Everyone does have an opinion. Remember that when you ask for feedback on any of your marketing materials. Last week a friend of mine asked me if her reel was good and prefaced it with wanting my honest opinion because one of her friends said she’d seen her better in other roles. Here is the email I sent back to her and I thought it was valuable enough info to post it here:

“A reel is just a short piece that let’s someone know that you are a professional and what you can do. I think your reel is great and exemplifies this nicely. You’ll get called in because of that. When you start getting more material, I would either take out the first or the last piece and replace one of them with something that has a different tone cause they are similar. That’s FINE, though cause it means that is your strong suit. Your reel does what it is supposed to do.

As for your friend. Your friend may be right and may have seen something that they liked you better in (which is their opinion to have and everyone will have a different opinion). Who cares. You can’t please everyone. What matters is how YOU feel about your reel. And if you can hand it to someone without feeling like you don’t want them to see it. Also, take into consideration the source of the comment. Might this person be jealous of you cause you’re taking action? Who knows.

One thing that I would suggest when asking for feedback is to structure your questions so that you get the information that you are looking for. Instead of saying, “What do you think?’ ( Cause that leaves it way open to interpretation and you will definitely get opinions that will hurt your feelings which will disempower you), ask something like,

Does my reel feel like you could be watching scenes from a professional gig?
or
What range of emotions do you see? What do you think is missing from that range?
or
What do you feel is strong about my reel?
or
Where do you think I could improve my reel?

Just structure them so that you only get constructive feedback that you can work with. It’s not your business if somebody likes or dislikes your work or you. That doesn’t help you take a step forward.”

Aurora

Ahhhh, Research! If you’re an artist first and business person second, sometimes the hugeness of “the business” can be overwhelming. And it is: which is why you take bite sized chunks of it and work with what you’ve got. I found a link to this article (from the Financial Times) on twitter from Robin, an agent at at Lemon Lime Agency. It discusses the roles of the big Agencies in Hollywood, where they started and how they’ve had to adapt to today’s changing technological climate.

Here’s my advice and how this article can help you as an actor/ actress:

1. Know what these agencies are doing and what you would need in order to be repped by them if this is your goal.
2. Know who works there so you can recognize their names/ face in case you come across them somewhere (which is totally not a far fetched idea if you live in LA).
3. Now you have some background about them and have something to talk about when it’s appropriate to bring up this info.

Aurora

-Aurora

I recently became friends with Ben Whitehair, another actor in LA who shares a really cool blog for actors with lots of great information (check out his website too.  It was just voted one of the best actor websites by, Casting Director,  Marci Liroff).  He is one of three bloggers on this blog:  Playbills vs Paying Bills, which comes from the perspective of three actors, each tackling the three largest Actor cities in the US: LA, Chicago and NYC. It’s a lot of fun to follow. There are many interesting posts and topics that I could mention here, but I want to point you to Ben’s article on the uses of IMDB. He says it thoroughly, succinctly and

humorously. I’ve quoted it here for your ease, but I would encourage you to check out his blog at the links above. Go BEN!

-Aurora

Ahh, ye olde Internet Movie Database. If you don’t know what it is, then I’m very impressed that you’re reading this blog from a cave. In this 3-part series I will tell you what (I think) you need to know…

Who Uses It

The general film-and-tv-watching public (read: fans) typically knows that IMDb is the standard for looking up actors’ work.

In the industry, my theory is that actors are actually the primary users of it, followed by casting directors, then agents, then everyone else. I’ve heard numerous stories of casting directors looking up an actor’s IMDb profile within seconds of receiving a submission, or while on the phone with an agent who is pitching said actor.

What it Means

Honestly, a film on your resume that isn’t on IMDb doesn’t mean much. Because you have to go through some (very minimal…see part 2) effort to get a project listed on IMDb, there is a certain legitimacy that comes with having projects listed on IMDb. It’s not the be all end all, but let’s just say that the more things you have on IMDb the better.

IMDb Pro

If you’re an actor and you haven’t signed up for IMDb Pro you should be ashamed of yourself. The name of this game is research, and IMDb Pro allows you to do just that. You can view budgets of movies, what agencies actors are with, contact information for people, starmeters, and the like.

