Success in Hollywood

What All Successful Actors Have In Common and It’s Not Talent

Do you know what all professional, successful actors have in common?
If it is not talent, then, what is it?
All Successful Actors Approach the Business as a Business!

• They all market themselves.
• They all promote themselves.
• They all network.

I equate most talented actors to the great master painters of years gone by. Imagine these painters with millions of dollars worth of artwork. They were right-brained people. They were creating all of this wonderful art, but they didn’t know business. They didn’t know how to market or promote. They starved to death. They died penniless. They created great art, but what good did it do them, because no one ever saw the art.

Now someone who understands business comes along and discovers the artwork. The businessperson knows how to promote it and market it and build that buzz that is necessary, how to create a market, a need, a desire for this product. Then that businessperson becomes extremely wealthy. The artist’s name comes back to life, but I don’t know that it does the artist a lot of good, because the artist is still dead.

It’s Show BUSINESS
Not Show Art

Approach it as a hobby, and you can expect hobby-type results.
Approach it as a serious business, and you can expect seriously good results!

-Take from the Book:
Be A Magnet To Hollywood Success

Do you know who hires actors? Producers hire actors. Producers hire and fire everybody. So, whom do you want to meet? Producers! Of course! Do you know what your job is? As an actor, your job is to bring life to the producer’s vision. You must understand that this is your job, so. . .

Go to give, not to take!

Suppose an actor met up with a producer and said, “Mr. Stoller, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Your film ‘Undercover Angel’ really touched me.

What a great gift it has been to so many people. And, ‘Miss Cast Away’ was one of the funniest films I’ve ever seen. You’ve brought a lot of joy to a lot of people, and I just wanted to say ‘Thank you.’ I’ve read about your upcoming project, ‘They Cage the Animals at Night’. The book is amazing. The film will undoubtedly win lots of awards and touch millions of people. It’s a story that really needs to be told. . . If I could be of assistance to you in any way on that project, please don’t hesitate to ask. To be, in some small way, a part of the success of a Bryan Michael Stoller project, especially this one, would be wonderful. I really want to see the project come to life. Here’s my business card. Please let me know if I can help.” I am sure that producer would remember you with good feelings.

Here the actor complemented the producer, the actor was informed, sincere (yes be sincere, it cannot be lip service, be real because your ‘vibration’ will be what is felt more than your words) and positive. It was not all about YOU. It was about the producer and his work. One of the most important result-producing tools you have, when interacting with a potential employer (producer), is attitude. It’s not about talent or lack thereof. The wrong attitude is what kills the job for most people.

Unfortunately, most actors believe that it’s all about them. It’s not! It’s about the project – that dream, that vision that the producer has been living for years. Either the producer perceives you to be someone who can help bring his or her dream to life on the screen – or you’re in the way. It’s as simple as that.

Now here is quite a different scenario. Imagine an actor saying to a producer, “Hey, man. You’re a producer, right? Oh, man, I sure hope you’re different from all the others. None of those other jerks ever want to give me a break. Everything’s a ‘catch 22’. If you’re not related to the producers or sleeping with them, I guess you won’t ever get in their films. Hey, I’m an actor. You should hire me ‘cause I’m good. Come, on, Man. Don’t be like those other jerks. You should give me a break and put me in your film. I studied, man. I paid my dues, so you should hire me. I sat through all those stupid workshops. I could use you, man. This film could launch my career. I’m going to be a big name someday, and you’ll be sorry if you don’t put me in your film.”

See the difference? The actor with the attitude “go to give, not to take’ is very rare – and we, the producers, hire those rare people. If I, as the producer, perceive you to be one of those rare actors with a professional attitude, do you think I want you in my project? You’d better believe I do. Absolutely, I want you as a part of my film!! It’s actors with good attitudes that make the projects work! I know so many directors and producers who say they would much rather hire someone with less talent but a good attitude than some ‘brilliantly talented’ actor they don’t know who may have a bad attitude and potentially cost the producer his or her project! Several of our producer friends have literally said they would hire acting coaches to help less-talented actors (with great attitudes) rather than work with someone whose attitude is bad!!

