Movies – Headlinerz

David Mamet’s ‘True and False’: the 12 biggest takeaways for actors

Eva Machek — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 11:48:56 +0000

David Mamet shares his visions on acting in this short book that covers everything from school, to auditions, to rehearsals, to performance. In this blogpost I will share my 12 biggest takeaways from reading this book.

Not in a reading mood? I’ve posted a video going over the 12 points on my YouTube channel!

→ If you want to read more of what Mamet has to say, get a copy for yourself:

I’m curious to hear your thoughts as well. Mamet shares some strong opinions on topics I’m not sure I agree with. What about you? Let me know down below! Now let’s get into the twelve takeaways I want to share with you:

1. Outward directedness

For every takeaway I’ll share what David Mamet wrote in his book and then tell you my thoughts on it. Here’s what was written:

‘In “real life”, the mother begging for her child’s life, the criminal begging for a pardon, the atoning lover pleading for one last chance- these people give no attention whatever to their own state, and all attention to the state of that person from whom they require their object. This outward-directedness brings the actor in ”real life” to a state of magnificent responsiveness and makes his progress thrilling to watch.’

I feel like this piece of advice is taught in acting all the time, but this was the first time it actually stuck with me, or at least the first time I actually understood what was meant by it.

In a scene, you don’t want to be focussing on what you look like and thinking about how you’ll respond next. You should have your attention with the other person. How are they responding? What do you want from them?

You, as your character, have a certain goal, for example: get an apology out of the other person. Take this goal seriously and don’t leave the stage without fighting for it.

2. Devoted to a craft

‘It is not childish to live with uncertainty, to devote oneself to a craft rather than a career, to an idea rather than an institution. It’s courageous and requires a courage of the order that the institutionally co-opted are ill equipped to perceive.’

I just thought this was a really nice outlook on creative careers. We are often told that our careers are not financially stable, not future proof etc. I liked that he touched on this subject and wrote that it’s in fact not childish, but actually brave to walk this uncertain path.

3. Unlearn habits

‘We are of course trained in our culture to hold our tongue and control our emotions and behave in a reasonable manner. So, to act one has to unlearn these habits, to train oneself to speak out, to respond quickly, to act forcefully, irrespective of what one feels and in so doing to create the habit, not of ”understanding”, not of “attributing” the moment, but of giving up control and, in so doing, giving oneself up to the play.’

Fast forward a few sentences, he writes:

‘In life, there is no emotional preparation for loss, grief, surprise, betrayal, discovery; and there is none on stage either. Forget the funny voices, pick up your cue, and speak out even though frightened’

Once again he’s saying: react. Don’t give yourself time to prepare for what you’re going to say. If you’re scared, take it with you. That’s what makes it real.

4. You are your character

‘The ideas, organisations, actions, and people you support and dedicate yourself to, mold and finally are your character. Any other definition is the jabbering of the uncommitted. Certainly the weak would like you to believe that character is a costume which can be put on and taken off at will. And from time to time we’d all like to believe it. But that doesn’t make it true.’

At the beginning of this post I wrote that there are certain things that I don’t know if I completely agree with. This might be one of those things. Mamet talks about the character as being you. Your idea’s, actions, etc. Yet he expresses a strong opinion against Method acting. I do see how you could say that you can only play something that’s already inside of you, similarly to the fact that you can only dream about something you’ve already seen. I just think that there might be characters so far away from you that this philosophy doesn’t really work on.

5. You are unique

‘You are not one of the myriad of interchangeable pieces, but a unique human being, and if you’ve got something to say, say it, and think well of yourself while you’re learning to say it better.’

This one was just short and sweet. I liked the way he worded this. It’s also a great reminder that we as actors can always work to improve our craft, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be confident performing the way we are right now.

6. Nothing to do with hard work

‘Historically, the artist has been feared because his or her job has nothing to do with hard work. There’s nothing you or I could do to enable us to paint like Caravaggio, or to skate like Wayne Gretsky. We could work all day every day for millennia, and we would never achieve that goal.’

Mamet’s outlook on art. An artist isn’t just an artist because he worked hard and put a lot of hours into something. It’s because he brings something unique that can’t be learned.

Now, if you think at our halfway point “Hmmm I think I’ll get this book myself to see what else this man has to say”, Here’s your link:

7. The rehearsal process

‘What should happen in a rehearsal process? Two things.

