Career Management: Keep Your Team Informed
You are the master of your own ship. Coaches can teach you, managers can guide you, agents can assist you – but you are the leader of the crew, and to that point, it is important to keep everyone informed and on the same page about the course you have laid for your career.
Yes, you should absolutely listen to the advice from your agent and/or manager – they are in a different part of the trenches and have a view of the industry different from an actor’s, perhaps a more objective view of where you fit into the industry. But it is still just their opinion of where you fit. Ultimately, the decision about your piece of the pie is yours to make. It is also your responsibility to lead the marketing efforts of your team in that direction.
Consider your acting business like any small business, and you an entrepreneur. What is your mission statement? Your short-term and long-term goals, and the action steps necessary to get you there? Sure, there is much about attaining your goals that is determined by whether or not people cast you in the places and projects you want to work, but that does not make you helpless in the matter. If one tactic does not work, go back and assess why, then plan again for a different action step to attain that goal.
What are your business’s strengths and weaknesses within the context of the industry? What skills are easy and natural, and which ones would you be better served by either seeking out additional training or outsourcing to someone else? For example, maybe you are strong in stage combat (an acting skill) and creating a network of contacts (a business skill), but you lack the training or confidence to be a fight director or captain (seek out training) and the technical knowledge to get a cohesive website and newsletter together to market to your network (outsource or additional training).
Once you are clear on the direction of your career, it will be much easier to communicate to your team about the direction they need to be working because you will be steering them. Your agent may be wonderful and have great insight, but does she know where you hope to be in one, five, or ten years? Only you know that, and only you can set the course for a successful voyage there.
Take some time to generate a one page business plan to get yourself ready to be the leader your crew needs to get your career bearing the course you dream it will take. Oh, yeah, and don’t be afraid to read business books now and again – they won’t kill your creative spirit, I promise.
3 Ways To Turn Pro
Hi readers and GRBloggers! I have been on a writing hiatus but I am back (and happy about it!) Hope all is well and you all have some stellar goals, funny stories, and new personal and professional accomplishments under your belt. Hopefully my upcoming posts can inspire you to keep doing so. And to you new readers, check out my old posts so you can stop thinking “who the hell is this chick?”
And without further ado ….
3 WAYS TO TURN PRO
So! One of the things I’ve been chest deep in over the past 7 months has been working with Dallas Travers, my creative career coach. If you haven’t heard about her, check her out. Follow her blog and when she’s in town for a free seminar, I’ll be sure to give you the heads up.
What we’re working on for 2013 is truly turning pro. I’ve come up with the following three bullet points of ways to do so. And, as with everything else, it all starts with your mindset.
1. THE DO’S
Create your personal proclamation about what Turning Pro means to you. Make it poetic and mumbo jumbo-y and gibber gabbery if you’d like. We are artists after all (however, please refrain from teen angst. That dream died when you received your high school diploma).
This is what I came up with:
“A professional acts today. She leaps and does not wait because she knows that a life worth living does not happen tomorrow; it lives in today. A professional wakes up the abundance of opportunities that exist around her, feeding them with her integration of skills and complete acceptance of herself. A professional does not deny the truth about herself, including her fears, BUT the difference between a professional and amateur is that the professional laughs with her fears, embracing them for the excitement they will inevitably become. A professional runs into each day with full force, drinking it up and giving everything away so that it may come back to her in the beautiful shapely energy that is her life, at its most brilliant potential.”
Ok, you can wake up now. *slaps ruler on your desk, centimeters from your head*
Now that you have your personal proclamation, tape it up somewhere so you see it each morning. Make copies of it and post it in different places as a reminder and READ IT EVERY DAY (sometimes I do funny voices , interpretive dances– the call is yours).
2. THE DONT’S
Kick the little habits that hold you back. Start with one. Mine (like Dallas’ was once) is hitting the snooze button. I want to start my day off right and procrastination is no way to accomplish that. So, what I do is, I think of three people whom I admire and aspire to be like. They are:
- Joel Runyon
- Ellen DeGeneres
- Tracee Chimo
And when I feel that little urge to hit that wonderful – no terrible, self sabotaging little word so beautifully lit on the interface of my Samsung Galaxy Android, I remind myself:
“Joel Runyon does not hit the snooze button! Ellen Degeneres does not hit the snooze button! Tracee Chimo does NOT hit the snooze button!”
