Introduction

Year 2 was a year where we began to take learning from throughout Year 1 and parts of year 2 and applied them to real performance scenarios. We also shifted to marketing ourself as products whithin the arts industries. It is important for me to be able to do so due a fall within arts council funding. An article by Equity suggested that their has been a 55% fall of arts council funding across the UK in 2025 compared to 10 years ago.

Throughout this portfolio, I intend to outline key areas of industry research that have developed my understanding of marketing a performer to optimise the amount of work available to them though the lens how I have interpreted this in the context of selling myself. I will do this with the intentions of being able to fit within my boundaries as a person and a performer. I will also outline current shortfalls I have Identified within my practices and highlighted potential steps I could take to strive towards removing these shortcomings along with developments I have attempted to make and how successful I have been in sutch

Industry Research – Unique selling points

To begin research based on selling myself, it is important to pick out my USPs (unique selling points) and casting types, of which I have identified as the following:

• Northern Accent – typicaly assosiated with working class characters
• Comedy
• expressive manerisms – useful for heightend theatre (including Shakespeare)
• height – works well in authorative roles
• idiosyncratic expressions

I came to the conclusions to use these key points from feedback from peers and teachers, though out my studies as well as my own perception of self and appearance. I intend to use my USPs as a driving force in pushing for work. this would be done for a multitude of reasons; It will give me a greater vision of work available to me, therefore an ability to allocate my time and resources towards more attainable jobs. In doing so, it is important to have a realistic but not overly harsh opinion of what work is within my casting bracket as doing so would have the opposite effect of the intended.

Industry Research – Headshots

Currently being a student, It has been important for me to find a company that provides headshots for a lower rate price. Akta used a promotion in which I have been able to book headshots at an affordable price (£75). While not necessarily the company I would pick as a first choice, they do provide a strong standard professional headshot that I can use while performing throughout 3rd year.

Industry Research – Work

A Significant Consideration for my future in the industry is were I am likely to attain work. Currently, my home resides within North East Lincolnshire. At the time of writing, I currently cannot drive, so I would be dependent on public transport to travel to jobs. An attainable network that would be available would be Hull Truck Theatre, as it is within a bus journey away. Also, work within South Yorkshire, West riding of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire would be within a reasonable traveling. Taking this into account, I research agencies that have connections in these areas.

Of the agencies Listed, Northern lights is of the biggest interest to me due to their performers that I can see in production that are attainable for myself; particularly in Television. Their actors have been in shows such as Odd squad, Emmerdale and Leeds playhouse. I plan to inquire about having them attend my showcase.

CV/ Bio

Within my acting CV, I have made clear References to my work within local theatres and my abilities to create my own work. According to the Guardian, A quarter of Jobs found by students have been within fringe theatre spaces. By highlighting my appetite to collaborate in work on top of preforming, it gives me a foothold into meeting up and coming creatives, while not necessarily being paid jobs, it can support me in developing skills in networking and professional performance. A greater proficiency in these areas would allow me to have a stronger CV for the time of my graduation. On top of this, it will help me build a network with Up-and-coming creatives giving me connections within the industry before my full entry. What Id like to do in order to strengthen my CV is have a greater proficiency in skills, as currently there is not any that stand out nor give me an ‘edge’. A good start I would like to do for this is being able to have better guitar skills. This would likely mean I would have to seek teaching ( as currently I am self taught). This would allow me to develop my skills in a manor that does not develop bad habits. To progress towards this goal I have researched guitar teachers within my area and contacted Grimsby Guitar Lessons, which upon doing so found them to be affordable for my budget and will be pursuing this over the summer period.

In my Biography (called personal statement within CV) I have highlighted elements of myself that are important to my identity as well as unique to myself. I have done this in a way that highlights a sense of my personality and response to adversity in a professional and personal setting. This provides an overview for potential collaborators (agents, casting directors, etc.) of what I bring to a room, how I present, and things I am passionate about (without resorting to clichés).