The play should be blocked.
The actors should become acquainted with the actions they are going to perform.’

Mamet believes that everything other than these two things are unnecessary. Character work, understanding the script, you don’t have to spend time on that. Just say the lines as they were written in the script.

8. Your job to be truthful and brave

‘I don’t know what talent is, and, frankly, I don’t care. I do not think it’s the actor‘s job to be interesting. I think that is the job of the script. I think it’s the actor’s job to be truthful and brave– both qualities that can be developed and exercised through the will.’

This comes back throughout the book a few times. It’s not up to the actor to be interesting or funny. The script either is or isn’t and if it isn’t, there is nothing you can do to fix it.

He does say however, that the braveness and truthfulness you need, you can work on. You can learn to be an actor, when you understand what it means to be an actor.

9. Things you can or can’t avoid

‘Cultivate the habit of only having aversion for those things you can avoid (those things in yourself) and only desiring those things that you can give yourself. Improve yourself.’

I know it’s easier said than done, but the realisation that it makes no difference to worry about stuff out of your reach will help you be at peace with all that seems to happen to you. Rejections, missed opportunities, these things will happen the way they do and all you can influence is your reaction to them. Improve your skills and keep working!

10. To face the world is brave

‘To face the world is brave. To turn outward rather than inward and face the world which you would have to face in any case- such may not always win the day, but it will always allow you to live the day as an adult.’

This one kind of circles back to the first takeaway about outward-directedness and the third one about speaking out, responding quickly, and acting forcefully. Let the world see your emotions, take your nervousness and uncertainty with you and step into the spotlight despite it.

11. The audience will accept anything

‘The audience will accept everything they are not given a reason to disbelieve.’

Mamet goes on to give an example. When someone is pointed out to us as being rich, we begin to look at them a little differently. We observe how a rich person drinks their tea and lights their cigarette even though they have done nothing. A characteristic was ascribed to them and we accepted it.

He continues by saying that this characterisation is the job of the script, not of the actor. ‘You don’t have to portray the hero or the villain. That’s been done for you by the script.’

12. Show the audience some heroism

‘You can show the audience some heroism. That’s why they came to the theater. They didn’t come to see “technique”, whatever that may be. You are going to bring your unpreparedness, your insecurities, your insufficiency to the stage whatever you do. When you step on stage, they come with you. Go on stage and act in spite of them. Nothing you do can conceal them. Nor should they be concealed.

And when you go on stage determined to act, that is, to get what you came for, and not be denied, you can come offstage at peace’

Go on stage and be unapologetically yourself. You’re going to be nervous and maybe even feel unprepared. Often we convince ourselves we need more. More time, more practice, more knowledge. But the best teacher is the stage. Have your goal clear and step onto that stage fighting for that goal.

And with that we’ve come to the end of this article. I hope these sections from David Mamet’s book inspired you and made you think about your own opinions on some of these topics. Have these snippets piqued your interest and would you like to read the rest by yourself? be sure to get a copy!

Let me know what you thought in the comments!

This post contains affiliate links. Whenever you buy a product through one of these links, I earn a small commission. This does not affect the price for the buyer!

Hollywood news: Why SAG-AFTRA is on strike

Eva Machek — Sat, 15 Jul 2023 12:16:27 +0000

Actors walking out on their own premiere, silence on social media and release dates being pushed. You’ve probably heard of the actors strike in one way or another. In this post I’ll go in detail about everything there is to know about the actors union, what their goals are for this strike and how it will influence the industry in the upcoming periods.

What is SAG-AFTRA?

SAG-AFTRA is the union that represents artists in America. The acronym stands for ‘Screen Actors Guild- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. It’s been named this since the 2012 fusion of the SAG and AFTRA which in turn were both created in the 1930s. The union consists of actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, dj’s, news writers, news directors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other media professionals.

Why would one want to be part of such a union? Well the answer is simple really. While an actor wants to focus on acting and the art behind it, the union does all the business-y things on the back-end. In the words of SAG-AFTRA: they negotiate the best wages, working conditions, and health and pension benefits; preserving and expanding members’ work opportunities; vigorously enforcing our contracts; and protecting members against unauthorized use of their work.

