Aaron Marcus, an actor with nearly 40 years of experience, explains how stand-in work taught him two things: why directors repeat takes, and how to filter feedback on set. He shares stories from his career and advice on moving to larger markets like New York.
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In this video, I'm going to be sharing with you 2 amazing ways that stand-in work improved my life. If you watch this to the very end, I also have a great special bonus video for you. It's how to create a great acting reel even with little to no experience. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Center, where I love sharing information with you from my nearly 40 years of working as a full-time actor. Before I tell you the 2 ways that stand-in work really improved my life, let me just give you a little bit of background of exactly what stand-in work is all about and how you go about getting it, in case you're interested in doing this kind of So what a stand-in does is literally stand in for the principal actor. So when they are setting up the scene to be shot and they are moving the camera in the right spot, they are playing around with lighting. If there's a scene where the principal actor is walking down the street, they'll have a dolly set up on tracks And you, the stand-in, will actually be doing the exact movements of the principal actor. Sometimes— and everything changes from scene to scene, shoot to shoot, actor to actor, director to director— sometimes they want the stand-in to watch rehearsals so you know exactly what the actor does, and that way you can perform it. Sometimes they don't want you in there. They want you nearby, but they don't want you watching. Sometimes they'll ask you to run lines just like the principal actors. Sometimes they don't. You do get paid more money though if you do run lines. So basically you are always off camera when you're working as a stand-in. Now, as the stand-in, it's technically under the umbrella of being an extra. But you get paid a lot better. You get paid a lot more than a regular extra. You get treated better. When they break for meals, you are broken with the principal actors before the extras because you need to get back in case they're getting ready to set up a new scene and they will need you again. And sometimes— it didn't happen to me, but I know some stand-ins that actually are given lines at some point, you know, that maybe they've been there for a while, the director likes the person, and they'll throw a couple lines their way. I even know one stand-in who appeared in a couple of episodes. And so anyhow, it's really— it can be interesting work. Now, oh, one thing I forgot to mention. I completely forgot. Hey, if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, subscribe to the channel. Click the notification bell so you always know when I upload a new video. And if you like the video, please give it a thumbs up. That's always really helpful. And share, share the video link with fellow actors so we can all learn from each other. 2 things that really improved my life. Now, this is just me, and, and so I don't know, and actually I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on this. As well, please leave them in the comments section. But especially at the very beginning of my career, actually for a number of years, it's not like, you know, first couple days I figured this out. It, it took a long time. It's easy when you are doing principal work, it's easy, at least it was for me, to feel paranoid. And what I mean more specifically is You, you do a take and then all of a sudden you hear cut. All right, let's do it again. And you do it a couple of times. Cut. Okay, let's do it again. And what used to run through my brain— oh boy, they're not liking what I'm doing. They made a mistake casting me. They, you know, Some reason they actually thought they were casting somebody else, but they didn't want to say anything. So since I was already there, they were just going to let me continue with it. I'm going to get replaced because apparently they're not liking what I'm doing, and that's why they're asking me to do it over and over again. Sometimes they might even— the director might come over and ask you to Specifically to do it a different way, and all of a sudden your brain— my brain is flying around and feeling bad. By doing stand-in work, and I am sitting behind the director, and not always, but sometimes I would because I like to eavesdrop. I might be looking at one of the actors on the set. I might be looking at the monitor. I'm listening. To everything that's being said by the director to other people. And this I found so comforting, and it really, it really did improve my life. Most of the time, another take was requested not because the director didn't like what was going on. It could be anything From the sound person mentioning there was an airplane that flew by, we got to do it again because there was just noise happening. Maybe there was a boom mic that was actually seen during the take. Let's do it again. Maybe some extras crossed at the wrong time. Maybe there was an open space. that they needed filled by the extras. There could be a million and one reasons why they ask for another take. Maybe they just want another option. And most of the time, I mean, it was rare that it was a bad performance that caused the director to ask for another take. And, and like, I've probably I don't know, worked on 10 jobs as a stand-in. Only one was a long-term one. The other— the only other one that was— it was a couple of weeks. It was a movie, I don't know if you ever saw it, it's called Silence of the Lambs. It was a really— it was that original movie, was pretty scary. It was incredible. Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, I mean, they were— oh my goodness, what a pleasure it was. to see them. But anyhow— or actually, I take it back. I never saw Anthony Hopkins work because all of his scenes were shot, I believe— not all, a lot of the scenes that he shot, I think, were done in Pittsburgh. I actually worked at the FBI headquarters in Virginia, and— or as a training center for the FBI. That's where I worked. So I only saw Jodie Foster. I saw him on another version of The Silence of the Lambs, and that's, that's when I did see him. But anyhow, the point is there were so many reasons why they would do another take, and trust me, there was nothing wrong that Jodie Foster was doing. She is just unbelievable. So anyhow, I found that to be very comforting to hear. The other thing that I learned, the second thing that I It was really very helpful to me, both just acting-wise, which also just turned into life-wise, was when I would hear a director talk behind the monitor while, while he or she was sitting in front of the monitor and then speak to an actor. Here's what I learned. Look, whenever a director talks to you, look, it's always nicer to hear, that was great, really loved it. Hey, let's try— why don't you try this idea? Sure. I