Drew Lipson, a top Philly callback guy looks ahead
One of the high callback attendees at the recent Philly ProScout event was Andrew Lipson. Drew is 21, from Brooklyn, and is finishing his last few semesters at Binghamton University in upstate New York. We caught up with him a week after his event… here’s what he had to say.
Andrew Lipson, age 21, drew 14 agency callbacks at the recent ProScout event in Philadelphia.
Q: One week after you meet all these major talent agencies, generated some heat, you watched the Academy Awards show. How did it make you feel?
A: I have to say, after the whole ProScout weekend my love and passion for film has sky rocketed. I always appreciated the art and detail that goes into film making and acting, but after the event, my desire to be involved in this industry has become more of a goal as opposed to a dream. Therefore, anticipating and watching the Oscars was a whole new experience for me. Seeing the success that films such as Slumdog received, with relatively young and unknown actors, opens my mind for the possibilities that are out there. Also, I’ve really begun to appreciate the prevalence and sincerity of how grateful all these mega stars really are. They all obviously know they’ve got talent, but they also seem like they understand how lucky they are to receive peer recognition in their careers. I’ve always lived my life trying to be the best human being possible and it’s great to see many artists appear to do the same. I remember Chamber Stevens at the event telling us this story about Tom Cruise and how he recognized everyone on set, his awareness of even the young stand-in girl from the set of War of the Worlds. Since then I’ve really noticed more of the grateful attitude that is expressed in interviews. It’s not about being a star… it’s about recognizing an encouraging the art of your peers, helping people to experience things beyond their own limited experiences. Penelope Cruz, Sean Penn, Kate Winslet and many others all gave off that vibe last night, and I really admired it.
Andrew performed a Ben Affleck scene from "Good Will Hunting". He also had a lot of interest from model agents.
Q: So, you had callbacks from both model and acting agents, the big ones. Where do you go from here?
A: As for my future, I really don’t like to predict what could or should happen in the weeks or months to come. I only have the power to work as hard as I can to put myself in the best position to succeed. I finally feel that I have the right attitude and state of mind to go about this industry with full force. I understand that I’ll have to endure as many setbacks as successions and I also know that I have to approach everything with effort and integrity because you never know where the big opportunity will come from.
MTV came knocking; so did Elite, Click, House of Reps, Ford, nine other national agencies...
Q: What’s ahead for you?
A: In a nutshell, the important thing in my life right now is to graduate, first and foremost. However, my passion for this business has never been greater. I’m really looking forward to keeping touch with the contacts that I made last weekend at ProScout and fully taking advantage of whatever opportunities they will provide for me. After graduating in May, I will focus all my energy and attention to succeeding in this industry. I plan on furthering my education in acting and of course inking a contract hopefully! Other than that there’s nothing more I can do other than make good decisions, work as hard as I can and hopefully luck will be on my side.
Comments
By Gabrielle P. on March 10th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
I totally agree about what he says. Even though I didn’t get any call backs, I can say one thing for sure: I’m going to the next one! I remember this guy from the event. Good luck Drew!
I’ve been dreaming about getting into this show biz, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to be recognized, but this is definitely the place be. I’ve never seen so many agents in one place, and I mean “A” list agents! I’ve got not only a lot of valuable information, but I’ve been educated on how I need to present myself, and have the right attitude. It was awesome!!