I don’t know about you but the scariest thing I saw this Halloween season wasn't a ghost, a goblin, or any of the countless other costumes and decorations that marked the season.
It was actually an email that came from an actor struggling to make any kind of career progress.
She wrote to me a few days ago, lamenting about how she’s been in LA for almost 6 years but hasn’t really been able to do anything with her career.
She’s booked a few gigs as an extra and her biggest accomplishment so far has been as “barista” on a Showtime series, where she excitedly handed a cup of coffee to the series’ leading character.
What made this email cross the line into being “scary” was just how much her struggle is just like everyone else’s.
Making it in the industry and becoming a professional actor takes a lot of hard work and dedication but that’s not the only thing that leads to success.
There’s a 3rd factor that almost everyone ignores, but if you want to make acting your career and become a true professional, this is something you have to do...
“Look at what everyone else is doing and do the opposite. That will give you the best chance of success...”
I forgot who I heard this from but when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. If you do what everyone else does, you can expect to get the same results everyone else gets.
So, let’s look at how everyone else tries to build their acting career.
For starters there’s never really a plan. Most actors will simply go on audition after audition waiting for something big to fall in their lap.
When things don’t go as planned, they typically think it has something to do with their agent and they start looking for a new one.
Most actors repeat this cycle every couple of years, until they eventually leave the industry before having made any kind of meaningful progress towards their goals.
The problem is that the industry has changed and most actors are still following the same outdated advice on strategies that don’t really work anymore.
See, if you google “how to become an actor” you will find a lot of bad information.
Most actors I speak to kind of know that on some level so it doesn’t take them very long to look elsewhere.
That’s the other part of the problem because they typically turn to their agent and they are usually working with reps that are also getting most in the shuffle with their own career.
It’s really a tough situation because the upper levels of the industry are made up of a tight knit community and getting your foot in the door is incredibly difficult.
So without access to what’s working at the top levels, it leaves everyone else working with the same information. It's like the blind leading each other
The good news is that people at those top levels of the industry are always on the hunt for the next big thing. So even though they closely guard who they let in their circles, they do want to let others in.
They just want to be sure that you are serious about your acting career first. We’ll come back to how you can do that in a bit...
Something I’ve discovered over the years is that not everybody wants to make it to those top levels of the industry.
In fact, the majority of the actors I’ve spoken to just want to be able to go full time in their acting career so they can do what they love. Fame and fortune are almost always secondary to their passion.
Regardless of what you want to accomplish in the industry you have to come up with a plan and work it.
Here’s how...
The very first thing you have to do is decide what you want to accomplish in your career. Before you start looking for an agent, getting your headshot, and even before enrolling in acting classes you have to get really clear about what you want to accomplish.
Like I said, some actors are in it for fame and fortune. Others are in it for the art and passion, and those are two very different career paths.
Whichever way you are leaning is ok, just be clear about what you are after because you can’t accomplish a goal that isn’t clearly defined.
Once you know what you want from your acting career, then you can start to work backwards. Plan out the different milestones that will lead to eventually reaching your goal.
Then, you can break down those milestones into a step by step plan so you always know what to work on.
So, instead of enrolling in an acting class just because it sounds like a good one you can enroll in one that is targeted towards your goals.
If you want to do art house type of projects, then getting your headshots done by a photographer that does “glamour” type of work would be a waste of time, since it wouldn’t match the projects you are after.
See how that level of detailed planning is a lot different from just going on auditions, and hoping something good comes along so you can “be discovered?”
When you start planning your career in this way, you take back control of your destiny. I know it sounds like a grand way of thinking but that is what happens.
Put together a plan of action and let your goals guide you. Start with the end in mind and you will always have a clear vision of exactly where you want to get to.
Of course, there will be details and things you will have to figure out along the way so you might want to revisit your plan from time to time.
Even your end goal might change. If your ultimate goal was to go full time with your acting career and you accomplish that, then your new goal might be to go for an award.
Regardless of what you want to accomplish in the industry, you have to show casting directors and decision makers that you’re serious about your acting career.
Otherwise you might always struggle to make career progress, just like the countless other actors who don’t put any thought into how they want their acting career to turn out.
That’s one of the building blocks of the industry.
Everyone wants to work with a rising star, but no one (at least no one who’s in a position to help your acting career) will be eager to work with someone who is just acting as a hobby.
There are several ways you can get on their radar. We’ll go over those another time. For now, all you really need to do is make sure that you are visible where casting directors and decision makers are already looking.
The way that most actors try to go about that makes it a long and complicated process.
Like I said, we’ll get into the details another time, but if you would rather not make things more difficult than they have to be, I built this to help you shortcut your success.
As you start mapping out your career, you might have some questions come up.
Don’t ever hesitate to reach out. Leave a comment below or shoot me an email, even if you just want to bounce ideas. I’ll help however I can because I truly want to...
See you at the top,
Scott