How to Succeed in Hollywood

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- By Bruce Edwin

The following is the ongoing article on 'How to Succeed in Hollywood' by model and talent manager Bruce Edwin, based on his upcoming book. Mr. Edwin has booked national tours for various bands, including gigs at the famed Limelight nightclub that existed in New York City. He assisted the band Kill Hannah in getting signed to Atlantic Records, who went on to tour the world. He has launched the careers of many other models and actors, after getting them SAG eligible, and SAG franchised agents. His firm Starpower Management LLC currently represents numerous celebrity clientele. Part one of this article may be seen here.


The three main reasons people fail in this business:

Having seen thousands of models and actors, I have narrowed down the top 3 reasons as to why people fail or do not make it in this business to begin with. They are the following;

1) They do not treat their acting, modeling, or music career as a business, and take it seriously. An example of this, is an agency scouting an aspiring actor, model, or band, and interviewing them on the phone to come in for an in person interview. The actor, model, or band, who never answers their phone, finally gets a hold of them, and complains that they do not typically answer blocked calls. WRONG. All of the major film studios have blocked numbers, or dummy numbers, that route to non-existent lines if called back. Many agents and managers call from private numbers. If you do not answer private calls, you can count on not working. Telling an agent or manager you don't usually answer private calls, does not make you sound important to them, on the contrary, it will make you sound clueless about the industry.

TREAT YOUR ENTERTAINMENT CAREER AS A BUSINESS.

After they finally get a hold of the prospective agent or manager, the actor, band, or model may then start complaining that they are very skeptical about agents or managers, and had a very bad experience with their last one. WRONG. Would you go to apply to work at a bank and tell the interviewing manager how you dis-trust banks, and had a really bad experience at the last bank you worked for? If you did, do you think you would get the job and they would want you to work for them? It is no different with representation. Agents and managers create jobs for models and talent. If you call us complaining about your last agent, or telling us how paranoid you are of the industry, what makes you think we would want to deal with you or give you a chance? One model went so far as to tell me that she FIRED her last manager, and was going to sue her. First of all, this person was not big enough to 'fire' any one. Secondly, she had no merit to sue, and even if she did, why be so foolish as to tell us? Remember, treat your career as the job it is. Treat those that can get you work with the respect you would any employer.

2) Jealous boyfriend or girlfriend, or friend or family member. The outcome of great success in the entertainment industry is great attention from both sexes, and often, as being viewed as a sex symbol, an objectified person of desire. Many people in relationships with a significant other who is pursuing acting, modeling, or music, can not handle the growing attention their partner is getting, or seeks to get, as it makes them feel less significant, and this does not just apply to lovers or husbands and wives, but also to friends and family. Many so called friends have talked plenty of potential models with great, great potential out of a successful career, by slamming the agency, putting down the industry, or belittling their chances of success. In most cases, that so called friend weighs 100 pounds more than they do, and can only dream of being thin and pretty enough like them, so they succeed in dashing their friend's dreams to bits.

Two musicians once asked for my telephone number, and asked me to help them with their music career. I agreed, and sent them a non-exclusive two page agreement, and told them they would not have to pay for anything. Months went by, before these young adults finally told me their mother had an attorney in a different state look at the contract, and advise them not to sign. I called the attorney,who then tried to get me to pay her to re-write the contract, and represent me instead of them.

Continued on next page.

© The Hollywood Sentinel 2009.