I would also like to attain a better headshot within my CV, as the current photo does not give a professional image (progress towards this is previously discussed within the headshot section)

Summative Statement

As of the time of writing, I have competed my first drama school project and Shakespeare piece. I had used both of these blocks to develop my process during a rehearsal period. As well as this, I have used the time to critically analyse how taught methodology works for my own professional practice. This alone is also a skill I see as key for if I am to get work. This is so I have the tool set not only to have during rehearsal, but to also have the skill set to carry on developing how I work throughout my career. During my first project, A Problem I faced was that I wanted to get the performance ‘perfect’ every time. In doing this, I often found elements of a scene that got a positive reaction from the director or scene partners. This led to me not developing this throughout the rest of the rehearsal, leading to the appearance of some of my responses to look rehearsed and ingenuine. This problem stems from a self confidence and a need for intrinsic motivation. While a problem, It is important that this has been spotted earlier on in my career as, if later on, it could greatly impact my drive to attain work as I am highly unlikely to get feedback when going for auditions and could take rejections as negative reinforcement of ability. As well as this, it could lead me to avoid some casting brackets that I fit into in fear of it being a judge of character and appearance, in turn, narrowing the pool of work accessible to me. Identifying this early allows me to take steps towards making improvements towards intrinsically motivating myself. To begin working on this, I have been to a GP to discuss such issues and research methods to improve self confidence. In a future, during a rehearsal period I will attempt to go into the process with a different perspective. This would be one that views the rehearsal period as development rather than looking to get it ‘right’ as soon as possible and for every attempt, rather explore different character decisions and tactics throughout, even in the case where I have found something that has been viewed positively externally on a specific occasion. This would help me keeps scene fresh and fun for shows and also potentially unlock further development of strong moments.

Another development that I have attempted to attain within my second year is creating an adaptable approach that can work for a vairy of work. Key developments I have explored this year is my differences in approaches live theatre against TV and film. It is important for me to have a confident well-rounded approach to TV and film due to its growth within the creative markets. With a large Chunk of my studies into practitioners being based around Constantin Stanislavski, of whom developed a majority of his work before TV and film, it has been imperative for me to be able to interpret his techniques into a modern context as well as do my own research on more modern Practitioners.

Methodolagy discussed within Constantin Stanislavski (2013). An Actor Prepares. A&C Black. such as Emotional memory, I have been able to use within a camera setting with little need for change of its application. I find this common to technique that explores more of the internal world of the character as I do not see a large difference in the manner of which it is explored in both forms of performance. However, within the text, the discussions around the exploration of space are distinctly designed for a theatre setting, whereas in front of a camera, depending on the shot, the area accessible to a performer can be more limited and therefore renders such ideas as lacking(within a screen space). With this in mind, I have made steps to integrate modern and classical theatre ideas. An argument made within Declan Donnellan (2005). The actor and the target. London: Nick Hern. is that in a given performance space that the actor, before beginning, must always be doing something to to something else, whether this be another person or object. An example given in the text is as follows ‘Irana is either looking at something else’ this is when she has been asked about her day, suggesting that it is natural to always direct what we say to an item. I found this also connects to key ideas by Uta Hargens 4th side, which we had explored briefly within our Shakespeare block.

While in screen classes I attempted to combine ideas from all practitioners discussed. Due to the ideas being rooted in one another I found them to complement one another well. Before exploring works outside of Stanislavski I often found the use of techniques such as actioning useful for creating initial ideas in a piece, upon combining them a given target, I found greater purpose in the idea. This is due to me genuinely attempting to affect what I what is present in a scene ( whether it be physically there or not). An interesting discovery I made from this is being able to have a greater understanding of my characters relationships with things other that just the other characters, of which I had not expected to happen. As well as this, the use of fourth side became particularly more poinient upon reviewing scenes as It gave more direction and purpose to dialogue.

https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=bdbfd391-4106-49b4-9930-b3ec00f8d46a&start=42.387278

The use of a target is well presented in the linked clip above, as instead of being anchored to my other performer, the character is able to display his feelings towards what the other is doing, creating a greater sense of what the characters interests are ( through how he responds to the object and its stimulus) and in turn suggesting a bond between the two characters. (note within the given clip evidence of fourth side usage is more limited by myself, however, its use is displayed well by my scene partner).

Some problems I had faced in my pursuit of intertwining ideas is a feeling of creating a mechanical feel to some performance. this was due to such focus on the theoretical, I felt less ‘in tune’ with scenes, effectively negating the benefits of applying techniques, this was more present when first exploring this. To combat this I will attempt to use the ideas more often to until it becomes a feeling of ‘second nature’.

