I’m not dead. Seriously. In fact, I’m more alive than ever.

I’ve had some incredible things happen in my life and in my acting career in the past couple months, and I’m excited to share them with you all. I’m also committed to doing the second in the series of blog posts on actor websites, a blog post on actor resumes, and of course posts on my annual review. And I am committed to doing a blog post a week this year. Please support me in this by hounding me each week if you haven’t seen a post and letting me know what you might be interested in me writing about.

So why the absence on the blog? Honestly, I’m not entirely sure. Mostly it’s that I’ve been focusing an incredible amount of time and energy on myself as a person, and my ways of being. For some reason I feel like that work isn’t necessarily related to my acting career and I feel somewhat weird posting about my own spirituality, philosophy, and thoughts on human behavior.

When I look at it, though, these are all at the core of acting. They are the subjects we get to focus on as artists. Beyond that, perhaps the most important way to progress in your career as an actor and in your work, is to better yourself.

We actors get hired for our energy. The essence we bring into a room and onto a screen; that’s what people are paying us for. And if we aspire to make hundreds, thousands, or  hundreds of thousands of dollars as an actor then it follows we must have extraordinary energy. We must be willing to go places others are afraid to go, and in so doing give them permission to go there as well.

Looking at myself, for example, I intend to get paid millions of dollars to act in feature films. If that’s what I want, and actors get hired for our essence, energy, and ways of being, then focusing on improving and developing those is imperative. What type of person excites and inspires others enough that they will pay them millions of dollars? Someone who is completely open, alive, vulnerable, dynamic, interesting, interested, creative, joyful, the list goes on. Until we are embody those traits, we are unlikely to attain our loftiest goals.

We often view this the other way around…once I’m a movie star I will be happy. Once I have that car/TV show/boyfriend/girlfriend/tomagotchi I will be satisfied. Once something happens to me or I get something, I will be fulfilled. The great news is that it works the other way around. Once you are happy, fulfilled, joyous, etc. you will begin to behave in ways that will lead you to the things you aspire to. This is exceedingly exciting because it means we can move towards and attain those things right now. In this moment. As we shift our attitudes and behaviors, then we get the things we want. You have the power, you don’t have to wait for something or someone to happen to you. You get to create it.

Those are my musings for the moments. Lots more to come. As always, love to hear your thoughts and comments…reminds me I’m not writing into a void.

P.S. Our website has undergone a lot of behind-the-scenes changes. We’re working on getting back all our comments that got corrupted, switching servers, etc. Millions of thanks to our man Brian Vabulas for all his tireless efforts on this.

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.

Ahhh, the world wide web. Seems like just yesterday I was listening to that lovely dial-up sound while hacking into NORAD. Oh, how the times have changed.

I started building websites in high school, continued throughout college, then did some professional web design upon graduation. Why do I admit to being such a nerd? Because I’m about to proffer advice on websites and I want to add some semblance of credibility to my suggestions. If you want to see some of my work you can check out this site, this site, or this site. Still not enough? You can look at this site or this one, but please don’t look at this one. If you want actor sites you can visit my personal website, or this one that I made for Justin Baker.

Why You Need a Website

Will not having a website sabotage your entire career? Probably not. But there are many reasons why I think it’s imperative for every actor to have their own personal website. As I see it, there are two primary things any actor must do: 1) Show the ‘buyers’ your essence; and 2) Demonstrate that you are a consummate professional. Your website can do both of these things.

If nothing else, your website serves as a virtual headshot and resume (and demo reel!). It is increasingly important to have somewhere online where people can easily view your demo reel, check out your headshots, et cetera, et cetera. While IMDb, your Actor’s Access profile, and other sources can serve this function as well, you have far less control over those sites and cannot add additional content. More importantly, a personal website is the one place online where you get to control how you present yourself to the rest of the world…you have total control over the content. You get to present what it is that you want to promote. Don’t get yourself into a santorum situation.

Beyond that, I would say that one of the most valuable things actors will get out of their website is referrals from their friends. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in the following situation:

Ben’s Director Friend mentions to Ben that she’s filming a stellar short in two days, but still needs a certain type of actor. Ben happens to know certain type of actor and wants to refer them to Director Friend. Director Friend is excited at the prospect, but wants to see a few headshots and a demo reel before reaching out. Ben dials up his modem to search the world wide web for said actor’s website. Said actor doesn’t have website. Ben can’t refer them. Ben curls up in a corner and cries himself to sleep.* 

Seriously. I’ve run into this dozens of times. I want to refer my friends to people who would hire them as actors, but no one accepts a totally blind referral and if I don’t have a site to forward on I can’t help you. Worse than missing out on an acting opportunity you might not have had to even audition for, is missing an opportunity you didn’t even know you had.

