You gotta put yourself out there. Get the world to know you! Make them remember your name!! Solution- market yourself. You are the CEO of your company. To be able to run your company, you need people who will bring you money. For that you have to make sure casting directors, directors, other actors along with local filmmakers know about you. They would know how to find you, what roles cast you for, etc.
Whenever a casting team is looking for a Russian girl, my friends who I have not seen in years tag me in a post of this casting call. I actually booked gigs, because of them! I always promote myself. I want people to know me and what I do, how I’m different from other actresses who look like me, and who are in the same age group. I also like to help actors who are just getting started in the industry.
Promote yourself via YouTube by posting self-tapes, monologues, fun stories from the set, a day out of your life as an actor, short films you shot... Choices are unlimited! Post different clips on TikTok where you show your skills to people all over the world! Post, tag people on Instagram and Facebook, and show what you’re working on and headshots you just got. People notice and they remember you. Make it a once a week or two times a week kind of thing.
I get it, social media suuuuckkksss! Instagram feed features happy, gorgeous people on vacations in Thailand, someone getting married, lots of anorexic models with perfect faces, boobs...yada yada. Filters are fake, most of IG is a show-off and very self-entered.
Facebook brings a lot of drama and bunch of idiots who think venting out about religion or politics is somehow going to help everyone. IT DOESN'T.
You see other actors getting jobs back and forth while you haven't booked anything in six months. It does happen to the best of us! I know friends who have been in biz for years and they haven't been booked for a while. But guess what? In those 6 months that you haven't booked a gig, you were taking ongoing acting classes, you learned a new language, perhaps you learned a new special skill, you made 30 grand selling NFT's. Who knows? Just because you don't book something, doesn't mean you're a failure or bad actor.
I'll bring a personal story into this. I haven't booked anything since October 2021. Last gig was my first co-star role. However I auditioned for few network and streaming shows, including "The Resident", "Little America" and "The Righteous Gemstones S3". I also interviewed other actors and two casting directors for my podcast, which you can find on YouTube "Confessions of an Actor". I took acting classes, made various TikToks which takes a lot of time and practice, learned how to do SFX makeup, made more than 10k at my other job, networked, traveled to new states and got a passport. If I don't book things, I don't dwell on it, I find something else to do, something that will help me with my acting career. I will be taking a stunt driving class in March and I know that it will look amazing on my resume, and if I take a picture and put it on Actor's Access- even better.
Fun fact: I keep seeing the same actors working on sets every week, looking happy and you know what? They're working on short films that no one is ever going to see, infomercials that are only shown on medical sites, student films that pay ZERO dollars. Good for them- they're doing it for experience and networking, but I'd rather be on television as a co-star, as recurring character and make more money in a day than any short film ever paid me in a week!
Thanks to marketing, a fellow filmmaker, casting director and now a friend of mine, Tom Bussineau who I mentioned in blog "Confessions of a casting director", contacted me via Instagram and wanted to cast me in his 48-hour project. Two weeks later I was nominated for the best actress for his film. Another week later a fellow friend of mine, Hugo, who I met on that set helped me with my idea of opening a restaurant. Another actor, Charlie, from the same film set offered me a part in his feature film. All because of the marketing and networking!
My conclusion is this- never be afraid to put yourself out there. Never stop posting about your success. There will be haters and what do we do with them? IGNORE THEM. Don't say or mention your next steps, SURPRISE people instead!
People WILL remember and the world WILL know about you, superstar ;)