Jan 04
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Ron Gonzalez Headshots

The Actor Headshot

By Seminars

Yesterday we discussed the resume (read it here).  If you’re coming to the Acting: A Director’s POV for Child/Teen actors on Jan 21, bring your headshot and resume and we’ll discuss it right there and then.  To register, go to the store. The Headshot As the director, the majority of headshots will come to me in the audition room.  Yes, throughout the year, people will hand them to me.  At church.  At industry events.  At my house unannounced and uninvited.  To my wife when I’m not there.  The truth is that outside the audition room, I don’t have a system for collecting headshots.  It might go in a folder that I forget all about.  Your best bet is to cozy up to casting directors. So you’ve appropriately handed me your headshot as you walked into the audition room (or the…

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Jan 03
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Actor Resume

Actor Resumes

By Seminars

For those coming to the Acting: A Director’s POV for Teen and Children actors on Saturday Jan 21, bring your headshot and resume and we’ll talk about them.  (Register for the morning or the afternoon session here). The Resume Most of the time, I get handed a headshot as I sit behind the table about to hear your audition.  I might have been handed the headshot by the casting associate or given when you walked in the room.  I will glance at the headshot (more on the next blog) and then turn it over and read. Here’s a bullet point of things I see: SAG or SAG eligible — A very common question is whether a non SAG actor who is eligible should put “eligible” on there.  I’m fine with that.  It tells me you’ve worked on a SAG set…

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Jan 03
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What’s a Parent of a Actor To Do?

By Seminars

We’re going to be having another seminar on Saturday January 21.  This one is Child/Teen Acting: A Director’s POV.  To register, you can go to the store.  When I’ve taught this seminar before, I’ve gotten some very interesting questions. “The Director wanted to take my child into a different building, pretty far away from me and wouldn’t allow me to come.”  Although on the face of it, this seems a simple “hell no.”  But there are a lot of conflicting thoughts that run through the head at this moment.  You want you and your child to be a team player.  You want the director to like your child actor so that they won’t get cut.  Or their part lessened.  Or maybe the thought flitters through your head that maybe in this industry, it’s just the way it’s done… that it’s…

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Dec 19
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Children & Teen Actors

Children & Teen Actors

By Seminars, Tips/Techniques

As a working film director, I’ve had lots of opportunities to work with children and teen actors.  And it seems to me that most of the training is actor to actor– so here’s some information to children and teen actors and their parents from a director to actor.  I’ll be teaching a class in Fort Worth on January 21 on this subject.  You can register at the store.  There’s a morning session and an afternoon– you just need to pick one– they’re identical. First of all, the child actor needs to look and play younger.  The younger the better.  This goes against what almost every child is seeking– to be grown up.  So as you shoot headshots, assemble demo footage, go to auditions– keep that in mind.  You want to look and play younger. Why?  Two simple reasons.  The more…

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Dec 09
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BBB Spam Email

By Tips/Techniques

The spammers/virus spreaders/frauders keep getting better.  I *almost* clicked on the newest one yesterday.  I had an email from the Better Business Bureau telling me I had a customer complaint.  I didn’t click and here’s why. If I get an email that reads a non-personal “dear valued customer” or “to business owner” a flag gets raised immediately.  If the BBB has a complaint against me, they know my name.  Same goes with all these spam/virus emails.  And as always, remember, do not click anything suspicious. Next up, I hovered my mouse over the “click here” to check out the address of the link where they wanted to send me.  It was a numbered IP address. Another flag.  A legitimate link would have sent me back to the BBB website.  And watch out for the spoofers (seen a lot in the banking fraud…

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Dec 08
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Audition in NYC for Rising Stars

Audition Tips from a Working Film Director

By Tips/Techniques

In addition to our corporate video productions we do in the Dallas, Fort Worth area, SFilms has made five feature films over the years starring Adam Baldwin, Mimi Rogers, Lou Diamond Phillips and others.  In today’s post, we talk to actors about quick tips to instantly impact their auditions and give a better chance for landing that role. The Dilemma for Local Actors When I was casting for Rising Stars in New York City, the producer that hired me (as well as most producers in LA and NYC) had a bias against local actors.  They were fine for bit parts and dayplayer roles, but not for principles or leads.  And as we auditioned back at home for these roles, I thought about this dilemma and why the local actors are handicapped right out of the gate. So how can a local actor…

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Dec 05
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Sean Patrick Flanery and Dan Millican

How to Land Name Actors for Your Film

By Seminars, Tips/Techniques

So you want to make a feature film.  You might have even heard that the biggest factor, bar none, for the distribution success of your movie is to cast name actors.  But how do you do it? The Name Actor’s 4 Factors First, you need to know the four factors that weigh in a name actor’s decision to be in your movie. A director they want to work with A script they want to do A producer or producing team they can trust The money I’ve had people go into this process thinking that they can land anyone for a price and it’s just not true.  I’ve had name actors turn down large amounts and I’ve had bigger name actors take a lot less.  So money is not the only factor.  And if you’re a first time director and you’re…

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Nov 30
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What Camera Should I Buy?

By Tips/Techniques

I get asked this by friends and family and the answer depends on what they want it for and how manual/automatic they want it.  But I was asked this by someone in the industry.  They are ready to upgrade to new technology and liked the setup I have for corporate video production. Camera for Corporate Video First, more often than not, I use a DSLR for my corporate work.  But occasionally I need something to record long form– like a seminar or meeting.  So what follows is what I recommend for corporate film– like interviews and sales videos, or marketing videos.  If you’re recording a board meeting, the DSLR is not the best choice. Camera–  I have the DSLR Canon 7D.  My DP Ron Gonzalez has a 5D (both shown in the picture on the right).  A Partner of mine…

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Nov 23
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On the film Rising Stars

Two Camera Shooting in Film and Video Production

By Tips/Techniques

Two Cameras in Feature Films & TV When it comes to the number of cameras on a film set, traditionally, movies are shot with one, while television shows are shot with four or five. Now that doesn’t mean movies aren’t shot with more cameras– I think at one point, Cameron had five or six on Titanic and for special effects and stunts, there might be ten or more.  And more recently, Peter Jackson had something like 37 Red Epics on “Hobbit.”  But he’s also shooting 3D, and for the sake of discussion, I’m not talking about 3D here, because in that case, two cameras really mean four and we’re not going there. Film Style But when someone says “shooting film style” that means that it’s primarily going to be shot with one camera. The difference is a film shoot utilizes…

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Nov 21
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Slow Motion

Reviewing the Video Film Slider

By Reviews

Video Production Benefits from Smaller Cameras and Cool Toys With the smaller cameras, come cool toys and tools that can have a great impact on your production value.  As of late, there has been a huge boom in sliders.  I know I’ve been using them the last year or two– to the point where it goes out on every shoot.  Sliders are a simple basic replacement for dollies.  Now film and video productions can get great smooth right and left movement for a fraction of the cost and manpower.  You can even truck in and out with them and in some extreme cases, you can crane up and down. At SFilms, we use a basic Glidetrack.  And recently, we bought a Slyderdolly from Digital Juice that has been pretty impressive.  It’s robust, strong, sturdy and comes with features and accessories…

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