Hey y’all! The good folks at Film Courage have encouraged me to share the text of our recent Q&A here, while they get their site de-glitched. Thank you, Karen and David, for this awesome exchange (and for your support of the 4th edition of Self-Management for Actors).
Q: What is Self-Management for Actors?
SMFA evolved out of questions actors had for me as I interviewed hundreds of casting directors for Backstage, 1999-2003. Self-Management for Actors is all about the places in which actors *can* have some control in their creative pursuits. It’s about nurturing your career to the point at which there is something FOR an agent to want to manage. Actors constantly give away their power, so my work is about making sure they remember there’s a lot they can do to create the career of their dreams.
Q: Why did you choose crowdfunding for the 4th print edition?
By staying indie with our publishing, we aren’t forced to bow to SPIN, which this industry loves. We can pull back the curtain and reveal how things are *really* done in this business, and help empower actors in ways they’ve never been. By asking people who would buy the book anyway to go ahead and do so through a pre-order system at the IndieGoGo page, we’re able to create amazing perks and incentives for those who wanna rock the Self-Management for Actors principles.
This could be the new business model, for all we know! We’ve published three previous editions of SMFA (as well as Casting Qs and Acting Qs, plus books authored by others in the industry) in the traditional model. Today, so many people rock it “eBook style” that we wanted to be sure there’s still an audience for a printed book. Looks like there is, based on the momentum our campaign has, but we’d still love more backers, so we can print enough books to donate to libraries and to send to colleges and universities, when they request desk copies for developing their curriculum.
Q: What can actors learn about promoting (and not over-promoting) themselves from your book?
Oh, that’s such a big issue, isn’t it? The SMFA way of pitching and promoting is all about studying your targets and understanding what *they* respond to, rather than just charging in, full-force, with no regard for what the buyers value. So many actors just mindlessly sling spaghetti at the wall and hope something will stick, while the ninja actor studies a specific buyer, learns what that person is often excited about, finds an intersection of what she’s pitching and what turns the buyer on, and then organically shows up at that intersection with a beautifully crafted pitch ready to go.
When actors realize they’re helping casting directors SOLVE a problem by being right for a role, the whole relationship evolves. Clearly, I’m all about actor empowerment. 😉
Q: What’s something YOU’VE learned while writing and teaching Self-Management for Actors?
I’ve learned that this industry is constantly evolving. I’ve learned that as soon as you’re sure you’ve mastered something, it goes and changes. And luckily, I freakin’ *love* that, because it’s what keeps me totally engaged with my life’s work. There will never be a one-size-fits-all map for success in this industry, and that’s incredibly exciting to me. That every person’s road is different is so dang cool (it’s why it’s SELF-Management for Actors) and that so many beautiful creatives enter this business daily, excited to tell stories and share their gifts is just awesome.
How lucky are WE?!? It’s a delicious time to be an artist and I’m thrilled to share my work with such a creative population!
Thank you, Bonnie. And here’s a flashback to our post-episode lobby interview with you, from 2010!
Awesome!
Good luck with your campaign!
Thanks, y’all. Means the world to have you spread the word. Every tweet counts! Let’s finish strong! 😀 XO
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!