Thank you everyone who read and replied to my last email! I went with a substack vs. a blog to avoid the cesspool of humanity that is comments sections, but I LOVE and welcome dialogue. Let’s keep chatting, thanks for being here!
It’s finally 2022! When I was a kid I was always obsessed with making sure I was doing something acting related at midnight to “set the tone for the year to come.” I vividly remember being on the ActorCast website (now Cast It) updating my profile in 2007 to make sure I’d be ready for all the gigs coming my way (Despite being ya know, a literal child, in Detroit - lots of professional acting jobs there!). All this is to say, yes, I’ve always been obsessed, but the last few years I’ve gotten better at channeling that obsession into strategies that actually work. Which is why I want to talk about all the content that has been running rampant for the last month.
Unless you decided to take a long break from the internet, no doubt all the content being sent to you for the last few weeks fell into one of the following categories:
1 - Goal Setting, this one is bigger in the creator pool of people that sell products (ie, classes, books, etc), but it’s everywhere, and will be everywhere for the next month! Thankfully in the entertainment industry we all seem to have come around to the facts that making goals like “Book a network costar” or “Book a union project” are not great goals (Because you know as well as I, we have no true agency over what we book), so now goal setting has evolved to a hodgepodge of SMART/OKR/MOSCOW (Pick your acronym) tactics + mindset + manifestation. What’s the life you want, in acting and out? Now what do you need to get that? What are the steps/key results to get that (and then, how is my product going to help you with that…)?
2 - “Taking a break from hustle culture” or “Recharging” or however you want to phrase it is the other big content category right now, largely coming from people that are more in thought leadership (Think, casting directors, gurus, etc). This is everything that is falling into the “Do nothing the week between Christmas and New Years!” “Take time to slow down"!” “Look at your life and be intentional with what you give your time, humans weren’t made to be hustling 24/7.” It’s the mindset and wellness focused cousin of #1, when you take a break from hustle culture, you can see what’s really important (and then maybe rethink your goals, or do away with them all together).
Ultimately, they are both getting at the same idea; be specific and be intentional with what you want for yourself. BUT, what everyone seems to be leaving out (As far as the content I’ve consumed) is that the most important thing you can do to set yourself up for success in the new year (and beyond) is know what you are saying NO to. More important than achievable goals, more important than breaking everything into small, actionable steps, accountability and timelines, know what’s a NO (or at the very least a ‘not right now!’) - otherwise everything COULD be a yes (if you’re lucky/creative/etc) in supporting your goals.
For example, if I make a goal to book more TV. Then I won’t fall for sales and marketing tactics on workshops with commercial casting directors (Even if its a really good deal!). If my goal is to book more commercials, I won’t obsess over getting more reel footage. If my goal is to do theatre, I won’t bother submitting to a film on ActorsAccess, even if it’s the only breakdown that fits me. As actors so often we are trying to be everything to everyone because we just want to work, and work begets more work, but then we burnout.
How many people have been told it’s easier to get a commercial agent than a theatrical agent, and then proceeded to focus on getting a commercial rep, even though they wanted to do film/tv?
How many people have received a marketing email from an acting studio telling you that you MUST train with someone and that their students BOOK, and thought maybe that was what they were missing?
We’re actors, we can find motivation and twist anything into whatever will give us the most comfort (or seem like the right “choice”), but knowing your NO line helps you firmly allocate resources, prioritize your time and strategize in your career. Here’s how I did it for myself in 2021:
FACTS
I’m union
One of the 2 markets I work in is Right-to-Work
I am a very abundant type
Most of my relationships are in the TV world
Theatre work is limited in smaller markets
I don’t have a recording studio in Atlanta
I don’t want to live in Los Angeles (or frankly spend any time there at all!)
We’re still in a pandemic!
Knowing I can’t be everything to everyone, I don’t have unlimited resources and my time is limited, I can’t do everything (If if I actually wanted to). With these facts, I established my NOs are:
Commercials. There aren’t a lot of union commercials, my type is extremely competitive in this category.
Theatre. Though I was really excited to join AEA in 2019, I don’t have a lot of relationships in that field (and it’s harder to meet people in the pandemic).
Voiceover. Great pay, and easy to do on my own schedule, but without an at home studio half time time, it’s too stressful to manage.
Los Angeles. I just don’t like it!
