Zoe is an actor and an award-winning executive level technology professional with experience across sales and marketing, delivery and coaching. She has published three books to date: Galvanising the Geeks, Networking Know-How and An Actor’s Life for Me.
How did you get into acting?
Four years ago with no training and no experience I set out on the rocky road towards working as an actor.
My career to date had been in the technology industry, where I went from starting as a graduate coder to running the awesome software agency Softwire.
I had no training as a coder before I started; I learnt on the job. And I learned that this is the most efficient way to learn anything. Yes, you can learn from training but then you have to go back into the workplace and learn the next step of how to apply that training.
By learning on the job, you combine two steps into one, and produce some work at the same time!
Then I read a magic book, called The Artist’s Way. I give a lot of talks on career planning and I am often asked how you can work out what you want in life. The only thing that I have found that worked for me is The Artist’s Way.
I read it and by the end I knew that I wanted to be an actor. I wanted it so bad that it kept me going through being a beginner (and hence terrible) through four years to today, when things are starting to come together.
As an actor, how do low budget shoots compare to high budget shoots?
In the last four years, I’ve worked on everything from student films and indie features to big budget commercials. I’ve worked on sets with kit and crew like you wouldn’t believe to smartphone films with skeleton crews.
Like many actors, there is a touch of ego to what I do.
I enjoy being called the talent, having someone employed to check on me every twenty minutes to see whether I am ok, and being given a water bottle with my name (and role, lest I should forget) written on it. This has actually happened to me on large budget shoots!
On the other hand, I have a busy life, and I enjoy being able to get on and shoot a film and move on to do something else.
The downside of a large budget shoot is that every tiny shot takes hours to set up, and the whole process consists almost entirely of waiting around until you are “called” for your scene.
The bigger the film, the more waiting around.
As an actor, what are the benefits of big budget production?
Big budgets have other benefits. It’s not just ego to want the work that you do to be seen by as many people as possible – it is the point of why you are doing it.
It is hard to make an impact with a film without a six-figure marketing budget, and the only time that someone has seen my work without me dragging them to a screening is in a big budget TV commercial or mid-budget indie film.
My favourite quote told to me by one of his colleagues when discussing The Look of Love with his wife after she went to see it on her own:
K: “I went to see The Look of Love last night.”
P: “Right.”
K: “It had nudity”
P: “Right”
K: “and porn”
P: “Right”
K: “and drugs”
P: “OK”
K: “and Zoe!!”.
On a small shoot no one is called “talent” and no-one is fussed over. As an actor, you might be working one minute, and making tea the next. There is a great sense of camaraderie and of being in it together on the cutting edge of creativity.
What are the advantages of smartphone filmmaking for actors?
There is one incredible benefit of smartphone filmmaking to an actor that outweighs all of the other pros and cons…
The position an actor typically fills in a film production is that of pawn. Yes acting is a skilled job that is difficult to do well, and yes an actor can make a big impact on a production.
But they have little say over what is going to happen on the wider stage.
They don’t control the story, the tone of the piece or even the lines their character says. This can particularly frustrating as a woman in a male-controlled industry when you are either under 30 and cast as a love interest, or over 30 and cast as a mother.
“Smartphone filmmaking allows you to make your own films. To write your own roles and tell your own stories.” Zoe Cunningham
How did you find yourself in a smartphone-shot film?
I learnt about smartphone filmmaking from Simon Horrocks, who I first met on the set of his web series Kosmos. (If you watch carefully in the last episode you can see me say “Oh my god!”.) Simon and I went on to work together on the first episode of his new series, Silent Eye.
Smartphone filmmaking is the ultimate way to learn on the job, while also making work.
It’s harder as an actor since in order to do all the jobs yourself, you need to be behind and in front of the camera at the same time. I am working on this (!) and just shot my first segment for a feature film *all on my own*!
I’m now excited (but also kind of scared) by the idea that I could make a whole film entirely on my own.
How successful was the film; personally and in gaining an audience for your work?
Smartphone filmmaking has given me several opportunities to act that I would not have had otherwise.
Each film I make changes my life a little bit. Smartphone filmmaking has allowed me to self-shoot a piece completely on my own and make a great short as part of a team – both for zero cost.
This is very exciting as it makes filmmaking a repeatable activity.
Traditional filmmaking, even at a low cost, means that if you can’t sell the work for more than you spend on the film, you eventually run out of money and have to stop.
“I have high hopes that smartphone filmmaking will change my life even more going forwards!”
Being part of You Have Been Chosen (episode 1 of Silent Eye) has been a fantastic success for me. It was extremely enjoyable to film and I am proud of the end result. (This is not true of all films that I have acted in!)
Having the film publicly accessible on Amazon means that I can direct people I meet/know to watch it, which is great.
As Simon continues to film new episodes the team and community around the series grows, which also leads to more people watching and talking about the show.
Also, horrific abuses like those of Harvey Weinstein occur because an actor’s life is ruled by powerful gatekeepers. So, be your own gatekeeper! Make your own work.
Thank you to Zoe for taking time to talk to us about smartphone filmmaking from the actor’s point of view. You can read more of Zoe’s experiences in An Actor’s Life For Me:
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