Acting industry in Ireland - closed shop?

Wanderer2010

The more I look at Irish films and TV shows over the past number of years, I am more convinced that its the same 10 or 20 people starring in all of them, new up and coming actors haven't a chance of landing important roles and if you were lucky enough to have money in the 80s and afford drama school then you are set for life.

If you look at the actors that star/starred in Glenroe/Adam and Paul/Roddy Doyle Trilogy/Love Hate/Red Rock etc they all have multiple roles to their name and usually have very posh upbringings and can afford the drama school and once you land one role more usually follow- actors of Love Hate being a prime example. Then if you lucky enough to be the son of Brendan Gleeson, you seem to be in every Irish film going and I personally don't think Donal Gleeson is a good actor at all but it seems to be who you know....

Do you think Ireland is too small a country to embrace all different kind of actors both established and new or do you think it will always be the same old monopoly of Colm Meaney etc stealing roles from new actors, and will we ever see a day where a working class Irish actor plays a working class character, and not some barrister from Howth or some other posh place??

Thoughts?

Menas

Given that RTE is barely breaking even you would think they would be using the cheapest talent out there - ie unknown up and coming, or journey men actors.
But no, they use the same talent over and over and are still pushing an agenda to collect more tv licence money.

The Moldy Gowl

Money

http://i.imgur.com/iw2Hu7S.gif

gramar

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

If you look at the actors that star/starred in Glenroe/Adam and Paul/Roddy Doyle Trilogy/Love Hate/Red Rock etc they all have multiple roles to their name and usually have very posh upbringings and can afford the drama school and once you land one role more usually follow- actors of Love Hate being a prime example. Then if you lucky enough to be the son of Brendan Gleeson, you seem to be in every Irish film going and I personally don't think Donal Gleeson is a good actor at all but it seems to be who you know....

They are career actors...of course they have multiple roles, they're not just going to act in one production and then disappear are they?

As well as that, if they didn't have multiple roles you wouldn't be able to say oh there's yer man/yer wan outta some film or soap.

Collie D

You mention Brendan Gleeson. He didn't go full time in film/TV until his mid-30s. Taught in my school until then and although that was before my time by all accounts he was an ordinary working class teacher in a very working class area who just happened to have a love of drama. Definitely got where he is through talent and effort rather than a privileged background. Haven't seen Domhnaill in much but thought he was very good in Love/Hate.

Wanderer2010

gramar wrote: »

They are career actors...of course they have multiple roles, they're not just going to act in one production and then disappear are they?

As well as that, if they didn't have multiple roles you wouldn't be able to say oh there's yer man/yer wan outta that some film or soap.

My point is their initial acting gig, be it a drama or film, is usually enough for them to get rubber stamped straight away for their next gig using the guise of "Star of Love Hate", when there are hundreds of other actors out there who have to audition for commercials etc and are more than capable of landing the same role but they are overlooked.

I highly doubt Colm MEaney had to audition for any new acting roles after his debut....

kneemos

Can't get the job without experience.

Captain Chaos

kneemos wrote: »

Can't get the job without experience.

And you need a job to get experience. Chicken, egg, case closed.

The Wandering Jew

Captain Chaos wrote: »

And you need a job to get experience. Chicken, egg, case closed.

You can always spend some time on the casting couch.

Collie D

Penny Tration wrote: »

I've done the acting thing, as have most of my family and tbh it's not a closed shop.

Out of myself, two sisters, an aunt and five cousins, only one of us has been to a proper acting school (me), the rest did the standard drama classes on weekends for two hours. All of us have done tv, small movie, short film or ad work and none of us have connections. My little sister did a short film, as did I, neither of us had connections, just auditioned like anyone .

Begs the question...what have you been in that we might have seen.

Agree with your post. Have seen an old friend of mine pop up in small roles on TV over the years, most notably on Casualty. Doubt he's making a living but then again he probably does theatre work which is where I'd imagine most Irish actors ply their trade. It's not all about Hollywood

Penny Tration

Collie D wrote: »

Begs the question...what have you been in that we might have seen.

Agree with your post. Have seen an old friend of mine pop up in small roles on TV over the years, most notably on Casualty. Doubt he's making a living but then again he probably does theatre work which is where I'd imagine most Irish actors ply their trade. It's not all about Hollywood

I had actually deleted the post :pac:

But I was in nothing you'd have seen, what I did was small scale stuff. Made a few quid from it but the biggest screen it made was Irish film festival thingies, same with the one my sister did.

There IS money in it and it IS easy to get into without connections but you won't make millions.

AnonoBoy

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

The more I look at Irish films and TV shows over the past number of years, I am more convinced that its the same 10 or 20 people starring in all of them, new up and coming actors haven't a chance of landing important roles and if you were lucky enough to have money in the 80s and afford drama school then you are set for life.

The problem is that there's a lot of actors out there in Ireland but there's not a lot of GOOD actors. I've seen a lot of Irish shorts and features starring people who are just really terrible actors.

So it's not really surprising that when someone good turns up they get cast in a lot of things.

However the fact that money enables people to pursue acting is true. It's a widely discussed problem in England at the moment too. If you have a wealthy family you can afford to study without the pressure of having to work nights etc. to survive. It works against people coming from working class areas for sure.

This applies to a lot of professions I suppose.

But if someone really has talent and they persevere they will get noticed I think. Casting directors don't care if you have money, if you're good they'll want to see you again and again.

Then if you lucky enough to be the son of Brendan Gleeson, you seem to be in every Irish film going and I personally don't think Donal Gleeson is a good actor at all but it seems to be who you know....

Domhnall Gleeson didn't get a part in True Grit or Ex Machina or The Revenant because of who his father is. He got it because he's very talented.

To suggest the Coen Brothers cast him because his father is a moderately famous actor too is just silly.

Collie D wrote: »

You mention Brendan Gleeson. He didn't go full time in film/TV until his mid-30s. Taught in my school until then and although that was before my time by all accounts he was an ordinary working class teacher in a very working class area who just happened to have a love of drama. Definitely got where he is through talent and effort rather than a privileged background. Haven't seen Domhnaill in much but thought he was very good in Love/Hate.

Domhnall wasn't in Love/Hate, it was the other son Briain you're thinking of. A decent actor but not as good as his father or his brother in my opinion.

Collie D

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Domhnall wasn't in Love/Hate, it was the other son Briain you're thinking of. A decent actor but not as good as his father or his brother in my opinion.

Ah, wondered how gained and lost the weight in the few things I (thought) I'd seen him in..as well as looking different