Your Audience

Part of the trap in building a website is thinking that you’re going to get thousands of hits, and that everyone from major studio execs to your neighbor’s computer-savvy golden retriever will view your site. Now, while it is true that you especially shouldn’t count on people at more top levels of the industry (TV shows, studio films, etc.) coming to your site every day (they’ll probably just go to IMDb), I will say that I am with my current manager because he visited my website, thought it was funny, and reached out to me as a result.

All this to say that one of the most important things you can ask yourself in building a site is who is your audience?! My guess is you might have a couple target audiences:

Fans

In order to get paid the big bucks (or even the little bucks) you need to command an audience. The bigger the audience, the higher your value as an actor (at least from a producer’s perspective). As such, you should be in the business of accumulating–and more importantly, interacting with–a fan base. Your website can be a great place to do this.

Industry Professionals

Of course, the hope is that agents, managers, casting directors, producers, and the like flock to your page like hipsters to a skinny-jeans convention. With that in mind you need to make sure your website is ready for an industry professional to get the information they need in very short order.

Peers

Similar to fans, your website might also be geared towards your peers. Most importantly, you might want to ensure your website is referral-ready (see above). =D

Your Ex

Nothing makes an ex-lover more jealous than a perfectly-designed website. Ok, that’s probably not true, but again you should be thinking both about who you want to view your website, and who will be viewing your website. Keep both of these audiences in mind as you design your website.

Final Thoughts

As I mentioned above, actors are (read: should be) constantly working to demonstrate their professionalism and share their essence. For someone to cast you, they want to know exactly who they’re casting, and that it will be a pleasurable experience to work with you. Having a website that truly presents your personality accomplishes part of that, and having a clean, professionally designed website goes the rest of the way.

So how DO you add personality to a website? Answers to that question, resources on building your own website, and much more coming up in Part II of this series.

*Ben can neither confirm nor deny that crying himself to sleep was actually a result of him watching the rerun of Oprah’s final episode for the 18th time, not because of the failed referral

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.

I recently had the great fortune of partaking in a wonderful conversation with the wisest person I know. Among many things, we spent considerable time discussing what boils down to the proverbial ‘journey and destination.’ This got me thinking that the majority of conversations I have with my actor peers in Los Angeles are centered around the destination. We talk about getting that first co-star, getting an agent, booking a studio film. There’s a tremendous focus on the vision of where everyone is going, but I find that as a community we talk much less about the journey. Worse than that, when we—and I’m still including myself here to be clear—do discuss the journey it’s very much focused on the quickest route to the destination. I’d like to make an argument for “The How.”

I think The How matters. In fact, I think it matters a great deal. You see, there will always be another milestone. The longer I’m in LA the more I realize this. When I encounter fellow actors who have already achieved whatever goal I am working towards at any given time, they’re working towards the next one. From co-star to guest star. From lesser agent to more influential one. From series regular to your own show. It never stops. There’s always something else. On one hand that is thrilling and motivating, but it also presents a trap of perpetually chasing after the next thing.

To combat the tendency to live for the future, I think it takes more than simply enjoying the journey, or stopping to smell the proverbial roses. In order to truly succeed (or at least be actually fulfilled when success comes), I think think you have to chart your course in Hollywood in congruence with capital-y You. We must each pursue our respective careers in ways that nourish our soul and act in accordance with our values. If you think that casting director workshops are ultimately harmful to the community, then don’t do them. If you loathe sending out postcard mailers then don’t do it. If turning on a computer makes you cringe then…well, get an iPad and suck it up…and also don’t anchor your marketing strategy around twitter. These are just a few examples, but hopefully you see the bigger picture. I think it really does matter how you accomplish your goals.

If you are pursuing an acting career in Los Angles then you desire wide-spread recognition (read: fame).* But is that really all you want? Snooki if famous. So is Paris Hilton. If fame or recognition is all you desire, then there are myriad ways to achieve that goal far quicker and easier than through acting. Let me pose a question. If someone could wave a wand tomorrow and make you famous by putting you in a trashy, offensive reality show  that became insanely popular, would you do it? My guess is that most readers of this blog would not. So why is that? Why not get famous at the drop of a hat and work on parlaying that into a career in more “legit” film and television?

I hope I’m not getting too ‘woo-woo’ here, but I’ve become acutely aware recently that this city seems to be fixated with, and put undue pressure on, the end result. In the end, we may never get to the goal post for which we’re aiming. If we are living a life of passion, however, a life in which we pursue our dreams and our deepest desires with love and vigor, then we will (paradoxically) increase the odds of obtaining those results. More than that, we will not just live, but have a life.

As always, your comments are always welcomed and very much appreciated.

*If you are in Los Angeles and tell me you don’t want at least mild celebrity this then I’m sorry, but you’re either lying to yourself or in the wrong city. It’s simply too much work for this to not be true. If you “just want to act” then you would have moved to a small town in Idaho** already.

**I have nothing against Idaho. I simply chose it because it’s a sparsely populated*** state with a hard consonant that makes it a funnier-sounding state than, say, Maine. Hehe. Idaho.

***Idaho is the twelfth most populous state with roughly 1.5 million residents (source).

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.

