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Acting isn’t working.

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By that I mean it takes more than auditioning and waiting for the phone to ring if you want to stand out in this industry.

Thanks to Weston McCready for saying this so succinctly in his guest post, below.

Be sure to follow Weston on Twitter @westonmccready and subscribe to his blog.

-Kahlil (at) gigsmacked (dot) com

Weston’s Wisdom:

You will often hear the phrase “Right place, at the right time.” It can happen at any moment in the most unlikeliest of places. It is like getting struck by lightning. Some people find a job by talking to some random stranger who happens to own a company and is hiring. You find that perfect gift for a loved one while standing in line and someone puts it down and leaves and in that moment you were “In the right place, at the right time.” And some actors managed to launch their careers by being in the right place at the right time. But that doesn’t mean you should go through life with blinders on like a driven horse and accept what happens just hoping to one day be “In the right place, at the right time.” You can improve your chances.

What am I talking about? How can this happen? Okay, I’ll give you an example. I am sure most of you know Harrison Ford but do you know how he got the role of Han Solo? Well he was in the audition room…..as a script reader. He would sit there setting up actors for their lines by reading the opposite part in the scene. This ended up leading to Harrison getting an audition for Han Solo. The rest is history. He was “In the right place, at the right time.” He took the job as a reader and so put himself in a better position to meet producers, casting directors and even directors.

If you want to make it as an actor you need to focus on your career and try and put yourself in the right situation for success. There are very few actors who just happen to get discovered off the streets these days. Everyone knows someone. You need to stand out from the pack. So what do you do? Here’s some advice. Ask peers and fellow performers you have worked with, “What are my best attributes? What am I best at in your eyes?” It could be the stage, or comedy. Maybe you play a great straight man/woman. Figure it out. Then focus on that attribute and try to promote it. Make a video and post it on YouTube. Come up with a short play with some fellow actors and see what theater festivals run in your area and get in on the action. Check if casting houses in your region need readers.

If I have said this once, I will say it a thousand times. Talk to people. Network with people in your field. Attend screenings and plays and industry functions. Let people see your face. Get in the action. Improve any chance you might have of being “In the right place, at the right time.”

If you think that by just auditioning and doing nothing else that you will make it, good luck. It may happen. And you might get struck by lightning sitting in a lazy boy of your fifth floor apartment of a 20 story building while watching Chelsea Lately! eating Cheetosin your underwear. Or you can improve your chances and walk to the top of a hill in a thunderstorm holding a lightning rod screaming out lyrics to Ava Maria and your chances will be very conceivable. Although I do not recommend doing this.

I may not be household name or act for a living, but I can promise you every day I plan and ask myself, “what do I have to do to make my break?” I know one day I will be “In the right place, at the right time.” The only question is when.

The Montreal Just For Laughs Festival is pretty amazing.  It feels good to finally be here, doing my thing.  But when I read this article by Bob Greene which originally appeared on CNN.com, it reminded me how fleeting fame is and how important it is to stay grounded and surround yourself with people who don’t care how successful you are. Thankfully, I am surrounded by great people – from my wife, friends and family to my attorneys at Myman-Abell but it never hurts to check yourself.  Now I know why Frank was so fiercely loyal and that is a quality in short supply these days.  I only pray that I can also be remembered this way.

Frank Sinatra’s lesson in loyalty

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Some people are so big during their lives, even death doesn’t seem to entirely take them away.

So it is with Frank Sinatra. He left this earth in May of 1998, yet there is seldom a day when you don’t hear his voice drifting out of a radio, seldom a week when you don’t catch a flash of his face on a television screen, or read a reference to him in a newspaper or a magazine. Sinatra: The word itself signals something. Those three quick syllables: sharp, snappy, staccato. The images the name brings to mind: the Rat Pack, ring-a-ding-ding, very good years, strangers in the night. Many adored him, some despised him; few were indifferent.

In New York, especially, his voice remains omnipresent. His “New York, New York” might as well be the city’s official anthem. Many times when I’ve visited Manhattan I have walked past what was said to be Sinatra’s favorite restaurant: an unprepossessing-enough-looking Italian place on West 56th Street called Patsy’s. This, Sinatra legend has it, is the spot where he could relax, where he felt most at home.

I’d never gone inside. I had imagined it as a peak-of-the-mountain place, a restaurant where only the most savvy would congregate, men and women who were at the pinnacle of their games, who had long ago learned and mastered all the angles. After all, this was where Sinatra had his regular table, wasn’t it? How could mere mortals have a shot at fitting in?

