I remember back when I bought my first home. My wife and I had been sitting in our small one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan watching The Office on Netflix, when her phone buzzed. "Martin, the realtor says she found a house we might want to see, but they're trying to make a decision immediately. If we don't go to NJ by tomorrow morning at 9am we won't have a shot. They already have two offers." I looked at some pictures of the house, and it was decided. We were going to wake up early the next morning to go see it. Well, fast forward about a month, and the keys were mine! Although it sounds like a nice story, I had ZERO idea what I was getting myself into. Over the course of the next four weeks, I was put through it. I had to make tons of calls, submit all kinds of paperwork, and take care of so many things it made my head spin! Just like buying a house, every day hundreds of people decide to jump into the acting industry without a life jacket on – and trying to make it as an actor can be one of the most complicated and overwhelming things you'll ever do. But unlike buying a house, your journey as an actor won't be over after just a few months. I know SO many actors who wished someone had handed them a roadmap when they first started to show them exactly what steps to take and in what order. There are so many things you could be doing, per all the "experts" in the industry:
It's just too much. There are WAY too many options and no clear outline to follow. And if you let on that you're confused, you're just told to just take a Business of Acting class. But once you're in it, you realize there's even MORE things you can or should be doing, and you might even feel MORE overwhelmed! |