How To Build Your Acting Career Roadmap: The Vital Components
“I have no idea what steps to take next – I just really wish I had a game plan or roadmap to follow. Cause’ I’m totally lost on where to go from here!”
^^^This is the thing I hear most often from actors (in all different stages of their careers).
Building success in this career can be… confusing, frustrating, and exhilarating. Because there is no set roadmap handed to you upon walking into your first acting class. One that clearly states the steps you need to take to be well on your way to the silver screen. (Much less just the bare bones basic sh*t you should focus on).
So when you get a win, it feels MASSIVE. And when you’re in-between wins, you may as well be Sandra Bullock in Gravity endlessly floating in space.
You can listen to 80 podcasts, read blogs for 8 hours straight and meet with a variety of acting teachers/coaches and get insanely different advice on where to put your time, money, and energy to GROW past where you are.
In this blog, I’ll take you through the different components of what it takes to build your personalized career roadmap and the different aspects of your acting career that are vitally important and can help lead you on the road to success.
When you give the blog a read – please note:
- What do you have working in your favor & what are your strengths?
- What are some goals you want to achieve and put energy towards?
- What current roadblocks you’re facing personally or professionally? What obstacles stand in your way of achieving your goals or feeling your best?
- How far you’ve already come (Don’t lose sight of all that you’ve achieved and where you’ve come from because you’re so focused on where you’re going)
P.S. You are the greatest asset in your life and in your career. This is all figueroutable – promise.
Part 1.) Get clear on your WHY and what your goals are
✨ Your WHY is your guiding light
And will help lead you during the dark times and career lows Why is this important to you? Why did you start this journey? Why must you keep going? Why do you love acting? Why are you passionate about making this your career? Write your why down and put it in a place where you can see it to give you a daily reminder of the meaning of this journey to you.
✨ What are some goals you want to achieve this year?
Great – now break them down into super tiny small steps. So “getting a new agent” isn’t sitting on your to-do list because that’s not a task. What are ALL the steps you need to do to work towards trying to get an agent? And since that depends on someone else saying “yes” to you – how can we reframe that goal into something that is in our control?
One way to do this is to set PROCESS-BASED GOALS (vs. outcome-based goals – which is the main we’ve been taught to set goals.) Check out my blog on how to set 🔥 goals that are designed to help you clearly tackle your to-do list and dominate your goals.
Let’s test out another example and say one of your goals is to get on set more- yes, hopefully, that will come from you booking work, but have you ever thought about doing extra work to see how a big set is run? What about offering to be a production assistant on a friend’s project?
What are other ways you can go about achieving this goal that doesn’t rely on someone saying YES to you (like a casting director saying YES to booking you for a role). Open up your perspective on the different ways you can go about making this happen for yourself – because, yes, obviously if the reason for you being on set is from booked work that’s freakin’ AWESOME – but trust me, there’s a lot you can learn even if you’re not the one in front of the camera, or if you’re hidden behind the lead actors in the background.
✨ Separate the types of goals you want to set for yourself and your career.
Set a specific and simple goal to help you build your career, one that’s craft-focused and one that is just for YOU to build your confidence and mindset. This helps you organize your efforts so you don’t feel like you’re being split in a million different directions by trying to become a better actor, grow your career to massive success and become a better person all on a casual Tuesday in the fall. This is a surefire way for you to go into analysis paralysis of what action you should be taking next instead of… taking that next action.
Knowing the direction you want to head is vital to help you lay the groundwork and design the structure of your roadmap.
✨ Set a weekly or bi-weekly town hall meeting with yourself to check your progress
Check in with yourself often about the actions you’re taking to reach your goals.
What’s working? What’s not? How can you pivot your efforts? Or double down on what’s working well for you?
Have a weekly or bi-weekly town hall meeting with yourself. Go through the different sectors of your goals (Career goals, craft goals, and confidence/mindset goals) and note the actions you’ve taken, measure your metrics, check in on your finances and where you want to allocate your budget towards, and how do you FEEL about your progress. These town halls help you pause and analyze your efforts, so you don’t feel like you’re just blindly throwing a ton of effort in all different directions – this leads to burnout and major frustration.
