Accountability

When I coach actors, I help them create a list of goals. We decide on deadlines. We talk about budgets.

• Do you have the time to do it?
• Do you have the money to do it?
• Do you WANT to do it?

If the answer is yes - the goal is written down.
The client has the option of signing the list, and if they do - I promise to keep them accountable.

(Mostly I bug them by phone and email to make sure they do what they promised.)

Having coached for a few years now, it's become entirely clear that integrity is the problem for 90% of actors. By integrity, I mean wholeness. I mean doing what you say you're going to do.
People blame missed deadlines on money trouble, or work problems, or getting sick - but if you had real integrity - you'd get it done. You'd plan for problems. You'd finish things early.

I realize I sound a little bit soapboxy, but I bring this up today, because I noticed myself slipping on my goals. I have a few things I want to accomplish by the end of 2011, and I am way behind.

So - I'm blogging so that YOU ALL will keep me accountable.


Tips for getting things done through accountability:

• •Thoroughly think out your goals before you commit
• •Make a real budget. Find the money. Set it aside.
• •Put office hours into your week, when you plan to accomplish your goals.
• •WRITE YOUR GOALS DOWN.
• •Give your goals to your manager, your agent, or your friend.
• •Use google alerts to keep you on track. Memotome.com works too.
• •Celebrate your success.

Fear itself.

I was chatting with an actress I know the other day, and I was giving her a few hints on making her career a little more workable. She's beautiful, smart, and really commercial. She was eager to work on her marketing... but how? She said her problem was that she didn't know how the industry worked.

Offhandedly, another actor walking by said, "Oh, my problem is fear."

Wow - that kind of honesty and self-awareness is rare.

FEAR is the number one reason actors don't succeed in showbiz.

Things that actors fear:
•Screwing up their auditions
•Being too timid
•Being too much
•Forgetting their lyrics
•Not being skinny enough

All of these make perfect sense - we are putting ourselves out there for approval on a daily basis!

But maybe there are other fears we're not quite in touch with:
•Fear of success changing our lives too much
•Fear of learning that we may not be talented
•Fear of getting to the moment when we decide to quit the business
•Fear that when success comes, we can't handle it
•Fear that we're not special. At all


Hey, as actors with deal with characters' emotions all the time. But let's not neglect our own emotions. Get in touch with what's really stopping you from working your hardest. If it's fear that stopping you from going to that open call, or doing that mailing, or signing up for a class with Bob Krakower. GET OVER IT.

If it's anything else... well, I may let it slide. But never out of fear!

"Our greatest fear is not that we are powerless. Our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." - Marianne Williamson

Guess what actors? You ARE powerful beyond measure.

NICE!

1 - If you only have one headshot, it should probably be one with a smile. You only get one first impression. Don't you want to look like a NICE person?

2 - If you can only do one monologue, choose a funny one. It's tough to look at a person who leads with a monologue about rape, or Hurricane Katrina, and say, "Yes, she seems pleasant and NICE - I'd like to spend time with her."

3 - Today's assistant is tomorrow's power player. Be NICE to everyone!

True Story

I met an agent once, and he wasn’t particularly impressed with me. He called me into his office, I sang a song and did a monologue. He never called me again. I still sent him a postcard every four to six weeks for maybe two years. One day I got a call from the man who had been the receptionist when I had had that meeting. I didn't remember him, but apparently I had been NICE to him, and he heard me sing through the walls. He’d also been the one who received the mail every day, and he was keeping up-to-date with my career. He called me because he had gotten a promotion and was now a junior agent. He wanted to work with me! Thank goodness I have been sending cards.

4 - It is hard enough to stay focused at auditions! You don't want to be in the waiting room trying to concentrate with 20 actors, all feeling like the enemy. Say hello to people you recognize, be NICE, lighten the mood. It's not an audit. It's an audition.

5 - Be prepared to chat once you're in the audition. I know this, as a casting director. You always hope for some sort of minor social interaction beyond the audition material. Directors want to work with fun, NICE people. Always be willing to chat if the opportunity arises. (And then don't overstay your welcome.)

6 - All other times... just be NICE. You'll live longer.

I got another question from MUSE FORGE Theatre in Boston...

How do you handle asking for more money once you've gotten a job?

Here's what I think:






Any questions? Comments? Leave them below!!!!