In the future to develop my practice, I plan to go into greater depth of study into Uta Hargen’s techniques due to the success I felt using them with a surface level knowledge. I will do this by exploring her work through her book ‘An actors challenge’ were ideas of hers previously mentioned are discussed in greater detail.

As previously mentioned, I have made considered efforts to market myself towards fringe theatre spaces and Start-up productions. In efforts to develop this, my local company ‘Leather Jackets/ Light switch Theatre’ applied to perform within Leeds theatre Festival, of which it has been accepted. During the production of the piece, though in its early stages, have met with creatives interested in being involved with the work. While it is useful to meet people around northern spaces, there has not been a particular interest from creative from outside the conservatoire, meaning that I am not making connections with people currently in the industry creating work. I would however suggest that such work is void of providing value in the context of building a network, as it has put me in contact with a pool of training actors of whom may want to work in productions I would plan in the future. It has also given me the chance to take a more directorial role within a piece, in turn expanding my skillset. This would include having experience in directing as well as having an understanding of the demands and fustrations a director may face, of which within an actors context could help me support a director during a prosses creating a positive working space. In the future, if pursuing a similar project I would like to have advertise in a wider variety of creative spaces, as well as utilised a social media presence to gather attention for an audience as well as a larger pool of performers from vairous spaces.

Future Plans

A key factor in the planning of my future is whether or not I attain an agent at the end of the year. While It is important for me to remain confident of my chances of getting an agent, it would be unrealistic to take this as a guarantee and therefore would be sensible to plane for both senarios.

In the case of getting an agent, a first consideration for me would be were I would reside and also this dependent on who I would be signed with ( and realistically impossible to predict) It is would not be delusional to suggest that there is a greater chance of me being with a northern-based agency due to it being a key element towards my USPs. In such a case, Leeds would likely be a sensible choice. This is due to it having growing theatre spaces ( such as Leeds play house) it also has good transport connections to other large theatre hubs within the UK (London, Manchester etc..). Again it is hard to plan for much past the foreseeable future due to the amount of variables yet to become concreate.

In the case where I do not attain an agent, A realistic move would be to attain full-time work in my local area, this would allow me to stay afloat while my chances of being booked for arts jobs is greatly reduced. Using my experience of creating local theatre, I would attempt to continue down this path to keep my practice in shape and develop new work that I could potentially take to theatre festivals. This would allow me to still maintain a presence within the industry. Also, this still leave the opportunity of being picked up by an agency in the future possible.

Conclusion

To rap up, the greatest chances of me creating a career out of the performing arts is being able to effectively identify the parts of my craft and the interoperation of myself by others as well as utilising skills I have developed though out my training years to make myself desirable to those who are creating or have connections to those creating work. As well as this, being myself being able to get across work that I seen suitable for me and being able to identify work that suits my skillset. With the potential of me having to work at the early stages of my career ( assuming I don’t book a million pound job ) the ability to allocate to time and recourses as critlical, at least for the near future.

bibliography

Equity. (2026). A 55% cut in funding by British councils threatens universal access to the arts. [online] Available at: https://www.equity.org.uk/news/2026/cut-in-funding-by-british-councils-threatens-arts-access.

Josephfinnphotography.co.uk. (2026). Page Restricted. [online] Available at: https://www.josephfinnphotography.co.uk/portfolio?lightbox=dataItem-mmmanc7o8 [Accessed 26 Apr. 2026].

Feldman, J. (2013). Putting the spotlight on drama students’ employment prospects. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/jul/23/drama-student-job-prospects.

Grimsbyguitarlessons.co.uk. (2026). Grimsby Guitar Lessons. [online] Available at: https://www.grimsbyguitarlessons.co.uk [Accessed 26 Apr. 2026].

Constantin Stanislavski (2013). An Actor Prepares. A&C Black.

Declan Donnellan (2005). The actor and the target. London: Nick Hern.

Panopto. (2026). Panopto. [online] Available at: https://leedsconservatoire.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=bdbfd391-4106-49b4-9930-b3ec00f8d46a&start=42.387278 [Accessed 26 Apr. 2026].