Insider’s Access and How To Get It

Hollywood is all about access. How far you go in the industry will largely be determined by the people and the resources you have access to. 

Unfortunately, this business is not a complete meritocracy. 

Some actors choose to complain about this and sulk when they are passed over for a role by someone who had the right contacts. 

Others choose to adapt to the way the industry works rather than fighting against it. After all, this is a people business, just like anything else. 

What follows is the tale of one of the busiest actors around and the way she got into the industry. I’m sharing every detail with you so that you can do the same and force the industry to take you seriously already. 

She came to this town with a dream and a lot of hustle. 

Her journey may be different than the path you’re on but that’s kind of the point. If you continue doing the same thing you’re doing now, then you will continue to get the same results you have always gotten. 

She graduated FSU with a degree in journalism. 

Just like most of us, she came to the industry with zero contacts and started doing what everyone else does: acting classes, workshops, open calls. 

She landed a few things here and there but nothing meaningful and more than that, she was struggling. 

Without a support system to turn to, she began documenting her journey. 

One blog post every now and then, turned into a blog post per week. Soon, she was blogging daily. Even that morphed into a daily Vlog. 

It wasn’t self aggrandizing, it was genuine. She was basically journaling her experience with trying to make it in the industry. She documented the struggles, the heartache, and the successes. 

As her influence grew, the industry started to notice. First, she started appearing on podcasts, then came the occasional local morning shows. 

Pretty soon, she was seen as an industry insider and an industry expert. She was being asked to do everything from movie reviews to participating in script development panels. 

That’s where her story pivots. She leveraged that insider access into conversations about her acting aspirations. 

See, Steven Spielberg built his career from an internship at Universal Studios. He would work until noon everyday and then spend the rest of the day going from one sound stage to the next, getting to know the people. 

He got to know everyone from the leading actors to the stagehands. 

He leveraged the one card he had to play: access. 

You may be a once in a generation kind of actor but if you don’t have insider’s access, no one will get to see that about you. 

The question then becomes “how do you get it?” 

You could go the traditional route and try to work your way up on the audition circuit and hope that one day you’re invited into the fold. 

OR… 

You could force the industry to take notice by bringing massive amounts of attention with you. That’s what the subject of today’s post did, though she did it largely by accident. 

You can do it on purpose and achieve what you’re after faster and more effectively. 

The way to get the industry’s attention is to bring some of your own. They are no longer willing to build new talent from scratch. That’s why everyone in the industry is so focused on social media and building a platform. 

A lot of actors get this wrong and go after attention arbitrarily. You have to leverage that attention into access. 

Consider it a bridge to your destination, not the destination itself. 

Once you get into a premiere, for example, no one cares why you’re there. They won’t care if you’re there to review the event for your blog or if you’re there being swooned by a new manager. 

To get started on this today come up with an attention-getting plan. It doesn’t have to be blogging, that’s just an easy one with a low barrier of entry. 

You could start a podcast and interview the decision makers in town. Interview the agents you would like to represent you and start the conversation that way. Interview directors you would like to work with and other actors you admire. 

If there’s one thing everyone in the industry wants more of, it’s attention, so getting guests on your show will be relatively easy and they will help you spread the word about their appearance on your show. 

That will help you go from zero listeners to the stratosphere, fast. 

That’s a pretty good strategy, I encourage you to give that one quite a bit of consideration. 

To make things a bit easier on you, here’s how I can help.

Attention, begets attention so it’s easier to go from 1,000 listeners to 100,000 listeners than it is to go from 0 to 100 listeners. 

Having some of it already will help you in the initial stages, so let us give you a bit of a boost.

Aside from that, you want to be sure that your pedigree matches your project. So, if you’re trying to launch a podcast for example, it will be difficult to get people on your show with a STARmeter of 100K! 

That doesn’t mean you have to be in the teens, but your guests will want to see that your career is a work in progress not DOA. 

Here’s a quick fix for that too.

So, what will you launch as your attention getting plan Grasshopper? Let me know if in the comments below or shoot me an email. I read every one that comes through. 

If there’s a way that I can support you in your pursuit, let me know that too. 

