Here we are only days away. Days away from what you ask? Well, from the avalanche, the tidal wave, the thunderous running with the bulls of Hollywood known as…Fall TV Season. However, isn’t it ironic that the title given has nothing to do with the actual season we’re in, and that is the absolute big issue at hand. Because for some unknown reason going backto a time long before I arrived in Hollywood we’ve called it Fall because of when the shows typically would have their “Season Premiere” instead of when they were actually being cast and shot. Well of course we called it that, because Hollywood doesn’t name things for actors trying to get a job, they name things for the paying customer who wants to watch them. But still, the real issue with this, is that it has lead our professionally minded community to somehow, in someway think that things are just “dead until the Fall.” Well I highly recommend that you adjust that thinking because when Monday, July 9th comes, all mayhem is going to break loose. And even with May/June being a bit slower than normal there are still tons of projects happening.
Sure Macro-Hollywood may call an average of 20 pages of Breakdowns a day “slow” but that is still a 100 pages per week…in slow time. That average is going to DOUBLE in just 10 days. Are you prepared? Do you have all of your tools done, finished, put together, and ready to strike? And for that matter are YOU ready, meaning your craft, your skills and quite honestly…and to me most importantly…your confidence? Because at the end of the day we’re all human, and therefore we all have wonderful mechanisms to produce craft but it is only those who have built the key line of confidence between their minds, soul and their intellect as it pertains to “driving your craft.”
But here is “the rub” as they say, where is our community? Now look, I absolutely am an advocate for “taking a break” or “going on vacation” and as a matter of fact I’m even more of an advocate of absolutely GETTING OUT of LA. And of course I realize that maybe 2-5% of our non-celebrity community is ready, but that is a really small percentage. But that isn’t what I’m speaking of, I’m speaking of the tragedy of “checking out” without being out. I myself will be gone for a week in early August, but I will be GONE. So what I’m trying to make sure you’re going to do over the course of the next 10 days…is really make sure you’re ready. Get your mind right, make sure you have created marketing options that are ready to be executed, that you’ve identified some risks professionally it is time to do as well as being really organized.
Additionally and finally make sure that you’re doing SOMETHING distinctly different than what you did last year, or what you see everyone else doing. Be different, think different, make slightly different decisions, and really assess your career no matter where it is. The bottom line is more “legit people” have to know that your product, your talent is here, here in LA…and available to be auditioned or hired. And unless your agent is making actor activity happen for you to the level of 4-6 auditions per week, then yes, it is going to be left to you. The difficulty of this economy, and the reality of today’s Hollywood takes more than just electronic clicking.
By the time we get to Labor Day, or when shows start to premiere, or when “kids go back to school” over 90% of the shows that have come back into production between July 9th and July 30th will be somewhere between episode 4 and 8 of their season and so many actors who need opportunities and jobs…will be settling into Fall TV Season. This is why using May/June as your re-tooling time, vacation time, or at least being completely ready time if you’re going to go out of town after July 1st…is so important. So do what you can over the next 10 days, and really realize that there are tons of opportunities out there, it is just a matter of how important it is to you…to be a part of it.
Always on your side, Kevin E.
Follow me on Twitter: @thekevine