I was once told . . . and frequently repeat the
adage, “It’s not the talent’s job to sit in from the TV watching soap operas,
eating bon-bons, and waiting for the phone to ring.” You may read this
quip many more times, but somehow it always rings true. Staying in and
waiting is the most ineffective way to run your career, not to mention a lazy
and unproductive business model.
In this world of entertainment, the paparazzi and
celebrity sightings are literally what make the world go ‘round. Without
the constant news about their projects, personal lives, and scandals, we forget
them and move on to the next hot topic, right? It’s human nature.
Apply that psychological principle to your career and you have the core
ingredients to a recipe for success. Staying in the line of sight is not
something to be thrown by the wayside!
But that’s my agent’s job, isn’t it? Sure,
your agent will market you and that will put your headshot in
front of decision makers, but your agent can’t build personal relationships for
you with the myriad opportunities that exist in your demographic. That’s
why the talent makes the majority of the money in the relationship! Your
physical presence constantly around the right individuals (and then your
professionalism too) is key to building and maintaining those warm fuzzies that
make their final choice to be hiring you over someone else!
Opportunities to be seen are endless, and talent
should readily commit to any and all of them! Try social medias like
Facebook, MySpace (more for musicians, from what I understand), Twitter,
LinkedIn, etc. You can also use parties, which most talent enjoy.
Check out your local city’s organizations or chapters for entertainment
professionals. Get involved, invest your time and skill-set into
something bigger than yourself, and the profit will naturally come full circle
through connections, relationships, and a solid network of individuals ready to
repay favors and who just might call your agent and start asking for you BY
NAME. And to an agent, that translates into more work, which means higher
dollar time value and higher profit for both themselves and you as the
talent. Oh, I guess the easier way to say that would be “welcome to
success”!
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