The Honest Filmmaker

How to be a Working Actor with Mark Hampton

April 30, 2024 Jim Eaves Episode 26
How to be a Working Actor with Mark Hampton
The Honest Filmmaker
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The Honest Filmmaker
How to be a Working Actor with Mark Hampton
Apr 30, 2024 Episode 26
Jim Eaves

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#acting #workingactor #auditioning 

This week I'm chatting to filmmaker, Actor and presenter Mark Hampton.

Mark has written and directed his own projects in which he's cast himself in the lead roles, he's also appeared in commercials, TV, Netflix features, he's very much a working actor.

Mark gave me his tips for auditioning, tips for starting out as an actor, we chatted about  the Cannes Film Festival and Film Market and he also gave me some great networking tips. This is a really good one if you are just starting out as an actor or you are interested in progressing your acting career by listening to someone that's out there and very much a working actor, enjoy!    

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HONEST, OPEN ADVICE ABOUT YOUR FILMMAKING CAREER

Are you about to leave Uni with a filmmaking degree? Or want to change careers and work in a creative industry? We want to give you the tools you need to enter the real world of production or freelancing. Honest and open career advice from people in the business.

We also talk to those in other creative industries to discuss their careers, the potential cross over with film production and practical tips for a successful and fulfilling career.

Join the community: http://www.thehonestfilmmaker.co.uk

Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Send us a Text Message.

#acting #workingactor #auditioning 

This week I'm chatting to filmmaker, Actor and presenter Mark Hampton.

Mark has written and directed his own projects in which he's cast himself in the lead roles, he's also appeared in commercials, TV, Netflix features, he's very much a working actor.

Mark gave me his tips for auditioning, tips for starting out as an actor, we chatted about  the Cannes Film Festival and Film Market and he also gave me some great networking tips. This is a really good one if you are just starting out as an actor or you are interested in progressing your acting career by listening to someone that's out there and very much a working actor, enjoy!    

For regular updates and exclusive content - sign up for The Honest Filmmaker newsletter
https://thehonestfilmmaker.co.uk/index.php/e-newsletter/

Join The Honest Filmmaker community on our Facebook Group or Discord
https://thehonestfilmmaker.co.uk/index.php/join-the-community/

HONEST, OPEN ADVICE ABOUT YOUR FILMMAKING CAREER

Are you about to leave Uni with a filmmaking degree? Or want to change careers and work in a creative industry? We want to give you the tools you need to enter the real world of production or freelancing. Honest and open career advice from people in the business.

We also talk to those in other creative industries to discuss their careers, the potential cross over with film production and practical tips for a successful and fulfilling career.

