What You are Probably Not Preparing For

There are some roles that we all love to play. They are easy to sink your teeth into and run with. 

Unfortunately, they are the least common types of roles around. 

Because “art imitates life”, chances are that 9 times out of 10 you are probably auditioning for roles that are more like the people you run across in everyday life rather than character roles. 

So, even though it’s a lot of fun to work on and prepare for character roles, it is of the upmost importance that you focus on everyday roles first. 

Here’s why… 

Your performances should have you connect with the audience in a genuine way. When a performance comes off as in-genuine, it makes the audience disconnect and detracts from your performance. 

The tricky part about this is that, since actions don’t play out on screen the same way they do off screen, they have to be amplified. Striking a balance between amplifying your actions to play well on screen vs overacting is a skillset that you must master, if you want to make big career moves. 

One of the quickest and easiest ways to measure how your actions are playing out on screen is to… play them out on screen. 

Pick a scene that you are interested in calibrating and set up a camera. Be sure that it captures at least a three quarter shot so that you can also see what your hands are doing, as those movements should also be a bit exaggerated and amplified. 

Now, play the scene as you normally would. Then, play the scene out again but amplify your actions by 50%. This might make you a bit uncomfortable at first, but remember actions are muted when they come through a lens. 

Watch the two scenes back and see which version of your scene is closer to what you would consider a stellar performance. 

Don’t get your industry friends involved just yet. 

If your amplified performance is closer to your ideal, but it plays a bit over the top, redo the scene but don’t mute yourself all the way back down again. Dial it back by just a bit (maybe 10%). 

When you watch the scene back, take an honest assessment of where you are in comparison to what you consider to be a good performance. 

Are you still way over the top? Tone it down a bit and redo the scene. 

However, if you are anywhere near where you would like to be, this is where you should get your industry friends and contacts involved. 

Because you are your harshest critic, you may feel that your actions are either too exaggerated or too muted when in fact they may be spot on. 

This is why an objective, neutral opinion would be useful at this point. Whoever you decide to get an opinion from should be someone that can deliver “hard truths” without fear of hurting your feelings or damaging your relationship. 

I always recommend that you provide them with some guidelines on what you want them to provide feedback on. You want more feedback than a simple “that was great.” 

Ask them to provide feedback on your facial expressions, your hand movements, your vocal tonality, and anything else you felt unsure about. If you thought that a certain part of the scene was questionable, ask them about that specifically. 

Here’s something that is key, to lock in your level of performance once you arrive at a good level. Replay the scene at least 10 times. After three or four times of doing this you will feel like it’s overkill. 

Remember that this phase of calibrating your performance is about changing behavior, in essence, so you have to go beyond what you would normally do to ensure that the behavior sticks. 

Here’s where it gets tricky again. Because your actions are seen differently through a lens than they are in person, you also have to calibrate your actions to play well in a room. After all that’s how most of your auditions will take place. 

Repeat the exercise, but this time do it in front of a mirror. It should also provide about a three quarters view of yourself. 

Do the same thing again: get close to where you think a good performance would be then involve an industry friend or contact. To differentiate your audition performance from your on screen performance, here’s what to do. 

When you have arrived at a satisfactory performance with feedback from a third party, play the scene at that level again at least ten times. This time, however, you need to lock it in with a “state trigger.” 

This could be a hand clap, a foot stomp, or anything else that will put you into the proper state of mind. You will be doing this anytime you are going into an audition, so pick something that you can do quickly and without making a scene in the room. 

By doing the scene at least ten times and locking it in with a “state trigger” every time, you will creating an association between that trigger and the mental state that you were in when you locked it in. 

I have created something for you to use if you are not getting enough auditions to keep you busy. You can get the details on that here.

It helps you to leverage one of the most important tools you have access to, your industry reputation and will fine tune it to make sure that your reputation matches your goals and potential. 

You might be highly skilled at auditioning, but you also have to make sure that you have enough opportunities too. 

As actors, we like to practice our craft but it’s important to put in the time and effort to market ourselves to the industry in order to create opportunities. 

I like to say “if they don’t know you, they can’t hire you.”

This means that one of your primary goals is to get on their radar. 

Don’t wait until you think your audition skills are “ready” to start putting in the work to create more of them. Start before you even feel you are ready. If you are lucky enough to get an audition and opportunity before you are ready, then at the very least it will give you a hard deadline to get there. 

If you want some help with that check this out and remember that I am always only comment or an email way. 

After all, my goal is to…. 

See you at the top,
Scott

How Your Hands Can Make or Break Your Performance, What to Do About It, and Become A Booking Powerhouse

We’ve all had “that feeling” during an audition or after delivering a performance: the feeling that we didn’t come off as natural. 

After speaking and working with so many actors, I’ve discovered a common thread to this problem and it’s something most actors never even think about. 

Once you learn about this and start making just a few tweaks to your performance, the believability and relatability of your characters will improve dramatically. 

Most actors focus a lot on facial expressions and vocal tonality. This is great but it’s only two parts of a 3 sided equation. The third part is actually the trickiest to get right and it can throw off the other two very easily. 

The 3 parts of delivering a standout performance, whether it’s on set or in an audition, are facial expression, vocal tonality, and handwork (the one almost no one ever thinks about). 

