GARY MASON

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gary@gary-mason.com

Encouragement

Life Hacks for Actors

Acting, Encouragement, Voice Over, Wisdom

Welcome back!

And thanks for reading!  This week I’ve put together some life hacks for actors!

REMEMBER:

Just a reminder here that when I use the term “actor” I mean it to encompass all forms of acting including voice, stage, and screen.  What follows applies relatively equally to all of these forms of acting.

What is a “Life Hack”?

Simply put, the dictionary definition of a “life hack” is:

a usually simple and clever tip or technique for accomplishing some familiar task more easily and efficiently

Some of what follows could easily be described as a life hack, and some may be closer to advice for actors, but nonetheless, all of these following ideas should help make your life as an actor slightly easier, more efficient, and less stressful. Odds are no one will be able to do all of these…I mean we all have our own unique set of life circumstances after all…but if even one of them helps you then I consider this a success!

Memorization hack

I don’t know about you, but for me, one of the most stressful parts of being a working actor is memorizing your lines. Once you book a gig, there is a lot of research and analysis that goes into bringing your character to life.  Who are you speaking to, find the beats, determine your objectives, where are you coming from, going to and how did you get there?  This hack doesn’t take away any of that work, but remembering your lines?  The best hack for that is: repetition. It’s the way we learn song lyrics:  Listen to the song over and over again (and yeah, sometimes google the lyrics so you know what the singer is actually saying too).

Use an app or your phones recording ability

The absolute best and easiest way I’ve found to memorize lines is by using an app.  I use Rehearsal Pro.  This is not the only app for memorizing lines, but it works well.  The gist is you upload the script, highlight your lines, and then record all the dialog (right in the app).  Click play and the app plays the dialog over and over again all the way through.  When you think you know it, re-record just the other characters lines and run your lines, out loud, with yourself.  At first, just recite your lines out loud, and then add the dimensions you need from your script analysis. I listen over and over on my way to set…and you can split it into scenes so you can study lines for whatever scene you are about to perform.

Which brings me to: Be Off Book

Even for the audition.  A simple audition hack is to be off book as much as possible.  Being off book make your audition feel more natural; like you are living the scene, and not reading it.   This is MOST important for in person auditions…hold your sides so you can refer to them if you get stuck, but as much as possible be off book.

And if you can’t be off book…

I get it.  Sometimes we have a quick turnaround audition, and we just don’t have TIME to be off book.  Thanks to the pandemic, almost all auditions (at least initially) are self-tapes, so you have a little flexibility and are able to do as many takes as you need to have a great audition.  A simple hack I use for short turn self-tapes is: A teleprompter.  Simply set up the teleprompter (I use the Neewer Aluminum Teleprompter) on a separate tripod behind and just off the lens of the camera.  Then use the teleprompter as your eye line to your scene partner.  It’s a little pricey at just over $200, but I’ve found it very beneficial.

Choose a “warm” background color

OK, so this one gets a lot of attention in the acting world. One thing is CERTAIN…your background should be a plain solid color with no distractions.  Stay away from white if possible because it will affect your cameras light sensitivity and tends to wash you out.  Most professionals lean toward a neutral grey or blue.  I suggest blue, because while blue is generally considered a “cool” color, a mid-shade blue for a self-tape background looks warm (in my opinion).  In any case, choose what you consider to be a warm background.

A few ways to get the right background

Without spending a ton of money, it’s important to have an appropriate background available on short notice.  You can paint a wall in your house if you have a nice big blank wall available, but I choose to use a roll of photo background paper mounted to a background stand.  It’s easy to set up and take down…and best of all it doesn’t need to be ironed like a cloth background would. OK, I think we’ve beat the audition hack horse to death now.

Know your “audience”

Believe it or not, your audience is not the people who will ultimately watch or listen to your finished performance.  Your audience are the people who may hire you. You should get to know them!  I’ve said it over and over: This business is all about relationships. The best way to impress someone and have them like you is to be interested in them.  Get to know the people you are auditioning for, and learn what projects they have worked on, what awards they have won and be able to talk about them.  You can research them through IMDB Pro, reading industry news like at Deadline, Variety or just do a Google search.  Know your audience!

Find a Survival job in the industry

I’ve talked quite a bit about survival jobs in the past and usually recommend something that allows flexibility to pursue your passion career. This advice is slightly different though: Find a survival job within the industry you want to perform in.  Can you provide audio engineering skills?  Maybe be a set PA, work in props or wardrobe…if you have the skills try for an AD or gaffer job.  These survival gigs help you stay “plugged in” to the industry and also exposes you to other industry professionals to make connections and to network.

TEACH!

Want to keep your acting chops honed and can’t afford to pay for classes?  Why not teach others to act?  Maybe you feel like you don’t have the skills to teach other actors, and maybe you don’t…but you probably do!  I’m not suggesting opening an acting studio, but you can use YouTube and other social media outlets to teach what you DO know.  This helps you by forcing you to think about the skills an actor needs, and then present them in a way that communicates how to acquire them.  It’s like re-teaching yourself.  You MAY even be able to monetize it in some way.

