So, you want to go to Hollywood and
become an actor… Yeah, you and a billion other people from every
corner of the globe.
Everyday, the MOST talented and LEAST
talented people on earth make the sojourn to Los Angeles to "give
it a shot." There are about 500,000 people in L.A. county who
cite “Actor” as their occupation. Of these 500,000 people,
175,000 or so belong to SAG/AFTRA, the professional actors’ union.
Of these 175,000 unionized actors, only about 8,000 make their living
exclusively from acting - probably fewer than that these days as more
and more movie stars commit to doing TV work so they can pay their
property taxes. This industry wide shift has pushed thousands of
actors on the lower rungs right off the ladder.
OW, OW, OW, no more math!
Okay, so you have a dream that is
shared by a great many people. The difference between having a dream
and having a dream job is action.
People want $24 million dollars a year
but they don't want to work for it.
Got Dreams? Get Real!
You don't earn that kind of money WHEN
you get the job. You earn that money BEFORE your first audition. You
earn the money and the fame WHILE you’re working hard in acting
school! Mastery of anything takes exactly 10,000 hours of correct,
deliberate, and progressive practice. Casting directors do not want
your first audition to be your first time acting. Your first time in
front of the camera in Hollywood should not be your first time in
front of a camera!
I've just given you the key to your
success: Find an acting school that provides 10,000 hours of correct,
deliberate, progressive practice. I’ve just eliminated 99% of the
acting schools in Los Angeles.
I know, that's math. But keep going.
The great 19th century French actor,
François-Joseph Talma said: “Acting has a 20 year apprenticeship."
If you practice only 20 hours a week you can cut that time in half.
40 hours a week and you can cut it in half again. If you have the
work ethic that James Franco exhibited in class, you may be able to
cut it in half once more. According to his teachers, Franco worked
like a maniac for years before he got a job. He threw himself into
acting, period. He got good at it and then went looking for work.
There is a staggeringly long line-up
outside of casting studios in L.A. made up of people who are not
prepared to do the work required to develop into truly good actors.
After interviewing scores of casting directors over the years, I have
learned that 75% to 90% of the people they audition have no business
being in the business.
If you have dreams you have to get real
about them!
Now, if you've been awarded an Olympic
gold medal or if you’ve been featured on the cover of Vogue or Time
Magazine - or if you date Justin or Katie, are a world-class rapper,
weight lifter, martial artist, or did something you shouldn’t have
done with the President of the United States, well then, Hollywood
has a deal waiting for you. Let’s face it. If you can get on the
cover of the National Enquirer with any frequency, you're just one
role from movie star status. If BatBoy ever comes out of his cave,
he'll see "When can you start?" painted on the side of the
limo that will inevitably be waiting for him.
If your looks are so striking that the
room goes quiet when you enter it, if your personality is so
sparkling that you make the Dos Equis guy look lame, if you are
sexually attractive and non-threatening to both sexes equally, if you
have emotional depth and range, spontaneous responsiveness, and a
limitless imagination, then you can skip all the hard work. The rest
of the world has to learn their craft.
If you already know a working producer
or director, that can definitely help. Nepotism is alive and well in
Hollywood. You would still have to prove yourself, but there are
certain connections that can give you an important advantage.
That said, regardless of your
connections, there’s no way to get around the need to work hard!
Scott Caan certainly benefited from the connections (and genetic
gifts) provided by his legendary father, James Caan. I watched Scott
work just as hard, or even harder than anyone else in his class when
he attended acting school, and I understand that he continues to
devote considerable energy to his own writing and theater projects.
Ashley Judd, as well, withstood a gauntlet of abuse in acting class.
She did not quit in the face of it but dedicated endless hours to the
practice of the fundamentals. According to Ashley, when her mother,
Naomi Judd, learned that her youngest wanted to be an actress, she
decried her daughter’s ambitions saying, “Oh, no … that’s
just being a faker. I don’t want you to live in lies.” When Naomi
came to audit Ashley’s class and saw what went into her training
(“I almost threw Mom out of class for having an open bottle of
fruit juice”) she cried, saying, “Ashley, I had it all wrong.
