If You Pass This 8 Question Quiz, You're Ready To Be An Actor

The life of an actor is not an easy one. It looks glamorous from the outside since most people only think about the actual process of acting on a film or TV set. They don't think about the amount of time spent at auditions, the money that goes into acting classes and headshots and the (sometimes) negative feedback from others.

Are you interested in becoming a professional actor? If so, take this quiz to see if acting is the right career choice for you!

Are you okay with not knowing where your next paycheck is coming from or when you will have another paycheck? 
For most actors, consistent work is not something that normally happens. If you are looking for a steady paycheck, this might not be the job for you.


Do you like being rejected on a regular basis?
You don't hear back from a casting director if you don't book a job. You either don't hear anything or you see an announcement online about the actor that landed the part you hoped to book.  If you can't handle the constant rejection when it comes to booking acting roles, you might consider another line of work.


Are you willing to make the choice between paying for headshots and acting classes instead of essential items?
Sometimes actors have to make the choice between paying for items crucial to their chosen profession (such as acting classes and headshots) or buying a new couch or new tires for their car. If you would rather spend any extra money you have on advancing your career, you might be suited for the acting world.

Are you okay with being judged on your physical appearance?
There are many times that the final decision for a role is not based on your acting ability. The casting director is often trying to "mix and match" actors in order to achieve a certain look among the characters. You might be too tall or too small for what the casting folks have in mind. You might have too much hair or not enough hair. You might look more like a brother or sister than the possible love interest of the other actor or actress. Being judged on your looks is a big part of the audition process and you have to accept that fact if you want to make it as an actor.

Can you handle criticism?
It is the job of casting directors as well as producers and the director on set to give you feedback about your work. If you are the type of person who thinks that every choice you make is the right one at all times, you either have to learn to accept criticism or find a line of work where nobody will give you any sort of guidance or direction. I don't know if such a job exists but maybe you can find it.

Are you prepared to disappoint your family and friends?
No matter how much you plan ahead, there will be a time when your manager or agent calls with a last minute audition or booking. Actors often have to miss dinners, birthdays and holiday trips home because of the last minute nature of the industry. There will be many times that your family and friends will be upset with you and discourage your choice of such an unpredictable career. Being an actor means giving up precious time with them as you follow your dreams.

Does the thought of your friends living a normal life make you jealous?
Hopefully, you will be happy seeing your friends get married, have a steady job and buy a house where they will raise a family. Does the thought of having a "normal life" make you jealous or does it not seem appealing at all? If seeing your friends raise a family while having a regular job makes you jealous, you might not be cut out for the life of an actor.

Is acting the only career choice that makes you happy?
If the thought of being an actor makes you smile and brings you happiness, you have made the right choice so get out there and kick some acting butt!

How did you do on the quiz?

If you scored 7 or 8 points, you are ready to live the life of an actor.
If you scored 5 or 6 points, you might want to think twice before moving to Los Angeles.
If you scored 4 (or below) points, stay home because the uncertain life of an actor is not for you.

This actor is still working hard to succeed in Hollywood.

How To Survive Pilot Season

Pilot season is underway and you can feel the tension across the city. Everyone is comparing the amount of auditions they've had so far, what parts they went out for and wondering why they didn't get the call for certain parts. While pilot season is an important part of the year for actors, they also need to learn how to stay sane and survive the next few months. Here are some tips to help actors remain calm during pilot season:

• Keep Your Focus - Pilot season is busy and you could be driving to multiple areas of town in one day or multiple times during the week. Stay focused on your work and don't stress about Los Angeles traffic. Stay in the moment with your acting and don't worry about your agents or managers of any other "business" aspects of the television industry. Your agent and manager help you get in the room but it is your talent that will get you a callback for a project.
• Find An Outlet - Pilot season is more than going to auditions. It is also keeping track of new projects, submitting yourself for parts besides the ones your agent and manager handle, making connections and getting your name out there even more than you normally do during the year. It's a nonstop process but you need to make time to relax and let your mind rest. Go to the gym. Meet friends for dinner. Go hiking once or twice per week. Give yourself time to take a deep breath and think about something other than acting.
• It's Not Always You - There are a dozen or more reasons why you might not book a part. Your acting ability might be the last reason you don't book a pilot. They might have been searching for a "certain look" and you didn't match what they had in mind. The part might have been rewritten to be an older person or the opposite gender or even written out of the show completely. It might have been budget reasons. It's certainly disappointing if you don't land the role you were after but keeping it all in perspective is vital to staying sane during the pilot season casting process.
• Be Prepared - The art of being prepared is more than just knowing your lines and being off book. You will often be given a copy of the entire pilot script. Read through it so you know what the show is about beyond the part you hope to land, Showing an interest in the entire script and knowing how the characters interact with each other will go a long way in making you stand out in the eyes of the casting director. Being in the room is your time to shine and show you have what it takes to play the part as well as be an important part of the acting ensemble. 
• Don't Let It Define The Rest Of Your Year - Don't let the success or failure you have in booking a pilot define the rest of your year. Pilot season is only a few months out of the year. If you don't book a pilot, it doesn't mean you will be unemployed for the rest of the year. Keep your eyes and ears open for new opportunities down the road. It might seem like the end of the world if you don't book a pilot but it can also mean there is something better waiting for you later in the year. Stay positive and keep your eyes on the goal of being a working actor.