Handwork gets tricky because we use our hands as a way to further communicate what the words are trying to communicate. However, it is a one dimensional medium of communication. Speech on the other hand is multidimensional. 

You can raise your voice, whisper, talk faster, and employ a number of other vocal tactics to more effectively communicate what you want to. 

You cannot do this with your hands with the same effectiveness. 

Handwork will distract from what may otherwise be a stellar performance, when it seems contrived. You don’t want your motions to be too small or too big and distracting. It’s a tough balance to strike and it doesn’t always play out on screen the same way that it does in the “real world.” 

We have to pay attention to camera angles, ensure that our face isn’t obstructed, consider whether the planned shot will even capture the motion, etc. 

The easiest way to get your handwork appearing more natural is to…let it be more natural. 

Here’s how… 

Get your script out of your hands and early as possible. Until you are off script, you shouldn’t rehearse the motion of the scene. This puts your handwork in your head and your character never has a chance to feel out the handwork naturally since their hands were restricted by the script. 

When you are off script and rehearsing full-out, you will find that your hands will have a mind of their own. That’s exactly what you want. 

In fact, if you find yourself thinking about what to do with your hands, chances are the movement will come off as ingenuine. 

Back up, clear your mind, and run the scene again. See what happens when you are able to just let go. 

An audition presents its own set of challenges with this, since you are typically not off script. 

It may be possible to be off script if the scene you are reading amounts to only a few sentences of dialogue. So, anytime you can achieve this, go for it. Casting directors are not looking for how well you can memorize, they are trying to gauge how your performance would be delivered. 

Even if you mix up a word or two, it’s ok. However, do not attempt this if you do not feel confident in your mastery of the script. Having to call “line” in an audition is not a good look. 

In an audition, you should really try to tone your handwork down. Not only do your gestures seem bigger in a small room, at this stage, it’s more likely that your handwork will distract from your performance than add to it. 

For example, what I see happen most often is that actors will hold a script in one hand and subconsciously make meaningless gestures with the other one. 

They are typically rhythmic, emphasize what shouldn’t be emphasized, and this detracts from the performance. 

In this instance you would be better served by holding your script with both hands. Many actors have made a habit out of this. 

If your auditions typically go this way, fix it by using the two handed script trick. You might be thinking that it will make your performance seem flat but it actually allows the CD to focus on your facial expressions and vocal delivery, rather than being distracted by your hands. 

Of course this assumes that you are getting into enough auditions for this make a difference. 

If you are not getting booked enough, try this.

See, to be a booking powerhouse CDs need to know you, like you, and trust you. 

If the number of auditions you are getting into is relatively low, then the problem could be that they simply don’t know you. If the don’t know you, they can’t book you. Most actors leave this part to an agent. 

If you want your future to be in your own hands and force CDs and industry decision makers to pay attention, here’s a quick and easy way to do that.

Lastly, if you’re going on a lot of auditions but are not getting callbacks or bookings, the problem is that they either didn’t like you or they don’t trust you. 

It’s typically not a likability issue and the most likely reason is that they don’t trust you. This is why you must focus on your industry reputation and making sure that it matches your goals. After you have built a relationship with them, the CDs will be much less apprehensive about hiring you. 

Until then, this is the chief marker of your credibility and industry reputation.

So now you know how to deliver a standout performance focusing on something you probably hadn’t thought about in a long time. You also know the 3 leading factors that determine whether or not you get booked or even invited to audition. 

Where will you go from here? Let me know in the comments below or shoot me an email. I read every one that come in because my goal is to… 

See you at the top,
Scott 

How Overnight Success Happens

What were you thankful for this year? In most American households, it’s tradition for us to go around the table and say what we are thankful for. 

Even if this wasn’t a tradition for you, you had to have at least thought of it sometime over the last couple days. 

Something I’ve learned about being thankful is that we’re usually only thankful for things already accomplished. This is problematic because unless you’re thankful for the journey, you might be making the journey much harder and longer than it has to be. 

Here’s what I mean. 

Have you watched a show or a movie, seen a new actor and all of a sudden you see them everywhere? 

How do some actors infiltrate the industry and skyrocket to success overnight, while others struggle to make progress for 20 or 30 years? 

This is what they knew…

What I’m most thankful for this year is, the same thing they knew: opportunity. 

See, we live in a time that, as actors, the world is in our hands. It wasn’t very long ago that we found our futures in the hands of the studios, agents, distributors, and a host of other people that didn’t really care about whether we failed or succeeded. 

Today the world is vastly different. 

We can reach millions of people with a YouTube channel and a phone. A semi-viral video can fetch more views than a prime time show with tens of millions of dollars in resources. 

As actors, this medium of distribution is something most of us don’t understand yet. I don’t mean YouTube specifically, more like the internet and social media at scale. 

Stick with me for a sec as I “speak geek.” There’s something called “the internet of things” that is right around the corner. You see early signs of it all around. Amazon’s Alexa can control your lights, lock your doors, etc. 

Soon, everything in your life will be equipped with a sensor and be connected and communicating with each other. Your car will signal to your garage door to open when you get home, which will signal to your refrigerator to reorder your favorite snacks when you get low, and will trigger your TV to tune in to your favorite shows as soon as you walk in the door. 

