Tweeting in Touch
Last Monday night saw our third "Moving on up" event at the Actors Centre. The evening when we invite this year's drama graduates into the building to begin their relationship with us, and hopefully where we as an organisation can begin to support them as they prepare to step out into the real world.
This evening sits alongside the series of drama school chats we deliver, several of which I have had the pleasure of doing personally this year. It's been great to visit LAMDA, Guildford, Rose Bruford, ALRA, and Central to meet lots of people who will leave their drama school this summer and head out into the real world. Some of them were in the building last Monday night, keen to take up the membership offer we always give at this event, and no doubt, to down a few glasses of free Prosecco. Even more importantly, they have the chance to meet agents in a speed dating session, to sit in front of a panel that included the rather fabulous Deborah Willey, agent at Independent, and casting director Gary Davey, an old friend of mine, who offered a lot of sage, practical, and no-nonsense advice. Tom Eatenton, the managing director of Kru Live was also on hand to offer some great information on work life balance, and how there are opportunities out there for actors to use their skills in ways they may not have thought of. I have to say there was a certain amount of pride coursing through my aged cynical veins as Elliott Barnes Worrell, 2012 winner of the Alan Bates, and Luke Dale, current holder of the Alan Bates award also took their places on the panel. Both well placed, even after their relatively short working careers, to offer advice to people about to go through the same process.
The evening was an unqualified success, and it was great to meet so many new people. Many of them continued the contact afterwards on Twitter. I always find after such events, drama school talks, or events in the Actors centre, my number of Twitter followers increases. Currently at around 1500, I think I'm very lucky to know there are so many people who might want to flick through my ramblings at some point during their day. Twitter proves a brilliant way of just keeping up with what an awful lot of people are doing. In my day as a young actor it involved a disrespectful attitude to ones telephone bill, a bottle of white wine, and a free evening. Then phone calls were made, and the more wine drunk, the longer the calls, as the evening progressed, and hopefully you remembered enough to keep abreast of what lots of people were up to and also what opportunities that presented for yourself. Or perhpas you just enjoyed the wine. Now one can do keep in touch by simply flicking through one's Twitter feed. I think it's important to remember that, although it allows you a unique viewpoint of what is going on in someone's life, it's probably not the best way to make contact professionally. That should always be done in the form of an email or hard copy. Many organisations will ask you to respond to requests on Twitter. The Actors Centre has done this itself in the past, and indeed we've been lucky enough to be able to offer work for Tom's company, Kru Live, by advertising it on our Twitter feed. It's a way of bringing an awful lot of people into contact very quickly, and as such I think it's fantastic.
If you're able to ignore my ramblings about dreadfully under stocked supermarkets, appalling customer service from BT, and the occasional delayed train, it does allow you an opportunity to find out what I'm up to in almost as much depth as if you'd had a couple of glasses a wine and hour on the phone. As such it's a very useful tool for any actor, new or established, to keep abreast of what is going on. This is one of the subjects I am covering in my new book "The Working Actor" which after about 20 months sitting as a document on my desktop, has now gone off to the publishers to be typeset and is due for publication in early April. More to follow, and if you want to know just what more is to follow then, of course, keep your eyes on my twitter feed.
@Claytoncast
This evening sits alongside the series of drama school chats we deliver, several of which I have had the pleasure of doing personally this year. It's been great to visit LAMDA, Guildford, Rose Bruford, ALRA, and Central to meet lots of people who will leave their drama school this summer and head out into the real world. Some of them were in the building last Monday night, keen to take up the membership offer we always give at this event, and no doubt, to down a few glasses of free Prosecco. Even more importantly, they have the chance to meet agents in a speed dating session, to sit in front of a panel that included the rather fabulous Deborah Willey, agent at Independent, and casting director Gary Davey, an old friend of mine, who offered a lot of sage, practical, and no-nonsense advice. Tom Eatenton, the managing director of Kru Live was also on hand to offer some great information on work life balance, and how there are opportunities out there for actors to use their skills in ways they may not have thought of. I have to say there was a certain amount of pride coursing through my aged cynical veins as Elliott Barnes Worrell, 2012 winner of the Alan Bates, and Luke Dale, current holder of the Alan Bates award also took their places on the panel. Both well placed, even after their relatively short working careers, to offer advice to people about to go through the same process.
The evening was an unqualified success, and it was great to meet so many new people. Many of them continued the contact afterwards on Twitter. I always find after such events, drama school talks, or events in the Actors centre, my number of Twitter followers increases. Currently at around 1500, I think I'm very lucky to know there are so many people who might want to flick through my ramblings at some point during their day. Twitter proves a brilliant way of just keeping up with what an awful lot of people are doing. In my day as a young actor it involved a disrespectful attitude to ones telephone bill, a bottle of white wine, and a free evening. Then phone calls were made, and the more wine drunk, the longer the calls, as the evening progressed, and hopefully you remembered enough to keep abreast of what lots of people were up to and also what opportunities that presented for yourself. Or perhpas you just enjoyed the wine. Now one can do keep in touch by simply flicking through one's Twitter feed. I think it's important to remember that, although it allows you a unique viewpoint of what is going on in someone's life, it's probably not the best way to make contact professionally. That should always be done in the form of an email or hard copy. Many organisations will ask you to respond to requests on Twitter. The Actors Centre has done this itself in the past, and indeed we've been lucky enough to be able to offer work for Tom's company, Kru Live, by advertising it on our Twitter feed. It's a way of bringing an awful lot of people into contact very quickly, and as such I think it's fantastic.
If you're able to ignore my ramblings about dreadfully under stocked supermarkets, appalling customer service from BT, and the occasional delayed train, it does allow you an opportunity to find out what I'm up to in almost as much depth as if you'd had a couple of glasses a wine and hour on the phone. As such it's a very useful tool for any actor, new or established, to keep abreast of what is going on. This is one of the subjects I am covering in my new book "The Working Actor" which after about 20 months sitting as a document on my desktop, has now gone off to the publishers to be typeset and is due for publication in early April. More to follow, and if you want to know just what more is to follow then, of course, keep your eyes on my twitter feed.
@Claytoncast
Comments
Post a Comment