What the Heck is a Starmeter and Why Did my Popularity drop 472%?!?

Here is IMDb’s explanation of the Starmeter, but basically it’s a measure of how many hits you get. A veritable (rather arbitrary) online popularity contest.

How to Raise Your Starmeter

1. Get people to click on your IMDb profile (post the link on your Facebook or Twitter profiles, have it in your email signature, etc.)
2. Get people to comment on your IMDb profile in the “Message Boards” section (this is worth much more than a simple click)
3. Be in more things that get listed on IMDb
4. Be in popular movies. The more popular the projects are that you’re in, the higher you get rated
5. Be the star in a once-every-ten-years-movies-like-this-are-crazy-popular movie like Paranormal Activity. (The actress in that movie was ranked #1 on starmeter the week it blew up.)
6. Sleep with a celebrity. This will probably accomplish 1 and 2 above, and will give you the added bonus of caring less about your starmeter because you’re now getting freaky with Johnny Depp.

What do the Numbers Mean?

In short, nothing. Again, it’s a rather arbitrary measure of popularity. However, I know a number of casting directors who put actors’ IMDb starmeter ranking in their pitches to producers and such on what actors to get. Agents also look at it sometimes to get a sense of how bankable you are. Remember, the more popular you are, the more money people can make off of you.

To give you some (very unscientific) bars, here are my observations on different “levels” of starmeter rankings:

• 1,000,000 or below: Was probably in a family video that somehow made it on IMDb.
• 1,000,000 - 200,000: Just another actor
• 200,000 – 100,000: Just another actor who’s makin’ things happen
• Above 100,000: You might still be a waiter, but you probably take time for your career to do things like read this blog post
• Above 15,000: This is generally working actor territory
• Above 1,000: You’re working. A lot. Good chance you’re repped by one of the big 5 agencies…or are about to be. Alternatively, you were recently on the cover of National Enquirer (see: #6 above)

Again, the number is easily manipulated and pretty random, so please don’t go freaking out about your starmeter. Your time will be much better spent running sides or working on your reel.

Help each other out: Give your friends “a bump” in their starmeter by clicking on their profile or leaving comments. That karma will help you when you ask them to give you a bump when you have a bunch of important agent meetings coming up.

Helpful Tip on Using Starmeter to Find the Right Agency

I would recommend looking up an agency (in IMDb Pro, of course) and comparing the starmeter of their client roster with yours. This is a good initial-first-glance-kinda-unscientific way of seeing if the agency is the proper level for where you are in your career right now. (Note: the more extensive way to do this is go through their client roster and see if their clients are booking mostly co-stars, guest stars, etc.)

Other

The starmeter rankings refresh every Monday. They compare your ranking for the new week with the previous week to determine your “popularity.” Know that your actual ranking is probably more important than your popularity increase or decrease, but also know that if industry-types see a huge jump in your popularity, they might be curious as to why, and want to get in on the action.

Also note that starmeter is often an indication of the online presence an actor has. That’s why you see a lot of higher-up working-actor types with starmeters far below that of some of us youngins, because we have a gajillion friends who will click on our profile if we post it on Facebook.

==============
Part 2 in this series tells you how to get a movie listed on IMDb
Part 3 discusses how to manage your IMDb profile
==============

If you gained anything from this post, please give my starmeter a bump by visiting www.imdb.me/BenWhitehair. If you gained a LOT from this post, or just want to make feel better for not being nominated for prom king in high school, then leave a comment on my IMDb profile.

• How detailed are the boards?

• Who’s perspective is the board coming from?

• What type of character am I expected to audition as based on the look of the characters in the boards? (ie. If you’re looking at stick figures you have more room to play than if you’re looking at fully colored/rendered characters with facial expressions).