This trip, I came in for dinner. And learned a lesson.

Sinatra, in his chairman-of-the-board years, in his sell-out-every-seat-in-the-concert-hall decades, did, in fact, gravitate to this place. But it wasn’t because he was the biggest name in entertainment. It was because at one point in his life, he feared that he might be finished.

“My grandfather was the first member of our family to know him,” said Salvatore J. Scognamillo, the current chef and co-owner of Patsy’s.

The grandfather — Pasquale “Patsy” Scognamillo — had co-owned a restaurant nearby called the Sorrento during the first years of the 1940s. The young Sinatra was brought in one day by his boss, bandleader Tommy Dorsey. “I’ve got this skinny kid from Hoboken,” Dorsey reportedly told Patsy Scognamillo. “Fatten him up.”

Sinatra swiftly became an international singing idol whose voice and face made women and girls scream and faint; riots broke out at his concerts. Patsy, meanwhile, left the Sorrento and opened Patsy’s. Both men — the crooner and the cook — were doing well for themselves.

But in the early 1950s, Sinatra’s career crashed. He was no longer a kid. His records stopped selling. His romance with Ava Gardner was on the rocks. His record company dropped him. The winner suddenly was being widely seen as a loser, washed up.

People who follow the Sinatra story know about the eventual comeback: how he landed a role in the movie “From Here to Eternity” and won an Academy Award, how his career zoomed again, how he became the living symbol of success and swagger.

Yet in those down years, no one could have anticipated the rebirth. Sinatra was a has-been, yesterday’s news.

“He would come in to the restaurant alone for lunch,” Sal Scognamillo said to me. I could tell that this was a thrice-told family tale — or a thrice-times-thrice-told tale. That didn’t make it any less compelling.

“My grandfather would sit with him,” Sal said. “There would be people eating lunch who would avoid making eye contact with Sinatra — people who used to know him when he was on top. Sinatra would nod toward them and say to my grandfather: ‘My fair-weather friends.’”

One November, on the day before Thanksgiving, Sinatra asked Patsy if he would make him a solo reservation for the next day. “He said he would be coming in for Thanksgiving dinner by himself,” Sal said. “He said, ‘Give me anything but turkey.’ He didn’t want to think about the holiday, but he didn’t want to be alone.”

The restaurant was scheduled to be closed on Thanksgiving. But Patsy didn’t tell Sinatra that; he told him that he’d make the reservation for 3 p.m. He didn’t want Sinatra to know that he was opening especially for him, so he invited the families of the restaurant’s staff to come in for dinner, too. He cooked for Sinatra, on that solitary holiday, and it wasn’t until years later that Sinatra found out.

That’s where the loyalty came from. That’s why Sinatra never stopped coming to the restaurant. In later years, when Patsy’s would be jammed with diners hoping to get a glimpse of him, few understood why the most famous singer in the world would single out one place as his constant favorite.

It was no big secret to the Scognamillo family. They all knew. A person recalls how he is treated not when he is on top of the world, undefeated, but when he is at his lowest, thinking he will never again see the sun.

“Up those stairs, that’s where Sinatra used to have his table,” I heard a man say to his date as they entered the restaurant. He’s still packing them in, 13 years after his death.

‘Who remembers a kindness that comes when kindnesses are in short supply? Who most treasures being made to feel welcome when every door seems to be slamming shut?

In the wee small hours of the morning, only the lonely.’

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CNN contributor Bob Greene is a best-selling author whose books include “Late Edition: A Love Story” and “Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen.”

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-Kahlil (at) gigsmacked (dot) com

The Montreal Just For Laughs Festival is the largest and most respected comedy festival in the world.  It has long been a dream of mine to perform Basic Training there and after selling out several major festivals around the world, I thought this one would be a great opportunity.  On July 14-22 I will be performing my show at the Montreal Just For Laughs Festival.  How long did it take me to get my foot in the door?

2002 – I sent a tape in.  no response

2003 – I sent a tape in, called 17 times. no response, no return phone call

2004 – I performed my show at the Montreal Fringe Festival, received an Honourable Mention from Just For Laughs due to the fact that my show was not considered a comedy.

2005 – Called and emailed several times to get my show staged at Just For Laughs. No response.

