The Tipping Point

The dawn of a new day is upon us, dear grasshopper.

Side note: I’ve been accused of being liberal with the dramatics...but, we are in show biz, right? LOL

I mean it though. The industry is experiencing a dramatic shift unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. History is being written and sadly, most of us are missing it. This is not just my opinion either, the facts and the statistics clearly show that Hollywood is quickly transforming.

Here’s why I bring this up. The industry is at a tipping point. Actually, it’s my contention that it’s already tipped and the established system is breathing its final breaths.

Remember, what’s coming will either be a time of unprecedented opportunity and growth in the industry, or it will be what everyone warned you about when you first told them you wanted to be an actor.

There’s so much noise in the media today, that it’s harder than ever to get at what is important.

You may have heard about “Net Neutrality.” On the surface it sounds great: keeping the internet free of bias for everyone and ensuring that equal access is available…

But there is so much more than meets the eye. In reality “Net Neutrality” is life support for the dying studio system. It is an attempt by the studios and media conglomerates to push aside alternative forms of content distribution.

This is extremely important for all actors.

Gary Vaynerchuk, social media architect to the biggest brands, hottest athletes and entertainers in the world has said,

“If you look at Facebook, Instagram, YouTube you have to realize that they are the next ABC, NBC, Fox. Streaming services like Amazon video and Netflix are overtaking the big studios with movies and giving them a run for their money...The way in which we experience TV and Movies is changing before your eyes. The question isn’t whether it’s going to change, the question is what are you going to do about it...”

This is what has the studios terrified.

They are trying to adapt to a market where they have no experience and operate in a business where they don’t understand how revenue works.

Everywhere you look. Consumer driven content is crushing the studio system.

Whether or not you were a fan of the TV Show Veronica Mars, you probably heard that it made records by being the first major film to ever be crowd funded.

Nearly a decade after the show wrapped, fans were still so engulfed in a storyline that left many mysteries unsolved, and they demanded a movie to tie up the loose ends left by the show’s abrupt cancellation.

And they spoke up with their wallets. The cast put out the challenge that “if the fans could raise the funds to produce the film, then they would do it.” The film’s multi million dollar budget was 100% funded in record time.

The reason production went this route, is that they were unable to secure funding from the studio. They felt as though the market was too small to make it a viable project. Wrong again!

A-list actors are already positioning themselves in anticipation of what’s on the horizon. You can, and should, do the same. For the first time in history, you can own the media.

Here’s what I mean by that...

Mindy Kaling took an ensemble role on The Office and became an absolute powerhouse. She was brilliant on the show, but what really catapulted her to superstardom was owning a platform (media). She has been able to leverage a highly successful blog to stay relevant and ultimately launch new projects successfully.

One of her costars on The Office has made similar moves and is staying relevant, without even relying on mainstream projects. He has parlayed the attention into a very successful YouTube Channel: SoulPancake.

He has been given lucrative publishing deals and has even been featured on Oprah regarding the nontraditional nature of his ongoing success.

What’s important to note about these two actors is that they have the flexibility to chart their own path. They don’t have to jump at every role just to make ends meet.

In order for you to do the same you have to stop depending on a “day job.” The truth is that you can earn a great living as an actor starting now, if you change the way in which you look at the industry.

Remember, the traditional model is dying quickly, so even if you have an agent or a manager, don’t you ultimately need to be in charge of your own destiny instead of being dependent on someone else?

I’ve developed a simple system for you to do this. It’s called the Actor’s Revenue Rescue Formula and everyone I have shared it with has seen amazing results.
The A.R.R. Formula is a real, simple, and proven way to go from where you are now to $100K from acting so you can finally go full time and kiss your day job goodbye.

Just imagine for a moment what it will feel like to walk into your boss's office and say sianara! Never looking back because the Actor’s Revenue Rescue Formula has set you up with a way to bankroll your career.

Have you noticed how YouTubers and Instagrammers are everywhere these days? There is so much opportunity to cash in on right now, if you have a following.

Take a look at this. This is a prime example of the A.R.R. Formula in action.