Join the community: http://www.thehonestfilmmaker.co.uk

[Music] hi Jim here and you're listening to the honest filmmaker podcast career advice from people in the business this week I spoke to filmmaker actor and presenter Mark Hampton Mark's written and directed his own projects in which he's put himself in an acting role he's also appeared in commercials TV Netflix features he's very much a working actor Mark gave me his tips for auditioning uh tips for starting out as an actor we chatted about and the film festival and the film market and he also gave me some networking tips this is a really good one if you're just starting out as an actor or you're interested in progressing your acting career by listening to somebody who's out there who's very much a working actor enjoy as I do with everybody I look at their IMDb all of their social media and stalk the hell out of them um and it looks to me like you've been doing this acting stuff for a long time did you study acting or how did you start off I um I've kind of been around the block a couple of times with acting so I started it when I was very young you know in my kind of early 20s or late teens and I left college to go and pursue a career as an actor um and if I'm really honest at that time I was really just riding on a kind of overconfidence and good looks as being the thing that were going to carry me into the industry and going to make me a star and um and I didn't go and train I didn't go to drama school because I wasn't in a position to kind of pay for it I you know to kind of learn work and stuff like that and I dropped out of University and I was working in a bar you know cocktail bar throwing bottles around doing the whole kind of cocktail thing and trying to just kind of make it and I'd met various people in London um and I started doing background work started doing extras work in some films and things and then I was lucky enough to kind of move up and do some kind of walkon stuff and then this never happened but I kind of booked a couple of roles which went from wons to speaking parts and then they then that was kind of like the kind you got through that gate of being like oh now you're a member of cast now you're an actor and um fely kind of by almost by luck really and then um I did a thing for ITV like um for Cle Patrick I'm an act and back then the day you needed to have two Equity contracts within six months in order to get an equity um card and so I had done this job for this ITV children's ITV sitcom and then I was called back to come back and do some pickups or another episode or something and they and so I needed another contract and so I had the two contracts and that's how I got Equity guard so it was all very much kind of a a non-drama school non-traditional trained route into it I actually went back and trained in 2020 I went to Identity School of acting and I went to because they I live in Cambridge and they had moved everything online because everything had been moved online in 2020 and I was able to go to like a part-time drama school which is the thing I'd always wanted to do when I kind of came back into the to the acting career and now suddenly I was able to do it um and so I I have done that training then you know back in the day I would go to when in the in the first time I'd go to some classes here and there I'd do a bit of you know some M stuff or whatever it might be but I didn't like go to drama school um and if I'm really honest like for a long time that was kind of a gap in my story like that was a gap that I was like I don't know whether it's still just me thinking I can do this or whether I can actually do this and actually going to drama school really helped me gain like confidence in my ability as an actor um so that I've been able to come and go out and get oh right and one of those key things was actually like being able to buy my own of voice I to speak in my own kind of natural voice my own voice isn't that is a weird kind of mashup of I was born in New Zealand and I grew up in the UK and the key we think suddenly swits back and sometimes it's like oh I always feel like I have to put on some kind of accent whether it's an RP or London or whatever and one of the great things I got from actually studying was actually like just being comfortable speaking in my own voice and that was a that was a huge thing for me so so the answer to the question is yes I have trained but if you look at my MDB when it starts way back then I hadn't at all so it came later well I did watch the Cleopatra episode today actually in preparation and I think I know what you mean about your accent back then because I I I could hear it was almost that was an American that was an American character that was Amic the guy was called Brad he was called Bradley and he was this you know and it was cool because I got to play he came and the character was this kind of heartrob character like the girls were like oh like this about them and stuff so it was kind of you know a great thing to play and yeah no and it was and it was an American so I turned up and I'm like hey Z I'm like I'm super super charming and all the rest of it what's funny about that intro is that we shot like a whole the whole series but the we shot that very first scene where I appear the day after the rap party the entire cast from crew were like so hung over oh my God like the fact that they they managed to make me look kind of bright and fresh with the makeup like we were all wrecked that day so was that your first paid proper paid job as an actor the first paid acting job was um in Jonathan Creek so I did J Creek for the BBC and so this thing had started out as being a um a Triad bad guy they needed a tri bad guy for the setup of the story and actually the Triad bad guys turn out to be a red herring they nothing to do with the story but actually they needed some suspects for what was going on and initially it was just going to be some images it was going to be some guys being seen to be like photographed and then some guys were going to be arrested and they were going to be thrown pray we're just going to see them so these were this is a walk-on role and then they came back and said actually we think we want we need to hear the character speak so we need some some um some dialogue so do you know any Chinese and I was like well no I don't speak you know born in New Zealand raised in UK and even though I'm mixed race I don't speak any Chinese and I said okay well we've got some lines but we need