How to Be a TV Series Regular or Major Supporting Film Actor
As screen actors, I think it’s fairly safe to say that many of us want to land those major, meaty roles on film and TV. Some of us have had some success with under-5 and dayplayer roles, but ultimately what we really hope for is that “big break” that will thrust us into that league of being a “name” in the business. And wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were so recognizable that we didn’t have to audition anymore?
The good news is that such a desirable fate is possible for anyone, not just actors who are young and beautiful. Furthermore, it’s not something that’s left largely to chance. Sometimes it’s difficult to feel like anyone has any control over their own acting career, but contrary to popular belief, there are many ways to concretely increase your chances of being the next big name, regardless of what your “type” may be.
Reverse Engineering
As a professional actor originally trained in engineering, I look at most things from a problem-solving perspective. To start, I need to define the problem so that I know what my goal is. Actors spend a lot of time running around auditioning, performing in films, working multiple jobs to support themselves, taking classes, etc. But few actors ever stop themselves periodically to think about why they are acting, and what they ultimately hope to accomplish. Without a destination, it’s difficult to know where to go.
Once I have an ultimate goal in mind, I’ll use a concept known as reverse engineering to figure out a plan of action to achieve that goal. While actors may have different ultimate goals, let’s say for example that your ultimate goal is to be a series regular on TV or a major supporting actor in film. Stepping backwards from this desired outcome, what typically needs to happen first to facilitate such an outcome? And what needs to happen even before that? And so on, until a basic point is reached where nothing needs to have happened previously. At the end of this exercise, we will have a clear step-by-step path from a basic starting point to the ultimate goal.
This process probably sounds like common sense, but it’s amazing how many actors lose focus and make career decisions that completely stray from their goal path. A simple test for evaluating potential choices is always to ask, “How will making this choice get me closer to the ultimate goal?” Sometimes there will be several choices that get an actor closer to the goal, but only one can be chosen. Then the follow-up question should be, “Which choice will benefit my career best in the long run?”
The take-away message is to think “long run” and to maintain a view of big picture. A career in acting is a lifelong endeavor that requires strategic planning, persistence, and patience. While it is possible to jump ahead several steps along the goal path, those instances are left largely up to chance. For example, there are stories of non-actors attending open calls (usually after being egged on by some close family member) and beating out 10,000 other auditionees to land a lead role in a major film. While such stories do happen, they are quite rare. And do you really want to leave your career to slim chance, or would you rather steadily increase your chances through hard work and perseverance? More often, successful actors need to struggle at each step along the path, sometimes for years, before moving on to the next step. Remember: there’s no substitute for hard work, and there are few short-cuts.
Returning to our example of ultimately being a series regular or major supporting player, let us step backwards to understand more concretely how the goal path can be defined.
Get Guest Star, Recurring, and Minor Supporting Roles
Before one can be a series regular on TV or a major supporting actor in film, it usually helps to have guest star or recurring roles on TV series and/or minor supporting roles in film. A quick look at the IMDB profiles of current series regulars and major supporting actors will usually reveal this to be the case.
Get Representation
To get those guest star, recurring, and minor supporting roles, it greatly helps to have representation. It is possible to land such roles without representation, but one must be fairly lucky to get an audition for that kind of role, and that usually happens without representation only if the role requires an actor who meets specific requirements, e.g. “Seeking 18 year old Haitian who looks 13 and can do sign language.” So although not absolutely necessary, it greatly increases an actor’s chances by having representation, especially if the actor doesn’t fit into an obvious niche.
Furthermore, the representation should be exclusive, not freelance. Freelancing with managers and/or agents is just like casual dating—there’s no real commitment, and there’s competition for attention. Actors who freelance may find that they are merely one actor in a huge freelance roster, rarely interacting with the manager or agent and rarely being sent out on auditions, if at all. Managers and agents usually maintain a smaller exclusive roster of actors who are submitted for projects on a regular basis because they represent the best potential return on investment. Exclusivity is a highly desirable arrangement because actors and their managers and/or agents are committed to work together as business partners to advance the actor’s career. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with freelancing if both parties are deciding if they wish to enter an exclusive relationship, but freelancing should be viewed as a means rather than an ends.
Get Training and Recognizable Credits
Then how does an actor get representation? Well, unless the actor is young and beautiful, any respectable agent or manager will be looking for training and/or recognizable credits on the résumé. As an aside, I met a manager once and asked, “If you were to represent me, how would you differentiate me from all of your other clients?” The manager responded, “Well, you can act.” Needless to say, that response didn’t inspire confidence in that manager’s ability to work with me in a business partnership to elevate the level of my acting career.
