Pilot Survey

I posted my Pilot Survey on the facebook page around a week ago and so far only have 8 responses! Please take the survey!



http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JVTFMLM

Ethics and codes of conduct in my profession.

As a performer when thinking of ethics my first thought is the ethical treatment of a performer by whoever their employer may be.

On receiving a new contract from either an agency or performance company my first thought after looking through the document is equity. Equity is a trade union for performers that ensures that performers are treated in an ethical way and paid an agreed amount for their work.

Every contract I have been sent since graduating from drama school whether is be from an agent, modelling agency or a possible employer I have sent to equity for advice on whether it is within their regulations, needs to be negotiated or even discarded all together.

Equity is always my first calling point when considering taking on work or an opportunity as it is there to help support those working within the arts, much like other trade unions from other professions do.

On their sight they give an overview of what it is they do as well as it nut shelled in a set of bullet points:

• Negotiates
• Organises
• Campaigns and lobbies
• Supports
• Protects
• Influences
• Provides Services
• Listens
• Advises
• Takes action
• Is a community

http://www.equity.org.uk/about-us/what-do-we-do/

Equity is not swayed by any particular political party and is solely there to protect its members.

After looking through equity’s codes of conduct I realised that although they are my first point of support and I have used their services in the past I was not fully aware of all my rights as a performer. Knowledge of this is essential as of course if I do not fully know what the regulations are on how I as a performer should be treated how would I know if I am being treated in an ethical way according to the rules that are there to protect me?

This is something that is not only essential when discussing ethics in my personal profession but also essential in life. If we expect to be treated in an ethical way we must first have knowledge of what this means both in our personal and professional lives; and of course knowledge is power!

What does the word Ethics mean to me?

In the dictionary the definition for the word ethic is,

‘ethic n. moral principal or frame work; (ethics) moral principles; the discussion of these.’

This led me onto the definition of the world moral;

‘moral adj. concerned with right and wrong conduct; virtuous.’

Therefore the discussion of ethical issues is basically the discussion of what is right and what is wrong.

Childhood

The notion of right and wrong is something that is taught from childhood. As children we are taught that lying, cheating and disobeying our parents is wrong and that telling the truth, good manners and doing as we are told is right. This is something that is then reflected in our adult lives and in how we conduct ourselves both professionally and socially.

Religion

Although I am not a particularly religious person myself I found myself thinking of how right and wrong is in fact related and perhaps based on religion. In most religions we are taught that if we do not adhere to the rules set down by that particular religion or commit sin we will then pay for it in the afterlife.

I have always been interested in the idea of karma. This is a Buddhist belief that;

‘The total effect of a person's actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person's existence, regarded as determining the person's destiny.’

This is basically the notion that if we do something that is seen as wrong or immoral then we will pay for it in the course of our lives. This is something that is determined by destiny rather than a physical occurrence.

Law

In law if we do something wrong we then have to pay for what we have done and the punishment is decided on how heinous the crime in question is in accordance to the country’s law. This is not however decided by a higher entity but rather our peers.

Business

In business and politics right and wrong and what is considered to be ethical is often put second to personal gain and greed which are two things that are seen as sin when referring to the holy book but in business are seen as doing whatever it takes for the good of a company and personal and financial success. An example of where this has happened in modern society is where two big name retailers where pinpointed in recent years for having ‘sweat shops’ in foreign counties to cut back on costs. This is something that is seen as completely unethical when thinking of human rights and yet was happening nevertheless. This is just one example of when the notion of morals and ethics become somewhat cloudy.

Personal

When thinking of right and wrong in a more personal sense I feel it is very much down to personal belief and upbringing. This is something that sometimes can conflict with social or professional conduct and is very much a judge of ones personal character.

A Little Welsh Girl Goes To L.A!

Well I never imagined where my inquiry would take me!

After deciding on my award title;

 HOW DO YOU BREAK INTO A NEW AREA OF THE INDUSTRY

 I then went on to research and network with professionals in the industry to try and further my inquiry. I had decided that there where two main areas of the industry that I have a real passion for and long to work within. These were Shakespeare and The Television/Film Industry. Naturally I found my inquiry veered towards the Television/Film industry and decided to ‘go with it’.

