Acting is a noble profession.

Having been in the entertainment industry now for two months short of 50 years, people ask me who the great actors I have worked with are? 

I was asked this a few years ago by a journalist from the Daily Telegraph who was interviewing me enquiring if it was any of the actors I have employed like Anthony Hopkins or Kenneth Branagh or even Lenny Henry.

In a way, being a star is easy. 

Do they decide to do this theatre job for £x or that TV job for £xx or a film for £xxx. They are always asked. They rarely audition. 

The actors I admire the most are those who find themselves in performing in a work that "is not as good as it should be" and they do it as if it was Shakespeare.

I admire those actors who appear in a theatre production, and after the play receives the worst reviews, they continue night after night, giving it their all. 

I admire those actors who appear in a film that has not worked, in any way, but they still turn up to promote it aware of all its faults. 

So very often these actors are doing this work for very little money. They do it to the very best of their abilities. They do it because they love it. They do it because they are professionals. 

The hardest part of acting for almost all the actors I know is, not the acting, it's the getting by, surviving between the last role and the next. 

How dare some cunting journalists job shame actors as they did recently with actor and single mother of two Kate Jarvis who is working as a security guard in between acting jobs to feed her children. 

Acting is a noble profession far older than journalism. 

Not one of these publications would have job shammed Sir Kenneth Branagh or Sir Anthony Hopkins or Sir Lenny Henry. Of course, they would not. They would not dare. 

How dare they do this to jobbing actor. 

These so-called journalists are bullies. They pick on those who they think will not fight back - the jobbing actor. 

I was so pleased to see that so many of those stars stood up and defended Kate Jarvis, but then they were once like her before that lucky break - a jobbing actor. 

You can't be dealt the winning hand if you are not sat at the table.

Over the 50 years that I have been in this industry some of the very best actors, I have worked with have left the industry because they just can't make a living from it.

Other excellent actors have spent their lives in the industry but they have never really had that lucky break and they have had a so-so career. Two come to mind Connie Merigold and Stanley Lloyd. None of you will have heard of them but I worked with both in the early 1970s and I could not understand why they were not working more.

I have also worked with many actors, who have modest talent but who have had that lucky break and have gone on to be stars. 

Every now and again, I come across a story that gives hope to all actors. 

In September 2019 a film I made was invited to the 30th Dinard Film Festival. Even though it was my fourth time in attendance at this enjoyable festival, a celebration of British film, it was the first time I was there as a director.  I, therefore, found myself having lots of photo calls at the Grand Hotel and on the red carpet along with other directors there like Michael Caton-Jones, Adrian Shergold, James Watkins and actors like Emily Beecham, Freya Mavor, John Henshaw, Larry Lamb, Marion Bailey, Phil Davis, Lesley Sharp, Jane Horrocks and others. A new experience for me. 

I spotted Kris Hitchens across the balcony of the Grand while we were all changing photographers and interviewers. There was something about him that stood out. I was not sure what. 

When we talked later, I wondered if it was that for an actor, he seemed different. Along the way, in this industry, all of us change. Whatever we were before we started kind of gets lost. Kris reminded me of all the boys I went to secondary modern school with in Leeds so long ago now. He was very grounded and down to earth. 

I would later find that he had a small part in a Ken Loach film in 2001 and that Ken had wanted him for the lead, but Film Four had overruled his casting because he had little experience. After that, he decided to return to being a gas fitter, plumber, and I think other jobs.

Then a few years ago, he decided that he would have one last try to follow the dream and become an actor.

After playing a few small roles in CORONATION STREET and others TV series and leading parts in short films, and lots of interesting and probably low paid theatre work, he found himself being put up for the new Ken Loach film SORRY WE MISSED YOU. 

This time he was given the lead, and no financier would veto him. 

Because of the success of the film and his outstanding performance, he is now being offered other jobs, and lots of them it would appear. 

It's the kind of break every actor dreams of, and although they are few and far between, they do happen. 

For over 90% of all the actors I have met or worked with it's surviving in the meantime and hoping you don't suffer the disgraceful treatment Kate Jarvis sustained at the hands of the Daily Star recently who belittled here for doing a security job in a shopping centre having been in EASTENDERS for a couple of years. 

She was doing what the vast majority of actors do when they are not acting - paying the bills. 