This actor has had a couple of auditions in the last few weeks.

Three Tips For Actors Starting Their Hollywood Journey

The act of moving to Los Angeles to chase your dreams is just the first step in the process of being a professional actor in Hollywood. There are dozens of tips and tricks to make your life easier but here are three important lessons every actor should know as they begin their career:

1. You will feel alone - Child actors and teen actors always have a support system in place because they have some form of their family with them in Los Angeles since they are underage. However, it seems that the majority of actors who move here in their 20's or older are almost always alone when they arrive in town. It takes a lot of inner strength to pack up and leave your family and friends behind and move to a place where there are thousands of other people also trying to make it in the same field. This business is not for those who can't take rejection easily. It takes hard work as well as an almost ridiculous amount of belief in your acting ability to survive. Be patient and give yourself time to get settled and, before you know it, you will discover where you belong in the acting community.
2. The people you think are "your enemies" are not against you - It might appear that some casting directors and producers never seem to like your work during an audition. You need to remember that they choose the actors they call in for auditions. Your agent or manager might submit you but the casting directors and producers pick the people they want to see during the audition process. They must like something about your acting style if you keep getting asked to audition for parts in front of them. Don't enter the room with a "me against them" attitude. Enter the room knowing that you are there for a reason. They keep calling you back so they must see something in you. Know that you've already won part of the battle because you were selected to audition over hundreds of other actors submitted for the part. They are not your enemy. They want to give you a job but they just haven't found the right part for you (yet).
3. You need to be more than a good actor - One of the unspoken factors that goes into landing a part is who you are as a person. There are hundreds of actors who would love to book the part. However, they might be missing the one quality that sometimes makes a difference in who books the job. Being a good person is just as important as being a good actor. The amount of time actors spend each day on the set can be anywhere from 8 to 12 to 16 hours. That is a lot of time spent with the same people 5 or 6 days a week for months at a time. The odds are that you are not a big enough name in the acting world to get away with being a jerk to everyone on the set. Being a pain. as well as having the reputation of being a pain, is one of the easiest ways to not get a part. I am convinced that Zach's acting skills got him the recurring role on "Bella and the Bulldogs". I'm also convinced that being professional as an extra in many episodes also got him the part. He was never late, worked hard, took direction and was kind and respectful to the entire cast and crew, Zach had earned the trust of the cast and crew. His reputation of being a professional who was also easy to work with served him well during his audition for the part of "Quiet Chris".

Don't be discouraged and don't give up easily. Whenever you are feeling down, just remember you are not the only person in this town feeling the same way. If you approach your acting career with the knowledge that your big break will not happen overnight, you will be prepared to face the challenges coming your way in Hollywood.

This actor is in it for the long haul.

Missed Interviews and Unexpected Opportunities

I've received a few emails out of the blue recently regarding my "dadager" duties with The Artist. These emails prove that you never know what will strike a chord with people.

I do a lot of social media for a living and try to tailor each post to the needs of the client. However, there are times I create a post simply because I find something amusing or because I want to share a joke with the fans of the client. While many of the posts I spend a good amount of time on do very well in terms of views and interactions, the posts I create on the spur of the moment sometimes gather more attention than the planned posts. I worked at a plastic surgery conference last weekend in downtown Los Angeles and I kept thinking of silly jokes while walking around the conference. I posted a few of them on my Instagram page and they caught the attention of the plastic surgery community around the world. 

When Zach and I moved to California in 2012, I started this blog as a way of documenting our adventures in Hollywood. I called myself a dadager because I thought it was a funny name to use in the title of the blog. Little did I know that the word would come to define me in the eyes of many people in the film and television industry. The fact that people refer to me by that title is not a bad thing. I'm just amazed by that fact since I started using the name simply as a joke. In fact, it is the name many people use when they are searching for me on the Internet.

The first email I received was around Memorial Day. A well-known author (the kind of author that it seemed like it should have been a prank email) contacted me through this blog wanting to know if he could interview me for a very mainstream magazine. His editor ran across my blog and became interested in my stories about learning my way around the entertainment industry in Los Angeles and what it's like being a father at auditions when the majority of stage parents are females. We set-up a weekend where he could see Zach do improv at Second City and interview our whole family. The weekend neared and the author had to cancel our interview because he was assigned another story. It was like auditioning, getting a callback and then going to test for producers. I was close to landing the part (being interviewed) but the part went to someone else (he was assigned another story).

