Being Ready
Earlier this month I spent a very enjoyable five days filming on the first episode of a crime series of for the BBC. I was taken by how the structure of a day's filming, is so like our working life as actors in general.
Some days from the moment you arrive on set, you might be busy for the whole day, but that is rare. You might have a scene off in the middle of the day which, if you're lucky, will necessitate returning to your trailer at location base and passing an hour or so catching up on emails or having a snooze.
Being of a generation who remembers filming before we had smartphones, I remember how an essential part of one's location kit would include some cheap tacky paperback which you could immerse yourself in without any real commitment. Twice in my twenties, I asked my mother if she could teach me how to knit, as I saw lots of older actors sitting around in their trailers completing scarves and christening blankets and working through their Christmas list for relatives. Alas, my digital dexterity (in terms of finger skills) just would not allow my brain to grasp the basic principle behind needles and wool. As a result, friends and family alike
have been spared my attempts at a Christmas sweater.
Yet when these lulls occur during the filming day, you have to stay ready. You never know when that knock will come on the trailer door and you will be straight back out onto location, most probably for a scene which is heavy in dialogue and demands your full concentration.
My year has been a little like a days filming. Lots of work in the first couple of months keeping me busy and then, over the summer, it really has been a question of motivating myself. The process has been helped greatly by my decision to complete, at long last, a novel. Starting in May, I set myself a daily work target, and completed the first draft at the end of August. It's just been edited and sent out into the world for feedback and comment. A process that makes me feel quite sick at the thought of other people reading my words.
Yet the good thing about having pushed myself through what otherwise might have been quiet months during the summer is that now, the shock of an incredibly busy work timetable has been slightly lessened. I'm writing this on a rather damp afternoon at home, the first day in over three weeks I have managed to spend with my partner. I'm incredibly grateful for the work, and the opportunities that I'm given, but when they decide to cram themselves into one three month period, getting up to speed can be quite a shock.
Yet, as actors, we have to be ready. The good thing about our work is that a phone call today could mean that we are in a rehearsal room or on a film set tomorrow. We have to be ready, able to give of our best at a moments notice. And that's one reason why doing something each and every day that says "I am an actor" pays dividends.
Some days from the moment you arrive on set, you might be busy for the whole day, but that is rare. You might have a scene off in the middle of the day which, if you're lucky, will necessitate returning to your trailer at location base and passing an hour or so catching up on emails or having a snooze.
Being of a generation who remembers filming before we had smartphones, I remember how an essential part of one's location kit would include some cheap tacky paperback which you could immerse yourself in without any real commitment. Twice in my twenties, I asked my mother if she could teach me how to knit, as I saw lots of older actors sitting around in their trailers completing scarves and christening blankets and working through their Christmas list for relatives. Alas, my digital dexterity (in terms of finger skills) just would not allow my brain to grasp the basic principle behind needles and wool. As a result, friends and family alike
have been spared my attempts at a Christmas sweater.
Yet when these lulls occur during the filming day, you have to stay ready. You never know when that knock will come on the trailer door and you will be straight back out onto location, most probably for a scene which is heavy in dialogue and demands your full concentration.
My year has been a little like a days filming. Lots of work in the first couple of months keeping me busy and then, over the summer, it really has been a question of motivating myself. The process has been helped greatly by my decision to complete, at long last, a novel. Starting in May, I set myself a daily work target, and completed the first draft at the end of August. It's just been edited and sent out into the world for feedback and comment. A process that makes me feel quite sick at the thought of other people reading my words.
Yet the good thing about having pushed myself through what otherwise might have been quiet months during the summer is that now, the shock of an incredibly busy work timetable has been slightly lessened. I'm writing this on a rather damp afternoon at home, the first day in over three weeks I have managed to spend with my partner. I'm incredibly grateful for the work, and the opportunities that I'm given, but when they decide to cram themselves into one three month period, getting up to speed can be quite a shock.
Yet, as actors, we have to be ready. The good thing about our work is that a phone call today could mean that we are in a rehearsal room or on a film set tomorrow. We have to be ready, able to give of our best at a moments notice. And that's one reason why doing something each and every day that says "I am an actor" pays dividends.
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