What does this have to with your acting career? 

Distribution and a gigantic need for content. 

The reason actors needed studios in the past was that they controlled the distribution. Pre-internet, you needed them because they controlled your ability to get in front of the public and to get your project seen. 

That’s not the case anymore. The equation has literally done a 180. The studios need you now. 

I’ll come back to the Internet of Things in a moment because it ties into your career in a very unique way, but first I want you to understand the power and leverage you hold. 

What scares the Hollywood establishment more than anything is that you can pick up your phone and reach anyone in the world at any time. It could be through Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, your blog, etc. 

This brings you immense opportunity, because opportunity follows attention. 

And, that’s exactly what the internet and social media can bring you. 

I like to say “they can’t hire you, if they don’t know you.” The goal then becomes to generate massive amounts of attention and “get known” by the industry. 

This may seem contradictory to my earlier statement about not needing the studios for distribution. It’s not. The difference is that you now control your access to the studios. In the past, you had to go on the audition circuit, do workshops, etc. and hope to be seen and picked by them. 

Now, if you play your cards right, they will be courting you hoping you pick them to work with. 

There’s a marketing practice called “The tipping point.” It’s the point at which an idea, a product, a movie, or even an actor’s popularity crawls out of the shadows and starts to go mainstream. It then spreads like wildfire. 

Your job as an actor, if you truly want to succeed in the industry and make this a long term, fulltime, rewarding career, is to get yourself to that tipping point. 

You do that by generating attention. Build your social media platforms. Here’s how I can help you get the ball rolling with that. Because attention begets attention, it’s easier if you’re not starting from the ground floor. 

There’s a great line in Jerry Maguire. He (a sports agent) is talking to a client and says “I will not rest until I have you holding a Coke, wearing your own shoe, playing a video game featuring you, while singing your own song in a new commercial starring you, broadcast during the Superbowl, in a game that you are winning, and I will not sleep until that happens.” 

That’s the product of the tipping point. 

The industry is looking for actors that are about to hit the tipping point, so they can take you across the finish line. 

That’s why you see so many YouTubers, and Instagrammers crossing over into the in the industry. They are being handed shows, starring in films and even having entire productions developed specifically for them. 

They have the attention and a reputation for delivering work that the public supports. Make sure your industry reputation is always in good shape too. Here’s a quick way to make sure it matches the scale of your goals and ambition.

Here’s where the Internet of Things comes into play and how it ties into your career. There’s already a refrigerator that can tell when you are getting low on milk and eggs, for example, and reorder your favorite brands for delivery. It does so without any intervention on your part. 

The next step in the evolution of the IoT is that you will get recommendations for trying new things. You’ll have Morgan Freeman pop up on your screen and saying “I see that you are about to reorder Oak Farms milk but you should try Borden instead. It’s richer in vitamin D…” 

There’s a reason celebrity placement in advertising works: they have attention and attention yields credibility. A good percentage of people will order Borden, just because Morgan Freeman to told them to. 

This will happen everywhere. If you pick up a pair of Nike running shoes at the store, you’ll get a notification with someone trying to persuade you that Reebok is better. 

It’s going to be a part of our everyday lives very soon and that creates a need for massive amounts of content and it creates a need for a ton of people with attention and credibility. 

Put yourself in position to take advantage of this move now by building your social media, your reputation and your credibility. 

The window is closing on social media. If you have been struggling to grow your following, because people with a few hundred thousand or a million followers are in the same space, imagine when you have to fight for attention when the numbers swell to 10 million followers being the norm, because they are being backed by the industry to cross the tipping point. 

When we started to see Instagrammers on TV, we should have paid attention. When Will Smith launched a show on YouTube, we definitely should have paid attention. 

The time to build your platform is now, so what will you do next grasshopper? The key to accomplishing this, is to be genuine and also to be believable. If you say you are an actor, people will look up. They will look for your recent works, check out your IMDb, etc. 

Be sure that what they find matches your goals. Here’s how I can help.

Remember, I’m always only a comment or an email away because my goal is to… 

See you at the top, 
Scott

The Most Effective Strategy for Industry Domination

There’s something that I have been keeping to myself Grasshopper. 

Not intentionally, I just haven’t told you about it in a while. Coincidentally, it happens to be the most effective strategy for skyrocketing your acting career. 

Why? 

It combines a few of the most effective strategies an actor can deploy. 

When I first shared this, many actors ignored it. The ones that applied it, have seen amazing success. 

See, it allows you to accomplish several things at once. It’s called the Demonstration of Power Pack Strategy because that’s exactly what it allows you to do: demonstrate your acting power to those you most want to get in front of. 

Simultaneously, you force their attention because it’s not a passive process. 

You can do it digitally, but a physical 3 dimensional package is going to be 100X more effective. Start by putting together a list of 10 industry people you want to get in front of. They could be Casting Directors, Producers, etc. 

Once you have compiled your list, it’s time to flex your creative muscle. 

What you’ll end up doing is sending a package to the list you just put together. One of the most effective things I’ve seen done, is a suitcase. Inside was a DVD player, a headshot, resume, and a personalized letter. 

