Breaking Into Acting

How To Start Your Acting Career

By Laurie Lathem, freelance writer/performer/teacher

Starting out as an actor is notoriously difficult. Unlike most other careers, there are no subjective qualifications for the job of actor, and many aspiring hopefuls think there’s nothing more to it than getting your 8x10 headshot printed up. The result is that the market is flooded with too many people, qualified or not, vying for too few available roles. There is, however, a way to stand out from the crowd: be talented and well-prepared. Agents, casting directors and directors are looking for good actors who have worked on their craft and who show up well prepared. Getting started involves a lot of leg work and a fair amount of rejection, but with a lot of persistence and some practical advice, you can be on your way to steady work as an actor.

Here are some things to know about a career in acting:

1) There are many ways to make a living as an actor. Most actors starting out dream of becoming a movie star or having their own hit TV series, and obviously this kind of career is the brass ring of acting. But the reality is that you can make a very decent living without ever becoming famous. There are excellent careers to be had in commercials and industrials, regional theater, doing voice over work for animation, even “looping” (background voice work such as in a restaurant scene, etc.). Don’t be focused on being a star. Focus instead on getting work.

2) More so than most other industries, the entertainment industry is all about relationships and who you know. If you’re not an outgoing person who enjoys parties, you will have a more difficult time getting yourself out there as an actor. There are successful actors who are famously shy, but this type of actor most likely made his/her name doing brilliant work on stage. Most good actors are not geniuses and therefore are less likely to be noticed if they can’t network socially.

3) A beginning acting career requires a substantial financial investment. There are headshots, union dues (the initiation fees are enormous), classes and clothes. Before you start, you should have some cash on hand and be prepared to get a job that supports you while you make the rounds. The difficulty here is that an actor’s “day job” needs to afford the flexibility to go on auditions and interviews. This is why actors so often turn to restaurant work. Be sure to have a job that allows you this kind of flexibility.

Before Your First Audition

Get some training. Although the criteria for assessing acting talent are very subjective, you still have to know what you are doing. Some people believe that acting training is only necessary for stage acting but not for film and television. This is wrong. Acting is an art and a craft and cannot be faked any more than writing a good novel can be faked. It looks much easier than it is. Besides, acting classes are the perfect way to meet fellow actors and to begin building your network. My first acting class in Los Angeles led to many long-term relationships, including a collaboration with a theater company where one of my plays was produced and from which my first screenplay was optioned. Take at least one audition technique class. You can be a brilliant actor and still not know how to seal the deal in the audition process. Auditioning is a separate skill and there are techniques that will help you get the job.
Try: Join backstage.com. It's an essential resource with a treasure trove of useful information. You can look for auditions and acting coaches under the Products and Services drop down menu. Ask your actor friends about classes they like, and ask if you can audit them. Read up on acting so you have an idea of what style you respond to. Two of many other famous techniques to become familar with are those of Sanford Meisner and Uta Hagen.

Get a Package Together

Like everyone else you'll need to get two 8x10 headshots (one serious look for drama and a cheerier one for commercials) and write a resume. Ask to see the headshots of other actors and if there's one you particularly like, take a look at the photographer's portfolio. Shop around. Try not to skimp on this as it is the first impression you will make on agents and casting directors. Write your resume honestly. If you don't have many credits, list school productions and showcases and any training you've had. If you've been in any student films, by all mean list those. If you have a couple of scenes on film (and by scene I don't mean as an extra but something where you can show some talent), put these together into a "reel," a video or DVD of sample work. Hire an editor, make it professional. The more material you have, the better.
Try: Look at a sample actor's resume on bestsampleresume.com or hire a professional to write one for you at resumesforactors.com. At backstage.com you can find an editor for your reel or check out reelsforactors.com. At backstage.com, you can also manage your resume, headshot and reel, get daily casting notices and make online submissions.

