Author: Christy Arington

by Kate McCoy As the demands of casting offices and production companies evolve, the requests for self-taping has increased. You might opt to have your audition professionally recorded, in which case a lot of the work is done for you. If, however, you choose to tape the audition yourself – either your schedule doesn’t allow you the time to go into a studio or you simply want to save money…

Zoom auditions, virtual callbacks, and remote digital projects are a few of the many new normals brought on by 2020.  As the world continues to transition to being as online as possible, having a digital presence as an actor and artist is more important now than ever before. So, if you find yourself with a bit more time on your hands in the next few days…weeks…or months, why not consider…

So you’ve decided that you want to make the leap. You’re going to give up your 9-5 day job and pursue your acting career full time so that you can focus on doing what you love and what you were born to do. Before you make the crucial step of leaving your full-time employment, we at ASC want to make sure you’ve considered all the necessary steps to becoming a…

A good voice-over demo costs a lot of money. A good demo producer will produce a demo that sounds fantastic. Once that’s done, at some point you’re going to have to audition, and if you’re not ready, all that money and time you spent on your demo is worth nothing. Have you ever seen a glamorous headshot, and then seen that the actor looks nothing like their photo? That’s what…

The following is an excerpt from Acting In Chicago: Making A Living Doing Commercials, Voice Overs, TV and Film And More by Chris Agos, and has been reprinted by permission.   If you don’t know what an ear prompter is, you’re going to thank me for introducing it to you. Ear prompters let you deliver your lines word for word, without memorizing them or holding a script in your hand. It’s sometimes…

Grind and hustle….  Hustle and grind. Those are the classic actions of the Chicago actor, are they not? Bouncing from one audition, show, set to the next. All the while, trying to maintain a sense of control over the uncontrollable fluster of your creative life. Have you ever thought about creating your own work? At the end of the day, we are each in control of our preparation, choices, and…

by Gail Rastorfer of Artistic Strategies 1. Have a War Chest Just like any move, make sure you have the money in hand to get out to L.A., to put a deposit down for a place to stay and to have AT LEAST two months worth of living expenses in hand. You will also want money for classes/headshots/etc. If you decide becoming an L.A. Actor is your goal in ‘x’…

by Brian Plocharczyk   The last few years I have been approached by a large number of my fellow actors, and voice-over students about whether or not they really need to set up a home voice-over studio and how to do it. The quick answer is yes you need one, but what exactly that means can vary greatly.  It drives me insane when I see fellow professionals running off to a…

Why Stage Combat? By Christina Gorman Christina is an actor and fight choreographer, originally from the Hudson Valley region of upstate New York. As an actor, Christina has studied in Chicago and abroad, including the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England. She teaches Youth & Adults acting and stage combat at ASC. Earlier this year Christina was seen fighting & acting on stage in BoHo Theatre’s production of CYRANO at Theatre Wit.  She was also the  Intimacy…

Learning to navigate the “business” and demystify the actor-agent relationship is much of what I teach every Winter to BFA Seniors at the Theatre School at DePaul University. This year the students were assigned to interview the agents. Two students visited each Chicago SAG-AFTRA franchised agency and asked them questions about their agencies, audition advice and marketing for actors.  Not only were the agents generous with their time, they also…