After all, my goal is to… 

See you at the top, 
Scott 

How To Get A Gig Fast

I remember a particular time when I first got in the industry. I was “in between agents.” That’s code for: my agent dropped me because I couldn’t afford to get a new batch of headshots printed. 

I was going through a particularly long dry spell and I hadn’t booked a gig in months. Desperate didn’t even begin to describe what it felt like. 

After a while, all kinds of negative things start to go through your mind. 

“Why did I ever think I could be a professional actor? Should I pack it up and go home? Will anyone even hire me again after not working for so long?” 

The best time to find your next role, is when you have just landed one. Some of this is the market factor: you’re in demand all of a sudden. Part of it is psychological: you have nothing to lose because you already have a gig anyway. 

But what if you don’t even have an idea of where your next gig will come from. What if you have no one to turn to for help and no network to tap for audition leads? 

This is when you have to get a bit creative and most of all you have to be bold. 

I got an email not too long ago from someone who said that he hadn’t even been on a good audition in months, so he invited himself to one. He did some Instagram sleuthing found an audition that would other wise be out of his reach and walked right in. 

He acted like he was supposed to be there and like there had been some mistake for him not being on the roster. In the end, he had to wait a few hours but they finally squeezed him in. 

He wasn’t cast for that role but it gave this guy the courage to get back on the horse and get after it again. It only took a few days for him to land some regional commercial work. 

While that may not be the best strategy, the point is that you have to be bold and a bit creative. You have to make things happen when nothing is going on. 

One of the easiest ways to land an acting job is to create one for yourself. Chances are you have tons of actor friends with time on their hands too. Surely, one of you knows a writer with a few scripts laying around and a director that needs to get back on the horse too. 

Just getting back out there and working (even if it’s for yourself) will create tons of great energy that you can capitalize on and build momentum from there. 

Great things happen when you let go and let it flow. One of our fellow tribe members was doing just this, and because she was in the right place at the right time being bold and creative, she got an A-lister to do a speaking cameo. 

If this seems like too much to do on your own, just attach yourself to something already in production. Call around to film schools and ask about the projects everyone is working on. 

You could also find film students on Instagram and reach out to them telling them that you like the work they do and that you’re available for their projects.

This is super flattering for a young filmmaker, and they will end up telling you about their friends that have productions going on too. 

I’ve known multiple actors who broke their cold streak by reaching out and booking meetings with new agents. Even if you’re not looking for new representation at the time (though if you do have an agent but you’re not booking work it may be time to consider switching), there’s no harm in seeing what else is out there. 

Plus, if a new agent is interested in you they will tell you about what projects are casting. Ask them about sending you out on a few auditions to test the waters with them and see if it’s a good fit for both of you before you sign with them. 

Many agents will decline, but if you present yourself well, the good ones will almost always agree. 

The most important thing is to get you back in the game and acting again. It may require some humility and you may end up in a production that you don’t exactly want to put on your resume. That’s ok. 

I think it was Jack Nicholson that said, “it’s ok to be in terrible movies, but that doesn’t mean you have to be terrible in them.” 

When you’re going through this, remember that it’s not about going straight to the silver screen. It’s just about breaking the dry spell. 

Just get some positivity and momentum going. 

You have to feel and actually make forward progress, so don’t just enroll in another acting class. 

Some actors will do this under the guise of “networking” and there is some validity in that but only if you actually do the networking. If you do make it a point to get to know everyone in class and get to know your instructor, by all means go to class and make the most of it. 

Mostly, I wanted to give you different ideas than what you may have already seen elsewhere. 

Truthfully, if you spend some time at the Boost My Star blog and actually do what it says, you should never experience a dry spell. 

If you have a good industry reputation, you may even have CDs reaching out to you asking if you’re available to read.

A good industry reputation will also open doors to new and better representation, which in turn leads to better opportunities. 

Here’s how to dramatically boost your industry reputation quickly.

Combine this with a good social media presence, leverage these tools correctly and you should never be at a loss for work. 

I wrote this release because over the last few weeks, I have seen an increase in the questions coming in from actors who are facing this scenario. Now that we’ve tackled it, I want to know what you would like me to write about next. 

Let me know in the comments below or shoot me an email. I read every one that comes through.