2006 – Called and emailed – no response

2007 – Made contact, then the trail went cold.  Tried to follow up.  No response.

2008 – Called and emailed – no response

2009 – Called and emailed – no response

2010 – Called and emailed – got a response

2011 – Performing at Montreal Just For Laughs.

I look at this list and I don’t see 9 years of rejection, I see 9 years of opportunity.

Embrace the rejection and use it.

-Kahlil (at) gigsmacked (dot) com

So, what’s your real job?

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I hate that question.
Most of the time I lie.

I don’t tell them I’m an actor.

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I’m an astronaut.

I work in a cardboard factory.

I pimp parakeets.

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It’s not because I’m not proud of what I do. . I say anything to keep from feeling the need to justify my career to someone who doesn’t really care and has most likely already forgotten my name. If it’s somebody I know or an acquaintance of the family I still glaze over it. Not many people understand what it really takes to survive in a business that isn’t defined by a steady paycheck, a degree, or some sort of false seniority.

Ever get tired of feeling like you need to tell people that you have a ‘plan b’ so you appear more ‘mature’?

I’ve often wondered why the same attitude isn’t directed towards people who play the lottery. Think about it. Millions of dollars are spent on lottery tickets every year. People hoping to ‘hit it big’ because their numbers match. They gamble with their money, we gamble with our talent. So what?  According to recent studies I have a better chance of winning three Oscars
than you have of winning the lottery.

Maybe having a ‘real’ job is the problem, not the solution. I know some honest and
hardworking people with real jobs – I used to be one of them - believe me, they’re not for everybody.

Three things to remember:

-You can’t hide from what you’re meant to be. Ignore it or embrace it, but do it with heart.

-If you didn’t have to work for it, it won’t last.

-Don’t share your dreams with people who can’t make them a reality. I’ve learned that even
with a successful show that continues to sell tickets all over the globe a lot of people are coming to see how good I’m not. Doesn’t bother me- my dreams are locked away.

Stick to your guns and follow your dreams. The next time somebody asks what your ‘real’ job is, tell them let’s race-you buy lottery tickets and I’ll see you at the
Oscars.

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Kahlil (at) gigsmacked (dot) com

I was raised by strong women.  Most of the men I admire were raised by strong women.  Life is realized in the womb of a woman.  Stands to reason we shouldn’t treat them like shit.

But women are marginalized in our society in ways that are criminal.  I’m not just talking about the billions of women

who are sold into slavery via the sex trade or trafficking.  The book Half the Sky exposes that subject better than I could, so don’t take my word for it – buy the book.

I know this is a blog about the entertainment biz, but nowhere else are women more discriminated against than in the entertainment industry. From actresses to execs to assistants, a fair shake seems to be a pipe dream unless you show some skin or stuff your face with botox.  But why?  And will it ever change?  I have no idea.  I’m a guy.  But Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook has a very interesting view on the subject and it clarified things for me, how about you?  Check out the video below from her recent appearance at the TED Conference and tell me what you think.

Kahlil (at) gigsmacked (dot) com

In the book Talent Is Overrated, Jeff Colvin, Senior Editor at Large for Fortune Magazine, suggests that he has found a missing link – the difference between being mediocre and truly achieving greatness.  And it’s not talent.

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An excerpt (paraphrased for space):

‘Look around you.  Look at your friends, your relatives, your coworkers, the people you meet when you shop or go to a party.  how do they spend their days?  Most of them work.  They all do many other things as well but how well do they do what they do?  The most likely answer is that they do it fine.  The odds are that few if any people around you are truly great at what they do-awesomely, amazingly, world-class excellent.  Why?’

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There a few things this book suggests that I don’t agree with – like the fact that clinical psychologists have had a hard time defining what ‘talent’ is, therefore it must not exist.   In a recent conversation with my stage manager Tony Lepore (who happens to have a degree in Philosophy) we decided that talent is a combination of experience and intuition combined with one other element.

This element is something the book touches on that I actually agree with.  Deliberate practice.

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Cirque Du Soleil

Whether you’re on stage or off, a job requires performance.  Great performance requires practice that is hard, and it hurts, but it works.  Deliberate practice.  When I toured with Tops In Blue we had to rehearse 18 hours a day for six weeks – through stressed fractures, minimal sleep and unbelievable stress – before we set foot on stage in front of an audience.  But the finished product was undeniable and continues to wow audiences worldwide.

