Easy Does it

As I was fortunate enough to be in on a paid acting job the other day, it seems right to say something on the matter. Something that has occurred to me a number of times is that the difficulty level of paid acting work is not necessarily the greatest of anything a performer might do. It might be, of course, but there are plenty of occasions in which things one does for a class are considerably more challenging. This recent one bears that out, although I'm reluctant to discuss it in specific.

In improv class, the sort with which I have the most personal familiarity, there are things that test me from beginning to end. Even the warm-up exercises can be tough. There's a word association game which is meant to force you not to analyze your options before making a decision. You're given a word by the person on your left and must respond with the first thing in your head before continuing the cycle with the person on your left. The key is maintaining the rhythm. It's a scary game because of the ugly words that might come out because you're disabling your filter.

I have not yet progressed to a point where anything that difficult is asked of me, and really that exercise isn't so hard. I've just sat around and been paid for it. I've just stood around and been paid for it. I've played out a scene of two or three lines and been paid for it. Maybe the most involved acting I have done for money actually involved the least amount of money, and that amounted to no more than a minor supporting role, albeit in a feature film.

Of course, there are a lot of things surrounding the acting that make it a little tougher. You have to try again and again to convince someone you should do it. You have to try on clothes and go someplace particular that might not be an exceptionally easy place to go.You do have to do it a bunch of times for a camera, and it's not a totally relaxed thing where you can kind of do what you want. There's money and people's jobs on the line, and so I have those things on my mind when I do it. Still, it's pretty easy a lot of the time.