Which Actors Will Work?
When examining why an actor will or won’t work
There are several factors worth considering
One - Skills
Are you any good at what you do?
Can you contribute generous work to the tribe?
Especially within the style of acting you are orientating yourself toward.
Two - Character
Does your behaviour as a professional (and human) make people want to work with you?
Ya know, the basics…
Kindness, honesty, willingness, respect, being on time, prepared etc etc
Three - Creators
Those who don’t wait
Those who go first
Write their own stuff
Put on their own stuff
Make their own stuff
The ones who aren’t sitting in a cave full of cobwebs
Four - Connections
People
Reputation
Word of mouth
…Networking
Ooo
That word
“Networking”
If that word makes your tummy queasy
Change its meaning:
Just hang out with people your body likes hanging out with.
Five - Circumstances
This is a funny one
But it’s worth flagging
Sometimes our circumstances breed work
When my buddy had his first child, he was overwhelmed with the offerings of acting jobs that flowed over the following year
All openly coming from a place of “we want to support you as you step into parenthood”
Six - Social Proof
Proof you can deliver
A resume of stuff that convinces directors or producers that it’s a great decision to hire you
A resume that says they can trust you with the ball
Now…
For number seven
Drumroll please
Trends
What’s currently hot right now
And what’s not
Your nose shape
Age
Skin colour
Eye colour
Sexuality
Gender
Cultural background
Whom you may (or may not) look similar too
Etc etc
Since the day I entered into drama school
I have been bewildered as to how much focus goes toward trends
“You will work (because of this thing that’s out of your control)!”
Or
“You won’t work (because of this thing that’s out of your control)!”
I have been told explicitly
In professional board rooms with long glass tables:
“You will work because of your (skin, eyes, hair, gender, sexuality)”
Fours years later I was explicitly told on a giant conference call:
“You won’t work because of your (skin, sexuality, gender)”
And you what I found to be most interesting?
Both times they were wrong
When I was told I will work non stop (based off factors other than my skills)
I didn’t get much work at all for almost two years.
When I was told I won’t work at all (despite my skills) because of factors out of my control
I immediately jumped right into the busiest year I have ever had working as an actor
So what’s going on here?
Lets look to investing
The desire to predict the trend
The desire to predict the stock market
Has driven humans crazy for hundreds of years
It is something that is still fought for every day
With tooth and nail
That is despite the fact that no-one has ever done it consistently over their lifetime
Even the most successful investors
Are the first ones to say
You cannot predict it
So why try so hard to predict or chase the trend?
Why spend every day being in a state of anxiety, concern, worry and stress?
Well
It’s a dream case short cut
Imagine doing no work but watching your value increase dramatically?
Imagine
Tomorrow
You wake up
And boom
You’re instantly the most valuable actor in the world
Despite your actual ability, your skills, being the exact same.
Damn
Money to pay bills for generations
Any car or home you’d like
All the freedom to choose what job you do next
That director
This script
Those colleagues
Sip margaritas on the beach for as many days in a row as you like
Thank you very much!
That is certainly easier than the other option
What is that other option, you ask?
Show up
Day after day
And find joy in the effort
Find meaning, purpose and bliss in the boring bits
The long, hard and repetitive work.
There is a very important piece of the puzzle here
Something which I find delightfully interesting
There is actually one single category of investors
Who consistently do very well over the long run
Very well
Who are they?
Those who forget they have investment accounts
The people who started an account
Made a small investment
Then get on with their lives
What is this telling us?
The exhausting daily desire to try predict, chase and control trends
Destroys investors
So
Imagine
Being an actor
And getting on with your life
Forgetting all about what the next trend is
Forgetting about trying to chase, predict or grab onto what’s hot or not
Forgetting about the angsty stuff that’s out of your control
And simply getting on with finding joy in the process
Imagine
Being an actor
And when people say things like:
“Oh, you’re a woman in your 30’s, sorry there’s no work for you”
Instead of listening to that very short term focussed person
Instead of throwing in the towel
You get on with your life
You get on with the things within your control
The skill acquisition
The hanging out with people you love
The focusing on giving your best work
One scene at a time
What’s my point?
Getting work
Will be a combined result of things that are both inside and outside of your control
But I can assure you
It will be a vastly more fulfilling & sustainable career
If you place your focus on the things that are actually within your control
Your skills
Your character
And not sitting on the couch waiting for the things you can’t control about yourself to be the next best flavour of the month.
Back to our initial question
Which actors will work?
Consistently, sustainably, for the decades to come?
The ones who focus and invest in the things they can control.
One more story before I go take my daughter to choose her birthday balloons
When I first went to LA
I sat in Heath Ledger’s agents office
There was a framed poster on the wall
It was of Heath as the Joker
With a personal letter scribbled on the bottom
I still remember
Being in that city
The most trend-chasing environment in the world
And reading the last line Heath had scribbled
“Work hard
And be nice to people”
Hope this helps
x