The Power of No

As an actor in training, one of my favourite games was "Yes...let's". An exercise to encourage the ability to accept ideas from fellow actors. "Let's go the Zoo..... Yes, let's"  "Let's all lie down and pretend to be in the Arctic...." Yes......(Sideways glance for a skulking polar bear) ....Let's". The whole concept of being open to things and reacting to them in a positive way.  To build and not to block. The whole idea of trying something out wholeheartedly before rejecting it is key to the way we work in the rehearsal room and in front of the camera.

Yet there is a very important place in our work for the word "NO".  It's all part of the process of knowing yourself, and knowing that what you bring to each and every job you do as an actor is yourself. You have likes, and you have dislikes. You have standards, and you have an ability to compromise. You also have the choice to decide when all those things come into play.

Actors want to act and when they're not acting, they have to survive. This makes them vulnerable.  They need to live, and sometimes there is little choice in what they can do to earn a crust. I say little choice, but it's very rare that there is no choice.

Will doing that student film for very little money or expenses only give you something back? If you're not sure what the benefits of doing it are, then the answer should be no. Your time can be better used. Will you get something out of the five weeks you're about to donate to a "profit share" production? You can say yes, or you can say no. Sometimes I just think that because it's the only job on the table, actors feel they have to say yes and and to this end they are often exploited. Actors are often asked to do work for no pay, or low pay, sometimes with an offer that this might lead to more work. You have to judge it carefully.

You wouldn't ask a plumber to come and mend the tap on your kitchen sink for free and  tell him that if he does a good job and you like it, you'll use him to fit your new bathroom. Yet people seem to have little qualms about asking actors to come and do a "freebie" and if they like them, they'll use them.

It's hard to say no. You haven't acted for months, and this was what you trained to do. If you have just come out of drama school, can you really call yourself an actor until you've done a job? There are some who would say that you can't really call yourself an actor until you've done a job and been paid for it.

Self-esteem and dignity are important. Nobody can take care of these things other than you.

In my time, I've done a few jobs, that had my financial situation been different, I may have said no to. But I've also said no to things. Things I just know I wouldn't have felt comfortable doing. I said no to a major feature film which involved spending time in a pit of snakes. No,  it wasn't "Indiana Jones and the Bingo Hall of Tooting",  but they were going to be real snakes. Something I knew I just couldn't handle.

As an actor your skills are of great use to many people, and one of the best ways to ensure that you have career longevity, is to find as many opportunities for those talents as possible.

 I believe that we only develop as actors when we are working. We can take class, and we can learn skills. But ultimately if we are not out there practising those skills, it's a little pointless. By all means take a class and learn a new skill, or improve an asset that you already have, but make sure that it's done to enlarge your chances of getting work.  You didn't come into this profession just to train all the time. You came to act.

 Acting takes many forms and the talents of the actor can be used in many ways. As Chairman of the Actors Centre, I am keen that we keep as many of our members in touch with work and the working world as possible. We will never be able to offer jobs, but we can create networks. We have managed to get quite a few new supporters on board in the last year some of whom do have access to work.

Kru Live are a promotions and events staffing company. I think they are one of the best in their field. I interviewed the boss man, Tom Eatenton,  when researching my book " So You Want to Be a Corporate Actor?". He's charismatic, and committed to providing top quality people for his clients. He also realises that looking after the people who work for him is the key to success.  He came along to our "Moving  On Up" event to talk to this year's graduates about how they could get involved in promotional work as a method of supporting themselves. He invited graduates along to a Kru Live recruiting day and promised to keep in touch with us at the Actors Centre.

He's also been sending work our way, and I've been able to do a tweet or two looking for actors. I tweeted a job on Friday where Kru live were looking for around 50 actors for a job this coming Friday. You needed to be outgoing. This was a live Flash mob marketing event, involving wearing a dressing gown and occasionally flashing at people to reveal underwear and financial marketing advice. As someone who has always thought that the right pair of knickers were a good selling point, I can understand the link. The job paid above the minimum wage, and although the day would be long, the actors would earn considerably more than on a bar shift. It would also use their talents of engaging people.

Lots of members applied and Tom and his team got the people they needed. A friend of mine messaged me later in the day to say that her niece who is a member of the Actors Centre had applied for the job, only to be rather horrified when she found out what it involved and turned it down. I admire her for saying no. If it was not her cup of tea and something that she would not feel comfortable with, then saying no was absolutely the right thing to do.

It doesn't mean however that the answer yes wasn't also the right answer for the fifty people or so who saw this as an opportunity.

Fifty actors will be richer than they were by the end of the week. Not by much, but it all helps. One actress will have her self-esteem in place that she said no to something she felt uncomfortable with.

 Any job offer or interview is a two-way thing. It's as much a chance for you to look at the potential employer, director, or whoever and decide whether you could work with them, as it is for them to assess you. Last year I went out for an episode of a sitcom for a casting director who is a great fan of mine. The director was a waste of space. They had absolutely no idea what they were looking for, and that communicated itself in them remaining virtually silent throughout the interview. The main impression I took away was that working with them might not be a great deal of fun, and that as a director, they probably couldn't block a toilet.

There's nothing better than saying no to something.  It gives one a feeling of self-worth, and let's be honest about it, a little rush of power.

The power of No.