- The Hollywood Sentinel

By Bruce Edwin

Film producer and screenwriter Bruce Edwin is CEO of the A-list firm Starpower Management LLC, publisher of The Hollywood Sentinel, and founder of Hollywood Sentinel Public Relations. His services, based on his years of expertise and success in the music and film industry are sought out and used by some of the most powerful companies and stars in entertainment. This ongoing article series, a precursor to his upcoming book, is his way of giving back to models, actors and bands, with free education– that in its totality and with its unabashed honesty, cannot not be found anywhere else, for free. This advice pertains to those in all areas of the arts; screenwriters, directors, actors, models, bands, dancers, and more.

Letters to the Editor:

Hello Mr. Edwin,

My name is A.C. I happened to stumble across your site while searching for agents and managers. I appreciate your straight forward and authentic approach. Being of like mind in that regard, my situation is as follows…

I’m an “aspiring” actor in my mid-thirties. I have few credits most of which are student films. I started in the industry in my early twenties and things progressed very quickly. I was connected with a manager who then connected me with a SAG franchised agent. I had gone on several auditions ranging from commercials, to leading roles in soaps and feature films. Literally within weeks of me taking my first acting class of many.

Needless to say I didn’t book very often, mostly modeling work. I was eventually dropped by my agent, soon followed by my manager due to lack of communication a immaturity on my part. I’ve been in and out of the industry over the years mostly out with the exception of this past year completing three shorts and a couple of minor auditions for pilots, which I got through a fitness client of mine who happens to be a television producer. I have maintained a commercial look and can probably play as young as 28 or 29.

My question to you, is with everything I’ve mentioned, in your opinion is there a manager and or agent who would be willing to take a chance on someone like me?

I will still pursue my renewed acting goals regardless of your response, but I would be greatly appreciative of any advice you would be willing to offer.

Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,

A.C.

P.S. I plan on implementing the Domino Technique in helping me achieve said goal, so I also thank you for sharing it.

(Note: The Domino Technique is a method of business applications developed by Bruce Edwin, as published in a former issue of The Hollywood Sentinel. The full name has been omitted by the editor out of respect for the actor).

Bruce Edwin Responds:

A.C,

I am glad you appreciate the writing and find some use with it, as well as implementing the Domino Technique. You are on the right path with that. Also, be sure to read all of the other articles of “How to Succeed In Hollywood” in our archives section which can be found at: www.TheHollywoodSentinel.com. You stated why you got dropped, due to immaturity and lack of communication. That’s good that you realize this, because the first step to overcoming any problem is realizing that you were the creator of the problem. Now, you did not indicate that you are no longer going to keep creating this problem by behaving in this way, so it is important to do that. My feeling is that if you did know that you were valuable and professional and doing all you needed to do, you would not ask if there would be an agent or manager willing to take a chance on you–rather you would ‘know’ it.

Not knowing something is obviously simply a lack of knowledge in that area. Certainly there are agents and managers out there willing to take a chance on you. But the question should be what type of agent or manager can you get, and what do you have to be, do, or have to get them? Can you get a low level agent or manager that does nothing for you, or a top quality one that helps takes you to the place you want to be? To get the best, you need to be the best, and to be the best in your career, you need to eliminate all areas in yourself concerning your career that are not the best. That includes firstly, your self esteem. You need to get your self esteem up, which is directly connected to your knowledge of success that will lead to success. If you lack self esteem, which many aspiring actors do, then you may need more training. And even the greatest actor can get more training. Just don’t get one of those acting coaches that wants to keep you under their wing training forever, and never let you go off and audition or work. If you were the best trained actor you possibly could be, I doubt that you would be asking me if an agent or manager would ‘take a chance’ on you. When one is highly competent, one knows the heights that they can achieve are limited only by their own reach. Get more competent as an actor with more training, and then you will have no doubts about getting the representation you want.

You may often hear agents and managers telling talent how there is no shortage of actors on town, ready to take there place. That is true for the mediocre or low level actors–the ones who cannot really ‘act.’ But there ‘is’ a shortage of ‘great’ actors in Hollywood. When you become great, due to a high level of competency in top level training, then your esteem goes up, because you know that you are now a product in higher demand.

Also, as I have stated in a former edition of “How to Succeed In Hollywood,” stop referring to yourself as an ‘aspiring’ actor. An aspiring actor means that you are working on becoming an actor. If you are an aspiring actor, then you are not an actor. To state that you are an ‘aspriring A-List actor’ might be more accurate, or in some cases, ‘aspiring’ to be an actor, but one is not an aspiring actor. Either one is an actor, or they are not. There is no in between. Imagine a man wanting to play baseball, telling everyone that he is an aspiring baseball player. What does that mean? He is either hoping to be a Major League all star player, or he is hoping to learn how to play baseball. If he is hoping to learn how to play, then he should stop hoping, and just go pick up a bat, ball, and glove and go learn how to play. Stop aspiring, and just act. If you are aspiring to a certain level, then make a written plan of how you are going to get there, with your top goal written at the top of the page, and working backwards to where you are now.

Its fine you are SAG-AFTRA, yet being SAG does not mean that one knows how to act. In fact, most SAG players don’t. Lack of credits does not matter so much as does lack of talent. One can have a hundred credits and still be a lousy actor. Which is funny to me when some SAG actors get offended when I ask them if they have training, when they automatically expect me to consider them valid as a talent just because they have union status or a few credits. That is not the case.

So, focus more on training, and less on credits. Focus more on your craft, and less on who will ‘take a chance on you.’ Focus on being the best, and the representation will–if you get out there enough, come to you if you become truly ‘great.’ Become a great actor, get in a play, record it, and then send that to a hundred agents and managers. Then you will have arrived much closer to the level you may seek. I hope this is further value to you.

– Bruce Edwin

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