Volunteer

Yeah, I know you are trying to earn a living, but short of landing that sweet lead role or 1st AD gig it may be possible to volunteer on a production just to stay plugged into the industry.  Relationships and all.  Volunteer to help as a reader for auditions, or volunteer to proofread scripts…find some way you can help the production team then offer to help.  Even if they say no, it sets you apart as a friendly, helpful person…and that’s who the production team remembers.

Use social media…Properly

We all know that as actors, social media is an important arrow in our quivers…but not all of us understand that social media is about a conversation not and advertisement. Sure, you want to use social media to present yourself to the community, and you definitely want to announce successes, but primarily the best use of social media is to (here it is again) start building relationships with others in the industry.  Start a conversation by commenting on what others post, answer questions, and provide useful advice and generally get to know people. It’s like being invited to the after party at a premiere…work the room and get to know people…and more importantly let them get to know YOU.

Lastly: Stay humble – Confident, not cocky

No matter how far along you are on your journey, remember where you began and stay humble.  No, not humble bragging, sincerely humble.  Be confident, for sure…confidence is attractive…but cockiness is a definite turn off.  Do your best to help people who are struggling or have questions and remember that you had some of those same questions or periods of confusion along your path too.  Don’t be that “USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION” guy…be supportive and helpful, and yeah maybe also mention searching, but in the context of finding more information than you can provide.

And there we have it

Some simple life hacks for actors!  Hopefully something here has been helpful for you and will serve to make your acting life a little easier or more efficient!

If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  If you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!  And please feel free to share this blog on social media or with other people you think might enjoy it.

If you haven’t already, please feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss anything – and as a thank you receive a free copy of my E-Book: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About getting Started in Voice Over but Didn’t Know Who to Ask!

Financial Advice for Actors

Acting, Encouragement, Finances, Voice Over, Wisdom

Welcome back!

And thanks for reading!  This week I’d like to spend some time talking about Money Management.

REMEMBER:

Just a reminder here that when I use the term “actor” I mean it to encompass all forms of acting including voice, stage, and screen.  What follows applies relatively equally to all of these forms of acting.

If you are independently wealthy…

Or, if you are married to someone who is…stop reading now and wait for next week’s post.  What we are about to talk about are ways to manage the scarce finances you have so that you can continue to:

  • Pursue your acting career
  • Avoid living out of your car
  • Eat regularly
  • Stay married (if you are)
  • Avoid bankruptcy

Actor Finances

It’s a touchy subject and nobody really likes to talk about money.  Well, they love to talk about what they’d do if they HAD money, but not how much they actually have. What this post aims to do is give you some common sense (which seems to be not so common actually) ways to manage what finances you have to counteract the hit-or-miss nature of this career and avoid the four decades break I took to have a 9-5 job before getting back into acting.

Seriously

All kidding aside, this industry can be brutal on your financial health and that leads to stress, which affects your performance and can reduce the number of paid gigs you actually book.  It’s like a self-licking lollipop, or a self-fulfilling prophecy or whatever euphemism you enjoy describing how much it can suck to not know where (or when) your next paycheck is coming. There ARE some steps you can take to reduce stress and help you continue to live through the lean times.

Survival job

I’ve talked about this (several times really) before, but nearly everyone, especially early in your career (like the first 10-15 years) is going to need some sort of survival job. If at all possible, stay away from corporate jobs especially ones that require a lot of travel.  Also, the military is probably not a good survival job (take it from me).  It needs to be something fairly flexible for the times you book work, or something that you can quit when you do and fairly quickly find another when you are between gigs.  Servers in a restaurant is popular, and (assuming you have a reliable vehicle) I like to recommend something like Lyft, Uber, DoorDash or Grubhub where you only work when you want to and don’t get demerits for missing several days. In any case, you definitely need some sort of regular, fairly reliable income.

Budgets

Yeah, I know, it sounds like a dirty word.  In actuality a budget is a necessary tool for everyone, but ESPECIALLY for actors who sometimes have periods of “unemployment”.  It’s a tool…but it’s NOT a tool for bludgeoning your spouse or SO with when they buy an unplanned happy meal.  It’s a tool to use to plan your spending in such a way that you can make sure all your bills are paid and you are setting aside some funds for the lean times.

It’s only as restrictive as YOU want

Your budget is…well…yours.  It’s not a restrictive tool, or at least it is only as restrictive as YOU want it to be.  This is all about helping you achieve your goals.  The assumption with your budget is that the goal you are reaching for is more important than whatever unplanned extravagance you are considering. A budget first helps you identify your “means” and then helps you live within them…or identify the fact you need to do something to increase those means.

But…how do you establish a budget?

Budgeting is a lot easier than most people think.  Honestly, it is ALL about balancing expenses with income.  The two primary steps to establishing a budget are to identify what your regular income is (you can average it by month if it is not consistent) and what your regular expenses are.  The first part is easy: Go back over the last 12 months and add up all your income, then divide by 12.  That should tell you your average monthly income.  Budget to that amount.

Determine average expenses

For three months, track everything you spend money on.  Yeah, I know that’s a pain, and you likely won’t capture 100%, but go for at least 99%.  Start with “The 4 Walls”: Housing, Utilities, Food and Transportation.  These are the bare minimum you’ll need to fund.  Then figure out how much your Starbucks, fast food and other incidental expenses are. Add them all up, average them (divide by three since you are tracking them for three months) and those are your expenses.  This step will also help you identify where financial “leaks” are.  Financial leaks are where you are spending more than you believe you are, you may be surprised.