always— I much prefer hearing that than, you're horrible, I can't use any of this material, we should have hired somebody else. But here's what I learned is that listen to what people say to you, or at least people who should be talking to you. Never, never, ever, ever, ever, ever— and I experienced this one— never talk to another actor about a performance. And I know I'm kind of jumping here. I once had an actor give me some direction. Hey, you know, maybe you ought to try it this way. And I felt so angry towards this other actor. I didn't want to create a scene, no pun intended, didn't want to create a problem. I just looked at the actor and very calmly said, if the director needs something different, the director will tell me. I was, I was so angry. Look, it's one thing if you're doing a scene with an actor and the actor says Hey, I'm just kind of struggling here. Do you have any ideas, any suggestions? I'm really not sure. Okay, of course. Then you talk to the actor, but don't ever, ever give another actor suggestions or directions. It's not your place. And so, and yeah, I know I kind of jumped there a little bit, but sometimes I would hear a director who was very upset with the way that the actor was doing something and walked over and said, oh, loved it, really great. You know, as a matter of fact, once again, I would never name names. Very famous director, very famous actor, and the director personally and professionally really disliked this actor, and I understood why. The actor was kind of nasty to work with, was just angry. I think the actor, although the actor was well known, I think he felt like he deserved more recognition in the acting world and wasn't getting it. And he wouldn't have his lines memorized. And it wasn't just like he was struggling, he just didn't work at it. Didn't care and was just bitter. And so I watched this director— the actor did the take, the director was so angry he took his headphones off, threw them on the ground, and shook his head. Now the actor couldn't see anything, we were in another location. And then he walked over to the actor, and I'm watching, this is fascinating for me. And he said to him, hey, that was great. Thank you. Really loved it. Do me a favor, just so I have another option, would you maybe bring this one down just a little bit? But that was really good. Thank you. And then he walked back over and he's looking at the other people sitting there and he goes, oh, that was just horrible. He said some other things too. So what I learned from that is when you hear things From directors. Listen to what they have to say, but you've got to filter everything because you really don't know if people are being honest with you. And look, I'm not trying to disparage directors. It's just the way the world works, and people will say things, all kinds of things to you, and you really don't necessarily know what is true, what is not true. Look, it's, it's one thing if you have a Close relationship with somebody and you know that you can trust them and they're always being honest with you, that's one thing. But for most of us, these aren't personal relationships most of the time, at least for me. These are business relationships. And so really hear what they say, filter it, and just understand. People say all kinds of things to you. Once again, I'm jumping right now, but I remember when I decided to make a jump from working in smaller markets and I wanted to begin in New York. And I wouldn't say there were millions. There were, there were a few actors who said to me Aaron, look, you live in a small market. They already have a million actors coming into New York City every day. You really think they need somebody like you? Look, you're a talented guy, but they already have so many people. I'm sure they already have thousands of people who look like you, and I just don't want to see your heart broken. And what I really learned from that was that These people, they weren't concerned about my cardiac situation, and they weren't concerned about my heart being broken. They didn't want to see somebody else potentially succeed because for whatever reason they didn't pursue a larger market, and they didn't want to see other people. So they were trying to turn me away from trying it. And you might find this true. Maybe there are family members or friends who are telling you, really, you think you're going to be an actor or a model, whatever it is? I'm telling you, don't waste your time. You're going to get your heart broken. And so listen to what they have to say, but you've got to do what's right for you. And once again, I know I'm kind of hitting a side note, but this feels important. I knew that I could, I could live with going to trying to work in New York and not having any success. I could live with that. I wouldn't be happy, but I could live with that. Here's what I couldn't live with: not trying. Because I knew if I didn't try, then every time I saw a movie, which at that time Living on the East Coast, that's where most of the movies were cast and shot. The world has changed since then a lot. If I couldn't get an agent in New York, I could live with that. Wouldn't be happy, but I knew that every time I watched a movie, watched a television show, even a national TV spot, I'd be thinking, I wonder if I could have done that. And I didn't want to live my life like that. I knew I would have nightmares. I knew it would make me uncomfortable, and I knew I had to give it a try. So once again, I could live with not having the success. I couldn't live with not trying it. And look, I, I worked very hard. I didn't just jump into a major market, you know, my first day of declaring I want to be an actor. I spent 4 years working in secondary markets and getting experience in front of the camera, doing commercial modeling work, which is what I was actually really successful at in New York at that time. And I was ready. I was ready to give it a shot. And so anyhow, I just wanted to share those are the 2 really important things that changed Really, it changed my life and made my life much better by doing stand-in work, by learning those 2 things in the acting world. If you all have, you know, ever experienced anything like that, any takeaways that you've gotten, things that you've learned about being on a set, please share it in the comments section so we can learn from each other. That would be wonderful, or if you ever found people trying to talk you out of things, please share it. That's the whole point of having this channel where we have a group of people who are trying to help each other by sharing information. Hey, once again, quickly, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell. Uh, if you like it, give it a thumbs up. And I did promise I was going to share, uh, the link with how to create a reel even with little to no experience. Take a look up there, you'll find the link. And, um, this is my first video of 2024, and, um, I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
