I keep a list of future column topics — y’know, in case writer’s block should ever strike (even though it hasn’t in 15+ years, probably due in part to having a list of future topics) — and this one was actually called “What Trending on Twitter Taught Me about Your Acting Career.” You see, back in December, I hosted a free 11-day inbox training series called Get in Gear for the New Year. It was awesome.

Over 1000 actors (and a few agents, managers, coaches, and publicists) from all over the world enrolled, took inspired action, and shared their homework on Twitter using the hashtag #SMFAninjas. And for more than six hours on December 22nd, we were trending. I received screengrabs from all over the world. This little year-end inbox “let’s not let 2014 end with any excuses for not having our tools together” incentive took on a life of its own thanks to the involvement of a bunch of very enthusiastic people at exactly the right time.

It was like watching a beachball being sent around Dodger Stadium, each fan in the stands seeing it coming and cheering with delight as it nears him, hoping to get to help keep it aloft, the entire crowd invested in seeing it do more than a single lap before making its way down to the field where it eventually gets scooped up by the grounds crew.

Welp, this is no different than how a booking makes an actor look like a booker. And bookers book. So booking helps you book, helps you book, helps you book.

Getting your momentum flowing is what gets your tier jumps coming faster. But how do you execute that? What parts of that whole “right place, right time, right opportunity, right talent, right look” scenario do you even control? What makes anything go viral?

Ah, yes. The title I *actually* chose for this week’s column: Viral.

Why did I select that, after all? Well, I started thinking about how many breakdowns I’ve seen over the years that indicate the project is a “viral video,” or a “festival-bound indie,” when there is zero percent chance of any of that being assured up front.

By definition, something goes viral when its organic exposure — which causes replication — reaches critical mass. So, it’s not really up to the creator of the thing (whether it’s a video or a hashtag) whether its popularity will exist. No number of marketing machines can force something to be a hit. See: “Stop trying to make FETCH happen.”

So, it’s not as though you — the actor looking to book so you look like a booker so you book so you book so you book — can set out with a goal of “going viral” with your acting career and then expect it to happen. What you can do, though, is have enough of a foundation laid that you are capable of sustaining each boost the beachball gets organically so that you can keep it aloft for more than one lap around the stadium.

That means having your craft at peak fitness so you can transition from one-line co-stars to meaty guest stars to leading roles without having to take time off to learn how to do the bigger parts. That means having brandprov skills at the ready before you face your first pressline. That means having such a phenomenal — authentic — relationship with buyers (that includes the casting community, producers, directors, showrunners, reps, and fans) that letting them know about your latest booking doesn’t feel like skeevy self-promotion but instead like a quick update among colleagues.

And allllll of that represents a lot of groundwork you can be doing right now. Start today. Explore — and invest in — the relationships that will make up your “cheering committee” when it’s time to keep the ball in the air. No, you can’t map out exactly whose hands will give the ball its biggest boost nor can you predict with certainty the timing of that alleyoop, but you sure as heck can have fun connecting with loads of amazing people in this industry knowing that you’re strengthening the foundation from which your next tier will be reached.

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/001937.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.