Building Your Acting Career
If you’ve found this page, I’ve either directed you here because you’ve asked me “how do I become an actor”- or maybe you are just stalking me in that case, awesome, I’m fairly easy to track. But I’m writing this now that I have some years under my belt as well as while it is still fresh in my mind.
Have a Solid Life Foundation
Unfortunately any form of art is expensive. A studio artist has to buy their materials: canvas, oils, brushes, etc. Your canvas as an actor is your body, your paints are your skills, and brushes are your level of talent. More on the latter two in #3, but you BODY is what we’re talking about here. What you NEED to take care of. Meaning you need food, housing, a healthy body and a healthy mind to make this work. These things are what everyday humans, actors or not, strive to achieve. However the difference is most people can afford to neglect their highest level of efficiency because, well, they can. No one is watching them, we as actors are constantly scrutinized for what we look like. The industry where it is a key component to judge if you’re right for a job is by what you look like. Not all actors have to look like Halle Berry in a bikini, but they should strive to be the best versions of themselves that they can be. That doesn't mean hating your body, if that is how you are built, if you mentally need to stay true to your current lifestyle, then you need to accept that instead of being unhappy about it, if you are unhappy about it, do something about it. Try the age old elixir of getting an adequate night’s sleep. Putting the right food into your body. A healthy lifestyle can be seen as expensive and/or luxurious, but that is a lie. It’s something everyone can try to attain for themselves if you are able enough to be reading this on whatever electronic device you are reading this from. I will say this again later in this post, but google is your friend. Google affordable ways to eat healthy on a budget, find work out videos to take on at home. Just take care of your body, of your health, of your mind, that’s the only way you can show up to training and hopefully to set, ready to perform.
Time Management
The other part of this industry is that it takes a lot of time. That’s why people who start off as child actors normally have an “easier” time getting into the industry. It’s not that it was any easier (unless it was nepotism), but they were just there longer, learned the ins- and- outs sooner. Made more valuable connections at an early age. Even then some child actors DO NOT make it because this industry is HARD. But imagine some child actors don’t make it. What more of the people who start as adults? The point to this analogy is that—time is of the essence in this industry. Do you have as much time as a child actor to dedicate yourself to the craft? You don’t have anyone washing your clothes, cooking your food, or paying your bills. So you have to treat yourself as both the parent and the child actor. You have to manage the daily drag of the menial tasks and a secure job to provide the money you need to live, and then let the child in you play and be taken care of (remember point #1). By being a parent you now also have to control your money, not just make it, know where each dollar is going, and know which money you really don’t have to be spending. Then you can realize how much money you can be saving when that flexible actor job you have goes under and now you have a safety net.
I’ve seen too many artists go down because of a lack of self-management and time-management. Get your life in order. Set a set schedule, create good habits now, and reap the benefits later. Make time for yourself to work and make the money you need to sustain yourself, but also make room for yourself to play.
Training
This doesn’t have to be at a conservatory or a university. No it is never too late. Take a class, take multiple classes, dedicate yourself to the craft, then see where you fit. If after all the work behind lines and blocking and intention hasn't deterred you. Use this base and place of community as your hunting grounds for new information. Do this kindly, but also these are the resources around you, use them, and use them kindly. Be mindful of your approach for help. There is nothing worse than moochers or smoozers. People love genuine people, if you love this enough it will just show through. Get recommendations for great photographers, then move on to the next step.
Headshots
This is the only representation of you. Make sure it IS you, or the roles you can possibly play. Make sure your friend didn’t just take them. Get REAL headshots if you really want to do some REAL projects. The goal is not to look the prettiest. It’s the same thing as what was stated in #1. The headshot is the best version of you. Best being a loose term. Accurate being the better term. What are you? Who are you? Not everyone is a lead. Sometimes people are only a lead for certain genres and communities. Know thyself. Then go into that headshot session ready to rumble.
Starter Agency
Know your limitations as to what you have to offer and what agencies will take. Know your level, and if you are brand new, go with someone who is happy to just send you out for the experience, having that stamp of an agency on your resume tells people casting that you are a step above the rest and far more serious than those doing it “just for fun”. Having an agent is always better than no agent. This includes being real with yourself. Something I’ll talk about more later in the last step. You can’t expect the best agency to take someone who has no experience. How do you get more experience you might ask? Do the steps before this one, and the steps after this one.
Actor Subscriptions
There is an additional cost to do these, but in the long run the ability to participate in submissions are worth their weight in gold. This is something that your agent can and will be doing for you as well. But when you have that starter agency, it’s best to keep your eye out for roles that are already of interest to you, that way you can apply and shape your career regardless. The only person in charge of your career is YOU.
The type of subscriptions I’m talking about here are: Actors Access, Casting Networks, and Backstage.
Build your Materials
By materials I mean the roles you booked at the result of following the previous steps. Then once you have those roles, hopefully you were able to attain footage from those projects with you: 1) speaking and 2) showing your emotional range. It’s okay if your initial go at having a demo reel is bad. That’s how it is going to be for the first two years for anyone. You cannot play a comparison game or endgame what you want you reel to be, you have to accept it for what it is so you know what you need to tackle next. You cannot get your footage if you do not ask for your footage. This is your source of payment. Also for the first couple of years, you are GOING to work for free, there is no way to not. Everyone starts somewhere, and if you are in Texas like me, especially in Texas, that’s the only way to build connections. Those connections will pay off in the long run. Like most things in this post, it takes time, there are NO shortcuts. Which leads into the next point.
Leveling Up
I can’t take credit for this term. This is what a great podcast my friend Michlynn showed me that’s called “Audrey Helps Actors”. Highly recommend this podcast. But basically you just repeat steps 1-5 again. This time you are better than how you started, but it’s cyclical. There are no shortcuts, only moving on up slowly and surely. It’s an upwards spiral. The downwards spiral is completely possible too, but only if you expect your life to magically happen overnight. There is no room for delusion in this business. You can have dreams, but delusion is what kills dreams. Know your level, and level up when the time is right.
Hope this was helpful to you person who asked me “how to get started” or my favorite “how do I do the thing?”. I mean you have google, and the answers are basically going to be the same. So after you’re done reading this, any questions you have, you can most definitely google. That’s what I did. That and trial for error. The work will mean nothing if you did not do it for yourself.