CelebSystem
by Kyle Allen
Copyright
2012 Kyle Allen
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Table Of Contents
Introduction - What It All Really Means
Chapter
1 - Acting School
Chapter
2 - The Luck Factor
Chapter
3 - Real Actors
Section Two - The Workings Of Hollywood
Chapter
4 - The Importance Of Movie Stars
Chapter
5 - Hollywood Figures
Chapter
6 - The Birth Of A Film
Section Three - The Making Of A Star
Chapter
7 - Opening Weekend
Chapter
8 - Comeback Value
Chapter
9 - Branding
Section Four - Getting Started
Chapter
10 - Your Résumé
Chapter
11 - Moving To Los Angeles
Chapter
12 - Dedication
Section Five - Acting & Auditioning
Chapter
13 - Acting Techniques
Chapter
14 - Standing Out
Chapter
15 - The 7 Facets Of Acting
Chapter
16 - Commercial Acting
Chapter
17 - Improv
Section Six - The Road To Stardom
Chapter
18 - Getting Into SAG
Chapter
19 - Starting With Commercials
Chapter
20 - Professional Acting
Chapter
21 - Moving Up The Ranks
Chapter
22 - Career Examples
Chapter
23 - Superstardom
Introduction - What It All Really Means
1.
Every year, thousands of people decide to chase the dream of becoming a movie star. And every year, thousands of people let that dream die.
What you are considering pursuing is no small feat. Yet at the same time, it's not impossible either. It is simply hard. Hollywood is very demanding, and those who aren't willing to dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to it will be chewed up and spit out with all the others who couldn't hack it.
But for those who commit themselves to chasing this dream until their dying day, there are many rewards that potentially await them. Some find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Others spend their lives in cinematic purgatory, always playing the same small supporting parts and wondering how they came up short.
A wise someone once said that "life's not fair", and that has been a mantra for those who have been unwilling to put in the effort to drag themselves out of the muck for centuries. The truth is that life's not unfair either. There is vast opportunity out there, and the fact of the matter is that those who are willing to put in the work for it will prosper.
Take Brad Pitt, for example.
2.
In 1982, young Brad Pitt graduated from high school at the age of 18. His whole life was already laid out for him. He would attend the University of Missouri, he would major in journalism (with a focus on advertising), he would graduate, get himself a decent marketing job, and work for the next 40 years until he retired. And that's just what he set out to do.
However, somewhere along the way, Mr. Pitt seems to have lost sight of his goals. For in 1986, when he was a mere 2 credits shy of graduating and making his family proud, he made the seemingly irrational decision to drop out of college and ran off to Hollywood.
Now prior to this, Brad had never expressed any interest in acting. Aside from a play he once performed in with his fraternity, Sigma Chi, no one knew of any passion for drama that he might have possessed.
That spring, Brad packed his bags, hopped into his car, and with just $325.25 in his pockets, he headed for California. He had virtually no acting experience and zero training, but he decided that he simply loved movies so much that he just couldn't settle for a normal life.
When he finally reached Los Angeles, he moved into a flat in North Hollywood with eight other guys. They had no furniture and no beds to sleep in. Just a sleeping bag for each of them, a TV, a stereo, and a toaster oven.
To pay their bills, the guys would go to a place called the Job Factory where people would employ day laborers to do odd jobs. You think waiting tables is bad? Brad's jobs included moving refrigerators, selling cigarettes, and once, he had to dress up as a giant chicken and stand out on Sunset Blvd in 100° weather for El Pollo Loco.
After getting an agent, Brad started booking small jobs like his stint on the sit-com "Head Of The Class" and an episode of "Growing Pains". He also booked other TV jobs on shows like "Another World" and "Dallas". However, as you'll read later, TV work does not lead to movie stardom. So how did he do it?
3.
Well, like any other beginner actor, he started his movie career playing uncredited bit parts. And after playing 3 of these, he got his first supporting role in the straight-to-video movie Cutting Class.
After this, he got an audition for an upcoming movie called Thelma & Louise. He played only a supporting role in this movie (a small-time thief named J.D.), but upon its release, Brad was exposed to a whole new world.
It would be this role that would get the attention of bigger more powerful agencies that might want to sign him. It was that role that would make big time filmmakers start making him offers for their movies. And just a few months later, he got the lead in his first big hit, A River Runs Through It.
With the credit of headlining a major studio film, Brad Pitt's salary sky-rocketed from $6,000, which he was paid for Thelma & Louise, to $500,000, which he was paid for Kalifornia, a film that was released 11 months after the huge success of A River Runs Through It.
