BLOG # 8 WHAT IS A COMMERCIAL? (1)

A commercial is when you’re selling something, silly.

No, it’s not! If it was that simple we wouldn’t need actors for commercials.

Sometimes the people who do commercials aren’t actors - and it’s pretty obvious! Usually, however, non-actors who do commercials, like famous athletes, politicians, cats, etc. have coaches – or ‘wranglers’ in the latter case.  

In most cases, actors have to make do with commercial classes, often taught by people who aren’t real acting teachers. This is a mistake because commercial copy isn’t written like normal dialogue – and it’s really difficult to master.

Commercial copy is written specifically for selling. So it’s particularly difficult to make it sound convincing. An actor has to use technique more than ever! It’s not complicated, it’s just a lot of work.

These are the tools of the actor, which must be applied:

          Finding the objective

          Discovering the action(s)

          Using Subtext

          Supporting it with sensory work

          Applying character adjustments

          

These are the same tools you would use for any other acting assignment.

So, now that we know what a commercial isn’t, let’s talk about what it is. A monologue? A scene? A mini screenplay?  I would say it’s always a screenplay – it can be either a monologue – only one person speaking into the camera at a time - or a scene – two or more people interacting.

When I first encountered the commercial aspect of the business, I was fortunate enough to get an agent fairly quickly.  The business was very different in those days.  We used to make ‘rounds’ – visiting agents’ offices and leaving photos or just ‘checking in.’ They didn’t have the security measures they do now, so agents were a lot more accessible. They generally had a secretary at the front desk, with whom you could speak and leave a photo and resume.  I signed up with the ‘Monty Silver Agency’ for both commercials and legit. My agent was Marvin Starkman, who gave me a very pretty baby spoon, when my son was born. He sent me out on a lot of auditions.

My first booking was an extra on a commercial for a product called ‘Vanish’ or something like that – I believe it was a headache remedy –  it didn’t survive very long, anyway. When I went to the shoot, I discovered that we were four ladies playing cards: two principals, two extras.  They quickly discovered that they needed to show the faces of the extras in reaction shots, so we were bumped up to principals.

A long dry period followed and Marvin advised me to ‘study’ commercials at the very first school that provided classes specifically for ‘commercial acting.’ Absolutely no help at all!  But I had enrolled in a scene study class given by the excellent Meisner teacher, Mordecai Lawner, who was a stickler for objectives, actions and subtext.

Eventually, I was cast in my first major commercial. Next time, I’ll describe the process of preparing a commercial.