Holy roller-blading Shakespeare! It’s almost the end of August. We’re about 66% of the way through 2011. That just blew my mind a little bit. How are those annual goals coming along? You still have 4 months to make them happen so let’s get crackin’!

So what the heck have I been up to that’s keeping so busy that I haven’t posted very frequently in the last couple months? Well thank you for asking, I’ll tell you.

Thrival Job
As you may or may not know, I started a company in college with some peers that helps out-of-state students get in-state tuition. The good news is that we’re doing incredibly well, are expanding to new states, hiring new employees, and significantly growing our company. All of this has taught me a tremendous amount about how you scale an idea/project/company and has proffered a lot of insight into my pursuit as an actor. I’m increasingly convinced that being an actor is exactly he same as being an entrepreneur. The only variation is that for actors their product is themselves. Everything else is exactly the same, and the lessons from the world of entrepreneurship can be directly applied to the entertainment business. I don’t think I’ve ever read a single article from the Harvard Business Review or Seth Godin’s Blog and not been able to find a correlation to my career as an actor.

The “bad news” in all of this is that I spend a considerable amount of hours in my week growing our company, getting new clients, etc. I am now at a point where this can be the only job I need to support myself which is incredible, although the time commitment can be a bit of a time-sucker. Fortunately I can effectively craft my own schedule, and when I have a same-day commercial audition I can just grab my laptop, make some phone calls on the road, and head out.

New Manager
I’m excited to do some more blog posts around this, but I recently signed with a new manager, David Kohl of Stein Entertainment Group. Well, I’ve never had a manager before so I suppose it’s A manager, not a NEW manager. I’m thrilled to have brought him on to my team, and think that he’s going to be a tremendous business partner over the next couple years. More on all this soon.

Acting Classes
For most of this year I ended up focusing quite a bit on my commercial career. I took Killian’s Workshop (AMAZING, by the way) as well as the first two levels at UCB (and am looking forward to more). I’ve also been going on quite a few commercial auditions, though they seem to come in waves. All this to say that I hadn’t really focused on the theatrical side of my career so I audited a bunch of acting classes (because everyone loves their acting class) and have been taking a scene study-esque class with Anthony Meindl and an audition technique class with Billy O’Leary. Both of which have been amazing and a great reminder of why I actually do all of the hard work. Performance is such a rush. Oh! And I re-took Mary Lou Belli’s Advanced 3-Camera Sitcom Class which was a stitch. Louder, faster, funnier!

Shots of My Head
I fairly recently did a wonderful (and wonderfully affordable) headshot session with Cathryn Farnsworth and was thrilled with the results (see: new manager). The top row of pictures on the actor page of my website are from that shoot.

Get the Uhaul…
For various (good) reasons that would bore you I’m moving in with AJ Meijer of Inside Acting Podcast fame over in Santa Monica. I’m really excited to mix things up after being in the same place for a while, and to continue to be surrounded by amazing people. If you really like packing and lifting boxes hit me up on September 1st.

Action!
Most fortunately I’ve been able to work on a couple really cool projects recently, and also see them in their finished form. I was in Episode 4, Part 1 of Brandi Ford’s delightful web series, Diary of a Wedding Planner (I start at minute 2:25). I also starred in a short film called Boss’ Weekend that my friend David who I went to college with wrote, directed, and produced in conjunction with John Myers and Wood Pictures. I’ve also had a number of projects I did in the past show up on my IMDb page which for some reason brings me great joy. Perhaps because it will forever be a reminder of the amazing projects I’ve been a part of and the crazy-talented people I’ve had the fortune of working with.

Final Thoughts
The longer you’re in LA the easier it is for time to run together. As a result I find it increasingly important to step back and appreciate how far I’ve come. It can be easy to forget the elation I felt when I got my very first audition in LA (a crappy music video spoof for which I lip-synched a rap, in case you were wondering). As I enter a bit of a transition period I’m committing myself to focusing on being present, in the moment, and smelling those fu&k!ng roses. =D

I did it. The unthinkable. I deactivated Facebook. Okay, I only did it for two weeks, but I’m sure Mark Zuckerberg is still pissed somewhere. Not only that, I stopped checking Twitter for two weeks as well. I’m a rebel, I know.

Why

For the 7 years that I went to high school and college (I was still a homeschooled cowboy in 9th grade) almost every minute of every day was structured. In college I’d be in class from eight or nine until about three in the afternoon, then meetings until six, rehearsal ’til midnight, then home to write essays until four or five am, then do it all over again…every week for four years. The nice thing was that as long as I showed up (still not entirely sure how I managed to do that) everything got done. I completed my majors, took part in roughly two bazillion theatre productions, started a few student groups, yadda yadda. In a sense, all I had to do was set my schedule at the beginning of the semester and I was off to the races.