At this point, most people would consider him a movie star. He had the fame from his hit movie, he was making more money in a couple of months than 95% of everyone makes in a year, and he had nowhere to go but up.
He was no longer auditioning for parts, the multi-million dollar offers for lead roles were on the horizon, and he'd been labeled a hot new sex symbol. But it's at that point that the difference between real movie stars and those who got lucky get sorted out.
4.
What it really means to be a movie star is not just fame, riches, and the VIP lifestyle. Of course, when most people think of a movie star, those things immediately jump to mind, along with flashy cars, expensive clothing, and enormous mansions. But there's more to stardom than being rich and famous.
You see, actors don't become movie stars just because they're in movies. It takes the decisions of three different groups of people: filmmakers, agents and the public.
There are plenty of actors who've been in numerous movies who can't grasp the love of the public and just as many actors who've found the public's interest but not that of the Hollywood elite.
To be a movie star is to be useful. Producers and studios need to be able to use you to actually increase their profits and the chances for their films to be picked up by theaters. If you can't provide this service, then you're of no value to them.
Agencies need to be sure that if they sign you, you're going to help bring in revenue from your movies. If you can't get hired, then they have no use for you either.
5.
There are many sad tales of actors whose movies have blown up out of nowhere, they got famous, and then their careers went no where. Why is this? Because fame does not translate into bankability, and it certainly doesn't make you a movie star.
At the position that Brad Pitt was in when A River Runs Through It was released, 95% of actors would've made one of the following mistakes to ruin their careers and throw away their new advantage.
Some would've gone on "sabbatical", vacationing away the money they'd earned, returning to find that they've gone cold and that no one wants to work with them anymore.
Some would have exercised their new fame to party their way through Hollywood until their famous name got dragged through the mud following drunken tirades and embarrassing photographs.
Others may have ended up wasting their new position as a fledgling star simply by choosing to honor their "artistic integrity" by acting in movies that were destined to earn no money.
What Brad Pitt did, on the other hand, was take his new success and continue to reinvest it in movies with the capacity for greatness. In 1994, he played the lead role opposite Tom Cruise in Interview With The Vampire, which turned out to be the first blockbuster of his career.
The result? More movie offers and a pay increase to $4 million which he was paid the following year for the movie Se7en. And when that movie opened huge, he was upgraded to $10 million, and was solidified as a true Hollywood A-lister.
The benefits of this are a little lee-way to make a flop or an indie sometime along the way, because filmmakers know for certain that you can pull an audience (and that your first hit wasn't just a fluke, like it is with other actors).
This is what it really means to be a movie star. Unfortunately, the vast majority of actors and actresses out there don't know it, and they will probably never find out.
The Hollywood players don't have time to hold your hand and teach you the ways the industry works. They sort out the ones with real potential from the horde of wannabes, toss them into the mill, and hope that a shiny new star will form.
What this guide will teach you is how to become a part of that small handful chosen from the herd of wannabes, how to make all the right moves to get ahead, and most importantly, how to maintain your star status once you've achieved it.
- Chapter 1 -
Acting School
1.
This chapter falling under the Acting Myths section should seem extremely counter-intuitive. The idea in and of itself shouldn't make any sense to you. Acting classes are supposed to make actors better, so what could the problem possibly be?
Well it's true, acting classes do make most actors better at their craft. You can learn how to perform appropriately for commercials, how to audition in general, and many other tactics that you're unlikely to come up with on your own.
But be forewarned: good acting does not promise you a great acting career. There are a lot of really good actors out there who haven't accomplished much. You'll need great career management to elevate yourself from a good actor booking roles to a Hollywood superstar.
And while acting classes can be a great way for you to focus and hone your skills, they are not the master key to Hollywood that they're touted to be.
You'll almost certainly need them on your résumé to get the respect that you'll need to get started, but when it comes to performing, remember that branding, perception and presentation are much more essential to stardom than skill alone.
2.
A second problem with acting classes is that they're not all created equal. On one hand, there are several well-renowned coaches, studios, schools, etc. that have earned a reputation for being excellent resources for actors and actresses, and you should pursue them, because their benefit is twofold.
Firstly, they couldn't earn that reputation without actually being really good and showing results. This means that you'll actually learn something from them, and grow as an actor.
Secondly, they look great on your résumé. To talent agents, this shows that you've actually received training from someone who is almost guaranteed to have improved your skills. This lets them know that you're at least worth interviewing, so your odds of getting in the door are a lot higher.
And that's all well and good for those name-brand educators that will improve your talent and help you grow as a performer. But for all of the other classes out there, it's hit and miss.