I always want you to get the most of Boost My Star and that it remains the go to place for everything about the industry that no one else talks about. 

See you at the top, 

Scott 

P.S. If pilot season hasn’t turned out the way you hoped it would, Check this out.

How To Succeed As an Actor

Do you know what Facebook, Apple, Ford, and Google have to do with your acting career? 

It’s simple really, but incredibly powerful. 

These are some of the biggest companies in the world. They all achieved success the same way and it’s the way that you should approach your acting career, if you want to make meaningful progress towards your goals. 

You may have heard about this if you are pursuing day-job-type of goals along with your acting career, but almost no one connects this to acting. 

Here’s why… 

As actors we are highly creative people and thrive on doing something new and being different. There’s a difference in doing that in your creative pursuits (in a scene for example), but when it comes to the business side of the industry, things change. 

In that regard, you need to do what others who have come before you have done, or not done. 

It’s called modeling, and it’s the surest, quickest way to success. 

When you model someone you basically build a roadmap of their career success and start traveling the same path. 

To take this concept to a completely different level, you could also model someone who completely failed at what you want to achieve and do the exact opposite. 

That’s what the companies I mentioned did. 

They did not create a new “thing.” They followed a roadmap of companies that came before them in the same field and either did the opposite or followed the roadmap and improved on some aspects of it. 

Remember Friendster? That was the precursor to Facebook, who improved on the market strategy. Friendster tried to go far and wide to a big audience that wasn’t ready for it. Facebook controlled the roll out strategy and created hype behind which campus would be next to get it. 

Once the demand was sky high, they rolled out to the masses. 

Apple did not create computing or cell phones. They looked at was there, saw that it was boring and ugly, and created offerings that were colorful and sleek. 

The key is to model and improve. 

So how do you do this as an actor? 

Let’s look at Kate Winslet for example. 

She has had an incredible and enviable career full of blockbuster hits and plenty of creative projects too. Here is how you would model her success.

She first appeared on a TV commercial for breakfast cereal. After a few years and a few more small appearances, she left school at the age of 16 to pursue her acting career. 

Keep in mind that she had not had any meaningful success at the time. 

She then moved on to British Stage Productions. This is key! 

Later, Kate Winslet began appearing films. Her debut was Heavenly Creatures directed by Peter Jackson. A few more films and then came an Oscar nod. Shortly thereafter came her second. The rest as they say is history. 

Here’s how you would model her career. 

Track her career path to yours and see where you are. 

Are you currently in the TV commercial stage of your career? What was her next step? Did she go straight from commercials to film or did she make a stop on the theatre circuit first? 

If you have been trying to make the leap from commercials to film but haven’t been able to make the leap just yet, should you consider a pit stop in between? 

After appearing in her first film, did she back track to shoot more commercials or keep moving forward and going on to better films? What should you do in that case. 

It’s tempting to take a role “just because” and sometimes that’s ok, as long as you know which road you are taking. Are you acting as a hobby, or are you building an acting career? 

Now let’s look at someone who has failed at what you want to achieve. Let’s look at our friend Joe the “actor.” He started his career when he moved to LA. Arrogantly, he thought he owned the town and never sought to make any connections, feeling as though people should come to him instead. 

He went on auditions when his agent found something (luckily), did zero prep work, and showed up there at the last minute. 

Joe was unfocused in his pursuits, went after anything and everything, and did not put forth any meaningful effort to market himself to the industry and never thought about building his career on purpose. 

Here’s how you anti-model Joe the actor. 

If he never sought out connections to advance his career, you should make that a priority. 

If Joe only relied on his agent to stumble on something to audition for, you should probably look to diversify and proactively seek out additional opportunities. 

Since he went out for anything and everything, rather than creating a category of one as I call it, which should you do? 

Since he didn’t build a career on purpose and just hoped that things would come together and fall into his lap, you should probably devote a lot of time to career planning and design.

If Joe the failed actor did not put any effort into marketing himself to the industry, that means you should make marketing yourself a daily activity. 

Here is an easy fix for that.

Remember that early on, we established that modeling is about doing what other have done and then improve on it. Something that our core example did not have when building her career was a way to build a platform and an independent verification of her industry reputation. 

