This week we have two fab follow-ups to last week’s column about the The Realities of Pilot Season.
Hello Bon,
I just read your pilot season article.
You stated that it is best to target the episodics and the indie films at this time if you are an adult actor. I am a current LA actor who made the move five years ago. I still don’t have any big credits on my IMDb page or any credits on TV. I let my agent go late last year because she was sending me out three times a year.
Well, I wanted to know if I target the episodics on CastingAbout, should I send my headshot and resumé to their office? It seems like I might be spaghetti-slinging if I don’t know the roles they are looking for. I have a good idea of the shows I would like to be on with my type. I have also done the research on the shows that used my type before but I cannot really know if they need my type right now.
From Your Main Ninja,
Kenyon Long
Heya Kenyon, and good baseline work thus far. Totally get you on letting go of an agent that’s not really agenting you, but there’s still a gap between where you are NOW and those first big episodic bookings. The good news is, it’s not a BIG gap.
Yes, keep an eye on CastingAbout, but also make it your job to study sides going live on Showfax. Even if the breakdowns aren’t going out on Actors Access, the sides are on Showfax (unless they’re *so* locked down that they’re emailed directly to agents, which is sometimes the case). So, if you’re truly ninja about it, you can use the combination of what you’re already learning about the buyers and the types of actors they *always* seem to use AND these sides to know the time is right to self-tape and possibly get your footage on the radar of the casting office.
Now, this is an advanced move! So, I don’t recommend it ’til you’re sure you have a relationship with the office (through those few agency-generated opportunities you got, showcases you’ve done, CD workshops perhaps, or good ol’ fashioned networking that you’ve nurtured for the five years you’ve been in town) and your footage will be welcomed. But it *is* a way in.
If you feel you’re on the side of the gap that still needs some relationships nurtured, then you’re doing all the right homework to make that happen. Research the casting assistants and associates of the offices that cast the shows that are your targets, and find ways to intersect with those people, organically. The goal is to make sure your headshot looks familiar and feels RIGHT, when it is submitted (frankly, usually by an agent or manager). On that parenthetical note, you may want to go farther down the IMDb-Pro rabbit hole to target reps that may be excited to get to know you, after pilot season.
I know, that doesn’t help you get cast right this second. But it gets you closer. Closer is better, right? Keep rockin’!
Dearest Bonita,
I think what stuck with me most from this one was the years of groundwork. I’m the one saying, “Ugh, that seems like so much TIME before I get to take my chances, get my break, etc., etc.,” regarding pilot season and this business in general.
I’m type A, so I sit down and look at my game plan and see what’s working and what isn’t, what I want to accomplish and haven’t yet, etc., etc. I see my big picture and my day-to-day plan to achieve it and go, “WHY ISN’T ANYTHING HAPPENING YET??”
I’m in class; I’m in improv; I’m submitting daily to breakdowns; I’m doing my research on IMDb-Pro and CastingAbout, compiling lists of managers, agents, CDs to whom to market myself; I’m updating my materials; I’m hitting workshops; and, best yet, I’m writing and shooting my own perfectly-branded series and staying up way too late researching where to best get it seen by my buyers. So why am I not the next Drew Barrymore yet?? What’s wrong with my plan?
NOTHING. Nothing is wrong with my plan. I don’t need to have a panic attack and make a new plan in which I change everything. I just need to keep going.
I don’t need to get mad at the sunflower seeds I’ve planted and uproot them to grow roses. I just need to keep watering my sunflower seeds. “But I’ve been here two and half years! I should have booked a co-star by now!”
Who says there is a time frame from moving to LA to booking in LA? If you leave, frustrated, after three years, won’t you wonder in two more if it would have happened after four? Harrison Ford said the reason he was “successful” was because he just stuck it out. He stayed, when even his more talented friends gave up.
Just. Keep. Going.
Keep doing what you’re doing (unless what you’re doing is moping and waiting for someone to give you a break). Just keep swimming swimming swimming!
xoxo
Bipsie
Bipsie, there are a few people in life who light up an inbox like you do. It’s so awesome every time I get an email from you because it’s such a “yes, and…” for all I teach. You are embracing the time that it takes and knowing that changing course every few months because “nothing’s working” is the surest way to keep that truth TRUE. Right on!
I love all of this and that’s really all I have to say. 😉 See you at Thirsty Third Thursday!
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001764.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.