THE PRO-FILE

JULES LUND - THE PRESENTER (Part Two)

At the age of 24 Jules Lund has, amongst other things, hosted his own weekly Melbourne radio show on FOX FM and travelled the globe hosting the Extreme Games for an international audience.

This provided a reasonable amount of publicity for Jules which may have delivered further job opportunities. But Jules decided that he didn’t want to jump on the back of the publicity bandwagon. Instead he chose to take his time to build a skill base that would support him in being a TV presenter. He came to The Rehearsal Room in July 2002 to acquire knowledge about acting .

He was asked how relevant the Rehearsal Room acting process was to the presenter ...

Jules: I use heaps of The Rehearsal Room stuff. You know … there's so much going on. There's other people's input to deal with in pre-production and lots of distractions when you're presenting, so having basic performance skills in place is really important. For me putting a 'need' in place is really helpful - that's fundamental. My need is 'to share', that's the one I always use. It helps a lot. It helps make it a story I can tell.

There can be a trap if I don't take ownership of the story and make it mine to tell. I can end up telling the producer's story … talking about something that's important to someone else and not so important to me - that never works. So I always express whether I feel comfortable doing what the producer wants. We discuss whether what they want is 'playable for me'... that's important. They can ask me to do something and I'll say that's just not me - I can try but I'll be fighting the grain. But other times you have to do what's required. So, I put a 'need' in place and get on with it. I still use the 5 point checklist … make sure I am externally focused … all that stuff we learnt about in the Rehearsal Room. I do it because it works.

Ultimately you have to be in the moment and that's not always easy because there are always other things to think about … things inside your head that distract you. So you have to let go, take the risk and allow it to happen …"Free floating in the abyss", my voice-over teacher John Higginson would say…just letting go. You prepare to a point then you have to let go.

Richard: You've mentioned that you use centre of gravity. . .

Jules: Absolutely because relaxation is so important.

Though sometimes you can relax too much. I remember doing that in acting class - I'd just get too comfortable. Using your centre of gravity is really helpful because you can still be relaxed but it keeps you actively engaged … listening … alive. On a Getaway tour I've got to be asking questions and when you are interviewing you have to be involved. It's a challenge if you're not interested in the topic. There are some things I'm not interested in but I have to look enthused to keep the audience interested. I am the audience's conduit; I am a window for them. I use centre of gravity all the time to help me look and actually be interested. I've got to act because if I was listening to an expert discuss a topic that doesn't interest me, my face might be expressionless. I change my centre of gravity to show I'm interested. That helps me read others and lets them read me so they feel comfortable. Otherwise they'd see me not giving a shit and the audience wouldn't get all this good information. Sometimes you have to pretend.

Richard: No doubt actors find themselves doing that too - they feel they've got to give a bit more to get more back in the interaction stakes...and for surprises too?

Jules: That's right. We always have to do surprises.The first thing I did for the Getaway audition was to play a surprise for the promo. Katriona Rowntree and I were in the studio and there were about 20 people around. It was a 'green screen' shoot and this was the first time I'd worked in that sort of professional environment. When she clicked her fingers, they switched the background images and suddenly I'm in the Andes with snow around me. I had to play surprise there and then in the studio. They didn't hire me as an actor so I wasn't expecting it. I just used my centre of gravity every time and it worked. Centre of gravity is a really useful tool. There've been so many times I've had to show surprises because people reveal stuff to you. It's a huge part of presenting.

Richard: In terms of learning to be a presenter, where are the places that you would go?

Jules: I set off to find as many courses as I could but there's bugger-all. There's one at NIDA and a six-week one in Sydney but I wasn't prepared to live up there for the sake of two hours a week. I checked some in America and realised I had to broaden my search so I looked for performance training. When I told others I wanted to learn how to be a presenter they said I didn't need to do courses, that it's a personality thing. I knew that was bullshit; there are skills to presenting and I wanted to learn them so I could be the personality. I did every voiceover course I could find and I also did the Rehearsal Room course to learn about acting and to deal with my fears. Learning the skills was essential but my main aim was to overcome fear.

Richard: Were some voice over courses better than others?

Jules: Absolutely. John Higginson's classes in Melbourne were great but some others were garbage. Good courses and good content aren't as important as a good teacher. Finding a good teacher is really important. I also got some really good skills from a NIDA weekend course.

There wasn't enough training out there for me so I created my own. I hired my cousin to write scripts and he sent them to me 2 hours before I met him in the scariest environments. One time we went to the back of a busy supermarket or the Jam factory where a lot of my friends might be. I went to the most intimidating places for weeks to really test myself. It was awesome.

Richard: That is remarkably resourceful.

Jules: It's good to have those memories because when people accuse me of not having done the hard yards, I think of those times and the preparation required. I'm glad I did that at a time when I had so many doubts about myself and wondered whether I'd ever get anywhere … facing rejection after rejection. In a way it's come to me easy but I've faced feeling hopeless, feeling that no one gives a shit and nothing's working. I've been through that thing of, "I've got to do more and more work and use everything in my power to make it work". I struggled with fear and doubts for years. I've only shed those in the last few months to realise I'm not scared. I faced fear and kept moving which was the toughest thing for me. But in the end, it's been rewarding.