Timing

“Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.” – Benjamin Franklin

When Justin Morneau goes through a slump at the plate, inevitably, one of the expert commentators will suggest, “His timing is off.”  A quarterback comes back from an injury and misses a few receivers in the first quarter, so the QB-become-analyst offers, “His timing seems to be off.”

You’ve got all the talent in the world as a writer/actor/director/producer/juggler, but you still can’t land an agent.  Maybe your timing is off.

In an earlier entry I mentioned K Callan’s recommendation to avoid submitting yourself for LA agency representation during pilot season.  In his book, An Agent Tells All, Tony Martinez qualifies Ms. Callan’s claim and adds that the holiday season is an awful time to submit as well.  Mr. Martinez (a Hollywood agent himself) lists May, June, and July as the best months to submit.

If you’re reading this in August, does that mean you should wait 9 months?  Of course not.  I still think the best time to submit yourself for representation is yesterday.  The odds may be better in the summer, but Mr. Martinez reminds us that agents are “always searching for talent.  24 hours a day.  7 days a week.  52 weeks a year.  It’s the one part of our job that we never put on hold.”

Just remember, if we’re not hearing back from agents, it may just be bad timing.  Either that or we suck.

Approach

“For myself I am an optimist – it does not seem to be much use being anything else.” – Sir Winston Churchill

Any scratch golfer can tell you a round can be made or lost with your approach shot.  Yet many duffers like me spend most of their range time trying to knock the core out of the diminutive dimpled demon.  Interestingly, the difference between a 240 and 280 yard drive is generally frivolous for a skilled iron player.  Instead of trying to flex my muscles with monstrous drives, I would be better advised to learn how my 5-iron works.

Just like the wickedness that is golf, the even more impossible Hollywood game can be won or lost by the player’s approach.  While many coaches have offered guidance in appropriate approaches for aspiring writers or actors or models, the multi-hyphenate approach is still somewhat fleeting.  I’m certainly no pioneer in trying to pitch my eclectic self to Hollywood, but as far as I know, I may be one of the few documenting my successes or lack there of.  So far, the latter has the better handicap than the former.

My first rounds of querying back a couple years involved blanketing every agency accepting screenplay queries.  I exhausted a couple calling cards making telephone contact first, then many rolls of stamps mailing what I thought was a good pitch for a very marketable screenplay.  I still believe in the pitch and I still believe in the screenplay.  It’s the approach I question.

This time around, I’m spending a good amount of time researching each company before I send them my query.  At 3 or 4 queries a week, I’m certainly not launching a mass attack, but instead focusing on specific targets of which I have an understanding of their philosophies and place in the market.

Will this approach work?  The optimist in me says yes.  Too bad the pessimist has the final say on these dreary, rainy days.  But, as Mr. Churchill stated, there’s no use in being anything other than an optimist.  Looking more closely at the glass, it does indeed look a little fuller than before it did.

Act

“If you want to be an actor, act.  It’s really simple.  The more you act, the better you get.  Go to classes.  Go to workshops.  Act more hours of the day than not.  Act for free.  And if you’re lucky, every once in a while, you’ll get paid.” – Richard Dreyfuss

My wife has the luxury of living with someone who morphs in and out of characters all day long.  She’s thrilled by my perpetual meanderings into psyches as varied as Baskin Robbins’ menu.  Um, yeah.

Inevitably, after watching a movie together, I will brush my teeth that night as the most memorable character from the picture show.  My recent favorites are Rowan Atkinson’s Bean, googly-eyed Ben from Lost, and the always reliable Hannibal Lector.  Granted, this is more mimicry than acting, but it serves a purpose.  I’m practicing acting.  And annoying my wife.  It’s a double-edged sword, but I have lots of bandages.

Mr. Dreyfuss’s advice is simple and true.  Many self-proclaimed future stars seem to think they can just walk on a set and make movie magic.  Did Michael Jordan just walk on a basketball court and make basketball magic?  Did Joe Montana just walk onto a football field and make football magic?  Did Harry Potter just walk into Hogwarts Academy and make magic magic?  Well, maybe he did… I haven’t read or seen any of his work.

Point is, to be good, you have to work at it.  No matter what ‘it’ is, you have to practice.  Practice doesn’t make perfect (despite the old saying), but it gets you a heck of a lot closer than you’d get without it.

If you’re just starting out as an actor, find a way to practice your craft.  Take classes.  Study literature on the craft of acting.  Audition for student films.  Start connecting with others that share similar interests and maybe start a scene study group with them.

Just act.  But be careful who you annoy along the way.  My wife is awfully tolerant, but sometimes a mirror is the best audience.  Yeah, I do that, too.  Don’t tell.

Pilot

“We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch.” – John F. Kennedy

K Callan points out that pilot season is perhaps the worst time to approach talent agents in Hollywood.  Most agents are too busy trying to sell their current clients and the last thing they have time to do is search through new headshots.

Pilot season generally runs from January through May, though this trend is evolving with the advent of new media and midseason program releases.  Historically, agents have been most approachable in the downtime of the summer months.

Ms. Callan further advises prospective clients to avoid calling before noon as most agents spend their mornings reading ‘The Breakdown’ and submitting their already established clients’ pictures and resumes.  This is getting rather nitpicky, but agents are looking for reasons to say no to prospective clients.  Seems logical to minimize the potential red flags by following the advice given in Ms. Callan’s excellent The Los Angeles Agent Book.

I’ve had actor friends and acquaintances scurry off to LA in time for pilot season, but timing the departure around this often fabled time in Hollywood is probably more detrimental than beneficial.  If I’m wrong, let me know!

The Los Angeles Agent Book by K Callan

A must read for any out-of-town actor considering a move to LA.  Ms. Callan, a working actor for more than 40 years (check her out on IMDb), interviewed a number of talent agents for this book, one of five guides she has written about the film industry.

Just about everything you need to know about finding and keeping a talent agent is included in The Los Angeles Agent Book.  How to submit, what to submit, when to submit – it’s all here straight from the horses’ mouths.  She even breaks down the geography of Los Angeles giving us aliens a head start on faking our way around.  Having been to LA only a handful of times, I’m still trying to keep the 10, the 110, and the 101 straight.  What’s with the binary highway numbering?

I can’t say enough good things about Ms. Callan’s book.  Some of the information was a little redundant, but there is too much vital information for the aspiring actor venturing west to overlook this book.  Look for it at your library, or grab it from Amazon. As of today, there is one 3-star rating at Amazon.  Don’t let that sway you.  The book is 5-star, hands down.

How to Sell Yourself as an Actor” is the next book of hers I plan to read.  If you’ve read it already, drop a note here and let us know how it was.  Oh, and please don’t tell the Hollywood agents I called them horses.  I didn’t mean it that way.