The Actors' Cafe

Guest Blog by Emily Grace. How do I market myself when I have nothing to say?

As I promised a surprise! We are very lucky this week to have a guest blog from the lovey Emily Grace, put the kettle on, get comfy and enjoy! Hugs, Rebekah :o) 

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One of the best steps you can take to treat your acting career like a business is to market yourself on a consistent basis.  But what happens when you're between gigs with nothing new to report?

Should you just drop the ball, and wait until you book something big to reach out and connect with industry professionals?  Hell no!  In fact, falling off the radar is the worst thing you can do.

So how do you continue to market yourself when you feel like you have nothing to say?

Let me share two simple, yet powerful strategies to overcome the "nothing to say obstacle" every single time.

Somewhere in your career an industry professional has said to you,

"Keep in touch with me when you have something big to report."

WTF?

How often in your career do you have "something big" to report?  And how do you land something big if you aren't putting yourself out there to the people who can hire you?

It's a major catch-22.

This type of advice also completely discounts what marketing is actually all about.

Marketing, simply defined, is about communication.

Communication is based on relationships.

The more effort you put into your relationships, the stronger they will be.  If you only wait to reach out and communicate when you have "something big to report" you are letting that relationship go cold.

So here's exactly how you can keep the relationship momentum going, even when you feel like you have nothing to say:

Make It About Them

Think for a minute about your close personal relationships.

It would be straight up rude of you to meet a friend for lunch and talk all about you, never bothering to ask your friend anything about themselves.  You would know about what they have going in their life and talk about it, wouldn't you?

Marketing to your industry professionals is not all that different.

Yes, your professional relationships have a different set of boundaries and topics that are appropriate.  But the principle of knowing what's up with the person  you're talking to is the same.

To truly create powerful, career-long relationships with people who can hire you, your best chance of success is to keep your list of people on the small side.

It's a lot easier to connect with 20 people than 200.

First you want to choose industry professionals who are in alignment with your career goals.

Then it's your job to be on the up and up about that person's career.

Some great resources for this research are IMDB Pro, Deadline Hollywood, Casting About, Social Media Sites and plain old Google.

Once you know WHO you're building relationships with, and WHAT is up in their career, here are two possible ways to "make it about them"

Strategy #1
The Professional Congratulations

Let's say a director you've worked with in the past wins an award on the festival circuit.  Or an agent you've had your eye on leaves the agency to start their own management company.

Congratulate them!

Everyone in the entertainment industry wants to go to the next level, and acknowledging a big win for someone you admire and respect is a wonderful gesture.

It also keeps you on the radar without you having to land a major booking.

Although it may not always feel like it, industry professionals are in fact human beings, and everyone appreciates a heartfelt congratulations.  Keep informed about the career progress of your professional relationships, and make a point to congratulate your peeps on their big wins.

Believe it or not, this does count as marketing.  Remember, marketing is just about communication.

Strategy #2
The Personal Connection

The people you have industry relationships with have an effect on you, just like the people in your personal life.

Use these connections to keep the relationship going.

Let's say you took a class with a casting director who mentioned they grew up in Maine.  You just went to Maine for vacation, and it reminded you of that casting director.

Write a letter that says something like, "Just got back from a great vacation in Maine and remembered you grew up there.  What a beautiful place! "

Congratulations, you've just marketed yourself to someone.

Here's another example.  Maybe you worked on set with a director who gave you some really helpful feedback that has stayed with you because it was so useful.  Imagine what it would mean to that person to know what a positive impact they have had on you.

Tell them in a genuinely complimentary letter.

What industry professional is going to receive a note like that and say, "Well, they didn't report anything big, so they shouldn't have sent it"?

Nobody would, that's who.

So these are just a few of the ways to market yourself, especially when you feel like you have nothing to say.

They are simple, easy to implement, and work to keep your industry relationships going.

And now for a little assignment!

Just knowing these strategies doesn't cut it.  You have to put them into action.

Pick 3 industry professionals you already have a relationship with.