them translated into Chinese so I went to my dad got him to translate them into Chinese and then I tried to kind of wrote learn them and then in the episode of Jonathan Creek you hear me doing this terrible Chinese where people who are actually Chinese were listening to it going I can't actually tell whether he's speaking Mandarin or canzanese it's that bad like you know but I just wrote learn this stuff and that turned into my first kind of paid speaking engagement which I think which had been a walk on that developed into a speaking part and that was kind of where where the where it started where I kind of transitioned into being like a member of the cast rather than a member of like the background awesome and so so thinking of uh people who are new to acting just starting out which for acting in particular that could be anyone of any age really can decide acting is for me um the first thing that fills me with Dread obviously I'm not an actor if I was an actor is auditioning uh yeah how how do you deal with auditions and what advice do you give to people when they're going for auditions so auditioning is horrible it's a really artificial environment it's nothing like what it's like being an actor on set or on a stage in a theater production it's a really strange environment you people are watching you in a way that they never would if they were actually working on something and people and I think that the way to deal with an audition for me if you if you're going into the room is that um first of all realize that you're there because you deserve a shot right whoever's chosen you to be in that room has decided you we think you're good enough to do this right so don't ever think I I don't deserve this or I'm not good enough for this even if you walk into a waiting room and there's a group of people you know I get this got this a lot when I was the first time around people mix race with Chinese you people who look a lot like you and you're like H how are they going to pick like they're going to surely pick someone else um even if there's someone like famous that you've seen on TV in the room if you are in the room you're in with a shot and that's what I've been you know I had that recently reinforced me by a director TV director who I did a workshop with said look if you're in the room you're in the shop and everyone is on your side they all want you to be great they want you to be brilliant right so don't feel like oh this is a terrible pressure don't feel like just feel like okay this is a great opportunity the the way that I think of it is and a lot of really successful actors have talked about this um and it's a really good mindset for auditioning and the and and that is when you're going for an audition don't think about it as like I'm trying to get a job don't think about it as I'm trying to impress them so that they'll book me think about the audition as the job right the audition is the job the audition is your opportunity to show what you can do as an actor so do what you would do if this was real and you were already on set and you already giving this performance because the danger is you try and do too much especially if you're auditioning you're like a day player or something that's like a small part you try and give it an arc and you give it like a flare of personality and all these things and they just want truth and reality and you're doing too much so go into it thinking right this is the job I'm not there's no no other job about apart from just what I'm doing today and then if the job does get come your way then great that's a kind of added bonus but you have to consider that you've done your work on the day of the audition in the room with them it's faell tape you put it on tape you put on a great put in a great performance and you think it's truthful and what what's going to be what's going to be needed I think that take the nerves out of it you know that psychologically when we're when we feel fear when we feel excitement they're psych they are physiologically almost exactly the same you know so trying not to think about I'm nervous try to think I'm excited yeah excited I'm here to work I'm here to collaborate and and go into the room with a sense of like you know a sense of play in a sense of fun right even if you're nervous try and be happy try and be energetic because um when you're being in auditioned it's not just about your performance it's can they spend six weeks with you on set yeah right are you a nice person are you going to are you draining the energy out of the room or do you bring energy to the room is that that kind of thing so just the you want to try and present the the whole kind of package so just be yourself be natural be happy um and go in there and just think of the thing that you're there to do and nothing kind of Beyond it no other agenda no like oh this could break you know this could be a breakout role or this could do forget all of that just be just do the thing you're there to do yeah couldn't agree more and I think what I'd add from a micro budget point of view is when you're uh dealing with an actor that spending time with them is critical whether they're okay to get on with because that can just ruin the whole experience I'm sure that's on big budgets as well but you're really you're looking for the person who can play the role but you're also looking for someone you can go to Hellen back with uh and still be smiling at the end of the day um the one I heard someone say was which I often do myself when I'm about to do something I really don't want to do is I say to myself I'm going to really enjoy this and for some reason it it rewires something in your brain and goes yeah you yeah you are really going to enjoy this even though it's probably something horrific if you think about it right you know when we're making independent films I last year shot of micr budget Indie of my own and like they are hard to do right it's all hands- on Deck there's none of the resources you need everything's tight the timing is tight you haven't got enough of anything to do what you want to do but I think what you have to remember is like we're making a movie right we're making a movie we're making a web series we're making a thing we're making a thing and that's great right that's fantastic right just kind of just remember like that you get to do this right and and a lot of I I coach actors and a lot of it is about mindset and a lot of the mindset is not about like oh God I have to do this thing like

