Holiday Special Report

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! 

For the last several years, my “holiday tradition” has consisted of binging on trashy TV. 

By the way that’s more a term of endearment than it is derogatory. Obviously, I think the shows have merit, or I wouldn’t spend days on end watching them. In fact, the story arc is absolutely incredible on most of these shows, and they have cliffhangers down to a science. 

Anyway, it wasn’t very long after I started my annual binge that I noticed the trend that is going to hit the industry really soon. It’s actually already underway and still concentrated at the very top levels, but it’s about to go mainstream. 

Here’s where you come in…

Earlier this year, I told you that the big networks were at risk and that moves were being made by tech companies to acquire them. 

What happened then? Facebook launched its streaming service. This is seen as a precursor to an acquisition, as FB is moving to take market share and devalue the studios prior to bidding. 

Stick with me for a sec, it’s about to hit home but you need to have some context… 

Fast forward and Disney’s acquisition of Fox was just announced a few days ago. 

Here’s why that matters. 

This move is solely intended to give Disney control over content, and to give it access to content that is made specifically for online distribution. This will put them in direct competition with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and the other streaming providers. 

We know the future of TV and films is online, right? 

In case you didn’t notice this year, AMC (the movie theatre chain) launched a desperate and ambitious multibillion dollar project to renovate their theatres with plush recliners, more privacy, and a few other amenities. 

At the same time, the box office had one of its worst years on record, because more and more people are choosing to stay home and stream the movie when it’s available. 

Earlier this year, I also told you that Gary Vaynerchuck, social media engineer to the stars and the Fortune 500, declared that soon “the networks” would no longer be ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX. Instead they would be Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube. 

During my binge I noticed that the D-level quasi celebrities I was watching were being used all over the place to promote new shows, new films, and new products. 

They were engaging in “influencer marketing.” More on that in a bit. 

I did some quick digging, because this is huge. I found that one of the shows had a viewership of around 500,000 pretty consistently. 

Not bad at all. 

Yet, the main cast of that show had over 10 million followers on Instagram alone! 

Most of their posts received more views and more attention than the shows they’re on. 

Wrap your mind around that for a minute. 

Which came first the chicken or the egg? The TV show or the followers? 

Remember the “Cash me ousside how ‘bout dat” girl? Her memes and parodies of her penetrated every corner of the industry and the internet. 

On average the show she was a guest on, Dr. Phil, will get around 3 Million viewers. Danielle Bregoli, his guest on 1 episode, however has nearly 12 million followers on Instagram alone. 

She has also, apparently launched what turned out to be a surprisingly successful music career. 

You know what’s next? 

Let’s just say she’s been seen around Hollywood a lot lately, and has been on the lot. 

Here’s why this is important to you. 

To be successful in the industry it takes more than talent alone. You used to have to know someone. 

Today you have to be someone. 

The shortcut for that is here.

The people that are crossing over from online platforms and being granted opportunities that they may or may not be ready for, are quickly shrinking the pool of projects available to actors who earned it. 

You may not see it, but we’re in a revolution of sorts. 

The studios and networks are losing big time to online content and they haven’t figured out how to make the business model of streaming content work for them. 

That’s why you see them turning to the proven business model of influencer marketing. See, they know that if someone with 1 million followers gets put on a show a good chunk of those followers will watch the show. 

It’s logical. 

What it has evolved to from there has taken the influencer model from social media, where influencers (people with a lot followers) are sought out for product promos. 

They’re not just using these D-listers (BTW use that term lightly, as they are quickly becoming the new A listers) for commercials, that’s too obvious. 

When you see the cast of Vanderpump rules pouring beers into Yeti travel mugs and talking about how it keeps the drink ice cold all day, even during hot LA summers, that’s influencer marketing. When the same cast does a Christmas themed a cappella video that randomly plays after the cliffhanger and promotes Pitch Perfect 3, that’s influencer marketing and an implied endorsement to go see it. 

Make sense? 

The part that impacts you and your career is that the next evolution to take place (or pick up steam since it’s clearly underway) is for them to actually be cast in the movie. 

Remember this is a revolution in a sense and you can’t sit idly by. If you’re not doing anything different, then you’re moving backwards. 

You need to counterstrike (professionally-be cool!) and the great part is…it’s simple. 

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that all you need to do is build a great social media following to be in the conversation. 

To eliminate those I referred to as the D-listers from the competition you just need to have a stellar industry reputation. Here’s where to get that.

You then become a triple threat with your Marketability, Reputation, and Talent. They won’t be able to compete with you, because it’s not what they do. They are castable for bit parts.

Think Kim Kardashian in Disaster Movie. You on the other hand are an actor and that opens up the entire world.

So, as I reach from a half empty bag of Cheetos and my remote, bravely pushing through the self-inflicted heartburn LOL, I leave you with this to think about grasshopper… 

“Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed.” -Wayne Dyer. 

In regard to your career, will you keep rehearsing or play full out? If you’re thinking that one day you will get to the social media thing, or that you will work on your reputation once you have more credits to work with, or that you will meet the right people when the time is right, then you’re destined to stay in rehearsal mode. 

As for me and the tribe, we’ll be playing full out. As if each line is our last. 

I hope you have a magical holiday season, and I hope to… 

See you at the top, 
Scott 

P.S. If Santa didn’t bring you a great new role to play, then go hear to stuff your own stocking.

Next year you will be another year older…

Next year you will be another year older…What will be different? 

It’s a question that one of my mentors asks constantly. So many of us leave for tomorrow, the things that we should have done yesterday. 

Most people see this time of year, as a time of new beginnings and possibilities. 

Here’s a reality check that I got the hard way… 

All that jazz: the new year resolutions and the whole “2018 is my year” mentality is little more than a pacifier. 

