A Comedy of Errors
Tue, 19 Oct 2004, 12:54 amcrgwllms5 posts in thread
A Comedy of Errors
Tue, 19 Oct 2004, 12:54 am>hello
> is there any acting jobs out there for a young girl age 12 tall dark brown > hair and eyes with slim body and toatl pasion 4 music and dramma!!!!!! i > am looking ford 2 a replie and i live in denmark W.A close to Albany and > is movind to perth december time!!!!!
> p.s as u can see i am not a very good speeler
This is an actual post that was placed on the ITA website. (My apologies to the author for making an example of it; but really it is just one of literally HUNDREDS that made the same errors, so donÂ’t feel like IÂ’m picking on you in particular.)
Perhaps what I'm pointing out here ought to be included on the proposed FAQ page...as an example of what not to do? (Of course, answers ought to also be compiled from many people's previous suggestions as to what would be a better course of action).
An amazing number of non-thinking errors are in this one small post:
1) The grammar and spelling are really, really poor. This really does not encourage me as an employer to take the author at all seriously, especially in an industry where words are important.
2) “ps as u can see I am not a very good speeler “ ….This is even worse! It does three things…First, it is stating the bleeding obvious, and implying that I must be a bit thick if I haven’t noticed this already: it is insulting my intelligence. Second, it implies that the author is lazy and unable to make a simple effort to correct her errors even though she knows she’s made them, in other words, she doesn’t really seem to care. Third, it draws attention to the fact that perhaps SHE is a bit thick…these are simple mistakes and yet she seems to be incapable of correcting them. None of these things make me as an employer want to look at her - in fact she has already turned me against her.
3) This post was put up with the subject heading “About time to call it quits”. (It was carried over from the post above). The previous post had basically said ‘look, everybody is wasting their time adding to this thread, it has become too long and irrelevant. Please stop adding to it”
So firstly, her post has nothing to do with the thread above, showing that she had not read or understood what the previous writer had said. Replying like she did seems to make no sense. Secondly, because what she has written had nothing to do with the line in her own subject heading, the likelihood is increased that her post would not be read, or if it was, it would be dismissed as totally irrelevant. And thirdly, this message was completely lost in a long and tedious thread of similar messages. So the previous post was quite correct – she has wasted her and everybody else’s time by adding to this thread.
So much for structure; now for the content:
4) She is not telling me anything useful. If you have noticed, there are THOUSANDS of girls, ALL of them 12 or so, ALL of them passionate about drama, ALL of them asking for jobs. Nothing in this post makes her stand out from the crowd. She has not really described anything that makes me think, ‘Yes, she would be a skilled actor for my project, I should hire her’. She has achieved nothing by posting this.
5) In actual fact, even if she told me some quite astounding information that really distinguished herself from ever other actor here, and even if she had placed it in the most relevant forum with an appropriate subject heading, there is probably STILL NO REASON why I would be bothered reading her post and replying to offer her a job. Because thatÂ’s simply NOT the way it is done. There is no way through reading a post like this that I can find out if someone looks, talks, or acts in the way that suits my requirements. The ONLY thing I can know for certain from reading such posts is that the writer is inexperienced and doesnÂ’t really know what they are doing!
If I am looking for a cast, I go to agents and see what talent they have that might fit my needs, and then I arrange an audition. If I am prepared to open the auditions to the wider community, I may announce the audition here, leaving contact details so YOU can approach ME and ask to be auditioned. Even if I am desperately searching for a particular type (usually after the audition process), there are probably hundreds of people who fit this physical description, so I am simply not going to be bothered chasing YOU up based on what you've written here. Hoping I will is just a waste of your time.
6) All of these errors have been mentioned, in many different ways by many different authors, almost continuously throughout this website. It doesnÂ’t do her any credit that she has ignored or not noticed this advice. Every time someone posts a similar message, it only shows that they are inexperienced and have not tried to find out anything by reading the messages already posted. Anyone who uses this forum seriously (like the ones she is hoping will offer her a job) are most likely to totally ignore her. They are tired of repeating themselves.
Â….IÂ’m afraid the only way to avoid all of the above errors is not to have posted this in the first place.
Like I said, I'm not meaning to single out this one poor author, who is only following the lead of many other lemmings.