I have to get up at 6:

in the morning to go and open up the location because I'm got I can't afford a location manager I have to it's not I have to I get to

right I get to go down there at 6:

00 and in that location so we can start make we can do our film it's like the mindset shift is really important so what you said is like you're basically telling yourself this is going to be a positive experience and if you tell yourself that it will be right so yeah I'm 100% behind that kind of thing the mindset is so important yeah sometimes it's hard when you've you've been filming all day and then for example this happens to me and I'm like I've got to look at my story boards tomorrow and I there's no way I could say oh I get to look at my story boards tomorrow instead of go to sleep anyway um State just one more thing on auditions are you superstitious have you got like a ritual lucky Underpants is there something you do before everyone or no no I don't because I think no because um the only I I used to have a thing where it's like oh if I I wore that shirt in that shelf take and I got that job and like and then you do it again and you don't book it so it's just like all what you realize is all the superans are absolute bollocks and like you know they don't do anything for you um unless it affects how you feel about doing your performance then do it you've got a little routine some people like they have their like active warmup routine they want to do a whole bunch of how now brown cow and the the tongue the teth in the lips and all that whatever if you've got a routine that gets you into the Zone do that thing but I don't think there's any um magic trick just go in and do what you do be as good as you can be um so this is something that comes up a lot with actors and filmmakers is having two careers so I'm uh you have you still got two careers are you still working one job and doing the acting and how do you balance that I um have got multiple careers so I'm an actor but I'm also like emerging as a filmmaker you know I've always been a filmmaker and in fact film making came first for me when I was making home movies and I was a little kid and stuff and they actually what gave me the acting bug so acting film making um and then I have my my day job my day job is is part-time but it's kind of most of the part-time but it's also the thing that enables me to do everything else because it's still the thing that kind of pays all the bills so um I am very very fortunate to have kind of engineered my way into a role where I have the flexibility that I need and I have the ability to sort step away from things for a while and take time away to do my kind of acting work my film making work and the balance is is really good at some point there will come a Tipping Point where it's like actually and and I want this to happen it's going to be a great problem to solve when it does happen where you tip into like okay now the acting and film making is taking up almost all your time and you can't manage the parttime job or whatever it is and then I would I will deal with that then but I think that you know it's so so hard as you know being trying to be a filmmaker like I mean I don't know any I don't know any independent filmmakers who make a living out of being an independent filmmaker especially in the kind of everyone is doing it for the love of it and trying to get the stuff out there and you know ultimately we'd all like to be kind of paid to do a studio movie or or whatever it is we'll get get the kind of budgets we want to make to things and hopefully make salary out of as well um but it really is just Thing You Do For the Love of bit I'm very very lucky and that I have a balance whereby I'm able to you know take take time out of work do my acting do take time for projects like my feature film and shorts that I've done um and also have time for family because that's really important as well right you got to make sure that your time's right I you know I started working when I came back into active I was working full-time in a job and I had just gradually reduced the hours that I do in that job and I've been very lucky that the the place I work has been okay with that and they're actually really supportive of the fact that I do all this stuff and they're all always s championing the stuff that I do um but for me carving out that time was actually a really important step in kind of like it was about five years ago like going right I'm taking a day off every two weeks and that day is ring fenced for Creative work so it's going to be acting work film making or SC writing whatever that might be and now it's two days it works a day every week now and I do you know four days a week and and then like I said I've got the flexibility for that day off to be where I need it to be if I get an acting gig or whatever that I've got to go to London or whatever it is um yeah but like the psychological impact of carving out time for my creative careers was really really big because it was like okay now it's an investment now it's an investment that I have to make and I have to make the thing work yeah yeah yeah and um for uh again another thing that people struggle with when they start out is this whole getting an agent thing so yeah you've got an agent did did you always have an agent was that something you had to struggle to to find the right one how's it work I think an agent relationship has to be one of kind of mutual trust and respect I think that um you sometimes you're better off without an agent than you are with the wrong agent as an actor and so whilst yes it's really important to have an agent um don't just go to anyone just because they offer to represent you because there are still as we've recently found out with you know Archie panel there's a lot of people out there who are dishonest and won't be doing are not on your side basically they're there to kind of scam whatever but um in my own experience you know I I when I came back into the industry I was I started looking for an agent I decided it was time to get an agent