Plug the leaks!

You may find that you are spending way more buying lunch every day, or on your daily coffee shop run or SOMEthing, than you think you are.  Then you just have to decide (for yourself) whether to continue those habits or stop them.  My guess is there are a number of things you are doing that could be curtailed and would help bring your expenses more in line with your income.  However you do it, it is imperative that your expenses come in lower than your income.  Either stop spending on some things or figure out how to bring in extra income.

Make sure…

When establishing your budget don’t forget to include funds for ongoing training/coaching and those items that only happen a couple times a year like car insurance and Christmas.  If you budget a small amount each month for those things, then don’t spend it on something else, you’ll have the money for them when they happen and won’t be stressed about them then either.

A quick word about Debt

Debt is the death of healthy finances, especially when your income is a bit sporadic like an actor’s.  I’m not going to berate you, but keep in mind that debt means you are dedicating money to someone that you have not yet earned, and you are paying to use your “future” money.  There is a reason a bank’s headquarters are a lot bigger than the average person’s house.  Other than a mortgage (if you have one) do everything you can to avoid debt.  If you have credit cards, spend only as much on them as you can pay off every month.  Get a copy of Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover and follow it for a method to get out of debt and stay that way.

SAVE!

Once you have identified all of your income/expenses and have yourself living within your means, start putting aside 10% (minimum) or 15% toward an emergency fund (3-6 months of expenses set aside for those lean times).  And there WILL be lean times, but if you know your expenses can be covered your stress level will go WAY down. When your emergency fund is fully funded, take that same 10-15% and save it for retirement, or your kids college.  Saving is really the only way to BUILD wealth.

The message here is:

Take control of your finances and KEEP control of them.  It is PARTICULARLY important for actors whose income is not set and who will likely have periods of (acting) unemployment to manage their money properly.  But even when you book that dream gig and get paid big bucks don’t go wild and buy that yacht you are drooling over. Appearances to the contrary, there are number of celebrities who seem uber-wealthy but are actually broke.

Testimonial

Not bragging, but to give you an example, here is my financial story – take from it what you will.  My late wife and I earned in excess of $200,000.00 a year between us.  We were living paycheck-to-paycheck and had (besides our home) $75,000.00 in consumer debt. We decided to take control, followed Dave Ramsey’s advice and in 18 months we were debt free other than our mortgage.  Two years later we had more than $100,000.00 in savings and a fully funded emergency fund.  It’s a good thing too, because when she passed (with no life insurance) I would not have been able to keep up (and would have had to finance her funeral!); I would have had to declare bankruptcy.

Your situation is different

Everyone’s is.  We thought we were in a really good place financially, but we were one tragedy away from financial devastation.  Today I have a reasonably high net worth and can pursue my acting career without having to worry about paying the bills.  I believe that is at least partially responsible for whatever success I’ve experienced because I can just ACT in an audition and not worry about “getting a job”.  No matter where you are today financially, you can take control of your finances, change your financial position AND pursue your acting career without the stress of needing to book a gig.  You might be surprised how many more jobs you book after that!

NOTE: I am happy to help with setting up your budget or discussing ways to get control of your finances.  Feel free to reach out with any questions: gary@gary-mason.com.

If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  If you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!  And please feel free to share this blog on social media or with other people you think might enjoy it.

Looking for a great Non-Fiction read?  Check out the “Get Stuff Done!” promotion!

If you haven’t already, please feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss anything – and as a thank you receive a free copy of my E-Book: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About getting Started in Voice Over but Didn’t Know Who to Ask!

Motivation

Acting, Encouragement, Wisdom

Welcome back!

And thanks for reading!  This week I’d like to spend some time talking about Motivation!

REMEMBER:

Just a reminder here that when I use the term “actor” I mean it to encompass all forms of acting including voice, stage, and screen.  What follows applies relatively equally to all of these forms of acting.

What is motivation?

Honestly, it is a little hard to pin down.  My old friend Miriam-Webster defines motivation as:

      1. a : the act or process of motivating

b : the condition of being motivated

Very unhelpful – So I went to Motivate:

: to provide with a motive : impel

OK, let’s check Motive:

: something (such as a need or desire) that causes a person to act

AH HA!  That’s closer.  So, motivation derives from the word motive which relates to WHY a person may do something. And there you have it, in a nutshell, motivation is WHY you do something.  In this case it is acting.  If the answer to WHY you act is to book gigs, make money, win awards or achieve fame then when those thigs don’t happen, or happen too slowly it is going to be impossible to maintain motivation.

It’s a crazy profession

Let’s face it, this career is not for the faint at heart.  Work can be sporadic; feedback is nearly non-existent, and it is filled with highs and lows.  Especially in the low periods, it is tough to stay motivated.  The truth is, an acting career is CHOCK full of uncertainty…so how in the world do you stay motivated!?

First things first…

To begin with, if you have periods in your acting career where you just don’t feel motivated…don’t despair because you are not alone.  As a matter of fact, if you DIDN’T lack motivation from time to time that’s when you would be all alone.  It is impossible to stay motivated 100% of the time, so if you feel unmotivated don’t beat yourself up.

