Many people think that a Hollywood career is made and lost by who you know. But that’s a myth. Think about how many people you know… kind of.
You “know of” many people, famous people. You’ve probably even met a number of people who could help your career. And how much difference does it make if you know them? Very little, if they don’t also know you well enough to hire you. And that’s the dirty secret that people don’t really talk about.
It’s not about who you know — it’s about who knows You!
Whether you already know this or not, it can’t be stressed enough.
To get to know people in Hollywood in the sense of an acting career, you really have to get them to know you. So the secret is to focus on how you can get them to know you well enough that they call for you when they have a role you are right for.
A key element of making sure your contacts are getting to know you is taking action to consistently follow up with them. You can meet them once, and they quickly forget you. You could meet them again or have your face cross their desk (headshot) and they are reminded of you.
But to get yourself implanted in their minds, you must keep in touch with them consistently… and periodically.
That action can be something as simple as a thank-you note after meeting with an agent or manager regarding representation, or to a casting director after a good theatrical audition.
You could also keep in touch with something as traditional as sending announcements to everyone you’ve met in the business whenever you get a new agent, book a role in a play, commercial, movie, or series, when you get new photos (or have a different one duplicated).
Or it can be as orchestrated as sending out a select holiday gift befitting your relationship to those who are on your “trying to get in with” list at the end of the year.
The goal is to take advantage of every opportunity to make the people on your contact list remember you. And most importantly, to remember you when it counts — and that is when they have a role you could be right for.
To help you keep track of all of these people, Smart Girls offers casting director postcard campaigns to targeted casting director lists. We can also help you with tracking your contacts by keeping a personalized list for you, where you just send us the info and we will note it for you.
Whether you do it on your own or you have Smart Girls support you in your efforts, just be sure to do it. It’s critical to your career, and I want you to get the greatest return on all the effort you’ve been putting in.
Don’t let your career efforts swirl down the toilet and be wasted. Keep in touch with your contacts. Make them remember you. And be sure they know how to get a hold of you when they have something you are right for.
By doing this, you will find that you are building contact equity in your acting career that will pay off in dividends in the long-run as more and more people who can cast you know you and call you in.