Some schools and classes and teachers are actually pretty good, and at least have a technical understanding of what they're teaching. But consider what most acting teachers are: actors and actresses who have decided to make their living by not acting.
There are those who have found a lot of success as performers, and they have simply chosen to impart their wisdom to others, and they are exempt from this description.
All the rest, however, are failed actors and actresses who had dreams of taking Hollywood by storm, took their shot, figured it was too hard, quit, and decided to make a career from teaching people how to be as good of an actor as they are.
If you wanted to learn to become a surgeon, would you want to learn from a guy who flunked out of medical school? No, because that's dumb. Meanwhile, the acting equivalent of these flunkies are giving lessons and workshops everywhere.
And every year, they teach thousands of aspiring actors and actresses the techniques and methods and tricks that they used when they took their chance, and big surprise, those techniques, methods, and tricks still don't work.
The vast majority of acting teachers are failed actors who have no idea what they're talking about. If they did, they'd more than likely be too busy shooting a movie somewhere or enjoying all the money that they've earned from their career.
Keep this in mind when deciding who you want to study with. Stick to the coaches and classes that have high recommendations, or better yet, have produced some impressive alumni, and steer clear of all the rest.
You'll just end up wasting your money, or even worse, learning bad habits that will make you an even worse actor, and make your journey in Hollywood take that much longer.
3.
The third problem with acting classes is that they don't really teach you how to get started. Sure they might teach you audition technique and the steps that you need to take to get representation, but the reality is, even the best class is only going to teach you how to act as an established actor.
When you're first starting out, you could be auditioning for no more than a single line, or even no lines at all! You might just be shaking your head. You will not learn how to do this properly through acting classes.
You see, for them to justify their prices, they've got to offer you a return on your money. So they don't bother with the stuff that's going to make you chump change. They teach you the things that are going to get you roles for $50,000 and change your life.
The problem is that you can't even get to those auditions without first completing a few jobs at the lower levels where you won't be doing much but providing atmosphere.
These roles consist of the guy yelling his one line off the bridge at the monster, the waitress asking, "Just the usual today?", or the guy just staring blankly ahead.
The lessons that you learn in your acting classes will not cover these auditions, and since you won't know how to book them, you won't be able to audition for the roles that you did learn how to get. It's a Catch 22.
- Chapter 2 -
1.
Many actors have the half-baked notion that if they can just get to Hollywood and start acting in a few flicks, they'll become movie stars.
Unfortunately, there's a lot more to it than that. And in addition to the things that you've read already, there is one other thing that movie stars do that the other 99% of actors and actresses in Hollywood don't: they try to become movie stars.
Now don't start thinking that most actors and actresses who come out here come with intentions of doing arthouse films and being broke for the rest of their lives. It's quite the contrary.
Most people who come to LA with the hopes of becoming actors and actresses do want to become stars, but they're hampered by a scary notion: becoming a starving artist. Thus, in an effort to avoid the poverty (and stigma) of being another out-of-work actor/waiter, they take any acting job they can get, impeding upon their original dreams of becoming stars.
2.
Becoming a movie star isn't one of those things that just happens. You don't just audition for a handful of movies, win a few parts, and then the cameras, lights, and dollars start rolling in. Achieving stardom requires a plan that must be formulated and followed through meticulously.
All movie stars started out small, and even though there have been accidental movie stars, it's the ones who stick around for years who are the ones who planned to be there in the first place. How can you tell the difference? Take a look at a list of movie stars from ten years ago.
The actors and actresses who are still famous today (Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz) were the ones with plans. The young starlets and sex symbols that the media insisted upon calling the "new it girl" or the "next big thing", those were the ones who got lucky, and shortly thereafter, their luck ran out.
Most actors and actresses (and even singers, models and comedians), come to Tinseltown with stars and lights in their eyes, thinking that if they impress enough (or the right) people, then someone will sweep them off to fame and fortune, and their lives will change forever.
And because of the large number of these types who actually do make it this way, are on top for just a moment, and then are gone the next year, we have this conventional belief that to make it in Hollywood, you've got to get lucky and/or get discovered.
3.
Every year, Hollywood magazines and celebrity blogs are filled with stories about the seemingly next big star in Hollywood, and then the next year, they've vanished into obscurity.
These types move out here with just a dream and a pretty face, get cast in some slasher pic, teen flick, or kid's movie that blows up, their faces get splashed on billboards and websites, and suddenly, they've scored their 15 minutes of fame.
Unfortunately, that's all it is, and as their lack of ambition, talent, a plan, and other requisite factors for success sees them taking roles in garbage movies that no one cares to see, they find themselves broke, out of work, and packing their bags to head back home.
