Social media has turned many actors into virtual panhandlers: disheveled opportunistic beggars seeking the most gains while exerting the littlest of effort for gaining success.
Delusional dreamers believing that if they merely exist online with a headshot thumbnail or hyperlink connecting to their reel, or announce that their most recent nano-second background appearance is worthy of soaring their IMDB Star Meter ranking 1/64ths nearer a micro nudge to obscurity; stardom and well-deserved attention will be bestowed upon them. Yes, they will receive a reaction: as does a moth fluttering wildly towards a bug lantern only to be zapped into extinction.
Professionals who nod or nay opportunities of employment to actors are often bombarded online with ineffective, initial (and repetitive) engagements by actors like the following hapless seekers for handouts:
Why would a talent employer have an interest in the above desperates? Because they’re actors among thousands of actors? I’m waiting for an answer beyond that ineffective simplicity, and these actors are not providing insight.
The above differ not from sidewalk panhandlers you and I encounter daily. We know nothing of them other than the subtext of their plea which is, “Give to me because I exist.” A general reaction? As many of your compatriots might react on the street to a panhandler: dodge and push onward. Little insight of the actors’ skill-set is offered. What is learned is that the actors are potentially lazy, narcissistic, plus in-effectual marketers.
Want the employer side of the casting table (directors, producers, writers, casting, and talent representation) to know you? Let us get to know the person before the product. And getting to know you does not include actors like several on my Facebook feed who are habitual narcissistic masturbators. Daily they post new selfies of their mug. One offender hourly updates his status with “news” of potential hair color change, or posts pics of himself in past productions which scream a desperate sub-text of “Look at me! Look at me, please? I’m not getting attention that nourishes my overly fragile self-worth! Someone please, love me?!”
More offenses: Don’t tag job-providers in your “Look at me posts!” Don’t add, without consent, job-providers to your Facebook group(s), and ‘fan’ pages.
Being Social-Media Savvy:
Want to be effective at leveraging social media for your platform of engagement to build a stronger career? Stop begging for attention. Share life. Don’t confuse living with what you do for a living. Let gate keepers get to know you as a person, not a panhandler entity desiring upward career mobility.
Social Media by Actors That’s Social:
The prior actors with successful careers, earned success in part because they engage their career social network as if true friends. Any business, whether civilian or arts related is based on the same foundation of building, and sharing honest relationships.
5 Tips on How to Engage & Keep Your Social Media Audience:
1. Provide Content of Interest & Enganement for Your Targets
Example: Paul Russell Casting goes beyond offering only casting notices to our followers by adding informative content like this post here at Answers for Actors and via other online publishing outlets, plus daily industry tips better known as TODAY’S TIPS via all our platforms.
2. Respond to Followers who Respond to You
3. Don’t Sell Yourself 24/7
4. Be Authentic
5. Take Time-Outs: Let Your Audience Miss & Want You
If you’re going to exploit employment providers for your career’s benefit, they’re well aware of what you’re doing. Leveraging employment facilitators solely for potential work, and not engaging them for the souls they are does not get you into the human consciousness. Exploitation closes minds, not open doors.
Try being human…not a digital droid. OK? You’ll be ‘liked’ more.
My best,
Paul
Casting Directors, Talent Agents, Directors & Actors
Love the Best-Selling Book for Actors
ACTING: Make It Your Business!
“Humorous and witty…
Actors everywhere who are trying to succeed in the business, young or old, on stage or on camera, anywhere in the world, take note:
This is your roadmap!”
— BERNARD TELSEY, casting director – CSA
(NBC’s Peter Pan – LIVE!, Into The Woods – The Movie, Wicked, Sex & The City)
“All the right questions asked and answered…
and with a generous portion of good humor.”
— SUZANNE RYAN, casting director, CSA
(Law & Order, Unforgettable)
“I love this book!
Paul’s book tells you what you don’t want to hear but really need to know
EVERY actor should read this book!”
— DIANE RILEY, Senior Legit Talent Agent
Harden-Curtis & Associates
“Paul’s book made me proud to be a part of this community we call ‘show!'”
— KAREN ZIEMBA, TONY & Drama Desk Award Winning Actress
“Paul Russell’s words are not only blunt & accurate they zero in on all the questions every actor wants to know but is afraid to ask!”
— KEN MELAMED, Talent Agency Partner
Bret Adams, Ltd.
“I had my Business of Acting, BFA Seniors, class do book reports on a variety of “business of acting” books and ACTING: Make It Your Business came out a clear winner—considered to be essential for their bookshelves!
— Dr. NINA LeNOIR,
Dept. Chair – Dept. of Thtr.
Chapman University
Get smarter on the business of acting from legendary Hollywood & Broadway actors and talent agents in a casting director Paul Russell’s Best-Selling Book ACTING: Make It Your Business!
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Paul Russell’s career as a casting director, director, acting teacher and former actor has spanned nearly thirty years. He has worked on projects for major film studios, television networks, and Broadway. Paul has taught the business of acting and audition technique at NYU and has spoken at universities including Yale, Temple and the University of the Arts. He is the author of ACTING: Make It Your Business – How to Avoid Mistakes and Achieve Success as a Working Actor. For more information, please visit www.PaulRussell.net.
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