Someone you've either:

• Auditioned for
• Met
• Worked with
• Studied with

and simply send them a personal note all about them.

No promoting, no business cards, no audition requests and no email.

Just a heartfelt personal note sent via snail mail.

Congratulations.  You've just overcome the "nothing to say" conundrum.

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Guest author biography

Emily Grace helps actors get in the driver's seat of their career with marketing plans that get results.  She is an award-winning actress, a writer and producer.  

Want to hear more from Emily?  Be sure to sign up for her weekly newsletter full of useful tools to navigate the entertainment industry at www.emilygrace.tv



How Professionalism Can Save Your Career

Your talent, your look, what the casting director/producer is looking for etc. can all go a long way in scoring you a part, but so can you as a person, and I don’t mean the fact that you and the panel are as thick as thieves within the first few minutes of your audition.  That might all be dashed if you don’t display the one thing that you must hold incredibly dear in this business – your sense of professionalism.   People are more likely to look at you and take you seriously as an actor if you look like you take your career seriously.  Nobody wants to employ someone who seems like they ‘just thought I’d give acting a crack’. 

In any profession you are in, you expected to know your stuff.  If you were going for a job at a company, you’d have a quick look online, see how well they’re doing and what they specialise in, the kind of thing you will be expected to know.  No different in the acting world.  What has the director done before?  What is the company into?  Any names attached?  Is the project on IMDB?  The more research you do, the better prepared you will be going into that audition room. 

At my most recent audition I turned up fifteen minutes early. The audition was a group talk followed by a group improvisation session and then our monologues.  At the end, I was complimented on my professionalism. The director said:  “We got a thousand emails and only a few had showreels, so we knew what we were getting beforehand.  And you’ve obviously practiced your camera technique because we got the best benefit of your face throughout your monologue.” 

They seem like little things that I had done to ensure I was in a good standing before I even walked in the room, but these were the little things that eventually paid off and got me the job.  

I knew my stuff and stood out. As an example to the opposite, there was an actor who didn’t arrive on time and therefore had not been privy to the little talk the director had given us before the audition, missing out on some information that may have proved vital to him.. 

Nobody wants to employ a rookie.  So don’t act like one.  Accept your acting as a business – even and especially auditions, as if they are work - and treat them as such.  Arrive on time.  Do the research on the company you’re auditioning for.  Make sure that the piece you have chosen, if you’ve been chosen to do one, reflects the part you are in the running for.  Know enough about the camera to know where best to look so it gets the best of your face.  Feel free to ask questions and fact find so that it shows you are thinking about it seriously.  Have everything on your Spotlight page or website up to date.  And for goodness sake, get yourself a showreel.  You have no idea how much further in the running it puts you.  And if that is a problem, do some student stuff just so you have something of you on camera and build it up the better work you get.

• Do your research, no excuses.
• Get yourself a showreel – see last week’s article
• Work on your acting technique for that vital moment

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Article by Lexi Wolfe for The Actors' Cafe 

 

How do I get work if I don’t have a showreel, or, how do I get a showreel if I can’t get work?

This week’s post is inspired by a tweet recently sent by casting director Dan Hubbard.

“Tip for Actors: If you don't have a showreel on your Spotlight you are not serious about your career.”

At the time he was preparing for a meeting with a director and a lot of the actors he wanted to push forward didn’t have a showreel on their Spotlight page. Let’s take a step back and look at this from the casting director’s point of view - they work as hard as we do to book a job, and want to give the best service they can possibly give, and when they recommend an unknown actor to a director they are putting their reputation in the hands of the actor. Casting director’s want to push unknowns forward to the director, but as the director hasn’t heard of them, perhaps they have no name or reputation and don’t come attached to an established agency, the casting director can only really push that actor forward with some evidence to support his belief - his reputation is on the line here, his career is on the line.

The actor needs the casting director to book work and the casting director needs the actor to complete his work, we need to work as a team, as actors we need to make sure that we give the casting director everything they need so they can do their job, they in turn will then be able to push you forward, get you an audition and let you do yours!

