This is a Relationship Business…

Feb 10, 2010 by benwhitehair    No Comments    Posted under: Acting Tips, Attitude, Relationships, The business, Thousands of Stories, Three Actors

Hopefully you’ve heard this phrase a lot, because it’s friggin’ true (and because Joe wrote about it a couple weeks ago). This really is a relationship business.

My acting coach has been around the biz for decades, and has had the fortune of watching countless people make it to the very top. I asked him what sets these people apart: “They do lunch,” he said.

I’ve been feeling a little concerned that a lot of my time is spent “doing lunch” or otherwise spending time kinda just hanging out with fellow industry people. Shouldn’t I be editing my reel right now? Maybe I should go finish that mailing? How many actors DOES it take to screw in a light bulb?

Thankfully, the Universe has a way of sending not-so-subtle hints when you’re on the right track. Today I booked three different projects I didn’t audition for, all because of relationships I had developed with fellow actors. Moreover, these relationships are not necessarily super close friends. They’re people I’ve met through friends of friends or worked with on other projects in a rather limited capacity.

Meet people. Stay in touch. Make a good impression. Be fun to be around. Get creative: use the lunch break of your day job to schedule meetings with industry-friends. The most important thing you do for your career today may very well include a spicy tuna crunch roll. Score.

P.S. I would not have been contacted for one of these projects had I not been Facebook friends with the person…be easy to contact!

Ben Whitehair is the Los Angeles contingent of this blog. Find out more information and view his materials on his website, or read the rest of his blog posts.

Got anything to say? Go ahead and leave a comment!