IRVINE : Seminar on Acting, Pitfalls Scheduled

Every year, scores of wanna-be actors from Orange County flood Hollywood, lured by the prospects in television and motion pictures.

And every year, scores of them are bilked of money and time by unrealistic dreams and unethical promises of scam artists.

So says Faye Mayo, an actress, producer, personal manager and former MGM/UA production executive who will be at UC Irvine on Saturday to teach a seminar called “Becoming a Professional Actor in Hollywood.”

“Orange County has become an outstanding arts community in the past few years and virtually thousands of actors, writers, directors, dancers and others in the performing arts have found exciting and creative work here,” Mayo said.

“But no matter the geographic proximity to Hollywood, there is a vast difference between working in theater or amusement park entertainments and coming to Hollywood to work in film.”

Mayo, who last year produced a 77-minute video called “Becoming a Successful Actor,” said that her “dose of reality” seminar--a shorter version of the semester-long course she has taught for two years through UCLA Extension--was born of sheer frustration.

“Many of us in the business are upset about these sincere kinds coming here with no clue about how things work,” she said.

“And we’re upset that they get ripped off by unscrupulous managers, agents and so-called casting directors.”

Mayo said scams operate in all areas of the business.

“Today you have the people who for $100 will guarantee auditions but send you to open calls and the people that charge up to $5,000 to print your picture in a slick magazine that gets distributed to agents and directors who never use it. The exploitation just goes on and on,” she said.

The answer, according to Mayo, is some lessons in the real-world business of acting that students do not usually get.

“Young people need to be introduced to real, leading professionals who also set high standards of practice out in the field,” she said.

“They need to learn about acting plus understand how challenging it is out there.”

The reality, Mayo said, is that today there are 80,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild. In 1989 alone, the guild took in 7,000 new members.

And those figures don’t begin to count the thousands of actors who aren’t qualified for membership.

Of those card-carrying members, 80% make less than $5,000 a year, Mayo said, and only 3% make more than $50,000 annually. One-third make no money at all, she said.

Mayo’s seminar, which will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and cost $85, will teach the tools of the trade--how the audition and casting process works, how to avoid scams, the importance of training, finding teachers, what you need to know about agents and managers and how actors’ unions work.

“No one is born a star,” she said. “And the odds are great against anyone making it. But if you are well-prepared, not only by studying the craft of acting but by learning how the business works and what the unwritten rules of the game are, you increase your odds a great deal.”

For further information, call the UCI Extension course office at (714) 856-5414.