CUT TO: Post-graduation

After I graduated, I went from about 97% structure in my life to somewhere closer to 1.5%. Poof. All the rigidity, deadlines, and accountability gone. I own my own business, and as my own boss I’d say I’m rather lackadaisical about deadlines. Sure I’m somewhat accountable to my clients and my business partners, but there are no real deadlines or serious consequences if I miss them on occasion. Beyond that, as any artist can attest to, there is no penalty for not pursuing your career. Sure you won’t accomplish the things you want to or have the success you’ve always dreamed of, but you can’t get fired from being an actor (though maybe it would be better if you could), and the only person who’s going to yell at you for not working on your reel today is you.

All this to say that I’ve spent the three years since I’ve graduated endeavoring to put systems, structures, tools, habits, and motivation in my life to actually hold myself accountable. Putting a pause on social media was the end of this leg of the journey.

The Important

I’d had Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art sitting on my shelf for some time, but a few weeks ago at the behest of a 1:30am email from Bonnie Gillespie I picked up the book and started reading. An hour and a half later my life was changed. <plug> Here’s a picture of the book which is also an amazon link so you can go buy it right now:

</plug> Among myriad other things, Pressfield’s book reminded me the importance of focusing on the things that are important. Sounds simple, right? The problem is that especially on today’s society, things that are urgent masquerade as important. With every facebook notification, new tweet, or email ping, our brains literally get a hit of dopamine, and we become addicted to the immediate. Tragically, the projects, communications, meetings, and tasks that could most move us forward in our careers are drowned out by the noise of everything else. We lose sight of the goals we set and get caught up in “life.”

The Battle

I was feeling stressed. I needed to catch up. I was feeling behind and constantly putting off the most important things I needed to do. Emails that once completed, would literally result in a check in my bank account. Web sites I’d spent months on, needing only a few hours of work to be complete, yielding my final payout. I’d been doing a lot better, but the mere presence of consistent stress meant that I wasn’t there just yet. Determined to eliminate the source of stress, one night at about 2:30am I figured out all the projects, emails, and tasks that were outstanding and causing me the most stress. I wrote them on the white board next to my desk. There were nine of them.

Next, I wrote down next to them how many minutes or hours I thought it would take to accomplish each one of them. The grand total? Twenty-five stinkin’ hours. Three freakin’ business days of work to eliminate ALL the major stress points in my life. Crazy. It was time for war. Without hesitation (okay, I did check to make sure I could get Facebook back…) I went and deactivated facebook and removed all the shortcuts to twitter, tweetdeck, facebook, etc. on my computers and my phone. I then went to my calendar and cancelled any engagement I had for the next two weeks that wasn’t directly related to solving my nine “death list” items.

Sans Distractions

I’m the first person to extol the benefits of social networking, being caught up on the news, and reading articles of all topics (I got my first agent in LA via twitter for cryin’ out loud). However, these things can all become a distraction, and they were keeping me from my next important actions. Once I’d eliminated the most egregious of distractions, my procrastination habits had to shift. Without facebook or twitter to quickly check, in order to procrastinate my nine items I then started going through the (still important) emails that had piled up. But one day into my social media sabbatical I was down to zero emails…a goal I’d been attempting to achieve for a year (and my new habits have kept me at zero emails every few days). With that out of the way, the only thing I had left to do was start knocking out the “death list.” And, over the course of 14 days, wouldn’t you know that I got all of them done.

The Reward

I’m not a particularly stressed-out person, but at the end of this two-week experiment I found a new calm and peace in my life. The pangs of stress that would randomly pop up were gone, and the level of focus I was able to bring to the task at hand saw dramatic improvements. I now had the mental capacity to start focusing on things I wanted to do next. To re-asses where I am with my career, what I actually want, and begin to look forward rather than backwards.

Final Thoughts

Out of the thousands and facebook friends and twitter followers I have, three contacted me during my time away from social media, curious where I had gone. Three. Now I never expected that everyone would freak out because I wasn’t online, but what I realized is that everyone uses social media for themselves, to accomplish their goals, and connect with the people they most care about. In some sense, it’s a rather selfish endeavor. That’s fine, but the takeaway point is that nothing bad will happen if you take a leave of absence from your online life. Beyond that, imagine how truly spectacular you would feel if you cut out all distractions, focused, and completed the reel you’ve been putting off; finally went through your database and sent out the postcards about your upcoming show; or finished the last four pages of that script you’ve been working on for months. Talk about a status update…

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.

I have a theory that an actor’s ability to continue pursuing their career long enough to see meaningful success is based on three things: 1) One’s ability to get fully excited and feel satisfied (for a long time) when a success happens; 2) To not skip a beat when something that looks like it will be #1 happens to fall through; and 3) The ability to recognize and appreciate small successes along the way.

Small Victories

One of the difficulties in pursuing any career over the long haul, especially one in the arts, is that the fruits of your labor are not always readily apparent. Nor are they things that your cousins will understand as a leap forward when you tell them about it over a couple wine coolers. For example, having an amazing coffee date with a top producer may very well lead to the biggest development in your career. It’s something that should absolutely be celebrated and something you should be proud of. However, if you run home elated to tell your roommate-the-accountant that you just had coffee with the showrunner of your favorite show, the response will probably be something to the effect of “cool. Did you pick up more air freshener on your way home?” Not exactly the kind of shared excitement you were looking for.