Five seconds later, I’m up 🙂 And guess what? “Katelyn Collins does not hit the snooze button either!” #Win. #ImAGreatist
3. LIVE THE WAY YOU PLAN TO ULTIMATELY LIVE … NOW
What this pretty much means is, don’t wait until you’ve booked that six figure commercial or Broadway gig or Oscar nominated film to LIVE like you’ve booked that six figure commercial or Broadway gig or Oscar nominated film. You are no more professional then, than you are now. So live that way now and you will make room for that to happen in your life. I don’t mean hire a personal chef or book weekly vacations to Madrid…
(idk .. Madrid was the first thing that popped in my head. I don’t know why. I wouldn’t even pick that. Whatever. Anyways….)
…. weekly vacations to Madrid. But what I do mean is imagine that person you intend to be, having accomplished what you intend to accomplish.
- Does he/she speak highly (but humbly) of herself?
- Do they commit to their appointments?
- Do they schedule out their days?
- Do they go to the gym and take care of themselves?
- Do they take time to give attention to their personal lives?
- Do they consider themselves a professional within their industry?
So be who you want to be now. Don’t wait. The results may be shocking.
Ok! Post your Turning Pro Proclamations below! Woot woot, let’s do this!
Onwards and Upwards,
Happy 2nd Birthday to The Green Room Blog!
It’s a big day here at The Green Room Blog, and one I wasn’t sure I’d see when we first began — our second birthday!
On February 9, 2011, I launched this blog with only myself and 3 intrepid friends who bravely said “yes” to blogging about their paths in this crazy business. We only posted a couple of times a week, and our readers were mostly our supportive friends and family.
Today, the blog hosts eighteen of us (wowza!) spread across the world, and I have befriended dozens of you in real-life who I may never have had the good fortune to meet without the help of this online space. I’m proud to count many of the bloggers here as my good friends. Together, we launched a monthly twitter chat called #ShowbizChat that continues to expand each time we “get together” to chat — last month we even made the twitter trending list! And little elves are working right now to bring the newest addition to Green Room — the Actors’ Deputy, a place to chat about working conditions and contracts at regional theaters.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for making this blog what it is. Yes, YOU! What I set out to create was a community of positive and supportive entertainment professionals, and I couldn’t have imagined how successful we’d all be together.
We’ll accept birthday gifts in the form of: cupcakes (delivered to me, of course…) and sharing of the Green Room Blog with your friends (please do!).
And we ask: what has been your favorite or most useful Green Room Blog post over the past two years? Give a shout-out to a blogger who’s helped you out!
Walk A Mile In Another Artist’s Shoes
After looking at the awesome photos in The Redheaded Actress’ ‘A Day in the Life’ post, as well as The Political Theatre Maker’s photo essay about being on tour– I felt inspired to share what a day in my life might look like. Of course, this is just what my life was like today. I decided to choose a day when I was not working at my day job, because those days are pretty boring. It varies from day to day, however this will give you a glimpse into my life as an actress/vocalist.
These are the beady, little eyes I wake up to every morning. He is very good at getting me up if my alarm clock doesn’t.
“Coach” (my parakeet’s nickname, since he is VERY opinionated about my work) then follows me into the shower and proceeds to steam himself, while I get ready for the day.
Then it’s off to the post office to mail out demos to venues I would like to perform at and postcards to my contacts.
I hop over to Starbucks for a Venti Zen Green Tea and chocolate grahams, and I do some work on the computer. This is a great time to check my e-mail, look at social networking sites, check Actors Equity for open calls, etc.
After lunch, I head to rehearsal for an independent feature film I am going to be in!
I often see this piece of art on my commute and never tire of staring at it. I think every time I see it, I notice something else in the poster! There is so much detail, and it really depicts the types of people you see on the subway.
The rehearsal goes extremely well, and I head home again!
My roommate makes and sells Organic Catnip Toys. So, I spend some time printing and cutting out labels to package the toys. Check out her Etsy account HERE– she has some really neat, original designs!
I head out again for some fresh air and a quick pick-me-up at a local bakery! It has fruit on top, so it MUST be healthy, right….? 😉
Then it’s back to work, burning demos for my band.
My roommate and I decide to get some yummy Thai food for dinner- Mmmmm!
I finish the night by stopping in one of my favorite places to support a local band. It’s a nice way to end the day.
I hope you enjoyed stepping into my shoes for a day!
