The most successful actors have passed on more acting jobs than they’ve taken. That’s kind of a given, because everyone wants to work with them...

Or is that really the whole story?
What if I told you that passing on jobs was one of their secrets to success.

For many of the most successful actors, passing on opportunities is what helped them build their career.

I know it sounds strange but if it didn’t work, they wouldn’t do it and the biggest agencies wouldn’t use this to help their clients either.

So why is this something you don’t hear much about? Everyone likes to talk about who passed on what and how those projects went on to be huge successes.

That’s kind of the problem...

If you want to build a successful acting career you have to be willing to do the opposite of what everyone else does.

Why?
Because if you do what everyone else does, you’re likely to end up where they end up.

Successful actors do things differently and if you want to be a successful actor too, you have to know when it’s time to stray from the norm.

It can be the best career move you ever make, if you do it right. Here’s where to start...

I’m assuming you decided to become a professional actor because you actually want to be on set, so passing on projects probably sounds a little bit weird.

I do want to be clear, if you pass on everything you won’t get anywhere. Passing on the right things, and being selective about the projects you do work on is what will make the difference.

That means you have to narrow your focus. Most actors go after anything and everything because they want to spend as much time on set as possible.

The thing is, if you look at a successful actor’s career you will see that, at one point or another, they were narrowly focused on a particular category or genre.

They did this while passing on just about everything else that wasn’t in that category. Here’s why this is so powerful...

When you focus on a particular type of project, you get to know the other industry people that also specialize in your same category and create meaningful connections, since you get to work with them over and over again.

When you do what most actors do, go after anything and everything, you don’t have that same benefit because you almost never work with the same people again.

Last week we talked about how casting directors don’t like to start from scratch every time they build a cast.

Instead, they first reach out to actors they know and have worked with in the past, and actors that have extensive experience in the type of role they are casting.

So, if you’re not already on their radar you're typically left reading only for what’s left over.

That’s a major reason that so many actors struggle to make any kind of meaningful career progress.

It’s almost like starting your career over from scratch every single day. So what should you do instead?

Pick a category and put all of your efforts into it. Ignore everything that doesn’t fall into that category.

When some actors start down this path, they pick a category randomly and that usually doesn’t work out very well.

Instead look at the kind of projects you’ve already done. Which projects helped you make the most career progress? Which ones do you think back on and feel most proud about? Above all, which characters did you enjoy the most?

When I speak about this with other actors, they tend to think that they will end up being typecast and only playing the same kind of role for the rest of their career.

While you will spend some time in that character type, you won’t be stuck with it forever.

Moving from one category to the next is something successful actors do all the time. We’ll get into that another time, but it is simple to do. It just takes a little bit of planning.

Some actors get bored quickly and that’s why it’s important that you choose a category that you actually enjoy.

Have a conversation with your agent and let them know what direction you want to go with your career.

Be prepared for them to try to persuade you to keep doing what you’ve been doing. Most agents will want to keep sending you out for anything and everything because that gives you more chances to book.

The problem with that thinking is that, if you go on 20 auditions and book 1 job, that's a lot of time that you could have spent doing other things to help move your career forward.

However, when you focus your efforts and stick to a particular category, you will go on fewer auditions but your booking ratio could be a lot higher.

When you pick your category correctly, you will find yourself reading for things that you are a terrific fit for, not just anything and everything.

So if you go on 5 auditions and book 1 job, that's a lot of time that you can devote to other things that will help you grow in your career.

Doing less and booking more will always work out in your favor.

It all starts with narrowing your focus and choosing the direction you want your career to go in. Whatever you decide, stick with it for at least 6 months.

By then, you should be making enough progress to stay the course or you might decide that things aren’t working out and it’s time to switch things up again.

If your booking ratio isn’t improving there could be other factors involved. Whatever category you choose, casting will look into you before so you have to make sure that your reputation is always in top shape.

That’s one of the most common factors. We’ll get into the others next week. For now, get started on what we talked about today.

Sit down and really think about what direction you want your career to go in. Talk with your agent about it and let them know what you decide, then move forward and go all in on it.

Remember, you won’t be stuck in that one category forever .As you get more involved in it, you might find that it's time to build a team around you that can help you take your career to the next level.

Remember, I’ll always be in your corner and I’m happy to support you however I can. Here’s a great place for us to start.

Start looking for other people you can trust. You don’t have to bring anyone else on your team just yet, but you want to have the right people around you when the time comes.

Put the pieces in place now, so you don’t get caught off guard because things can move really fast, when you get your career on the right track.

Of course nothing happens if the industry doesn’t know you. For most actors, this is an afterthought but successful actors are constantly making themselves highly visible to industry decision makers in places where they are already looking. I built this to help.

So what category do you plan on specializing in? Do you kind of have an idea, but you’re not really sure whether it's the best path?

Let me know in the comments below or shoot me an email. I’m happy to help you get on the right track because I truly want to...

See you at the top,
Scott