So what to do? First of all, recognize the small victories as progress and celebrate as such. Every time you book even the smallest project, develop a new relationship, force yourself to send out that marketing campaign you’ve been procrastinating…those are huge accomplishments. Even if no one understands what a big step it was to do your first agent mailer or how much you grew to do that difficult acting scene, celebrate with yourself and feel proud.

Ah, Crap

I can’t tell how many times I’ve been elated over something that ended up being a big, steamy pile of turd. Right before I came out to LA, for example, I got cast in a spec pilot as well as a second show with the same team. It was non-union at the time, but the producers then said that their pitches had gotten picked up at a network and they were re-shooting everything as SAG. In one fell swoop I was supposed to become eligible for SAG, get great footage, and end up being able to move to LA already working on some projects. Now, I was certainly more naive back then than I am now, but we had filmed a bunch of stuff and everyone seemed on top of their game. Long story short, I never got paid, the project fell through, and I was never able to get in touch with the people from the project again.

At that point, it would have been very easy to adopt a defeatist attitude and feel sorry for myself and my poor fortune. However, I specifically remember telling my roommate at the time that even as everything fell through, if I wanted to get closer to joining the union and being on a show, then the best way to get there was to fail at that exact thing. Getting (ostensibly) close to the thing I most wanted and having it fall through meant that at least I was getting close to the thing I wanted.

The Big Kahuna

While there are hopefully lots of small victories along the way, every now and again you will have something happen as a result of all those small victories adding up. Your first co-star, signing with a great agent, or that first residual check. You know the kind. The phone call that you booked the job, the audition you knocked out of the park, or viewing the footage of your recent project that came out better than you imagined. This week I had one of these such moments, where all of the little victories added up to a huge success. I met with a manager and it could not have gone better. Everything I’ve done in the last two years–acting classes, business of acting classes, all my time at The Actors’ Network, research, blog posts, Tweetups, marketing materials, having a kick ass website, learning about the business, my constant pursuit of increased productivity, previous meetings with reps–all cumulated but half an hour of a fun, professional, successful meeting.

Final Thoughts

I’m not sure you’ll make it past the first few years of any endeavor if you can’t recognize and relish the small victories, even if no one else does. The small, day-to-day things are the absolute foundation of the greater career you imagine for yourself. With that said, there will certainly be bigger moments. Times when all that hard work comes together in an easy-to-recognize success. Cherish those moments as well. Have a glass of champagne and share the news with your dog. You’ve made progress and your next small victory will be that much greater than the last.

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.

Dear (Concerned) Parent/Brother/Sister/Lover/Mistress/Stalker/Dog Walker of an Actor/Actress/Singer/Dancer/Ventriloquist/Artist:

So your son/daughter/sibling/pool boy/waiter has decided that they want to be an actor, or otherwise pursue a career in “the arts.” I imagine you have either gone through, or will soon, a number of varying emotions. At some point or another you will likely experience grief, excitement, jealousy, devastation, concern, sexual arousal (?), consternation, and dismay at the choice of said to actor to go down a career path where only a minute percentage of working professionals in the field make a living wage.

And to your credit, you’re right. The choice to pursue a career in the arts is not altogether logical. As an artist, unless your mother is the head of a studio or you have a twitpic of Steven Spielberg in a compromising position, success is anything but certain. But really, is that any different than any other industry? If you have a nephew who wants to be a doctor, you wouldn’t tell them not to try because it was going to be hard. And you wouldn’t ask them on their first day of undergrad if they’re a doctor yet. You would, however, try to be encouraging and find ways to understand and connect with your nephew.

Homework Project

So, I have a homework assignment for you. The goal here is to learn about how long it takes for actors (or other artists) to get to the point in their careers where you in Topeka know their name. For film and television, the easiest way to do this is through the website IMDb. (To learn more about what IMDb is, you can read my 4-part series on it here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.)

That actual task is to go to IMDb, type in your favorite actor’s name, and then look at the year of their first credit. Next, look at the year of the first credit you actually recognize. The time between those two dates will start to tell you how long it takes to build a career. You also need to take into consideration that any given actor was probably around for a few years before they got their first credit. To go even further, pay attention to how many years are between the first few credits on any actor’s resume as they were building their career. As you do this–and please talk about your experiences with your actor–you will hopefully begin to get a firmer grasp on the industry. Your foundation of knowledge will increase, and if you’re like my Dad you will start to notice celebrities doing itty bitty roles in movies that were made decades before they were walking the red carpet.