When Life Throws a Curve Ball, Hit a Home Run
It’s a typical day on my contract. I’ve just finished eight hours of singing and dancing for thousands of people and I am exhausted in the best kind of way. I’ve removed the copious gobs of stage makeup and once again look like a normal human being. I’m walking through hot tropical rain and watching the sun set over the island I work on. Feeling at peace with the day of shows, my cast mates and I decide to treat ourselves to a nice dinner on the resort and fall deep into interesting conversation about show business and all the crazy adventures it can lead to.
We have all come from different corners of the world; Australia, Britain, South Africa, America. We’ve developed from different artistic fields; singers, dancers, actors, gymnasts. Some of us are fresh out of college, some are veterans in the industry, and some have just come from jobs that have nothing to do with the arts. Though we are as varied as a group of people could be, we all ended up in the same show, on the same island, singing the same songs, day after day…and we all have pretty remarkable stories about how we got here.
There was never a moment in my life where I pictured myself living and working the way I do here, at this moment. I thought maybe I would do some community theatre as a teenager and then get a “real job” after college. I thought I might take a few vacations throughout my lifetime but I never imagined that I would be living on the equator, fighting thunderstorms and all manner of nightmarish bugs, eating delicious food that I can’t pronounce and talking to my tech crew in different languages.
As the only Caucasians in the room, we sit down to eat dinner on this little slice of heaven we call our place of business. As conversation picks up about where life will take us next, one common theme seems to be apparent in everyone’s story; a subdued yearning to break into one of the more exclusive, lesser known fields of this industry. Don’t get me wrong, I could sing and dance for the rest of my life and feel completely fulfilled. But for the past few years, I’ve had an unyielding desire to actively pursue a career as a stunt woman.
I know the extent of how outlandish and random this sounds, but when I was 19 I got a job as a singer in a live stunt show and have romanticized the life of a stunt woman ever since. As a young, naïve performer just starting to audition for professional work, I was overwhelmed and overjoyed by the fact that I actually landed a job where I got to swing over my audience on ropes, get into choreographed fist fights, and shoot real guns. My job felt like playing on a gigantic playground and living a real life fairy tale. I was the youngest one in the cast, and the people I worked with were like rock stars to me. I picked their brain about how they survived in the cut-throat field of stunts and hung on every word they said.
I learned about making reels and marketing yourself to no end, heard stories of showing up to movie shoots and haggling for work, and experienced the painstaking training you have to go through to ready your body and skillset for this kind of career. With the resources at my fingertips, I begged and bartered for my cast mates to give me acrobatics lessons, teach me how to take hits without injuring myself, and train my body to be stronger. I installed a pull up bar in my bedroom and, in the words of a fellow performer: “entered an entirely new threshold of pain”. But the payoff of discovering something radical and new (that frankly made me feel like kind of a badass) was more than enough to compensate for some muscle aches. After three years of working in a stunt show and having more fun on stage than I ever thought possible, musical theatre jobs started to pick up and I left the show to take up other contracts.
I conclude my fantastical dinner story with a confession to my cast that I haven’t the slightest clue how to actually succeed in the industry of stunt work and probably lack the necessary skills/physique to make that dream a reality. Nonetheless, I’m going to continue training when I can, look for opportunities, and include stunts in my show reel due to the fact that I can’t ever completely shake this craving. This declaration is met with a barrage of similar wishes from my cast mates about dying to break into the voiceover industry, work as a professional acrobat, and even get into motion capture work (for movies and video games).
I am practically drooling over the idea of voiceovers or acrobatics and my cast mates are starry-eyed at the thought of movie stunts. But like me, they haven’t a clue how to get started with these types of ambiguous yet fantastic career paths (much less how to make a living off of them). Moreover, we’re usually so busy with our “normal” jobs as singer/dancers that we lack the time to properly pursue this type of work.
But before I completely shove these ideas under the rug, I can’t help reminding myself that I live on a tropical island I knew nothing about a few months ago and spend my days singing K-pop songs while hip hop dancing…this wasn’t exactly part of the plan….or a subversion of the plan….or even a shred of an idea that could one day resemble a plan. Years ago I walked into a vocal audition for my stunt show with no clue what I was getting into and ended up feeling more comfortable fighting and shooting than I have singing and dancing in any other show I’ve been cast in. Who’s to say in a few months I wont stumble on another opportunity and hit it out of the park. Life has a way of continually surprising you, why not dream big?
What’s the F#%kin Point?