You have both of those at your disposal. 

If you have been in the industry for any length of time, you probably know that the more connected and reputable agents won’t even consider taking on new talent that does not meet their expectations of an IMDb ranking. 

For some agents this is 20K-30K, for other agents it’s a bit higher but the bottom line is that there is a reason they trust IMDb as a leading factor when they decide whom to represent...

It’s because Casting Directors do too. 

So, if you want to model and improve upon Kate Winslet’s model of success while doing the opposite of what Joe the actor did, should you focus on your IMDb rating and go out and audition with the power of a good ranking on your side? 

The answer depends on whether you are acting as a hobby or whether you want to build an acting career and do this for the long term. 

So which actors will you look to model? Who are you going to anti-model? Let me know in the comments below or shoot me an email. I read every one that comes through. 

I realize that this may be a departure to what you have been told by industry peers so far but remember: if you do what you’ve always done, you will end up getting what you always got. 

Choose accordingly and I hope to… 

See you at the top, 
Scott 

Shattering The Fourth Wall

Times are a’changing grasshopper, but some things will always stay the same. During The Great Depression, when people were struggling to feed themselves and provide basic necessities, one could still stroll past a movie theatre and see a line extending out the door. 

Going to the movies was something that allowed audiences to forget about their struggles for a couple of hours and focus on the feature on screen. They could laugh until they cried and relive the memories all over again later on. 

That’s why, when people were making choices like “which one of us is getting butter with our bread tonight”, they continued going to the movies. 

What was your favorite movie as a kid? Think of your favorite scene from it for a few seconds… 

I bet something immediately came to mind. 

That’s the value we bring to the world as actors. When we do our job right, we literally have the power to change people’s world. 

Remember the 90’s when women everywhere were going to the beauty salon asking for “Rachel’s haircut?” It wasn’t about the hair, it was the character they were fond of. 

That’s the influence of an actor. When we bring characters to life, we can create something bigger than us that brings people together. 

Whether we play a character they love or hate, or one they love to hate, evoking emotion from the viewer imprints a mark on their memory. 

Maybe they find themselves in the same predicament as your character did last week and think WWXD (What would X do) in order to find a solution. 

Maybe they need to call on their memory of your character to find inspiration and pull through. 

Personally, I summon my inner Rocky Balboa at the gym pretty often. 

Whatever it may be, the characters you play are at the forefront of their minds, and something happens when you reach this level in your audience’s mind. 

This is when they start to transition from casual observers to fans. 

They start to think about you, the person. 

They start to see beyond the character. They wonder who the actor is behind the character they love so much. It’s almost as if they befriend you. 

They think you must be as fascinating, intriguing, hilarious or maniacal as your character, or maybe you’re not. 

But guess what? 

They now have a way to find out! They look you up and in a matter of seconds, they have everything there is to know about you at their fingertips.

When they find you on social media, they get your whole story. They know how many siblings you have, if you’re seeing anyone, if you root for the same teams, or if you couldn’t care less about anything having to do with teams. 

This is why it’s so important to have a strong social presence. 

What makes your growth faster on social media is already having a solid base to build on. Here’s how you do that.

What will have you knocking auditions out of the park is the same thing that creates a character that transcends the fourth wall on screen. It’s believability. I’ve written at length about this but it all boils down to just one concept: let go and let it flow. 

Get out of your head and just let things happen naturally. 

This is how your social media should operate too. It should reflect who you are as a person, so stop planning your Instagram stories. Let go and let it flow. 

A strong presence there coupled with a strong industry reputation will make doors swing open for you. Here’s how to make sure your reputation is top notch.

The most successful actors have always known that it isn’t about them. Acting is not a simple career choice. It’s a public service. We do it for all of us. 

Acting is one of the most selfless career choices you could make, but that doesn’t mean you have to make it hard on yourself.

So go out and perform with passion and surely I will… 

See you at the top, 
Scott 

Kaizen for Actors

Safety quality complexity and speed 

Must have goals, and rules of engagement like frequency, private time, discipline to do the work then enjoy, 

Enough already Grasshopper! It seems that everyone in the industry is chasing the magic formula for finally making it in this business. 

