I've said this before, but it needs said again, and that is
the 3 main reasons actors, models, or musicians fail in this
business. Don't make these three mistakes, and you will be 99
percent ahead of your competition.
1: Treat the entertainment industry as you would any other
career. Would you try to get a high paying job at an office by
showing up late, showing up with a friend, showing up chewing
gum, complaining to the person interviewing you that the last
person you worked for you didn't like, or tell them that you have
not been productive? Apply the same rules of professionalism from
the corporate world to the entertainment industry as well. After
all, your agent or manager helps get you jobs, so show the same
respect. Those who do not treat their modeling, acting, or music
pursuits as a career, and respectfully, usually do not make
it.
2: Answer your phone at all possible times. If you are an actor
or model especially, you should basically act as if you are a
surgeon on call 24 - 7. One missed call could be a matter of
major importance for your career. Hollywood will not wait around
for you to answer your phone constantly, or play lengthily phone
tag. You should have a working phone with a Los Angeles area
code, on you at all times, and answer it every possible moment
that you are awake. This point alone may be the deciding factor
between whether you make it in this industry, or not.
3: Don't let jealous friends, family, or a significant other
interfere. The first rule of any good success book on how to
achieve big, will tell you that you need to get rid of any
negative people who put down your dreams and goals. It may seem
harsh, but life is short and tough enough already. It is hard
enough just to overcome all of the negative things we hear in the
news, or that some of us were told growing up, and to lift
ourselves up enough to get the willpower to be optimistic and
push on. To surround yourself with those who put down your
aspirations and goals, is suicide. Your career is tough enough
already, why allow an enemy of your goals in your ranks when you
want to win this battle? If you can't cut of some one that is no
good for your career, at least stop discussing that part of your
life with them, and demand that they do not speak about about,
unless they have something good to say.
Follow these three rules, and you will be far ahead of most your
competition. Now, if you want to step it up to the next level,
then follow the next three steps.
1: Be polite. Being polite versus being rude, or simply
unfriendly, can mean the difference between a job and no job.
Even if you do not like the person, or are not going to go
forward with them, they may know some one who you do want to work
with, or you may end up having to work with them in some way in
the future, your paths may cross again. It pays to be nice and
polite at all costs, rather than rude or unfriendly. Being too
nice has generally never lost any one a job or lost them an
audition or deal. Being rude or too unfriendly has. Smile big,
make eye contact, and offer to shake hands, or even when
appropriate, give a hug or kiss on the cheek, which is a common
thing in Hollywood that I will address in another issue. Give off
love and care for the one you are dealing with, and I assure you,
you will be way ahead of your competition. You don't have to be
bff with your representation or a casting director, but you
should at least show them that you are a person that is likeable,
and that likes them in return. The great talent, the handsome,
charming Viggo Mortensen (pictured above) told us at the A.F.I.
Fest this month, 'I always treat every person I meet as my
superior, and they usually are. I can always learn some thing
from some body I meet, no matter who it is.' Now that is one true
gentleman. Another part of being polite is being reliable. Don't
flake. Treat people how you want to be treated, and respect their
time, which is life. Don't be a flake.
2: Find out what the other person wants and if you can, offer it
to them. I've had many potential clients come in to my office and
tell me every thing they want, but most of them never asked what
I am looking for in a client. Some of them would ask me how much
work I could get them, and what I could do for them, when I
hadn't even told them I had any interest in representing them.
Don't assume people want to help you, and don't ask what an agent
or manager can do for you before they even express interest in
you, instead, ask what you can do for your agent or manager to
make them want to work the hardest for you. Maybe they will want
you to lose 10 pounds, change your hair color and style, get some
more theatrical training, learn a foreign language, or become
more polite. It could be any number of things, the list is
virtually endless. Find out what will make you most valuable, and
if you can, deliver, then you will be in a greater position of
power to get what you want.
3: Master mental clarity of success. Know that you will succeed.
Have no self doubts about your goals, and know that every failure
is not really a failure, but a learning process, and a stone
chipped away getting you that much closer to where you want to
be, and what you want to do. Do not let others opinion of you
define who you are, or create your image of your self. Wanting
fame is fine, but it should be a secondary want to your craft,
not the means to an end. Wanting recognition by others as a great
person or talent is fine, but it should be a preference, not a
necessity as an artist. To maintain your sanity, integrity, and a
healthy psyche, your art should come first, not your need for the
approval of fans, critics, or the like. Be true to your work, and
create from your soul. Do this, and then the world, if you do
what is necessary as a talent, will eventually take notice. As
George Bernard Shaw once stated, 'Reasonable people adapt
themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the
world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on
unreasonable people.' That's it exactly. Be real, think of only
what you want, make it clear, write it down, project it as
reality, and make it manifest, despite any objections by the
world to the contrary. This is the key to success in
Hollywood.
www.afi.com
The Hollywood Sentinel, © 2009.