Occasionally, I get emails through my website from actors who want to audition for me or send me demo tapes. I don’t accept these requests, for a lot of reasons. But one recent email was so full of whiney “woe-is-me” depression, that I had to answer it prolifically. Again, I don’t usually take this time. But it was late, I’m still jet lagged, and I felt driven to respond.

The first email I recieved simply read: “Any chance an up-and-coming voice actor could get a listen from the man behind “Hoodwinked”?”

I wrote a basic response: “Thanks for your email. I’m afraid I can’t help you… my best advice would be to get representation locally and then perhaps create a demo to send to Los Angeles talent agencies…” etc, etc.

But then I recieved this response, a melodramatic outpouring of woe:

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(sigh)… I need more than luck, I need a miracle or a mind-control ray. The agents in Dallas don’t take inexperienced actors. Period. End of story. No arguments (and goodness knows I tried to argue). The only ones who’ll even let me in their office are the ones that then insist I go to their “special” photographer and pay hundreds of dollars I don’t have for new pictures.

It’s all right. This is what always happens. But I seem incapable of learning my lesson and giving up, and just keep throwing myself against that same titanium-reinforced bulkhead, time and again, just taking a moment here and there to wipe off the blood…

Sorry. I’m working at Wal-Mart. It’s not conducive to cheerfulness when combined with a case of “turf toe” and generalized bruising from finding a hole with your foot.

In any event, since no agent within 100 miles will touch me, and nobody in Hollywood can help me, I’ll just shut up now and get back to the refusals of agents and the general futility of being an actor around here. Ah, for the power to just give up…

Yours in futility,

“The Never-Heard”
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Wow.

That’s when I decided to roll up my sleeves.

When I speak at events, I get asked about “making it in the business” a lot. So I’ve printed my response to this frustrated artist below (keeping anonymity). This can’t be said enough, and there may be many more of you out there who need to hear it.

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‘Never-Heard,’

I don’t usually take time to answer all my emails like this, but after your defeated rant I felt compelled to.

You need to be re-energized or re-inspired, apparently. I’m sorry I have no opportunities for you, but perhaps my challenge to you can also be valuable:

How long have you been pursuing acting? Five years? Ten years? I have worked for over 16 years to get the opportunities I have now, and they came after many sacrifices and failures. That’s what it takes. And by “pursuing,” I mean getting up every morning with a checklist: getting headshots, taking classes, making a demo, doing local theater, networking with student filmmakers… Pounding the pavement relentlessly to MAKE opportunities for yourself.

Secondly, Dallas is a huge market for film, television and more. You can’t tell me there is nothing but closed doors in that city. I worked production in Tulsa for several years. TULSA! If it can happen there, it can happen in Dallas.

I understand your frustration with agents. Yes, it’s true, the good ones will want actors with experience. So my obvious question to you is: Why don’t you go GET some experience? You don’t have to get it by being paid to be on a set. You have to build up to that, and you have to start somewhere. Most of the actors I know did a lot of theater or volunteered for student films and low-budget projects. If you are willing to act for free, you will get cast in MANY projects. You just have to look in the right places. And by acting in those crummy low-budget projects for free, you begin to collect material… Shots of YOU on film or video. You also begin to build a resume of projects. This is how it is done.

There is no magic agent or ideal meeting where someone else provides you with that “big break.” Any forward momentum I have experienced in my career has come from me doing something myself. Find other people who are doing what you want to do and help them with their stuff. Then they’ll help you with your stuff. I realize you have the grind of a day job, but that’s when you need to get creative. Work nights or weekends. That’s what it takes.

This is what I tell anyone who asks me about making it in the business. Be persistent. If you have any talent at all, you have to back that with an insane optimism and brave the odds for many years. You have to love it so much that you will do it for free (because you will!).

If this is hard to hear, please know that I want it to inspire you, not defeat you. There are MILLIONS of people that want to act for a living, and THOUSANDS who are aggressively working at it in the major markets. So it’s not easy.

But it’s possible.

Look for those small ways to use your talents. Small opportunities lead to larger ones. If this is your dream, then don’t give up. And if acting is something you love a lot, the smaller jobs should bring satisfaction along the way.

Best of luck to you, and I hope you can find some new open doors.

Sincerely,

Cory Edwards