Please don't buy the Daily Star. 

Actors doing it for themselves

Some actors get lucky.

Someone - director, producer or casting director sees them in something, often by accident and they are then cast in the job that changes their lives forever.  That film, TV or theatre production then receives brilliant reviews and industry-wide recognition for the actor. From then on, their careers soar, and they never have to audition again. Acting jobs are just offered to them.

Most actors never reach this stage. Well, not going along the usual route.

I am a great believer in actors doing it for themselves. 

Forty years ago, I was a successful actor. Well in as much as I had in the previous ten years appeared in 43 theatre, TV and film productions and all but one of them was paid work. However, I  took control of my life and decided to produce the productions I acted in. Ironically rather than cast myself in my first film as a producer, TO THE LIGHTHOUSE we cast Kenneth Branagh and Nicholas Gecks in the roles I could have played. I knew by then that I was more interested in producing than acting. 

The problem with acting is that you need someone to offer you a job. The simplest solution, therefore, is to give yourself that job.

It is tough doing this, and many times, it rarely payoffs in the way it is envisaged. But it is hugely rewarding and satisfying and far better than sitting around hoping one day to be discovered. 

I have in the last 50 years met thousands of actors, and very few decide to go down this road. Some do.  

One actor who has done this is Stuart Brennan.

Coming out of University in Winchester England, with a drama degree but with no showcase performance meant no agent. Some of Stuart's friends had moved to London to pursue the dream, but he just couldn’t afford it as London is so expensive to live in for many. He also couldn’t even provide headshots, so with no savings to support himself, and he moved back in with parents in Devon. 

He applied for everything going and got auditions for a just couple of short films and so went on the expensive trip up to London twice, only to not get the parts. He applied to some regional touring theatre locally in Devon which got him an audition. Four months out of University, he was desperate. 

In this audition he could see on the directors face that he wasn’t what he was wanting, so as he said goodbye he asked him what he was after. The director explained and Stuart begged him to let me give it one more go. He did, and the director was impressed and gave him the job touring Somerset and Devon - which sounds great, and Stuart assures me that it was, but it was two weeks of rehearsal, followed by fifteen performances for which he got paid about £350 for well over a months work. His petrol bill alone was about almost £350. 

So Stuart decided to do what he had done at University; producing, writing and creating. He teamed up with university friend Neil Jones, and together they set out to make a feature film called RISEN, about a Welsh boxer Howard Winstone from Neil's hometown of Merthyr Tydfil. They set themselves up in the capital of Wales, Cardiff. 

After getting a short film together as a teaser for the feature, and with no contacts they somehow managed to raise enough money to begin filming. 

Then during the shooting one of the investors didn’t come through and they had to stop filming immediately - and owed a rightfully very angry cast and crew a lot of money. Over the next five years, they would raise some money, pay some of the bills, film a bit more and repeat. Until eventually they had completed the movie and paid everyone their fees… Despite a very small release, they had some success internationally with the film and at the Welsh BAFTA’s, Stuart was to his surpise nominated for the Best Actor.

He won.

After winning the BAFTA, he wrote to a great many agents in London, and all said their books were full… and to this day Stuart has never had an agent. 

In September 2019 Stuart Brennan a man with few connections when he started, no money and no one fighting his corner has not one but two feature films opening in UK cinemas.

The first TOMORROW is Executive Produced by Martin Scorsese which Stuart co-wrote, co-produced and co-stars in with fellow actor Sebastian Street. It will be screened in over 100 UK cinemas.

The second film WOLF Stuart directs, co-wrote and co-stars in will be screened in over 60 UK cinemas.

Look at his IMDb entry to see all the other films Stuart has worked in over the last few years. Almost every job is down to him. No one else. 

Stuart Brennan an actor ignored by EVERYONE except his Uni friend Neil Jones.

Stuart Brennan who took over 5 years to make that first film.

Stuart Brennan who would not take no for an answer. 

Stuart Brennan who really has done it "my way".

Be like Stuart Brennan. 

Stop fucking moaning. Yes, the life of an unknown actor is shit most of the time. Get off your arse today and take control!!

No one else is going to do it for you.

 DO IT YOURSELF.

I am finding it harder and harder to be critical of films. 

