by Paul Barry

Myth #1:  The cream always rises to the top/ Hard work always pays off.

Truth:  It doesn’t.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you can work extremely hard your whole life and still not make the rent. I know too many extremely talented and dedicated actors going unrewarded in the world to believe that all you need is to be talented and work hard. The idea that hard work always pays off in financial terms (in particular) is a myth.  Luck is a major factor, timing plays a huge part, and life itself throws continual curveballs.  Though you may keep your goal in mind, you are ultimately far from the creator of your exact destiny. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Ever heard the advice: ‘If you aren’t getting what you want, start wanting what you’re getting’?  The disenchantment of lamenting what you don’t have is exacerbated only by failing to relish what you currently possess.

Instead:  If you seek the kind of payoff that makes your life easy and results in material possessions, you would be better to seek employment in a different industry, regardless of how hard you work. If, however, you believe that every single acting experience has the capability of improving your skills and enhancing your life as well as the lives of those around you, then congratulations – you’ve chosen the right career!  Strangely, with this new attitude of acceptance, you may just go on to make millions of dollars…

Myth #2:  You must take every job/ be a ‘jobbing’ actor.

Truth: Unless you are consistently raising the standard of your work in the eyes of the viewer, you might well be doing more harm than good.  A Chinese proverb I once read said: ‘Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back’. Your career as an actor is the same.

Instead: Work when you’re passionate or need the money, but unless you are careful about who sees the final product, don’t just do crap jobs as resume-fillers. Your reputation is on the line.  Ask yourself if there is any other way to make enough money to survive. Ask yourself if there are other benefits to doing the job besides just keeping busy.  Rather than heading off to a job that will lower an audience’s estimation of your abilities, perhaps you’d be better reading a good acting book that day or attending a class with a teacher who can guide you to great proficiency on stage and screen.

Myth #3:  You need many strings to your bow.

Truth:  No, you don’t.  Though there are notable examples of multi-skilled performers, such as Jodie Foster, George Clooney and Sean Penn, there are infinitely more successful actors who have dedicated themselves to mastering one skill and one skill only.  Acting.  If you have a genuine fascination with other disciplines then go for it.  I guarantee you that you’ll learn a great deal about acting by researching and experiencing writing, directing or C16th costume design, but just don’t imagine they are anything but a distraction or a backup.  Denzel Washington once said: “If you are smart you’ll have a backup. If you don’t, you’ll succeed”. (See also ‘You need a fallback plan’, below)

Instead:  You have the rest of your life to explore other options, but if acting is all you really want to do, then do it.  Become a master of something, not a jack of all trades.

Myth #4:  It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.

Truth:  After the guy in this photo stopped goofing off, he knew Tom Hanks, but what of it?  He could know Oprah, Spielberg and The Donald and still never amount to any more than a hill of beans.  Unless these Who-You-Knows translate into work, they are nothing but hollow anecdotes and hilarious viral memes to impress your accountant friends.

Instead:  It’s not exclusively what you know or who you know.  It’s what you know, who you know, what you do with those relationships.  Not to mention, whether or not you have the talent to back it all up…

Myth #5:  You need a fallback plan.

Truth:  The only plan you need is a forward plan of attack.  If you find yourself overrun by the ‘enemy’, the worst that will happen is nothing.  You will not die.  You will not be responsible for the gruesome deaths of thousands of soldiers, and no-one will ever hold you to account for the loss of countries to invading hordes.  You will simply pick yourself up, create a new plan, and move forward once more.  A fallback plan is like a pre-nuptial agreement.  Though it is undoubtedly useful after a breakup, what kind of faith do you have if your relationship begins with an exit plan?  It presupposes that you will need to use it, which is a pretty good sign that you are expecting your efforts to fail.  Which they inevitably will.

Instead:  Ethan Hawke’s character in the wonderful sci-fi film, Gattaca, memorably tells his brother: “You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton: I never saved anything for the swim back.”  When you accept that regular failure is necessary on the road to victory, you will realise that a safety net is relied upon most not by those who fall, but by those who fear falling.

Myth #6:  It’s a lottery.

Truth:  The concept that auditions are a lottery is perpetuated by people who have no idea how to make you better.  The only way to win a lottery is to buy lots of tickets and hope for that one-in-sixty-million-chance. The way to get work is to consistently raise your lowest possible standard.  In the end, the best you can hope for is to enter the realm of what I call The Considered.  Regardless of fame and nepotism, the harder you work the more likely you are to be considered.  Refer to the ‘Cream always rises to the top’ section at the top of this post for why success is no guarantee, but do know that being considered is not as hard as you may think.

Instead:  Rather than viewing any auditions as a lottery, I’d encourage you to see them as a job interview and a first date, combined.  A lot of preparation, talent and experience, along with a dose of mutual attraction and magic on the night.

Myth #7:  You need to be all over social media.

