Even if you’ve been living under a rock for the last few months, chances are you’re still aware of what’s been going on in town lately.

It’s been months since the industry has been on set. Most actors think of it as being shut down, even though it hasn’t stopped moving.

Things are just being done a little bit differently now, and many actors have been able to make huge career moves during this time.

More on that in a bit..

When you look below the surface you can see that projects are being greenlit. Agents are still signing new talent and scripts are soaring through development.

However, productions are still on hold. Even though restrictions have been lifted, shooting hasn’t really resumed yet.

This year has been a rollercoaster so far but there are still tons of opportunities. I’ve said it over and over again: opportunity is born through chaos.

So many actors have been worrying about what will happen with this over and what the industry will be like.That’s the wrong mindset to have right now..

Things are going to be different but as with most things in life, the only constant is change. If you want to come out of this with your career set on the right footing and be ready to set your career skyrocketing, you can’t try to dodge the wave of change.

You have to be prepared for it and brace for what’s coming.

If you do just a few things right, this time could be but a tiny blip on a long and fulfilling acting career.

Here’s what to do right now...

First thing’s first: don’t stop moving forward.

Creativity is like a muscle. You have to stay active and continue working on that muscle, even when acting classes and productions aren’t in session.

If you have ever tried to get fit and build muscle, you know that months of hour long gym sessions can be ruined by just a weeklong vacation without pumping iron.

The race to the bottom (so to speak) is always much, much faster than the climb towards the top.

There will always be less resistance with going backwards in anything because it’s easier to destroy something than it is to build it.

For example, a tree can take decades to reach its full potential but it can be cut down in minutes.

So, you can’t let yourself get rusty. You can’t let yourself get stuck in the routine of Netflix binging. Continue working on your skill set and you will find yourself ready for the opportunities when they come.

It’s easy to sit and wait to see what will happen before you make a move, but remember the industry has continued to move forward.

Casting Directors are reviewing self tapes like never before. That was a trend that was gaining in popularity but now it has completely taken over.

The industry is about to go through a period of unprecedented changes, not because it wants to but because it has to.

For example, movie theatres in California are shut down again. Let’s be honest, they’ve been shut down in most parts of the world for months and there’s not a clear timeline for that ending.

This has led to the studios taking drastic measures like skipping the box office altogether. This would have never happened during a normal period of industry activity (at last not for a long, long time from now).

All in all it’s turned out to be a really great move and they are actually generating more revenue than what was projected for the box office releases.

So what does that mean for the future of the industry? Most of that is a subject for another time. What’s important for now is to note that the center of power when it comes to distribution is shifting, fast and in a big, big way.

Most people want things to stay the same and just go back to before this all happened. Actors are no different.

I literally can’t count how many actors I’ve communicated over the last few weeks, all of whom were asking “when will things go back to the way they were?”

If you want things to go back to the way they were, you might as well hang up your “acting shoes.”

Irreversible change has come to the industry.

Some of it will be temporary.

Some of it is here to stay.

Some is a stepping stone. For example, take the tidal wave of self taping that washed through the industry recently.

Today, and for the foreseeable future, this is going to be the predominant form of auditioning and it is the first moving piece in a much larger trend.

It’s a trend that involves front loading the casting process with technology.

Stick with me for a second because if you’re not thinking about what that means for your future as an actor, you will soon find yourself unprepared.

What has enabled self taping to become so prominent so quickly, has actually existed for a long time.

It’s something that industry decision makers have been working to bring around, but the industry has remained stuck in its old ways.

It’s part of wanting things to remain the same.
The greater trend that self taping is a part of is making the casting process more efficient.

Casting departments have been using technology in one way or another to make or support casting decisions for some time, but it’s been haphazard at best.

Now, everyone has to be on the same page to keep the wheels of the industry turning.

That forced adaptation of a new system is exactly what the industry needed to force decades of change in just a matter of weeks.

The same is true for the rest of the casting process.

From discovering new talent to deciding on what actors will be better received by audiences, things like artificial intelligence will become incredibly important and a central focus in casting offices throughout every level of the industry.

Some of this is already in place in the upper levels of the industry and it is trickling down to the rest of it.

They are taking into account your social media presence and they are even able to model the trajectory of your career using several points of reference.

At the end of the day, a movie, TV show, or even a commercial is a form of artistic expression to an actor.

To studio or the network producing it, it’s an investment and they are developing all kinds of tools to make sure that investment doesn’t go to waste.

One of their chief areas of focus directly affects you and your acting career, because it’s all about the casting process.

Have you ever watched something and thought to yourself that one of the actors was born to play that role.

For example, try and imagine The Office without Steve Carrell as Michael Scott or Modern Family without Ty Burrel.

It doesn’t work and industry decision makers are doing everything they can to replicate the “magic” every time and they want to get it right from start.

That’s why it’s more important than ever that you are on their radar. Here’s how I can help.

The truth is that if you don’t have things like this in place, it will get increasingly more difficult to make progress in the industry.

Being “discovered” and getting your “big break” has taken on an entirely new meaning during this time, since the ways of “being discovered” are completely different now.

During the casting process you are being evaluated in ways and through channels most actors never think of. Here’s one of them.

I know it’s a lot to take in and we’ll go over the most important things in more detail soon. Let’s keep things simple for now...

If you want to be one of the few actors we’ve been talking about over the last few weeks, the actors that come seemingly out of nowhere and skyrocket overnight, then you have to be focused on where the industry is going.

Few actors thought about Amazon getting into the entertainment business. Even after they bought IMDb, most people didn’t get it.

I’ve been sounding the alarm on this for a long time and next week we’ll go into how it is all coming together now and how to position yourself to make huge progress quickly.

We’ll get into the mechanics and put together a step by step game plan as we go along but there are a couple things you need to have in place, before we get to that.

The first is an understanding of exactly what’s going on in the industry right now and how you fit into it. The second is here.

It’s all meant to get you going on a solid foundation, regardless of where you are in your career.

It can either help you get a boost to the next level, or it can get you started on the right foot.

Either way, it’s the logical next step and I put it together for you because I truly want to...

See you at the top,
Scott