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| What are some books/sites I should read to hone my craft? "Your
Film Acting Career" by MK Lewis & Rosemary Lewis
Must Have's:
Acting Techniques:
Screenwriting:
Marketing:
Auditioning:
Commercials:
General:
Extra Work:
Personally I’m not a big reader, so these books I’m recommending are the cream of the crop in my book and easy to get through than others. All the books are at the Samuel French Bookstores or you can try ordering them through www.samuelfrench.com, www.amazon.com or Barnes & Nobles. |
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From my experience, 90% of the time,
the people who ask -- are not ready to have an agent yet. Just having
a headshot and being ready to mail 'em out, does not make one "represent-able"
goods. So any of you folks looking for an agent, this is a great place to start accumulating a lot of information you'll need... that is if you're ready. Other good books about agents and the submission process are: "Your Film Acting Career" by MK Lewis (my bible when I started out) and "The LA Agent Book" or "The NY Agent Book" by K. Callan. Although both books provide timeless advice, the agencies/names may be outdated in the editions I linked above. After reading about the agent submission process, then go into a Samuel French Bookstore in NY or LA and pick up "The Right Agent" or "The Agencies" (for some reason not available online) to read about each agency in detail and get their current addresses/agent names when you're ready to submit. Also, reading the “acting bible”: “Your Film Acting Career” will walk you through it. But as a crash course, locate agencies in the “The Agencies”, read and locate the appropriate ones for your level (Beginning, Mid-Level, Advanced) and submit a headshot/resume with a cover letter no longer than 5 sentences. Send out 10 inquires and then follow-up with a phone call. Think of a creative way to get around the gate-keeper (ex: Say something like, “I just sent my package a week ago to “so and so” for representation, and am making my final choices this week, just wanted to follow up with “so and so”. It’s best to get a referral from a casting person or someone in the business. But if you can’t, everyone’s done a blind submission. Your first agent, won’t be your last. But you need to get into the door and they have access to most of the roles. When you interview with them, see if the
phones are ringing? Are they busy for their clients? What’s the
décor like? How many people do they represent? An agent can only
charge 10% of your earnings. But that also means, if they get 10% of the
money, you’ve got to do 90% of the work and hustle yourself to get
jobs as well. You can’t just rest on your laurels once you do get
an agent. |
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| Will you come speak at my College/Conference/Event? I've spoken at several events and workshops across the country during the BLT tour. If I can fit it in my schedule, so that it doesn't interfere with work--then I'm game. Here's the official press release for the speaking tour: PARRY SHEN 2008-2009 Speaking Tour The thing that makes Parry Shen's perspective unique from most other celebrity speakers is that, he too was once was an active officer in HIS Asian American Organization in college -- doing exactly the same things student organizers are doing right now (bringing in speakers and championing AA causes) while also being a working Asian American actor for the past 11 years. From combining those 2 perspectives, Parry has a real understanding of how important it is to share the things he's seen and learned behind closed doors in Hollywood to the next generation, so that they can arm themselves with the knowledge to help make changes in the future for the betterment of all Asian Americans. As an active AA officer, Parry has sat through hundreds of conferences/lectures and has designed his programming to model the type of programming/speeches that made the most impact to him when he was in college – all of which ultimately made him the individual he is today. Introduction “Better Luck Tomorrow” was the first Asian American Film to be picked up at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival and MTV Films’ first acquisition ever. When it premiered, it was the number one movie that weekend. Additional DVD rental/sales have brought the total box office tally to approximately $15 million to date -- the film cost $250,000 to produce. Since then, lead actor Parry Shen has begun an ongoing speaking tour sharing his journey with the film, college experiences as a student leader and an Asian-American Actor for the past eleven years because… the story is far from over. The Keynote His keynote will go into solutions he feels that can be actively pursued by the AA community to be proactive once they've left the confines of college. It addresses topics from the changing of Asian characters in the movie "21" from the original story to real-life statistics he's collected from the movie studios’ demographic marketing data. It's his "thesis", for lack of a better word, crafted after looking into his past AA experiences for the past 18 years since being an officer in his H.S. Asian club.