Fortunately, it now comes in pill form! Take 2 everyday and you will wake up a star in no time… 

Obviously I’m kidding, but it you look around at your circle of industry friends they are pretty close to searching on Amazon to see if that exists. 

When I talk to actors nowadays, everyone is obsessed with new success hacks, affirmations, nailing the perfect morning routine so that you can carry positivity throughout the day, etc… 

All of that is important but what if you didn’t need any of it? 

What if the secret to making big career moves had nothing to do with any of that? 

Imagine if all you had to do, in order to build the career of your dreams, was just one thing every day?

Well, it really is that simple. 

To fully understand what I’m talking about let’s take a quick trip to Japan. One of the toughest parts of human history to look back on is what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

Bear with me for a sec, this is important. 

For most of us 1945 was a few lifetimes ago, but I think we can all agree that it’s not exactly ancient history. 

Think about this. How did Japan go from being reduced to piles of rubble to what is widely considered the most technologically advanced country in the world? 

This is not just a history lesson, it has everything to do with your acting career. 

See, there is an ancient Japanese principle called Kaizen and if you apply it to your career, you too can make the same improvements. 

Here are the implications. Consider what we just talked about regarding Japan (reduced to rubble and then became the most technologically advanced country). Why is it that they were able to do this, after basically being wiped off the map, while other countries that went undisturbed for centuries did not progress nearly as quickly. 

It’s the same reason that actors who have been in the industry for decades get stuck and do not progress, while newbies come out of nowhere and skyrocket overnight. 

It all comes down to Kaizen. 

Here’s what Kaizen is. It means “continuous improvement.” 

That’s a no brainer you might think, but how many people are actually practicing it? 

It’s kind of like the saying “a journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.” When you are living by the principle of Kaizen you are committed to making incremental improvements everyday. 

As actors, we are typically told that we have to shoot for the stars and swing for the fences. However, while you try to make one giant leap, there are other actors that slowly creeping up and that will surpass you before long. 

Every time you swing for the fence and miss, you end up right back where you started. What it really takes is a hybrid approach. 

I’m a big proponent of making yourself uncomfortable by going out for roles that you are not prepared for, pursuing and meeting people that you are not supposed to meet yet, and I do believe in shooting for the stars. 

As an actor you should aim to improve your skillset and your marketability, more on that in a bit, by just 1% every day. If you only did that much, where would be after just 1 year? 

If you swing and miss, no problem, you are still making improvements and moving forward everyday. 

Whether you are trying to rebuild an entire country or if you are just building an acting career, Kaizen can get you there. 

Think of it this way. It takes about 500 words to speak almost any language conversationally. So if you resolved to learn just 1 new word everyday it would take you just over a year to speak the language proficiently. 

The task doesn’t seem so daunting now does it? 

Maybe you want to learn how to do your own stunts, so that you have an advantage over other actors. There are about a dozen base moves that a stunt actor must master. 

If you resolved to work on one a little bit each day and focused on just one move per week, you would be a stunt actor by summertime! 

Want to master a new dialect and open up more on screen opportunities for yourself? Take it one day at a time. Dialects are determined by how a syllable is pronounced. Focus on just one syllable per day and again, you would master your new dialect in record time. 

Reach out to someone you want to work with, whether it’s a director, another actor, producer, etc. everyday. 

Don’t aim to contact the whole town at once, just reach out to one new person everyday. By the end of the year you will have contacted 365 industry decision makers. 

That is more than most actors will attempt throughout their entire career. 

That’s the Kaizen difference. 

So give it a try and chronicle your journey. At first, you may feel like you’re not doing enough. Trust the process and stick to it. The results will be compounding, and you will be amazed at just how much you are able to accomplish in your career. 

You also want to make sure that your industry reputation and marketability are top notch. Here’s how you do that.

I’ve seen actors do everything else correctly and neglect this part. What happens is that your potential gets ahead of your reputation. 

To make sure that you are fully able to capitalize on every opportunity that comes your way be sure to handle this now. Don’t let it be an afterthought.

So what will you take on Grasshopper? What career moves will you plan on making? Let me know in the comments below or shoot me an email. I read every one that comes through. 