Connecting with Your Artist

Armed with this knowledge, you are already better prepared to understand the life of an actor. It turns out that many of the questions people often ask actors (see below), in general, will automatically put them on the defensive. Obviously, if you’ve been having an ongoing dialogue about the industry (yay!) and these are topics you are now discussing, that’s great. But especially when asking someone in the first few years of their career, these types of questions are a bit like asking someone who just got a job as a barista at Starbucks, if they’re the CEO of Starbucks yet.

Questions NOT to Ask:

• Are you on a show yet?
• Did you get an agent?
• How’s pilot season going?
• Did you join SAG?
• How many auditions did you have today?
• What shows have you been on?

What actors need to remember is that when anyone asks any question, (normally) this person is just trying to connect with you, and watching TV is really all they know about the industry. The questions below, however, will generally lead to a more fruitful conversation.

Question TO Ask:

• Did you get that check I sent? :p
• Are you working on any cool projects?
• Have you had any interesting meetings recently?
• Have you found any good artistic communities?
• What’s the favorite thing you’ve done for your career in the past few weeks?
• Do you read Playbills vs. Paying Bills? It seems like an AMAZING blog.
• Are you having FUN?

Hello there. Thanks for making it all the way to the end of this here “letter,” I really appreciate it. You clearly care about your fire juggler/tap dancer/performer if you’ve gotten this far, and hopefully the above will help you better understand and connect with them. As always, would love to hear your thoughts and comments in the comments section.

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.

Howdy loyal readers! I hope you’re all having a glorious start to your summer and getting the opportunity to work on projects that feed your soul.

I haven’t been blogging here nearly to the extent I’d like, and I started wondering why that is. What I determined, is that I’m currently in “The Grind.” Get your minds out of the gutter and let me explain.

When I first moved to Los Angeles, frankly I knew nothing. Everything I was doing, learning, seeing was a new and exciting experience. I spent exorbitant amounts of time pursuing my acting career, and more than anything trying to build momentum. Well, it turns out I did just that and got to a point where even if I don’t do anything to actively move my career forward in a given week, it still will. That is, I have enough developed enough relationships that with minimal or no effort, I still get opportunities to work on projects, get auditions, get interviewed as an actor, etc. While this is a gratifying result of my hard work, there’s a danger of complacency.

At the beginning of any new business endeavor, there’s an excitement, an energy that can carry you through a lot. I experienced this when starting the company I run while in college. My business partners and I were elated at the idea of starting a new business, and every single thing we did was an altogether new and different experience. It was thrilling to learn about contracts, operating agreements, get our first clients, make our first dollar. Five years later, there’s not that much that is completely new, that sparks your curiosity and excitement in quite the same way. After the initial momentum phase, you get to the the grind. Your work becomes more like, dare I say…a j-o-b (gasps!). An acting career is a business just like any other, and I find I have the same experiences with my other business as I do as an actor.

As when I started a new business, when I arrived in L.A. everything was a new experience. I was thrilled to even discuss agents, casting director workshops, acting classes, whatever. Eventually, though, the the new car smell wears off and the real work begins. For me, I began to experience a certain lack of motivation. The daily actor tasks that move my career forward became less inherently exciting, and progress required more discipline.

What I’ve been reminding myself is that I’m in it for the long haul, which means I’m pursuing a career. I’m going to be doing this for decades, and it’s imperative to (as cliche as it sounds) enjoy the journey. As I meet more and more actors who have the career I aspire to, it’s evident that it never ends. Once you have that first TV job, you want a bigger one. Then you want to be a regular, then have your own show, then win an Emmy. Then book a big movie, then get into Cannes, then win an Oscar…the list goes on. And at every step of the way you will have issues with your agents, struggles getting in the door, difficulty putting your work in front of those you want to impress. So if you’re not enjoying the work along the way, then what’s the point?! And for me, on an off day, I take a look at how thrilling the work really is. How much I love connecting with fellow actors, reading a new script, telling a new story. If ‘going to work’ means meeting new, amazing people and collaborating with others to tell interesting, inspiring stories…well then, I’ll see you at the water cooler.

What about you? What do you do to keep yourself motivated? How do you get yourself to continue the daily grind towards your goals?

Angelinos, can we agree? For all the lovable things about LA, it has a special way of sucking the magic out of acting.

Most LA actors fall in love with the arts in their hometown, move to LA to play bigger, and end up working in entertainment. The arts vs. entertainment: similar, but distinctly different.

Hustling in entertainment, there’s just so much to do. That feels like it has nothing to do. With art. It’s easy to loose your roots, sense of purpose, and passion when you’re driving to Burbank for auditions, workshopping in Studio City, taking class in Hollywood, sending postcards, having coffee with that girl from your power group, spiking imaginary beach balls in commercial auditions, all while being your Best Self! and showing up with the hairdo in your headshot (why did you let the MUA give you Texas curls?).

But you are an artist. And if you don’t feel like one, you gotta fix that. It’s better for your spirit, and your bottom line. When do you do your best work? When you can bring the goods with confidence, artist to artist.