It’s how those that have not accomplished all they wanted to this year, can brush their shortcoming aside and “recommit” (stage cough) to do “better” next year. 

Soon after I got serious about my career, I met someone that taught me an exercise that has made a big difference in my life and I’m sure it will make a big difference in yours too. 

Instead of patting myself on the back this time of year, I face the facts. I don’t revel in the accomplishments, I take stock of everything I didn’t do. I build a vision of what could have been and take a real account of how far I am from that vision. 

Since I started doing this, with each passing year, I build a bigger vision and I get progressively closer to achieving it. 

That’s not to say that I beat myself up about things. Not at all. I just face the facts. This allows me to reassess whether it’s something I really wanted to do, or whether I just made excuses for not getting it done. 

For example, I told myself that this was my year to become a bestselling author, but I didn’t get my book done. 

In fact, let’s just say I came up with a really snazzy title and table of contents. 

But, it turns out, I didn’t really want to write the book after all. I enjoy these short bursts and releasing my strategies to you in this format because the industry is so dynamic. I love it and I really don’t want to change that at this point. 

So, was it a fail in not getting it done? No, I just took a creative turn in a different direction. 

This is what top performers do: they use “failure” as a springboard to success. So, now instead of renewing my commitment to getting my book done in 2018, I have instead decided to double down on what I enjoy most: my weekly releases. 

The way you can do this, is first take stock of where you are in your career and compare it to where you wanted to be. 

Then be honest with yourself about why you didn’t hit that target. Did you have a goal to land a supporting role in a studio feature? If you didn’t hit that goal, was it an activity problem? 

Did you spend more time on Netflix than on auditions? Did you go on 100 auditions and not get any meaningful bookings? That would mean you have to up your skill set, or marketability, not just go on more auditions. 

This exercise forces you to diagnose that and come up with a plan to overcome it, rather than just arbitrarily setting a lofty feel-good goal that is in, reality little more than a dream. 

If you really want your career to take off, then try doing this at the end of every month. You will then be correcting your strategy and reassessing your goals 12X. This is what the elite do. 

They tend to do it subconsciously, so imagine the possibilities if you were to do this on purpose. 

This exercise and the clarity it brings will help you develop a work ethic that it is unparalleled. Couple that with a killer brand that leverages social media and is backed up by a stellar industry reputation and the world is yours.

As we call this year a wrap, I wanted to go over the strategy that was responsible for more success in the tribe than probably everything else combined. 

It’s the concept of being a business. 

Remember the industry is Show-Business, yet nearly all actors ignore the business part. 

Here’s what I mean. You’re not an actor, you’re a product. This is the way the industry sees you, and it’s largely the reason that you will either be cast or passed over 

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 for food products, cars, and 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. 

Contrary to what everyone will tell you, you should never be in an audition room where you fit right in. 

So, what market need are you filling? 

If you can’t come up with an answer to that, then you’re in big trouble. 

I’ve talked about Awkwafina a few times this year. She’s the Asian female rapper costarring in the upcoming Ocean’s 8, alongside a star-studded cast. This is a great example of a differentiator and unique angle. 

Pitbull was one of the first guys to rap in a finely tailored suit, instead of Nike’s and a white T-Shirt that could pass for a parachute, and he rode that wave to become a worldwide phenomenon. 

Kristin Bell’s career skyrocketed when she positioned herself as the only 20 something in the industry that could play a mature, 16 year old convincingly. 

Here’s a good way to come up with your unique angle. Take out a notepad and list all of the special skills you have or skills that you can acquire. 

Can you play guitar and do you have a knack for doing comedic song parodies? This was a big part of launching Adam Sandler. 

Did you do Karate as a kid? Brushing up on your moves might also give you a great differentiator. Piper Perabo used this angle to resurrect her career with the hit show, Covert Affairs. 

Once you figure out what your unique angle will be, then you have to become “that girl” or “that guy” that is synonymous with your angle. 

Think of it like this: The Fat Jewish is basically a male Yenta and everybody knows him. He’s unhinged and has a big mouth, with no filter whatsoever. 

For anyone who has succeeded in doing this, you could describe their unique angle to someone and they would instantly know who you were referring to. 

It might go something like this: Who’s that big guy that says whatever he wants all over Instagram, has no filter and weird hair? “The Fat Jewish!” 

Your unique angle should have the same effect. This is how you build an industry of one for yourself even if no one has heard of you yet. The trick to it is to get in front of as many people as possible and give them something they can’t forget. 

There’s two ways to go about this. The hard way is to hope that someone finds you and likes you, then tells their friends about you, so on and so forth. 

The smart way to do it is by design. I’m sure you would prefer that so here’s the shortcut.

I want to close out this year with my sincerest wish that you dominate next year and truly send your career soaring to new levels. I have enjoyed being here for you every week with new insights and effective strategies that have helped so many in our tribe achieve more than they previously dared to dream. 

So Grasshopper, I challenge you to complete the exercises above and actually put this stuff to use. 

After all, you only live once. What do you have to lose? 

Remember that next year you will be another year gone. What will be different? Here’s an idea of something that you can do right now that will make all the difference.

The only constant in this life is change. And we can be sure that the industry landscape will be far different this time next year than it is today. 

So, be sure to stay tuned to Boost My Star because we are your go to source for the side of the industry that no one else dares talk about. 

I already have tons of great stuff planned for you in the coming year when I hope to… 

See you at the top, 
Scott 

P.S. In case you want to get a head start on next year and make career progress while everyone else is knocking back eggnog, check this out.