About 160.000 artists are part of this union, among whom loads of big name actors and icons. The contradictory reality of this strike is that these big name actors will be able to reach the biggest audience and create the biggest impact, while they are also the ones least affected by the outfall. Smaller actors will be the ones without an income, job and possibility for growth for the period of the strike. Luckily many actors have already shown solidarity and support to their fellow SAG-AFTRA members as well as the Writers Guild of America, the WGA that has been striking for similar reasons since May 2nd of 2023. We’ve seen loads of actors posting to their social media for awareness and ceasing the promotion of current projects. The stars of ‘Oppenheimer’ walked out on their own premiere on the 13th of July (one day before the strike) after attending the red carpet.

Keep reading to see the impact of the strike for members of the union as well as non-members!

What does the union want?

Last Thursday during a press conference, SAG-AFTRA officially announced the strike effective from Friday the 14th of July at 12:01 AM. In their bulletin they instruct all members to “Cease rendering all services and performing all work covered by the TV/Theatrical Contracts.”.

More than a week before that, on June 5th, SAG-AFTRA revealed that 97.91% of eligible voters within the union voted in favor of a strike even before the negotiations started. This means the members came to an almost unanimous agreement that, if needed, they would strike.

The strike pits SAG-AFTRA against the AMPTP, or in full: the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. This organization negotiates on behalf of producers and studios like Netflix, Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros and more.

These are the three biggest changes actors want to see:

1. Increased pay.

Acting is a job, like any other, that actors need to be able to earn their living with. Since the strike was announced, a lot of criticism from outsiders has been: “These actors are super rich people who don’t need even more money, what are they on about?”. However, the majority of SAG actors are working class actors auditioning their butt off and working a side job. Even if they book roles in considerably big projects, that doesn’t guarantee them good pay or their next employment. So yes, the top actors are getting paid enough. We’re fighting for better pay for everyone else.

2. Progress on residuals

What are residuals? This is the money actors get paid every time one of their projects is repeatedly used/shown again. This used to be a fairly easy concept: every time a television channel would show a movie, the actor would get paid a little bit. Same thing with tv commercials, films in theaters and physical media. Every time an actor’s work is used, they get a little bit of money (I can hear you thinking, what’s the difference between royalties and residuals? Well, they are generated in the same way, but the biggest difference is that residuals get paid through unions and royalties stay outside of this whole guild realm.)

If you want to know all the details about residuals, check out this presentation by SAG-AFTRA:

or check out the SAG-AFTRA website

Alright, so as I said, the process of paying residuals used to be pretty straightforward. Now, with streaming services taking up a big part of the market, the game has changed a little bit. Films and series are always at everyone’s disposal, and actors don’t get paid every time someone clicks on their show. The residual pay has decreased significantly and since this form of payment is the closest thing actors get to ‘passive income’, its has made earning a living as an actor challenging. The absence of residuals and royalties would require actors to work back to back projects, which is not realistic for non A-listers.

More on residuals and streaming services can be learned from this detailed post in the No Film School blog.

3. Protection against AI

Artificial Intelligence has, in theory, become undeniably capable of taking over parts of creative jobs, which is part of the reason the WGA is on strike: protection of the art form that is writing. In the acting world AI is forming a similar kind of threat. That is why the guild is asking for tighter regulations when it comes to tools that would be able to create digital composites of actors. They want to see safeguards regarding their likeness, voice and performance.

A very concerning message by the SAG chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland that has been circling the internet was that the AMPTP “… proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get paid for one day’s pay, and their company should own that scan, their image, their likeness, and to be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want, with no consent en no compensation”

Not only does this mean background actors would have no control about the use of their likeness, it would also get rid of all background jobs after one day of work.

What will change for actors?

The SAG-AFTRA bulletin made a very clear list of services and performance work that must be withheld by their members during the strike: (These rules are specifically for the contacts on AMPTP-related productions.)

Principal on camera work, such as:
- Acting
- Singing
- Dancing
- Performing stunts
- Piloting on-camera aircraft
- Puppeteering
- Performance capture or motion capture work;

Principal off camera work, such as:
- ADR/Looping
- TV Trailers (promos) and Theatrical Trailers
- Voice Acting
- Singing
- Narration, including audio descriptive services except as the services may be covered by another collective bargaining agreement referred in the Notice to Members Regarding Non-Struck Work
- Stunt coordinating and related services

Background work
Stand-in work
Photo and/or body doubles
Fittings, wardrobe tests, and makeup tests
Rehearsals and camera tests
Scanning
Interviews and auditions (including via self-tape)
Promotion of/publicity services for work under the TV/Theatrical Contracts, such as:
- Tours
- Personal appearances
- Interviews
- Conventions
- Fan expos
- Festivals
- For your consideration events
- Panels
- Premieres/screenings
- Award shows
- Junkets
- Podcast appearances
- Social media
- Studio showcases

Negotiating and/or entering into and/or consenting to:
- An agreement to perform covered services in the future
- Any new agreement related to merchandising connected to a covered project
- The creation and use of digital replicas, including through the reuse of prior work
Performing on a trailer for a struck production or other ancillary content connected to a struck production.