Acting isn’t about telling lies; it’s all about telling the
truth.” That’s when Naomi started throwing 110% of her weight
around to help support her daughter’s career.
Your opportunity to work hard will come
when you are in acting school; an acting school that provides 10,000
hours of training. You will also have to work at making yourself an
attraction. When your name alone sells tickets to 100+ seat theaters
in L.A. and your fanbase on YouTube/FaceBook/IMDB/Twitter is over
10,000, then you’ll know that you're on the right track!
NO! NO MORE MATH!
So, what does all this have to do with
NoHo?
In all likelihood, NoHo is where you’ll
live when you get started. In NoHo, you’ll be close to all of the
major studios and fairly close to most of the casting offices. I
recommend that you get started at Central Casting, a casting company
for background actors, which is located at 220 South Flower Street in
Burbank. After all, it’s a good idea to do some background work
first so that you can get some practical experience in a professional
movie shoot. Once you’ve gained some experience working on a few
sets, you’ll want to join the Union. In L.A., you won’t be
perceived as a professional actor unless you’re a member of
SAG/AFTRA. The SAG/AFTRA office is located adjacent to the La Brea
Tar Pits in Museum Square, at 5757 Santa Monica Blvd.
Most importantly, NoHo is cheap - by
L.A. standards anyway. In NoHo, there are some decent night spots,
relatively good restaurants, lots of little theaters where you can
see TV stars on stage, and at least a couple dozen acting schools.
There are just as many jobs in the San Fernando Valley (known locally
as “The Valley”) as there are anywhere in the rest of L.A., and
the landlords there are pretty flexible about three adults and a
cockatoo sharing a studio apartment.
Note: It can get unbearably HOT in the
Valley, where temperatures are always 10 to14 degrees warmer than
anywhere else in Los Angeles.
You really don't want to hear about the
NoHo of 20 years ago but it’s a pretty safe community today. There
are a few middle-to-upscale neighborhoods in NoHo that are very safe
if Mom and Dad are paying your way. Toluca Lake is a possibility for
those of you who need to have something bigger than a bungalow, and
if you want to be a stone’s throw away from Bob Hope and Roy
Disney. The farther North you travel on Lankershim Blvd, the cheaper
the accommodations. The ads will say that the property has a pool,
but a 25’x20’, 9-foot deep, concrete hole in the ground with 200
gallons of green sludge, a tricycle and a rusty barbecue sticking out
of the water, is not my idea of a pool.
You will need to find a 'SHIRT JOB'
that is flexible so that you can get time off for auditions.
Remember, you might have to drop the job the minute you're hired for
a feature film, but you’ll want to stay on good terms with the boss
so you can get it back when the studio’s done shooting. Also,
you'll want to do dozens of 'Shorts' on YouTube and the like, FOR
FREE! Those might take time away from your job as well.
Don't even think about coming to Los
Angeles to be an actor unless you have decided that you will
absolutely never, ever, quit. The schools you'll find in NoHo are
largely the kind that will take advantage of people who come to L.A.
to "give it a shot." Anyone who has it in his or her head
to give it three or six months “to see how it goes” will get the
kind of results one can expect from that kind of commitment.
American acting teacher Sanford Meisner
used to ask students, "Why do you want to be an actor?" If
they said they just knew they were supposed to be stars or that they
wanted to show all those kids back in (insert name of village here),
or any of a plethora of other rationalizations, he would smile
politely and send them elsewhere to study. If they stumbled and
mumbled and could not offer a single concrete reason for taking up
the study of acting, Sandy again would smile, knowing that he'd just
found an actor.
Contributor: J.D. Coburn
Bio: JD Coburn's family has been a part
of American theater for over 160 years. JD took his first lead at the
age of 7. At 18, he had taken part in over 40 plays, including 6
years in repertory theater. He followed this up with a career in
commercial broadcasting on Seattle and L.A. radio. Today he is an
acting teacher, working privately with students in L.A..
Title: Welcome to Hollywood
Category: Tips and Advice
Tags: Actors, Acting, Hollywood,
Starting Out, Los Angeles, Acting School, JD Coburn, Coburn