He will discuss how he's doing his part to improve AA’s in the media by putting together an AA Superhero Graphic Novel: “Secret Identities” to published in Spring 2009 -- in which he's co-created in order to instantly infuse 30 original and progressive AA characters ready for film/tv/animated series or ongoing comic books. The Workshop Within the Keynote, Parry integrates a workshop where the participants will get to experience and “audition” for the types of roles that he and his fellow Asian American colleagues have auditioned before and after the ground-breaking “Better Luck Tomorrow”. Parry will directly correlate how current stereotypical images and mis-representations of Asian-Americans in the media affect society; in short, revealing how much the aforementioned images “trickle down” and affect Asian-Americans even NOT in the entertainment industry. How for example, seeing an Asian American character described for the 20th time as: "Office I.T. guy, nerdy and shy. Awkward around women. However has the ability to access information with lightning speed" or "fiercely intelligent (a nerd, even), and asexual" Leads to real-life statistics like this: The authors of "Freakonomics" did a study of women who dated online and found 97% of white women preferred white men but responded equally to profiles of Hispanic Men if they made $77k+ more, Black Men if they made $154k+ and Asian Men if they made $247k or more. The workshop forces participants to discuss and think about these issues such as - how the Asian American Male has become so undesirable that only having only a quarter million dollars in their pocket can level out perceptions – when shown in a real world application. It’s the ultimate compare and contrast lesson. No acting experience necessary but something everyone should see and experience. The workshop can either be included or done separately from the keynote. Why this Program? Parry’s interactive programming strays from the usual format of attendees being "talked to" for an hour and a half. Your attendees will be kept on their toes the entire time and the points/examples Parry cites throughout the keynote are driven effectively home through practical application of the workshop. Parry's newly re-worked keynote and workshops debuted a few weeks ago to 400 students at the MAASU conference (http://www.oma.ku.edu/maasu/keynote.shtml) to great accolades. In fact, one of the MAASU Board of Advisors commented that Parry's keynote was "the best speech" he’d ever heard! Parry recently blogged about the experience: http://www.xanga.com/ParryShen/650234455/item.html At the end of the event, Parry will always take time to meet and greet with ALL the attendees -- whether it be taking photos, having a meal and/or signing photos, which will be provided. Copies of “Secret Identities” can also be arranged to be sold and signed after April 2009. Parry's down-to-earth approach connects with students at their core. One student nailed the perfect description of Parry's programming, "Sure, there are bigger 'names' who’ve been in higher profile stuff but all they did was talk about themselves. It was a waste of everyone's time. If you want real, solid content -- there's no substitute for everything Parry's gone through from his days as an officer at his AASU to being at the forefront of 'BLT'. But he also has a gift of got being able to present all that content a manner that is engaging. I was totally having fun the entire time but in the meanwhile -- I learned more in an hour than I did in a whole semester at my Asian American Studies Class!" So there it all is in a big nutshell. If your school is interested in booking Parry, please contact me at: parryshenevents@yahoo.com to inquire about dates and costs, Att: Speaking Engagement.
Sincerely, Michelle Rio
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| How do I get an autographed picture or send you something? For an autographed photo, see the info in the “STORE” section of the site. I can also receive mail at the same address listed there. |
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| Can you teach me how to act?Can you teach me how to act? I did a 3-part entry in my online journal (www.xanga.com/parryshen) entitled: “Acting Skool” that is a mini crash course into the how an actor might work on a role. Part
I : Sept 25, 2004 |
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The residual system on Commercial: April 29, 2004 The residual system on Film/TV: April 29, 2004
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I
don’t have a girlfriend…but I do have a wife. When I was working
at the H.S. boarding school (see bio) and took care of the boy’s
dorm, my wife took care of the girl’s dorm. We worked there 4 years
together and started dating our last year there. So we were the best of
friends while basically being the parents of 80 teenagers! I edited my
proposed in 2001 through the pier scene in “BLT”
(I get a box as a gift and inside is a gun. In the proposal when I open
the box, the ring is in there instead--Zooey Deschanel from The
New Guy even pops in for a cameo). In the wedding Roger Fan,
Sung Kang and Jason Tobin were my groomsmen. |
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The “Updates” section of the site will be continually updated in regards to projects/appearances, etc. Also, daily updates can be found in the same section linking to my online journal at: www.xanga.com/parryshen |
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Chinese-American. Mom is From Hong Kong. Dad is from Shanghai. I was born and raised in Queens, NYC. |
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I will pretty much watch anything that these actors do because I know I’ll never be disappointed. To me, that is a true sign of talent when your technique transcends all genres and it is something that I strive for in my craft.
