Paying Acting Gig

UI - Professors Lon Moeller and Jay Christensen-Szalanski of the College of Business are making a digital book on conflict management. It will include several short video and audio segments that will be used in the book either as exercises for the reader to evaluate or to exemplify the text.

They are looking for actors and actresses for both types of segments. They will pay $40 for one video hour per actor/actress and $15 for one audio hour per actor/actress. They will also list the talents’ names in the acting/voice credits in their book. If you are interested please read the following and contact Jay-Christensen-Szalanski AT uiowa.edu.

Video Segments. Filming will start in 10 days and end in late May. The acting talent can portray any conflict situation from the list below. You create the scene but the entire sequence needs to be 20-90 seconds long. We are interesting in capturing examples of “everyday” conflict in which at least one of the individuals is very emotional (e.g. guilty, angry, frustrated, defensive, fearful, etc). It will be a single-camera shot that focuses on facial gestures and voice. We are seeking segments that will have more of an impromptu “news” feel than a rehearsed dramatic production.

Each segment will include an additional 15-30 seconds of narration (recorded later by the book’s narrator) to set the scene and give background information. We will be bringing minimal equipment and thus the location you use can be as small as a dorm room or of a single person on a phone. Alternatively, we can select a location in Iowa City. We expect that set-up and time for 3-4 takes will all be completed within 90 minutes with talent being paid for a minimum of one hour. Please send a 1-2 sentence description of the proposed scene to Jay-Christensen-Szalanski AT uiowa.edu, who will respond within 24 hours. Talent may only appear in one video segment but may also participate in the audio segments listed below.

Conflict Topics For Video Segments

• • employee vs. supervisor
• • patient vs. health care provider
• • customer vs. store employee
• • co-workers
• • family members
• • roommates
• • union representative vs. manager
• • teacher vs. parent of a student
• • emotional person is not saying what is really bothering her/him
• • listener misunderstands what is really bothering the emotional person.

Audio Segments (no memorization) - In two weeks the authors will be circulating an additional list of short scripts (5-15 lines). They are seeking people with expressive voices that can effectively convey different strong emotions. No memorization is required. The entire session will last one hour and will occur on campus. We provide the recording equipment. Pay is $15 for one hour. Participants in the video segments are also eligible to participate in this activity. If you would like to receive a list of parts when they are available please contact Jay-Christensen-Szalanski AT uiowa.edu.