That doesn't mean be cynical. You don't have to join the sharks already in the water. Just develop a healthy practical streak; for example, don't always expect to be performing Shakespeare. To paraphrase the old saying, you're going to have to kiss a lot of frog roles before the prince part comes along.
CAN YOU STAND HAVING YOUR LIFE CONSTANTLY UPROOTED?
One day you'll be broke; the next, possibly, a millionaire. You're sitting jobless in your apartment, brooding and ignoring your spouse; a week later you're on location in Oswego aching with loneliness. Your agent never calls, so you decide to quit; inevitably, the phone rings with an offer for a week's work in New York. On the set, you're given a two-page monologue to learn in five minutes, and you do, and everybody tells you Olivier is in deep trouble; the film comes out and the monologue has been cut to one line...
Actor, drop one phrase from your vocabulary: "slow and steady."
ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT "BIG BUCKS"? HOW ABOUT GLAMOR?
Just wait until you experience the "glamor" of looking for an agent. Just wait until you experience the thrill of standing in a cold, driving rain for 12 hours waiting to say your one line (alone, because the "stars" won't talk to you). Just wait until all those big bucks pour in from parking cars to pay the rent. If you're thinking about cocktails and limos you're forgetting: nobody is born a star. Every person in this industry has had to endure being treated like a piece of meat, and a glamor fantasy won't be enough to sustain you through the rough years.
As to "big bucks": a few years ago, a major star appeared on a talk show and frankly stated she couldn't afford not to work. Groans of disbelief could be heard in the audience. But she was probably telling the truth.
Yes, get lucky and you can make a lot of money as an actor and appear on Lifestyles of the Gross and Greedy. Maybe that's the reason so many believe that the instant a person appears on TV or in a movie, he is "wallowing in the dough."
Well, a working actor makes in the neighborhood of $500 to $1,000 a day. Sound like a lot of money? You may work one day in an entire year.
And, if you do become a "star," you'll probably then have to pay:
- Ten percent to your agent;
- About 15 percent (and possibly up to 50 percent) to your personal manager;
- Five percent to your publicist;
- Five percent to your business manager;
- And, if you're lucky, after deductions, say about 20 percent to the good ole IRS.
Does the star's statement sound plausible now?
Director Andrew McCullough boiled it all down when he said, "There is nothing more frustrating than to be 'in the middle.' To say, 'I want to be an actor, but I also want such and such.' I think there has to be an absolute moral and ethical commitment. God has given you certain talents. Now how you use those talents is the most important question of your life. Be careful not to buy that fantasy of stardom, money, and all the material things that commercials pump into your heads all the time: To be really first rate I've got to have a BMW, a house in Brentwood, or be beautiful and have great clothes.' ... To be an actor means you take a spiritual vow when you say: 'This is the only kind of life I can live.' "
Theatrical agent Mary Spencer sums it up: "Don't go around saying 'I never have any luck,' because luck is when preparation and opportunity meet."
And, finally, as to your talent...
WHEN YOU DO COMMUNITY THEATRE, DO YOU FEEL YOU'RE NOT ONLY BETTER THAN YOUR FELLOW ACTORS, BUT YOU KNOW MORE?
You'll be competing with people who have film and Broadway credits. Learn your craft - and the best way is to do play after play. You can go to L.A. to study acting, but, even so, the more training you get before you arrive the better. Theatrical agent Joel Rudnick cautions, "In a lot of ways, if you're 19 or 20, it makes more sense not to go to Hollywood - to go and do regional theatre and do roles that you'd never get to play in L.A.: O'Neill, Miller... and develop your craft."
WHEN YOU TRY OUT FOR LOCAL THEATRE, ARE YOU ALMOST ALWAYS CAST? WHEN YOU'RE REVIEWED, DO THE CRITICS ALMOST ALWAYS RAVE?
It's one thing for you to think you're good…
That's basically it. If you can answer these questions to your satisfaction, and you want to go ahead, we'd say, what the heck, give it a shot. That's better than sitting over a cup of tea at age 65 wishing you had.
Maximillian Schell, speaking at a seminar, was asked if he had any regrets. His answer: "I've never regretted anything I've done. It's always the things that I haven't done that I regret the most." Sound like we're encouraging you to be an actor? We hope not. Drama critic John C. Mahoney said it eloquently when we asked, "What advice would you give to actors?": "Get out of the business. It's the only honest loving thing you can say to an actor because ten percent of your profession will ever work or make a living. If you're interested in the stage, one to three percent of the population gives the slightest damn what it is you do. It's an alien activity...
"The effort you put in is largely wasted, except in whatever it gives you. Half the effort would pay off in used car sales, marketing, public relations ... If you start thinking, 'Wow, is it worth it? you've already answered your own question. Of course it's not worth it! If you stick with it, it's because you feel you have something to give.
"It is proper that everyone think you are crazy. There's no reason why you should demand that anyone ever understand your commitment or your dedication. And your mother and everyone else is right - you wouldn't have to work that hard, and you could be rich, if you were in any other business...
"I'm very fond of actors, but they are real stupid to do what they do. There is no good reason to do it unless you approach it like a monk... You may always be happy doing it, but you should only have a good job besides... The cruelest thing in the world is to encourage an actor. If you can, in any way, discourage an actor, you should."
We'll add that we know you could take everything in this article, throw it out - in fact, do everything all wrong - and still wind up signing autographs on Oscar night. In this industry there's no such thing as no such thing. "The one thing I've found, the longer I'm in the business," says actor John Edwards, "is that there's no general way it happens. Everybody comes through different doors. Which means you have to keep at it in this business, because eventually something weird will happen your way."
This book will give you the business knowledge you need, and a few tricks of the trade to help that "something weird" come your way perhaps a bit faster. But we can't make you into a person who turns this knowledge to his advantage. That's your job. In other words, we'll supply the knowledge; you supply the talent, guts and imagination.