It’s been 9 and a half years since I moved to NY. 7 years, 8 months since I finished “school” here in NYC (I went to college before moving here). I had some great runs of booking commercials, shows, and tiny parts on TV shows that always seem to get cut. I have made a living on my own for 7 years on my terms. Now I am 33, I am married, my only survival job is moot at this cold time of year, my “manager” can’t get me seen for even the crappy roles and the only commercial audition I had in the last 3 months was cancelled so they could rewrite the character I was going in for.
I’ve dropped off more than 150 resumes to restaurants and bars (I have 4-5 years NYC experience bartending and waiting). I have done 50-75 “real” job applications online, tailoring cover letters and researching places to further explain how I meet their “needs.” I see anywhere from 3-10 roles per week with casting directors I know, or know would consider me that I pursue in one way or another. From all these combined work pursuit endeavors I have had 2 total interviews, zero jobs, (and neither of the interviews were auditions).
The point I am making is, what’s the f$#kin point? They said in theater school (“they” being every teacher who failed in this profession first) that “if you can do anything else, do it.” They also said, “it will take time, but if you pay your dues and work, and grow and get better, you will succeed in this business.” Maybe I am being presumptuous, but I am beginning to think they were full of it in every way. Please don’t read this blog as my “goodbye” to this business, or think I need some sort of consoling or pat on the back, I really don’t (well maybe just like a beer’s worth). Every real job application I have submitted, (and the one interview I had), I either hid my acting career or tried to spin it in a “I’ll be really great for your company due to my experience in one of the hardest professions there is,” kind of way. Whether people believe it, completely dismiss it or just see right through the lie is something I will never know. I can’t do anything else, the universe won’t let me!
To quote Avenue Q “I have no skills yet.” OK I have skills, and I believe someone who has put in the effort and time into this business I have would excel in so many other professions due to the pure familiarity with rejection, persistence and endurance. But I don’t think other people see that. I don’t think people outside of our profession can really understand at all what we deal with day-to-day, week to week, rejection to rejection. The character, the gumption, the thick skin we develop becomes useful only in it becoming something we can use to protect us from ourselves. That may make no sense to you, or all the sense in the world. I can’t get a restaurant job, I can’t get a real job, I can’t get an acting job. Maybe it’s just a bad stretch, maybe timing is just off for me in every aspect right now, I just can’t figure out the point of what I can do, if I can’t do it. I’m sure it will be clear soon. Maybe the reason I can’t get a restaurant or real job is because the universe is preventing me from falling into something that can sabotage my career, maybe “little” acting work hasn’t come along, cause something huge will, maybe it’s all random, or maybe I need to become a plumber. I just don’t know what the point of anything is. Have you ever felt like this?
Equity At Last
No more getting up at 5am, signing up on unofficial lists, waiting all day to not get seen, sitting on the ‘non-equity bench of shame’ at AEA, getting thrown out of holding rooms or being generally stressed at Equity calls. This girl finally got her Equity card. It’s pretty much, a ‘shout from the rooftops’ big deal, if only for the fact that I know I’ll at least get SEEN at dance calls and can now get an asterisk next to my name in programs! First step towards the dream, right? Now all I need is that call from Broadway saying I’m cast so I can afford my dues. (PS, I’m ok with ensemble).
So, I’ve already started putting some mileage on my card hitting up some ECC’s and it’s amazing how the audition experience has changed. I can plan my day, get enough sleep, have enough time to focus and warm-up and get seen in the first group.
Of course, there are still some things that never change:
If you are going to an audition for Broadway/ Tour and the show has been running for a short while, be prepared to be in a room full of people who already know the combination. There are even audition workshops/ seminars now where you can learn the routine before the dance call (for a price).
The grass is always greener. It is Sod’s Law that 3 days after getting my Equity card, I find out that I have booked a non-equity show. However, the peanuts that I would have got paid make me feel better about turning it down.
Despite being non-Equity before, I still managed to get callbacks for Broadway and National Tours. Now I just need the same results combined with more sleep and my agent’s help getting me appointments…oh, and actually booking them in the end.
You still get to hear some gems in the holding room:
Girl to monitor at ‘Wicked’ Broadway audition: ‘I’m non-equity, do I need a headshot?’
Monitor to girl: ‘Yes.’
Girl to monitor: ‘What if I don’t have one?’