Did you know that a YouTube Video can make you upwards of $5 per 1000 views even if you are not selling anything in the video.

See YouTube runs on advertisements and advertisers will pay top dollar to show ads before, during, or in between popular videos.

You might think that this is difficult to do or that it takes a lot of time and effort..

Trust me, if you can hit the record button on your iPhone and count to 5, you can make this happen. You just need to have the proper formula to do so.

Check this out. This is probably the easiest way in the world to turn $20 into $13,000.

 
 


The premise of the video is simple and the are tons of similar ones.

In a social experiment, the guys bought a homeless man a pizza and sent in one of their buddies to ask for a slice, in order to document if greed or giving would prevail.

Here’s how this became the best $20 these guys ever spent. Assuming you spent your twenty bucks to buy the pizza (you can actually get one for much less if you’re really strapped) and already have an iPhone, Android or some device with a camera to capture the action, that’s your entire production budget.

This video has generated over 2.6 million views so far. Using the YouTube revenue rule of thumb of $5 per 1000 views, here’s how the math breaks down.

2,603,000/1000= 2,603 batches of 1000 views. If you make $5 for each batch: 2,603 X $5=
$13,015

BOOM! How many times do you have to do this in order to get to your $100K?

You might be thinking. That’s great Scott, but there’s no way I could ever get 2.6 Million Views on YouTube, starting from scratch.

Not to worry grasshopper. Here’s another example to show how you can hit $100K super quick, even without millions of views to a video.

This one is comes courtesy of ShowSlimStunna the self proclaimed greatest rapper from Richmond, VA.

 
 


The concept of the video is similar. He documents what happens when he treats a homeless guy to Burger King and “spares some change.”

Let’s say this cost a grand total of $5-$6 and an iPhone to film and let’s go through the math.

The view count here is much more attainable at just over 136,000.

We divide it by 1000 to get our batch number and we get 136. Multiply by $5 (the rule of thumb earnings per batch of 1000 views) and that five dollar bill he invested just turned into
$680.

That won’t make you rich but I’m sure it doesn’t hurt either. For some of our tribe members, even just a handful of these every month would be enough to go full time with acting.

Now for the ultimate one. Let’s say you left your wallet at home on the day you were planning to shoot and only had your iPhone and $0 to spend on production.

Here’s how you turn $0 into $16,000

 
 


The scenario in this video is nothing more than a conversation that turned into well over 3.2 Million views. Let’s run through that again.

3.2 Million/1000= 3200 batches X $5 per batch of 1000 views= an even $16,000 profit!

I realize that these numbers probably seem intimidating at first, but understand that they are very attainable. I’m not giving you examples from a super channel like Roman Atwood's with over 3.3Billion views.

These are simply, real, moderately successful examples of what’s possible.

It really is that simple. Remember this is a fluff free zone! I could insert tons of filler content here, but why bother?

The concept is simple and it’s possible because of the shifting industry landscape. Produce content, distribute content, get paid. You have the power to write your own ticket and you don’t have to depend on base rate anymore.

Some of you might be thinking “that’s great but I want to be an actor, not a YouTuber!

Loud and clear!

See, what you have to understand is that you need something that will enable you to focus on your career 100%.

Elon Musk put it this way. “If you are working 80 hours a week just by that measure alone you will accomplish in 6 months what takes others a full year to do.” Research has shown that companies that are venture funded and sitting on big piles of cash are 5X more likely to succeed than those that bootstrapped.

Which begs the question: are you bootstrapping?

If you pay attention, you will see that the actors who are succeeding tend to also have the luxury of a big pile of cash at their disposal. Actors like Rashida Jones, Emily Blunt and many others had the benefit of focusing on their careers 100%.

Treat this as a stepping stone to get that advantage for yourself.

The goal of everyone in the tribe is to become a full time actor.

There is one tool that you must have in your actor’s toolbox if you want to book steady work that you actually enjoy doing, and it has nothing to do with your headshot or acting reel.

It’s called the Demonstration of Power Pack and it comes straight from the WME powerhouse. It’s a literal package, delivered to your “target” that is intended to create a sense of Shock and Awe.

