Have you ever stopped to think about what makes the difference between successful actors and everyone else?
If you were to ask 100 of your industry friends this question, you would probably get 101 different answers.
The industry is a fast moving machine with many different parts, so there is no 1 way to become successful as an actor. On top of that, most actors only focus on one part of the industry and ignore the rest.
If you have been around Boost My Star for any length of time, you know that I’m a big proponent of running in the opposite direction of the crowd because doing what everyone else does will get you the same results as everyone else.
So if what you want is to become a successful actor, you have to do things differently.
Most actors are right on the edge of making huge career progress and sending their careers skyrocketing.
If you want to be one of the few that actually makes it, here’s where to start...
It all comes down to efficiency. If you do things twice as fast and twice as effective, then you are likely to succeed twice as fast.
A big part of that is building on your successes. That’s not just about turning one role into 2, then 3 or 4. That requires more than just talent.
We’ll get to that in a bit...
Recently, we talked about why being afraid of being typecast early in your career could be a big mistake.
There comes a time when it does make sense to diversify your character types, but it comes much, much later than most actors realize.
That’s why truly great actors get there by building on truly great characters. That happens when your characters are related to one another in some way.
So, when you are finished with a project, you can’t simply break up with a character. You have to keep them around. Here’s what I mean...
You should always carry a little piece of every character with you.
Otherwise, you are starting from scratch every time. If you think about it, that's kind of crazy. Try to think of anything else where you start over from square one every time. Do you go through driver’s ed every time you get behind the wheel of a car?
Of course not. You build on the experiences for every other time you were behind the wheel.
Do you sign up for a new membership and redo your macros every time you hit the gym? No, you simply pick up where you left off. You create a workout mix based on everything you have learned and do your sets.
Starting over is a huge waste of time, yet actors do this in their profession everyday. Instead of starting over, think about every character you have ever played.
Sit down and write them out. Then, think of their major character traits and their backstories. Pull together their similarities and you will find that most of them inadvertently have something in common.
Why?
Because you are particularly good at something and that “something” is the reason you were cast in those roles.
That’s your X factor and it gives you an almost unfair advantage when you are competing for the role with other actors.
If you are kind of new to the industry and you are lacking a body of work to look to, then you can do the same with some of your favorite actors.
Watch a few of their films and do the same exercise
Study their characters and see what traits they carry from one project to the next. Jennifer Aniston has a long list of character traits that move with her from one project to the next and when anything that is even remotely in her area of specialty goes into development, she is the only logical choice.
That’s the beauty in specializing in a certain category!
Even as actors do branch out and change the types of projects they undertake and the character’s they play, you will still find many of the same traits present in characters that are extremely different.
Meryl Streep has a very unique way incorporating a handful of very powerful traits, and she uses them across a variety of genres.
As you work to lock in your initial category, a good actor to study would be Jennifer Aniston. As you progress in your career and diversify, it’s worth doing a deep dive on Meryl Streep’s approach.
There is a caveat! This only matters if you have characters to build. If you don't have enough opportunities coming your way, even in these crazy times, you have to also put some focus into creating them.
Here’s a great place to start and position yourself to be highly visible industry decision makers.
Something else that may be impacting your booking ratio is your industry reputation. Take an honest look and ask yourself whether your reputation matches your goals.
An extensive body of work can fill in the gaps but if you are lacking in that as well, then you are playing catch up from the start.
To build a great career, you have to give yourself every advantage possible to succeed.
Instead of playing catchup, you could be giving yourself a head start. You could be the one with a reputation that precedes you and that Casting Directors are excited to see.
Regardless of where you are in your career, let me know how I can help.
I’m always only a comment or an email away and I love hearing about big wins. I hope to hear from you soon because I would truly love to...
See you at the top,
Scott