The best and most visible example of deliberate practice is Cirque Du Soleil.  When I got selected as a performer with them in April (after a nine hour audition) I had a new appreciation for how to rehearse.  Then I was invited to watch a rehearsal for KA at the MGM Grand and the precision and intensity of their rehearsal knocked me off my feet.

The result of their deliberate practice?  The most successful live entertainment company on the planet.

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Can rehearsal alone replace talent?  Is there a way to achieve greatness through repetition or are you born with an innate ability to do certain things better than most?

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Comment below and tell me what you think.

Kahlil (at) gigsmacked (dot) com

This is a guest post from a magician named Andrew Mayne.  It made me laugh out loud and I just had to share it with you.

I have spent a significant amount of my career working alongside magicians as well as performing magic myself (3 years as Octavius at Caesar’s Magical Empire) and this guy hits the nail on the head.

I think the same thing can be said about most talent competitions and about most types of performance, whether its acting, singing or whatever.

Enjoy – and let me know what you think of his perspective. -Kahlil (at) gigsmacked (dot) com

I get a lot of email from aspiring magicians who see America’s Got Talent as their chance at success.

I try to give good advice, but there’s three things I never say directly to any one person because I don’t want to hurt their feelings.  Magic is filled with dreamers.  Unfortunately, most of these dreamers have no idea how to turn those dreams into reality or are willing to do the work.

Here are three things everyone who is thinking about trying out for America’s Got Talent needs to know:

You’re not special – they ask everyone to audition

If you get an email from the company that handles booking for AGT asking you to audition, it’s because they found your email address and not because they think you have a chance of winning.  You haven’t been “discovered”.  They did a Google search for “magician” and your name popped up somewhere.

The job of the company that books for this show is to get as many bodies in the door as possible.  99.99999% they know are absolutely horrible.  They love to book train wrecks.  They won’t tell you this, they’ll flatter you and think you have a chance.  But you don’t, because…

You’re not good

All of the guys you’ve seen on AGT are professionals who have decades in the business.  Most of them have worked Vegas and some have even headlined.  They worked hard to get where they are.  Have you worked steadily as a professional?  Would you have to turn down shows and take a huge financial risk if you went on?  If you answered “no”, then you’re not going to make it.  If you said “yes”, then here’s the last reason you’re not going to make it…

Your act is too damn slow

The single number one enemy of good magicians with good magic is that their material is TV unfriendly.  All the really good variety television acts have something happening every 15 seconds.  Every video I get sent to look at with almost no exception is way too long.  These people have no sense of time.  On TV this is deadly.  A good illusion done at a slow pace by a mediocre magician is worse then a fast paced mediocre illusion. Faster is better.

So now that I’ve said this, I’m still going to get email from hopefuls who think they are the exception.  No matter what evidence reality is offering you, you’re going to ignore it.  And sadly, I’m going to be too polite to tell you the truth.  And for that I apologize.  Break a leg!

Agents and record label execs can only sell what you bring to the table.  Here’s how to bring more to the table.

A consulting client of mine recently told me that he was moving to LA and asked me if I would advise him on his strategy:

‘I’m gonna move to LA, get a waiter job and start sending headshots to agents, hoping I get ‘discovered’ by taking lots of classes and hanging out with lots of actors.’

‘That will probably lead to a record deal and I might even dance and do some voiceover if I have time.’

Another client told me he wanted to be a famous singer and then move into films and television and wanted me to coach him on the process of making that a reality.

Sounds simple enough, right?  Wrong.  Here’s why:

Step #1:  Pick a talent or genre you are world class at and stick with it.  Not many people (less than 5%) are world class at more than one thing and the more focused you become on your specific talent the more focused attention you will receive from industry.

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Step #2:  There’s no such thing as being ‘discovered’. There are people out there looking for the next big thing but don’t count on them finding you by accident.  If they do, consider it an accident.  In the meantime, discover yourself.  Create something that will make you stand out – something that plays to your strengths and is so good you can’t be ignored.

Step #2.5: Once you create that something, COLLECT INFO from your audience.  Information is power.  Having lots of fans on Facebook, followers on Twitter or having a massive e-mailing list is more valuable than a ’slammin’ demo or an acting reel.  The power of social media means that having a huge fan base gives you an upper hand when it comes to getting the attention of those who write the fat checks.