Audition

You will have to go to some open calls until you get an agent. Popular wisdom holds that Equity open calls are a waste of time because they are mandated by the union and that the roles are pre-cast. This may or may not be the case, but the fact is that it's a chance to be seen and get noticed and you might even get hired. You are guaranteed not to get hired if you stay home. Go to open calls for non-Equity showcases. Get any job you can at first (as long as it's not demeaning or shady in any way). Being in a show means you can invite people to come and see you and build up your resume at the same time. Experience is everything. One of my first acting jobs in Los Angeles was for no pay in a dingy, non-Equity theater with tattered seats and no air conditioning. But the role was good and as it turned out I got rave reviews, a new agent and a Drama-Logue award for my troubles. Knock on every door.
Try: Backstage.com and productionhub.com have casting searches. Go to variety.com for a production chart of movies in various stages of production. Go to rossreports.com for a list of agents and casting directors and invite them to see your work. Send them your package and follow up with a polite phone call.

Get Representation

Landing an agent is one of the most difficult aspects of starting out as an actor. But it is essential. 99.9 percent of professional work comes through licensed talent agents. Get a list of agents and send your materials to those that work in your chosen areas. In other words, if you don't want to work in commercials, don't send your resume to a commercial agent. (Managers can also be helpful but they are not regulated in the same way as agents are and their services are less uniform.) Invite them to see your work and follow up with phone calls. Send them your professionally edited reel. Keep after them, but don't be too pushy. Above all, be professional and polite to whomever answers the phone. They are your first contact and can definitely have an influence on who gets through the door.
Try: Rossreports.com has the complete list of agents and their specialty areas. Ask your actor friends if they can recommend you to their agents. If you hit it off with a casting director or director during an audition, ask them (in a follow up call, of course, not while dozens of people are waiting in the outer room) if they can give you a name of someone to contact.

Join a Union

Unfortunately, it's difficult to get signed to an agent without belonging to one of the major three acting unions: Screen Actor's Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and Actors' Equity Association. The Catch 22 is that it's difficult to get a union job without being a union member. So what do you do? The upside is that the directors and producers don't much care if you're union or not, as long as you're the one they want for the role. Therefore the way to get a union job is to impress somebody. This happens all the time, so don't be discouraged. Once you've been offered a union job you will have to go through the union's guidelines on how to join and it will cost a lot of money. You can decide to go non-union all the way, but the number of roles and types of productions are very limited and of course you won't have the same protections as a union actor does on a union job (and believe me you need those protections). It pays to join up.
Try: Go to sag.org, aftra.com and actorsequity.org for guidelines on joining the unions.

Take rejection and criticism graciously as you will get a lot of it. Someone will say your hair is too long or your neck is too short. Or you'll spill your blood and guts in an audition and all you'll get is a yawn. Let it roll off you. Know when to listen to the advice to get a nose job or dye your hair and when to just keep quiet. In other words, know yourself and trust your instincts.
Stretch yourself, but don't go out for roles that you are totally wrong for. If a casting notice describes a character as a giant of a man with a booming voice, and you are small and delicate, this is not the time to try to get noticed. Casting directors don't take kindly to anyone who wastes their time.
Beware of scam artists. For example, no agent should ask you for money in order to represent you. Before you pay a photographer for your headshots or someone to put together your reel, find out what the going rate is and what you should expect to get in return. If anyone asks you to do something that makes you uncomfortable, don't do it. Again, trust your instincts. In an audition for a major Hollywood movie I was once asked a series of personal and inappropriate questions. I declined to answer them and reported the incident to SAG which had been receiving similar complaints about the casting process on that film. As much as you need the job, you need your self-respect even more.
Be involved in the community. If you are not in an acting class, get together with your actor friends on a regular basis. Exchange of information is the best way to get work. And be creative. Get together and have readings of plays, help each other out with audition material, keep the creative juices flowing.
Invest in a good wardrobe. You need a variety of options for auditioning, and must take care to look professional and presentable at all times.