The actor that sent this ingenious package ended up getting an incredible role, in what turned out to be a fantastic production. 

Her agent attempted to get her in to read for the role, to no avail. 

When your agent submits you for a role, it is very much a strategy of “hope.” They hope that your headshot and resume even gets seen. Moreover, neither your headshot or resume do you justice. 

You need a way to showcase your talent, before ever getting in the room. 

That’s what makes the demonstration of power pack strategy so effective. Whatever direction you decide to take it, just be sure that it includes your reel, headshot, resume, and most importantly a personalized letter to whomever you are sending it to. 

It should also be user friendly, meaning putting your reel on a usb drive is probably not going to get it seen. 

Having a DVD player set to auto play when the package opens, is likely to be much more effective. 

Since I first shared this strategy, I’ve received a ton of emails from actors that have had much success. One of the most creative accounts I’ve seen was a treasure chest. 

Delivering a treasure chest containing your reel and resume to a CD sends a great subliminal message to the recipient. What makes this so powerful is the personalization. 

In this case, the actor was hoping to get in to read for a film. So she picked the recipients carefully. She chose to deliver the treasure chests to 3 people involved in the film: the CD, Director, and the screenwriter. 

Each one of the chests had a different twist. After doing the research, she knew the CD had an affinity for chocolate. So, she filled the treasure chest with gold (chocolate) coins. Inside the chest, was the DVD player set to auto play when the chest was opened. 

She also rolled up her resume and headshot to look like a treasure map and even had the resume and letter printed on paper that looked aged and weathered. 

During the research phase, she also discovered that the Director and the screenwriter were both into comic books. 

So, she included a somewhat rare title in the treasure chest. It was sort of like an ethical bribe to consume the contents of the treasure chest: the resume, headshot, etc. 

It wasn’t an ultra rare, expensive comic either. It was just a bit of a personal touch that the recipients appreciated. 

Taking just a little bit of time to do the research on people that you want to get in front will make a world of difference. Then, you can approach them having built a bit of rapport. 

Considering that the industry runs on personal relationships, rapport is very important. 

I want to be clear on something: not everyone you send the Demonstration of Power Pack to will respond. Some of them will be out of town for weeks at a time and your delivery will have simply lost context by the time the return. 

Others will simply ignore deliveries from people they don’t recognize. 

The overwhelming majority however will respond in someway. Ideally, you will get a meeting or an audition out of your campaign. 

The most important part of whether your campaign will succeed is actually not contained inside the package you deliver. 

See, when someone (whether it’s a CD, director, etc) receives your delivery, before deciding whether or not they will respond or engage with you in some way, they will look you up. 

They will look into your background and try to gauge whether you are someone they should spend time on. So, before you launch something like this, be sure that your industry reputation is in tip top shape.

If you put in the time to research the recipients, put together a package specifically for them, while your industry reputation is in good shape then your chances of success with this strategy increase exponentially. 

Here’s a quick way to make sure your reputation matches your goals.

So what will you do next Grasshopper? I purposely left much room for interpretation here, because there’s not one right way to do this. 

Let your imagination do the work but remember that your backstory, meaning your track record in the industry, and the personalization of the delivery are what’s most important. 

As always, you can reach me through the comments below or shoot me an email with any questions. I read and respond to every one of them that comes through, because my goal is to… 

See you at the top, 

Scott 

The Other Skills You Need to Make It in The Industry

Growing up, I was very passionate about many things that were usually unwarranted.

I was passionate about my favorite sports teams and would readily debate anyone for hours if they dared to have a difference in opinion.

I was also passionate about silly things like my favorite color (which has changed many times through the years), the coolest car on the road, Pepsi VS Coke, and tons of other stuff that were of little importance.

Like any other kid, my focus was on being a kid.

Sure, I had big dreams and always wanted to get out to Hollywood to pursue them… but that was always something I would do “one day.”

In the small town I grew up in, there were only a few of us that thought this way. Some of us wanted to be actors, others wanted to play professional sports, and some wanted to serve in government on a high level.

There was exactly 1 of us that was actually working towards it and ended up making it big time!

If you are reading this, you have definitely seen her on TV, or while surfing Netflix. You have probably even seen some of her film work too.

When she left town midway through High School, with a Disney deal in hand, it was the talk of the town and everyone kept saying that she was so lucky.

Over the years, I thought about how she was able to achieve so much so quickly.

It wasn’t luck at all and that’s the great news. She only did a couple things masterfully and if you do them too, you can absolutely skyrocket your career!

Here’s how…

She started actively working on building a career at a very early age. While the rest of us were playing “cops and robbers” she was at home, working on her craft.

The motion of this activity let her feel like she was on track, long before she had any evidence of that.

The feeling of achievement allowed her to keep going, in spite of the lack of progress. Many of us get discouraged after feeling a lack of progress for just a couple of weeks or sometimes, even just a few days is enough to have the doubts start creeping in.

When you’re working on big goals, it’s important to keep your mind’s eye on the prize always!

Aim to fill up your time with targeted activities, of which I’ve given many, many examples and resources. Free time is the enemy of achievement.

If you have a couple hours between auditions, don’t go home and rest. Walk up and down Sunset and see who you can bump into.