Here’s my short list for reigniting your artist-spark:

Your sense of artistry and capability are worth investing in. How do you stay fired up?

Laura Simms helps creatives design the life & work they want at Create as Folk. Life coaching collides with creative career coaching. Pow! Strategy, momentum, results. Find her on twitter @laurasimms, and learn how to work one-on-one. Wanna check her actor cred?

Personal Update (a.k.a. where in the hell has Ben been…?)

Ummm, WOW. It has been way too long since I’ve written here. No worries, I will be catching up soon. In short, I’ve been busier than usual with my companies, travel, and the daily grind of an actor. I’ve been producing a web series as well which has taken a lot of time and taught me a lot of things…more on that later. I also re-did my demo reel recently, which you can watch on my website. In addition to that, I’ve been sending out my odd-size mailers, doing drop-offs, going through my Netflix queue, doing some Casting Q’s interviews, and otherwise trying to crank out my 2011 goals.

And on a completely different note, if you have any interest in traveling, if you apply for this credit card by May 6th through British Airways you can get up to 100,000 miles (check out exact details on their website). Awesome.

And now back to our originally scheduled programming…

Ok, so a little while ago (sorry for the delay, really) I did a post with some general thoughts on agents and managers. I would strongly encourage you to read that for context before continuing on the following post. Because it’s been so long, this post will probably be longer than it should, but suck it up and read on.

Where to Start

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of agents and managers in Los Angeles. Moreover, they range in scale from scam to Ari Gold. To be honest, anyone can get an agent, the key is getting the right agent. Finding a good agent, the right agent, is in my opinion the most difficult part of the entire representation equation. You’re adding a serious business partner to your team, and if there’s anything I’ve learned in my entrepreneurial pursuits, finding the right person to bring on to a company is the hardest, and most important, thing you can do to ensure success. In my previous post on agents and managers I discussed what makes a good agent, and how to begin narrowing your search in finding the agent for you.

“Seeking Representation,” the Phrase of Amateurs

It turns out that using the phrase “seeking representation” comes across as extremely amateur to industry professionals (who knew?!). Here’s why. Basically, everyone assumes that you are always “seeking representation”… or at least better representation. I mean seriously, are there ANY actors out there who aren’t looking to upgrade their representation? Even people repped by the very top agencies move around all the time. Drop this phrase from your vocabulary (and website and resume and cover letter) like a bad habit (well, not really like a bad habit because those are actually hard to drop). No agent, manager, or casting director has EVER opened a piece of mail from an actor and thought to themselves,

Gee. I wonder why the heck this actor sent me a picture of themselves with information on their acting. I’m so confused. Maybe they’re trying to find a new financial planner…

So seriously. Stop telling people you’re “seeking representation.” If you want some substitute language consider using the phrase “I’m currently taking meetings” (a favorite of Kevin E. West).

Ways to Get an Agent

1) Referrals

A referral to an agent is by far the most likely way to get yourself a meeting with an agent. A referral could ostensibly come from anyone: friends, clients on the roster of someone you’re targeting, other agents, a manager, etc. Moreover, the stronger the relationship of the potential rep and the person referring you, the more likely you’ll get a meeting. It also makes sense, that a casting director referring you to an agent/manager will likely hold more cred than a client on an agent’s roster. Basically, someone is putting their reputation on the line for you, and the stronger that relationship is, the more favorable someone is likely to look upon you.

So what is a referral? Brilliant question, because this is key. A referral is NOT someone simply saying you can use their name on your cover letter. I mean, I guess it’s a kind of referral, but not really. A true referral is someone walking your headshot/resume into the agent/manager in question, asking the rep how you should follow up to get the meeting set up, then informing you of how to follow up with said representative. A true referral would also be someone calling (or potentially emailing) and speaking with an agent/manager recommending that the agent meet with you and directing them to your materials. If it’s a true referral then your “friend” should also inform you once they have left this voicemail/spoken with the agent, so you know how to follow up…most likely that will mean walking your headshot/resume/demo reel into the agent’s office the next day. I will say that being able to put someone else’s name on your submission to an agency is better than nothing, but absolutely does not constitute a full on referral.

So how do you actually get a referral to an agent? Another great question! I can say that randomly asking someone you met once (or have never met) is a quick way not get a referral, piss someone off, and even if it turns into a referral it wouldn’t be a very solid one. I wouldn’t say to never ask someone directly for a referral, because I’m a firm believe that you need to ask for what you want. However, it’s a fine line. I think you should have a VERY solid relationship with the person you’re asking to refer you, and have done your research in terms of who you are asking them to refer you to.

2) Good Ol’ Fashioned Snail Mail

Send an agent/manager/agency your headshot/resume is probably the “typical” (read: often unsuccessful) way to submit for representation. This means you better have a brilliant headshot, hope that they need someone of your type, and that you’re feeling lucky.