again I'd freed up enough time cuz the problem I had was like even if I got booked work I was like well I don't know when I could do it when I started to kind of free up that time to do these things then I started looking for an agent and then actually an agent came to me and um had found me on um mandy.com and reached out to me and said would you be interested in joining and I had just started looking and I was on this model of like oh well I better not just take the first one I better do a bit of searching but actually I kind of asked around various casting directors and stuff and they were like oh yeah we love it was sea Bo and he runs thing birdston talent management and he's not based in London he's in glasow and I was like oh doesn't sound like quite the right thing actually they're fantastic MH they are brilliant C just love them they get loads of really great work for all their clients and they've been growing really enormously but I joined them briefly um and then um after after that after about a year I was actually um approached by identity and I was already in their commercials division just for TV commercials and then they sort of asked me to come and join their kind of main wi so I actually left sha went en joined identity and that's where I'm with at the moment so I've been very lucky I've had agents that kind of come to me and I know that's a really unusual place to be um but um I don't I do think it's important that people make sure they have the right agent and not just an agent yeah and do you think um uh sorry with your with the work that you get paid roles you get does that all come by the agent or have you ever gone out and got that stuff yourself um no I mean I it's a mix I think that one of the things that is really important for actors is is to understand that just for example you get an agent that doesn't mean you stop working right you get an agent doesn't mean you sit back and wait for things to come and you always have to be kind of putting yourself out there um networking meeting people building relationships um you know like you and I we met in can in what 2013 or something like that we met a long long time ago right 10 years ago and and it's like you don't um you don't rely on your agent to bring you everything your agent also wants to see that you're proactive that you're out there doing it you're making things happen and that's going to make encourage them to put you more forward to submit you for more stuff so I think you always have to be out there um pushing yourself forward and you know I have done um as many films with for friends and people that I've known um outside of my agent as I have done for my agent um and it keeps you busy it keeps you working with people and these things take a long time to kind of develop you know relationships build over time I sometime I give you and me as an example to other practice sometimes I'll say like you know I met Jim in 2013 or 14 whenever it was and actually and then I I was in his film eight nine whatever it was years later these things don't happen overnight but you build relationships and over time you kind of you know you you watch each other kind of grow and move and then something comes up where you're right for it and then you'll be in the mix yeah yeah yeah and it's really important that you're always building especially especially now in the modern day like the first time I around I did this there was no social media there was none of that you can be doing so much as an actor now you can be doing so many things to connect with casting directors producers directors on social media you can get involved in conversations you can email them and contact them directly like this stuff is stuff that we just couldn't do when I was first time around for me I was sending like envelopes for 10 by8 printed and printed CVS to people right resumes to people so it's the the opportunity for connecting with people in the industry now is just is a day and night compared to what it used to be yeah yeah I remember lugging uh BHS tapes around can in a massive Satchel none of that anymore um so talking about that Network inside um obviously that's quite an important plays quite an important part what's your advice for that and I want to know not just because there's an element of having confidence you know smiling blah blah is there anything you really shouldn't do in those situations as well as what you should do when you're networking the the Golden Rule with networking is not to go into a new relationship when you're meeting someone for the first time expecting anything right you won't you won't meet somebody for the first first time and have well I tell you there's a side note to this you won't meet somebody for the first time and have them offer you a role in the movie right it just doesn't happen that way and if it does happen and and this has happened to me it it means that that project probably isn't real right because if you think if you think about it if you're an un if you're not an established actor who if and think about it from the film perspective you're not an established active you meet somebody in a networking event and you offer them something on the spot right how much due diligence is that producer or that creative doing in inviting you to come and be in their project right would you do that as a filmmaker if you were serious and I think the answer is no right I don't think you would and so I'm always very wary when someone says oh you'd be perfect for the same like that's lovely but the fact that you're saying that suggests to me that it's May it may not happen because you're you're not in the nitty-gritty of it you're in the kind of oh it's great idea phase and it may turn into something but don't don't take it at face value I've had many business cards from people that can who've been like you'd be perfect for this movie on moving and and you never hear from them again or the thing just doesn't happen whatever so with networking try and find out how you can help the person that you just met what can you do for them because