"I've been an actor for nearly 40 years. Couldn't get arrested for the first 17, then the tumblers fell accidentally into place and I've worked ever since. Every pilot I've ever done save one was picked up. I've had about 7 series and 40-something movies. I've never been fired (though my role has on occasion been cut in rewrites). I'm the luckiest actor ever born, I think, because no matter how prepared, how ready, how congenial, how talented I might be, there are a thousand other actors as much or more talented, ready, congenial, and prepared, and there's little reason it should be me rather than them who gets the job. All of this is to say that this piece by Ken Levine is absolutely, utterly, and undeniably accurate about the lottery-within-a-lottery-within-a-lottery that is an acting career in film and TV. My late wife Cecily Adams was both an actor and a casting director (she only hired me twice in 20 years, by the way!), and through her I saw so much of the reality of the casting process. Though I remind my fellow actors that the casting people have you there because they WANT you to be the one who succeeds--no one gets past a pre-read without a casting person wanting them to do well--it is a deadly business, and the higher up the food chain in television, the more likely the person is to contribute to that deadliness. Network execs who choose hotties over the next Lucille Ball for a sitcom despite the latter's talent, saying "Leave talent out of the equation"--true story. The dreaded "NPE" next to your name (Not Pretty Enough). Losing parts because you have a mustache (happened to me several times, despite the fact that I own a razor). Losing parts because you look like the development exec's ex-husband. The only way to win at this game is to be prepared, be ready, be talented, be congenial, be lucky, and never, ever believe you could ever do anything else. If you can't guarantee those things, you're in the wrong game. If you can guarantee those things, the odds are still a zillion to one. But you'll have nearly a zillion colleagues to commiserate with, and you might--MIGHT--be the one. Someone will be."
Is it actor gossip, though? It's an article on the realities of the film and television industry, with a short piece in the comments section by Jim Beaver.
I agree. It's not actor gossip, just an article about actors in general. And didn't Spanky decree that discussing factual information about the actors' public/professional lives is okay, as in say, X got a cool role in Y, yay aren't we excited? Don't quote me on that though, could be faulty memory.
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I'll drop this off here:
(Anonymous) 2012-02-06 02:02 am (UTC)(link)Jim Beaver's comment:
"I've been an actor for nearly 40 years. Couldn't get arrested for the first 17, then the tumblers fell accidentally into place and I've worked ever since. Every pilot I've ever done save one was picked up. I've had about 7 series and 40-something movies. I've never been fired (though my role has on occasion been cut in rewrites). I'm the luckiest actor ever born, I think, because no matter how prepared, how ready, how congenial, how talented I might be, there are a thousand other actors as much or more talented, ready, congenial, and prepared, and there's little reason it should be me rather than them who gets the job. All of this is to say that this piece by Ken Levine is absolutely, utterly, and undeniably accurate about the lottery-within-a-lottery-within-a-lottery that is an acting career in film and TV. My late wife Cecily Adams was both an actor and a casting director (she only hired me twice in 20 years, by the way!), and through her I saw so much of the reality of the casting process. Though I remind my fellow actors that the casting people have you there because they WANT you to be the one who succeeds--no one gets past a pre-read without a casting person wanting them to do well--it is a deadly business, and the higher up the food chain in television, the more likely the person is to contribute to that deadliness. Network execs who choose hotties over the next Lucille Ball for a sitcom despite the latter's talent, saying "Leave talent out of the equation"--true story. The dreaded "NPE" next to your name (Not Pretty Enough). Losing parts because you have a mustache (happened to me several times, despite the fact that I own a razor). Losing parts because you look like the development exec's ex-husband. The only way to win at this game is to be prepared, be ready, be talented, be congenial, be lucky, and never, ever believe you could ever do anything else. If you can't guarantee those things, you're in the wrong game. If you can guarantee those things, the odds are still a zillion to one. But you'll have nearly a zillion colleagues to commiserate with, and you might--MIGHT--be the one. Someone will be."
Jim Beaver
http://www.lifesthatway.com
Re: I'll drop this off here:
(Anonymous) 2012-02-06 02:04 am (UTC)(link)Re: I'll drop this off here:
(Anonymous) 2012-02-06 02:11 am (UTC)(link)Re: I'll drop this off here:
(Anonymous) 2012-02-06 02:40 am (UTC)(link)Anyway, interesting read.