Long gone are the days when an actor’s tool kit (your marketing tools) was “headshot and a CV” now it’s a “headshot, CV and a showreel”. So yes, what he said was harsh, but the advice is solid and true! If you want to be taken seriously in this industry to you have to market yourself seriously. To be considered as a professional you must have a showreel.

After retweeting it to my followers the popular response was “How can I get work if I don’t have one?” 

I promise you it’s not as daunting as you might think, there are so many options available:

1. Student films, you work for a copy of the final piece. Bear in mind that students are learning too and some pieces will be better than others. But do your research on the college/university/school and aim for the final year and graduating projects. For example, the London Film School do a project with the National Gallery, writing a short story about one of their paintings, it’s usually filmed on 16mm and then screened at the National Gallery afterwards. 
2. Short films, again you’ll most likely be working for a copy, but you may get expenses, however these tend to be a professional crew, usually making a short as a showreel piece for themselves before they move onto the first feature. Of course, don’t forget that working with these professionals are great networking opportunities too as they will go on to make more films.
3. Courses, there are a lot out there, you learn and then get something at the end, I can recommend Actors Studio at Pinewood, because I’ve worked with them before, they do some great courses, get you working with directors, producers and casting directors. So not only is it an opportunity to learn but also a great opportunity to create new relationships.
4. Companies, there are many individual companies out there offering a showreel service, do you research, if you go down this route make sure you get good recommendations, that you’re not wasting your money. I can only recommend one company myself Knights of Drama, run by Michael Hodell and Paul McNeilly, because Paul was my acting tutor for a time, and he’s marvellous! But always do your research, what works for one person might not always be the right fit for another.
5. Friends, get together with them, split the costs, write a piece, use something already out there, just do it! I quote Dan Hubbard again “Self taped two hander, well lit, short, sweet and effective will do. Make sure you have a variety of photos too.” Where there’s a will there’s a way.

So where do you find these jobs? Casting Call Pro, Shooting People, PCR, Talent Circle and Mandy.

It’s ok to be starting at the bottom, everyone starts there, don’t let the negative thought “I don’t have a showreel so I’ll never get work” get you down. Go out there and get the work you need to create a showreel! That’s the attitude of a professional!

• It’s ok to do student films and free short films whilst your building up your showreel and CV
• Get some actors together and create your own scenes
• Cover all areas too, after putting up your showreel on Spotlight, put it up on your website, YouTube and Vimeo too – you never know who’ll see it :o)
• Don’t get trapped in the ‘working for free’ part of your career, make a plan for how you intend to progress, what you need from it, and stick to it.

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Article by Rebekah Daven Watson for The Actors' Cafe 

Shortcut To Acting Success

We’re all looking for it.  Other people seem to have the secret to it.  We’re constantly being told that this particular course / event / person will prove to be it for us.  And we try not to talk about things with others because we fear, somewhere in our few successes and connections, lies our own secret: maybe something we skipped over or didn’t pick up on at the time and this other person will pick up on it and steal it from us.

It’s our shortcut to acting success.

I was reminded of it while at Perform 2012, while speaking to someone about what they wanted to do, acting-wise.  They didn’t want to go and do the training in order to start on the journey of their craft-perfecting.  They didn’t want to have to get in a show to be seen by an agent.  They didn’t want to have to get in any classes, even to learn the basics.  They didn’t want to have to ‘faff about’ and do this, that and the other.  They literally asked me what the shortcut around ‘all that’ was and how they could make that a reality for them.  For the first time in quite a while, I honestly didn’t know what to say.

The encounter set me wondering.  Did we all think that we were that special once upon a time?  Have we all at some point thought that learning from others who were accomplished and talented in the craft was beneath us and that we were so much better than everyone else that we didn’t have to go through the same struggles as them?

