Are You Shipping?
Steve Jobs when developing the Mac was reported to have said to a recalcitrant engineer who wouldn't release codes on schedule, "Real artists ship!"
The quote is significant because it applies to any artist. It applies to YOU as an actor. An artist or any creative person creates. And then you sell your creation. It doesn't sit in the warehouse or your imagination...it's out in the world as are you. On time. So what's the point? Simple.
CREATE YOUR VISION- "I want wonderful starring roles in TV series and films! I want to appear as a featured singer/dancer in a Broadway musical. I want to play great classical roles in theater."
TURN IT INTO A MATERIAL THING- "Here is my creativity/my product: my brilliant demo reel, my headshot, my V.O. reel, my website, my LIVE audition and interview."
and then
SHIP IT- post the reels on the website, advertise your talent and "persona", your" brand" in email campaigns, phone and paper mail campaigns, market your type through live interviews, auditions, networking events, marathon auditions. Get YOU into the marketplace.
Do all the above to SELL your product. All while we're at it, let's do a quality control analysis. What is the quality of YOUR PRODUCT? Amateur, messy, untogether, half-assed, student-ish? OR EXCELLENT, PROFESSIONAL, BRILLIANT? Would Bill Gates or Steve Jobs have released something student-ish? NO.
So you don't SHIP EARLY with a handful of mistakes. You don't NOT SHIP. And you don't SHIP LATE... months, years after you're actually ready to go- WHY? You'll miss your market, your shot, your "break".
Yes, there are such things and it's called "timing".
For most actors the sooner you enter the market the sooner you work. Film and TV is a photogenic market- the younger you are the better you look on camera and the more roles there are. By example, 40 + TEEN series are casting a dozen roles a week in LA prime time TV and a slew of current films are casting not only teens but early twenties- movie stars are made in their 20's these days. As a singer/dance for Broadway musicals- the younger you are, the more energy you have the sooner you're cast. Choreographers don't cast actors who've been around for a decade waiting to be "ready"...they cast the youngest, prettiest, most talented, most eager, most energized...you get the picture. It's all about ENERGY and PASSION...and those who SHIP on time! (talent is a given).
DID VAN GOGH OR PICASSO WAIT UNTIL THEY WERE 30 TO PAINT? Or until they could afford a new canvas? Some new Paint? The perfect studio?
By staying in school or class, taking workshops for ever the more you delay any possibility of success. Character actors are the exception- they have to grow into their "type"- a middle aged, paunchy comedic guy or an elegant upscale matron etc. But that's the exception to the rule.
So, why don't actors SHIP?
FEAR. DOUBT. LACK OF SELF-CONFIDENCE, LIZARD BRAIN...the older part of our brains that constantly puts us in a state of paralyzing fear and won't let us try anything that would threaten the status quo. The newer brain is the onethat creates, is full of: new ideas, fun, joy, love. The older brain is just there for survival-food, water, shelter, my day job. The Lizard brain is stronger. It's been around longer. You have to overcome it or FEAR dominates you.
And it sounds like this- all excuses for facing possible... SUCCESS:
"I don't have the money for a headshot. I don't have the time to create a marketing campaign. I'm not paying for a demo reel when I can get a FREE one from a student film maker. My friends have a camera- I'll get a free head shot from them. I need more training. I don't know how to meet the industry. I can do this on my own- I don't need a coach or a marketing person. I don't have a degree in theater. My acting teacher says I just have to work on my craft and that anything having to do with marketing is a scam. My parents want me to go back to school to get a Masters-plan B. My day job won't let me off for the marathon event-THEY need me to make widgets for THEM. My husband doesn't want to move to LA. I don't know how to drive a car so I have to live in NY. I'll do that next year. I have to pay off student loans first....I don't have any credit cards- I don't believe in going into debt. There aren't any roles for my type, age, race, sex, height...."
It's endless. It's pathetic. It's a LIZARD. STEP ON IT!
What's the true hallmark of an artist? The ART comes first. The rest is the mundane stuff of life. Non-creative types live for the mundane: the house, the condo, the new car, the mortgage, designer clothes, luxury items, jewelry, exotic vacations, statusy toys- material goods. That's all OK- it actually comes to you as a side product of being successful, but-
ARTISTS LIVE FOR THE JOY OF CREATING...ART!
So, if you are an artist, no matter WHAT your parents, spouse, friends say or suggest you do, no matter what you hear from your acting teacher, what you're told by strangers, what myths about acting you pick up, what gossip from internet sites you read...you PREVAIL. You conquer the FEAR, you shut the Lizard Brain off and -
YOU SHIP!
Successful Marketing!
Gwyn
Gwyn Gilliss is the creator and Executive Director of TAM, The Actor's Market, a marketing firm for actors. They provide monthly FREE seminars/teleseminars, FREE weekly marketing tips as well as access to top photographers, graphic artists and videographers who provide every marketing tool an actor needs. As the foremost Marketing Coach and Mentor to actors, Gwyn's acting career spans several decades during which time she appeared on and off-B'way, in classical roles in American Repertory companies, in over 18 contract and recurring roles in Daytime and Primetime TV, Films and dozens of network commercials/V.O.'s. She has special Coaching programs for ready-to-succeed actors.
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