I almost feel like I did things the wrong way round. In California, it has become apparent that non-equity get seen at nearly every AEA call, often even in the first group (a rare occurrence in NY). I’ve also seen casting panel’s disregard some Equity rules about who gets to perform first. Additionally, there are a higher percentage of non-equity shows here. The kicker is that the pay is generally, significantly lower than anything I saw in New York. There have been multiple times that I have read casting notices where I’m saying, ‘This show is perfect for me!’, ‘This is just the audition I’ve been waiting for!’, to then see the words ‘No Pay Provided’ sneak in the last line. Girl’s gotta live!
Last week, I had a free day and thought I’d drive all the way to San Diego for an audition (I’m THAT committed to booking a job already). It was a show I have been dying to do since I first saw it on the West End. The role I wanted had to attend the dance call first (perfect for a dancer who can sing) and, even better, the role was for a dancer/ alto with a belt/ who can dress to impress (that’s pretty much me). There was one, miniscule catch….They only had 1 Equity contract.
This pretty much summed up my predicament. I was in NY for a year, wishing every day that I was Equity so I wouldn’t have to waste hours, hoping to get seen, cramped in the hallway of Ripley Grier. Now, in CA, I was frustrated that I was Equity because I knew I would have at least booked an ensemble part in this show that I really wanted to do. The good news was that I actually got through the dancing, singing, sides, dancing, singing, singing, sides etc, for the lead role I wanted. It meant they were considering me for that 1 Equity role. If I don’t get it, perhaps it is just because they needed to give the Equity contract to a role that was harder to cast. Either way, it made me feel like I was right to take my card. If I can be highly considered for a lead role with only 1 Equity contract available in the whole cast, I did the right thing.
So here goes. The beginning of life as a ‘proud Equity member’!
Way back during last July, I found myself a relatively new Actors’ Equity member, with a calendar full of EPAs and not much else. The adjustment to competing and marketing at the union level was a bit tough for me at first, I won’t lie, and I was a little bummed about how long it had been since I’d been onstage, and how tough it was getting into the auditions for the jobs I was able to work here in NYC.
I also found myself in my home state of Florida for my little sisters’ birthdays, and decided: shit, I don’t have any work waiting for me back in New York for the next few weeks, I’m going to take a few weeks to stay down here and look for work. So I started out on what I would later dub my “Rainbow Tour of Florida Regional Theaters” (just in case there was any lingering doubt about what a musical theatre geek I am, and always will be).
First, I used my trusty Regional & Off-Broadway Theatre Guide to get a list of all of the professional theaters anywhere in Florida, plus the Artistic Directors’ names and contact email addresses. Then I carefully crafted my ammunition — an email emphasizing that I was a New York-based actor, but a Florida native, who was visiting for the next few weeks and asked: would they have time to see me? I attached my headshot and resume, and away went 15 or so emails.
To my surprise, about two-thirds of the theaters responded, even if a few of them were only to politely let me know that they didn’t have time due to an Artistic Director’s vacation or a busy tech week. I landed five auditions, though, and spent the next few weeks sporadically driving around the state to make new professional acquaintances.
Everywhere I went, people were so friendly and welcoming and thrilled to see me that I couldn’t believe it. I even spent my 26th birthday driving to Miami to meet with one Artistic Director — who remembered me months later when scheduling callbacks for Amy Herzog’s 4,000 Miles in December. When I got his call, I was so excited to still be on his radar, and paid the airline change fee to fly down to Florida for Christmas a week early. Spoiler alert:
I booked the job, and head out for Miami in a little over a week. I couldn’t be more thrilled with my success after working so hard to get seen by theaters in Florida, and I’m equally thrilled to be heading pretty much directly off one AEA contract (The Crucible) to another, with only the holidays in-between!
And do you like that little graphic up there? I’ve started mailing what career coach Dallas Travers calls “One-Sheets” to my target list of Casting Directors whenever I have a success or interesting development to report. Jen Ponton expounded on the virtues of One-Sheets in great detail in her guest post here, but I love that they have so much more personality, variety, and information on them than plain, ol’ postcards.
So yeah, with each passing year, I feel like I learn SO much more about what works and what doesn’t in this crazy biz. My marketing skills grow exponentially; I learn fun, new skills (who knew I could do basic graphic design to make a fancy One-Sheet like that?); and I figure out how to get the work — which is, actually, not the work at all…it’s really the fun.
Have you considered a marketing campaign to local theaters in smaller markets? Any readers based in Miami and wanna come see my show? 🙂
The Green Room 