Are You a Team Player

If you have a passion for the performing arts and have enrolled in one of the acting schools near you, expect a career that is people-centred. First you'll need people skills to engage with casting panels. Then it's agents, directors and fellow actors. But it's when you get down to the work of acting that the interpersonal skills needed for teamwork come to the fore. Films and plays are, above all, team efforts and may fly or fall on the strength of the team itself.

The long and the short of it is that you'd better be a team player, at least when you're on the job. You don't actually have to be a 'people person'; that's something else. After-hours you can proclaim that you want to be alone and go batten down the hatches. But if you're no good at teamwork, expect a rough ride, whether that's in an actual production or in your acting courses.

Most of us think of ourselves as team players, even when we're not. Team players are able to put their own interests second to those of the group in order to achieve a common goal. Being late for rehearsals is the sign of a poor team player. So is not learning your lines properly, because that affects the whole cast.

In fact, if any of your actions have a negative impact on the team effort, then you're falling short as a team player. Sloppiness and inefficiency are just one way to do that.

'Actor' and 'ego' are two words that often go together, and not necessarily in a good way. Though there may be temperamental actors and divas in the industry, successful actors know that ego control is important to the quality of their performances. This applies to students taking acting courses just as much as it applies to established stars.

You may have heard people say that X is a 'generous actor'. That usually doesn't mean he or she is free with money. It means that X does not allow his or her personality to swamp others on stage and, literally, doesn't hog the limelight.

Put yourself in the shoes of a casting director. He's narrowed down a crop of promising graduates from acting schools and is down to choosing between two equally talented young actors auditioning for a role. One is a team player. Which one has got the edge?

A generous actor understands that a play or film is like a well-cooked dish. The constituents complement each other and work together to create something bigger than the sum of the parts. Too much (or too little) of the main ingredient, no matter how good it is, and the dish is ruined.

We often read media reviews that focus on actors' individual performances. In reality, actors don't just act. They interact. On stage or screen, actors take cues from each other and work in tandem. That's teamwork and it's the oil on the wheels of a good dramatic production.