I really want to get back into my acting career this year. I’ve been way too passive about things lately and I know I need to stop doing that. I was using the pandemic as an excuse at first, but I know now that isn’t really the reality of the situation anymore. Things aren’t completely back to how they were before, but they are almost there and I need to get back to pursuing my acting career that I did before as well.
Because it’s been a while since I’ve really been working hard at my career, I do have to restart a few things and make sure that I have the best situation as possible for various things. I’m going to look for a new agent, which will require making sure I’ve got a nice new headshot and demo reel to use when I submit myself to agencies. I also know that having new headshots will help when I’m submitted for work. Most jobs will come through my agent (whether it’s the one I have now or a new one if I change agents), so I won’t be submitting myself as much as I did before. But I still plan on continuing to submit myself for work because that’s one of the few things I can control about this career.
The photographer that I used most recently for headshots is no longer in LA. Another photographer I’ve used before is still here, so I may see her again. But I’ve been looking into new photographers in case I find someone new that I’d like to work with who I feel could get some great shots. I know getting my materials updated is important, but I also think that planning is the easier part for me. I just have to decide when I want to do the photos and book them. But there are other things that I’m trying to get ready for and that’s taking more effort.
I haven’t been in a formal acting class in a while. I miss being in class, but before I had my current job it was harder for me to find a class that worked with my budget. There were a few affordable classes I tried to get into, but they usually had a lot of interest and I wasn’t picked to be in the class when I auditioned for it. And I wasn’t really sure what type of class I wanted to be in since I’ve done a bunch in the past and I have liked the different focuses and couldn’t pick either a favorite or one that I felt I really needed to focus on more.
Now that I have the ability to spend money on classes again, I’ve been trying to do some more serious and specific research. I’ve been asking my friends who are enjoying their classes where they are studying so I can look into those teachers a bit more. Some of them aren’t a good fit for me or have a focus on something I’m not interested in (some classes, for example, focus on both directing and acting and I don’t have an interest in directing). But I’ve started to build a short list of some classes that do seem to be good fits for me, at least when considering the focus and the price. There are a few that aren’t super close to where I live, so it would be harder to get to them.
And then I have to consider my schedule. A lot of classes are during the day, and I can’t do those unless they were a 1-hour class on Zoom and I could do that on my lunch break. But classes typically are longer than that, so daytime classes wouldn’t work. And I’m not always free every evening so there are only so many nights a week that I could potentially go to a class.
Finding the perfect class or classes for me is going to take time when I consider all the different factors. I’m not in a rush to get into a class, but I do want to get a plan going sooner rather than later since I know how easily time can just slip by. I hope that it won’t take too long for me to find the perfect match with all the different things I have to work with and around. And maybe with all this research, I’ll have a good list of classes to consider in the future once I’m ready for a different class option.
Even though I won’t see results from this research right away, I’m glad I got started on it already since this will all take time. And hopefully, by the end of the year, I will feel like I have accomplished so much more with my acting career than I have in the past few years.
You Might Also Like
New Things To Think About With My Acting Career (or I Need To Plan Things More)
I Should Start Focusing On Acting Again (or It’s Been A Crazy Few Years)
Figuring Out The Next Step (or I Need To Keep Acting)
The New TV Season (or Starting My Research Early This Year)
MasterClass (or Another Online Community)
Finally Back To A Full Work Schedule (or I Really Do Like Having A Stable Schedule)