4.
One of the biggest movie stars in the history of Hollywood, Will Smith, refused to rely on luck to become who he is today. He used a combination of observation and planning. Luck never came into the equation.
When he first started his film career, he sat down with his partner and manager James Lassiter and plotted out his Hollywood strategy to become the "biggest movie star in the world".
They looked at a list of the top 10 highest grossing movies of all time (at that point), and they realized that 10 out of 10 of them had special effects. They noticed that 9 out of 10 had special effects with creatures. 8 out of 10 had special effects with creatures and a love story, etc.
From this came the movie star-making mega blockbuster hit Independence Day, which as of writing this reigns as the 23rd highest grossing movie in history.
None of Will's success was an accident, and none of it was luck. He looked at what makes a smash hit, he applied it, and by following that trend, he (as of writing this) boasts a 17-year filmography with his average film taking in a blockbuster level $133 million in the domestic box office. There's nothing lucky about that. It's all intelligence.
- Chapter 3 -
Real Actors
1.
One of the biggest myths being propagated by the acting community is what it means to be a real actor. Everyone has this notion that actors are artists and should behave as such, many actors going so far as to say that money and acting shouldn't go together.
You will meet a lot of fools on your journey through the film industry. Some will have your best interests at heart, and some will make it clear why they're still waiting tables at the age of 40.
Many of these beliefs are spread around to sugarcoat the fact that these actors gave up practical lives to chase a dream that they never reached. So to make themselves feel better, they justify their "lifestyle" by saying that they're doing it for the art.
Then they try to flip the script, and noticing that the majority of actors are just like them, they try to say that those actors who've actually made a comfortable living from the film industry are sell-outs and that they're not real actors anyway.
The good news for you is that as long as these myths keep spreading and more actors keep adopting them as beliefs, you'll have less competition to face in the audition room. They'll be too busy making their "art".
2.
The counterpart to the "real actor" is the indie film. Indies are worshipped by all aspects of the film community, from actors, to directors, to writers and critics. They're constantly hailed as ultimate achievements in filmmaking, but you know what they don't achieve? Profit.
You can be as "real" of an actor as you want to be, but the world of indies is the working class of film acting. You won't make much money with them, and there certainly isn't any room for advancement. But if you're one of those people who feels that they need to do indies to be dedicated to their craft, there are plenty of filmmakers who need your services.
You'll hear all manner of actors talking about how they don't mind living in their apartments for the rest of their lives and how they don't want any kind of fancy car. They're just doing it for the love of acting and for the sake of art, which is the bohemian way of justifying being broke all the time.
Now there's nothing wrong with engaging in a little passion project every now and then. But first and foremost, save those projects for when you're a real star and you can afford to disappear for half a year without falling out of the public eye.
But as a mere aspiring movie star, that's just the kind of blip that could kill your career. From the time you book your first role until you've started pulling in $10 million a picture, your number one goal should be only to chase the most potentially profitable movies you can to ensure that you reach your ultimate goal.
3.
Another piece of "advice" you'll hear from almost every grassroots actor you ever meet is that you can't count on your agent to get you jobs.
Now this probably sounds frightening at first. Everyone says that you have to build your own brand and market yourself to filmmakers. How the heck are you supposed to do that? Take your résumé and headshot to Martin Scorsese's house and ask if you can be in his next movie?
No. What these people are actually referring to is acting work in general. You see, your agent will get you auditions for real movies; ones that have an actual budget and a real shot at distribution and making a profit in the millions of dollars.
What all of these actors are talking about is student films, very, very small indie work, and theatre productions. Well of course you'd have to market yourself to those types of jobs.
Your agent isn't going to waste their time sending you out to auditions for them. They're in the business to make money, so they send you to jobs that pay well.
You must understand that when you first get started out in this business, you're probably going to be very poor. Why? Because you haven't been established yet and can't make any money in the industry.
So, many off these actors who hope to remain loyal to acting take to venturing outside of the sphere of Hollywood and start acting in smaller, local productions.
When enough people started doing this for it to become the norm, it became a mainstream ideal that every actor has to look out for himself and do some acting jobs on the side.
Now nearly every actor who's struggling to come up (especially those who've been at it for a long time) will tell you that part of being a real actor is finding these side jobs.
Let me set the record straight.
You are in Hollywood with one goal: become a movie star. You're not trying to create a part time job out of small acting opportunities, and very loosely, I'd even say that you're not trying to make acting a full-time job.
You're trying to make acting a career. The difference is that your main goal is the continual increase of your salary and the quality of roles that you get to play in higher and more highly budgeted films.