giving is so much more important than receiving if you the more that you give the more you receive right the more you can be of service to others the more then more things will come to you because you'll be viewed as a an enabler a helper someone who's got brings things to the table not just somebody who wants you to give them a gig or give them a job or whatever it is so try and find ways of helping people how can I be of assistant how can I help you achieve your goals how can I do this thing how can I help you work on this thing that you're working on and you don't even have to say like I'd love to be in it as an actor because that's obvious of course you'd love to any every any actor is interested in any job right so they don't have to say that it's like okay what can we do to help how can I help you there can I do you want me to read script and give you some notes on the script or do you want to do this what can it be you know um don't go out with like oh hi um hi I'm Mark I'm an actor would you put me in your movie Just that's not how it goes doesn't go like that um so so talking to K actually I was gonna ask you about k um so obviously it's coming up in May um you've been um what is it worth going as an actor then did you when you first went you had a film with you didn't you when you went so you weren't going just just as an actor so as an actor is it worth going um so I went the first time I went I went as an actor and I had basically this this idea for a film this idea for a film called Town versus Gan which is a boxing movie that I was kind of pitching around and trying to get people interested in and it's always and I had a thing and I had a thing in the short film corner and so I was a filmmaker and an actor and it's really helpful to have a thing somewhere in can if you've got a thing in the film short film corner it just gives you that opening like oh yeah I've got a film in the short film called oh fantastic most people don't know what that is most people don't realize that you just kind of submit and they'll accept most things but um at least you've got something um I I and I always go with some kind of film project that I'm there to kind of talk about I am there to network as an actor um if I'm really honest I still don't really know how can kind of works I kind of go around to the various events and listen to the talks and go on to the WhatsApp groups and try and get into the um the receptions and the parties and things but I'm very aware that there's whole other side of can that I just have no visibility or access to and that's like where people are having you know the kind of Vogue parties and all and all the rest of that kind of cool stuff and I'm you know I'm not in there but I think that as I've been you know many you know it's probably about four or five times or something like that you kind of you become familiar with it you become familiar with what's worth doing what's not worth doing um you know it's it's fun to chase around all the in the International Village to chase around all the ceptions and and get all the free drinks but it doesn't really get you anything um but I think as long as you have got a bunch of business cards printed and you're happy to go to network and be fun and talk and just talk to anybody then it can be really valuable and I think that um one thing for me is that when you meet people in can you're a level up when it comes to networking than if you were go for a networking event in London right anyone can make take take the tube to a networking event in London people have made it to can have got the accreditation they've put the flights found the accommodation like they are really serious about it right whether they're actors producers writers whatever it is they've made the effort and and they are that level higher and so I take people more seriously just because they're there so when I meet people in C I'm like yeah you you've made it here right that that is on its own is something yeah and it's sunny usually and it's kind of relaxing and and yeah and not to mention the other side which is getting to see some awesome movies that's not a bad not a bad not a bad thing um so you say you've now started teaching um what's what's one of the what's like the most important thing you teach uh people Minds mindset so I don't really teach acting tra I I I assume people come to me and they have you know they have studied or they have their I I teach like acting career stuff and for me it's all starts with the mindset right it all starts with this idea that you have to believe that you deserve a position in the film industry like you don't you don't want to be one of the people who goes around with this whole star artist idea and it's like oh it's this romantic idea of someone who's always struggling you want to be an actor who is booking stuff and you have to build the confidence in yourself because no one else is going to do it for you right that's that's the truth of the matter there's it's a massively oversubscribed profession there's too many actors for the roles that are out there um and yet you can go into it with a kind of abundance mindset of like oh there's enough work for everybody and I think that the mindset you take into it is absolutely critical you have to be fulfilled in the things that you're doing and even though we love it when we get booked and we love it when we get to go to a screening or a red carpet thing or an award whatever you have to be able to do the things you do which is like your acting craft your classes your um accent work whether it's reaching out to people on social media and and feel fulfillment from the doing of those things and not only rely on the outcomes you really have to be very focused on like the output the things you put into it and get fulfillment from those things and then you can enjoy the things when they come but you can also you're resilient against when they don't come which is you know the acting profession is full of rejection it's a very hard place to try and build a career um and so you can't rely on um