See you at the top, 

Scott 

P.S. One of the most common questions I get from actors, is about how I can help them to move their careers forward. Since I can’t be everywhere at once, this is the next best thing.

How To Prepare for The Most Common Type of Audition

Everyone loves a good character role. Some actors like playing the villain that is out of this world insane. 

Others like playing in period pieces. Whichever character role is your favorite, chances are you have probably spent a ton of time preparing yourself for it. 

What if that was mostly in vain? 

See character roles are such a small portion of what you will be auditioning for that spending a lot of time preparing for them is counterproductive. Plus, on the grand scheme, it is one of the easier roles to play. 

By far, the toughest auditions and the toughest roles to play are the ones you will be faced with most often, yet most actors seldom put much effort into preparing for them. 

That character type is: you! Everyday people are most of what you see on TV, Film, and even in stage productions, far more often than anything else. 

Most actors would rather spend time working on other character types because they are “more interesting” or they pose a “different challenge.” 

While you should be a well rounded actor, doesn’t it make sense to focus on what you will be cast as most often? 

Fair warning: most of what you have been taught about playing this type of role is just plain wrong. Most of your reservations about playing this role full out, are unfounded. 

See, regardless of the media type (be it screen or live action) your actions are muted. So, you can’t just casually react in the scene. Everything has to be amplified. 

If it feels unnatural, you are on the right track. Go against your instincts and dial up your performance. Everyone in your acting class might think you’re nuts. That’s ok. Even a director that is less than stellar will see the perfection in your performance because they are seeing it through a lens. 

To really get a good idea of this you have to establish a baseline for what “normal” is. You have to train your mind, just like you train your body. 

If you’re not recording and reviewing yourself performing scenes, it’s time to start. It’s even better if you can do this with a friend or in a small group. 

Here’s how you establish the baseline. 

First pick a scene you want to act out. 

Then record yourself acting the scene. Do this 3 times. Start at the level at which you would normally play this role and overact by a little for the second take and overact by a lot for the third take. 

Review the takes and pick whichever scene is closest to what you think is a great performance. You probably won’t have a perfect one just yet so pick the take that is closest. 

Do this again 2 more times and adjust your performance with each take, for however you critiqued yourself. If you overacted in the original scene, then dial down the performance for take 1 and then dial it down even more for take 2. 

If you underacted in the original scene then dial up your performance and overact by a little for take 1 and overact by a lot for take 2. 

When you review the scenes again, take note of which one comes closest to what you feel is a standout performance. 

Do this over and over again, until you find one that is just right. 

Once you find it, it’s time to lock in that level as your baseline for all future roles. To do that, simply play the scene, at the same level and in the exact same way over and over again. 

Do this until you are so bored that you can’t stand to do it anymore. That’s when your baseline has been established. When your mind is bored with a task, it’s because it doesn’t have to be active while you’re performing that task. In other words, it’s second nature at that point. 

With your new baseline you can now go forth and tackle new roles with confidence. 

When other actors audition for this type of role they try to turn switch on and attempt to act it out on the spot. Notice how far you came from the first round of takes until you settled on one you liked. Actors who don’t go through this exercise are doing that in real time in front of Casting Directors! 

CDs have a different frame of reference and they are able to watch your performance and imagine it being played out on screen. This is why you have to establish your baseline. If you don’t, then chances of you delivering a stand out performance for a CD are incredibly slim. 

Now that you know how to prepare for the most common type of audition, it’s time to get out there and knock them out of the park! 

If you don’t know when your next audition will be, start here.

This will open doors for you and you can use it as leverage to get into more auditions and to upgrade the quality of the projects you are working on. 

It’s no secret that the industry values this just as much or even more than the talent you bring, but when you have this and the talent, you are completely unstoppable. 

See you at the top, 
Scott 

My Biggest Mistake of 2018

Grasshopper, I may have led you in the wrong direction. Here’s why… 

I was having “lunch” with a friend recently, or at least trying to. 

I couldn’t get him to focus on our conversation, or lack thereof, for 2 seconds. He was too busy posting to social! 

Doesn’t it drive you crazy when this happens? 

As I started to think it over, I realized that it happens with my industry friends all the time. With my non-industry friends, it seldom happens. 

