TVI Studios: Orientation

TVI Studio's, as you may have read previously, is the acting school I picked to catapult me into stardom (joke) or at least move me in a forward-ish direction. From all that handy dandy research I did, I learnt that in order to take a class one must first make an orientation/evaluation appointment. I did this last week for Friday at 11:30am.

This is my story...

I bus it on up to Sherman Oaks and arrive a half hour early. It's always safer this way because even though my buses and subways were on time, it took me a bit of wandering to figure out that the studio is located in a little outlet-shopping mall. The door lacks any signage, but there is an address that matches the scribbles in my notebook. I plop down at the deli on the corner, have a beverage and attempt to calm my nerves. There aren't any butterflies or incessant twitchings going on, but it's been a while since I've actively sought judgement from professional peers.

11:24am, I walk through the doors and up the stairs to suite 200.

It's a small office with headshots plastered everywhere. There are white erase boards detailing classes. The boards also include their working alum and the shows they're on. The front desk is unmanned which means I awkwardly shuffle around looking lost hoping someone with ask if I need help and direct me to the right office. Eventually a woman emerges and asks who I'm here to see.

"It'll be just be a few minutes. She's with another client."

I sit on the wooden bench in the small lobby. My head bobbles about having nothing better to do than look at all the pictures. I recognize some of the faces. I think for a moment they are alumni. Nope, just publicity material for the photographers.

Five or so minutes later a nice young lady opens a door and escorts me to the back office. She's a blonde, bronzed and blue eyed, but in that "I wake up looking this good," not "Look at my damaged hair and caked makeup". The room is set up in a cramped, cubicle fashion. I take a seat next to her desk and we get down to business.

I hand her my resume. She asks what I'm looking to accomplish here in LA. "To be a working actor." She seems relieved that I'm not delusional about the logistics of acting in this town. We talk about the ways of getting into the business - extra work, SAG vouchers, Soaps - covering a lot of the pesky union rules. I learn that there are essentially three ways to get union status,

1. Pay AFTRA the $1000 registration free
2. Accumulate 3 SAG vouchers
3. Be ushered into SAG via the "Taft-Hartley" method

I'll go into detail about the unions and their quirks at a later posting, but my friendly TVI counselor does a good job of explaining my options. She recounts her experience of getting into the unions. She was lucky enough to know an AD (Assistant Director) which gave her first dibs on the SAG vouchers.

We talk some more about the best ways to get speaking parts. Soap Operas are more willing to work with unknown actors. They're in production 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year. They need a constant stream of talent to fill their acting quota. Commercials can be good and offer extra royalties.

She warned me against getting an agent right off the bat. First off, rarely will they sign an unknown without any major (FOX, NBC, ABC, Disney, etc) credits. You must prove you are bookable before they'll want you. Also, for a newbie to the professional landscape, it's best you screw up on your own. Fucking up auditions on the agents good name is never a good thing.

Next, she pulls out two over stuffed folders crammed full of sides. She extracts some papers, offers me the copies and we were off.

We move into one of the studios so that I can rehearse. One of the sides is from a procedural drama - a woman is being questioned about her supposed motive for killing an ex-boyfriend...he infected her with AIDs. The second scene is a quick back and forth between a man and a woman focusing on why the dude couldn't get past his blind dates "large" ears. She leaves for 15 minutes. I mumble the scenes in a hushed whisper. A few people wander in and out. I think they're looking for rehearsal space. I mumble some more. I feel confident.

The moment of truth.

She returns and we read. She plays the casting director. We do the dramatic scene first.

It starts out well, but oh how the tides do turn. Of course I get all mentally flustered and flub up four word sentences. My rhythm is sporadic. I'm reading to the back wall. It's awkward. She immediately gives feedback. "Look at me, not the wall." I want to kick myself in the pants, but I appreciate the criticism. We proceed to the next set of sides. It starts off too slow. She stops after four lines and tells me to pick up the pace. I listen and we do it again. Much better. I do stumble on the last sentence, but this reading was much better.

Her final analysis is that I'm border line good. She calls me out on my nervousness which I readily admit to. Basically, I can act, but I haven't figured out how to audition properly. She wants to put me in a particular class, but she also wants me to go in being hirable, not in learning mode. Apparently the teacher's intense, but well known for casting people from her class to put on the Bold and the Beautiful. There's another class about auditioning/cold reading for television. We go back to her cubby to discuss.

She ends up finding two more classes as options. One she shows me just because she is supposed to be promoting this specific teacher/casting director. The other one she prefaces with, "Don't judge your ability by the other actors taking the class," aka this will be their first time acting ever and they won't be very good. The Soap class (the one she does, but doesn't want to put me in) is 7 weeks for $450, the Auditioning class is 4 weeks for $225. She also suggests I sign up for the TVI Membership. (Here's what's included.)

I came in knowing I'd probably sign up for a class. I figured out that I could spend $250 and be perfectly safe from starving and what not. I want to sign up for the membership, but I know I'm not ready to put it into a cost worthy use. I desperately want to rush into things, but I hold back and register for the Audition class.

My credit card number gets put in the computer. I sign something. Done. And that's it. In a few days I will arrive at my first LA class ever. WHAT?

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Here's what I got from the experience.

Overall, the whole thing was pleasant. I found that the interview or the audition or whatever you want to call it was surprisingly informative. It was low-key (not scary serious) and my agent was very friendly. I can also say that TVI Studio's is not for the "I AM METHOD" actor. The people are very laid back. It's very...LA. I get the vibe that they're more focused on the networking side of the business than the training side. I have no problem with this. I've been here for less than 2 weeks and I need to start somewhere. No shame, no gain!

And now I wait...tick tock...tick tock...for the learning to begin.