Business was never the first thing I would think when facing the term of acting. No, acting brought me thoughts as emotions, travel, passion, and imagination, things that inspire me and make me feel so powerfully about theatre. And yet, I found myself sitting in one of my college classes titled as "Business".
It wasn't as if I had never thought about the business side of acting, especially since as an actor your will work in the entertainment business. I had just always liked to focus on other things, you could call it 'the fun bit' rather than the cruel reality of what it is to actually do the work and be taken seriously as a professional. This class was here to obviously make us see our dreams in day light and show us, that life isn't just fun and games. If you want to make it as an actor, you will have to work until you bleed and keep going. But it was planned for us to also help us in the long run and know what to expect after college.
One of our first tasks was to create a mind map in small groups, where we would list things that an actor does/is. After thuis we were given two websites to go and explore more about what it would be to work as an actor and then add new things to our mind map. I found the Creative Choices site to be especially interesting, since it had actual stories from actors and other professionals from the entertainment industry telling about their own experiences with acting. I was especially interested in a bit about Alexis Zegermans career. She is both actor and a writer and in the artical she talks how your original plans might not come true just the way you imagined, but your new road may be even better. I also loved the fact that she did not have choose between acting and writing, but insted decided to do both.
I cannot wait to look more deeply into the wonderful world of theatre and acting and really see, what the business is about. This one class was just a scrach on the surface, and I am planning dig even further.
