Do you have predictability in your acting career, or are you just kind of winging it from day to day?

Answer that questions honestly.

Nearly every actor I have ever met, is winging it, so don’t worry!

If that’s you too, it is not your fault!

There are not many people in the industry that actually have a clue about what is working right now, to make it as an actor.

This leaves us piecing together, random bits of information and advice which, well intended as it may be, is usually coming from colleagues that are in the same position as we are.

That’s why I created Boost My Star and pledged to make it all about the side of making it in the industry that no one else dares talk about.

For example, there’s a source of acting work that all of us have access to, but very few actors actually use it. Some of those that have used it have gone so far as to call it a treasure trove of acting work.

If you want to be a working a lot more than you currently are, let’s get real for a bit...

Not 1 actor in 1,000 works as often as they would like to. It’s actually not uncommon to go through a marathon of auditions during pilot season and then not book a single audition for months after that.

The truth is, whether you are self represented or if you have an agent, you should be going on auditions and booking jobs predictably and most importantly, consistently.

What drives more actors out of the industry than anything else, is not being able to book enough meaningful work.

If you want to have a long and prosperous career, you should never be without something to do that is related to your acting career, so that you always have plenty of work to choose from.

After all, that’s what it means to be a full time, working actor, right?

Getting to that point can be the hardest part for most of us, but it doesn’t have to be, and if you search hard enough there will always be a reason to justify why it may not be happening.

For example, we’re coming to the end of summer. The chatter I’ve heard around town has been“everyone’s on vacation” or “pilot season was intense this year, everyone is still recovering.”

If predictability and consistency is what’s needed in your career, the question then becomes about how to achieve that.

For starters, you have to quite the noise about everyone being on vacation, or about it being the holiday season. Someone in the industry is always doing something, and often the best times to land on their radar are when everyone else has checked out.

This is one big reason why doing things consistently is so important.

Because of all the distractions around today, it takes about 8 times for someone to register seeing something, before it officially lands on their radar.

So, if you (or your agent) are only submitting for projects one time...how likely is that you are going to be seen?

Here’s a ninja tactic: submit for projects multiple times.

Granted, it won’t be appropriate for you to do this every time and you will need to use judgement and discretion.

When you really want to be called in for a project, don’t be afraid to do this. There is usually a window of time during which the casting office will be accepting submissions. You should submit at least once early on, and then again towards the end.

Ideally, you would also submit somewhere in the middle.

At worst, you get put in the “no thanks” pile a couple times but even so, your materials will have been reviewed 2 or more times. That’s a dream come true, in any scenario!

Trust me you will never get a cease and desist notice.

You should also be submitting to projects that haven’t yet begun casting.

Why?

Because, no one else is doing it, even though this is what top tier agents do: they find projects for their talent rather than waiting for the projects to find them.

The key is that you don’t just send in your materials in the same way you normally would. You have to get creative. For example, send the CD a bouquet of balloons with your materials attached along with a letter about why should be called to read for the project.

You could even have a friend deliver it.
A friend of mine put together a holiday caroling quartet one year and “delivered” it to a CD. See, no one in their right mind turns away a singing quartet.

They were promptly allowed to go right into the CDs office and deliver their performance. The entire casting office came in to watch them perform, because that’s what happens when a singing quartet comes into your workplace.

They opened with a traditional song, and about a third of the way into the song, “remixed” the lyrics into being about them as actors and why they would each be perfect for the production.

Long story short, they were not called to read for that project. However, the CD was so taken with them, their creativity, and their boldness that she got them featured on a 30 minute, primetime sitcom as a group.

It wasn’t even a project of hers, but she knew of it and called the casting office to get them in.

From then on, she practically went out of her way to help move their careers forward. She insisted they were called into to read for everything she worked on and she even opened doors for them through other casting offices.

A major factor that encouraged her to do this was that the actors all had incredible industry reputations that reflected they were serious about being working actors and not just hobbyists.

That’s the same reason the insanely small percentage of actors who tap into the “secret” treasure trove of acting jobs, send their careers skyrocketing.

This source is available to everyone but almost no one uses it, even though it is absolutely the best way to get another acting job. All you have to do is leverage your last one.

Casting Directors are just like us. When they wrap a project, they go on to the next one, so maintain that relationship. That’s the treasure trove!

Send them a thank you note for giving you the opportunity, after production wraps. Casting is grueling work and it’s very much a thankless job, so you will immediately land on their radar as someone worth keeping on file (more on this next time).

Even if you don’t hear back from them, trust me, you will have made an impact.

Connect with them on social media, especially if you have a base of followers that is growing and dedicated to you. Here’s how I can help you get the ball rolling on social media too.

Contact the CDs periodically too. Holidays and Birthdays are excellent times to reach out, without being too forward.

My incredible acting teacher said to all of his students “you can make excuses like everyone does, or you can have the results they don’t even dare to imagine.” That requires you to do things no one else does.

Use at least one thing you learned here and your career will change forever.

Just be sure that your industry reputation matches your goals. It’s a big factor in casting decisions for a reason.

Remember, Boost My Star is about the side of the industry no one else talks about because everyone in

the industry is busy doing the things that everyone else in the industry does.

Don’t fall into that cycle, and don’t let this become one of those things that you intended to do but never got around to.

Choose one thing to do right now and do it immediately.

Let me know what it is in the comments below or send me an email. I read and respond to every one that comes in and I’m happy to help in any way I can because my goal is to...

See you at the top,
Scott