Does this mean I say NO to an audition that falls into my lap? Not necessarily, but if I already have 3 film/tv auditions on the docket, something for commercials, VO or theatre would be declined (or at the very least deprioritized). I’m not spending money on workshops with commercial, VO and theatre casting directors. I’m not spending hours researching market trends on iSpot.tv or reading the new plays from Humana, up for Tonys etc. It means I’m not getting new headshots specifically for my commercial types, it means I’m not researching and submitting to new commercial reps. It means I’m not putting monologues on tape. It means I cancelled my Backstage.com subscription. It means I’m not investing in P2P voiceover sites. It means I’m not spending time creating characters for a VO reel. It means I’m not producing that production of Matt & Ben I’ve been dreaming of. It means I’m not working on materials from plays in scene study classes. It means if I get low on funds, CastingNetworks and 800casting are next to go. It means I’m deleting all those emails that say, “You could be making money with audiobooks!!!” It means my postage budget has gone way way down. It means if I’m lucky enough to have conflicting bookings, I know what order to turn projects down.
This also means it’s a lot easier to focus, save my time, not go in a dozen different directions and actually have the faculties to not be burnt out (in every way) and book some work! Similarly, since commercials fall into my NO, it makes me SO GENUINELY HAPPY when I see friends book vs. a back-of-the-brain voice saying We’re the same type, why didn’t I book a commercial in 2021? Because I know that’s not for me right now! Knowing I am not pursuing theatre keeps the jealousy at bay when I see someone traveling the world performing on a cruise ship - I made a different choice! Knowing I said no to voiceover keeps me from thinking I need to invest thousands for another home studio, just in case another lockdown comes around (and resist all those endless sales at Sweetwater).
This year, one of my goals is to get new theatrical representation in NYC by September (More on how I dropped all my NYC reps this past October to come!). If I didn’t say NO to commercials, you can BET I would be workshopping Tracey Goldblum just to get an in at KMR, vs. making myself a better package in other ways for Jed Abrahams. If I didn’t say no to Los Angeles, I’d probably spend money on the Talent Link distribution through Breakdown just to “See what happens, it’s not that much money and I don’t know the market very well anyways.” I spent YEARS trying to do it all, and thus it took even more years to see any traction (Though, I did learn a LOT. Silver lining.)
TLDR; If your goals and what you say YES to does not also clearly define what is a NO, then something else will always come up, distract and get in the way. We’ll do the mental gymnastics to explain why it could possibly support one of our goals, but when you are trying to do it all, that’s when you burnout. Your goal is not SMART if it’s not helping you survive. Taking a break from hustle culture is not deleting instagram or turning off ActorsAccess notifications for a week, it’s finding a long term, holistic and tangible way to take a strategic pass/break by saying NO.
Agree/disagree? It’s completely possible my brain has been corrupted by tech startup growth strategies and I welcome a Taylor Swift inspired “You Need to Calm Down” meme.
A FEW MORE THINGS TO SHARE:
Warner Media’s Diversity Showcase is open. The program is “open to all aspiring actors but seeks to serve as a conduit for marginalized performers, particularly people with disabilities, actors of Middle East and North African descent (MENA), Indigenous and trans communities.” Awesome opportunity that I haven’t seen talked about as much as the NBC/CBS/ABC network showcases, so trying to spread this one around!
If you are a Planner person, I love love the Passion Planner. Really great for actors that also have busy schedules doing non-actor things. I am definitely a person who just rolls on from one month or one project to the next and the way the planner is structured, it really makes you reflect. Also doesn’t have as ~*vibrant*~ a community as other planners, so it’s a little less stressful and you can enjoy it just for yourself.
With lots of people still traveling, I figured I would share this video of how to do a full body pan slate, even when you are by yourself (Using iMovie). It came up a lot in one of my acting classes last summer, figured I’d share it again!
One of my acting coaches (Jamie Carroll) said on a call last week that actors should limit themselves to about ~5 costars before strategically leveling up by saying no to costars. One of her reasons for exceptions was “If there is certain footage you need to get.” I definitely employed that approach when I was doing nonunion TV (5 crime re-enactment murder shows and I was DONE getting murdered for $150/day). But not sure I’m willing to do that for costars yet. Found this cool studio, C&C, in Atlanta where you can easily shoot a lot of footage if you ARE finding gaps in what you have on tape and want to level up without waiting to book (Nurse footage, here I come!!!). NYC still has Splacer, PeerSpace, FD, among others! Still mourning the loss of Breather.
Drop in classes with Stacy & Phil! Highly recommend, whether you are in NYC or not, these are really fun drop in commercial improv classes! Super casual one-offs, cheap, face time with a big commercial CD in NYC and commercial rep at a big agency. Next one coming up in a few weeks, sign up if there is still space (and commercials or improv aren’t on your NO line!)!
Thanks for reading! If you liked this, had questions, want to talk about goals, etc, please reply! If you think someone else would like this, please forward it to them! Happy New Year!
Lindsay