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What kind of monologue should I do?

We suggest you choose a monologue that showcases your strengths and reflects your castability.

Remember, our #KnowMonologues Challenge is a chance to inspire filmmakers, producers, writers, and such who are looking to work with local talent. So, take some time to consider how you’ll put this opportunity to good use. Actors are welcome to submit more than one monologue, but can only have one monologue eligible for the competition.

Tip from Laura: It’s better to choose a common monologue and do an uncommon take on it than to try to show range of casting.

The dramatic arts can involve various depictions of sex, language, and violence, and we’re not asking actors to entirely avoid such content in their monologues, but if a monologue includes content more explicit than what might show up on even a red band trailer, then we ask you to consider submitting another monologue.  Part of this is to ensure that viewing monologues on our site is an agreeable experience for a wide range of people, but we also believe that actors will benefit more from our challenge by submitting monologues with broader appeal.

We reserve the right to remove any monologue that we find inappropriate, so stay away from hate speech, porn, and such. If you have questions about whether a monologue is appropriate, please email Nick.

 

What kind of criteria will the judges use to evaluate monologues?

There are no hard-and-fast rules here. It is a subjective evaluation, just as the casting process is.

Some factors our judges might consider include believability, a unique and original take on material, stakes of a scene, charisma, understanding of castability, and so on.

In other words, if you work hard and produce an original, heartfelt, honest monologue, someone who can help you take your career to the next level is sure to notice.

 

What if I’m not good with cameras? 

Don’t worry: We’re not looking for super fancy videos, just exceptional performances. These days the video from iPhones, smartphones, and other portable devices are pretty decent, so no need to rent a Red camera for this!

Here are a few shooting tips

• Mount the camera on a tripod, stand, or table. Doesn’t matter what you pick as long as it keeps the camera from moving and at an appropriate height.
• Position the camera so that it is close to eye level with you.
• Shoot in a well lit area and make sure we can see the color of your eyes.
• Keep the background simple. A plain white wall, a green screen, or something similar works. Your bedroom with all your clothes in the background? Not so much.
• Get the camera close enough so that we can see your expressions. Somewhere between a Medium Close Up to a Close Up should work for this. If you’re not sure what a Medium Close Up looks like, check out these photo references.

That said, some of you might still feel more comfortable having someone else do the shooting. In that case, you can look into monologue recording services.

If you’re near New Orleans talk to Andrew Vogel, an accomplished actor who you might recognize from CBS’s Under the Dome. He has a side business where he records monologues for actors. On Friday, July 24 from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM and on Saturday July 25 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Andrew’s offering a discounted rate of $15 to anyone submitting for #KnowMonologues.

You can schedule an appointment by texting Andrew at (504) 390-5336 or by emailing him. Limit of 30 minutes per session.

 

How can I improve my chances of getting into the top 5?

Success in our industry isn’t just about developing valuable skills. It’s also about connecting with those who appreciate those skills, and so one of the top 5 slots is reserved for our most social actor.

That’s determined by two factors: the number of people who leave comments on an actor’s monologue (75% of the score) and the number of times an actor uses our #KnowMonologues hashtag (25% of the score).

As a point of clarification, comments provided by Nick or any of the judges do not count towards the most social actor score, but retweeting a mention that includes the #KnowMonologues hashtag does count. Any comments that seem suspicious will be investigated. Using fake accounts to boost the comments count is grounds for ineligibility.

When the challenge starts, actors can earn up to 3 points per day for each use of the#KnowMonologues hashtag on Twitter or on another publicly accessible social media site.

For example, if the hashtag is used on Facebook, it would have to be on a public comment or group page. This is to ensure that we can track the use. (Any Facebook status update can be made public. Here’s how.)

We will tally all of the hashtags at the end of the competition, but actors are encouraged to provide us with their own count, just to ensure that we’ve counted everything. We’ll compare notes if there are discrepancies.

You won’t get any extra contest points if you include Laura (@knowsmallparts) or Nick (@nsavidesPRO) in your Tweets, but it’s a chance to start a conversation, and that’s a good thing, right?!

 

Why are you all doing this?

This isn’t just about bringing more attention to the podcast or to Laura’s book, although getting extra publicity for either doesn’t hurt. The reality is that there are easier ways to get publicity, but we really believe that everyone involved can benefit when enough hard-working, well-intentioned people come together to improve their abilities and to seek out opportunities for each other.

As mentioned earlier, the art of collaboration is the focus of The nsavides Podcast, so this kind of outreach is a natural extension of that focus, just as it a natural extension of the principles in Laura’s Know Small Parts book.

This outreach is also a way to remind the world that the strength of a region isn’t tied to the resources provided by the government, but by the talented and supportive people in it.

Together we can make this monologue challenge into something more, something special that brings new opportunities for all of us while helping our film community to thrive.

If you have any additional questions about the challenge, please email Nick.

We thank you for your consideration, and we hope you’ll join us!

Regards,

Laura Cayouette & Nick Savides

 

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