Published February 8th, 2012 in Catching The Acting Bug and Getting Trained and Marketing for Actors and Personal Advice and Self Help For Actors and The Business of Acting and The Method. By Kirsten Tretbar
Well, it’s been too long since I wrote my last Acting Room post, and I’m sorry friends!
The reason? I’ve been too busy ACTING!
As many of you know, I write this blog since I’ve taught acting for years in LA, and produced and directed several films. I also was an actress all through my 20s in LA. What many of you may NOT know is that I’m now 45, and have spent the last 20 years helping others to act, but not acting so much myself. I was in many commercials all through my late 20s, but haven’t been in a proper big play/theatrical production, since grad school.
The reason? Well, the LA theatrical/play scene is pretty much limited to stars performing at the Mark Taper Forum, or smaller 99 seat theatres that often are precast, And there is very good news. You can …
Published June 14th, 2011 in Marketing for Actors and The Business of Acting. By Kirsten Tretbar
Hi Friends and Followers!
I decided to write a quick post to all my lovely Acting Room friends to tell you all about a new website created by my dear husband, Ozzy Ben. It’s called CritPick.com!
CritPick is a social medial tool that allows Twitter users to share between one, two, or three images (photos, or visual ideas),
create a title/question that will be sent out as a Tweet, then get followers’ critiques and advice. They can also pick (vote on) their favorite option. This will be an AWESOME tool for actors, because it’ll be a great way you to get help picking which headshot you want to print, or for discussing favorite films or acting programs! It’ll also be a great way to publicize your projects, videos, films, or plays!
Want advice on which headshot to use? Send out a CritPick.
Deciding on a new haircut, dress, refrigerator, or sofa? Send out …
Published April 28th, 2011 in Catching The Acting Bug and Getting Trained and Personal Advice and The Business of Acting and Uncategorized. By Kirsten Tretbar
Hi Acting Room Family! I’ve been getting so many private emails about this question lately that I felt it was time to write a new post. Here is an example of a recent email I received from Michael, whom I will address hereafter as Mike:
So I’m a 26 year old living and working in D.C. with a really great day job. My first love is improv comedy,I keep thinking about the three big cities I would love to train in.but I’ve been getting more and more into acting. I’ve read a lot of your posts, and find your wisdom extremely enlightening.
My question for you is this. As I’m getting older…I keep thinking about the three big cities I would love to train in. Chicago because of the improv (yet with still a great theatre scene and training grounds)…New York, because it’s New York. And then of course LA…because that’s …
Published August 5th, 2010 in Personal Advice and Self Help For Actors and The Business of Acting. By Kirsten Tretbar
I’m actually writing this post to let you all know that I’ve started a new company! I’m really excited to share with you all. Not to worry, I’ll always write for The Acting Room, and I’ll always You can’t wait for your life to get started while you’re trying to get your other creative careers going!teach acting and work on films. Those passions are my heart and soul. So keep coming back and keep acting!…
But I also hope this story about what I’m doing inspires you to think about ways you can support yourself while you’re getting your acting career up and running. I’m also writing this to let everyone know that being an artist can be hard, and that you can’t wait for your life to get started while you’re trying to get your other creative careers going!
As many of you know by now, I’ve been an actress AND …
Published May 17th, 2010 in Acting Technique and Catching The Acting Bug and Getting Trained and Personal Advice and The Business of Acting and Uncategorized. By Kirsten Tretbar
I get many emotional reactions to my post “The Seven Reasons Why Professional Acting Training Programs Simply Aren’t Worth It.” In fact, that one post alone gets about a thousand hits a month, and brings lots of traffic to this blog. That blows my mind. I never meant to be so controversial.
Heck, I have an MFA in Acting and there were many things I absolutely LOVED about my two year USC program. But after I got out of the program, I learned that I’d spent about $75,000 to go there, and I could have spent that much money putting a down payment on a house in LA, or even funded my own indie film. I could have taken ten years of private classes (on my own time and schedule) with the most famous acting coaches in the world! I’ve also received many angry comments …
Published December 2nd, 2008 in Getting Trained and Personal Advice and The Business of Acting. By Kirsten Tretbar
Okay, enough complaining about bigger training programs. The question you may be asking now is, “So if you don’t think I should go to a bigger program, then what should I do? I don’t want to waste my time or money! And I just don’t know if I should go to college. Shouldn’t I just start acting, and move to LA now?”
Well, getting a classic four-year college degree, from an excellent academic university is never wasting your time! In fact, when I think about it, I never ever cast an actor based on whether or not they had a degree from any kind of professional acting training program. Isn’t that sad? I also noticed that, back when I was acting professionally, no one ever cared one bit that I had both a BA degree, …
