Using Movie Monologues to Get Acting Jobs

If you love movies, and think that film is one of the venues in which you excel as an actor; then you should definitely be Using Movie Monologues to Get Acting Jobs.

A Step-by-Step Formula

1. Decide which actors/actresses out there are your "type." Are you a Matt Damon/Josh Hartnett type or a Lindsay Lohan/Mandy Moore type? Pick at least two.

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2. Go to the Internet Movie Database and look up your model actor. There you will find a comprehensive listing of their films.

What you're looking for are films in which your model actors had substantial roles; but you want films you have never seen.

3. Make a list of the films.

4. Find the script (if it's available) on the web.

My favorite site for free movie scripts? Daily Script.

Or find a monologue from those films on Colin's Movie Monologue Page. (I've researched other sites, but Colin's is the most organized and has the largest selection for movie monologues. Check here first, and in your spare time research others.)

NOTE: If you're looking for monologues from plays: Monologue Archive. Awesome resource.

5. Study the monologue on your own and/or with a director, teacher or coach.

6. Tape yourself doing an audition-quality performance of the monologue (know your lines, go from start-to-finish without stopping - full performance).

Why tape yourself? Because if you just do the monologue in front of your mirror or for friends, it's too easy to think you're more brilliant than you actually are.
Have you ever seen the reject audition sequences from AMERICAN IDOL? Enough said.

7. Critique yourself. (Don't forget to note what you did right as well as noting what needs improvement.) When you're certain that you've absolutely nailed the monologue, rent (we like Netflix.com for rentals) or buy the film.

Or you can TiVo it. With TiVo, you can program a wishlist that includes your favorite actors and your favorite movies so that they're automatically recorded. Gotta love technology.

Now you have a side-by-side comparison and you'll know if you've aced the monologue - out-acting your competition; or, you'll have a visual aid gauge of what you need to work on with your acting teacher or coach.

Shifting from "Okay" Actor to "Great" Actor

Do you know the single most common acting mistake in auditions? Bland.

In an effort to be "real" or "subtle," some truly talented actors step into an audition and end up performing as if they're extras in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. What's up with that?!?

Please take a look at our lists of Famous Movie Monologues-Men and Famous Movie Monologues-Women one more time. Is there anything bland about these performances? Did these actors hold back?

While acting for the camera is definitely "smaller" than acting for the stage; it isn't any less dramatic.

The same energy, fire, power and passion that you bring to stage performances must still be present. And even in the tightest closeup, we'll see it. In your eyes, in your posture. We'll hear it in the way you say those well-written words.

Don't shortchange yourself or your audience by playing small. Study the performances of the best actors out there and you'll see that while they are definitely economical, they're still very connected to what they are feeling and doing.

It's how they got to be famous - and it's how you'll become great... by setting your goals high, then surpassing them.

To your acting success... scene by scene...

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