Yes, there really is only one, single reason that actors are ever booked.
If you’ve been around Boost My Star for any length of time, you already know that most actors overcomplicate things by a long shot.
While there are many moving pieces that go into building your acting career, there is only one reason you will ever be booked.
It’s not just you...
The same holds true for every single actor, including world class, marquee actors.
While they can have their pick of virtually any project they want, there is still only one reason they are ever offered those opportunities.
So, if you want to build a career as a professional actor, this one factor alone could be the difference between success and disappointment.
Here’s what I mean...
Put yourself in a casting director's shoes for a minute.
You’re watching actors read, one after the other, mostly reading in a similar way and likely even dressed similarly.
Auditions are a very monotonous process for CDs and something different will always make them perk up, pay attention, and want to see more.
That’s what you have to bring to the table, if you want to get booked.
You have to stand out and differentiate yourself from everyone else reading for the same role.
Think about it from the casting director’s perspective. If you are seeing 100 actors, most of which are talented enough to pull off the role, but they all sort of blend together, how would you even start to determine who to move forward with?
You have to make things easy on them, if you want to have a real shot at getting booked.
While we’re talking about it in industry-specific terms, the same is true in anything you do. Humans are wired to look for the differences in situations.
It’s an evolutionary leftover that we haven’t overcome yet. Things that are different could pose a threat to our survival so our ancestors honed the ability to immediately spot differences.
A slightly different looking shadow, could be a bear waiting to strike.
Things aren’t typically that much of a life or death situation in our modern, day to day lives but that deeply rooted human nature remains.
That’s what most actors don’t understand.
Instead of focusing on developing something unique they can bring to the table in an audition, they go around doing a hundred different things hoping that one of them will work out.
That scatterbrained approach is a recipe for career disaster. We’ll come back to that in a bit...
The fact of the matter is that, everyone else is also doing a hundred different things in the hopes that something works or catches a CD’s attention in some way.
And, I want to be clear on something...
I’m not saying that some of those hundred things don’t work. In fact, I share the most impactful ones with you on a regular basis.
However, none of it works if you don’t have something unique to leverage and it has to be something that stops a CD in their tracks and makes them take a closer look.
So what are some unique things you can leverage in an audition situation that would make a CD want to see more of you.
There are several.
Some are more difficult to accomplish than others and unfortunately, most actors focus on the most difficult one of all...
Talent!
You can be so incredibly talented that you knock a Casting Director’s socks off and they immediately get on the phone and notify the studio they filled the role, before you even leave the room.
That’s Meryll Streep level talent.
I’m not saying you’re not at that level, but think of it this way. How are you going to adequately show that over the course of a couple minutes?
You can’t and that’s what makes talent the most difficult unique factor to leverage. There are just too many uncertainties.
You might have a phenomenal audition, based on the scene and the sides you were given, but your read on the character might be different than what production has in mind.
You can’t control that. It will happen, it has probably already happened to you, and it will happen again. That’s just the nature of the industry.
Another unique factor you can leverage is attention. This one is extremely powerful and while it’s easier to accomplish, it takes a lot of work and it’s not something you can start doing today and see big results immediately.
The way casting looks at is, if you are talented enough to pull off the role, and you also have the attention of a large following there’s no reason not to book you.
Building up that following to a point where it becomes a factor you can leverage will take time and a lot of work.
But, there is another factor you can leverage in the meantime.
I created it in such a way that it gives you results incredibly fast so you can catch the attention of Casting Directors in a place where they are already looking for talent.
If you build a large following of let’s say 1 million engaged, active followers, and you have refineed your talent to a professional level there’s not a casting director that wouldn’t want to see you.
Above all else, the studio wants to sell tickets or get people to tune in to whatever project they’re working on. A large following has the potential to mean a lot of ticket sales or a lot of people tuning in.
An IMDb that is well ranked accomplishes a very similar thing to a large following, because an actor that ranks well on IMDb, is an actor that people want to see more of. Here’s how I can help you with that.
So, step back into a Casting Director’s shoes for a moment...
If you were to see an actor that had a terrific audition, and based on their STARmeter, you determine they’re someone people want to see more of, would you move forward with them?
Think of it the other way around.
Why wouldn’t you move forward with that actor? That’s why I built this...
Are there other ways to build your career? Of course, but I’m dedicated to bringing you only the most powerful strategies that are working right now.
I know we went over some stuff today that goes against what most actors have been told, so if you have any trouble sorting it out or even if you just want bounce ideas, shoot me an email or leave a comment below.
I’ll always read and respond and I’m happy to help however I can because I truly want to...
See you at the top,
Scott