I realised that the main thing holding me back in breaking into this area was that I don’t have an actor’s show reel. Most companies ask for a show reel before auditioning, but to have a show reel you need to have done a sufficient amount of acting work; therefore as you see this caused a bit of a dilemma for me.

My first thought was to look to the Facebook SIG’s for advice. I joined Hayley Jane Bence’s SIG Showreels. Here I found that the discussion was more around dancer’s show reels rather than actors but decided to post and see if anyone could help. Hayley replied with some suggestions but I wasn’t able to further my search.

I then went on to contact my acting for camera tutor from drama school Paul Dudbridge whose production company Hanover pictures I had worked for as a model in an internet commercial. 

http://www.hanoverpictures.co.uk/warren.html

I emailed asking for advice and whether he had any footage from short films and classes at drama school. He responded promptly and offered to put a few clips together from a short film where I played the main character. This was an amazing development and I now felt like I could further my inquiry. He also advised me on getting work and assured me that I was on the right path in applying for as much filming work as I could both paid and non-paid. He advised me to keep using a website that I’m a part of ;

http://www.shootingpeople.com

This is a website where mainly independent film companies post job’s for actors. Most of the work is only expenses paid but you usually get a copy of the work included hence material for a show reel!

Whilst on the sight searching and applying for jobs I came across a post from a company asking for head shot’s and CV’s to be sent of actor’s interested in breaking into the television and film industry in LA. I thought why not give it a try and proceeded to send off a few headshots, CV and a cover letter. A few days later I was pleasantly surprised to find the company had contacted me expressing their interest and offering me a place on a Networking Week in LA! Of course my fist instinct was that this was an amazing opportunity. After the initial excitement I went on to do my research on the company and was very happy to discover everything was completely legitimate and above board!

I am now booked to go to LA from 14^th- 24^th of May. For the first seven days I will be meeting agents, manager’s, casting directors and big production companies such as Paramount, MGM and Warner Brothers! I am then staying on for 3days in case any opportunities come from my meetings and readings. This truly is a fantastic opportunity and if nothing else a huge learning experience; however there is a LOT of work to do before flying out as I want to make all I possibly can of this opportunity! Although this week will be happening after the module ends I’ll be sure to blog and tell everyone about it!

The name of the company is Industry Hollywood and it is run by Richard Burke:

http://www.industryhollywood.com

Richard has also helped me further my inquiry further, not only will I be getting to meet fantastic people but he has also put me in touch with a company that will be filming a show reel for me whilst out there!

http://www.relentlessfilmworks.com/

This is a company called Relentless Film Works. The write scenes specifically for and actor and also film and edit the work. This is a fantastic service for actor’s who don’t have enough material for a regular show reel and the quality is amazing!

I went on to contact the company, and set up a Skype meeting with Steve Whelan who run’s the process. We discussed what I wanted to show in my show reel and started brainstorming landing on three basic idea’s for my three one minute scenes. The next step is communicating with the writer’s to develop the scenes so they are exactly right for me. I will be filming in LA on the 24^th of May so this is a huge step in BREAKING INTO A NEW AREA OF THE INDUSTRY!

How do you break into a new area of the industry?

After looking into this as my main line of inquiry I've realised that much like Adesola pointed out in the first campus session it has maily lead me into more questions.


Main Question:                 
                                 How do you break into a new area of the industry?

Sub Questions:

                                                   What area do I wan't to break into?

Shakespeare
 
Although my training at drama school was Musical Theatre based the area I have always had a true passion for is acting. In my previous blog I noted that an area that I am desperate to break into is Shakespeare and even started a SIG group to see if anyone else on the course shared my passion. Unfortunatly I didn't get much responce to the SIG group as I would have hoped but was still able to have an interesting discussion with Mina Niikura. This however has not helped me further my inquiry.

I spoke with friend and past collegue Grace Miller about this as she has worked for Chapterhouse Theatre company in the past who perform open air productions of Shakespeare and Period Drama. She was able to give me the informaton to contact the company and I was given the opportunity to audition for the company last week. The audition went very well but since I have not heard off the company. The company has become a lot more known in the past year and hence has had a lot more actors auditioning which unlimatly means more compertition.