#MadeIt

Dear Grasshopper, 

I got an email the other day from someone asking what it meant and why I keep referring to you guys as grasshopper. LOL 

In case you didn’t know it’s a reference from a really old Kung Fu movie. “Patience young grasshopper…” You may have heard it a time or two and had no idea what it meant. 

That’s kind of how it sometimes goes in the industry too: we succeed and don’t really know the origin or formula for that success. We see other actors succeed and don’t truly know what got them that level of success. 

This release grasshopper, is what I wish someone had written for me when I got started. It breaks down the chief principles of success, specifically as it relates to being an actor. 

Traditionally, I love, love, LOVE the dramatics!...but I’m turning over a new leaf, towards brevity these days so let’s dive right in. 

Look, I have to be honest, some of this might take you by surprise and you might even take offense to it. Rest assured, it’s only my way of showing love and frankly I discuss things that no one else in the industry dares to. 

For example, one of the biggest reasons that actors fail to get ahead in this industry is that they have no idea what kind of a world we’re operating in. 

See, there are 3 bubbles that exist in the industry. You have to know how to operate within each of them in order to move your career forward, yet 99 actors out of 100 don’t even have any idea that these 3 bubbles exist. 

Once you know what the 3 bubbles are, and you can identify which bubble you are operating in at any given time, you will have an unbeatable strategy for moving forward. 

If you get to know this and master the “operational principles” that follow you will be able to quickly connect with a casting director, producer, agent, or anyone else in the industry. 

Simply put there are 3 main circles or bubbles that you will be operating in at any given time. It’s important that you know which bubble you are in, so that you can conduct yourself accordingly. 

Most of us see our careers as linear, when in fact we must conquer one bubble in order to move up to the next one. 

The 3 bubbles are: the newcomers bubble, the dailies bubble, and the insiders bubble. 

In order to graduate to the next bubble, you have to operate as though you are already there. 

Let me be clear, I don’t mean “act as if” in the way that motivational gurus tell you to look at your 1997 Honda Accord and “act as if” it’s a brand new Tesla…far from it. 

This is the real way in which that concept was intended to be interpreted. 

See when you are in the newcomers bubble, you have to act as if you are in the daily bubble. 

When you are in the daily bubble, you have to act as if you are already a member of the insiders bubble. 

You do this by creating a series of mental associations for those you are trying to influence. 

Here’s what that means… 

We all have these things called cognitive biases. These are the filters through which we process the world. You might be familiar with some of these already, such as the herd mentality effect: if you see a crowd of people running in one direction you are likely to join them without any information as to what they are running from. 

These cognitive biases are the way our brains are wired, and make up what we know as instincts. Like them or hate them, if you look at any major social or pop culture movement, at the core of it is a leader who has mastered the use of cognitive bias. The Beatles, Elvis, Rap Music, the Twilight Saga, etc. 

There are 3 of them that can be highly useful to you, as they are “stacking biases” that empower each other and magnify their effectiveness. 

These are the ingroup bias, the herd mentality bias, and the credential bias. 

The most powerful thing you can do in an audition is what I’m about to share with you. 

First, I have to warn you… 

Only use this tool if you truly want to become a successful actor. If you just want a few parts here and there, then don’t do this because this will absolutely light your career on fire. 

It’s the palm reader trick. 

Instead of introducing myself and awkwardly waving from afar as I’m “supposed to”, I walk straight over to the Casting Director and move to shake the CDs hand. 

By the way, most actors won’t do this, so it immediately resets the casting director’s rhythm and sets you apart from the crowd. 

Don’t worry no one will ever not shake your hand if you do this with confidence. 

As they reach their hand out, I gasp softly and instead of shaking, I turn their hand over and read their palm. Yep! 

Truthfully, I know very little about palm reading and I don’t even have much interest in it. 

I learned just 3 things to look for on someone’s palm. This allows me to speak to both what the presence of those elements mean, or what their absence means. 

Either way, I always have something to say. 

Here’s where the herd mentality (another cognitive bias) comes into play. 

Inevitably, everyone else in the room, will begin to look at their own palms. When they do this, you have activated the herd mentality bias, with you as the leader of the herd. 

This is total audition DOM-IN-A-TION! 

This exchange should last no more than about 30 seconds but it never fails to fascinate and build rapport with the people you are trying to influence. After you finish your short narrative about the CD’s palm, you can return to the audition setting with a command of the room. 

It’s as simple as that. Master this and look for opportunities to use these cognitive biases to your advantage and you will be able to control a room. When you can control a room, you control your career. When you control your career, you get to decide when you are ready to graduate to the next bubble. 

As you move from one bubble to the next, you may find that people will start looking for confirmation that you belong. 

The best thing for them to find is a stellar industry reputation and a great social media following. Here’s how to get that.

So that takes care of dominating the audition but then you also need to be able to deliver a great performance. 

There are many ways to top level your skillset but what I have found to be the most effective, and what top actors since the dawn of the industry have spoken about is deceptively simple. 

In fact it is so simple that anytime they mention it, it typically gets swept under the rug, and only the sexier parts of the interview make it to print instead. 

It’s not exactly 3 dimensional, so to speak, so keep an open mind… 

The way that you become a character and breathe life into it, instead of just reciting lines is to enter the Alpha brain frequency. 

This is where creativity lies. We don’t naturally operate in this range for very long, so we must lower our brain waves to that level on purpose. 

Here’s how you do that… 

Close your eyes and tilt your eyeballs about 20 degrees upward. Count backwards from 50 to 1 and imagine yourself descending a ladder with each number. Imagine that it is getter darker with each step. 

When you reach 1 picture yourself in a perfectly lit, bright-white room. 

See yourself as the character you are playing, standing before you. Then, ask your character anything you want to know. 

What drives you, why does this affect you in that way, is this line accurate or would you say it differently in reality?... 

