended and you were probably ready to deal with. I guess you just touched on a sensitive area with me. You see, I am constantly faced with individuals everyday that are preyed upon by venues, whose only purpose is to dig into people's pocket books. In my humble opinion, many just prey upon the hopes and dreams of the uninformed. They go on teaching ridiculous stuff in their workshops and/or have standard operational procedures that are just down-right ridiculous as well.

In closing, may I add, that all I have stated here is in my most humble opinion and experiences. It sometimes does not make me very popular in some obvious sectors. I would just hope that if a lot of this crazy stuff is brought to light, the competition will all get on the same page. The performing arts community will be better for it and most importantly, you aspiring actors will certainly reap the benefits. So in the final analysis. you are free to accept or reject anything I have outlined. It is also my hope that I have have been of some help and have not discouraged you. This is a great and exciting business to be in and I sincerely wish you and your son all the blessings that God has put before us.

Feel free to contact me in the future, and as time permits, I am always available to give a helping hand.

Respectfully submitted:

Edward Dennis Fogell, Artistic Director
The Chicago Actors Studio
2040 N. Elston Ave.
773-645-0222


PS: One of the things I have been offering in the Chicago-land area to counter-act this topic of discussion is giving away absolutely FREE 8-10 weeks of acting training to anyone not previously registered as a student at CAS and signs up for classes before the end of February 2007 and starts their classes before the end of March 2007.