Training helps actors in two distinct ways. First, the training appears on the résumé. Whether or not you’ve actually learned something from the training, the fact that you have been trained will be noticed. After all, I wouldn’t apply for a job as an engineer without at minimum having seriously studied engineering, so why should acting be any different? And the more recognizable the teacher and acting studio, the better. Second, the actor improves. To maximize improvement, I prefer an ongoing class in which the actor performs regularly and the instructor can guide the actor long-term. Developing acting technique is such a highly individual process that an instructor needs to understand a student’s specific strengths and weaknesses and follow the student through what is often times a frustrating journey. Acting is a lifelong artistic endeavor that requires serious commitment, so a series of random workshops with various teachers will probably not result in fundamentally better acting. Ongoing classes may not be available in every city, but private lessons with acting coaches can be a great alternative.
In addition to training, managers and agents will be looking for recognizable credits, by which I mean speaking roles of any size on TV series, TV networks or films that people may have heard of or that have “names” attached. If an actor is fortunate enough to have respectable representation at this stage of the career, then the actor should be going out on auditions for these sorts of roles regularly, and it is only a matter of perseverance before landing such roles. Most actors at this stage, though, do not have representation and need to be more proactive in developing opportunities to audition for such roles. For example, casting director meet-and-greets, mailings, and showcases are all great ideas. It’s also very important to keep abreast of what’s going on in the industry through trade publications, especially information about upcoming productions, where they’re shooting, who’s casting, and who they might be casting for. There are many books that talk about how actors can promote themselves, and two of my favorites are How to Sell Yourself as an Actor by K. Callan and Acting as a Business: Strategies for Success by Brian O’Neil. These books encourage actors to view themselves objectively as products and to market themselves as products in specific ways to casting directors, agents, managers, producers, and directors. Another strategy for actors who don’t live in Los Angeles or New York is to get those recognizable credits in smaller cities, like Chicago, Boston, Miami, Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, especially if they already live in or near one of those cities. While there are fewer recognizable credits to audition for in these cities, there is often times less competition.
Get Financial Support and a Flexible Lifestyle, While Building the Acting Résumé
Before an actor gets training and recognizable credits, there should be an existing foundation in place consisting of three important elements. The first is financial support, since an actor needs to pay for living and business expenses, including that important training. Financial support may come in the form of a job, independent wealth, personal savings, or a supportive relative.
The second is a flexible lifestyle, since auditioning for recognizable credits requires the ability to be available during business hours on weekdays, and sometimes at very short notice. Of course, if financial support does not come from a job, then flexibility may not be an issue. But for most actors at this stage of their career, a job is reality, and some process or arrangement at the workplace is extremely vital. In fact, either lack of financial support or lack of a flexible lifestyle is pretty much a show-stopper for any budding acting career. So, one could in fact view maintaining excellent job performance as an integral part of the master plan for a successful acting career.
Third, before landing recognizable credits in TV and film, usually an actor should land roles in independent films, student films, showcases, and/or community theatre. Also, an actor might work as an extra. If an actor is starting off with an empty résumé, then it’s perfectly reasonable to do any work the actor can obtain. But after a certain point, it’s useful to be selective about projects. Jock MacDonald, an acting instructor at Carter Thor Studios, says that an actor needs to learn to say “no” because doing so increases the actor’s worth. For one thing, filmmakers and casting directors who are turned down may want to work with the actor even more, and second, the actor’s self-worth increases because the actor can choose to do only quality projects in which the actor is interested. A useful way to evaluate whether or not to do a particular project is to consider the likely benefits of doing the project. The benefits can be quite varied, and include great demo reel material, getting to know well-networked filmmakers, good pay, a role that shows you can play against type, festival exposure, an additional credit on your résumé, and having career news to report to casting directors. Doing extra work can be valuable too because it provides an opportunity to observe how sets are run and to understand the proper etiquette and protocol on a set. But after a few experiences as an extra, an actor has probably learned as much as can be learned, and should begin to consider saying “no.” It’s true that there’s always an outside chance of being upgraded from an extra to a principal, but time is a finite resource and there are other, more potentially useful ways to progress an acting career. Remember, it’s all about making wise choices that will benefit your career in the long run.
In For the Long Haul
Hopefully, the above example illustrates how reverse engineering can be used to create a realistic, focused long-term strategy to achieving whatever your ultimate goal may be.
There will always the possibility of getting that lucky break that comes out of nowhere, and by all means, if it should happen, take advantage of that opportunity! But in the absence of such opportunities (and even in the presence of such opportunities, which may be taken away at any moment), a contingency plan based on hard work, strategic planning, perseverance, and patience will continue to move your acting career along, putting more of the ball into your own court. And eventually, you may find your acting career where you’ve always wanted it to be.
To learn more about Albert M. Chan, please visit his official site, www.AlbertMChan.com, or visit the Authors page on this site.
