How To Break Into Acting

This is a guide to show you how you can break into the world of acting, this guide is intended for people from 18-100.

I am an actor, I did my first movie when I was 37 years old. Since then I have done a lot of movies, and a couple of commercials. I am now a member Sag-Aftra which is the actor's union. The movies I have done are feature films. your best start honestly in independent films even if you do not get a paycheck for it. I started out in background acting, and unfortunately I have been stuck there ever since, the region I am in does not help, nor does the casting companies that are available.

Some movies I have worked on include:

Ted

The Makeover

Clear History

Central Intelligence

Crooked Arrows

The Heat

Slenderman

Movies I can actually be seen in

That's My Boy

Grown Ups 2

Daddy's Home 2

American Woman

Sound of Metal

SMILF (television series)

Here Comes The Boom

I have also had the opportunity to do stand-in work, which is a fantastic gig if you can get it. A stand-in is a person who has similar color and height/weight to the principal actor, they are used for lighting, and to set up the next scenes, they also have what is called a photo double, a photo double is someone who looks exactly like the principal actor. This guide was created out of my personal experience, and research, it is not intended to mislead anyone into believing this is the outcome they will have nor should it be considered you will have the same exact experience. I also want to make sure the readers of this guide does not expect to get rich or famous from this, I have done over 20+ movies in my career, and I guarantee you have no idea who I am, I started doing movies for 2 reasons, the first was to prove a point to an ex who left me for another no-name actress and the other was because I always had an interest in acting, So if you chose to read this guide and take the steps to start an acting career take into consideration that even though it is a fun job, it will not make you rich, or famous, it is long hours, and tedious. Do not forget this is written based on the steps I took and my own personal experience, although I am going to give you tips that may take you out of the background game to principal actor which if you are interested in even getting a little famous that is what you want to be, it does not mean I will guarantee you will be.

So if you think you will get famous overnight?

Probably not

If you want to rub elbows with famous people?

Probably not, although some of them are friendly you should never approach them or talk to them unless they talk to you first.

If you have a love for the arts and don't mind a long day?

Read on.

The first thing you should never worry about is your age, most casting companies are looking for everyday people, so whether you are 18 or 80 there will be a role for you, also your location is not a big worry either, although if you live in Timbuktu Wyoming it may cause a problem, find your closet major city and determine if it's worth the drive, and the final thing you do not need to worry about is your experience when breaking into acting whether you are trying to do it as a hobby or a full-time job you should definitely do some background work, it's a good breaking point, and will give you the in's and out's of working on a set, and will also get you on the radar of casting companies, and some production assistants which usually work the same area constantly. When you are on set it is extremely important to remember to remain professional, never take photos, or even pull out your phone on set, listen to direction, and never approach a principal actor, never get starstruck regardless of how much you love the main actor, they are just a person, and doing anything above is the first way to get removed from the set and guarantee you will never be invited back to another set again. Oh, and one last thing about do and do not on set, do not try and follow the camera, it will make you look completely amateurish, and the rest of the background/principals/crew will notice, you will look stupid. 9 out of 10 times I was seen in a movie, I had no idea where the camera even was.

Some terms you may hear on set to give you an edge so you don't have to ask it to be explained.

Pantomiming: it's basically when you pretend to do something without making any noise, it can be anything from cheering to having a conversation, so when the AD tells you to pantomime and you need to clap, you clap without having your hands touch, you talk with your lips moving and no voice being used, you cheer like you would without the noise.

Another term is reset

That is when you start from the beginning, although they may say reset to 2 which means you go to your second position, so let's say you walked from position 1 to 2 by taking 10 steps and turning right, you go back to where you turned right.

Then the common terms rolling, roll sound, cut, quiet on the set (you will hear this a lot) when sound is on don't make a sound if you are not supposed to, those boom mikes can pick up you dialing a cell phone on silent.

First, though you need to get on set, the way to do that is casting companies, for independent films you may want to check your local college that has a theater/film department.

Casting companies are not the same as talent agencies, Talent agencies are not necessary unless you find yourself a high commodity in the business and need someone to delegate work for you, if you ever try to go to a talent agency, and they tell you that you need money to join their database, run as fast as you can, any legitimate talent agency will not ask for money in advance nor does any modeling agency, casting companies are simply the 3rd party production companies use to help them find background and in some cases principal and supporting actors, it all depends on the casting companies reputation in the business.

In order to find casting companies in your area is search, WWGS? What would google say, any legitimate casting company is going to have a website and/or a Facebook page. So either search Google or Facebook, another great website that covers a majority of the United States is ActorsAccess.com they send you casting notices either weekly or daily depending on your preferences based on your specs and location. It literally cost 99cents to submit and you are searchable on their database by producers or casting companies. Most casting companies have a digital database that you can automatically add yourself too, the only major company that does not is central casting, although they do have set hours for new talent or to update yourself in their database, they are primarily in the major markets like Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta When you go to create your profile the most important part is your photo, if you do not have a headshot just simply snap a picture of yourself behind a plain white wall, keep your top a solid color.