The daughter of one of my friends refuses to take any roles that are not leading roles.  Another acquaintance has become incredibly frustrated over the past few years because of his refusal to do any unpaid work – considering he has very little in the way of experience.  And another girl I know goes to every Britain’s Got Talent, Big Brother, Make Me A Star-like audition that happens, coming away heartbroken from it all when, yet again, she has not shone through.

Here’s the thing about the shortcut to acting success – there isn’t one.  Yes, there are breaks that we can all get if we are lucky enough and we work hard enough to get to that position, through our networking, our love of the craft and through our desire and ambition to succeed and be good actors.

Yet so many of us try to make a shortcut, when there isn’t one.   Perhaps it is partially arrogance on the part of the actor themselves – let’s be honest, we have all been there – and blind hopefulness that means we believe that our Big Break is only ever one audition away.

Here’s some examples against the Overnight Success Story.  Russell Brand.  But his success seemed to happen so quickly!  No, it didn’t.  He was working hard at both honing his craft and getting his name out there for ten years before he actually hit it big and became the household name he is today.  Kristin Wiig.  She was a ‘Party Parent’ in a short movie at the age of twenty seven and then a mere Extra at the grand old age of thirty!  We now know her as Annie from Bridesmaids, but she slogged and worked away, writing and acting on things for years to get to where she is today.  Miranda Hart, who our own dear Rebekah Daven Watson worked with some ten years ago, has produced her own work and worked so solidly to suddenly be the star of ‘Miranda’.  Even Brad Pitt started in uncredited roles back in 1984 and then finally got real screen time in ‘Thelma And Louise’ seven years later!

It takes on average ten years to get your big break.  And in order for you to get just to the point of being Successful – we’re not talking about Fame – you have to work very hard and very smart.  You could spend all your energy trying to get that shortcut instead of putting it into legitimate ventures and ideas which could actually improve your acting career in the long-term, instead of you turning into just another flash in the pan.  Nobody wants to be that.

• Stop looking for a shortcut – do the work!
• Network smartly, do your research, hone your craft and be ready for your moment.
• ‘Word hard and work smart’ – (if you don’t know what this means, talk to us about getting a mentoring session and a Business Plan in place for your acting career!)

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Article by Lexi Wolfe for The Actors' Cafe 

 

Power to the Actor

Every actor needs to be master of their own business. 

The task of getting work is in no way the task for your agent alone.  If you get an agent or manager and then merely sit back and wait for the phone to ring, or the emails to roll in, you may be waiting a while. 

The following story is a demonstration of what every actor can get if they allow themselves to take control of their careers and go get what they want.

I saw the casting details for Misfits series 4 on Spotlight and through various other (mostly online) channels.  I’d heard of it – hasn’t everyone? – watched a couple of episodes and was generally quite happy that British TV was putting something original out there, so, naturally I wanted to be a part of it. 

I glanced through the breakdown for some of the characters on Spotlight and spotted a name that I knew – that of the director.  I had met him a year or so back at a networking event, we’d met up a couple of times as friends and I auditioned for a part in his first feature film.

I called up my agent and told them about this all-important connection, then sent across an email to them.  They sent across my details to the casting director.

After a week or so, I’d heard nothing.  At the weekend, I text the director, letting him know that I really wanted to audition.  He told me it was too late for the main characters, but I should get in touch directly with the casting director about the other roles.

That next day I phoned the casting director's office explaining, then sent across my details.  They phoned me back the day after and offered me an audition slot for the very next day!

Networking with people in the industry is important. 
Keeping your relationships strong with those people you have met is important.

Taking the initiative and ensuring that you are doing as much work as your agent, and more, to get yourself out there is vital.  The age of the agent and the hard-copy format is slowly passing us by, being replaced by modern technology, new ways of communicating, and interstellar speeds at which one can view an actor’s showreel, voice-reel, online gallery, credits etc. and actors need to keep up.  The actor now needs to learn about publicising themselves, keeping themselves in circulation in a marketing sense and taking part in what they can in order to drown the market with their work.

Keep coming back to The Actors' Cafe and we will show you how.