Photo Credit: Andrius Petrucenia via cc
About Sanna Haynes – I’m an actress and I teach acting. I write screenplays. I paint, draw, dance ballet, I sing, I am horrible at tap dance (trying to work on that one), I visualize films in my brain, I yoga it up most mornings, I like to organize.
Actors Need to Keep Fighting
No, I’m not a big fan of violence.
However, regardless of whether you agree with fighting or not, I think we can all agree that a more “metaphorical” fight is at hand.
…but how much do we really grasp that we gotta keep fighting?
Ok, ok. Back up.
I once heard a statistic about Los Angeles. AAAAND here I go butchering said statistic in an awful paraphrase:
Most young people who move to Los Angeles for a Hollywood career last an average of two years before moving back home(or away).
I apologize if you are, indeed, the statistician who originally crunched these numbers and I am WAAAAY off. I couldn’t find the study online.
After relocating to continue working in Atlanta, I began seeing something similar happen in my city.
People would quit. And people still quit.
With our chunk of Hollywood here in the Southeastern United States, many people take a stab at their dream career, and then… jump ship. When times get tough, and the phone stops ringing.
I don’t blame them. Maybe a career in this industry isn’t worth the headache.
If you are an actor, so much of what we do is a numbers game. Yeah, sure, they are trying to find the right person for the part.
Overnight success?
Ha. That’s a myth.
Photo Credit: Brenda Clarke (background) via cc
There are many actors/writers/crew members/etc who develop a weird idea in their heads: the belief that there are malicious people out there who seek to hold down their respective careers.
Is that scenario impossible?
No. However, here’s the thing: most people working in this industry are too busy to commit to that passive aggressive mindset.
Here’s the cool thing about this industry:
Most contacts(that I’ve met, anyway) for whom you audition, interview, etc. — they WANT you to succeed!
They aren’t trying to hold you down – well, perhaps one or two have that sort of attitude, but most do not.
If you are good at what you do, they want to give you a chance. They just need the right “fit” for you.
And that is why you need to keep fighting. Be seen. Work to get to the top of their lists.
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