SAG-AFTRA says the following about the non-AMPTP-related productions: “Members may be able to work on projects produced by non-AMPTP-related production companies under these agreements if such projects qualify for an Interim Agreement. A list of projects adhered to an Interim Agreement will be posted at sagaftrastrike.org.”

The bulletin furthermore adds:

“NOTICE TO NON-MEMBERS: Any non-member seeking future membership in SAG-AFTRA who performs covered services for a struck company during the strike will not be admitted into membership in SAG-AFTRA.”

What will change for the public?

The first obvious thing consumers will notice is projects getting delayed for an uncertain amount of time. The following productions announced stopping production already:

Deadpool 3
Mission impossible 8
Venom 3
Gladiator 2
Beetlejuice 2
Lilo & Stitch
Minecraft (yes, there was a movie being made with Jason Momoa)
Mortal Kombat 2

And this list will continue to grow very fast…

Basically all productions that still have to film with SAG-AFTRA actors, will have to wait. Even though the union is American, a lot of their members are international artists, which means not only productions in America are affected, but EVERYWHERE in the world where they cast SAG actors. Furthermore, as explained above, even non-members that still want a chance at ever becoming one, will probably lay off any of this work to avoid the risk of rejection by the union in the future.

The next thing you’ll notice is that actors will not promote their newest productions on social media. Some actors pushed out one last post on Thursday before midnight, but that was it. Actor Anthony Mackie even chose to make one last post about a production that’s not coming out until weeks, anticipating the long time the strike will take.

Got plans to attend any expo’s, conventions or panels any time soon? Don’t expect the actors to be there as this is also part of promotional and publicity activities that the actors can’t do.

What is timeline like for these strikes?

One can only guess with these kinds of strikes. However, the future does not look too bright for the WGA. This Deadline article shares a shocking message from a studio executive: “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses”

Since this article was released, both the WGA members that have been striking since May and SAG-AFTRA members have been enraged, and if anything, more motivated to change the industry rules.

Let’s hope the AMPTP soon opens up to negotiations with the WGA and gives in to both unions very reasonable demands so the industry can go on with their productions and artists can make a living with their jobs.

Binge season: Everything we know about the 3 most anticipated queer releases

Eva Machek — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 18:14:42 +0000

Mark your calendars and clear your agenda because in August, all we’ll do is binge! With three of the most anticipated queer autumn releases coming up, let’s not waste any more time and dive into everything we know so far about this iconic trio from their release dates, to the cast, where to watch these releases and the plot.

August 3rd: HEARTSTOPPER S2

Where to watch: Netflix

Starting off strong: get ready for Heartstopper season 2!! This season wrapped filming in December 2022 and is now promoting in full force for its release on the 3rd of august. After the success of the first season, Netflix greenlit this series for another two seasons, which means that the upcoming season will be the second out of a total of three seasons.

The series ‘Heartstopper’, follows the events of the book series by Alice Oseman. The back of the first book has these iconic loglines that describe the story perfectly: ‘Boy meets boy, boys become friends, boys fall in love’. What more is there to tell? Just add a highschool, loads of texting, a propper full on gay crisis, friend drama and an anoying bully in the mix and you’ve got a pretty accurate idea of where we’re left in the story.

If you’ve read the books, you know what’s coming. This season, we follow our boys on their trip to paris. And judging by the hickey on Charlie’s neck in the promotional stills we got, their relationship developed a long way from the shy ‘Hi’s we got in season one.

This season, we’ll meet Nick’s older brother, who’ll stir up some trouble for our couple. We’ll also meet Sahar; a character we haven’t met yet in the series. This new friend, portrayed by Leila Khan will join our Paris squad to add some kindness and brain cells to the mix.

