You must be the one to beat the bushes on your own behalf. You will make mistakes. You will be told you are too young, too old, too pretty, too thin, not pretty enough, too handsome, too American, or "not what the director has in mind." You will be frustrated to the point of quitting the business, and perhaps you ought to quit. You will be stunned to discover (if ever you do) that the world is not waiting for you to become a star. Nobody but you cares.
The late Paddy Chayefsky, playwright, television dramatist, screen-writer, and producer, had this advice for actors on coping with rejection:
I would recommend that actors walk away when not called back. They shouldn't think it's something bad they did. They simply weren't physically right for the part. As a writer, I'm often called to write something I feel I cannot do. I have to say, "There are many people who can write Westerns better than I..."
Actors, too, have to understand that they can't do everything, especially under the microscope vision of a camera. They've got to realize that physical things come very much into bearing--such things as family relationships required by the script and basic qualities in the actor or actress that are compatible with the character.
So the first thing actors have to know is that rejection is not rejection, and I think that that's the biggest thing. Nothing brutalizes me more than watching the barbarity of readings and auditions. I hate to see the facade they have to work through. I don't like to be present at auditions.
But for movies, I do it because I have a very specific image of what's up there, and you can't run away from that image in a movie as you sometimes can in a play. Onstage, a talented actor or actress often can play something else. I've seen women in real life who would be called "plain" make you buy the fact they're raving beauties after five minutes on a stage. You will not do that in a movie. But this is not rejection.
Here is what some other members of the profession have to say about rejection. Anne Archer:
All actors experience rejection throughout their careers. Even as you become a major star, especially for women, you continue to have to fight for roles, and continue to be rejected. There are not enough good roles to go around, so there are always those who lose out. It is a part of being a performer. You must simply put it behind you and go on. Whether it is a meeting or an audition you are facing, it is important to view that meeting or audition as an end in itself. If it goes well consider the job done. Having a number of these successes puts one in the frame of mind to eventually get the job. Work in a class, do a play, take voice lessons, write, etc., whatever keeps the creative flow going. Eventually, the work comes.
Ed Bradley: When you are rejected, what you have to do is move on to the next thing. You can't let it slow you down or throw you off track. You have to say, "Okay, I was rejected. What's next on my list?"
Kathie Lee Gifford: When I get discouraged, I try to remember that everybody in this business has experienced rejection. It comes part and parcel with this industry. When you feel like you're not alone, sometimes that helps you cope with things. It happens to all of us and I think that the danger in achieving any measure of success is that we get complacent and stop taking chances. That's a danger for any artist: to start playing it safe out of fear of rejection, out of fear of losing our hard-earned success. I grew up with the belief that even if I failed, I had succeeded because I tried.
And I still truly believe that. Still, as long as you remain human, rejection is going to hurt. But it's still a part of the reason we came into this business, all of us: because we love it, because it's exciting and because it's dangerous.
Jay Leno: I've always tried not to take criticism or rejection personally. I don't see my act as me. I don't really identify with it, so I don't feel, "if you don't like my act, you don't like me."
Steve Guttenberg: An actor and a salesman are the two professions that you get the most rejection in. But an actor is rejected for who he is. It's very difficult in that sense. Once you learn how to play the game, it gets easier. Once you get hit on the head a hundred times with a hammer, it doesn't hurt any-more. You learn that's your job and you are always putting yourself out there and asking "What do you think?"
Joe Bologna: You have to learn to accept rejection. In order to be a good actor, you need to be sensitive, but at the same time, you can't take rejection personally.
Even if and when you become established in the profession, when each engagement ends, the perpetual task of job-hunting begins again. Indeed, the working actor, realizing that her or his current employment is of limited duration, often performs one task while hunting for the next. The process never ends.
Job Hunting : For the novice who has never had a job before, the job of getting a job is harder. What do you do first? How do you find out where the jobs are? You read, you ask, you listen. You read the trade papers of the acting business, many of which contain some casting information. Among these are weekly Variety, Back Stage, and the Ross Reports, published in New York. Daily Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, Back Stage West/ Drama-Logue are the leading trade papers published in Los Angeles. The theatrical columns of the daily newspapers sometimes carry casting information and often announce production plans in advance of actual casting. For example, if a paper carries an item saying that such-and-such a producer plans to do a play that will be adapted from a book, it is wise to read the book. If there's a character that you think you're right for, you'll know what you're talking about when you visit the office to ask for an interview.
