You quoted my letter in last week’s column, but what is your point? My “managers” will tell you I have the most positive attitude of all their clients. I spend 30-36 hours a week on the business of my career (networking, showcases, mailings, seminars, meet & greets, calls, etc.). Every meeting, audition, class I’ve taken, the other person or persons tell me what how engaging and talented I am. And, how confident and prepared I am. I have TWO IMDb entries, soon to be four.
To quote you: “And if you could move forward with the confidence that comes from knowing you have so many others on your side, you’d find success in no time.” Easy for you to say, but in the real world, where the people who decide my fate (CDs) or those who could help decide my fate (agents) are not willing to discover me or are so calloused by the numbers and the system that they prefer to “play it safe,” there is an unwillingness, due to time constraints, numbers, selfishness or plain complaisance to take a chance and be a discoverer!
This is what your next book should be about: the industry as it really exists and how to deal with it and overcome it! You definitely misinterpreted where I was coming from. Mine is not so much a personal plea, but a plea for all disenchanted actors. It hurts me to see so many actors who read everything and think that, if they do as told, they will have a career. We both know this isn’t true.
I have no doubt that I’m on the right track and will continue to advance my passion. You sound like a nice lady. I hope we get to meet someday. So, while you may disagree, I really do GET IT. Thank you again and keep writing those needed articles.
Not to get too Dr. Phil on you, but is it possible that maybe you have been far too focused on the things that others need to be doing in order to help you get work? Perhaps you have no interest in being a DISCOVERER (to use your word) of what you could be doing differently. Have you heard the saying, “Insanity is defined by doing the same thing and hoping to get a different result,” or something to that effect?
It comes across to me as though you are defending what you do to try and make your career work (despite the fact that others are unwilling to take a chance on you) without acknowledging that perhaps you need to do something differently. Now, that doesn’t say: “Do different things.” It says: “Do things differently.” If you are getting no results, why do you keep doing things the same way? Change things up! Make your own career — and don’t blame anyone in this industry for keeping you from your dreams. No one has that power. No one but you.
I think it’s great that you’re doubling your number of IMDb credits. That rocks! And it “sounds” from your email that you have a great many fans in this town. CDs, instructors, managers, all of ’em are on your side. Are you telling me you think that’s not going to pay off at some point? You have fans in this business! That’s AWESOME!
Okay, so you’re asking me to write a book about the fact that — What? — this business is cruel, unfair, random, and absolutely based on people wanting to both discover the “hot new talent” and “play it safe” with “bankable talent”? Okay, DONE! That book is a very, very short one (it fits in one paragraph):
THIS BUSINESS IS UNFAIR, RANDOM, AND BASED ON ZILLIONS OF THINGS, VERY FEW OF WHICH YOU CONTROL. MOST OF YOU WHO PURSUE THIS CAREER WILL NEVER MAKE A PENNY AT IT.
There. Done.
Everything you need to do to succeed in this business comes from getting out of your own way. You seem to think that only people outside of you are keeping you from booking. That’s simply not possible. Because if that were true, no one would ever book. EVER. We are not conspiring against you or your talent. You are looking to us to make it happen for you, and even if you are the most positive-attitude-filled person on the planet, that underlying message of, “And don’t you dare keep me from what I deserve,” shines through your work (and you’d better believe that’s a turnoff).
Basically, you are looking for answers to a question that does not exist. There is NO reason that any one actor gets work and another doesn’t. You could have identical twins in this business and they could do everything exactly the same but their careers would still be very different. There is nothing linear or fair about the way success is found in this industry.
Please trust me when I say that I feel for you. I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be to be certain that you are doing everything right and still not booking as you deserve to book. Problem is, there is nothing about “deserving” anything in this biz. That’s what makes it so alluring for those who have no training but have a great look. And that’s what makes people who’ve spent millions of dollars on Harvard MFAs frustrated that they can’t book a stupid commercial!
My bottom-line recommendation for you is this: If those hours and hours of work you’re doing on the business side of your career aren’t yielding results that you’d like to see… STOP. Do something different. Invest money not in CD workshops and gas money to get to meet & greets, postage on mailings, etc., and instead start saving to produce your own short film in which you star. You show us you rock and that you know how to get the job done, with or without us.
And if you really feel that you are meeting CDs who “are so calloused by the numbers and the system” then, honey, you’re not getting in front of the right people. It is the minority of CDs in this town who are like that. We all want to rock the world of a producer or director who has hired us to cast a project by “discovering” the “next big thing” in this town. We can’t do that by playing it safe on EVERY SINGLE ROLE, EVERY SINGLE TIME. It just doesn’t make sense.
Get in front of better people. Make your movie. Live your dreams. If you don’t, someone else will!
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/000361.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.