Some actors seem to be in this industry for their own self-aggrandizement, and they will destroy the producer’s product if they think it will make them look good. Now, if you go to give, to make that producer’s vision come to life on the screen, and if I, as the producer, perceive you as that rare, positive, giving actor, my gosh, do you think I don’t want you in my project? YES. I want YOU BIG TIME!

And You Are A Part of It

You are a part of (or have a burning desire to be a part of) THE best industry on this planet. That’s one reason you are reading this. You may not even be in this industry and simply are curious. Or, maybe you were distracted, and picked up this book by mistake. ☺

In any case: This is the greatest and most exciting and influential business in the world!
Imagination is sometimes all it takes. So now, imagine a cellular phone. I’m going to sell it to, say, a friend named John. “John, give me a

$100 for the cell phone. Don’t use it. Don’t make any phone calls with it. Take a picture of it. Now hand it back to me.” Now, you see I have John’s $100, and I have my cell phone back. Next, here’s Joan. Ah, now the cell phone is more valuable. “Joan, Give me $300 for it. Take a picture of it, and hand me the cell phone back.” And Roger, well Roger looks like he’s doing pretty well. “Roger, give me $750 for the cell phone. Take a picture of it, and hand it back to me.” You see, the phone continues to become more and more valuable each time I sell it. “Now, John, Joan and Roger: every time you show someone the picture of the cell phone, you have to pay me again, forever.” That’s the film and television business. And, that, my friend, is called Residual Income!

Residual income is wonderful! It’s what Bob Proctor calls an MSI, a ‘Multiple Stream of Income’ — money made while you are sleeping OR working on your next exciting project. You do something one time, something that’s fun, something that you would do for free anyway because you love it, and you get paid very well for it. And every time that they show that picture, you get paid over and over and over. I have made a lot of money in residuals.

The Producer’s Role - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. If you are a producer, what is your passion? Think as a producer thinks. What is your passion? You and I are producers, what is our passion? Is our passion the actors? No, our passion is our project!

A producer has to wear so many hats. They have to get funding, cast actors, and work out budgets, food, location, and crew, EVERTHING. Being a producer is a huge job, and they need ALL the support they can get. When working on a project, they are going at it 24/7, making sure all is running smoothly, on time, on budget and so much more. The producer’s project, that dream, that thing that she/he has been carrying for the last four, five, six years or longer – that’s the producer’s passion — to bring that project alive on the screen, to touch people, and be living their art, and always keeping in mind that it must be profitable financially, so that they can continue to create. So, always understand, as producers, our project is our passion!

If I am the actor and you are the producer, I can either make that passion and project come alive, or I am in your way. “And I want to know, Miss Producer or Mr. Producer, what can I do? How can I be of assistance to you? How can I make your project come alive? I’m here for you, and I really believe in what you’re doing. Just tell me. In front of the camera, I’m very good. Behind the camera - if you need someone to run for coffee and donuts - I’m there for you. If I can be, in some small way, a part of the success of a (fill in name of producer) project, that would be just extraordinary.” Do you think, as a producer, you might hire me? What is the most dangerous thing a producer does? What do you think?

Every time a producer puts an actor in front of the camera, that producer is risking everything. Not only is that day in jeopardy, the entire project is in jeopardy, and that producer’s entire professional future career and life, in this industry, is on the line. If you and I are producers, are we going to just go through pictures that come in the mail and say, “Oh, he looks good. Let’s hire him.”

No, we can’t afford to do that! It’s way too dangerous! We go with people we know and trust. We go with people we’ve used before, whom we know will not go out partying every night and not know their lines the next day. We want professionals, with great attitudes, upon whom we can rely. We’re going to go with nepotism, friends and relatives. We’re going to call other industry people we know and trust implicitly and ask them for suggestions.

Sure, as conscious producers, we want to make a difference. But, we’ll never have the opportunity if we hire one ‘wrong’ actor and lose our career! We have to play it safe.