How many fellow actors have you seen come into the industry with high hopes, a gung ho attitude, and all the talent in the world, only to leave the industry within a few years?
Most of them never even come close to reaching their goals.
After getting to know so many actors over all these years, I have come to realize that there is always a pattern of behavior and a chain of events that leads them to leave the industry.
Even if quitting the industry is nowhere near being on your mind, stick with me, because there 1 simple thing you can do to skyrocket your career.
If you are in a place where you are considering whether or not you made the right choice in becoming an actor, then pay close attention.
Being an actor is unlike anything else on the planet.
Once you are an actor, you are an actor forever!
There are two types of actors.
Type 1 does this as a hobby. Type 2 does this as a profession (or at least they aspire to).
Which one are you and are you behaving in accordance with the type of actor you are?
Type 1 actors will perform in community theatre productions, do the student film circuit and go to improv for years because it’s fun.
Sometimes they find themselves in an audition for a bit role or commercial ad. They tend to do tons of background work too.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this and if that describes you, more power to you!
However, if you want more out of this career…if you want to see your name lights and star in films and television shows, and leave a legacy that lasts decades if not longer, then you are likely a Type 2 actor.
Type 2 actors are professionals. They are in it for the long haul and can’t even imagine doing anything besides acting.
To be honest, most actors (nearly all of them) fall into the Type 2 category, yet so many of us leave the industry in droves everyday.
They stop acting because the life of an actor doesn’t usually turn out the way they hoped. Most of them had pretty “realistic” expectations but they where doomed from day 1.
See, everyone in the industry talks about paying your dues and will go on and on about the “struggle” of being an actor.
Because we have those expectations going into the industry, it sets us on a pattern of activity that is incredibly difficult to break out of. It seems like it’s the way things are supposed to work.
When I speak to actors that have left the industry, they talk about things like their favorite acting classes, all the times they showed up to an open call and nervously went over their 2 lines for hours, waiting to read.
They mention all the agents they sorted through, and the times they thought they were finally going to make progress only to end up in another open call, only this time they didn’t have any lines to deliver.
They only had an expression in that role and spent hours trying to get it just right.
When you feel like this is the way things are supposed to work, you don’t get an internal nudge letting you know that something is off.
Actors tend to fall into a pattern of behavior that is pretty much the road out of the industry.
They give themselves timelines to accomplish lofty goals. I’m not saying that having a timeline for your goals is a bad thing, not at all!
However, you want to be wary of a timeline that has a dramatic consequence. For example, if you tell yourself that you will be a series regular within 1 year, or you will pack it up and go home, that’s not the type of thing that you want hanging over your head.
In your mind, you have already quit the industry. You just need a good story to tell everyone else.
The actors that see long term success, knew that they were going to be an actor for the rest of their lives.
They didn’t have arbitrary goals like that. Instead they put their heads down and worked toward milestones and that is the shift you need to make if you want to be a successful professional actor.
Rather than paying your dues, work your way from one milestone to the next.
Work you way from background work, to speaking roles, to supporting roles, to featured roles.
It’s subtle, but when you approach the industry this way you are always making progress. You are either adding to your resume in your current state, or you are moving up in the industry.
Something I see actors doing constantly is attempting to do a thousand things, which means they end up accomplishing none.
The recipe for success as an actor is simple.
Making yourself visible to the industry, so they know you exist, is step 1.
I’ve developed something that makes this step incredibly easy for you. Here are the details.
Then you have to make sure that your reputation as an actor, matches your goals.
Think about it.
When you are on set, there are tons of moving pieces. Those pieces all have to move in synchronicity in order for the production to work.
If you are a new, unproven actor, it’s a big risk to cast you in a big production.
That’s why the industry developed a way to track an actors reputation. On the surface, it seems like it’s mostly about finding credits that actors have, award nominations, etc.
In reality, it is so much more. That doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface and it’s why I have dedicated several years to making sure you stand above the rest here.
Anything that moves your focus from those areas tends to be a waste of time and effort.
Of course, you still need to work on your craft.
You still have to find the right agent who believes in your talent and will go to the ends of the earth for you.
You still have to work on projects that are outside of the scope of the kind of work you want to do, but that will keep you busy and on set.
This is all completely fine, as long as your primary focus is on making progress within the industry, making yourself visible, or building your reputation as a professional actor.
Beyond that, forget everything else. Don’t edit your reel for the hundredth time, don’t redo your headshots, etc.
Just focus on what I mentioned a moment ago and everything else will fall into place and before long, I just may…
See you at the top,
Scott