Bring supplies with you and set up shop at a Starbucks to do your marketing mail outs. Just work on targeted activities instead of simply filling up time and before long, you will set yourself on autopilot and it will become your modus operandi.

You will in effect start to compress time and get more done, quicker. That was a big factor in how my former classmate was able to accomplish so much, in a very short amount of time.

She was also one of the most confident and courageous people I have every met. We worked on a show together once and I noticed that she missed a couple cues on opening night. She was clearly disappointed afterwards, so I approached to ask if everything was ok.

She shared with me that she had always battled a horrible case of stage fright. I was a bit confused by that because her performances were always impeccable.

“How can you of all people have stage fright” I asked.

She told me that stepping out on stage required a conscious decision to feel the fear and then go out and perform anyway.

Today I realize, that’s what courage is. It’s not about being fearless. It’s about doing what your fear anyway.

Courage is seeing Ari Emanuel walk into the restaurant, getting up and introducing yourself anyway, even though you might be terrified of talking to one of the most powerful people in the industry.

Courage is picking up the phone and calling Bob Iger’s office even though he has no idea you even exist.

It takes a ton of courage to breakthrough in the industry, because you will constantly face situations where you will feel the fear and have to carry on anyway.

Start flexing your courage muscle today. What scares you? Is it picking up the phone and calling your dream agent or showing up at their office unannounced?

The worst that can happen is they don’t pick up the phone or are out of the office, so you would end up right back were started except that you will have flexed that courage muscle.

Perhaps you do catch them in the office or actually get them on the phone, setting off what could be a chain of fantastic events.

I used to hate calling anyone on the phone. Even ordering a pizza, I couldn’t let the phone ring more than 3 times before panicking, hanging up, and getting a burger instead.

It took thousands of phone calls but because I chased the fear, now with few exceptions I can get any one on the phone and I have made some really valuable connections.

I once called Michael Eisner’s office day after day and after call #107 I got through to him and spoke to him for about 10 minutes about a project I was developing. He put me in touch with the people in development who took me seriously since the CEO told them about the project.

Ultimately, they passed on the it but I ended up making valuable connections that I rely on to do this.

You never know what can end up happening after a simple phone call.

Will Smith said “the most beautiful things in the world are on the other side of fear.” So go to where the fear is and chase it relentlessly. Often, it’s the fear that lets you know you are on the right track.

Something I figured out early on is that if you have the right story in place, then it’s a way you can sort of hack your brain into pushing towards fear.

I created a tool to help you do just that. It helps you approach auditions with superior confidence, knowing that your reputation matches your potential. Here are the details on that.

Lastly, I wanted to talk about something very important but for which there is a lot of noise and many misconceptions.

If you want to achieve a big goal like becoming a full time actor with more opportunities than you even have time for, then it’s important that you master the art of thinking big.

Recently I heard a story, about a group of elementary school kids. Their teacher asked them to draw a picture of what they wanted to be when they grow up.

Excitedly, the kids went to work drawing pictures of firefighters, police officers, doctors, etc.

Except for one student. He drew a picture of a pizza delivery driver. There’s honor in working hard regardless of the occupation but the teacher was confused about the student’s choice because it didn’t match what one would expect.

His mother said that the student’s uncle was a pizza delivery driver and the only man in his life that wasn’t incarcerated or on drugs.

Humans, regardless of age, tend not to reach for the highest branch on the tree of life. We reach for the highest branch we can see. The young boy couldn’t “see” himself as a CEO or a doctor because to him it wasn’t real. It was for other people.

That’s why it’s difficult to make it out of the Southside of Detroit, if that’s all you have ever known.

It’s no different for actors. Most of us are not rubbing elbows with Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep.

We tend to surround ourselves with people in the same professional place as us. It’s one thing to know that a branch exists, obviously we all know that becoming a marquee actor is a real and tangible thing, it’s another thing to see it.

If you lived in a building were everyone else was a successful actor, it would uplift your career too. Winners recognize winners, so it would propel you to win along with everyone else.

You would also get to see firsthand, the mechanics of what they are doing. You would see them going to gym at 5 am every morning, dropping off their mailouts every Tuesday and Thursday, ordering in from Sur La Table instead of In N Out, and running lines on the balcony.

There is real power in having this kind of a network so you must always put effort into building one.

You will be surprised at who you can attract into your network. It follows the principle of thinking big. Leo needs a few friends, just like everyone else.

The only caveat is that no one wants a friends that always needs something and brings nothing to the table, so be sure that your backstory and your reputation match what you want to accomplish. Here’s a quick way to do that.

I put together this special report for you, because we tend to focus on the mechanics and often ignore the soft skills.

However, if you sharpen your soft skills and get your mindset right, the mechanics will follow. You truly can’t have one without the other.

Think of it this way, you can push the power button on a laptop 1000 times but if there’s no software loaded onto the hard drive, it’s never going to turn on.

But, when you have the right software and the right mechanics that’s when dreams start to come true.

Then all that’s left to do is pour fuel on the fire and do this to skyrocket your career.

I always aim to cover all the bases and bring you everything you need to succeed in the industry because my goal is to…

See at the top,
Scott

The Ultimate Guide to Getting Your Big Break

“A man that chases two rabbits, catches neither.” - Confucious 

At the time of this writing, we are almost through the first week of November. That means the season of giving is officially upon us. 

