Acting Work Dead Here Are 5 Amazing Strategies to Resurrect Your Career

Hey, is acting work dead for you right now? If so, here are 5 amazing strategies that will help resurrect your career. Also, if you watch this till the very end, you're going to get a special bonus. Is your full-time job keeping you from acting? You'll get 8 incredible strategies that will really help you. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and as you can see, I'm traveling right now, but I want to welcome you Welcome to my Acting and Modeling Career Tips channel and the Actor Career Center, where I try to do this every week, share information about the industry that I've learned in my 38-plus years working as a full-time actor. If you haven't done this yet, please subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when a new video has been uploaded. And if you like the video, give it a thumbs up. That helps spread the word. And that's the whole point of the channel, to have people comment, share information so we can all learn from each other. So look, there's a lot going on in the industry now, and who knows when you're actually watching this, maybe things will have changed. But there's a writer's strike going on, and so acting work is kind of dead. SAG-AFTRA, they're in the middle of negotiations right now. And once again, when you're watching this, who knows, maybe everything will be back to normal again. But it doesn't really matter because even when there aren't strikes looming, sometimes work is really dead for actors. And so there are strategies that you can use to help make things happen. I've always been proactive. I never like to sit around and just wait for, you know, agents to contact me about auditions or jobs. So I'm going to be sharing with you 5 really helpful strategies that I've been using for a very long time. Number 1, very first thing is, while things are slow, make sure that you spend time going through your materials. Maybe your resume needs to be updated. Maybe you need to get a new headshot. You've got to really seriously think about those things. So that you can use those materials to help market yourself. It's really, really crucial that you do that. And so while things are slow for you, you know, don't, don't just mope around and feel bad and be angry. Look, there are things that you can do. So very first thing, make sure your materials are perfect, that your headshot's effective, resume is up to date, and that you have the right information on it. And then that will allow you to do step number 2. Look, if you don't have an agent, this might be a great time to start marketing yourself and trying to find an agent. If agents aren't doing that much, they might be more open to seeing more people right now. And if you do have an agent, maybe you want to start marketing yourself to agents in other markets. If you don't have a contract that excludes you and prevents you from doing that. But reach out, and if you've got the right materials now, start sending them your headshot and resume and see if you can find other agents. Number 3, look, memorization, auditioning, it's, it's like any other kind of You know, muscle that athletes use. Look, even when, you know, football players are off, you know, for 5 or 6 weeks during the summer or after the season is over, you know, they're still getting in shape. They're still working their body out. They're still practicing. So if things are slow for you, that's not the time to just stop. What you want to do is continue to memorize. And, you know, look, you can, you can grab articles from the paper. It doesn't really matter, you know, what it is, but just practice memorization so that way you're not going for long stretches. And then when all of a sudden you get a phone call, you're just out of shape. The other thing too is shoot some mock auditions. Practice. Make sure your lighting setup is perfect. Make sure the Sound is good. And you can go to a place, and I'll list it below, and also I'll leave it, um, in, in the, uh, below also in, in the comment section, um, uh, wisanity.net. Uh, it's a great place you can go to. You'll find free monologues. Um, you might be able to find some TV or film scripts there. And practice auditioning. Take a look at the auditions. Does everything look great? Do they sound great? Uh, did you like your read? And once again, that way when things start happening again, you'll be better prepared. Number 4, and this is something I've been doing— well, it took me a few years to figure this thing out, but I've been doing it for a long time. I created an Excel spreadsheet that has all the contacts of people who I've met over the years, and I probably have over 1,000 people in there. These are agents, these are casting directors, these are producers, sometimes directors. Um, they are people from advertising agencies, art and creative directors, they're photographers, people I've done commercial modeling jobs with. Start making this list And having their names, email addresses, have little comments about what you did with them, what was your connection. And when things are slow, this is the time to reach out to them. And you're not going to write them an email saying, hey, things are dead. So what you're going to do is send them a note. Hey, just wanted to stay in touch. We haven't worked for a little while. The last project we did was such and such. Just to remind them who you are and your connection. And I look forward to working with you again in the near future. Once again, I find that when I am proactive, things seem to happen, and I don't think it's just a coincidence. So start gathering a list. Maybe you've got some, you know, fellow acting friends, and maybe you can put a list together yourself. Share information with other people. And build, you know, a nice long list of people that you can reach out to. Number 5, and this is something I also have been doing for a long time, really market yourself well. So, you know, you've got this list of people, start sending, you know, emails out to a lot of different people. And, you know, like I was saying before, just remind them who you are. You might remember them, you know, they maybe they've worked with 10,000 people, since they work with you and they might not remember. But, you know, just remind them of the project that you worked on. And look, and if you book the job or you get an audition, you know, feel free, you know, to send it through your agent, even if you don't have to. I just think it's a really smart decision. Let's just say, even if you're just freelancing with an agent and you're not exclusive, you have no legal obligation to send it through your agent, I would still recommend sending an audition through your agent. And yes, depending on the project, you know, you might be giving up a 20% commission fee. If you're in the union, it'd be a 10% commission fee, but it's well worth it to you. This is something I've always done because, number one, the agent is going to be able to negotiate better for you, you know, better than you could on your own. I mean, let's just say it's a commercial modeling job and the photographer says, yeah, we're going to be using this on billboards throughout the country. We know what your hourly fee is or your day rate, but what is your billboard usage? Well, you're probably not going to have a clue. Your agent will, or will be able to find out that information. And the other thing too is it's letting your agent know that you are marketable, that you're booking jobs. So the next time a project comes up, your agent's going to be thinking of you because, you know, he or she knows that you are making money for the agency. So anyhow, those are the 5 things that I highly recommend that you do whenever work is slow. And I can tell you, I go through slow periods all the time. You know, it's just the, the nature of the industry. And you know, do I like it? No, it's not great. Do I feel some pressure? Of course. But this is how I've resolved those issues, and I'm telling you, it's not a coincidence that when I do the marketing, things seem to happen. Hey, if you have any suggestions on things that you do when things are slow, please share them in the comment section. That would be great. Great. So that way we can learn from you as well. And just as a quick reminder, if you haven't done this yet, please click the subscribe button, the notification bell, and share, share this link with fellow actors so we can continue to build a great community of people helping each other. I did mention, uh, there was a bonus video and it's a great video. Do you have a full-time job and it's keeping you from, from acting? Well, here are 8 great suggestions to solve that issue. Just use the little i or exclamation point— can't remember what it is— in the upper left-hand corner. Click on it and enjoy it. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.