You can even go as far asking your character to sit down (indian style), then remove their head and place it over yours, as if it were a helmet. Then, continue to run lines, act your scenes out while in the Alpha state, as if you were here in the 3 dimensional world. 

Once you are finished, take off the helmet and place it back on your character. 

Pro tip: it helps if you imagine a zipper. 

Then slowly count from 1 to 10 and picture yourself climbing back up that ladder and reentering the real world. Then say “I’m wide awake.” 

Do this anytime you are prepping for an audition. Do it anytime you need direction for your character on set and you will deliver every time. 

Don’t knock it before you try it. This is not something to be underestimated. It is based on real science and has been researched for decades. Our brains naturally slip into Alpha about 5 seconds out of every minute, if you’re really creative and as little as 1 second per minute if you’re a purely analytical person. 

Those 5 seconds have gotten you this far, imagine what you will be able to do when you get 15 minutes of Alpha… 

It’s not just limited to actors either. Ray Dalio, the legendary investor worth over 17 Billion Dollars, recently revealed that the secret to his success was a form of transcendental meditation which (drumroll) focuses on entering the Alpha state! 

This is how you dominate the industry and build the career you love. 

Succeeding in any business but especially in this one, is all about confidence and certainty. The climb is what gives you confidence. You don’t need to have already reached your ultimate goal. 

The progress is what raises your belief in yourself and propels you to bigger and better roles. 

A lack of progress is the killer of success. 

You have to make sure you are moving forward every day and you should be deathly afraid of waking up one day, realizing you squandered your life away hoping instead of acting. 

Most actors talk a big game but in reality, they are more afraid of success than they are of failure. They know what failure feels like, so it’s comfortable. 

Success is uncharted territory. 

But what if you entered the Alpha state and created a picture of success for yourself? Would it be uncharted then? 

What if you redefined failure, or rather, realized that there is no such thing as failure? See in any scenario, you will either succeed or you will learn what not to do. 

Finally, as I throw brevity out the window for this release (I tried but this stuff was just too important to skim over)…I wanted to cover what is the underlying factor in all of this. 

Energy. 

Here’s a bit of homework for you, when you go to your audition tomorrow (if you don’t have one tomorrow here’s what to do about it) look around the waiting room and notice how many people you see yawning. 

Walk around the mall and do the same thing. The world is in an energy and if you are going to perform at the top of your game you need to have the energy to give it your all. 

The way that top performers do this is a combination of Alkalizing the body and Ketosis. That being said, remember that I am not any kind of health practitioner, and none of this should be construed as any kind of medical advice whatsoever. 

Suffice it to say that when you’re body chemistry is out of balance, it will drain your energy to get it back into the proper balance. 

On that same token, we tend to fuel our bodies with carbohydrates. I know some of you are screaming “but I’m carb free!”…that’s even worse! 

Ketones are created when our body breaks down fat reserves and they are like jet fuel! When you experience a state of ketosis, you will experience the limitless bounds of human potential. 

I’m serious! Every wonder why Tony Robbins can’t sit still? Gary Vaynerchuck? Ryan Seacrest? 

How do top achievers pull off 20 hour days? 

This is how. I’m far from an expert on this and everybody’s body will be a little bit different. So, spend some time Googling this if you want to learn more. 

My expertise lies in the nuts and bolts of the industry and what makes Hollywood go ‘round. 

I’ve dedicated the better part of my life, to this point, to getting to know the deepest darkest secrets of our business. 

Here’s what I’ve discovered: there’s no magic pill. There’s no one person you will meet that will put you on the map. 

There’s no one role you can land to go from zero to #madeit! 

You can only do that by operating within the frameworks laid out above and delivering in a way that no one else can. That’s it. 

Aside from that, all you need is to get your foot in the door. Here’s the way to do that.

Everyone knows that social media reigns above all else right now and will continue to, for the foreseeable future. Here’s how to get your social media going strong.

Combine that with a stellar industry reputation and you will remove all real obstacles.

See, the hard truth is that the only thing really standing in the way of your success is a door. You just have to get your foot inside, then use what you learned above. 

As we wrap up another year at Boost My Star, I hope to hear about your success soon. Just know that if you don’t change something, nothing changes. Remember I’m always only a comment or an email away. 

See you at the top, 
Scott 

“It’s a Wrap”…Parting Gift Enclosed

Dear grasshopper, 

How many of your friends did you hear say “Woo! 2017 is going to be my year!!!” at the stroke of midnight Jan 1st? 

Of those friends, how many of them did anything different come January 2nd, 3rd, 4th… 

Are they still in mostly the same place as they were a year ago? 

I bet they are. 

You know that I’m actively working towards brevity these days and so I’ll just get right to it. 

The reason they’re still there, and haven’t made any significant improvements is that there was no ramp up. They checked out around Thanksgiving (some even around Halloween) and justified that by saying that the rest of the industry was checked out too. 

They may have had great intentions going into the new year but without new habits, they simply fell back into the same old routine of audition, beg, repeat. 

Not you grasshopper, not anymore! 

If you want the new year to bring you new career highs, then you have to get out of the mentality of doing what everyone else does. When they check out, guess what…that means you now have 0 competition. 

So instead of going on an extended vacation this year, go to work. Get out of your chair and do something everyday that will move you closer to the career you want. 

It’s the perfect time of year to send out those Demonstration of Power Packs, after all. 

Look, I realize this is not going to be the most popular message ever, but you know that I have no BS filter in me. I couldn’t sugarcoat this if I tried. 

If you want to be at the top of the industry you have to do what others are unwilling to do. 

And I want to help you out with that. In case you missed it in the email, you can click here and enter the code 2017OVER to get 2 weeks of service FREE!