Set aside 30-minutes, and put it IN your calendar so you’ll actually show up. This is a meeting with the most important person in your life (you). Then pour yourself a cup of coffee (or a margarita – you do you) and take some inventory of your current actions so you can design your next ones with integrity.
Part 2.) How confident are you in your acting ability? How are you working towards becoming a better actor?
✨ Your craft is what your career is built upon.
If you’re not… good… it’ll be incredibly hard to be competitive. Cue next-level frustration. Maybe you started this journey because you want to be a STAR and make boatloads of cash – or you just really loved acting – like REALLY loved it. Enough to dedicate your life and career path towards pursuing it. So acting and your ability to act need to remain at the forefront always. And don’t fret – becoming a better actor is a lifelong journey – you never “arrive” at a point where all of a sudden you’ve learned everything you can.
✨ Are you working with a class or coach that challenges you?
Are you growing your skillets? How are you adding to your “toolbox”? Here is a post about the different types of training you should engage in at some point during your career. I know training comes at a cost and you should NEVER go broke because of an acting class. But what can you do to include it in your budget? Even if it’s not right now. Good training is something that can be the most impactful for your career now and in the long run.
✨What content are you ingesting to help you improve?
Are you studying shows and movies and learning from other actors? Here is a podcast episode from One Broke Actress of How To Watch TV Like an Actor. And don’t you dare be one of those actors that claim, “I really don’t watch TV.” 🙈 It’s part of your JOB to know what’s going on in the current marketplace and what it’s the most fun homework you can possibly have. What podcasts are you listening to? Youtube is another fantastic resource. What about books on acting or the business? And most of these are FREE resources or very inexpensive. What about reading scripts online? What content is helpful to your growth as an actor and can you choose even ONE thing to do a week that’s outside of class or working with a coach to help improve yourself as an actor? You may roll your eyes and be like, “Maddie – one thing is nothing – how is that helpful?” It’s helpful because you can definitely do ONE extra thing a week to become a better actor… you’ll do it, it’s possible. And ingesting one piece of content a week consistently is better than trying to do 8 things a week inconsistently.
✨What do you KNOW you need to work on?
And how can you directly give yourself an opportunity to do so? (Ex. Feeling crappy in your commercial auditions? What about a commercial workshop? Comedy auditions got you sweating – dedicate an entire month to going HARD on different types of comedy). Go face first into the things that you’re shaky with, soon enough they might even become one of your strengths.
Part 3.) Your marketing materials and sales tools are V important
✨ Your marketing materials can make or break you getting an opportunity
Whether you’re submitting yourself on job opportunities or you have rep submitting you, audition opportunities are won or lost because of your marketing materials (headshot, reels, resume, casting profiles) – they need to be stellar and be evidence of your talent. You need to have headshots, reel material, and casting profiles that SHINE with your strengths as an actor… show off your unique special sauce…. and showcase your castability.
Your marketing materials are what your representation uses to help pitch you to projects and it’s what casting directors use to determine if they should bring you in for an audition or not.
If you were on shark tank pitching yourself as an actor – the main part of your presentation would be you showing the sharks your casting profile. Going through your different headshots, watching your reel material, telling them about your training, past projects, and special skills.
And when a casting director clicks on the link to open your profile…. what impression are your materials going to make? Who are they going to think you are as a storyteller?
Your marketing materials are your “sales tools” used to help you get more career opportunities.
Your marketing materials should reflect:
✨ Who you are as a storyteller
✨ The strengths you have as an actor
✨ Your castability (what shows, films and characters could you be cast as TODAY)
^^^^How can THIS be reflected in your headshots and reel material? Check out the exercise in this post to give your marketing materials an instant boost!
✨I hate to say it… but please put some thought into your branding
Your branding is your natural essence. What makes you YOU. What’s your special sauce? What’s your natural essence and how does that allow you to play different characters? What’s your current “castability” and how is that reflected in your marketing materials?
Branding yourself as an actor and creating your casting potential allows you to:
✨Showcase your strengths to reps and casting directors
✨Feel so confident in your sales package and how you present yourself as a professional
✨Get great representation because you’re packaged and ready to be submitted – you’re doing the heavy lifting
✨Getting auditions you WANT and deserve – your audition ratio will rise because casting directors have the evidence they need to say YES to bringing you in to audition
➡️ You deserve to feel confident when you send your casting profile to potential new reps.
