Category Archives: Uncategorized

Assumptions are necessary for human survival. For instance, we all assume that gravity will be there to keep us from floating away. (So far so good on that one!) If we were forced to double check every single detail of our lives, we might go mad trying.

Some assumptions however, can be problematic. Below are a few that I run into regularly in my work that I thought you might like to know about. All of these assumptions have cost people time, money and career opportunities. I hope that by listing them here, you’ll be able to avoid this fate!

Some Actors assume that their college actor training program adequately prepared them to use dialects in a professional acting setting.

(This is almost always not the case.)

Some Agents and Managers assume that actors can deliver on the dialect promises listed on their resumes.

(What they aren’t aware of is that the actor may have placed certain dialect skills on their resume because they took dialect classes while in college…(see above) or are otherwise misinformed about their proficiency.)

Some Casting Directors, Agents, Directors and Producers assume that asking an actor for a ‘light’ version of a dialect is doing them a favor because it will be less work for them.

(Bottom line: A dialect is a dialect. The same basic amount of work goes into preparing one for performance.)

Some Directors, Casting Directors,  and Producers assume that acting in a dialect is ‘just talking’ so actors should be able to switch dialects at a moment’s notice.

(The truth is that actors (all actors — even ones with shiny gold statues on their mantels) need time to prepare. It’s the same kind of time actors would need to learn to twirl a gun on their finger, accurately shoot a target, slam their gun into a holster,  jump on a horse and ride bareback across the plain all in a single take while acting their hearts out delivering the film’s climactic dialogue. In my opinion, dialect work is stunt work. It’s stunt work that the actor must do him/herself and it’s stunt work that can’t be faked well using current technology. Only rarely can ADR begin to save an uneven dialect performance, and when it can, the budget takes a hit.)

Some Casting directors, Agents, Directors, and Producers assume that if a person can speak a particular language (Other than English) fluently, then they must also be able to speak and act in English using a dialect influenced by that language.

(Not neccessarily true — They’re related but separate skills.)

Some Actors, Casting Directors, Agents, Directors and Producers assume that certain dialects are ‘easier’ than others.

(In truth, every individual will have their own list of which dialects are more or less difficult for them.)

Some Actors assume that Producers and Directors understand the complexity and demands of acting while using a dialect other than the actor’s own and so will properly support the actor’s process.

(For many reasons (too many to go into within this post) this is sadly, very seldom true. Working actors are often faced with shouldering the burden of performing without proper preparation — even Oscar winning actors attached to potentially Oscar winning screenplays often must push to get the proper prep time and adequate dialect support staff on board.)

Do any of these assumptions look familiar to you? 

Have you ever fallen victim to one of these killer assumptions?

Are there other assumptions about dialect that you’ve encountered you’d like to share?  

I’d love to hear from you on this subject.

Joy to you,

Pamela Vanderway

Mastery is a complicated and fascinating thing. When you first start out to master something (such as learning to snowboard or becoming an old-west style trick-shooter,  or even achieving the ability to speak in a dialect other than your own while hitting your mark, finding your light and acting at the same time)  — when you first start out — as you put in effort, you experience results.

You work and light bulbs go off!

You practice and you exceed your expectations!

You work and you reap rewards.

It’s a giddy and joyful experience.

Somewhere down the line however,  (and you never can tell exactly when this will occur) you realize that you’re still putting in plenty of work, but your skills don’t seem to be improving much further. You’ve hit a learning plateau and it feels like the party is over.  Practicing isn’t fun anymore and the work you’re doing really does feel like work. Soon you may feel like you want to (or should) give up.

And if you were to give up, you wouldn’t be alone.

Far from it.

It’s during this plateau phase that most people give up their quest for mastery.

Most people give up.

Most people.

Most people give up during the plateau phase of mastering a new skill.

Wow.

Most people give up.

On one hand that’s kind of a sobering thought. On the other hand it’s also a pretty spectacular opportunity for anyone who is willing to continue to work for an unknown length of time without constantly reaping rewards.  Why? Because those who continue practicing a skill solely for the sake of practicing eventually find themselves ahead of their competition. It just happens that way.

As an actor that might mean that when a role comes down to you and two other people, you end up getting cast because you actually do know how to brandish a firearm, or yodel, or handle technical lingo while your competition — doesn’t.

You can have an edge over your direct competition (those actors you keep running into time and again at auditions) you just have to learn to expect the plateau, to accept it, to manage it and perhaps even to grow to love it. Here are a few books on this subject that I have found to be immensely valuable:

‘Mastery’ by George Leonard — This is one of my all-time favorites. I hope that all of you will find a way to give yourself the gift of reading this insightful book.

‘The Dip’ by Seth Godin — This book  actually does not discuss the topic of mastery directly, but rather focuses on recognizing and managing the plateau (which Mr. Godin refers to as ‘The Dip’).

Enjoy!  (If you have other books or resources on this topic to recommend, it would be lovely of you to add them to the comments section.)