So when someone tells you that you need to get on Craigslist and LA Casting everyday to look for auditions, remember that you're not in this to make ordinary income. You're trying to work your way up the ladder so that you can reach a multi-million dollar income. And trust me, those little local productions are not going to help you get there.
4.
Hand-in-hand with the belief that you have to promote yourself and find your own acting jobs is the inane belief that every actor's got to do regular showcases and theatre work to get noticed by industry professionals.
At first, this seems all good. It makes sense to perform in these productions, because if there are any agents, directors or producers in the audience, you might get discovered.
This is another one of those feel good bits of propaganda spread by the cashless Hollywood proletariat to make everyone work together, because they can't ignore them all, right? Wrong. Do you know how many Hollywood professionals go to the theatre to find new talent?
None.
It's not how things get done in the film industry. Moreover, the theatre would be the worst place to try to find an actor for a movie, because acting on stage is fundamentally different from acting in movies. It simply doesn't make any sense.
Stick to what you know, and go to the one place that the professionals are actually trying to find new talent: auditions. The system is already in place, it's a pretty straightforward shot from here to glory. Don't try to buck it by looking for shortcuts.
5.
I won't even bother talking about how stupid it is to try to get discovered out in the real world. It's pretty obvious how dumb it is to try to get a job that way, but there's another related aspect of the small time actor's world that gets more promotion than any other: networking.
There's a saying, "It's not what you know, but who you know", that most actors live by. Even the common public is ready to (ignorantly) argue that the movie stars only got to where they are, because they knew somebody, or they were related to somebody famous.
I'm sure that you know this is false already, and in fact, there's an even better saying that floats around this industry, "It's not who you know, but who knows you."
Although I know there are many actors out there who would take that saying too far, in general, that is the essence of what you're trying to achieve: you want those in power to notice you and recognize your value to them. This is wholly different from you recognizing their value to you and trying to make friends with them.
In addition to this, there's the idea of networking. Again, networking is a very grassroots ideal, and it is spread amongst every business and industry at the ground level. Salesmen network, city-level politicians network, unionists network, and it's all because they have to.
Now certainly CEOs, agents, and other big shots know a lot of people, but this is quite different from networking. Networking is a conscious effort to make yourself known to others from whom you seek to extract opportunities for yourself. Big shots don't need to do this. They simply have access to a wide circle of people.
Do you know what would happen if you tried to network to get ahead in the film industry? You would give your résumé, headshot, reel, and business card to a lot of professionals, and you'd give the same to a lot of amateurs.
The amateurs would call you all the time, looking for a favor, asking you to act in their films for free, or seeing if you could stand being an extra for 12 hours for them. And they would take you nowhere.
The professionals would never call you, because they don't need you. You have nothing of value for them, and they've already got everything they need, from business partners to people in power to talent that they represent. You'd be nothing more than another pesky actor looking for a handout.
6.
Lastly, there's the issue of nudity. And once again, there is a vast field of actors who claim that any actor should be willing to go nude, because they're doing it, again, for the love of art.
Look, I won't tread one way or another on anyone's feelings about taking their clothes off. If it's no big deal for you, fine, have at it. If you never want to do it, more power to you. Get it written in your contract that you will never do any nudity, and all will be well.
The thing is, most people believe that, especially, actresses will benefit from getting naked in a movie. This isn't true on several levels.
Firstly, there is more than a large percentage of movie star females who have never done a nude scene in their entire careers. Did that stop them? No, because no serious filmmaker is going to turn away a good/profitable actress just because she won't show the goods.
Secondly, the majority of people don't go to the movies hoping to see someone naked in it. How could they even know that? Thus, your getting naked on camera doesn't even do anything to boost the sales of the movie, which is what you really need to get where you're going.
Thirdly, no one's going to take you more seriously for agreeing to show some skin. There's nothing artistic about it, and it doesn't make you more professional. It just means that millions of people can now see your bare naked body whenever they want to, and you won't benefit from that at all.
The only times that you'll run into problems with nudity are when you're working on low-budget films trying to build your reel or perhaps paying your dues early on.
Most small time filmmakers know that they've got a lot more leverage over their desperate actors, so they can impose a demand for nudity if you want to play a certain part. If you don't care, then fine, you've got another credit for your résumé. If you don't want to do it, just walk away.
Section Two - The Workings Of Hollywood
- Chapter 4 -
1.
People often complain about movie star salaries, saying that A-list actors and actresses are paid too much money.
The most common complaint is that they're paid millions of dollars to do easy work for a few months, while doctors are busy saving lives year-round, sometimes working overnight, and are only getting paid a fraction of what most stars see for a single film.