➡️ You deserve casting directors to perk up when they come across your profile.
➡️ You deserve to have marketing materials that sell your strengths.
If you want to focus on your branding and have no idea where to start – I got you. Check out my online course that literally walks you through how to create your unique casting potential, design marketing materials that shine, and make a BOMB casting profile that stands out in a sea of talent.
✨ Do a casting profile audit
What characters could you play based on your headshots?
What about your reel material?
If you were your own rep and you were pitching yourself on the phone to casting – how would your casting profile back up what your pitch would be?
If I was a casting director and didn’t know who you were and your marketing materials were my introduction to you – who would I think you were based on your casting profile?
Ask yourself these ACTOR CEO questions.
Part 4.) Creating on-set opportunities + resume building
✨The more you audition – the better you’ll get at auditioning.
The more you’re on set – the more comfortable you’ll be working on set. Like many things, this is a numbers game – how can you be garnering more audition and on-set opportunities for yourself?
This looks like:
-Consistently self-submitting via various casting platforms (Ideally daily – but at least weekly) Great ones are Backstage.com, Actors Access, and Casting Networks.
-Doing extra work, student films, short films, or any type of filming experience just to continue getting more comfortable being on set and growing your resume You never know who you’ll meet and where their career will grow to as well. And being on set is an almost impossible experience to re-create. Plus, your resume is an example of how you’re working towards expanding your career – try to add/update it consistently – which you can do by working on film projects.
✨What local opportunities do you have at your fingertips?
Is there a local theater or improv group that has opportunities to take part in that you could invite people to? Get creative in thinking of opportunities that could grow your skill set as an actor and grow your resume/network.
Part 5.) Building Your Team + Gaining Access + Exposure
✨ If you have representation:
-Do an evaluation – how has the experience been so far? What have the last month, six months, and year been like? What type of auditions and quality of auditions are you getting? Is it in line with the types of auditions you hope to grow towards?
-How is the communication? Are there updates you need to give them? How often do you talk? What can YOU do to strengthen the relationship?
-Is your side of the street clean? What ammo are you giving them to help them do their jobs better? Are your profiles updated? How is your material? Do they know all the casting directors you’re acquainted with? Set up a meeting with them to go over your current casting profiles and ask them what they think is working well, what needs to be updated, and what strategy you guys can put in place to make it happen.
-If it’s going well – great! If it’s not – what can you do to help move in the right direction? And after those efforts, if it’s still not moving in the right direction – what is your decision-making process for cutting the cord and moving on?
Bad rep is worse than no rep. You deserve to be with representation that cares about you as a person first and actor second. You deserve someone who is willing to strategize with you. You deserve someone who will return your email within a few days (or ever). Does the relationship you have with your representation leave you feeling empowered or empty? Just like a romantic relationship – if the answer is the ladder – really ask yourself if this relationship is contributing to the growth of your career.
✨If you’re looking for representation:
-Create a game plan for getting your materials in order (if you were on the receiving end of you submission email and looked at your actor’s access link – how would you feel? What types of characters would you think you could play? How would you fit into someone’s roster? Make a target list and excel sheet to organize submissions – create a cover letter and subject line and carve out time in your schedule to do submissions + follow-ups. And how can you take care of yourself during this process?
Before you start submitting – hear it here first directly from the mouth of an agent on what they NEED from you. And in order to stand out during the submission process – follow this checklist.
✨ If you want to connect with casting directors:
When I first started my acting career one of my teachers said: “It’s not about who you know, it’s about who you know that likes you.”
And it’s true. It’s not enough to just “know” someone. Connections are really only made when two people genuinely like, respect and value each other.
And getting to know casting directors is an important part of building out your “team” and marketing yourself as an actor.
Because people can’t cast you if they don’t know who you are.
I know you’re not pursuing this career in the hopes of never getting cast.
You’re not trying to be that actor who is fricken STELLAR in their class and respected among their peers… but it’s almost like their talent is hidden… because they haven’t ever prioritized the “business” side of their career.
Casting directors can become huge fans, cheerleaders and advocates for your career. They love actors and WANT you to do well!
