It happens every year. Starting at about the second week of January, my inbox starts to flood with emails from actors with a similar question.

It may even be something that is currently running through your mind, or that at least crossed your mind over the last few months.

Actors tend to have one of two “philosophies.”

They are either the type that never quits or the type that gets discouraged when things don’t go as planned.

It goes without saying, that the second type tend to have rather short and uneventful careers.

What’s troubling and pretty unique to the industry is that the first type, the ones that never quit, tend to have longer but still uneventful and unfulfilling careers.

So, what do you do if you want to have a long and prosperous acting career?

Bear with me for a moment...

Think of 6 industry friends or contacts. Don’t “filter” them in any way just pick them at random.

Now, put them into 2 categories. In one category put the three actors that have been in the industry the longest. In the other, put the actors that haven’t been in the industry quite as long.

Then, compare their careers. What do you notice about them?

You will probably see that their careers are incredibly similar. When you look at what most actors accomplish throughout their time in the industry, you will see that most of them don't move very far past the starting point.

They tend to get stuck in their careers. Every now and then, they might catch a break, but that’s usually short lived and they quickly get back to where they started.

So, the majority of actors end up doing the same things over and over again until the day they formally decide to leave the industry.

So what makes the difference?

What makes someone go further in their acting careers and actually reach the goals they originally set out to reach?

If you want to be one of the actors that builds a long and rewarding career, instead of just spinning your wheels, this is something you should be thinking about.

Over the years I’ve realized there’s something each of them do, and surprisingly it’s not all that different from what the rest do.

This may come as a shock, but a big factor in the success that some actors experience is knowing when to say no.

Walking away from a project, or deciding not to be involved in it at all, is a truly powerful thing. You can even do this when you are first getting started as well.

When I bring this up to green actors or even to seasoned actors, I get the same puzzled responses.

Stick with me for a sec...

Imagine that you are asked to read for a role. It doesn’t matter how big or small it is. What would happen if you simply declined?

Put yourself in the Casting Director’s shoes. What would you think you asked someone to come in and read, and they simply told you they were not interested in the project?

At the top levels of the industry, this sort of thing is commonplace. For everyone else, declining even the opportunity to read is out of the ordinary.

Because bookings tend to be few and far between, actors will jump at the slightest whiff of an opportunity.

So, when you go against the grain and start to filter your opportunities, you immediately stand out.

The industry will begin to wonder why.

At first blush this can sound like a stretch but the reason this is so effective is that it's rooted in a fundamental human need: the need to know what’s going on.

Imagine that a friend walks into the room and says “you will never believe what just happened” then gets a phone call and walks right back out.

How eager would you be to find out what they were going to say?

It’s called closing a mental loop, and humans are literally wired to do it. CDs are no different. After all, they are people too.

What makes it even more powerful with them is that they are accustomed to having actors comply with their requests.

That’s where your opportunity is.

When you shift the power dynamic, and treat them as equals and peers instead of someone you want or need something from, you will immediately stick out like a sore thumb.

There’s more to it of course, we’ll dive into this a lot more in the coming weeks. Start with filtering your prospects and you will see just how powerful this can be.

It’s part of acting as if.

Everyone in the industry is well aware of what it means to “fake it ‘til you make it” but hardly anyone goes about it the right way. It’s not about simply pretending like you’re a big shot. It’s about creating the allure of someone who knows how to operate within the industry’s inner circle.

Here’s a great place to start with that.

See, when you want to move to the next level in the industry, you have to be prepared to be at the next level, before you actually get there.

A big part of that is having the industry reputation and credibility to back up your aspirations. This is why actors get stuck. They don’t stop to think about where they want to go and map out how they will actually get there.

So, they end up spinning their wheels without having a plan in place.

For example if part of what you want to accomplish in the industry is to be a respected actor, then you want to work backwards from that and ask yourself “how do I become respected as an actor?”

You would probably wind up with a list that includes working on sharpening your acting skills as well as networking and meeting industry decision makers.

All actors know that this is something they have to do but don’t really have an idea of how to go about it.

It can be as simple as being present where Casting Directors and industry decision makers are already looking.

That’s half the battle. The other half is catching their attention on favorable terms.

Even when they do find you and decide they want to see what you can bring to the table, they will still want to look into you.

I’ve seen incredible actors fail miserably at this point, because they never put effort into making sure their industry reputation was up to the standards that would be expected of them.

When you side step mistakes like that, ​you can fast track your way to success. Here’s how I can help.

Like I’ve said, we have barely scratched the surface of what it takes to be successful in the industry and we’ll get into it further over the coming weeks.

For now, do what I’ve talked about today. If you are unsure about the direction you should go, I’m always only a comment or an email away.

I’m happy to help however I can because I truly want to...

See you at the top,
Scott