The guy sat down in the seat next to me on the airplane headed back to Los Angeles. We made eye contact, smiled, nodded. Before we were even in the air, he had pulled out a Ziploc bag filled with lottery tickets. The scratch-off kind. A huge stack of them. He dipped his hand into his front pocket, fished out a quarter, and began scratching.

Now, let’s ignore the fact that the entire row of airline seats shakes when someone is involved in scratching off lottery tickets with a quarter and focus on what brings me to a topic for this week’s column: Everyone loves to back a winner.

I actually felt myself getting more excited with each ticket he scratched. As I tried to distract myself from the constant shaking of our row (and a great way to distract yourself from anything you don’t like is finding something to love about that very thing), I found myself thinking, “Oh, wow! This guy could be a millionaire in a minute.” And I played out a scenario in which I asked if I could help him with the task of scratching off these tickets, both to keep this task from taking the entire flight and to become his new best friend, right before he hits the big time.

Because, y’know, an appropriate “helper fee” would easily be 10%, right?

Okay, so none of that happened (although we did end up spending a good three hours talking business and technology and film financing and social networking and branding, which was delightful), but here’s what I came up with, for y’all today: Everyone loves to back a winner… and, as Reginald Hudlin says in Why We Make Movies, “No one wants to be first; everyone wants to be second.”

Meaning, it will always be easier to get your second agent than your first. It will always be easier to get your second network costar than it was to get your first one. Once you’ve walked the red carpet once, getting invited to do it again is far easier. Your track record as a (perceived) success is what gets you invited to the next tier, faster.

That’s not because your talent level changes, once you’ve had that first big success; it’s because you’re perceived as lower-risk, once you’ve proven you are bankable. This is why I encourage actors to remove credits from their resumés that end in a bad story. You know the ones. “Oh, yeah. I was cut out of the finished product, but I totally had a scene with the lead.” “I was promised an upgrade but I only ended up in the background. Still, I think you could CALL IT ‘featured,’ if you wanted to.” “Ugh, the money fell out on that spec pilot, but I totally would’ve been a series regular, if they’d ever finished it and been able to shop it to networks.”

Seriously?

Everyone loves to back a winner. Show them you’re a winner. Since no one wants to be first to believe in you*, it becomes imperative that you find ways to show the world that it would be a brilliant idea for them to get on board to back you, ASAP.

*BTW, that’s actually not true. There are people out there who absolutely want to believe in you before it’s profitable to do so. Please, promise me you’ll remember those fine folks — that first agent, that tireless coach, that CD who put you in that first big role, that mentor who got nothing out of cheering you on other than knowing it was helping you, that director who so loved your on-set improv that he kept it in and fought for better billing for you — long after you’re a sure bet.

But because the vast majority of buyers in Hollywood are looking for the lowest-risk option possible (and the options seem endless), do what you can to show ’em you’re low-risk. Don’t bitch about an agent who doesn’t get you out. Don’t tweet about crappy student films from which you never get your footage. Make your every public move an on-brand celebration of the work you’re doing.

Not doing any work? Um… you know that’s totally within your control, right?

Start winning. It’s sexy as hell.

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/001501.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.