My hope is to 'single' out the HUNDREDS of you who have committed the same useless errors. If you really want to become working actors, there is a far, far better use of your time.
Cheers,
Craig
> is there any acting jobs out there for a young girl age 12 tall dark brown > hair and eyes with slim body and toatl pasion 4 music and dramma!!!!!! i > am looking ford 2 a replie and i live in denmark W.A close to Albany and > is movind to perth december time!!!!!
> p.s as u can see i am not a very good speeler
This is an actual post that was placed on the ITA website. (My apologies to the author for making an example of it; but really it is just one of literally HUNDREDS that made the same errors, so donÂ’t feel like IÂ’m picking on you in particular.)
Perhaps what I'm pointing out here ought to be included on the proposed FAQ page...as an example of what not to do? (Of course, answers ought to also be compiled from many people's previous suggestions as to what would be a better course of action).
An amazing number of non-thinking errors are in this one small post:
1) The grammar and spelling are really, really poor. This really does not encourage me as an employer to take the author at all seriously, especially in an industry where words are important.
2) “ps as u can see I am not a very good speeler “ ….This is even worse! It does three things…First, it is stating the bleeding obvious, and implying that I must be a bit thick if I haven’t noticed this already: it is insulting my intelligence. Second, it implies that the author is lazy and unable to make a simple effort to correct her errors even though she knows she’s made them, in other words, she doesn’t really seem to care. Third, it draws attention to the fact that perhaps SHE is a bit thick…these are simple mistakes and yet she seems to be incapable of correcting them. None of these things make me as an employer want to look at her - in fact she has already turned me against her.
3) This post was put up with the subject heading “About time to call it quits”. (It was carried over from the post above). The previous post had basically said ‘look, everybody is wasting their time adding to this thread, it has become too long and irrelevant. Please stop adding to it”
So firstly, her post has nothing to do with the thread above, showing that she had not read or understood what the previous writer had said. Replying like she did seems to make no sense. Secondly, because what she has written had nothing to do with the line in her own subject heading, the likelihood is increased that her post would not be read, or if it was, it would be dismissed as totally irrelevant. And thirdly, this message was completely lost in a long and tedious thread of similar messages. So the previous post was quite correct – she has wasted her and everybody else’s time by adding to this thread.
So much for structure; now for the content:
4) She is not telling me anything useful. If you have noticed, there are THOUSANDS of girls, ALL of them 12 or so, ALL of them passionate about drama, ALL of them asking for jobs. Nothing in this post makes her stand out from the crowd. She has not really described anything that makes me think, ‘Yes, she would be a skilled actor for my project, I should hire her’. She has achieved nothing by posting this.
5) In actual fact, even if she told me some quite astounding information that really distinguished herself from ever other actor here, and even if she had placed it in the most relevant forum with an appropriate subject heading, there is probably STILL NO REASON why I would be bothered reading her post and replying to offer her a job. Because thatÂ’s simply NOT the way it is done. There is no way through reading a post like this that I can find out if someone looks, talks, or acts in the way that suits my requirements. The ONLY thing I can know for certain from reading such posts is that the writer is inexperienced and doesnÂ’t really know what they are doing!
If I am looking for a cast, I go to agents and see what talent they have that might fit my needs, and then I arrange an audition. If I am prepared to open the auditions to the wider community, I may announce the audition here, leaving contact details so YOU can approach ME and ask to be auditioned. Even if I am desperately searching for a particular type (usually after the audition process), there are probably hundreds of people who fit this physical description, so I am simply not going to be bothered chasing YOU up based on what you've written here. Hoping I will is just a waste of your time.
6) All of these errors have been mentioned, in many different ways by many different authors, almost continuously throughout this website. It doesnÂ’t do her any credit that she has ignored or not noticed this advice. Every time someone posts a similar message, it only shows that they are inexperienced and have not tried to find out anything by reading the messages already posted. Anyone who uses this forum seriously (like the ones she is hoping will offer her a job) are most likely to totally ignore her. They are tired of repeating themselves.
Â….IÂ’m afraid the only way to avoid all of the above errors is not to have posted this in the first place.
Like I said, I'm not meaning to single out this one poor author, who is only following the lead of many other lemmings.
My hope is to 'single' out the HUNDREDS of you who have committed the same useless errors. If you really want to become working actors, there is a far, far better use of your time.
Cheers,
Craig