
Aaron Marcus, an acting and commercial modeling coach, shares stories about auditions and rejection in the entertainment industry. He argues the key is staying resilient: be disappointed when things don't work out, but don't let it discourage you from networking and pursuing opportunities.
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Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, America's premier acting and commercial modeling career coach, the founder of HowToModel.com. I'm the author of How to Become a Successful Commercial Model, now in its 5th edition, and I've been making my living as an actor and a commercial model for over 26 years. I want to share something with you today that I really believe will be extremely helpful to you, and the title of this video blog is be disappointed, but don't be discouraged. It's kind of funny how the acting and modeling industry can go. In some ways, it's almost like the stock market. Things can go really well. Things can just kind of drop out. But like the stock market, typically things rebound after a period of time, as long as you do things in a really smart and intelligent way. I just wanted to share a couple of quick experiences with you and just kind of let you know how I dealt with them and what happened from them. So one of the things, this is about 2 weeks ago, and it's so weird. I really don't understand this, and I'm not exaggerating. There were literally 5, both auditions and 2 of them were jobs, that all were taking place on the same day. And the craziest part was I had already set aside that day. I had some family things to do, and I had promised I was going to be doing some things with family members, and I had to turn everything down. And it was so crazy. Every time an agent would call, it was for that same day. And, you know, when you're— when you are a freelancer, it's tough to turn things down. And having 5 things happen on the same day, it was, it was just like crazy stuff. And, you know, The other thing too is I've had a couple of go-sees recently in New York, and typically it can take anywhere from 3.5 to 4.5 hours each way to attend. And I still, I mean, I always go whenever I'm available, even though it's a very quick day. Once I'm there, you have to do it if you want to work in New York and you want the agents to continue to call, so you have to go. So the second to the last one, I go there, I'm asking what they're The agent didn't say this to me. The agent probably didn't know. Here's what they wanted. They say it was a doctor. I figured, okay, great. Well, I look like a real doctor. They wanted to shoot the back of a doctor's head as he's putting on his mask. That was it. They were looking at the back of my head. And, you know, and I'm thinking, well, what kind of personality are you looking at here? What kind of emotions would you like to see the back of my head? My skull show here. So anyhow, I guess the back of my head did not fit what they were looking for, so I didn't book that one. On my way home, I was just thinking, oh man, sometimes this is a crazy business. So the other one, it was just a couple days ago, and I was up in New York, and they switched the dates of the shoot. The date that the agent gave me, which is what it originally was, I was still available for, and then they said, well, We might shoot on that day, but here are 2 other dates. And I wasn't available for either one of those dates. I already have workshops set up, and, you know, I promised those people that I was going to do it. So anyhow, so the chances are I probably won't get that one either. And it was another, you know, it's a big expense of traveling up there. It's an entire day. It's a tiring day, you know, just, just traveling for, you know, up to 9 hours. But here's the interesting thing, and that's why I was saying, you know, be disappointed but don't be discouraged, because a couple things to keep in mind. One is, you know, I got a chance not so much for the back of my head, but for the other one, it gave me an opportunity to meet a new photographer, which is always helpful even if I don't book the job. And the other thing too is I had an opportunity to run into an actor who who I hadn't seen for quite some time. It is a guy who moved to New York a few years ago, a very talented guy. We were talking for a few minutes, and he was telling me about an agent in Florida that has been very helpful to him. Actually, I just listed the agency on my website. So if you are looking for an agency in Florida, feel free to go to howtomodel.com and click on List of Agents. He said the agent has been great for him. So I got a chance to learn about a new agent, Might not book the job, but I got a chance to reintroduce myself to somebody I hadn't seen for a while, made a new connection. I will share the information about the agency on my website. So it turned out to be a really good day. Might not have gotten me a job, but it was a good day of work. So anyhow, when things are going tough for you, you know, I would never say don't feel bad, don't feel disappointed. I mean, we're humans. That happens. But you know, don't give up. Don't be discouraged. It's like the stock market. As long as you keep doing things prudently, you do things in an intelligent way. You know, seems like things always seem to work themselves out. So anyhow, just wanted to share that with you. Offer you a little encouragement. And like always, if you have any questions, feel free to email me at Aaron A A R O N at howtomodel.com. You can follow me on Twitter, twitter.com forward slash Aaron. And please join my Facebook page. It's facebook.com/howtomodel. I've got great information there, and anyhow, look forward to talking with you soon. Bye!