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Step #3:  Know what an agent is looking for.  It’s more than looks and acting class.  Every agent has to figure out how much time they need to put into a client to get a return on their investment (you).  If you walk in and all you have is head-shots and botox you’re not going to get far.  How do you get them to invest in you?  Refer to steps 1, 2 and 2.5 and repeat often.

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As a mentor of mine so eloquently put it:  ’On You’

Kahlil (at) gigsmacked (dot) com

your new friends

‘Who in the world isn’t on Facebook?’

Check out these quotes from a recent CNN.com article that posed this question.  For the full text click here:

On Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the site hit a half-billion active users.

That’s nearly five times as many people as watched this year’s Super Bowl — the most popular television broadcast ever — and about four times as many people as voted in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

People spend more than 700 billion minutes per month on the site and, according to Facebook, 400 million of them have logged in during the past month. Keep in mind there are only 309 million people in the United States — total.

So who isn’t using Facebook?

“It’s people who are not computer users — either really young or really old and for whom using technology just isn’t a part of their daily lives,” Smith said. “For people who do rely on technology, Facebook has just really become a common way to function and get a lot of normal things done.”

So what does this mean to you?

Maybe you don’t care about Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or Digg.  It can all sound a bit overwhelming trying to keep up with what ‘everybody else’ is posting and why you need to jump on the bandwagon.

If you want to succeed as a performer of ANY genre and don’t have a GOOD website and significant presence on at least Facebook or YouTube you’re fooling yourself. The more people are looking at you the more people will talk about you.  And when you meet with an agent or record label or whatever, regardless of how great your talent is, guess where they’re going to look as soon as you walk out the door?  Google.

They’re going to look you up online and the less they find, the less leverage you have to make them pay attention.

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are free advertising.

It’s stupid to assume that everyone on Facebook will see your page but it’s also ridiculous to think that ‘holding off for now’ is helping you in any way.

Let’s keep in mind that DeBeers doesn’t flood the market with diamonds.  Having 30 mediocre YouTube videos can be just as damaging as having none.  Learning that less is more and having a sense of discernment is something we don’t have the space or time to get into.

Moral of the story is:  If you’re a performer and you’re not using the Internet effectively you’re not serious about your career.  If you’re afraid or ignorant of how to play the internet game, there are people you can hire to help you.

Gordon Ogden is the best there is when it comes to maximizing your social media and web strategy.  Read his post here.

Can’t afford to hire anybody?  Buy a book or Google it and learn it yourself.  It’s pretty easy.

Need a website? Check out Femath Media www.femath.com, they did mine.

Instead of asking ‘why should I’ maybe the question is ‘what do I have to gain?’.

The answer?  Everything.

If you already have a website: Is anybody visiting?  Find out for free by using Google Analytics.  It tells you how many people are visiting your website and how long they stay on each page as well as how they found you.  No good having a lemonade stand if nobody’s thirsty.  Your site must evolve to engage your fans in new and exciting ways.

Go get it.

Kahlil (at) Gigsmacked (dot) com

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Little Richard

Whenever I am preparing for a run of Basic Training I have to find new ways to motivate myself to rehearse – which for me includes 5am runs and consistent physical conditioning.

A few years back I had dinner with Little Richard.  I won’t tell you how I know him because although it’s a hilarious story, it’s another post for another time.

He lives in a hotel in Hollywood and he’s just as dynamic in person as he is on stage.

As I sat there with one of the few true legends of the music industry (there would be no Coldplay, Madonna or Lady Gaga if it wasn’t for Little Richard) his stories inspired me to get off my ass and do more with my talent.

‘In those days all we did was rehearse because that’s all we could do’, he said.  ’You could get hanged or shot in the head just for looking at a white woman and we damn sure couldn’t go to the mall and hang out because folks of our color didn’t have malls.  So we found solace in our talent.  Even then it wasn’t a fair playing ground but we didn’t have time to worry about fair.  Performing was the only way out of our situation.  If you thought that your talent was the only thing that could rescue you from, you know, bein poor or the police messin with you- you would rehearse until you were dead.  Just for a chance to get on stage and wow folks. To prove yourself.  And honey, prove myself I did.’

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So many years later his words still ring true.  He had every right to make excuses and he didn’t.  I need to rehearse as if this talent was the only thing I have left, my only way out.  If Little Richard can find the time to rehearse and stay on top of his game, so can I.   How about you?

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If that don’t light your fire, you got wet wood.

-Kahlil (at) gigsmacked (dot) com