Have you ever watched a movie or a tv show and thought to yourself “how in the world did this get the green light?”
Creativity falls under the category of being art and art is subjective.
What may be genius to one person may be considered a complete atrocity to someone else, so there is not a single formula that studios and networks follow when it comes to what projects are green lit.
They do have some guidelines so to speak, and if you want to be a professional actor it’s important that you know them.
For example, the industry tries to find a middle ground for their projects so that they appeal to a wide audience, and they tend to green light projects that fit right in the middle of a given category.
It gives the project a bigger chance of being successful when it appeals to a large number of people. That’s why the biggest box office hits might have some violence but not gratuitous violence.
They may have some profanity, but they will lean towards playing it safe when it comes to language. So on and so forth.
In the early stages of development, production tries to pull the project into the middle and away from any extremes that may be called for in the project.
The goal throughout the entire process is to produce a project that parents and their teenagers could watch together.
That’s what makes the biggest box office hits.
If you want to build a successful acting career you have to know how you, as an actor fit into that big picture...
Even a fantastic project will fail miserably without the right cast on board and that’s where you come in.
Before we get to that I do have a side note: what we’re talking about today are projects that have a mass market commercial appeal. There are outliers that fall outside of what we’re going through but treat them as just that: outliers and not the norm.
Something that you have to get really familiar with, if you want to build a successful acting career, is that no one puts a project into production without thinking of the financial side of the equation.
Even an independent “art house” project on a tiny budget will take this into consideration.
Whether the project has a twenty thousand dollar budget or a twenty million dollar budget someone, somewhere wrote a check to fund the production and they hope to see a return on that investment.
That will allow them to fund another project, then another, then another. You’ll see why this is important to you in just a moment...
See, most actors never consider what this means and how it affects the industry’s decision making. If as an actor, you choose to acknowledge that this side of the business exists, you would be a rarity in the industry and knowing things like this will give you a huge advantage.
Why?
It’s simple. When you know why the industry does what it does, you can give decision makers what they need so they can accomplish what they need to accomplish.
Here’s what I mean...
You could be the most talented comedic actor a Casting Director has ever seen, but if they are looking to cast a dramatic role it’s not the right fit.
Most actors think it’s about being in the right place at the right time. It takes much more than that to be successful of course, but to keep it simple let’s say that you have to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right skill set.
Having those 3 things in line will help you make incredible career strides.
The thing is, most actors have the skill set handled, because it’s the one thing they put a ton of effort into.
It’s what you do best and it’s the fun part of being in the industry: getting to show off and refine your talents.
With this being handled, the question is then, how do you ensure that you can be in the right place at the right time?
What keeps actors from making the kind of career progress they should be making, is not having a good grasp on these factors.
I could literally write an entire book on this subject, but as always let’s keep it simple.
If you want to be a successful, full time actor but the only time you are in front of a CD is at an audition, you are going to have a really hard time building a career.
That doesn’t mean you have to be physically present, but you do have to be at the forefront of their minds as much as possible and you have to be visible to industry decision makers. That’s why I created this to help with that.
Going back to the previous point about funding a project and how you fit into the bigger picture...
If you have been around the industry for any length of time, you have likely read for a role in a project with XYZ actor attached.
The industry often works backwards and they start to attach talent to a project before securing a studio. They hope that a particular actor’s involvement will lead to interest from studios, financiers, and other actors of a similar caliber.
It’s a common practice, but for an actor to carry that kind of influence in the industry, it’s typically a long and hard journey that few will ever make it through.
However, because the industry is a business that needs to turn a profit in order to stay in business they aim to tilt the scales in favor.
That’s why, as I mentioned before, they pull projects into the middle of a category and attach talent that will hopefully bring an audience to the finished project.
It’s getting increasingly difficult for this to happen for actors through traditional means and that's why you’re seeing YouTubers, Instagrammers, and even bloggers crossing over into the mainstream industry.
Someone with enough of an audience that can bring that influence with them to the industry could basically be handed a career on a silver platter.
I have an incredibly detailed breakdown of how you can get started on building that influence to help your own career get to the next level and I built this to help you get the ball rolling.
The full breakdown will be ready next week, but for now check out what I put together for you and get the ball rolling so you can get started on a solid foundation with what I’m bringing you next week.
See the industry has been heading towards a day of reckoning and I’ve been sounding the alarm on this for a long time.
It’s getting more and more difficult for traditional projects to get the attention they once did. Today there are so many more options for entertainment, than there were just a few short years ago.
This has caused the industry’s business models to change but actors have been really slow to change with them.
That’s where your advantage comes in. Now that you know what the industry wants and needs (talented actors that can bring attention to a project) you can begin to work on building your career in a way that fills that need for industry decision makers.
Here’s a great place to start.
I know I threw a lot at you just now and we went through a ton of high level stuff. Most actors get a headache when they start to unravel how the industry really works and never really figure out.
That’s why most of them never end up accomplishing the things they set out to accomplish.
They quickly go back to just taking another acting class or going to a workshop, but building a successful acting career takes a lot more than talent.
So, if you feel like your head is spinning a bit shoot me an email and let me know how I can help. I’m always here for you, even if you just want to bounce some ideas.
If you have the drive, then I truly want nothing more than to...
See you at the top,
Scott