Stephen Tobolowsky is one of those actors that you’ve seen in hundreds of things, but never knew his name.
He’s a wonderful character actor that has made appearances in a lot of memorable films like Spaceballs, Memento, Groundhog Day and Thelma & Louise.
Apparently he’s also a very gifted storyteller, and had some great ones to share with the Daily Actor blog ( el2.convertkit-mail2.com/c/mvu4xxl2p8h5h789mx/6qhehou7vw46e/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGFpbHlhY3Rvci5jb20vaW50ZXJ2aWV3L3N0ZXBoZW4tdG9ib2xvd3NreS1zdHJhbmdlLW5hdHVyZS8= ).
Including the story of when he was shooting the film Strange Nature down in Jamaica. He said the really tough scenes during that films were the ones they had to shoot out in the woods in the middle of the night.
And they were all terrified because they woke up one morning on set to little notes saying that everyone needed to slather their feet and ankles with Deet so as to avoid the giant cow ticks that are apparently prevalent in the Jamaican woods.
Probably not the thing you want to hear right before you’re about to trudge out into the middle of them to shoot a movie all night.
Another great story was him explaining the birds and the bees to his son.
He told his son that you should never make love to a woman out in the woods, or on a beach, or really anywhere outdoors.
His firm opinion was that all lovemaking should happen in a bedroom, preferably with a lock on the door, the air conditioning on, and the TV remote within arm’s reach.
So Mr. Tobolowsky doesn’t sound like he’s probably the most adventurous person when it comes to the bedroom. But he’s had an amazing career in film and television, with a lot of great stories and insights.
Another story that he told was how he lived next to a big casting director.
The casting director neighbor thought he’d be perfect for a certain role, so he passed him a script over the fence between their two houses. Tobolowsky auditions for the role, and a little bit later the casting director neighbor finds him at home one night.
He tells Tobolowsky that they loved him, want to offer him the role, and can probably pay him $25,000 a week.
Great!
So not long after that, Tobolowsky gets a call from his agent at William Morris, talking to him about that very same role.
The agent tells him that the role is open, and that he thinks that he could get him booked on the film without even audition, and that it would pay $15,000 a week.
Oh, really?!
He plays along and tells his agent that he’s interested but really wanted some more money than that. So his agent “makes some calls”, and comes back to tell Tobolowsky that he was able to negotiate them up to $17,500 a week!
And of course, the agent was not being upfront.
He was doing something that probably most agents do, which is try to get several of their talent cast in a show by telling the casting directors that they all agreed to work for lower rates, but only if they all get cast.
This way the agent gets multiple people booked on the gig, and higher commissions for himself, even though it might mean less money for some of those individual actors.
It’s all part of the crazy game of Hollywood.
And it sounds insane, but it really is better to play that game and have a good agent that represents you because they’ll be able to get you way more opportunities and bigger paychecks (well, usually) than you would trying to make a go at it on your own.
But how do you find a good agent?
It can be tough, but I’ve given you what I think is some pretty solid advice in this article.
It won’t guarantee that you’ll get an agent to love you, but it will set you on the right path to find a good agent that will work hard to further your acting career.
Read it here: www.gorillafilmschool.com/how-to-find-a-talent-agent/ ( el2.convertkit-mail2.com/c/mvu4xxl2p8h5h789mx/z4igh7u397zr2/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5nb3JpbGxhZmlsbXNjaG9vbC5jb20vaG93LXRvLWZpbmQtYS10YWxlbnQtYWdlbnQv )
-Brian
gorillafilmschool.com ( el2.convertkit-mail2.com/c/mvu4xxl2p8h5h789mx/xvfph3uw8zmd5/aHR0cDovL2dvcmlsbGFmaWxtc2Nob29sLmNvbQ== )
P.S. Want to be part of a community of filmmakers and actors that are excited to learn more? Join our FREE facebook community at www.facebook.com/groups/GorillaFilmSchool ( el2.convertkit-mail2.com/c/mvu4xxl2p8h5h789mx/ketmh2ulgep2x/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZmFjZWJvb2suY29tL2dyb3Vwcy9Hb3JpbGxhRmlsbVNjaG9vbA== ).
PO Box 781, Grand River, OH 44045-0781
Unsubscribe ( el2.convertkit-mail2.com/u/mvu4xxl2p8h5h789mx )
