What challenges in life have you conquered and emerged from a better person?
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I like Alexandria. It's like a fairytale princess. But I'll call you Alex or Lex if you prefer if you remember to call me D. That way I know my real friends apart from the people who just know of me or want something from me.
Btw, I thought you were going to be internetless for a couple of weeks. When I had to leave for Texas to help bury my grandfather, I was internetless for a long while too. Apparently a lot of the people there didn't believe in the internet [sic].
But are you okay now? You know, if you load a few bucks on a Starbucks card like once a month and register the card online, Starbucks gives you free hours daily? It's true! Here's proof: http://www.starbucks.com/wifi
So I hope you are no longer living in your car. That sucks. Where are you now?
Not having internet sucked bad for me too. The lack of information and weather and traffic and directions and what things were around me that I needed just made things harder and take longer.
I finally had to check into a hotel just for the internet. Let me tell you some of them were really seedy and dirty. You truly get what you pay for. Just the $10-$15 more was well worth it to get from a one star to two star. Some of them just lived in the motels. They didn't have homes. White trash at it's finest/worst.
I digressed. You asked about my career and I talked like we were friends having a beer, sorry about that.
The main rule of thumb is first train, train, train. Then get good headshots. They are your calling card to the industry. Calling card, business card, whatever. Same diff. Then get a good agent. All the while train. Acting is a muscle. You have to keep working out or you lose it. You lose the strength you have from training it so much.
If they ask you for hundreds upfront, they are a scam. If they say you have to use their photographer and only their photographer, they are a scam. If they try to sell you classes only from them, that "you just ~have~ to have in order to make it, they are a scam. See a pattern? It's all common sense and judgment. If they ask for upwards of a thousand dollars, walk out immediately. They will only try to get you taken advantage of in other ways that you might agree to.
And sometimes people get greedy. You have to judge if they can actually give you what you want if you give them what they want. Those are the shady ones, and they rarely can give you what you want. Which is to make it. If I were a girl, I would dress sexy to get roles, but only if legitimate casting directors actually have the roles to give me. Sometimes they say they have them, but they only lie to get you to sleep with them.
I have never had to provide any sexual favors to casting for a role. I just had to smile and look pretty and not give the casting director (also called a "CD") a bad name by doing something bad on set. Like say have a yelling fit like Christian Bale did. But then he can get away with it because he's big. And when you're big, there's no such thing as bad publicity.
But if I knew for a fact that the CD had the role, and not just because she said she had the role to give, but because I knew that casting director from other castings or from their prior works, then I might risk it, even if they don't give me the job. I'd have to weigh on how much I wanted the job to decide.
You should always take new pictures for headshots every few years. And always when your look changes. Nothing is so much more disappointing to a CD than seeing a picture and seeing you come in looking like someone they didn't choose to walk into their casting session.
And I can't stress enough to train. Start out small if you have to, but don't skimp. Again, you get what you pay for. Now you start seeing things tie in right? I didn't tell you the motel story for nothing. =)
Pay as reasonably as much as you can without overextending yourself as soon as you can get a taste to understand the biz.
I'd say don't do any of the sex until you have at least a year of full time or two years part time in the quest for becoming a successful actor. Try out jr. colleges or local community colleges for acting 101 classes so you can get an idea and waste the time and or money there where it's cheap so when you really spend the dough, you are really serious about it than blowing classes off or not sleeping before a headshot photoshoot and looking all puffy and with bags under your eyes and being bloodshot looking and all.
Goof off when it's cheap, because goofing off when it's expensive is a waste. Again with the common sense. This business is mostly all that. Common sense. It's just that people are generally mostly stupid. Everyone really. At some point or another. So don't let that be you.
Go to your local college. Art college if you can find one. Or even photography school. Find an advanced photography student. Give them less than $50 to take an hour's or two's worth of photos in natural light. If you can, ask a teacher for his best student. A referral is always needed anywhere in this biz. You have heard of the phrase, "It's who you know," right? Well, that's what it means. And well, it was common sense, but unless it get explained out in long form, no one gets it.
And that's only the start. You send the agents in your town your headshot and see who wants you. You go interview with them and see who you like. Choose wisely, they must believe in you morE than you believe in yourself. Actors by nature are super self conscious creatures. So having someone push you is exactly what is needed. And keep training. And in LA, agents get 10% managers get 15%.
Also, with your first big check over $100,000 you owe me a nice new car of your choosing. If it's over a million I would appreciate a car and a house preferably somewhere in LA. Thank you. =P
Hope that helped, and made you laugh and gave you the strength and courage to go forth and join me in the journey. It is something that can be done, and if you stick around for at least a year full time, I can say you'll have longevity in this business. Most people quit after six months. The rejection is far greater and more frequent than any you'll ever know. Be prepared for that and you can beat anything.