Another update that I’m personally thrilled about (and I’m sure many of you with me) is that they changed Tao’s hair! Judging by the adorable little video we got for Tao and Elle, it’s much shorter and styled so well. Truly a blessing.

Open embedded content from Instagram

The Heartstopper team is really stepping up their game in terms of promotion. So far we’ve gotten a season teaser, poster, cute video’s for all tree of the main couples (Nick & Charlie, Elle & Tao, Tara & Darcy) and of course Isaac reading a book (mood). And to top it all off, we even got a look at the opening scene of episode one:

Cute right? You thought that was it? Nope! For the first time, we got to see the epidode names for all eight episodes and I’ve made a list for you:

out
family
promise
challenge
heat
truth/dare
sorry
perfect

Well… Let’s just say, keep your tissues close during episode 7.

My biggest hope is that we’ll get Kit Connor (Nick Nelson) speaking french haha. No but for real, I’m curious to see this story most of us have read and love come alive with this cast that is so perfectly chosen. Even though I hope this season is not too traumatic and sad, because our boys deserve some happiness, I’m not too confident we’ll get just that. Especially since there will still be another season to make up for it, I think this season will have quite some angst.

Either way, count on me to be sitting in front of my TV with a big bowl of popcorn on august 3rd. Whatever you do, make sure to finish this series within a week so you’ll be on schedule for the next drop:

August 11th: RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE

Where to watch: Prime video

Red, white & royal blue, is the screen adaptation after the 2019 novel with the same name by Casey McQuiston. It’s a queer ‘enemies’ to lovers story about two boys. Not just any two boys though: Alex Claremont-Diaz is the son of the first female president of the U.S. and Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor is the prince of England.

I remember reading this book and just seeing the entire thing play in my mind. The cake incident, the museum date, the photoshoot. It’s always exciting to see if the way you had it in mind actually matches the production. It was quite a while ago that I finished this Casey McQuiston book, but I can’t wait to get back to this story and the characters.

The trailer for this film dropped just last week and it’s looking very promising. Some of the scenes look like a really high budget drama, while others give off coming of age indie film vibes. I think that’s extremely fitting for the story too: in public, Alex and Henry are high profile royals, but behind closed doors, they’re just two boys growing up.

Nicholas Galitzine (Henry) and Taylor Zakhar Perez (Alex) star as our two leads. The role of Prince Henry was right up Nicholas’ lane with his previous credits as Prince Robert in the live-action ‘Cinderella’. Taylor is also certainly not a newcomer to big movies with his previous experience in the kissing booth films. Joining this cast as a cherry on top (of the wedding cake ;)) is Uma Thurman as Ellen Claremont, the first female president of America.

Don’t have an Amazon Prime Video account? Don’t worry, you can just get the 30-day free trial and watch this movie and many more fun ones for a month.

YOUNG ROYALS S3 : Exact release date not announced

Where to watch: Netflix

This Swedish series has received an insane amount of love internationally for a foreign language production. What can we say… our generation really eats anything up that’s about two boys falling in love. Bonus points if at least one of them is a royal. The first two seasons of Young Royals explore Simon and Crown Prince Wilhelm meeting each other, falling in love and navigating all the hardships that come with a secret relationship. Jealous peers, royal duties, misunderstandings and a leaked video all make for an angsty love story between the two.

Even though the exact release date has not yet been announced, we have reason to speculate it will be very close to the other two on this list. How fun would it be for it to drop in August ;). The filming of this last season wrapped in June and since then, promotion has been slowly but surely picking up. The season trailer has not yet been released, but at the start of production on the 13th of april we got a video showing the cast and crew getting ready for stepping on the Young Royals set one last time:

Open embedded content from Instagram

Both Omar Rudberg (Simon) and Edvin Ryding(Wilhelm) expressed their excitement for the upcoming season in an instagram promotional video:

Open embedded content from Instagram

After last season left us with Wilhelms confession of being the one in the leaked video, we can only guess how the story will continue. What will happen to August now that everyone knows he was the one taking and leaking the video? How will the public in Sweden react now that they have an openly gay royal? Will our couple get a happy ending?

I’m excited to see the story continue, but I’m sure it will be bittersweet to say bye to the world and the characters.

Got everything noted in your agenda? Good. Then sit tight and prepare for a streaming binge!

This post contains affiliate links. Whenever you buy a product through one of these links, I earn a small commission. This does not affect the price for the buyer!