If you are not feeling motivated…

During those periods where motivation is lacking it is perfectly acceptable to step away for a bit.  Take a break, do something else and then come back.  Now, I’m not talking about taking a FOUR DECADE break like I did…that was just stupid of me…but a day or two, or even a week, off doing something else may be just what you need.

The KEY is…

The key to taking a break is: It is a break, not the end.  Don’t quit.  Rest, relax, rejuvenate, find some other artistic outlet temporarily…and then get back to work on your career.  Just like you have to sleep at night, sometimes your career needs a little nap as well.   A LITTLE nap…not a hibernation like mine was.  It was tough to get back into this after 40 years (but here I am!).

Why do we lose motivation?

There are no studies I can find concerning actors and why we sometimes lose motivation, but IMHO one of the biggest factors is the uncertainty of it all.  We train and train and train, we submit and submit and submit…we audition and audition and audition…and no matter how much work we are doing, there is just no guarantee our careers will take off.  It is tough to stay motivated if there is not a clear path to success.  And yet, here we are.

Acceptance

I may have mentioned before (Once or Twice) that the only really good reason to pursue acting is because you love it.  With the level of uncertainty in this business any other reason would result in burnout quite quickly.  So one of the first things to help keep you motivated is to accept that this uncertainty exists, and that it exists IN SPITE of your talent, work ethic and determination.  Remember: even people like Robert DeNiro don’t get every role they go after.  Yeah, I know…he doesn’t really have to audition anymore, but you get the idea.  Uncertainty exists throughout the industry.

Then understand…

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.  Your acting career is not going (or at least is very unlikely) to take off overnight.  Well, it might take off overnight some night in the future, just not TONIGHT.  Malcolm Gladwell tells us that it take 10,000 hours to become proficient at something and while that particular myth has been busted, the general idea still holds true:  You have to work at this to become proficient before you start seeing real results.

How do you get motivated?

Start by remembering that you do this work because YOU enjoy it. Even when other people don’t enjoy your work (although I admit that is a tough pill to swallow).  Also remember that just because ONE person (like the person making the casting decisions) doesn’t like your work, or more probably likes someone else’s work better, doesn’t mean there is NO ONE who likes it.  It’ not bad just because some individual isn’t impressed.  If you are enjoying yourself, whether you are getting hired or not, then you are successful…and that alone is a reason to keep going!

Enjoy auditions!?

Yep…there it is…the unvarnished truth.  You should enjoy doing auditions.  After all, you do this work because YOU enjoy it, and auditioning IS ACTING.  By being able to perform an audition, either in front of someone or at home and sending it to them, you ARE ACTING.  It’s what you love doing…so enjoy it!

The key to enjoying auditions

I had a coach once who told me: “We audition for a living and every once in a while, someone gives us money”.  In order to enjoy auditions, you have to remove “booking the job” from the act of auditioning.  You are performing, that’s what you love to do.  You also love booking work, I get that…but you get to enjoy that separately; It’s a completely different part of this career.  Adopt this mindset: Auditioning IS acting, and working a gig is just a different type of acting.  Don’t let booking work be the factor that robs you of the joy of acting when you audition.

Go see a movie…

Want to get excited about acting again?  Go see a movie or watch a TV show, listen to a musician perform, listen to radio or TV commercials.   Take a class.  Experience other people who are also performing even if not the genre you perform in.  Watching other people perform feeds that artistic nature within yourself.  It’s like plugging your phone into the charger when the battery is low.  Watching others perform recharges you.

And let’s not forget…

Make sure you have a survival job that supports your dream.  I worked for the government for 41 years and between long hours, deployments, and work-related travel it was impossible to pursue an acting career.  Don’t do what I did.  If your survival job doesn’t support both your lifestyle AND your acting…maybe you should find another survival job.  Yeah, I know…much easier said than done, but not impossible.

Identify something you are in control of…

We’ve talked before about how LITTLE we are actually in control of, but if you are feeling unmotivated identify something you ARE in control of and concentrate on that for a bit.  Doing that helps you feel like you have some control over your career (and you do, just not a lot).  That alone may help get you some motivation back.

How do you stay motivated?

The only way I know to stay motivated is to surround myself with people who both understand the industry and the struggles we face and who are encouraging.  There is nothing quite as nice as hearing a friend respond to my woes of not booking much work with “Man, I don’t know why…you are AWESOME.  I wish I was as talented as you”.  It’s BS (I’m not all that talented), I know, but it is STILL nice to hear even if they ARE blowing smoke.  When you start to feel discourage and are losing motivation – connect with a friend who will encourage you.  You probably want someone who’ll tell you the truth, though, not like my friends.

And then…

Keep working. Nothing motivates me quite so much as actually accomplishing something. Have 5 auditions due (if ONLY)? Do one.  Finish it and send it in.  You’ll feel so good you’ll want to do another…and another, and another.  For some reason I find that working (even when I don’t want to) tends to make me want to.  It’s a weird self-imposed reverse psychology but it works for me.  It might work for you too!

