First of all, welcome to Los Angeles! It’s a wonderful town. The ocean, sunshine, palm trees, and yes the smog.
First tip: Try not to listen to the haters, and don’t be too quick to judge this new town you’re in. When I first moved here, I somehow managed to spot a bad facelift or obvious boob job on every corner. At the time, I thought that everyone got plastic surgery in L.A. It was a part of what I believed about L.A. when I first moved here so of course that’s what I saw! Now that I’ve been in L.A. for a while, the novelty of seeing fake lips has worn off for me, plus it’s really not any of my business what a stranger decides to do with her lips, so I just don’t see it as much anymore.
I hear a lot of people say all Los Angelinos are shallow or superficial. Really, ALL? Sure, every town seems to have it’s own quintessential A-hole stereotype: The loud, angry, abrasive New Yorker; the pretty, dumb, shallow Los Angelino, etc… Yes, you will meet these people, but do yourself a favor and let it go. Thinking about it will only attract it into your life, or at the very least it will be the only thing you find yourself noticing. Trust me, there are so many more interesting things to see in this town. My advice: Let the jerks and idiots be, and give yourself permission not to care about what others do. I have personally met some of the coolest, smartest, most caring people in my life out here in Los Angeles. This city can be a really great place to live if you allow it to be.
When you get here, your number one priority should be finding a place you can call home, getting a car or getting comfortable taking public transportation, and finding a job that takes care of your financial needs but doesn’t leave you a shell of yourself. Believe it or not, these things can take some time to figure out, and there will likely be some trial and error along the way. I spent years doing jobs that made me miserable, and yes that affected me as an actor. Your impulse as a newbie might be to glaze over these things, and just start acting. O.k., cool, I get it, you’re hungry as hell, but you’re in it for the long haul, right? Take it easy, and be patient with yourself. Get yourself unpacked and settled in. Find your yoga studio/church/temple, your favorite grocery store, restaurant, gym, etc. Get grounded as you start to pursue acting out here.
I should note that I received a B.F.A. in acting, and felt pretty confidant with my craft as an actor when I moved out here. If you don’t come from a solid background in acting, then before you start trying to get work as an actor, you need to invest in a serious training program so you can develop your craft as an actor. But, if you’ve done all that then…
Get a commercial agent! Believe it or not, this is one of the easiest things for you to achieve as an actor in LA. You can be union or non-union, but you HAVE to have a good commercial headshot. First, go to the website www.info4actors.com and order the top 50 commercial agents (it gets updated each month). Then send your headshot, resume, and cover letter to those top 50 agents. Your cover letter should be short and sweet. What most commercial agents want to know in it is that you have had some improv experience. (If you don’t have improv experience, take a class over at The Groundlings, Upright Citizens Brigade, or Second City so that you can say you have the experience!) You don’t even have to obsess over which agent’s name to put at the top of each cover letter. Simply putting Attention Commercial Department will actually suffice. The same goes for addressing the envelope. After you’ve sent out those headshots, wait a week and follow it up with a postcard. Commercial agents are always looking for new talent, so they will look at what you sent, and hopefully you will get a response from at least 1-2 agencies. From there, meet every agency that responded, let them know that you are taking other meetings (in case they try signing you on the spot), and decide from there. When you are in this meeting, be positive and confident, refrain from telling them your whole life story, and have fun. Once you land that agent or while you are in pursuit of finding that agent, you might consider taking a commercial class. I had a lot of luck with Mike Pointer’s “Hey, I Saw Your Commercial” class. He’s the one that demystified this process of how to find a commercial agent for me.
Another thing to do is get your reel together. Get on actors access, pay the yearly fee for unlimited self-submitting, and start submitting to anything that sounds good to you. Do student films, short films, your friend’s films, your own films. Get out there and start getting super comfortable auditioning and acting in front of a camera. Either learn how to edit your own stuff, or pay someone else to do it. While you are in pursuit of material to add to your reel, you might want to invest in an on-camera acting class. I had a ton of luck taking class with Scott Sedita, and I’d highly recommend a class with him. Until moving to Los Angeles, I’d really only ever done theatre. It’s all acting, but sometimes it can take some adjusting getting used to working in front of a camera and class and student films are great places to work that out.
Another great resource is Bonnie Gillespie’s weekly blog, The Actor’s Voice, featured on Actor’s Access. She puts out a new one each week, and she is a wealth of knowledge regarding the business of acting. Every blog she’s ever written is archived there as well. So, take a few hours and read what she has to say. I promise you it will be very informative. She teaches classes too. If you like her blogs, look into taking a class with her.
New actors always seem to obsess over whether they should be union or not. When you don’t have a lot of credits, it’s better to be non-union. Eventually you’ll want to be SAG-AFTRA eligible, and when the time is right then you should become union. Commercials can be a great way to become eligible. Another method is creating your own SAG-AFTRA web-series. This is how I became SAG-eligible. My friend created a web-series, did all the paperwork with the union to make it union, and as a result I became SAG-eligible.
As far as casting director workshops are concerned, I’d say go for it. Just know that unless you are at least SAG-eligible, they probably won’t be considering you for any roles. If you are eligible or union, and hoping this workshop will lead to future work, be selective about the workshops you take. My advice would be to take workshops when the casting director is actually casting something, not during their off season. And, make sure that what they cast is something you are likely to be cast in.
Don’t forget to have a life. Make new friends and actually hang out with them. Volunteer for something that you care about. Try something new. Sometimes, I find for me that it’s in the moments that I’m not actively trying to pursue my career that I end up meeting some great people in the industry. Also, if you ever lose touch with why you love acting in the first place, make sure you reconnect with that love as soon as possible. If that means taking an in depth scene study class, doing a play, or working on a monologue independently- DO IT! This career is too challenging for you not to love what you do.
You are going to meet a lot of people with different advice along the way. I’ve heard a lot myself. For me, this blog entry is about what has worked for me, and what might work for you too. Everyone is going to have a different opinion, so just make sure that whatever you hear resonates with you and then act accordingly. There is no one way towards having a successful career in this town. What I do know is that it takes hard work, passion, and dedication to achieve anything worthwhile. Best of luck to you! If you have any questions, leave me a comment, and I’ll gladly respond as best I can.