However, there are two very legitimate reasons that movie stars are paid so much more money than everyone else on Earth.
2.
Movie stars are the focus of the films that they're so famous for. When an actor signs on to do a movie, the main reason that they're getting paid at all is so that the studios and producers can use their likeness in the film.
They also get paid for their performances, but as some roles are more central to the plot than others, larger more important roles, like the leads, are also worth a lot more.
In addition to this, certain actors are valued much higher than others. This is a combination of popularity and the laws of supply and demand. There are only so many stars to go around, and the ones that everyone wants are vied for by many different producers and studios and directors all at once.
Thanks to this indirect bidding system, some stars are able to see as big as 8-digit paychecks to work on a film.
Movies also gross tens of millions or sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars. The stars of those films should be getting paid their fair share, considering that they are the main focus of the movie. And in the big picture, $5 million from a film that grosses $150 million worldwide isn't very significant.
3.
Everyone knows that famous actors have huge fanbases. Many people will turn up to see a movie just because of the stars in it. There are hordes of millions of people who will go see a Meryl Streep or Adam Sandler movie for the simple fact that they are acting in it.
This can oftentimes allow a script with a more complex story to get greenlit for production by the studios, because they know that the film can open with the right actor(s) attached to it. The stars and their agents know it as well.
They know that the star's presence in the film can help a film bring in an extra $13 million dollars on opening weekend, so they'll demand $10 million or more up front.
This is not only sensible (especially since the availability of bankable actors is limited), it's also a vote of confidence from the studios. Sometimes it's pure faith that the star will deliver the audience.
Some movies need stars, like Tom Hanks, attached to even dream of being profitable. So the stars demand to be paid for what the studios can't get without them. Sometimes a movie is destined to make hundreds of millions of dollars, and it only makes sense that the lead demand as much as possible.
Examples of this include Bruce Willis' $25 million salary for Live Free or Die Hard and Arnold Schwarzenegger's $30 million salary for Terminator 3. Those movies were profitable as soon as they were greenlit, but at the same time, they wouldn't make any sense at all without their stars.
4.
Most movies need movie stars to make money. Sure there are many films that could easily gross $100 million from their concepts alone, but for each of those films, there are 20 others that simply aren't sellable yet. In fact, in many cases, producers won't even get funding for a film without at least one or two bankable stars attached.
Some movies, like horror films and movies based on popular topics (Harry Potter, Spider-Man, Twilight), are already primed and ready to go to the theaters.
In fact, many of these films will save money by not even bothering to hire really expensive actors. Shia LaBeouf only earned $500,000 for his role in Transformers, and it is one of the highest grossing movies of all time and had an enormous budget of $150 million.
However, for other more complex movies, like Forrest Gump and The Green Mile, whose plots have trouble capturing interest from their trailers alone, they need another selling point. This is where movie stars come in, combining the ideas of association, amiability, talent, and simple fandom into a package that will attract the masses.
5.
Take for example the movie Vanilla Sky. It was critically panned, the plot was so-so, but it grossed over $200 million worldwide. How? Movie stars. And shortly you'll see why they're important for more than just making tickets sell.
So how important were they? Well, combined, Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, and Penelope Cruz' salaries were almost $35 million...and Tom Cruise took home 30% of the gross profits himself!
To put that in perspective, the budget of the movie was $68 million, meaning about half of the movie's budget went to three people from the start. And it was totally justified, because without them, the movie would've bombed.
If there had been no A-listers in the movie, first and foremost, it never would have been greenlit by Paramount to begin with. The plot isn't marketable, it's not a terribly fascinating story (even The Sixth Sense needed Bruce Willis to get studio backing), and no intelligent executive would invest (waste) money like that.
But even imagining that for some reason they did, the producers would have been given about 1/4th of the budget to work with, making this venture even more difficult to pull off.
Once the movie was finally finished, the producers would seek out theaters to distribute to, and they would all decline for the same reasons that the studios would have under-funded it.
It wasn't amazing, the idea wasn't sellable to audiences, and there would be nothing else to make the theaters believe that they'd earn money by dedicating one of their screens to it.
Thus going into limited release, the movie would fail to break its meager budget, and everyone who worked on it would have wasted a year of their precious lives.
However, because they actually did get three movie stars on the project, two of whom are considered A-listers, Paramount paid for it, movie theaters carried it, the movie opened huge, it was a blockbuster hit, tripled its budget, raised the popularity of its stars, and made a bunch of people rich(er).
That's why stars are so vital to Hollywood. That's why they can command 8-figure salaries, because without them, 95% of the hit movies that get made every year would never been seen by anyone.