Your “target” can be anyone with whom you need to connect in order to advance in your career, such as an agent, a producer, director, casting director, etc.

Let me give you an example that I learned about over lunch with my William Morris Endeavor insider.

There was an agent at WME, let’s call him Tommy, that was pretty fresh out of the mailroom and he was just building his book of clients. Most of them were D listers looking to move up in the world or newcomers that showed promise.

Tommy had hit a brick wall with a client that happened to be a newcomer. She was super talented but because of her short resume, he could not get his new client an audition. Everyone thought she was just too green.

Normally, this is when someone would throw in the towel. But not Tommy, not his client, and I know you wouldn’t quit either.

So this is when The Demonstration of Power Pack was created. Like every other great invention, it was created out of need and in a do or die moment.

Tommy’s client fit a very important criteria that super agents look for when signing new talent…she was smart!
The brilliant idea that she came up with was so crazy that it had to work, or at least that’s what she hoped.

She wanted to read for a new project that would put her alongside some pretty big stars but of course Tommy couldn’t get her an audition the old fashioned way.

This is where it gets interesting. She went to Target and picked up a briefcase.

She loaded the briefcase with a portable DVD player charged and preloaded with her reel.

She rigged it so that the DVD player would power up when the briefcase was opened. She then printed a giant headshot, wrapped it in brown butcher paper, and rolled into a scroll.

She even sealed it with red wax and a stamp.

While at Target she also picked up a neck pillow and a bag of popcorn that also made their way into the briefcase, along with a cigar, and 2 notes that said “read first, read second.” The first note read “sit down, get comfortable, press play and enjoy a snack…Then call casting and tell them I’m your leading lady.”

If you think that’s bold, get a load of this…

The second note read “go to this restaurant tonight at 7:15 pm and tell them you’re here to meet Tommy. He’s my agent. You two can work out the details over dinner. After dinner, light your celebratory cigar because we are going to make a great f***ing movie.

I agree, this is totally nuts! But that’s the kind of business we’re in: showbusiness!

Her agent was super skeptical about it working but he admired her creativity so he said “you put the briefcase together and if you get him to show up to dinner, I’ll wine and dine the hell out of him.” All in, she spent less than $200 on this experiment and the return has been humongous.

She got the role she was after, and has since worked on many projects for this studio, starring alongside Ben Affleck, Paul Giamatti, Reese Witherspoon, and many more. She pulled the career of her dreams out of this little experiment. These days, when she’s not doing a feature, you can catch her doing a recurring role on primetime.

There is not another tool as powerful as this. It doesn’t have to be as orchestrated a courier delivered briefcase, either.

If you need to scale The Demonstration of Power Pack down to drive down costs so you can reach more people, you could mail them a flash drive, comp card, a note, and a snickers bar instead.

This would be ideal for reaching out to multiple agents or multiple Casting Directors, without spending a ton of cash. It still gives you the benefit of differentiating and creates a unique-enough experience for the recipient, since no one else is doing this.

And if you really want to scale the concept down and accomplish this without spending any cash, you could do the entire thing online.

Put together a simple website using Wix. It should have your reel, your resume and headshot available, along with clear instructions on how to contact you. This simple website would only take you a couple of hours to put together and it would allow you to send out The Demonstration of Power Pack at scale, to whoever you wanted to, and without even paying for postage.

Consider what’s on your screen right now. You have proven strategies to go full time in your career and earn a great living doing what you love.

You also have a strategy for how to grab the attention of the people you need to get in touch with, in order to advance in your career.

These are unique times we’re living in and I want to help you make the most of it. I want to help you get into a position to live the life of your dreams, working the career you deserve.

I have something special planned for you next week. I’ve been working on it for quite sometime and I’m ready to give it to you.

Over the next week keep a close eye on your inbox. I don’t want to ruin the surprise but trust me...if the thought of becoming a full time actor that earns a great living doing what you love intrigues you, then you will definitely want to tune in next week.

For now, put the above into action. There is tons of opportunity ready to be had. Are you going to take it? If you’re ever lost about what to do, leave me a comment below and let me know how I can help.


See you at the top,
Scott