At the end of the day

When all is said and done, no matter how much fun this job is, this is a tough industry to be a part of.  There is so much uncertainty, so little feedback (positive OR negative) that it is hard to know if you are wasting your time.  Remembering WHY you do this (You LOVE IT, right!?) and not tying your satisfaction or success to how many roles you book should help prevent discouragement and not sap your motivation.

If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  If you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!  And please feel free to share this blog on social media or with other people you think might enjoy it.

Looking for a great Non-Fiction read?  Check out the “Get Stuff Done!” promotion!

If you haven’t already, please feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss anything – and as a thank you receive a free copy of my E-Book: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About getting Started in Voice Over but Didn’t Know Who to Ask!

You’re Not Getting the F&^%ing Job! (Series): Part 11: And still…You’re not getting the f*&^ing job!

Acting, Encouragement, Voice Over, Wisdom

Welcome back!

And thanks for reading!  This is week 11, the final post in the series relating to the psychology of the business, particularly as it relates to auditions and booking work; And still…You’re not getting the f*&^ing job!

REMEMBER:

Just a reminder here that when I use the term “actor” I mean it to encompass all forms of acting including voice, stage, and screen.  What follows applies relatively equally to all of these forms of acting.

Yeah, I know…

I missed a week. If you care about that, sorry!  Between a sick grandchild, problems with the new RV and a bad back…I just couldn’t make it all work.  Back at it this week though, so read on!

So here we are..

At the end of the series!  My old boss, Rear Admiral (RET) Larry Creevy, after every “ALL HANDS” meeting would tell a Sea Story.  You always knew he was getting ready to tell a Sea Story because he would say: “So there we were…”.  Stories ranged from how he dropped anchor at 15 knots while headed directly for the pier in South America to turn the 17,000-ton ship and come to rest safely at his berth, or how he bought a million pallets of bottled water to fill his freshwater tanks so the crew could take a shower.  Almost all were tall tales that had some grain of truth to them. All were at least somewhat humorous.  I kind of miss that guy!

What follows

What follows here is not a Sea Story…but I thought what he did was fun, and I wanted to give him a shout out.  But still…Here we are.  At the end of a fairly long series of writings about acting and how difficult it is to book work.  I’d like to use THIS post to remind you of a few important things from the series, just to wrap it up.

Why?

Acting is a tough profession to be in.  It’s competitive to the extreme (although most actors are friendly and helpful), tough to break into and even tougher to be successful.  It’s hard work, sometimes grueling hours and can have long periods of unemployment between gigs. It has been reported that only 2% of actors make a living by acting, and only .01% become famous. So, if you want to be an actor you have to ask yourself; WHY?  If the answer to that question is anything but “I LOVE ACTING!” you are doing it for the wrong reasons.

They don’t “get” it

Odds are that as an actor you have people in your life who don’t get why you do what you do and encourage you to “get a real job”.  Given that only 2% of actors can support themselves with acting it’s a safe bet you already have a “real job” to support yourself and your acting.  As much as you can, try to distance yourself from, or completely remove, those people from your life. Believe it or not those people are taking away from your creativity, confidence, and your ability to book work!  If you can’t remove them or distance yourself…you are gonna need to develop a pretty thick skin. Know your talent, understand you are good enough and then ignore those people.

Technology

While developing that thick skin or while busy cutting negative people out of your life you are also going to need to get familiar with technology.  For VO you need a home recording setup, and for stage & screen acting you’ll need a small studio.  Make sure you are getting familiar enough with the equipment and software you need to be able to produce a professional self-tape audition.  Even if you are the GOAT, a self-tape where you can’t be seen and/or heard clearly is just going to be skipped.  Make sure you have the right equipment for the job and know how to use it well enough to ensure they will at least listen/watch it!

Training

Speaking of knowing how to operate your equipment, remember that YOU are also your equipment.  I know I harp on this, but really…no kidding…I mean it…get the training you need to be competitive in the marketplace!  Training can be expensive, I get it, but without training you are just not going to stand out in the crowd…even WITH training it is tough to stand out!  You may book some work, but you will not book enough work, or work that pays well enough to live on.  Seriously, get the training you need.

Confidence -vs- Desperation

They are not polar opposites, I know, but I can tell you that confidence is absolutely a vaccination against desperation.  Training will help build your confidence while also giving you the tools you need to be a good actor.  That combination will help to keep desperation at bay.  It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy: desperation as an actor KEEPS you from booking work you might otherwise have booked.  Build your confidence and stiff-arm desperation.  Remember, as Bryan Cranston says: You are not going to an audition to get a job! Present your character and walk away.  Have the confidence to create a compelling character and then know the rest is out of your control.

The Numbers

No matter what you do, the numbers are just not on your side.  For any given role, there can be upwards of 100 actors competing for it.  And they are only going to hire ONE person for the role.  The odds of that one person who is hired being YOU (in this example) are 1 in 100.  Even worse if there are more than 100 submissions.  Out of those submissions maybe 10 will get an audition request (for VO the submission IS the audition normally) so IF you get an audition request your odds are only 1 in 10.  I’m no mathematician, but I recognize I am oversimplifying here to make a point.  Hopefully you get it: Your odds of booking a role are low even before you submit for it!