I would also recommend employing the technique of sending pieces of mail besides your headshot/resume to the potential agent (note: in doing your research you should have specific agents, rather than just a general agency targeted). This could include a one-sheet a la Dallas Travers, a sheet detailing how to cast you, a newsletter, an odd-size mailer, or the like. The key here is that the potential rep gets your contact information, and information that would help them decide to give you a meeting (including, but not limited to, pictures of you, things you’ve booked, examples of your acting, etc.).

As with anything, persistence is key. If you’re targeting someone it probably makes sense to continue to mail them things every 6 – 8 weeks, or as you have information worth updating them about.

3) E-mail

Many reps have listed their email address on IMDb Pro, or prefer email. Same deal with email as everything else. Being professional, having your marketing materials in order, and demonstrating a high level of knowledge and professionalism will do wonders. Sending hundreds of random emails that start out, “Dear Agent” probably won’t get you very far, but if you find out someone prefers email and you have a brief, witty, professional email to send them…now that’s how a PvsPB reader rolls.

4) Drop-Offs

Doing a drop off means going, in person, to the agent’s office to drop off your headshot/resume, your reel, etc. Generally it’s best to make these short and sweet, and not expecting the agent to meet with you right then. You will often be dropping your materials with an assistant, but it’s much more likely that your materials will land on the desk of the agent if you go in person, than if you simply mail it.

I’m a big fan of drop-offs and have had great success in employing them. Showing up in person and demonstrating that you’re not a ‘wactor,’ that you’re fun, and that you took the time to actually show up in person goes a long way.

5) Personal Relationships

Just by living and interacting in the city, it’s likely that you will begin to develop personal relationships with agents and/or managers. Again, it can be a bit of a balancing act if this person starts to become a friend, and not just a professional acquaintance. However, developing a positive relationship with someone over time is absolutely a great way to potentially find the right agent or manager. It may also be the case that you’re at a different level than your agent/manager friend, and wouldn’t make sense for you to be on their roster, even though you become good friends. Finally, mixing business and pleasure always requires extra care.

6) Social Networking

I got my first commercial agent in LA through twitter. True story. As I described in my last post on agents and managers I started a relationship with an agent through twitter, which ultimately led to her representing me. The key takeaway here is not that you can just tweet your way to an agent, but that social networking is one of many ways to begin and maintain relationships with people, including agents and managers.

7) Serendipity

As Samuel Goldwyn said, “the harder I work, the luckier I get.” That said, random luck can play a major factor in getting an agent. One of my friend’s happened to witness a car accident, stuck around to help out, and one of the passengers was the agent who now represents him. Random. It happens.

Be Brilliant

If you work on being a brilliant actor, do all that you can to advance your career, and consistently put your (wonderful) acting talents out into the world, I have seen time and again that it can lead to landing rep. Agents and managers (or even their assistants) do go to plays, improv shows, and other places where they can see actors perform. Be there. Be patient. Be brilliant.

9) Be Likable

This one is pretty effing crucial. If and when you do finally get the proverbial meeting or run into your target agent at the mall, will they like you? Unless you’re a regular on a show or regularly booking commercials (and therefore automatically bringing in money to a new agency), a lot of an agent’s decision on whether or not to sign you will come down to if they like you. Be nice. Be kind. Treat people with respect. Be funny. Don’t have bad breath. Be likable.

10) Be Drop-Dead Stinking Gorgeous, Really Young, or Otherwise “Extra” Marketable

The younger and prettier you are, the more likely a random headshot submission is to be looked at and lead to a meeting. Being a less-than-common type that an agent happens to not have on their roster at a given time would be helpful too. Just remember, if it’s your or someone else who has an extra-easy time getting rep meetings, you still have to have something to back up your look (talent, professionalism, a parent who’s an exec at a network, etc.).

11) Showcases

As you may know, I have a very strong opinion on casting director workshops, and I feel the same way about paying to be seen by an agent. Frankly, I think actors paying to gain access is unfair, generally ineffective, and does more harm to the community than good. Get creative. That’s what actors are best at anyway, right? Find a new and unique way to encounter people on the other side of the desk.

12) They find YOU

If you consistently put out high quality work, build your career, do great work, be a good person, and live your life with positivity and passion, reps will find you. And how much better is an agent calling you up, than going to all this work to find them…? Go into the world. Do good work. Be likable.

13) Other

In this (long, I know) post I have detailed a number of the common ways to get your work seen by agents and managers who might rep you. However, there are myriad ways to land representation, and the key is ultimately meeting this would-be rep and getting them to believe in you.

Final Thoughts

Let me be clear. This is all very much about establishing relationships. I could just as well re-title this blog post “how to get a girlfriend” and everything would still be very accurate. We get people by meeting them online, are referred to them by friends, and we’re more likely to take someone seriously as a potential mate if our other friends and co-workers vouch for them. And really a lot of it comes down to a feeling…what does your instinct tell you about someone. They may look good on paper but you don’t really dig them. Maybe you meet someone on aisle 5 of Ross and fall in love for life. Such is true for dating, as it is with agents and managers.