In that spirit, I want to give you something that goes beyond what we usually cover. This special report contains the A to Z recipe for how to get from where you are now to building a career that exceeds your wildest dreams, and getting that big break you’re after. 

There are truly only 3 things to focus on (yes really only 3 things) if you want to make it in the industry. 

Most of us spread ourselves way too thin and exhaust ourselves working on a thousand things that seem important but end up being a mere distraction that feels like progress. 

Fair warning: today’s special report is not for the faint of heart. It has a little bit of tough love, and because it contains the real strategies for succeeding as an actor, it will take away all excuses for someone who may not be making the career progress they want to make. 

Consider this a rallying cry and an open invitation to finally claim the success you deserve. 

If you want to know how to become the go to actor, the first person that CDs, producers, and directors think of anytime they are in casting mode, here’s where to start…

It’s as simple as uttering 5 words, but the trick is to do so genuinely. 

Here’s what I mean… 

Most actors go into an audition completely blind. They don’t know anything, or at best next to nothing, about who they are reading for. 

Not knowing anything about the director and the production staff is bad enough, but not knowing the Casting Director is even worse, when you consider that they are the on the front lines of making the casting decision. 

You should know everything about them and their careers, before you ever step foot in the audition room. 

When you make it a habit of getting to know them, you will be surprised at how many rooms you end up being invited into. Words spreads quickly in this industry and you will build goodwill very fast if you learn how to say the 5 magic words. 

“I admire your work NAME.” 

Here’s what makes those 5 words the magic phrase. When you can genuinely say to someone that you admire their work and then reference something specific about it, they will never forget you. To say it genuinely means that you have put in some effort to research their work. 

For example, if you were to walk into an audition and say to the CD “I admire your work Mary. The cast you built on The Path of Grace was incredible and played so well off each other, the project turned out fantastic!” 

Remember that to be memorable and interesting to someone, you first have to be interested [in the other person]. So, rather than approaching this from a selfish position of trying to get something out of it, do it out of genuine interest in learning more about the other person. 

After all, your future is largely in their hands sometimes. 

When I tell actors this they usually come up with tons of excuses for why they can’t research the Casting Directors. Most of the time they don’t even know who it is. 

It can sometimes be tough but if you stick with it and get a little creative, you will always pull through. A fellow member of our Boost My Star tribe didn’t know who she was reading for so she picked up the phone and called the production office. 

She asked who the CD was on the project. Not only did she get the name, reception also put the call through to the CD, without her even asking. She was able to introduce herself to the CD prior to the audition, researched the CD’s career, and ultimately landed a much, much more prominent role in the production than she originally read for. 

To be fair, this worked for her because she was relentless in her pursuit of getting the information she needed to conduct the research on every audition she went on. It also helped that she had credibility when anyone asked to know more, before divulging the information. 

Here’s a quick and easy way for you to build credibility even if you have very little industry experience right now.

Remember, even though it all starts with 5 simple words. What truly makes them magical, is the intent and emotion behind them. 

While doing this helps you build valuable relationships with everyone from CDs, to directors, and even your costars, the growth curve requires that there be a starting point: meaning it takes at least 1 audition or 1 production to get the ball rolling. 

But, what if what you need more of are those 2 things? What if you don’t have enough quality auditions or aren’t being cast enough to get things started? 

If that’s the case, you have focus on getting more of those. 

You can either sit around watching Netflix, waiting for your agent to call with your next audition (that’s slow and highly unpredictable way) or you can do it the fast way that puts things completely under your control. 

Here’s how you do that… 

I call it the Actors Career Trajectory hack and everyone who employs this powerful strategy has had amazing results. 

See, if you want another audition and more acting work, but all you have going on is waiting on a call there’s nothing you can do. 

However, if employ the following strategy, and want more work and more auditions you simply do more of it. 

I’m talking about building a platform and distributing targeted content to grow that platform. 

If you have been around the Boost My Star community for any length of time, you already know that I’m a big proponent of leveraging YouTube. The reason is that media distribution is changing. 

You don’t have to wait to have a show picked up to get attention to your content anymore. 

There’s a kid with nearly 17 million subscribers on just one of his channels, that gets more views to his videos than prime time TV. If you walk into a Walmart, you will see his name plastered all over the toy section, clothing, and of course they carry his entire line of products. 

He has half a dozen competing offers and projects in development from Nickelodeon, Disney, Universal, and both Amazon Studios, and Netflix are joining the bidding war in hopes to add to their children’s programming. 

That’s the power of building a platform of loyal and supportive fans. It is the number 1 thing that Casting Directors are looking for. 

It always helps to have a little bit of momentum to get the ball rolling while you build your platform. Here’s how I can help with that.

The mistake that most actors make is that they try to fake things and that comes off as ingenuine. Don’t try to impress, there’s way too much of that online already. Instead, chronicle the struggle. People will respect you for that way more! You will endear your fans to you and your content will spread incredibly fast. 

So now, you know how to hack your way to acting success using the Actor’s Career Trajectory and how to become the go to actor, using the 5 word magic phrase. 

All that’s left to do is ensure that you can deliver a world class performance every time that lives up to your reputation. 