Because I am a filmmaker who understood distribution I decided in 1998 to help other British & Irish filmmakers, who were unable to secure distribution for their films. Apart from Alex Gibney's ZERO DAYS, all I released were British & Irish films. 

This week someone discussing the films I have distributed, asked me why I had distributed xxxxx (it would be unfair to name the film). Admittedly it was not a great film, but I managed to place it in the cinema, on DVD and even sold it to TV. This person just tore it apart and was very cruel about the filmmakers who have never made another movie. The “critic” has never made a film nor attempted to make one, but they are very well paid within the film industry. 

No one sets out to make a film that is not as good as it should be. I have now released over 120 films in the UK & Ireland and only one, SANCTUARY has had 100% great reviews. That said I have never had a film that had all bad reviews. Most films tend to get mixed reviews. 

What one person thinks is a not very good film another sees merit in it. 

There are an awful lot of people in the film industry who are so censorious about other people’s films, and I do not mean film critics, but so many of these people have never even tried to make a film. They make a living within the film industry in some kind of supply or facilitation function that relies on others making films. They have never nor will ever produce, direct or write a film. 

Sometimes some of those films they watch may not be as good as they should be. 

However, if you are one of those people who make a very good living from films, but you do actually make films yourself, the next time you see ones of these not as good as they should be films please do not rubbish it behind that persons back. Think of the years of hard work that have gone into making that film, often working for very little or nothing at all, and please just give the makers the respect they deserve. 

People laugh at Ed Wood’s films. They laugh as if he was an idiot, in a way they once laughed at people in lunatic asylums. He had such enthusiasm and love for the films that he made and the people he worked with, and although the result was not what many would think great films he tried his best. For that reason, he deserves respect and admiration. He was a dreamer and what the world always needs are more dreamers. 

For many reasons, Ed Wood would get my vote for Patron Saint of filmmakers, for every filmmaker I ever met is Ed Wood but some of them got very lucky along the way. 

What is the difference between a star and a jobbing actor?

Luck.

Somewhere on the road to where they are they got that lucky break.

I know an actor who was cast in a TV series that made them into a star. 

That actor was cast in the TV series because they were seen in something else, a very obscure BBC production hidden in the schedules and only shown once. 

The writer of that something else told me that when casting that role it was down to two actors. He and the director just could not make up their minds and in the end, cast the actor who would become a star because they thought the character he would be playing would have the same hair colouring. 

Now if that is not luck I don't know what is. 

Few stars I have worked with ever admit this. Derek Jacobi did. He was well down the list for I CLAUDIUS, lots of other actors having turned it down and told me that if he had not been cast in that role he would today be just a jobbing actor. He said that was his lucky break. 

Derek is in my view one of the greatest stage actors I have ever seen but over the last 48 years, I have been in the industry some of the best stage actors I have seen or worked with really struggle to make a living because they never had that lucky break. Most theatre as those who perform in it know full well does not pay a decent wage, unless you are doing it 52 weeks of the year. 

Therefore please try to treat that actor who has just sent you their CV or comes up to at a networking event well and with respect, because they are a star, a very big star, waiting for that lucky break.

This is why my regular London networking events have more actors than directors, producers, writers, sales agents, film financiers, etc. They are all stars in the waiting. 

(Also I co-host them with the actor Toby Osmond). 

Is a cinema release worth it?

In the last 48 hours, I have had two detailed phone calls with good friends directors Piotr Szkopiak and Liam O Mochain about whether a cinema release is worth it for a small lowish budget film.

Increasingly more and more micro-budget to low budget British and Irish films are failing to have a cinema outing. Why?

With the exception of Alex Gibney’s ZERO DAYS, all I have released for the last 20 years are British & Irish films and usually ones that other distributors have turned down so I have learned a thing or two along the way that might be worth sharing. 

A film released theatrically will result in guaranteed reviews in an array of publications. Sometimes a straight to video/online release can bring some reviews but it is increasingly unlikely. 

For certain low budget films, my advice is to only ever release in the cinema in the country of origin. What some filmmakers seem to forget is that the losses from a cinema release are carried forward into other areas such as TV etc. I have released so many films where I have not returned any money to the sales agents/ filmmakers because of this. 