Control

Here’s the thing: so MUCH of casting is out of the actor’s control.  Honestly, the ONLY things you can control are your ability (through training), preparation and your attitude. The simple truth is that nearly everything about casting decisions is out of the control of the actor.  And much of the decision itself has absolutely nothing to do with how good (or bad) of an actor you are!  A lot has to do with your essence, your look and how you appear with the other cast members. You may be too tall, too short, too young, too old, or just too “something” for a given role. Stop thinking you have control!

So…

Control what you can control (which is not much) and let go of everything else.  I realize that is much easier said than done, and I confess that, while I tell you to do it, I also still struggle with this myself.  I had a coach who would tell me: “We audition for a living, and every now and then people give us money”.  Try to remember that, for the most part, the audition IS the job.  Do your best there and before long you will actually book some work.

You are not alone…

And actually, you are in pretty good company when you audition and don’t get cast.  A quick Google search gets page after page of stars who wanted a role but didn’t get it for one reason or another.  Take a look at the links and do a search yourself…odds are you’ll feel better knowing these famous people don’t always get cast either.  You get the idea…it’s probably not YOU!

At the end of the day…

When all is said and done, even if you are doing everything you possibly can to be a great actor…the odds are not forever in your favor (to coin a phrase from Hunger Games).  It’s a tough career, but don’t let it crush your spirits!  You have the training (and continue training!), are on time, make connections and establish relationships…you do everything you possibly can…And Still…You’re Not Getting The F*&^ing Job!  If you love acting…that just doesn’t matter!

 If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  If you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!  And please feel free to share this blog on social media or with other people you think might enjoy it.

If you haven’t already, please feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss anything – and as a thank you receive a free copy of my E-Book: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About getting Started in Voice Over but Didn’t Know Who to Ask!

You’re Not Getting the F&^%ing Job! (Series): Part 9: Control

Acting, Encouragement, Voice Over

Welcome back!

And thanks for reading!  This is week 9 in the series relating to the psychology of the business, particularly as it relates to auditions and booking work and we will be exploring Control.

REMEMBER:

Just a reminder here that when I use the term “actor” I mean it to encompass all forms of acting including voice, stage, and screen.  What follows applies relatively equally to all of these forms of acting.

Before we begin…

The last couple of weeks have been crazy hectic with a LOT going on.  As I mentioned last week, we recently bought an RV…which we picked up on Thursday (that experience could be an entire post all by itself, but this blog is not about RVing – it was, as we used to say in the Navy, a “soup sandwich”, but it worked out in the end), drove it for the first time That’s me on the right – Semi for scale.  If you are interested it is a Thor Venetian R40

Then Karen’s mom wound up in the hospital (She’s OK now) and on Friday our grandson was born!

It’s been crazy, but all worked out fine and we were delighted to meet Sullivan Rain MacCauley for the first time!  I’ve already promised to take him to Disney World in the RV…I doubt he’ll remember it, but I will!  Anyway, let’s talk about control!

Life

So many things in life are out of our control.  Illness, injuries, death, weather, birth, going into labor (we were sleeping in our new RV two hours away (in a rainstorm from Hurricane Ian of course) when THAT happened a week early) …just so MANY things we cannot control.  Acting is no different than life in that respect.  The one thing we CAN control in every situation is how we react to the things that are out of our control.

Relinquish control

It’s ironic that we say we need to relinquish control over things we never had control over in the first place.  The hard part is both realizing what we can control and what we can’t, and then not trying to control the things we can’t anyway. Many, if not most, if not ALL, of us drive ourselves crazy trying to control things we simply cannot control.  We really need to understand that the list of things we can control is very short, and the list of things we cannot control is nearly infinite…in life as well as acting.

It’s freeing

It’s not easy, but once we realize, and I mean REALLY realize, what few things we have control over and then concentrate on controlling them we become free.  Free to be creative, free to offer our genuine selves, free to relax and free to understand we are not failures when things don’t go our way.  We are also free to react when things take a left when we expected them to take  a right in a way that keeps moving us toward our ultimate goal as an actor.

Emotions

Here is the problem: emotions. Emotions  get in the way. As humans we tend to let how we feel dictate how we act. I’m here to tell you that is a problem. Oh, feeling is not the problem.  We HAVE to feel…an emotionless person is not a satisfied person.  We have feelings, and they are valid.  Always valid…we feel what we feel.  And feeling those emotions lets us translate them to our performance, so feelings are also a tool in our acting toolbox.  What is bad is allowing how we feel,  our emotions,  to make decisions for us.  Try to never react based on how you feel…instead, give yourself time to feel things, then step back and react based on the facts of the situation.

Yeah, sometimes it just sucks

Let it suck, feel it. In the military we used to say, “embrace the suck” – which loosely translated means take it in, feel it, then realize that this is just the way it is and then keep going anyway.  In spite of the suckiness, look at the situation as it is (not as you would like it to be) and make decisions based on the facts and reality.

Don’t get me wrong

I’m not suggesting that, since most things are out of our control, we just let life whip us around chaotically.  I mean, it will anyway, but we still need to plan and set goals and keep moving toward them regardless of what gets thrown at us.  You can’t just sit back and let your career “happen” to you.