external validation for your happiness basically if you so if you can get beyond that then I think you can then you can do well and and yeah the mindset it builds confidence and allows you to enter rooms and enter enter environments with the confidence in what you deliver the value that you bring which means that you are someone who's kind of magneet to the people around you so yeah mindset is the very first and most important thing for me cool cool cool um so moving on to uh your own projects that you're working on so uh the the very first so the very first ones you did were they I want to make a film or were they I want to act in a film so I'll make a film the very first things that I did were um like home movies really and they were just kind of because we' loved movies and we'd watched movies and then we go and kind of remake them and then that kind of played dividends cuz later on when i' left acting Empire started doing the D 60 seconds competition back in like 2008 I think it started and I was like and this is before like be kind rewinded come out stuff like that and it was like this idea of making a movie of remaking a movie was like well this is what I had grown up doing in my kind of early early teams and so this competition came around and we just and I did a few of them and then won it one year so that and that was a great thing for me because it was like I got act in all of them I always cast myself in the lead role so I played keano Rees in speed and I played Josh haret in PA har I played Maverick in Top Gun and all the rest of it played Ben Affleck in Argo played Leonardo decaprio in rant and um and I got to play all these roles and have a great time playing them and making the films and finding ways to make them funny and it was an incredible discipline to tell a story in 60c not allowed a frame longer um and it used to tick a box for me every year I'd do one of these and it would tick my kind of creativity box when I wasn't acting and wasn't like really film making um and then I started moving into making kind of what I thought you know more serious kind of like proper short films and I did a few of those and then started working on the ideas as um as uh for feature films and Town versus G was the first feature that I kind of um write on spe that I was trying to get out there the features were generally are written as projects for me to act in and that remains true I write things that I want to play as an actor because you know I'm not getting the roles that I want from other people so write it yourself and I think that's a really good bit of advice for All actors out there create the projects that you want to be in rather than waiting for someone to do them um and that is so I've never written a screenplay purely on spec of like this could be anybody or it's always based on like what do I want to play as a character um and that might be an interesting exercise to do some days to write a story that's just free of my actor ego and just as a screenwriter for me to to to write or direct or whatever but um you know that that is how I kind of generate projects because I think of cool things that I'd like to do or characters I'd like to play or scenarios or little action sequences or little moments and then they start to kind of you know they start to germinate into a thing and it gradually turns into a story and the story then becomes becomes like a structure and then the structure gets laid out on a bunch of cwalk like this and then and then it gets turned into a screenplay right so yeah awesome um so uh you've worked on uh commercials bigger budget projects do you ever get started truck who's is there anyone you've met who's kind of left you speechless no the thing that people forget is when you're on a really big movie everyone is just there to do their job so if you're you know I I briefly met Tom Cruz on edge of tomorrow when I was actually just a being do some background work actually I was I was being a helicopter pilot and that and you know you briefly had a interaction and um and um I I've met Angelina Jolie when we did Tomb Raider and and everyone is just there to do their job and on a on a film set when it's is slightly different when you're on a location because the location you're kind of exposed because public can see you and people but when you're on a set and it's closed and it's like this is just the crew here everyone's just there to do their job and you tend in my experience you tend not to get S divish Behavior whatever and everyone's just very normal and nice and and lovely and like they're just there to do the best job that they can do and so um I you know I don't get Star Struck and I find that um it's just nice to find that these that these people are just real people when you actually get to meet them you know I do I do do some fanboying I do I am like very happily to go and I went I did one episode of ghosts and we love ghosts and I so I was like going around meeting the ghosts and getting selfies with them all stuff just because it was super fun and they're all so lovely like you kind of have to read the floor before you start pulling out the cell phone and asking for a selfie with somebody but like if if they're all happy and seing up for it then go for it you know yeah hope you enjoyed this week's episode if you want more advice from industry professionals who are out there at the moment working or you just want to listen to some cool stories from film sets from around the world then please do[Music] subscribe

Introduction
Marks been acting for a long time - did he study?
Tips for auditioning
Independent and Micro budget films
Is Mark superstitious about auditions?
Having two careers, is this possible or necessary?
Cleopatra coming atcha - working on kids TV
Getting an agent
How much of Marks work comes through his agent?
Networking tips for actors - do's and don'ts
Cannes film festival - is it worth going as an actor?
What is the most important thing Mark teaches other actors?
Marks own projects - did he make them to give himself roles?
Does Mark get star struck?