- Chapter 5 -
Hollywood Figures
1.
Before you make the enormous decision to commit your life to chasing the Hollywood dream, it's important for you to know the roles of the most important people that you'll meet throughout your career.
No, I don't mean Leonardo DiCaprio's assistant or Halle Berry's old acting coach. I'm talking about people who actually matter and make a difference in Hollywood.
Once you know these people, it's time to start kissing up. No, in all seriousness, you do need to impress these people, either through your talent or through your personality.
They can take you a long way, or they can leave you waiting tables in West Hollywood and dressing up like a clown at birthday parties, so you should understand their roles very well.
2.
The first of these people that you'll need to impress is an agent. Agents are the people who connect all the actors in Hollywood with all the movies that they perform in.
The agent's major function is to find and book auditions for their clients, negotiate pay, and at the higher levels, help their clients choose new projects. For this, the agent receives 10% of the actor's salary, and yes, that comes out of the actor's paycheck.
This will probably be the most important person that you work with in your whole career. They're the ones who are going to help you get from the bottom to the million dollar level, they'll handle most of your paperwork and negotiating, and frankly, without them, your life will suck.
Landing an agent isn't easy, however. In the beginning, you'll likely be signed to a lower level agency that can only get you auditions for small roles in mostly small productions. But that will get you exposure, which we'll talk about in a moment.
The better agents in town are able to secure higher quality parts for their clients thanks to their strong relationships with powerful people within the industry. Lower level agencies, as you might expect, have fewer and weaker relationships, so they can only get smaller auditions and roles for their clients.
The worst agencies have very few relationships with filmmakers and usually these filmmakers are of the lowest caliber. Since they can't get real auditions for their clients, they have to rely on services like LA Casting, Craigslist, Breakdown Services, NowCasting, and Actors Access (which is owned by Breakdown Services), to get auditions for their clients.
On top of that, because none of their clients are making any real money, they have to try to get as many actors and actresses on their roster as possible. So they start letting people in without auditioning and turn the business into a numbers game.
The auditions that they send their clients on are often for very small parts or for very small productions, the roles don't pay very well, and there are likely to be hundreds of other actors and actresses auditioning for the part. I call these Lottery Auditions.
Larger agencies, on the other hand, don't take unseasoned actors and actresses. The best don't even accept submissions. They only work with experienced actors and actresses with real credits who they deem worthy of their representation. So how do you impress them? Through your work.
Your earliest parts will be small supporting roles that your starter agent got you auditions for. If those productions are successful enough, you're going to be watched by many different people in this business. Some of those people will work for the better agencies in town.
If you do a really good job and impress them, which I'll touch on more in Section Five, then you may get an offer one day from one of them to buy out your contract and for you to come work with them.
Once you're signed, your agent will do several things for you. One of those things is marketing you to casting directors and filmmakers. Now this might not sound like much, but because of the relationships that they have, you'll have a better chance of securing auditions and screen tests for quality roles.
In some situations, a casting director may be looking for a certain type (age, race, sex, look, etc.). They may call up your agent and ask if they have anyone that matches that criteria, and if you match that criteria, your agent will set up an audition for you.
If you're really lucky, the casting director (or even a producer or the director) may ask for you specifically based on your previous work.
In some cases, however, your agent may find out about a production and proactively make the call to a studio executive, producer, director or casting director, and he'll do his best to get you an audition or a part in the movie.
If you get an audition, it's your job to get the part. You've got to make the casting directors love you yourself. Once you've done that, your agent will handle the paperwork and will negotiate how much money you'll be paid.
After that, you go to work, get your acting on, get paid, your agent gets their cut, and the cycle starts all over again. Of course, at the higher levels, once you start receiving offers, auditioning evolves into the much friendlier screen test, and eventually, it goes out the window altogether.
Producers will come directly to your agent, seeking you out specifically for their upcoming movies, and your agent will present you the scripts and let you know what parts they want you for and how many zeroes are behind the numbers they're offering to pay you.
If you like a script and you want to do the movie, your agent will get in contact with the producers, see to it that you get your quote, take his 10%, and off you go to act in your next movie.
3.
Jumping back to the early phases, let's take a look at casting directors. There are three types of them, and they have varying levels of importance to a film's production.
The first type is the saddest and lowliest form of casting director. These are the people who scrounge up all the extras who fulfill the roles of living props in movies and on TV. They have no lines, they get very little pay, and in most cases, they don't even have to audition. These are not actors.
In Los Angeles, Central Casting handles this role. However, movies are often shot on location in other cities, and the producers have no intention of flying a whole team of worthless extras from Los Angeles across the country just to stand around all day.