No strings, no catch. 

Here’s why, just because you have to do something that moves you closer to your career goals, that doesn’t mean you have to do something hard. 

In fact, what high performing people do is a process called RTR. That stands for Reducing To (the) Ridiculous. They break down a goal to the smallest possible action they can take now. 

For example, if you wanted to land a speaking role in a studio feature next year, then you break it down to thing that is so ridiculously small that you can’t-not do it. Make sense? 

This could be something like: Monologuing in front of a mirror. That boosts, your audition skills which in turn, increases your chances of booking, so on and so forth. Actually, even smaller than that would be to pick up a copy of Variety and looking into what films are moving into production. 

Do this and then move up the chain until you get to that speaking role in a studio feature. 

I like to take this a step further and reduce things to the ridiculous and then automate the process. This makes things totally hands off and impossible not to accomplish. 

That’s why I’m giving you 2 free weeks of service here.

Simply choose whichever level of service you want to try out and use the promo code 2017OVER to get your 2 weeks of service free. 

See, when you do something like this you will be increasing your social media following everyday and boosting your IMDb STARmeter which are both huge in casting decisions. 

They are the benchmarks that measure your industry credibility and marketability, so you can no longer afford to be lacking in either one of those areas. 

If you do this one exercise every day, RTR, and really follow through with it, you will find yourself farther along by the end of this month than your actor friends will get all next year. 

Everybody in your circle will start to look at you and the progress you’ve made in your career and wonder what happened. They will want a double shot of whatever you’re having! 

The fact is that if you want to make progress in your career and not just wander aimlessly through another year, then you have to use this time to set yourself up to dominate 2018. Stop and enjoy the holidays of course, but do what you need to do first. 

Establish a new pattern and do something new. Even just one action, if it’s the right one, will make all the difference. 

So, did you accomplish all that you hoped for this year? What do you want out of the new year? Let me know in the comments below or shoot me an email. 

As we get closer and closer to calling this year a wrap, I’m deeply moved and excited by what we have helped your fellow tribe members accomplish and I’m filled with hope of what will come. 

I can’t wait until you pop into my inbox with your own story of success. 

See you at the top, 

Scott 

P.S. Here’s the full link to claim your 2 FREE weeks of Boost My Star boostmystar.com/#pricing-section. Just remember to use the code 2017OVER 

Internet Fame > No Fame

Her last short film drew more attention than all but about a half dozen major studio films released this year. She’s an actress, a comedian, a writer and producer, and basically an all around bad ass chick. 

One of her films was partially produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, through their production company. 

Anna Akana is the superstar in the making that you’ve probably never heard of. 

Here’s what will sting for some of you…you have probably been acting much, much longer than she has. She first started in comedy at the age of 19 (she’s 28 as of the time of this writing) and later decided to go the acting route. 

That’s one of the twisted things about this industry… 

In most other industries, the longer you’re in, the more likely you are to succeed. Middle managers in corporate roles become executives in 12-15 years, C-Level executives in about another 7-10 years, and board members in an additional 10 or so years. 

This is not the case in our business. Being an actor is like being a gladiator. The longer you are in the game, the more likely it is that you die. The more likely you are to be stomped into obscurity by a stronger and more youthful competitor. 

Of course, you naturally move up in the range that you can play, but the principle still holds true. This is why it’s so important that you never leave for tomorrow what you can do today. 

Anna Akana didn’t wait for her turn, she just started practicing her craft using a focused strategy and made things happen. She did what so many of us, myself included for many years, are unable or unwilling to do: she put her ego aside, put “conventional wisdom” aside and chased her dream. 

When actors go out on the audition circuit, they usually have a one track mind. Impress the hell out of the CD and nail the audition. This isn’t a bad plan, it’s just not the greatest one either. What most actors ignore is that you have to be larger than life. 

Your persona needs to have an element of grandeur. I don’t mean pompous and arrogant, quite the opposite actually. You should be humble, confidant, and charismatic. 

Just think “What would Leo do?” 

Do you think that he ever went into a room, sweating a role? 

When you have a few credentials to back up your swagger, this gets a bit easier. It’s like your brain all of sudden has permission to act that way. 

Here’s an easy hack for that.

I highly recommend checking our Anna’s YouTube channel. Spend some time going through her content. Not only is it entertaining, you should also study the strategy and the process she used to become a YouTube Rockstar. 

Coincidentally, it’s pretty similar to the way that musical acts are launched. When a label is looking to promote a new act, they don’t set out to conquer the entire country at once. They take it one city at a time. 

They build the platform in secondary markets, these are smaller cities with less competition, and create a buzz around the act before launching them in primary markets. 

For example, they will first launch an act in San Diego, then move to Austin, Tampa Bay, Charlotte, and Phoenix, etc. Once they have built a solid foundation in these secondary markets, they use that momentum to launch the act in larger cities. 

They take on LA, Chicago, New York, Houston, Atlanta, and Miami. This works because by the time they get to the large and highly competitive primary markets, the acts already have momentum and have proven to be viable elsewhere. So, they’re not seen as a risk for promoters, radio stations, and booking agents. They merely see it as taking an act to the next level. It’s called scaling up. 

That’s how Rock stars become Rock stars: one market at a time. 

Here’s how this ties into your career. What we just went over begs the question… 

Are you attempting to conquer the entire country at once? If you are, then you have quite an uphill battle ahead. What if instead you set out to conquer a secondary market like Anna Akana? She conquered YouTube and is now moving into the mainstream. 

Just like in the example we just talked about, she is using the momentum from her secondary market campaign, and proof of viability to generate demand in the mainstream. 

