09 Feb Giving Up as an Actor (Or Not, It’s Up to You)
It’s pilot season. LA is busy. Lots of actors are booking. And lots of actors are not. Therefore, the urge is to compare oneself to other actors. Is now the time to throw in the towel? Did I do a bad job during my auditions?
One of the most stressful things about being an actor in Los Angeles is trying to thrive in an expensive industry while supporting one’s self, not only as an actor, but as a human being.
Therefore, many actors come to the point in their career where they ask whether or not they should give up the career path that is the entertainment industry, and there are two options:
Option 1: Give up and 10 years later regret the decision if acting is truly the passion of the individual. The number reason actors don’t make it is because they give up—they just stop trying.
Even so, with access to performance opportunities literally at fingertips, the industry is changing and access to performance opportunities is easier than ever.
SAG New Media, Youtube, iPhone films, found footage horror—there are so many low-budget options that can be done from anywhere in the world, at any time, and with anyone.
There’s no need to sit around and wait for that big break—go out and do it. Write, shoot, edit, create!
Option 2: Sleep at night. Go for it. Yeah, it might be harder the older one gets, but look at the Academy Award winners, the diversity on television now. Steady work can come at any time.
Thus, an individual needs to just keep chugging along. And even though this option is for the actor who just won’t give up, don’t forget that creating one’s own content is easier than ever (as explained in Option 1).
There’s no need to let a lack of access to casting notices, audition rooms, or studio projects keep an actor from, for lack of a better word, acting.
Opportunities to be seen are increasing, and ways of the industry are changing, enhancing ways in which an actor can act, a director can direct, and an individual can break through in the industry.
And of course, the actors who succeed are often the ones who do not just sit around and wait for the right opportunity to come along. They just get out and do it.
So which actor do you want to be: option 1 or option 2? More on Brad’s thoughts here: BRAD HELLER – ARE YOU AN ACTOR WHO FEELS LIKE GIVING UP?