Dear grasshopper, many of our tribe members experienced a world-view shifting “aha” moment when I mentioned that you have to be in the “You Business.”
Here’s what I mean. You’re not actor, you’re a product. This is the way the industry sees you, and since they make the decisions on whether or not you are a working actor, it’s best that you start looking at things from their perspective.
When you do this you open your mind to all kinds of things, that you would have otherwise been blind to. When you think of a successful product, in any market, what made it succeed was that it filled a market need by solving a problem. This is true from food products, to cars, and yes even actors.
So if you are a product, and all successful products fill a market need and solve problems, wouldn’t it make sense that you consider what problem you’re solving.
You have to solve a problem the industry has and fill a need in the market if you want to be successful in the industry. You do this by being different. If you look around an audition room and fit right in, you’re in big trouble.
This is why child actors tend to go from 0 to 100. Yes, the Disney machine is a wonderful thing but the real reason that they can take off like wildfire is that “tweens” who can act well, fill a market need that always exists.
So, what market need are you filling?