She is far from being the only one doing this. We have discussed several other actors that are making that leap into the mainstream, here at Boost My Star, because more and more CDs, Producers, and industry decision makers are looking for this. 

It’s weird how the tides have shifted. Just a few short years ago, the industry would probably look down on you for being a YouTuber. Today, you can propel yourself into the mainstream using your internet fame. 

So where do you go from here grasshopper? Let me know in the comments below or shoot me an email. I want to be clear on one thing though. This is kind of an advanced strategy that requires more time than we have here to fully go through, so I’ll probably go deeper another time. 

Just because the primary strategy is to conquer a list of secondary markets, that doesn’t mean that the acts ignore the primary markets and shun the air time. They go hand in hand and pursue both markets simultaneously, just in different ways. The secondary market is the active strategy and the primary market is more of an ancillary “hail mary” play. 

So this doesn’t mean that you have to shift all of your attention to a different medium. You just have to add it into the mix. Nothing will help you more in your pursuit of this than a stellar industry reputation. Here’s the fix for that.

No matter what road you decide to take, go all in with relentless focus and shoot for the stars. 

See you at the top, 
Scott

Industry Special Report

Wanna know something strange??? 

Whether you’re at the top or the bottom, there’s only one way to go… 

It’s the middle that gets tricky and it’s where most actors are stuck. They’re not at the top level of the industry and they’re not at the bottom of the barrel either. 

They’re somewhere in between where the possibilities seem endless. You can go up, you can go down, you can go sideways. You can go up slowly and come crashing down, so on and so forth. 

It’s kind of like the old saying goes about having enough rope with which to hang yourself. Because, so many of us are stuck in the most unpredictable career stage, I wanted to bring you strategies from actors that have navigated it well. 

I wanted to bring you what’s working right now to make big industry moves, no matter where you are in your career right now. Like always it’s presented with no frills, nor fluff just the hardcore strategies that you can dig into and put to work immediately after reading this. 

Meet Stacy. In fact, many of you reading this have met Stacy. She’s in that highly coveted career stage, where her star is about to break through and go stratospheric. Stacy is a primetime TV staple, does 3-5 pictures a year and what is on the horizon for her is amazing. Her plate is totally full! 

When you have a chance to sit down with a Stacy, the logical thing to ask would be about how she landed this role and that role, and about her preaudition routines. All valid info, but it’s not what’s important. 

What matters is what led her to that point, and that’s precisely what we talked about. 

Before I get into that, you first have to understand that “secrets” tend to be pretty anticlimactic and not very earthshattering. I’ve said this before and it’s important to note here too. It’s not so much the information that’s important. 

What’s more important is what you do with the information! More on that in a bit… 

What led Stacy to being in such high demand?...Her team! She found a good agency that took an interest in developing her career rather than simply putting her headshot on the wall. 

It’s important that you do this too. Make it a priority to find your Ari Gold: someone who will go to bat for you and who is as invested in your career as you are. It may take some effort, but the great thing is that you only have to do this once. 

In a previous release, I wrote about how to get a fantastic agent, so I won’t go into detail on the strategy for that here. Just know that you will need a few resources to get top tier representation. Namely, you will need stellar industry credentials and a good social media standing. More on that here.

On the opposite side of the spectrum is Kenneth. His story is too tragic and too common. Kenneth hung up his acting shoes (yes that’s figurative) and called it quits a few years ago. We came up in this industry together and at some point, life just took us down different paths. 

He was like a brother to me and we never really talked about why his career went downhill…until now. 

I want to preface this by stating that Kenneth is about 6’2 and 220, with biceps larger than I care to compare to my own LOL! Looking at him, you would think he was a linebacker. 

During our conversation about what went wrong in his career, he cried. I cried. And, I’m pretty sure our waitress was sniffling too at some point. 

Here’s what happened: he simply trusted the wrong people. He is such a big personality and everybody instantly loves Kenneth, so he was surrounded by “head nodders.” In their eyes, he could do no wrong and everyone boosted his ego to unbelievable highs that didn’t match his industry standing at the time. 

It got so out of control and he got so “Hollywood” that he ended up in an onstage scuffle and punched someone who can’t be named due to an NDA…Let’s just say this guy may or may not have tiger blood running through his veins. 

Kenneth then walked off the set and never set foot on another. I don’t condone any type of violent act whatsoever, under no circumstance! 

He takes full responsibility for his actions, and he knows that he was wrong. That’s what makes it even more painful, having to own the mistake. He now lives in NorCal and makes a pretty good living selling cars. But he’s plagued by the “what ifs” and his life today is a far cry from his potential. 

The moral here is to stay centered and true to yourself. It’s easy to get caught up in the accolades that come with this business. I’ve seen actors make it to Sundance as a 3rd lead who crash and burn with the same ego problems and are never heard from again. 

Conversely, I’ve seen people climb from the shadows of obscurity for simply being real and for being great to work with. 

Part of the problem was that Kenneth surrounded himself with people who were well intentioned but could not live up to his potential. This created a scenario in which they were hoping to hitch a ride on Kenneth’s star and sought to please him, instead of creating a symbiotic relationship. 

It was great to catch up with both Stacy and Kenneth and everyone else I sat down with. I compiled a ton of Q and A type of material sourced from the questions that you guys send in, so I’ll put together a release on that soon. 

There is such a contrast between these two that I felt it was important to showcase them in particular. 

With everyone I spoke to, there were recurring themes and a big similarity. Everyone who was struggling to get a foothold in the industry and finding it difficult to make progress was working in their careers rather than working on them. 

That means that they were focused on acting classes, reels, headshots, credit counts instead of quality of credits, etc. They were focusing on the minutiae. 