Here’s how to do that… 

Stop acting. Become a vessel for your character to occupy and let things flow naturally. There are 2 ways to do this effectively. 

The first way goes against what we always learned to do, as actors. Don’t memorize your lines fully. 

When you have a complete grasp on the lines, it becomes routine and you chip away at your level of believability with each take. Aim for a 70% to 80% mastery of your lines and the entire scene. 

This will keep you from “playing in anticipation” [of the next line]. It will keep you on your toes and your actions will come from a more genuine place. 

Every world class director has said that the most talented actors they work with are the ones that never do a take the same way twice. This is one way to make that easy on you. 

The other way requires a bit of time to quiet your mind and enter alpha, as I call it. See the Alpha level of brain activity is where creativity resides. Sure, we could go esoteric but for now let’s keep things on the practical side. 

When you quiet your mind and enter the alpha brain state, you thought patterns flow slower and more clearly than they normally do. This allows you to tap into your creativity on a much higher level, because you are not comparing your thoughts against anything else. They just are. 

See in your normal state you might think things like “what if play the scene this way, would doing it like be good enough, etc.” 

When you enter alpha, you think one thought at a time. There is no comparison. Your mind simply calls forth the most effective way to play the scene, that is in your capacity (which at the alpha level is limitless). 

To go the alpha level of brain activity. Go to a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for at least 15 minutes. 

Sit up straight or lie down on your back comfortably, whichever you prefer. Close your eyes gently push away your thoughts and begin by counting backwards from 50. Picture yourself descending down a ladder, taking another step down with each number. 

When you reach the bottom of the ladder, you will find yourself in a brightly lit all white room. With your eye lids still closed, tilt your eyes slightly upward (about 45 degrees). Call forward the character you are playing. 

When they appear. Ask them any questions you have. Ask about the emotions behind the lines, what happened “behind the scenes” that doesn’t play out on screen but still drives the story and motivates the character to behave in a certain way. 

After all your questions have been answered, walk over to the character stand behind them, pause for a moment and then step into their body. 

Now, rehearse the scenes you are working on, acting from the character’s perspective. They are now you and you are now them. Don’t force anything, just let the scene happen. At the alpha level of brain activity, your first inclination is what you should always go with. 

When you are satisfied with your performance, turn around and you will see the ladder that brought you down here. Count forward to 10, taking a step up the ladder with each number. Once you reach 10, mentally acknowledge that you are now back in the room you are sitting or laying down in, audibly say “awake” and open your eyes. 

You have brought everything from the alpha level back with you, so don’t run lines, don’t rehearse the scene in any way. Simply let it flow on set. You will play the scenes just as you did at alpha, without trying to. 

Just let your actions flow and no two takes will be alike, and directors will adore you for it! When a director calls you to jokingly scolding you because they can’t choose what take to print, they will also let the entire town know about it! 

This is how you deliver a world class performance and make your career a huge success. 

That’s it grasshopper: the trifecta. The 3 things contained in this special report will get you past any obstacle you face in building your career. 

So where will you start? Let me know in the comments below or shoot me an email. I’m always happy to help in any way I can and I have put together something to ensure that your industry reputation matches your goals and your potential. Get the details on that here.

I’ve done this because my goal is to… 

See you at the top,
Scott 

What’s Happening Now in The Industry

Grasshopper, it can be the best of times or it can be the worst of times. It’s just about Halloween. After this, everyone in the industry goes into holiday mode. 

They start thinking about Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, Passover, etc. 

However, the people you most need to get in touch with are in a completely different mode. 

They will double down on their efforts as they try to close in on their year end goals. Big time people set big time goals and they will do everything they can to achieve them. 

Here’s what that means to you as an actor… 

You now have a window of time wherein you can make more progress in the next few weeks than you have all year. 

Here’s why… 

All the actors that are about to go on a mental, if not physical, vacation are doing it at the worst possible time! 

So, you must do the opposite. 

This is a time when industry decision makers are pushing towards their goals and are less distracted by the day to day happenings of the industry. 

This is a perfect storm for opportunity. 

Grasshopper, I think it’s time that we talk about time collapsing… 

See, time is a construct of society but it really means very little. 

Sure, we need to know what time to show up at for an audition, but in the grand scheme of things, time itself is irrelevant. Yet, we give it so much power. 

We think it will take years to work our way “up the ladder” or get in touch with and so and so, but where does that really come from? 

After all, it takes the same amount of time to order a pizza as it does to call up the head of a major studio. 

This is what top actors know and it’s one of the reasons they are highly successful.

If you have been around Boost My Star for any length of time, you know that I very much believe in leveraging the power of a good mentor. You would be surprised at who you can get to act as your mentor if you simply ask. 

Most people think that industry decision makers are simply out of reach and never ask them about this. 

That actually makes them prime mentor candidates, if you know how to ask them properly. 

No one wants to spend a dozen hours a month helping you get your career off the ground. They would rather spend that time helping you to pour fuel on the fire because that makes it a two way street. 

They get access to world class talent that is on the rise (you) and you get access to world class productions. 

This is how you make yourself available to them… 

Be visible! 

If they don’t know you, they won’t hire you! 

