Summer is upon us and in the life of an actor, there are many challenges that can present themselves during the summer months. There may be a lull in the amount of auditions and job opportunities you receive or maybe you just finished one or more jobs, or you find yourself in a transitional space whether it’s needing to shop for representation or refreshing your headshots. With all of these business related concerns, obligations, and financial costs to keep in mind, why should you make room for studying your craft and why is it important?
Here are three reasons why continuing to study is key for an actor.
1. Studying helps you visualize.
What roles do you love? What roles do you long to master? What roles terrify you? Stretching yourself in class and pushing yourself beyond your limitations and fears can help you visualize and see new possibilities that you may not have been previously aware of. Maybe you’ve been stuck doing one type of part. Exploring new or riskier material can ignite a fire in your belly that may have remained dormant otherwise. You may be inspired to make adjustments to your business materials, like incorporating a new look the next time you get headshots done. Or, better yet, you may be inspired to write, produce, and act in your own project.
READ: Everything Actors Need to Know About Summer Training
2. Studying keeps the love for your craft alive.
We all know that acting is more than just a business—it’s an art form and the study of our craft is a lifelong journey. You’ll very likely have to go through many rounds of self-tapes, callbacks, and producer sessions before you land your next job. As you move through that frustrating, sometimes disappointing process, it’s possible to lose sight of what made you fall in love with acting in the first place. Making room in your life to continue studying your craft keeps you in touch with loving what you do. Being alive in the work will serve you well in the audition world, keeping you in balance with your bold, free, creative self. Let’s face it, it’s good self-care. As a result, you’ll arrive at your next audition or your next job in your power and armed with a recipe for success.
3. Studying prepares you for what lies ahead.
If all you’ve been doing for the past year is auditioning or worse, waiting to audition, and not fine-tuning your craft, are you going to be ready to deliver when you get that 11 page callback in front of producers on the Warner Bros. lot? Or how about when you get the role and have a month and a half before you need to be on the set? Studying reminds you to stay in communion with your creative process. It keeps you accountable to the work and will make your experience working in the business more satisfying, building positive energy for the next audition, the next job, and beyond.
Sustaining a healthy connection to your craft is similar to nurturing a healthy relationship. Even the most luminary actors still call upon their trusted acting coach to stay connected to the craft which proves that no matter where you are on the ladder of success, the opportunity to learn more and grow as an artist never disappears.
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The views expressed in this article are solely that of the individual(s) providing them,
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Backstage or its staff.