Working on your career means that you have a big picture focus and you are working to expand your career by focusing on marketing yourself to the industry, networking with decision makers, and doing all of the things that bring real progress. 

Also, everyone who had momentum and was doing well in the industry had a stellar reputation to point to. Here’s what you can do about that and it works whether you’re just getting started or whether you’re ready to pour jet fuel on the fire and take things to a whole new level. 

So where are you in your career grasshopper? 

What are you doing to work ON your career today?

What are you going to do to move the needle and make big career moves? Start here and see where it takes you. Ultimately, you have to follow the trend but stand out from the crowd. 

Let me know what your next move will be in the comments below, or shoot me an email. Just make sure that you’re doing something today that truly moves you toward where you want to be tomorrow. 

See you at the top, 

Scott 

Boost My Star Ask Me Anything

My grandfather knew nothing about almost everything…and this made him one of the smartest people I’ve ever known. 

See he knew that he didn’t know and that he couldn’t know everything, so he embraced it. He took a page from the Henry Ford philosophy of “why should I clutter my mind with such things when I can have the answer readily available from 20 people in my employ.” 

So whenever he encountered a problem, my grandfather asked someone for advice. 

He knew that in our fast moving world, it took a village to do most things. Think about it. Did you build the device you’re using to read this? Is your home built of your own effort or did someone else put hammer to nails to build it for you? 

Being an actor is no different. Not a single successful person in this industry climbed their way to the top solely through their own efforts. It always takes a team and more importantly, it takes a community. 

That’s what today’s release is all about. It’s about you tapping into the collective mind of our tribe and getting answers to the most common questions I’m asked on an almost daily basis.

Question: I’m not getting as much work as I would like but I’m doing everything I’m supposed to. What’s the problem? 

Answer: If you’re not getting as much work as you feel you should, consider that you may in fact be doing everything you think you’re supposed to be doing. We often get caught up in the minutiae and activity of the industry. These are things that make us feel like we’re making progress but are in fact, little more than busy work. Create a focused plan, and implement it with relentless focus. Here’s a great place to start.

Question: I know I’m a good actor and I audition well, why am I not being cast? 

Answer: The reasons for this can be multiple. Every audition you go on, no matter how big or how small the part, should be for a role you were born to play. Are you going after roles that you’re not a slam dunk fit for? Take an honest assessment of this and ask a friend to help you out, if you need a second opinion. Ultimately, if you’re not being cast, it’s because you haven’t made yourself the only logical choice for the part. Check out the full strategy for that here.

Question: I almost always get a call back but can’t seem to land the role. What is going on? 

Answer: If you’re having trouble closing deal, see answer 2 above. It stems from the same symptoms. You have to create a category of one for yourself and ensure that you dominate it. Getting a callback is great but you have to be able to consistently close the deal and land the role. If the back half of the equation is broken, this means that you didn’t do a good enough job of making yourself the only logical choice in the CD’s mind. After all of the auditions are over with and the CD is sifting through a pile of headshots, yours should be set aside. You should be the one that they are comparing everyone else to, instead of being just another one in the pile. The best differentiator is a great industry reputation and phenomenal social media capital. Here’s where to start with that.

Question: My reel is top notch, I’ve put a ton of time and effort into it and it rocks but no one ever asks me for it… 

Answer: Sometimes the answer is in the question you ask, grasshopper. So many actors spend way more time tweaking their reel than they ever spend marketing it! Yes, you need a reel but more than that you need someone to want your reel! Instead of obsessing over your reel and wondering if it’s ready, spend some time creating a strategy to market yourself to the industry. If you’re going even 1 day without someone asking you for your reel or inviting you to read, your career momentum is nowhere near where it should be. So, put your reel together and then leave it alone for a while, it doesn’t have to be perfect just good enough to get you in the door. You’ll do the rest once you’re there. 

Question: Is my agent really looking out for me? He sends me out on auditions that are basically open calls and I’m not getting work. When do I know if it’s time to switch? 

Answer. Ready for a hard truth?...If you’re agent isn’t working out so well, look in the mirror to find the reason. When I first started in this industry, I went through nearly a handful of agents before realizing this. There was nothing wrong with any of them (except for 1 but that’s a story for another time), the problem was with me. I binged on Netflix, went to acting class, and waited for my phone to ring. I did very little to gain any kind of exposure in the industry. So, realize that your agent is only as good as you are. If you want to get into bigger and better auditions, give your agent more to work with. If all they have from you is a headshot, resume, and a reel that isn’t all that different from the dozens of other clients they have, how effective can they really be? Give them this to work with and you’ll be on your way in no time. When you have given your agent every tool available, including a unique angle and a category of one designation, and they still can’t get you into better auditions, then it’s time to seek new representation. Just be sure you do so tactfully. 

If you noticed the recurring theme in today’s release you win the prize LOL! Your success is totally dependent on you. If you’re not currently where you want to be in your career, consider what you might be doing to hold yourself back. 

Are you putting every tool at your disposal to use? Are you attempting to stand out from the crowd, while doing the exact same things they are doing? I don’t need to tell you that success in the industry is hard earned, you already know that. But I would be remised if I didn’t remind you that it takes more than just hard work. So I have to ask you what do you intend do differently? 

If nothing else, make sure that you are at least building your career on a solid foundation. Remember, you’re not in this alone! I get tons of questions every day, so if you haven’t reached out yet, remember that I’m always only a comment or an email away. 

See you at the top,
Scott

The Walsh Way of Making Movies

“If you want to make movies kid, you first have to go just a little bit insane…then you go a lot insane…” Those words were uttered (slurred a bit) by a 9 am whiskey, trodden director on the set of one of my first indie films and it has been one of the most useful industry insights I’ve ever received. 

