Don't be a "Boo" - How to be a better scare actor

Something that has been spreading around the haunt community and getting more popular is the labeling of some scare actors as a "boo". It's not hard to figure out that it's not meant as a compliment and getting called one can be hurtful and embarrassing.

So, if you've heard the term and don't want to be one or if you've been called one, don't worry because this can be fixed. In this article we will cover the origins and the word and how to ensure that it doesn't apply to you.

What is a "Boo"?

To be clear, we're not talking about the slang term that is referring to your sweetheart. And honestly, you might want to reconsider using it if you still are, but I digress. In the haunt industry, a Boo is anything but a term of endearment. It's a name that many experienced scare actors use for actors that they feel aren't cutting it. 

Just like saying "boo" in a haunt isn't scary, a "Boo" isn't scary.

It's become more common in recent years at haunts and especially in some online haunt groups. Full disclosure, some of these groups are ones which I'm involved in and if I told someone that things in those groups weren't sometimes funny and relatable I would be lying. 

These are the most common types of people that typically get labeled Boo's:

• A scare actor with little or no training who only uses cliched phrases and jump scares. Or worse yet, screams in someone's ear.

• An actor who has a single character that they developed themselves (often a clown) with a detailed "unique" backstory.

• A scare actor who has done the same act for years, same jokes or lines and hasn't changed anything besides random costume pieces. Think of actors that play the same character in every movie they're cast in, I'm looking right at you Kristen Stewart.

Practice makes perfect

Scare acting, like any other skill or profession takes time and practice to develop. A common rule that people often referred to is the 10,000 hour rule. This was popularized by Malcolm Gladwell where he said that it takes 10,000 hours to achieve mastery of a skill. 

It is a little more complicated than simply doing something for that amount of time to master it. There are other factors such as innate talent and complexity of the skill a person is trying to master that could make the time to master a skill shorter or longer.

More importantly, one needs to focus on improving their skill in order to get better at it. Simply doing it that long doesn't mean you have mastered it. For example, doing the same scare acting routine for 12 years will not make someone an expert scare actor, just an expert of that routine.

Many "Boos" are simply people who are early on their journey into scare acting and have yet to master many of the skills.   

Terrible twos

It's not uncommon for scare actors to get experience and assume they know more than they actually do. Many haunts have second year actors who tell new actors what to do because they made it through their first year and they're experts now.

This is something I personally thought was a problem with my haunt and we refer to them as "terrible twos". But after talking with people from other haunts it was obvious that it's a common occurrence industry wide.

Helping other actors who are new scare acting is actually a good thing, even if it's nothing more than being welcoming and supportive. But it's important to keep your perspective and remember that you can't learn it all in a year. 

The point here is to remember there is always more to learn, regardless of your level of experience. This could lead to arrogance and that will lead to being called a "boo". It's a good thing to remember that you should never buy your own sales pitch, even if you're great at it, you could get better.

Training should never stop

No matter how long a scare actor is in the business, there is always room to improve. If it does take 10,000 hours to master scare acting, then one month a year isn't enough. Becoming a better scare actor should be a yearlong effort. Use your "off" months to study scare acting.

Building your skillset and becoming a better scare actor can start with researching and reading about it on sites like this one. That's a good start, but there's a lot more you can do. Here are a few examples:

• Create a different character - you may have your own character already, but why not create another one? It will help you delve into new territory by creating a different character with new traits and new lines to use. Character development in itself is an important skill, sticking to just one character might hold you back.

• Different skills - Scare acting has many different types of characters. Perhaps learning different skills will help 
• Slider - Not an older persons game, but sliding is a fun and great scare.
• Stilts - Much like sliding, there are some physical limitations to stilt walking but it is a great addition to haunts.  
• Fire performance - There are quite a few different types of fire performances like juggling, baton twirling, and poi spinning. Fire breathing is always a crowd favorite and it's also impressively hazardous. Please learn from an expert if you're going to do it, and make sure proper safety protocols are always followed. 

• Different techniques - There are different acting techniques that are common in the industry. Are you a talking character? Try not talking and just use body movements. A physical presence and creepy stare can be just as effective. Or vice versa, try talking if you're normally a silent character. 

Conclusion

Talking with your peers is typically a good thing and discussing issues that we all have in common is healthy. Laughing about issues and situations that we all face is also a good thing. It helps us all feel that we're not alone in feeling the way we feel and builds a sense of community. It's pretty normal to have coworkers that annoy you, in fact I started writing these articles with one about the Do's and Don'ts in a haunt because of scenarios like this one.  

That being said, one of the best things about the haunt community in general is that we are typically a very open and welcoming group. I am a strong believer in the thought of many haunts, one family. 

We don't want to chase people away just because they're not good at it yet. So why not do what we always do and help them out instead?

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Kenneth Leary is the author of the Practical and Theatrical Scare Actor Blog. He has worked in in the haunt industry since 2012 and is a year round student of scare acting and haunting in general. The purpose of this blog is to help others benefit from his research and experience in a humorous and informative way. He can be contacted at ken_leary@outlook.com for questions and comments. He doesn't get paid for this, so he's not a total douche yet and will be happy to talk to you.