Hi Bonnie,
I discovered your fabulous column and blog several weeks ago and really appreciate your insight. You go above and beyond your CD duties and you’re truly a blessing to all who read your work. Please keep the pearls of wisdom coming!
I have always wanted to be an actress, but I pushed my dreams aside to go to school for something “practical” as my parents suggested. Now, in my late 20s, I’m returning to my first love and it feels GREAT to be pursuing my dreams! It’s indescribable how “right” it feels to be doing some acting again, and I know I will reach my goals.
But, Bonnie, I have a weak resumé. I was told this by an agent at one of those pay-to-meet-the-agents-and-CDs seminars. He said that if you have few credits, you really need to have strong training. Now, I submit on a variety of sites to all the projects that are a fit for me: student, nonunion indies, commercials, non-paying, all of it. I get a few auditions and a few bookings here and there so slowly my resumé will get “beefed up.”
My training is not an MFA or at a big name conservatory, and I wonder if that is holding me back. Besides not being able to afford either of those options right now, I feel that the time commitment would hold me back from being able to audition/book work for two (or more) years. Would you suggest I take a two-year “break” from trying to build my resumé so that I could add an MFA or reputable conservatory program to my resumé, or should I keep plugging along, taking a once a week class I can afford and attempting to build my resumé as I am now?
Thanks a bunch!
Danyelle
Hi Danyelle,
Thanks for writing.
This is always a tough question for actors facing it, because you really are asking whether you should pick one road or another, and this isn’t just a LITTLE detour you’re talking about. You’re considering putting your professional work on hold for two years while you get an advanced degree, hoping that the two years you spend on the MFA won’t put you behind where you would’ve been, had you stayed in the professional pursuit, working as much as possible. And then when you get out and BACK on the pro road, will anyone even really value that MFA you just spent two years getting?
Yeah. It’s like the game of LIFE. Remember that board game? You spin the wheel and you have to choose if you want to go “college” or “career” and you just can’t possibly know whether your journey in the whole of the game would’ve been better, had you chosen the “other” road, whichever road you did end up choosing!
The problem is, you’re always going to wonder “what if” on this one, and no one is going to be able to tell you FOR SURE what the right choice is. So, I say do what makes your heart sing!
Some people in the industry are going to really value seeing the letters “MFA” on your resumé. Others aren’t even going to look at the Training and Education section of your resumé. They just want to know if you’re any good. And they don’t believe anything can teach them whether you’re good better than SEEING you audition and deciding for themselves.
Will you be able to earn enough credits and tape in two years to put you in a really good position, professionally, at that time? Would you miss out on lots of good opportunities by being in school? Would you come out of school lightyears ahead of where you’d be in two years otherwise? Are you more castable now than you’ll ever be, and therefore shelving yourself from professional opportunities for two years is just going to keep you from working in the type category in which you’ll ever be most bookable? How can ANYONE know?
My gut tells me to advise you to stay the course. Get in a great ongoing scene study class with a well-respected but affordable coach and audition your butt off on everything you can find. Make some short-term and longer-term goals for yourself and you may be amazed at the leaps your career can take in just two years.
But I could be wrong! An MFA could be the best possible thing for you to have. Don’t know. NO ONE can know. Not even you. And that’s the hard part. Even after you’ve made a decision one way or the other, you’re going to wonder. You’re going to doubt.
So, let me advise you MOST of all to pick a route on your journey and then STAY on that road for a good two years. Go all-in, whichever road you take. You can’t decide you’re going to drive across the country on one highway and then LEAP to another. When you’re at what feels like a crossroads, do some thinking… look at a map… ask some trusted folks who’ve traveled both roads what they think you should do… and most of all, ask yourself what you WANT to do. Then do it. And do it all the way.
Good luck to you, whatever you decide! Keep me posted, okay?
A quick reminder: I’m looking to hear from you about your stop-down films and TV shows. Please send me your list, plus WHY those films and TV shows cause you to stop down. I’ve gotten a lot of great responses already and plan to make next week’s column all about what inspires you to stop down and watch, every time. Thanks for your help, everyone!
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/000908.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.