Goals

Speaking of goals, this is ONE of the few things you control.  If you don’t have goals, or your goals are loosely defined (like: my goal is to be famous – what does that even actually MEAN?) then you are letting your career control you rather than the other way around.  Having clearly defined goals for your acting career that are realistic and achievable, and updating them regularly, are a key to how we react when life throws us a curve ball.

What we can’t control

The list of things we cannot control in our careers is long.  Way too long to list them all here. But a short list of SOME of the things we can’t control that are most pertinent include:

  • Whether or not you book a given role
  • What the casting team is looking for (you can’t even really KNOW that – and much of the time THEY don’t even know it!)
  • Whether you can sign with a particular agent or manager
  • Whether you get an audition

The list goes on.  And none of the things listed above are necessarily driven by your talent. You can be the best actor who auditions, and not book the job because your scene partner is much shorter (or taller) than you.  It could be as simple as that and there is no chance you can control it.

What we can control

This list is much shorter than the things we can’t control.  To be perfectly clear, while the above list seems short it is incomplete.  In reality, anything NOT on the following list is completely out of our control:

  • Setting and managing goals
  • Time
  • Preparation
  • Attitude

That’s it.  That’s the entire list.

Time

There are several aspects to this.  You control how much time you put into your acting career.  How much time you invest in training and preparation.  The most important aspect of time, though, is this: BE ON TIME.  Time is a precious commodity and each of us has a finite amount.  Another military thing we live by is: If you are not 15 minutes early you are late.  Make sure you give yourself enough time to arrive a few minutes early to auditions.  You won’t feel rushed and you respect the time of the people conducting the auditions.

Preparation

Yeah, I get it…sometimes you have very little time to prepare for your audition.  Lately it seems like a lot of jobs send you an audition today and want something back by tomorrow or even just a couple hours later.  Sometimes you are given the sides as you walk in the room!  But preparation is not just looking at the sides and deciding who the character is and how you will play the role.  Preparation includes your training and exercising the muscles to be able to walk into a cold read and nail the part.  Make sure you are continuing your training AND preparing from the sides if you get them ahead of time.  Be on time and be prepared.

Attitude

This is probably the most important thing you can control. Be personable, be helpful and understand you are presenting an option to the casting team. They want to fill the role; they want you to be great so they can fill the role.  Remember that the casting team is on your side – they want to find the right person and fill the role!  You want to not only be on time and prepared, you want to be someone they want to work with.  Your attitude can make or break the audition.

On top of that

How you react when you don’t get the job is as important as when you do!  Remember that there are a million reasons why you may not be cast and don’t let not being selected get you down.  Maintaining a positive attitude about auditions and booking (or not booking) a role will manifest itself in your performance.  While you may not be right for the role you auditioned for, a friendly helpful person is much more likely to get called in to audition again – and you could be PERFECT for the next role…but you can’t get it of you aren’t called in to audition.

When you get the gig

All of these things still hold true once you’ve booked the gig: Make sure you are on time, prepared and have a great attitude while working!

At the end of the day

The list of things that are out of your control is endless.  However, if you concentrate on the few things you CAN control you will dramatically improve your odds of booking a gig.  Although, even if you control everything you can perfectly, still…You’re not getting the f*&^ing job!

Tune in next week

When we’ll discuss “This is supposed to be fun!”.

 If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  If you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!  And please feel free to share this blog on social media or with other people you think might enjoy it.

If you haven’t already, please feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss anything – and as a thank you receive a free copy of my E-Book: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About getting Started in Voice Over but Didn’t Know Who to Ask!

You’re Not Getting the F&^%ing Job! (Series): Part 8: Confidence

Acting, Encouragement, Voice Over

Welcome back!

And thanks for reading!  This is week 8 in the series relating to the psychology of the business, particularly as it relates to auditions and booking work and we will be exploring Confidence.

REMEMBER:

Just a reminder here that when I use the term “actor” I mean it to encompass all forms of acting including voice, stage, and screen.  What follows applies relatively equally to all of these forms of acting.

Before we begin…

I know I am late this week…for those of you who care about that sort of thing; I apologize.  However, my tardiness is a result of some pretty cool stuff. You see, we bought an RV this week.  A BIG RV.  It’s a 41-foot-long bus, to be exact.  And let me tell you, buying a great big bus with a bed and FOUR TV’s (yeah, more TV’s than I have in my 4000 square foot house!) takes a lot more time than I ever expected.  Eight hours to pick one out, then all the admin stuff (insurance, financing, a place to park the doggone thing) followed up by seven hours of walk through and signing every piece of paper on the planet (sorry if you can’t find any paper for your printer). We still don’t actually HAVE it either…we’ll pick it up in two days.  All of this about an hour from home.  Anyway, here’s a picture.

Pretty, isn’t it?

OK…let’s get started

In contrast to last week’s post about Desperation, this week I want to talk about confidence.  I know they are not actually opposing things, but they are at LEAST 90 degrees from one another, and having a healthy level of confidence should help you to not be desperate.

What is confidence?

