Mentoring

[Novacaine]

Hello everyone!

It's nice to meet you all at NotaPushyMum and I'm glad I've found you! I've just had a read through some of the topics and it is great to finally find people who open to helping each other in this industry where there are always so many closed doors.

I think I'm stuck in a bit of a rut at the moment and seem to spend a lot of my time worrying about how to move forward. I attend acting, singing and dance lessons each week, am part of a youth theatre, I have experience of film, tv and theatre, I give everything I have to try to progress in an acting career and work hard to fill my cv with as much good experience as I can. Things just don't seem to be moving forward. I had a bad experience with an agent recently and decided to leave but am now finding it difficult to gain another agent. I am lucky to always be busy with work but it is mostly unpaid student films. I realise that these are fantastic experience, good networking opportunities and great to put together on a showreel but it would be nice to move back towards more paid work and progress in my career.

Anyway, the point of my post was that I've come across mentoring (by a casting director or another actor) and wondered if any of you on here have experience of this? I would love to give it a go but it seems to be very expensive so I am hoping to find as much advice and do a lot of research before I dive in! I want to make sure I am going with the best option given all the choices.

Have any of you or your children been mentored and what are your views on it..? Please help! Any advice would be greatly received!

[pg]

Hello, welcome to NAPM! May I ask how old you are? I think it has a bearing on any advice/thoughts I might have re: mentoring!

[pg]

Right, well, I'm not sure about paying for mentoring to be honest. It sounds to me as if you are articulate, intelligent and knowledgeable! I guess you might benefit from a one-off consultation from someone knowledgeable who might be able to help you form a plan (or give you a metaphorical kick-start) but in all honesty, you probably know all the things you can do, and if you don't you can get the knowledge from free sources (e.g. Actors Yearbook or Handbook or whatever it's now called, or An Actors' Guide to Getting Work by Simon Dunmore).

I think I'd be more inclined to try a couple of sessions at the Actors' Centre or perhaps attend one workshop session with a Casting Director and then see how you feel ( I mean the sort of workshop where you get to do a mock audition and get feedback - not just a Q and A). Sometimes talking to other actors is useful - if only to feel soldarity in unemployment! Setting up your own self-help group with a group of actors could be a way forward - that way you can compare notes and contacts and encourage each other to be pro-active. I can't really see that a mentor would do much more than this ?

I guess the one thing you do have to face, which is hard, is that you are in competition with those who have had training from accredited courses at drama school. This can make a difference, though of course there are no guarantees - I know quite a lot of trained actors who are out of work - I know several who have not yet managed to secure representation.

Do you have a showreel up on Spotlight?

As you'll know only too well, it's very easy to keep on spending money as an actor to try to further your career. There comes a time when you have to say "no more unpaid work". Have you considered approaching companies that make corporate videos? If you have an on-line showreel to show you in action, you can make approaches offering your services to this sort of company.

The other thing you may wish to consider is trying to get into drama school. I know that's a big and expensive step. Is it something you've thought about?

If you're feeling really lost, I understand the temptation to get yourself a guide. I don't think it's a terrible idea - it's just an expense you could probably manage without.

[pg]

Hey, where did your post with your age go?

Or did I imagine it