The second email came in early August and it was from a television production company in New York City looking for parents active in the careers of their children in Hollywood. I did a phone call to get more information and seemed to hit all the right notes. According to the production executive:

• I had great/funny/moving stories
• I was knowledgeable without being boring
• I was an easy interview
• I was the kind of person they wanted to cast for their project

I wasn't sold on the idea of being part of a TV project about Hollywood parents but I wasn't going to completely dismiss the idea. I did the phone call on a Wednesday and she asked me to leave the following Wednesday or Thursday open for a Skype interview. The executive needed to do her weekly production meeting before our Skype interview so she could get more details together for me. We set-up a time to Skype and then she dropped out of sight. I made a few calls and emails but got no answer. When I finally heard from her, I was told the project was on hold because they were having trouble finding other parents (besides me) who weren't jerks or looking to boost their own careers by being on a realty TV show. In acting terms, I did the audition and had the part in hand but troubles assembling the rest of the cast put the project on hold.

If those two emails count as strike one and strike two, is there a strike three in this story?

Yes.

The well-known author emailed me again in the middle of August to ask if I was still interested in doing the interview. His editor asked him why I hadn't been interviewed yet and wanted it done in September. We set-up another weekend for him to visit us and see Zach perform around town. His last email to me said he would be in touch soon to finalize the details for the September interview.

Welcome to October. Still no interview. Still no word from him. I'm not surprised but I am amazed at all of the trouble he has gone through only to miss the interview twice. I'm especially amazed since I didn't initiate the interview process either time. 

Both of these experiences have given me a better understanding of what Zach goes through at auditions. It's tough being told you're the perfect choice for a project and then never hearing back from the person who praised you. While being stood up for an interview isn't the same as not booking a part, it still helps me when I'm talking to Zach after he doesn't hear anything after reading for a role. 

It's the kind of insight that would be great to share on TV or in a print interview. All I need is someone to actually do an interview with me!!!!

This actor has been interviewed many times

Handling Rejection Like A Pro

The audition process is one of the hardest parts of life for an actor. The amount of times you don't land a role far outweigh the number of times you book a part. Learning to handle rejection and not let it eat away at you is something that each actor has to deal with in their own way. I understand this feeling because I do a lot of freelance work and trying to land a freelance gig is very much like an audition.

Here are some tips to help you deal with not booking a part as well as how to use the experience in the future:

• Accept The Odds - If you stop and think about how many times you will audition for parts, you will be looking for work more than you actually work. This means you will spend a good amount of time auditioning for parts and never hearing back from the casting director. Unfortunately, this is a fact of life in the acting world. You can either learn to move forward and realize you're not the top choice for every part or you can obsess to the point that it distracts you from focusing on your next audition.
• Be Excited About Auditions - As mentioned above, a good portion of your life as an actor will be auditioning for parts. If you want to be a working actor, this makes the audition process a very important part of your working life. Like any other job, there will be parts of your chosen profession that get you down on a daily basis. However, you should be thrilled if you get to audition on a regular basis. There are thousands of actors in Los Angeles who get submitted for a part but don't get called in for an audition. Be happy that you made the cut and have the chance to showcase your acting in front of a casting director.
• Don't Worry - Any tension you bring into the audition room will be felt by everyone around you. Be excited that you have the chance to audition for a part (no matter how big or small the role). Stay focused on the audition at hand and don't worry about booking the job. Doing your best in front of the casting director might not land you the part you auditioned for today but it might lead to new opportunities and jobs in the future.
• Breathe Deep - One of the big jokes about Los Angeles is that everybody is into meditation and yoga. While not everybody is looking into their souls to find peace, there is something to be said about taking the time to unwind. A regular routine of exercise, meditation, yoga and relaxing with friends can help you stop worrying about the little things and focus on the big picture AKA your career! 
• Patience - The majority of actors who move to Hollywood will not be an overnight success story. It takes time to make a name for yourself in Hollywood as well as develop your craft. The more you network with fellow actors and attend workshops, the more opportunities will come your way in the future.
• Don't Take It Personally - How many times have you read a character breakdown for an audition and been convinced that the part was written with you in mind? While you might see the character as being perfect for you, the director and producers might have another "type" in mind. You might even look like an actor they've already cast for another role. There is only so much you can do, and only so much that is in your control, when it comes to landing a role. There is no reason to take it personally if you don't match the type of actor they have in mind. 
• The Opinion Of One Person Is Not The Opinion Of Everyone - The fact that one person didn't like your audition is not how everyone feels about your talent. You have an acting range filled with skills that you don't always get to showcase in auditions. Don't dismiss any criticism you get in an audition but don't take it as a slight against your acting skills.
• Manage Your Expectations - It helps to enter any audition with realistic expectations. If you don't have much experience in drama or Shakespeare plays, don't be crushed if you don't book the part. Entering an audition with realistic expectations helps you keep everything in perspective as well as avoid feeling disappointed.
• Keep In Mind That Acting Is A Business - There is a good amount of art involved in acting but it's important to remember that acting is also a business. The producers of a movie or television show have to hire the actors they feel are the best fit as well as marketable when it comes to promoting the finished product. You can be a great actor but not fit the vision of the final product.

It's up to you to figure out how you deal with rejection as an actor. If you want to make a living as an actor, keep in mind that success is not overnight and you should be prepared for many auditions during your acting journey.

This actor has booked some roles and also been rejected for some parts.