My inquisitive mind, led me to chase that rabbit and ask questions. 

And I hate what I found!... 

See, in my eagerness to serve you I think that something big was lost in translation. It seems that everyone in the industry has started to hyper focus on that message and it’s time to pull the plug. 

Remember, one of the key points to success is to notice what everyone else is doing, then do the opposite. 

Everyone is focusing so much on social media. That’s a good thing. 

However, almost all of them are doing it wrong! 

Here’s why: they are focusing on width. 

Here’s what I mean and what it has to do with your acting career. Think about this: how many friends do you have on Facebook? How many followers do you have on Twitter or Instagram? 

Add them up real quick. 

Now how many of those people are your true, ride or die for each other, bring over a casserole when you’re sick kind of friends? 

A true friend will call you, knowing that you’re having a bad day before you even tell them. A true friend will drive across town at 3 am to pick you up after you’ve been carjacked in Long Beach (thanks Chris!). 

They do this because the relationship has depth. 

The depth of the relationship is the backstory, the bond, the memories and everything that makes you friends. 

1 true friend is worth more than 1000 acquaintances. 

The mistake that everyone is making with social media right now, is that they (maybe even you) are going for width and ignoring the depth of the relationship. 

So do the opposite. 

Everyone is so hyper focused on seeing their follower counts go up that they forget about deepening the relationship with that platform. 

Not only do I get it, I’m partially responsible for spreading that idea. Having 100,000 or even 1 Million followers is an arbitrary measure of success. It doesn’t mean a thing, if you can’t drive them to take action for you. 

See, everyone focuses on the top line number of followers, but at some point you have to focus on befriending your platform. The reason that people who have a big platform are able to cross over into the mainstream entertainment business is that their platform is full of ride or die, drive across town for you at 3 am, type of people. 

Having a platform of 100 devoted followers will serve you infinitely more than 1,000 followers who never even look at your feed. 

Here’s how you fix this problem. Stop spamming them with self aggrandizement. Peel the layers and let them see what you’re really about. 

Posting pictures of your brunch plate is not going to cut it. Treat your following like you would treat your best friend instead. 

If you blew the audition, share it with them. 

One of my friends shared a video of a young actress that was pouring her heart out after doing just that. She wasn’t doing it for likes or views, she was just being genuine about her feelings. 

Watching it, I felt like she was crying on my shoulder. 

In less than 24 hours she gained over 27,000 followers and her video had over 6,000 comments. 

See, when you focus on depth, the width takes care of itself. That’s how content goes viral. 

If that sounds a bit contradictory to what I was saying before, reread it. 

Focusing on width will get you nowhere. Focusing on depth, will get you to places you never imagined. It’s no secret that your social media following precedes you, when you walk into an audition. 

I want to be sure that I’m careful and clear on this point. 

I am not saying that you shouldn’t focus on growing your following. Quite the opposite. More on that in a sec. 

What I am saying is that you should focus on deepening the relationships you have simultaneously. That being said, building a social media presence that empowers your acting career is kind of a cart-before-the-horse, chicken-or-the-egg kind of things. 

It’s infinitely easier to build a platform on a foundation. So you may want to get the party started, so to speak. Here’s how you do that.

Momentum is key, so instead of starting from scratch, do this and watch your following grow faster, because of the “social proof” factor. 

Just don’t forget to peel the layers and build depth too. 

It’s much easier to walk into an audition confidently knowing that no one else in the room can bring as much attention to a project as you can. 

Couple this with a stellar IMDb reputation and the industry will soon start to bend to your will.

So grasshopper, I hope this all makes sense. If you have any questions, remember that I’m always only a comment or an email away. 

If you found this special release helpful, chances are there are a couple people in your life who would find value in it too. Feel free to pay it forward. 

See you at the top, 
Scott

The Mysterious Package (ScottiLeaks 3.0)

A knock at the door in the evening is seldom a good thing. The day the package arrived was like any other, until then. 

I opened the door signed for the package and accepted it. I immediately felt a shiver run down my spine. My blood went cold, and I felt the gravity of what I was holding before I opened it. 