In the last 20 years when I have discussed with the filmmaker the option of forgoing the cinema because it would be better financially to go straight to other sectors, only one of them, Merlin Ward has opted for this route. I licensed his film to a broadcaster and once I had taken my commission his grateful investors had a decent return towards the recoupment of the budget.

That said my four most successful films in terms of ongoing TV sales Terry Ryans’ THE BRYLCREEM BOYS (4 different broadcasters), Ira Trattner’s TWO MEN WENT TO WAR (3 different broadcasters) and ADAM & PAUL (3 different broadcasters), Chris Jones and Genevieve Jolliffe’s URBAN GHOST STORY (3 different broadcasters) only achieved this because they were released in the cinema which resulted in good solid reviews. However the first two I have not been able to license to TV for well over 10 years. 

Many films that I could have sold straight to TV first have later failed to sell to TV due to poor reviews the then received when released in the cinema. A bird in the hand. 

Also, many films I have released in the cinema have never sold to a UK broadcaster even with fairly good reviews. Unlike say in France, a cinema release does not guarantee a TV sale. 

This is not because these films are not good it is simply because of the huge volume of films that are made every single year. Chris Jones says this figure could be as high as 15,000 per year. 

I would seriously doubt that any more than 2,500 of these make it to the UK and that includes all forms of online and TV (TV show now fewer and fewer films each year).

Therefore, any low budget film that manages one week in the UK cinema these days on 5 prints or more and results in a few good reviews really is a winner. 

However, for broadcasters such as Netflix, there is a greater value to them for films that have not been seen on the big screen but debut on their platform. 

Ask yourself this. You have £10 to see a film on Friday and only one day free. Do you see the $200 million film set in outer space with lots of people, you have heard of or the £250,000 set in Penge with no one you have heard of?

Sometimes straight to TV/ online is the better option. 

A dilemma which only the filmmaker can really answer. 

Times they are a changing. 

A cheery note on the eve of The London Screenings.

In the entertainment industry it is kind of never too late.

This tale is all that I love about being part of the entertainment industry.

After I do not know how many years as a carpet fitter, retiring at I assume 65-year-old, Ray Castleton decides to tread the boards. 

A bit Jess Oakroyd in THE GOOD COMPANIONS I hear you say. (What do you mean you have never read it)?

Now at the age of 70, he has not only written a very powerful four-hander theatre play, he has got off his arse instead of sitting around waiting for someone else to do something about it he has taken control. All very Norman Tebbit you might be thinking, but the subject matter is most definitely not Norman Thatcher Tebbit. 

Ray Castleton with no experience whatsoever has raised money from Peter and Paul and various arts funding bodies all by himself and booked theatre's, church hall's, town halls, arts centres, museums, social clubs, trade union institutions and colleges and given four actors well-paid work for two months staging this remarkable play.

I think all actors should try to produce. There is no better way to ensure you work, than to employ yourself. 

On top of this, it is actually an impressive, entertaining, thought-provoking, moving and wonderfully acted by four actors all of you filmmaker reading this should be checking out for any Northern films you are working on. So many times this kind of venture by someone new to showbiz is sadly not. AND Ray has also started acting. Not in this. He hands that over to Ray Ashcroft my temporary landlord, which is why I had skived off Sheffield Doc/Fest, to see his thesping once more. 

It should be on the Edinburgh Fringe. It should be playing in London. If only I knew more about this sort of theatre I could help. I shall have to put Ray in touch with Sarah Berger for she is to theatre what Chris Jones and Elliot Grove are to film. 

Ray Castleton in just 5 years is now a well-reviewed playwright and actor and also a very successful producer. How many other professionals offer such chances at such a late stage of a persons life?

What is even more extraordinary is that in the audience at the Theatre Royal York last night was a young woman Sophia Tamaro who came on my Meet The Experts panel last year at the London Screenwriters Festival and had cast Ray Castleton in her latest short film (we gave her great advice apparently Gary Phillips and was kind. Apparently, some of the others who attended found me scary) AND wait for this someone  Toby Osmond  who was at our last networking event of actors, crew, crafts people, film financiers, sales agents, distributors etc. I did think she looked familiar but she ignored one of the most important rules of our industry - tell people who you are and what you do and then remind them ALL THE TIME. 

    

It is as they say a small world.