It’s crazy how inspiration and insight come from the oddest of places sometimes. Some people call it grace, others coincidence, I like to think of it as synchronicity: the universe aligning itself to fit your desires by placing events, circumstance, and people in your path at the time you need them. 

There I was sitting on a rock in the middle of a field covered in food dye (ultra-low budget stage blood) and wondering what I was thinking when I took the gig. It was 2 hours after call time and the director was nowhere to be found. This is especially problematic on an indie set where the director is also the AD, cinematographer, writer, producer, special effects, 2nd lead, and everything else on set! 

I wanted the credit on my resume but after a few days of putting up with this guy, I wondered if the movie would ever be finished. 

Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? 

A little note about synchronicity… 

Sometimes things are working out exactly as they are supposed to, but you won’t recognize it because it will happen as the exact opposite of the way you think it was supposed to go. 

I wanted to learn the movie business at the time, and rather than making the switch to being an actor-director, I wanted to observe and learn from people already doing it. I’m impatient and I just wanted it downloaded straight into my brain (Neo in The Matrix style). 

And that’s exactly what I got. 

See, to break into the movie business you do have to be a little bit insane. You have to go against conventional wisdom, but most people are too afraid to do this and instead they seek to compete in “traditional ways.” 

They try everything imaginable to make a $10,000 indie look like a $100,000,000 production and then go out and compete head to head with them. This is like challenging a Lamborghini to a race while you’re riding a bike. Your only chance of winning is the tires falling of the Lambo! 

Rather than doing this, the directors that have cut through the industry chaos and built enviable careers, are the ones that did things differently. 

When looking for your own Billy Walsh, you have to be able to recognize this trait. They must fearlessly go against the grain, in order for your partnership to work. 

When you’re brainstorming projects, look for projects that are different. Whatever production you choose to jump into should be related to the genre you want to specialize in, but it should also have a differentiating factor. 

I’ll give you an example. If you want to be an action star, don’t look for a project that requires tons of special effects. Sure, you can do just about anything in post these days, but to get effects that look real will stay require a ton of cash. 

Rather than a War of the Worlds, or Avengers type of project go a different route. Think of The Purge. It still fits in the action genre, just in a different segment. 

It didn’t require a ton of special effects, as most of it was done with lighting and sound. This helps to keep production costs down, while also maintaining the reality of a film which is what keeps the audience engaged. 

Following this example, here’s how to go from idea to lights, camera, action. 

First, find your Billy Walsh…and make sure you get one that is a creative genius and thinks outside the box. 

Then, find a production to work on together. Chances are that your Billy Walsh has a few of them in various stages of development already. Choose the one that has a differentiating factor, to keep from going into a head to head competition with the big budget studio films. 

Once you and your Billy Walsh have decided on a project to work on, assemble you team of soon to be industry heavy hitters. Everything you need, from cinematography, to lighting, sound, and even post production work can be had for almost no cost. 

When you hire someone to work on this project with you, don’t offer cash. Instead look for ambitious people that need to work on a real set. Students are a great fit. By trading in a zero cash scenario, you will only attract committed, hardworking, and ambitious people to your project. These are the kind of folks you will need anyway, so you are just taking a shortcut to finding them. 

Once you have assembled your all star crew, it’s time to start casting. 

NOTE: you want to do it in this order because it’s much easier to attract quality talent when you bring a full crew to the table. Actors who would have never thought twice about your project before, will suddenly become available when you can offer a full crew. 

Since this is your production, of course you get the pick the role you want to play! The best way to fill in the other roles is not to host auditions! 

That puts you in direct competition with everyone else. Instead, use The Walsh Effect! 

Go to IMDb and do the same thing you did to find your Billy Walsh, but instead of searching for a director you will be searching for your costars. You can still have them read for you so can gauge the chemistry of course. 

And don’t be shy about who you connect with. Remember that you bring a fully functioning production with a full crew to the table. 

Once you’ve assembled your crew and selected your costars, the fun is ready to begin. When you go into production in this manner, you will notice something that is absent from almost every production you’ve ever worked on… 

The egos will be absent. You will be working with people who love their craft, on a production that has become a team effort. Everyone will be pushing you to the finish line and be excited about the finished product. 

When you go to post production, keep everyone involved and to preserve the comradery and the contacts. Once your production is fully wrapped, this will bring you scores of opportunities. If you created 15 new contacts, you will now have 15 people who will remember you next time there is a need for someone like you in one of their projects. 

This is how real industry networking works. 

That’s it grasshopper! A purposefully simplistic process for going from idea to lights, camera, action. Lather, rinse, repeat and you will never struggle to find work again. Before long, work will be finding you and you will be graduating to bigger and better projects. 

Once you get into production, the details will work themselves out. Keep your focus on the big picture and remember that it all starts with leveraging The Walsh Effect. 

You only need one thing for that.

If you don’t want to be a producer and only want to act, that’s ok. The goal is not for you to take it on full time. It’s simply about creating opportunity when you need it. Instead of doing the same thing as everyone else and hoping to be discovered, you can make things happen. 

The Walsh Effect is easily the most powerful tool at your disposal. It’s what the top actors use to relaunch their careers and take them to new heights. 

Make sure that your IMDb ranking matches your ambition and you’re set to use The Walsh Effect to open doors where none existed. 

Create demand for yourself and remember that everyone who has launched a successful career in the industry went about it proactively. Study the actors you most look up to. Look at the credits of their projects and you will see the same names pop up over and over again. 

This is The Walsh Effect in plain view. 

This is the end of today’s release. If you don’t have an audition today, then go here and get started. You always have someone in your corner because I’m always only a comment or an email away. So, let me know what you’re going to do next. 

See you at the top, 
Scott