-Aurora

Summer and I have been discussing our options as performers and have realized that the opportunities right now for the actor/ actress is like no other. The magic of the web and all of the freedom that lies at our fingertips makes us giddy. We are in an age where the power is being passed to the individual. Was there ever a time/ platform in which you could (as an individual), market yourself, find like minded individuals, go global and say WHATEVER you WANTED to say without spending gazillions of dollars on a team? Nope. We are all so lucky right now and this is exactly where we come from when we’re approaching our careers. We are in an age where you can do it by yourself. Cause here it is, my friends. Define what you want and allow it to unfold. Go for your dreams. They are so in your grasp. You just have to grab what you want. It’s right here for the taking. Now, get clear, and go get your career.

Namaste,

Aurora

2009 Photo by  John Dabrowski

From Bob Fraser’s email:

As you know, one of my oft-repeated themes is “be nice.”

I don’t harp on this because I think you should be worried about
being’black-balled,’ or put on a list, or that toadying obsequious
brown-nosing is the way to go – I say this because being nice is
just very good business practice.

In fact, I’d say that good business practice (in any business) can be
summed up in 4 words.

Be nice.

Hustle.

Advertise.

People who follow this 4-word plan are usually successful.

However. Here it comes …

When other people are not nice, it does no good to keep silent about
their behavior.

Silence implies acceptance.

As anyone who is paying attention knows – there are more than a few
people in our business who are mean, selfish, nasty, crude, in-your-face
bullies.

Whether they work in casting, catering, crew … or as actors … these
mean people seem to be spreading.

Let me help you deal with these folks by giving you an insight: When
you run into a nasty bully, keep in mind that their entire operating
procedure derives from their own … FEAR.

Generally speaking, these jerks and jerkettes are fearful of being found
to be lacking in talent, or skills, or sufficient passion for the work … and
they are driven by that emotion in everything they do.

Fear is what compels them to put other people down. They are simply
attempting to make others fearful – so that they can cover up the fact
that they are incompetent.

And when we remain silent about this sort of asocial behavior, it spreads.

In my not so humble opinion – much of what is wrong in show business
these days (reality shows, nasty unfunny ‘comedy,’ bloody ‘entertainment,’
semi-porn and the general lack of class exhibited by some of our ’stars’)
is a direct result of this ’spread the fear’ behavior that we have come to
accept as the norm.

When this sort of behavior becomes institutionalized – as it seems to be
from the stories I hear – then everyone suffers.

The treatment of actors has never been wonderful – but the vicious ‘attack
mode’ being displayed by some ’staff people’ in our industry is truly reaching
serious proportions.

For some reason I can’t help but think of the rise of the Nazis … because,
frankly, if we don’t start speaking up, it will soon be too late.

In other words, all the ‘fear fascists’ DESERVE to be ‘outed.’

I know this ‘outing’ will take time away from gossiping about the latest
‘public disaster’ involving some young actor, pop star, or anyone named
Paris – but, I believe our very futures are at stake.

So, be nice – but don’t hesitate to be courageous if you happen to run into
one of these fearful philistines – they cannot continue their unacceptable
behavior if everyone knows what they are doing … and the reason they
are doing it.

In my experience, once they are ‘outed’ their power disappears.

However …

Do everything in your power to use humor to point them out – being upset,
frustrated, in high dudgeon, or whining about it, only gives them satisfaction
and they will continue their evil ways.

Nothing stops a fascist faster than being laughed at.

So plan your counter-attack carefully – look for an opening – and make them
the butt of a joke.

Believe me, this will cut off their power supply, cause them to wither up and
eventually they just drift away.

And that will provide you with enormous satisfaction.

Plus – a clever line will always be remembered – and you’ll get noticed.

Win. Win.

Have a splendid day and, as always …

Much Success,

Bob

“The Funnel”
Super Objective: What your character lives for in the most macro sense.
Scene Objective: what they want in the scene that leads them directly to their Super Objective
Previous Circumstances: Describe what is happening the moment before the scene.
Given Circumstances: Describe what is happening in the scene, including time of day, year, pressing matters (if any), etc.
Action: The actionable verb that guides all of your activities.
Activities: A list of actionable verbs that are your tactics ( plug these into your script at any beat change at a minimum). This is the smallest, most micro part of your funnel.