In my opinion, where a lot of actors miss the mark when it comes to connecting with casting directors is they do it with hopes of getting cast in one of their projects. Like, duh – obviously you hope it can lead to something fruitful for your career.
It’s the same as building a friendship – imagine your first time going out to coffee with a new friend and you felt like they were there because they hoped you could get them a job? Like – that’s a gross way to come off. No one wants to share a coffee with that person.
Instead, when you network with casting you should be focused on what you can learn from them. Is there anything you can gain to improve your acting, self-tapes, audition preparation process, confidence with auditioning, etc;? Or is there a way you could help THEM?
Swipe through this post for seven different ways to connect to casting directors.
Part 6.) Community Building
✨Community is everything
Building a community with other actors is so helpful – you can learn, grow and encourage each other, And now that so much has moved virtual, you can connect with other actors all over the world.
Sometimes you can share each other’s networks, give each other referrals and support each others careers through the good and the bad. – the high tide rises all ships.
Ideas to connect with other actors:
-Can you start an accountability group that meets once a month? You can read through scripts, host a book club with an acting or business-focused book, and have a monthly goal that you all support each other in reaching. You can share what you learned, share your hardships, and share resources.
-Local film festivals – are there any film festivals in your area that you can attend or volunteer for? Film festivals (even if you don’t have a film showing) are a great way to meet other actors, industry professionals, and filmmakers. Not to mention, they’re usually crazy inspiring and a great excuse to get out of the house. Google what film festivals are in your local city or nearby – or check out this crazy extensive list the New York Film Academy put together.
✨ Creating your own content
“I just want to act…. I don’t want to have to learn how to write, produce, direct, etc;”
About a decade ago, this is something I said on repeat. And I will write a much longer post on this at some point to help support your if creating your own content is something you’re interested in.
I somehow thought that dedicating time to learning how to write or produce my own content would take away time I could use to become a better actor.
It seemed like it would be a massive waste of time, money and energy – all of which I could put towards my acting career.
Boy, oh, boy – was I massively wrong.
Let’s jump back to a decade ago when I was avoiding creating my own content like I do the salmon rolls on a sushi menu… I went through my first real heartbreak. You know the type.
I would walk – a lot. And one day I walked right into The Writers Store in Burbank.
After a few hours turning through pages of multiple books that intrigued me – I made a few purchases and that night started readying Save the Cat, a book dedicated to story structure of feature films.
I was hooked.
I started writing features, television shows and short films. I joined writers groups, worked on scripts with friends and asked my parents for a small loan to buy a black magic camera.
I wrote projects for myself and my friends to act in and produced them with little to no money.
And I was having so much damn fun. I challenged the crap out of myself. I learned SOOOO much.
Learning how to write and act made me a better actor 1000000%.
So not only did I get exponentially better at something I loved – I found another true passion of mine – writing.
Projects I made for $500 got into amazing film festivals. I met other filmmakers, won awards, and had material that represented the storyteller I was becoming.
Creating your own content isn’t for everybody, but for me it equaled a new level of creative freedom I had never felt before.
At the very least, creating your own content means you get to cast yourself.
You get to prove to everybody you can play certain types of characters and you have the footage to back it up.
You grow your skill sets. You grow your resume. You grow your reel.
✨ Online events
Like at the SAG Foundation, Writers Guild of America, or the Sundance Institute – there are so many events (some of them are even free) that you can attend and not only learn something to add to your repertoire, but meet people who you’ll want to later connect with.
Whewwww guys I know that was A LOT – and it’s not meant to overwhelm you, because these are all just pieces that you can plug and play with to personalize your own unique career roadmap. The best part of this industry is that every person builds their career in a completely individualized way. That’s why no two performers could write the same biography of how they launched their careers.
I help all of my 1:1 clients build their own roadmaps for their acting careers AND teach them how to self-manage their careers so they’re never waiting around for the phone to ring or opportunities to fall into their laps. (And it’s led them to more auditions, bookings, signings with great reps, and more personal confidence). Check out my 1:1 Coaching programs here or book a free 30-minute consultation to talk through where you’re currently at in your career and see if we could be a good fit.
Let’s help you build your acting career roadmap with ease!
