The three most important things to know, in order to succeed in
the entertainment industry are (1), don’t let any thing or
any one stand in your way, (2), always be on time and do what you
say you are going to do, treating your career as a business,
which it is, and (3) always know that there are never just 3
things. – Bruce Edwin
GET A CAR: If you just arrived in Los Angeles,
ready to become a star, there are tons of things you must learn
and know, in order to make it, what ever you think IT is, and in
order to not fall flat on your face before running back home. The
first thing is a car. The cliché is true, you should have
one in order to live in Los Angeles, unless you are very wealthy
and can afford outrageous taxis. Public transportation is an
option, but a miserable one at best.
GET A CELL AND ANSWER IT: The second thing is a
phone. You must have a cell, and it should have a local area
code, preferably 310, 818, 213, or 714, which we call THE
TRIANGLE. The triangle is the area of power where the power
players are supposed to live and work, where the deals are mostly
done in this town. Beverly Hills is in this triangle of course,
and BH has its OWN triangle of power, which for the sake of
space, I will exclude here now. Casting and agents frown at non
local area codes. Now having a phone is great, but if you
don’t answer it readily, or keep a working empty voicemail
that can take messages, or call back casting or your rep very
quickly, you might as well drop it in the toilet, where many
models phones end up any way.
HAVE A STABLE PLACE TO LIVE: After your car and
phone, it would be a good idea to have a place to live. I have
seen far too many talents living in their fancy cars. Not cool. I
knew another actor who lived in a Wall Mart parking lot in his
small mobile home, which is a little better. Another talent I
know doesn’t hit the waves in Malibu, but she is a great
couch surfer. Tent city has no showers or toilets, so that is not
an option.
BE FINANCIALLY VIABLE / DO EXTRA WORK / GET SAG:
After you get your own place to live, making money is a good
idea. If you are a talent, you should go the background mafia to
register, which costs about 50 bucks cash, in order to do
background work. It is here that I love to hear talents tell me
if they have to pay it’s a scam. Tell that to Burbank. If
you are super hot and a good schmoozer, or just a cute girl with
a great manager, we can often help get you SAG vouchers if you
are willing to play sexy for a film or network or cable TV show.
Getting SAG eligible these days of course, has little to do with
talent, and a lot to do with nepotism and showing skin. In fact,
I have seen my share of breakdowns stating that no acting
experience is preferred. There are not enough good actors out
there. Hopefully that will change soon.
SISTER UNION: SAG costs money to join, and
should be the goal of every actor, and model for that matter,
since models have a shorter shelf life. Aftra is the
other main union for talent, SAG’s sister union, (they
fight like crazy) and is mainly for soap opera work.
BAND MATERIALS: Musicians should register all
work with ASCAP or BMI, as well as copyright all materials. Bands
should not put covers on demos unless you have legal right to
perform them. Band names should be registered and trademarked.
Musicians, get pro ear plugs that are molded to the ear canal and
keep in all the ranges. Trust me, I know way too many musicians
who have lost hearing. Bands should never have to pay for photos.
If you are a good enough band, you can find a good fan
photographer to do it for you. If you can’t get this, you
should reconsider being a band. Bands will also need 3 top tracks
on cd and online via myspace, as well as a press kit.
MODEL MATERIALS: Models and talent should plan
on paying for photos, unless you are SAG, have major tearsheets
(pages of big ads from magazines you have been in), major
credits, or have major nepotism (can pull favors based on
connections) going on. Super hot models may get away with
TFP’s (trade for prints) and get signed with those, but
girls should be 5-10 or up to get away with this, or be Playboy
material, unless again, you have nepotism in your favor.
BE PREPARED TO INVEST IN YOUR CAREER: Models and
talent, don’t expect an agent or manager to walk you
through development of your portfolio if you do TFP, as we
don’t get paid for that, and the odds are the model will
flake any way, so it’s not worth our while. Unless you have
major talent going on, or are major fashion material or super
sexy willing to do sexy work, realize you are easily replaceable
by about 25 to 100 thousand other new people per month that flood
in to town.
START YOUR OWN BUSINESS: It is legal for an
agent or manager to give you a list of photographers to consider
shooting with. Who you shoot with is up to you, and who an agent
or manager signs is up to them. All of the top modeling agencies
have their own photogs they like to refer people to, and these
costs are usually paid in advance by the model, or deducted out
of his or her future earnings, with a red or black balance or
account owed. Start your own business, with yourself at the core,
and write off any thing for taxes you legally are able to.
CONTRACTS: Never sign an exclusive for an agency
unless you know they are getting you work. Sign an exclusive for
management if you know they will get you work. Most management
contracts are exclusive. Most upper level agency contracts are as
well. You can have an agent and a manager, and there is no
conflict with this as long as both know of each other. You should
have your pictures on the walls of as many reputable agents in
town as possible until you are established, but do make them all
aware of who you have. Make a list, and check in with them all at
least once a week, as often as they ask, and by whatever method.
Most agent and management contracts are one sided, and will be,
until you have more star power, so you may have to just deal with it,
if you want signed by them.
TALENT- WEB BASED PUBLICITY & BUSINESS: Bands
especially here, and models and talent as well, you should all
have a myspace, you tube, facebook, linked in, twitter, and any
other thing in this regard you can think of. Bands should strive
to reach at least 10 thousand to 1 million listeners, and then
network all back to your website, where you are selling product
via E-commerce, mail order, and brick and mortar. Talent and
models should do the same. Talents and models should strive to
also become producers, or co producers, and create your own
webisode’s, and eventually spin it off to a pilot and VOD
and cable or network show, which we do for our clients. The net
can create stars these days, and is a money maker, so it must not
be ignored.
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