Although it appears I have not been successfull in this instance it has given me more insight into the company and I shall be auditioning again for their winter tour.

 http://www.chapterhouse.org/


I have found in applying for Shakespeare work that being able to play a handheld insturment defenetially makes an actor more employable and am looking at taking up violin as it is an instument I played as a child as well as guitar. I am fortunate that my very good friend Luis Titchiner is the lead guitarist in the welsh Pink Floyd tribute band and is more than capable of helping me learn to play acustic guitar.

http://www.pincffloyd.com/


The Television Industry

The television industry is another area I am also desperate to break into. Here I have the help of my agent but nothing seems to be coming from it yet. I constantly apply for short and low budget film in the attempt of being able to gather a collection of work to develope a showreel. The dilemma with finding work in the television industry is that in most cases you need to present a showreel of your work in order to get work which ends up being a vicious circle. I have posted in the Facebook Showreel SIG to see if others have faced this dilemma and try to develope this paticular line of inquiry in order to help answer my main question.

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=80&post=362&uid=145821545478191#!/topic.php?uid=145821545478191&topic=80

I am also going to contact my old acting for camera tutor from drama school who I have shot an internet commercial (modeling) for his company Hanover Pictures to see if he has any material from short films we put together in college that would work towards begining to create a showreel.

http://www.hanoverpictures.co.uk/

Here is also a link to watch the commercial I shot with the company. It's not really material I can use for my showreel as it was more of a modeling than acting job. I'd appreciate any feedback:

http://www.hanoverpictures.co.uk/warren.html


Taking this line of inquiry has most defenetially open yet more sub-lines of inquiry and has helped me identify the problems and dilemmas an actor continues to come up against in trying to break into new areas of their professions.

I will continue to blog where my research leads me and if I am able to find any answers to my questions or if again they lead me into yet more questions!

SIG Group

I thought I'd blog to let everyone know I've started a new Special Interest Group. It's a very broad subject titled Shakespeare. Shakespeare is something I long to break into and something I really have a passion for and love going to see different productions of various plays!

Please come and discuss if you have any interest in the subject.

Starting this group has led me into a different line of inquiry. Recently I've been focusing on the question 'WHAT IS NEXT?' and feel as though this is a line that is far to broad to focus on in great detail. I am now looking more at the question; 

HOW DO YOU BREAK INTO A NEW AREA OF THE INDUSTRY? 

To explore this question I am going to contact old tutours from college who have done a lot of Shakespeare work as well as other actors and friends who have experience in it. I will blog my findings and how this helps me develope my line of inquiry further.

Come join the SIG!

Campus Session 8th of Feb

In the first campus session of this term we first explored the question:

WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE? 

We first started to explore this question individually but weren't really getting anywhere, so were split into common interest groups aka; performers, teachers ect.

We were then asked to show this in a graphical way and my group decided to use a spirograph which didn't really work very well as we had too many categorys and sub categorys. One group used a ladder to show their thoughts on this question which I thought was an excellent idea as not only did it show the stages in a clear way but the idea of a ladder gave it a slightly metaphorical style.

After this we went on to think: 

 WHAT IS MY BIG QUESTION?

At first I thought  I didn't really have one but then I realised i was making it more complicated than it needed to be and my question was simply;

WHAT IS NEXT?

I've recently finished a tour and have joined a new agency who is more TV and acting focused so this seems like the perfect question for me personally.

I found Adesola's idea that  

NOT EVERY QUESTION LEADS TO AN ANSWER BUT RATHER MORE QUESTIONS

This interests me and I quite like this idea as I feel that sometimes we get so obsessed with finding the answer to something that we forget why we were asking the question in the first place.

We then went on to discuss how we could develope SIG's or Special Interest Groups and came to a mutual agreement that what better network to use than Facebook as it is a sight that most people use daily. We decided that there shouldn't really be any limitations to how many SIG's a person can be apart of or how many people can be invoved in any SIG as the discussions may develope over tim. Just because a topic doesn't interest someone initially this doesn't mean it won't in future.

I am looking forward to being apart of the SIG's and getting stuck into this next module!