Truth:  Jake Gyllenhaal, in the lead up to the recent US elections, posted a ringing endorsement of Mitt Romney on Twitter.  Problem is, Gyllenhaal doesn’t have a Twitter account.  Ignoring some poor sap’s pathetic attempt to use celebrity imitation to sure up support, it struck me as interesting that such a well-known figure of the big screen doesn’t even have his peeps Tweeting for him.  Good on him, I say.  Some people need to be all over social media, but others are simply too busy working.  When I met a great manager in LA a couple of years back he said he thought actors websites and social media accounts were great, but actors shouldn’t be the ones pimping them.  Imagine writing your own references and signing them with your own name.  It’s kind of the same.  Unless your business is social media – and let’s face it, many of ours is, too much sharing and posting and pinning and tweeting only seems to indicate that you have too much time on your hands.  Sam Worthington wouldn’t be seen dead posting what he had for breakfast, and I find it difficult to imagine Julia Roberts boasting: “I got an audition!”.  By all means share your successes along the way, but not with everyone, especially if your network includes potential employers.  Their perception of you is paramount.

Instead: Be selective about what you share, and pour your energies into working. Alternatively, ignore social media entirely and pour your efforts into actual human interaction, such as face-to-face meetings, auditions and good classes.

Myth #8:  You don’t want to get typecast.

Truth:  As admittedly annoying as it is to possess talents that go continually unrecognised by the industry, working actors complaining of typecasting come across as wealthy people moaning about their particular model of Mercedes being outdated.  To the vast majority of actors, being ‘typecast’ is definitely preferable to being ‘notcast’.  There are countless examples of actors from Humphrey Bogart to Marilyn Monroe to Christopher Walken to Lucy Liu who would have not has a career at all if not for the typcasting they endured early in their careers.  Tom Hanks is a wonderful example of someone who could not score a job outside goofball comedies and romcoms, however, once he became a part of the establishment, he blew us away with films like Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan and Cast Away.

Instead: Get cast and then make choices. Look at Rebel Wilson, Ron Perlman, and Charlie Sheen.  Besides, the place for directors to take risks on your type is in short films and independent features.  This is why so many actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling and Drew Barrymore run their own production companies and develop relationships with hotshot young directors, in order to create the kind of work they want to be seen in.

Myth #9: You need to make as many contacts as possible.

Truth:  The easiest thing in the world to do these days is to make contacts.  Linked In, Facebook, Youtube, Klout, Twitter, Google +, the ‘new’ MySpace are a start, but there and countless other networks presenting the opportunity to add to your network without limit.  If you created a profile on any of these networks you could amass thousands of ‘contacts’ within a day, but once again, what of it?  At least the guy goofing off with his face in a pizza actually met Tom Hanks.  Even ‘meetups’ are a fairly simple way to collect business cards for your dusty ‘might-come-in-handy-later’ drawer. Don’t get me wrong, casual friends – and even industry acquaintances are great.  Unless they translate into something tangible in the work arena though, what exactly was the point of meeting them in the first place?  Might you not have met someone equally interesting at the local cinema, library or pub?  There is nothing more depressing than a room chock-full of people hoping to be ‘discovered’.  Creating a contact is only the first step towards forging powerful relationships.

Instead:  Forge a few powerful relationships and maintain them.  This is much easier if you genuinely like and respect the person.  I have met thousands upon thousands of actors, directors, casting directors, writers, film crew members, teachers, coaches, producers – you name it – over the years.  When I arrived in LA though, I met a woman who became a good friend.  She introduced me to Hilary Swank’s manager and George Clooney’s main casting director.  Thousands of ‘contacts’ can never provide the kind of klout of a couple of strong ‘relationships’.

Myth #10: If you work hard on your acting, everything else will fall into place.

Truth:  I have often told actors that improving their acting should improve their lives, and improving their lives should improve their acting.  If not, there is something seriously imbalanced in their outlook.  An incredible actor with a destructive home life or unprofessional work ethic is of no use to anyone.  The second they slip from their ivory tower, the world could care less.  The true Greats in our business are talented, open-minded, healthy, generous and – most important – happy.  The idea of suffering for your art at the expense of personal relationships is another myth we’d do well to quash.

Instead:  Quite the opposite of this myth, if you work hard on everything else in your life, acting will fall into place.  Whatever place that is destined to be in your wonderful, exciting, productive, and loving life.

Paul Barry is an actor, director, writer, teacher and blogger. He co-owns Acting 4 Camera and Showreels Australia. He lives in LA, but regularly teaches via Skype, all around the world.

You may also like:

10 Things Actors Should Stop Saying

 Eight Hours A Day (At Least)

(The blogs you see on www.acting4camera.com are free, but they don’t write themselves. If you find the information useful, feel free to donate below to keep them coming. Your contribution of any amount is graciously welcomed!)



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