I sat the package on the counter and almost ceremoniously poured myself a drink. I’ll admit, I did hold the package to my ear and listened for a ticking sound. LOL 

Being in the industry and having watched more than my fair share of action movies, I pulled my shirt over my mouth and nose as a precaution (as if that would work anyway!) and carefully pulled at the gold ribbons. 

As they came off, it was as if the contents of the package had been held under pressure and the paper gently released. It was like the contents breathed a sigh of relief for finally being freed. 

You might appreciate the reference Grasshopper… 

When I held the contents of the mysterious package in my hands, my jaw dropped. It was a manuscript. Some might call it a memo or a mission statement. 

Even the cover looked like the Catcher in the Rye. 

In a nod to the classic, it too was titled “The things we think and do not say. The future of our business.” 

I knew what it was before reading a single word. 

See, I’m a huuuuuuuge Jerry Maguire fan and the sender knew this and spoke my language to ensure that the contents of the manuscript would not be overlooked. 

Here’s why this matters to you and what it has to do with your acting career. 

If you have never seen the film Jerry Maguire, it’s worth watching (a few dozen times in my case). At the very least you should YouTube the Fandango clips. They’re a pretty good summary. 

In the beginning of the film Jerry Maguire, a sports super agent, has a meltdown of sorts and pens the document that will end his career and has it distributed to everyone in his company. It railed against everything the company stood for, up to that point. 

That’s what the manuscript I was sent, was too. 

As I studied each of the 45 pages, I was almost shaken by what the author was saying. Some of it is a topic for another release. 

What’s important for you to know now, is that the industry is currently a rudderless ship. It is bouncing along going wherever the winds blow. There is an enormous vacuum that is being unreported. 

There has been a huge exodus of leadership in the industry. Many of the studio heads and executives remain only as figure heads so as to not panic shareholders. Perhaps even more alarming is that there is a shortage of financing available for new projects. 

You may have noticed the studio slates starting to look different than in previous years. 

Our beloved industry is in a very real crisis. 

But, with every crisis comes opportunity and that’s where you come in. See, the author of the manuscript echoed much of the film’s narrative. 

“Fewer clients. Less money.” Was a central theme. 

As is confirmed by a member of their management staff, big powerful players like W.M. Endeavour are becoming less relevant by the day. It’s why they are diversifying into other avenues, such as purchasing the UFC, and getting into event promotion. 

The reason for that may not be as noble as Jerry Maguire’s reasons. There exists an inverted pyramid of talent. 

This means that there are more people retiring from the industry than the number of people entering the industry. This has concentrated the industry influence within a group of actors that are tenured in the industry and very expensive to hire, but many of whom are not relevant to the box office audience. 

When this happens, producers and casting directors become risk averse. This will spell career disaster for actors that are not prepared for it. 

See, with the perfect storm of financing that is drying up, an inverted pyramid of expensive talent, and an audience that is simply unwilling to pay for that talent, the studios and production houses are at a loss in more ways than they know to handle. 

Here’s what you can do right now. Remember that you, as an actor, are a business. Businesses only exist because they solve problems. 

So, if you can solve the industry’s problem, you’re in business. 

Simple…right? 

The huge influx of social media personalities into the main stream is something we have talked about before. As this trend nears its peak, what is becoming evident is that someone with a few million followers can draw a big audience to the box office. 

However, by and large, they’re not actors and thus will only be a flash in the pan. 

So if you’re an actor that wields social media influence and can combine that with your acting skills, you are solving the industry’s biggest problem. 

See, if you have a following you are considered to be a less risky casting decision. We are already to the point where people are being DMd by casting directors asking for an audition. 

What you need to do now is focus on building your platform. Here’s where to start.

Remember that a big following may not be enough, as you also need to prove that you have the skills to be a long term investment. You also need to have an industry reputation that is top notch.

While everyone in the industry is either running around without a clue of what to do next, or is blissfully unaware, you can exploit this opportunity to bring order and emerge with a career that exceeds your wildest dreams.

I’ll leave you with a question that one of my mentors always left me with… 

Tomorrow the sun will rise, what are you going to do with it? 

If you want your tomorrow to be the same as your today, then you should do the same as yesterday. If you want your tomorrow to be better than today, you have to do something better. Here’s where to start.

Hoping to see you at the top,
Scott