Reignite Your Year!

Turning your New Years Resolutions into Action

There’s nothing like a new year to make you want to become a better person; rededicated to healthy habits and resolutions. If the stereotypes are true, some of us are finding ourselves in the second month of the year surrounded by goals that already seem difficult to reach.

Never fear because TAS is here to reignite your year! We can help you set feasible, reachable goals, to help turn your big New Year’s Resolutions into reality.

Start by looking at your resolutions and make sure you are being S.M.A.R.T. with them.

Originally proposed by George T. Doran in “Management Review”, the S.M.A.R.T. goals system is a fantastic way to break down your resolutions to be manageable:

As actors, getting S.M.A.R.T. with your goals is key to reaching them. Being able to break your resolutions down to S.M.A.R.T. goals is just the beginning. Let’s look at some specific resolutions and how we at The Actor’s Scene suggest you accomplish them.

Your resolution:

“Start acting”

Let me be the first to congratulate you on this journey “Yay, and welcome!” As overwhelming as this industry can be, getting into a class will help you out in more ways than one. If the idea of a class makes you roll your eyes, why not hear from the great Anthony Hopkins himself on the matter: ‘“I went to RADA for some training, and I began to gather together a sort of technique for myself,” he said in a 1989 interview with the Guardian. “I understood that there was something required of an actor, that you couldn’t just walk onstage and speak, that you had to do a lot of training, or had to have a lot of experience”’

Not only will beginner classes introduce you to the basics of acting, get you comfortable performing in front of others, and help you develop the skills you’ll need to get your career on it’s feet, but they can also be a place to find your acting family. Having an acting family or community will help you with the ups and downs of this industry. They can also be people you create your own opportunities with. There’s no better way to find this community than through classes, and getting into a class is one achievable goal you can hit!

TAS Suggestion: Get into a class. Specifically, check out our 6-week Intro to Acting class starting March 11th. You can take a 6 week class for just $139! Read more about it HERE.

Before looking at the next resolution, check out what our TAS Studio Assistant, RJ Lindsey, has to say about his: ‘”My New Year’s Resolutions for acting is to enjoy all aspects of acting without overthinking anything… The beautiful feeling of being consumed by all the techniques I have learned in class in order to tackle dozens of auditions and not worry about getting a callback”

Great advice, but how do we do that?

Your resolution:

“Get Out of Your Head”

With acting, there are loads of ways to get caught up in your head. Whether it’s about your performance, lack of opportunities to perform, your character work, your… and the spiral can just keep going. If you can relate, then it’s time you get to playing! Learning to let loose and play with a character helps get us out of our heads and into our bodies. It gives us the confidence to be comfortable being the character and not ourselves. As a sketch comedy actor myself, who specializes in characterization and has coached character actors at Sketchworks Comedy for over 10 years, I have some tips I can share for how to try out new characters:

First off, I’m more of an ‘inward to outward’ kind of gal, but you can definitely do this “outward-in”. I like to start with my character background (inward knowledge); knowing who my character is by reading and rereading the script while taking notes on anything (and everything!) about my character and the world they are in.

THEN comes the playing (i.e. outward knowledge)! While working on memorization, I play with all the lines. Playing with my voice, I’ll change the pitch, the timbre, speed, accent, emotion. Even if they don’t make sense for the line or the character, there is always something to discover.

I also play with my physical movements while doing this: walking stiff, adding big gestures, sagging my shoulders. Moving your body helps with memorization and figuring out the character’s physicalities. It’s all about discovery and having fun with the character!

To get specific with this resolution it’s time to check out improv. Improv exercises and games are all about getting you up and playing! And that helps spark the creativity and confidence you need to break out of your comfort zone.

TAS Suggestion: Improv classes: a place where you can really play with your acting skills and try out new characters. Check out our Improv Foundations Class HERE.

Your resolution:

“Get more bookings”

There’s a lot of advice out there that we could go with here, so let’s get measurable with what you need to do for bookings: ORGANIZE! Organizing the auditions you’ve had, the files you create for your auditions, your taping set up or organizing yourself before going to the taping room. All of these are KEY to getting you more bookings. “How do we get organized”, you ask. Instead of me telling you, let’s go to one of the most organized and ‘with it’ people at our studio: Front Desk Manager and Coach, Leah Merritt.

She says: “Thanks to my Type A mom, I’ve kept a spreadsheet of all of my auditions/callbacks/bookings throughout my career! It’s not only a great way to quickly see my history with a casting director, but to also look back at all that I’ve accomplished so far.”

TAS Suggestions: Book a Private session with one of our knowledgable coaches to help organize your life. Our trained coaches can help you break down everything you need to get your audition life on track and ready for more bookings! Read more about Private Lessons HERE.

Your resolution:

“New Challenge or Change”

Some of you have been in this industry a while and are in need of a new challenge or change in your acting journey. This is very common, especially as you age up in this career and your character type changes. Maybe there’s a new part of this industry you’d like to try out: voice over, industrials, drama. Perhaps there’s a casting director out there that has yet to notice you. To do this, it helps to meet with someone that can look at you with fresh eyes and see what’s hidden beneath the surface. Sometimes we have parts of ourselves that we haven’t brought to the table because they aren’t related to acting. But check out this special skills that Coach Jeanne Morales has on her resume:

“I have firearms training on my resume. When I was in school for Criminal Justice, I took a course using the same simulation program that is used in the police academy. I added this to my resume because I felt it could help me out with getting detective style auditions!”

We bet that speaking with an acting coach can help you discover parts of yourself that could maximize your acting presence, or could point you in a direction to help open up your acting options.

Whatever your new challenge or change is, we’ve got you! To get you reasonable about the journey, we suggest Career Coaching.

TAS Suggests: Career Coaching. Much like Private sessions, this is a one on one situation where a trained coach can help guide you on your unique journey. Read more about Career Coaching HERE.

No matter what your acting resolutions are this year, TAS has got your back! Your only S.M.A.R.T. tactic left is to be time-oriented, so reach out to the Front Desk today to get started on your goals and reignite your year!

Ready to get started? Reach out today!

TASFRONTDESK@GMAIL.COM

770-904-6646

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About The Author

Kirsten Krehbiel

Kirsten Krehbiel is an Atlanta based actress, director, and writer who enjoys bringing people new truths through the art of storytelling. She has a love of acting both on camera and on stage, having been lucky enough to be a part of incredible productions in both worlds. Kirsten joined the TAS team in 2020 as a coach, a job she loves because it lets her watch first hand as students grow and gain self confidence as actors. When she is not creating or coaching, you can find Kirsten hanging out with her grumpy cat on their back porch.

Reignite Your Year!