That means you have to get on their radar and I have created one of the best ways in the world to do this quickly and easily.

Executives and Casting Directors want to be the ones to discover the next big talent. They spend much of their time actively searching for you. 

However, most actors simply don’t put in the effort to make themselves visible to the industry. 

You have to actively seek to build an online audience that will follow you to the box office or tune in to any shows you are working on. 

After all, that’s what really matters. 

“It’s not show friends, it’s show business.” 

Create a category for yourself that you can dominate and the industry will come knocking at your door. 

Rather than just being an actor, you have to build a reputation for being an actor that dominates an entire category. 

Think of it this way… 

Bradley Cooper played the frat-boy who refused to grow up, masterfully for a few years. After he dominated that category, he was able to expand into roles in other genres. 

Jerry Seinfeld was the comedian turned actor until the show was cancelled, and he created an entirely new brand of television (the sitcom). 

Ask yourself what category you can dominate. 

This is how you can get into big auditions even if you have very little experience and no industry contacts. 

When you dominate a category, the industry will start to seek you out. 

Over time, entire productions can be built around you, but only if you build your career by design. 

That begs the question: where do you want your career to end up? 

See, most actors are afraid to state their goals, and that’s ok you don’t have to state them here. If you’re after an Oscar or a Golden Globe, I admire you! 

So many actors in our community shy away from actually saying that. They do so out of fear. Fear that they won’t actually get it… 

But who cares?... 

If you went all in 1000% to get a trophy and all you did was to be nominated, you still would have out worked, out lived, and out acted most actors. 

The beauty of going all in these days is that it’s easier than ever. You used to have to force the industry to take note of you during a production. Today you can literally force the industry to notice you, because of all the distribution that is available. 

So don’t hold anything back! Go all in. 

Set high goals and then chip away at them one day at a time. 

One brick after another, build your career and get some help where you need it.

What does your career look like a year from now? 

Let me know in the comments below or shoot me an email. I read every one that comes through. Because my goal is to… 

See you at the top,
Scott 

The Definitive Guide to Achieving Your Dream Acting Career

The odds of you being on this earth are 400 Trillion to 1. Wrap your mind around that.

You have already defied the odds simply by walking this earth.

Approach your career with that perspective in mind.

Let me ask you a question, what did it feel like the first time you saw your name on a cast list?

Think back to it. Remember the jitters in your stomach from being unsure if you could perform, combined with excitement. It was amazing, right?

That’s how each audition should feel.

So often, actors lose sight of why we got into the industry. We get caught up in the accolades and fanfare.

But it’s when we return to the core of our craft that we experience success.

When you go into an audition, knowing that you are going to get the job, you leave everything on the table.

You play your heart out and it shines through.

So how do you do that?

Will Smith said it this way…

When people try to do something big, they tend to fill up with fear. Then, they act from that fear.

If you have a goal to make the next great American film and win more Oscars than anybody in history, the fear that is triggered by the enormity of that goal can be paralyzing.

There will never be enough time in the day and you will never have all of the resources necessary to achieve that goal, if you take it at face value.

He often tells a story of building a wall outside of his dad’s store when he was a kid. He says, “I didn’t go after the wall as the goal. The goal became to lay this break perfectly, and then the next one, and the one after that.”

A year and a half later the project was finally finished, as the bricks became the wall.

A journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step, you’ve probably heard that expression too.

So, as you are working on building your career, get laser focused on just the next brick. Don’t look at the big picture, sometimes you have to shelf that in order to make real progress.

I once had an acting coach drill me on the fundamentals of acting. We would work on the same material day after day, until I finally broke and told him I was ready to move on to something else.

He looked at me and said “that’s why you can’t. If you are not obsessed with this, then you are not ready for what’s coming next.”

It too was the same concept said in a different way. He was reminding me to focus on the bricks, instead of the wall.

Actors are a very unique breed. We’re creatives and many of us are driven by ego, which is a rare combination.

I said this special report was a deep one, so hear me out for a moment.

If you want to make real career progress, you have to get honest with yourself and get to know yourself. That way you can be laser focused on the task at hand.

When we try to do everything, we end up not doing much of anything.

If you are focusing on growing your social media platform, ask yourself how much effort you really put into figuring it out and doing it with a purpose.

If that assessment won’t lead to the results you’re after, then take a step back and focus on only that one brick. Forget about everything else and work on just that for 2 weeks. If you master that, you will make more progress over the next 60 days, than you have ever made on social media.

That’s the power of laser focus, and I even created a tool that will give you an advantage on social media. You can get the details on that here.

You know that you should be marketing yourself to the industry daily, but if you haven’t done a mailout in a while then you need to recalibrate your efforts.

Focus on that one brick again. Here’s how I can help with that one.

I want to be clear on something, this is not empty positive thinking and expect your dream career to fall into your lap (though even that has its place but that’s for another time).

We also aren’t talking about simply hustling and working hard to get there either. Of course, those things are important but what I intended to bring you was the nuts and bolts strategy of how to go about that along with some tools that can help fast track your success.

So what will you do first Grasshopper?

What brick will you focus on laying? Let me know in the comments below or shoot me an email. I read every one that comes through and I’m always happy to help however I can because my goal is too…

See you at the top,
Scott