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| How did your parents take the news you wanted to be an actor? My mother was like any other caring parent that didn’t want to see her son starve to death. She still nags to this day about putting my money in a Roth IRA or the practical things in life. But I think what calmed her down was that she knew I had a plan and wouldn’t just go waiting for work to come to me. I told her, “If I can succeed in getting straight A’s in business school when I really don’t care for it much, to even being the President of a business fraternity, imagine how much butt I’ll kick doing something I love.” |
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| How did you make the decision to be an actor? It’s always been a part of me. I was a latchkey kid and was brought up by the television. I would literally log in about 8 hours of TV/films a day. I’d come home from school at 3pm, turn on “Voltron” and didn’t stop until 11pm. That’s when I’d start my homework. But when I was watching, I was observing the storytelling and how they did things. Jack Tripper from “Three’s Company” taught me the beats of a joke, “Tom & Jerry” taught me comedic timing, “Little House on the Prairie” taught me dramatic performance. In college I was a business major by day but at night, my girlfriend and I at the time would write our own pieces and cast our friends in them. We entered the pieces in talent shows. So it wasn’t like I just jumped into it. I had years of hands on experience and instinct. But what made me make the actual decision to commit to a life of acting was when I interned at corporations. I heard the same thing from people: That they felt stuck at their jobs/they’d already invested too many years at their job/they had a pension/they had a family to support, etc. I decided: If not now, then when? So I did the first “unpractical” thing in my life and gathered my life savings and took a serious 6 year plunge into the business. Knowing what you want is the toughest part. Once you can pinpoint that, everything falls into place--you know where you want to go and can take the small steps to get there rather than doing a bunch of things just mediocre. |
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| Why did you decide to take the role of 'Ben' in "BLT"? In the 6 years I’ve been in the business, I had never been asked to audition for such a 3 dimensional character, much less the lead role. I’d always played characters that delivered food or was behind a desk handing over a set of hotel keys, never a character that propelled the narrative. So even though I was getting my payment deferred (which usually means not getting paid at all) and pulled myself out of pilot season to shoot the film, the answer was obvious. So, the question should actually be “How could I NOT take the role of ‘Ben’ in “BLT”?
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| What are your favorite movies/scenes/TV Shows? My requirement of a favorite movie is one that I have watched over 20 times without getting tired of it: Amadeus The following films are not necessarily my favorites that I can keep watching over & over again but there's a great performances in each one: American
History X Favorite Television Shows:"Lost", "Prison Break", "30 Rock", "Studio 60", "Grey's Anatomy", "High Stakes Poker", "WPT Poker Tour", "So You Think You Can Dance!" |
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NYC Pizza. I could live on that stuff forever. |
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| Is it tough to play a teenager? The characters I usually play are usually H.S. or college aged. But since the actor needs to be smarter than the character and know everything he is going through, it helps that I have already gone through that adolescent/college stage. I remember my insecurities and how I behaved and why. I can call upon those feelings through my life experiences. I think I would have a little more trouble playing someone close to my own age just because I’m still figuring things out at my current stage in life. |
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| Do you feel a lot of pressure being a role model for Asian Americans? I wouldn't even dare to be presumptuous and deem myself as a role model. But since what I do is in the public eye and there aren't many Asian faces on Film/TV, I realize that people just seeing my face will subconsciously trigger me as a "representative" of sorts. The best thing I can do for Asian Americans and myself is to not focus on being a "role model" but just going out there and being the best damn actor I can be. The worst thing I could do for AA's, is not working on my craft and depend on my ethnicity as a crutch and whine about getting cast because I need to be seen as an AA. I honestly believe good work will find you and vice versa if you're the best out there. |
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My mom. She worked really hard as a single mom to put my brother and me into the best schools in NYC. Came home late from working multiple jobs, then cooked us dinner and checked our homework. I don’t know how she did it but my brother and I are better men because of her. |
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How do you feel about actors that take on stereotypical roles? I’ll never judge another actor for the work they’ll accept. They each need to eat and pay their dues in the business. It really depends if they can personally stomach doing a questionable role. It’s that tough decision of “Do I just stick by my values and never work doing what I love?” AA film is still in its infancy and we have a lot of catching up to do, so we still have to sort through a bunch of garbage that is still out there. But hopefully it will be accelerated with increasing forms of media like the Internet so that we can catch up with African American and Latino Films. That way, I won’t be 70 and receiving an award from a young AA actor going, “Mr. Shen, due to your work in ‘BLT’ 40 years ago, you’ve paved the way for us.”
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