I had the great fortune of participating in an industry panel last week for a group of actors who are at the end of their Masters programs in Fine Arts. Certainly, actors who have just spent two years developing their craft at the graduate school level should be ready to take the business by storm, right? Craft-wise, yes. Business-wise, not necessarily. Most folks who have devoted years to developing their craft in acting programs would agree that very little emphasis (if any) is placed on the actors becoming confident in marketing, self-management, publicity, and seeking representation.

Until I participated in this panel last week, I assumed that most actors wanted to understand the business side of a professional acting career but were simply not given the tools early enough on in their process. I thought they knew they needed to know more about the business side of pursuing acting (and that they knew they needed to learn this stuff before developing Bad Actor Habits), but didn’t know where to begin. Well, one of the folks on this amazing panel set me straight.

She, an actor, made it clear that her job was to act. Period. She was adamant about the fact that the non-actors on the panel (three casting directors, one agent, and one manager) all make a living off of her craft and that none of us would have jobs without artistes like her. Totally true, of course, but shocking for me to hear! I look at the industry as a network of collaborative efforts. Everyone is working toward creating these various fictional accounts of reality, telling stories to evoke feelings from viewers, presenting worlds that allow for escapism, and perhaps changing the way one person thinks every now and then.

But this actor made a really great point: we all pay our rent because actors have this drive to inhabit fictional characters and they choose to do so in Hollywood rather than on the stage at a local community theatre. “You tell them how you want to be cast, dammit! Don’t let them define you,” she said. Then she shared an amazing tale about being called in to meet with a very famous and well-respected filmmaker to read for one role and going in saying, “No. I want this role.” The audience of actors cheered at this ballsy move and applauded when she revealed that she booked the role she wanted, not the one the casting director had selected.

I looked at the eager actors, knowing they were each imagining themselves in that situation — sitting across from a legendary director and telling him how it’s going to be — and decided I had to say it: “But she had to be on that director’s radar before she’d even get that opportunity in the first place.” Nervous that she was going to launch from her seat and take me down, I glanced toward her in time to see her nod profusely and say, “Oh, yes. He had cast me in a movie of his before, so he knew what I could do.”

Well, all right. Now maybe we’re getting somewhere.

Of course you are an artist (even an artiste). You are a crafts-person with amazing skill and talent. You create worlds that wouldn’t exist without those of your ilk, taking the written word and making it into living, breathing characters’ realities. We buy this whole entertainment-industry world because of you.

But.

You have to navigate the business before you get the most sought-after opportunities to show us what you really can do. That’s why I focus my work here on those so-called “little things” that can make your road smooth or pothole-filled. Yes, you do have to spend time and energy on things like the right headshot, your primary type, being findable, accurately showcasing yourself, self-promotion, and networking. We all know you are truly an artiste! No doubt! But the only way you’ll get to really show us what you’ve got is to first get in the room with us. That’s what all of this “business stuff” is about, after all.

So, rail against it if you must, but the business side of your career choice is one you’re best advised to master. Of course you’d rather do the non-business stuff! And, once you get to a certain level, you can pay folks to do those pesky business-side things for you. But, ’til you’re there, get to work. The sooner you hook into the non-artiste elements of being an actor and make the system work for you, the sooner you get to be the artiste all the time.

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/000223.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.