Just to set the stage, and to make sure we are all on the same page talking about the same thing, let’s look at what I mean when I say “confidence”. As I often like to do I turn to good ol’ reliable Merriam-Webster for a definition of confidence;

1 a : a feeling or consciousness of one’s powers or of reliance on one’s circumstances

b : faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way

2 : the quality or state of being certain : certitude

3 a : a relation of trust or intimacy

b : reliance on another’s discretion

c : support especially in a legislative body

4 : a communication made in confidence

What I mean when I talk about confidence in the context of your acting career, obviously, is the definition found in 1a and 2 above.

What confidence is NOT

To be blunt, confidence is not arrogance.  Certainly, confidence and arrogance are related, let’s call them parallel attributes; they are both related to self-esteem, but they are not the same. While a confident person has a positive self-image; they believe in their abilities, an arrogant person not only has a positive self-image and believes in their abilities, but also believes they are better than everyone else. Arrogance is confidence on steroids. Don’t be arrogant – be confident!

Something else it’s not

You know what ELSE is not confidence?  Egotism. While egotism may look a lot like confidence, the thing usually lacking is ability.  Well, in my experience anyway.  I suppose you can have a big ego AND talent, but I haven’t seen that very often.  I see egotism as arrogance without ability…if that makes any sense to you.  Both arrogance and egotism result in a desire to be the center of attention (I know, it’s counterintuitive for actors to NOT be arrogant or egotistical) and focus only on self-interest.  These attributes look for approval, accolades, and validation at all costs in order to be “right” all the time.

Confidence is important for everyone

Let’s face it, in our everyday lives (outside of our acting careers) confidence is important. We all know someone who lacks confidence, and they always seem to be stuck and unable to move forward. Confidence gives us the courage to make bold choices and stick with them, knowing we can pull it off and sustain it. For an actor?  Confidence is CRUCIAL. Actors who do not have confidence tend to not book many jobs.

Why is confidence important?

Acting is a tough job, and very competitive. For any given role you are competing with as many as 100 other actors, many of whom are just as talented as you…and some who are more talented (just to keep you humble).  You already know that productions are expensive, and since the production team likely doesn’t know you, hiring someone is always a risky business.  If you lack confidence in your ability to portray a character, then it is going to show in your audition.  And almost as important as your confidence in an audition is your ability to inspire confidence in the production/casting team.  You have to exude confidence to give them the confidence they need to hire you and feel certain you will deliver and not cost the production extra money.

How do you build confidence?

I get it, some actors just ARE confident.  It’s part of their DNA.  But others need to build confidence, and how do you do THAT!?  What follows are some ideas for building confidence.  The first one is that experience (my dad used to say experience is the thing you get just after you needed it) creates confidence.  Successfully booking and playing roles gives you the confidence to know you have what it takes.  Experience is the number one way to build your confidence, so don’t hold back from auditioning because you don’t feel confident; fake it till you make it.

Training

Yeah, I know…I keep harping on this.  Find a coach who will not only honestly assess your abilities, but who also knows how to guide you to improve them.  No matter how good of an actor you are, you should keep training.  The best coaches I’ve found are working actors (in whatever genre you are going for) who also teach.  Nothing better than a coach who consistently books work for helping you learn how to consistently book work.  My coach, Katie Killacky who runs Capital Coaching Studio is a good example.  She is a local actor/coach in the DC area who works consistently.  I’m sure you’ve seen her on Dopesick and Swagger.  Find a coach you have confidence in and keep training.

Preparation

Feeling prepared makes you feel confident.  Make sure that whether it is for a class, an audition or a gig you are always as prepared as you can be.  Feeling unprepared can make you feel insecure and that will manifest itself in your performance.

Recognize successes

When your confidence starts to wane, remember your successes.  Sometimes just reminding yourself of the things you have accomplished can boost confidence.

Learn from your mistakes

First, remember that EVERYONE makes mistakes (I was once on set with an actor whose name you’d recognize, and he flubbed a line.  He was cool, calm, unapologetic and just said “I’m going to start over” and then delivered the line flawlessly).  You’re going to make mistakes but remember them only to identify why you made it, and then learn how not to make it again.

Avoid negativity

As much as you can, stop having negative feelings about your ability.  Some 12-step groups call that “Stinking Thinking”.  Negativity saps your confidence.  Even more importantly, avoid negative, jealous, angry, or bitter people. The people around you affect how you feel about yourself.  As much as possible either cut those people out of your life or avoid them as often as you can.  Surround yourself with encouraging and supportive people and you will find your confidence growing.

And finally

Live a full life.  Your career is only a small part of yourself and how you feel about the REST of your life affects how you feel about your career in acting as well.  Stay out of debt (pressure from debt makes you feel insecure) and if you have a survival job, find one you enjoy (or at least don’t hate). Success in a survival job you enjoy will increase your confidence in acting as well.

At the end of the day

When all is said and done, if you want to be a working actor, you are going to need to feel confident.  Confidence in yourself (without arrogance or egotism) will help the people who want to hire you (and make no mistake – they do want to) feel confident to hire you.  And even still…with all the confidence in the world…You’re not getting the f*&^ing job!

Tune in next week

When we’ll discuss “Control”.

 If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  If you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!  And please feel free to share this blog on social media or with other people you think might enjoy it.

If you haven’t already, please feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss anything – and as a thank you receive a free copy of my E-Book: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About getting Started in Voice Over But Didn’t Know Who to Ask!

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