There Is No 'Try'

     Another year, another round of pilot season. I encourage actors to pick up the pace starting around the holidays, and its never stressed enough: you don't need an agent to pick up gigs.

     These days, with the advent of the social media, and all the multiple platforms, there is no "waiting for the phone to ring" involved anymore. An actor has as many opportunities as they can create for themselves. I say this to be much more than a quick tagline or bumper sticker. (Although I would put that on the back of my car.) These days the online database is king. You have to be choosy, and you have to find the ones that work best for you. Asking around is never a bad thing, but know that everyone's experiences will be different. Either way, its a mentality of always submitting, always searching for new social media groups, or industry networking events. Finding new ways of conjuring up projects is half the fun. And even if its not, you have to keep telling yourself that. Its the only way.

     I recently did a comedy pilot that I submitted to from NYCastings.com ( I highly recommend them for east coast actors, I'm not sure if there is a company quite like theirs for LA.) and by the time the casting director called me up all randomly at like 7:30 at night, I couldn't even remember what the show was. The lady wanted me to tell her a funny story on the spot, and while I can't say I brought the house down, I did book the part. It was interesting to me, I'd never had to do that before. I told a story about traveling to Connecticut for a theatre run, and how it was interesting to me. Eventually she laughed. I don't know, I don't think there were any real punch-lines per se, but it was an interesting story. And sure, she laughed....eventually.

     I say this just to point out that it is sort of an on-call occupation. Its not just that "an actor prepares", an actor must STAY prepared. You never know what lies just around the corner. And I think a lot people miss out on opportunities because they won't think outside the box.

     I have to admit, I hate the phrase when people say "oh, you're trying to be an actor." Thats not the way it works. You're either an actor or you're not, and the choice is yours to make. There is no pie in the sky day of "now you have made it" that appears one day just because you've booked a series or something. Sure, there are different levels of financial solvency that one can reach in the entertainment industry, but that's not necessarily what  I would call having made it. There are a ton of actors out there with more than comfortable bank accounts that I would not like to be. The whole concept these days is to create your own career path. No one waits for some agent to do it for them. Those days are long past.

     I'm proud to be on the "D List". I'm a horror movie actor. And I've chosen this path. My newest show I'll be appearing in this year is a vampire series called Night Life. I got to do the voiceover for the trailer and everything, its been really fun so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58zqnyPzw7s
   
     All that is just to say, keep your head up and keep it moving. Don't ever let someone tell you an actor has to be in LA to take advantage of pilot season, or that you have to be with some big agency to get work. Its simply not the case. The name of the game is A.B.G. Always Be Grinding. Now get back to work, coffee's for closers!