Instead, they'll hire a local casting director, and that person will choose from their roster the extras that will be needed for production. In some rare cases, a bit part may be needed that wasn't cast in LA. So the local extra casting director will hold a casting call to fill that tiny little part.
The second type of casting director generally does what we just talked about: finding actors and actresses to play the tiniest roles in movies. These are bigger than one-liners, which are usually extra bumps, but they're not central to the plot.
To do this, they hold Lottery Auditions: massive gatherings of 100+ actors and actresses who will audition for a role with just a single line or a handful of lines. I call them this, because with such little material and so much competition, it's hard to stand out.
Worse yet, it's hard for the crappy actors and actresses to suck. In the end, it's basically luck of the draw if you get the part. Which isn't much anyway, because these parts don't pay well nor do they yield much in the way of advancement.
The third type of casting director is the real McCoy. They are the ones who cast the supporting roles for movies and TV shows. Whereas the director and producers of the movie may pick out the leads, they don't have time to bother sorting through the lower levels for supporting parts.
Thus, they hire a casting director. And just as a the casting director will pick actors for a movie based on the feel of the film, producers hire casting directors based on their keen eye for talent in the past.
Sometimes these casting directors will go to old favorites, offering the job to actors and actresses that they've cast in the past. Sometimes, they'll go to a favorite agent, and ask them to send out any talent they have that fits the bill. And of course, sometimes, the agents themselves will make that happen.
However, sometimes, the casting director will take note of an actor or actress that they recently saw in a movie and make a mental note of them for the future. This is another possible way that you will climb the ladder in Hollywood.
If all goes according to plan, you won't even face the first two types of casting directors. You'll only be interacting with the real ones as you try to get sizable roles in the industry and as you get noticed and screen tested for even better parts.
One myth that many actors and actresses believe is that casting directors are cold-hearted ice queens (and kings), but the truth is that if a casting director hires terrible actors, there will be hell for them to pay. So they want you to be great. It takes pressure off of them to find someone good, and it helps them to do their job better.
When you go into an audition, remember that they're just people too, and they have a job to do. They don't want to hate you, they don't expect you to suck. They want to love you, and they want you to blow them away so that they can stop worrying about filling the role that you're auditioning for.
Keep that in mind, and your auditions will go much, much better.
4.
The producer of a movie is the guy who's in charge of putting the whole project together. Whereas the director puts the actual movie together, the producer makes everything else happen.
From dealing with the studio to hiring crew members to making sure that everyone stays on schedule and under their budgets, the producer makes sure that the actual project comes together from beginning to end.
In many situations, producers are the ones who have the idea to put the movie together. (Note: the role of producer can oftentimes overlap with other roles such as writer, director, actor, and studio executive.)
The producer often commissions scripts (or is approached by writers), puts together an expected budget and a layout of the film to present to studios if they'll need financial backing, and they supervise everything from pre-production to the collection of money from movie theaters.
Producers may impact your career in one of two ways:
In the earlier phases, if you're screen testing for a major supporting or lead role, then usually after you go through the first round with the casting director, you'll go through a second test (and maybe more) or perhaps just a meeting with the producers and the director to make sure you're perfect for the part.
If your part is big enough, you might just test for the director and producers directly without ever going to see a casting director.
The other way that you might interact with a producer will be through direct offers. Once you reach the upper tiers, producers may approach you directly to star in their upcoming films. They'll go to your agent with a script and will offer you a huge salary, and then it's on you to decide whether you want to take it or not.
5.
The director is the guy who actually puts the movie together. He takes the words off the pages of the script, envisions them coming to life in his head, and does his best to recreate that on the set. He is hired by the producer to put his project together, and part of that job may involve choosing the stars for the movie.
Just like with the producer, if you're screen testing for a lead role in a movie, odds are that you'll either test for the director immediately, or if you had to perform for a casting director first, you'll have to test for the director afterwards.
In many situations, actors and directors get really friendly and end up forming long working relationships together.
Examples of these pairs are Johnny Depp & Tim Burton, Tom Hanks & Steven Spielberg, and Leonardo DiCaprio & Martin Scorsese. All of these people have worked together on multiple projects in the past, and you should expect them to continue on into the future.
You may have a similar situation where you get paired up with an A-list director whose movies constantly blow up. If this is the case, when the director is attached to a project, they'll often request that you get put on the movie too, and you can ride their coattails into movie stardom glory.
- Chapter 6 -
The Birth Of A Film
1.
The first stage of the making of a film is called development. This is when an idea is materialized onto paper and is considered for production by a producer or a studio. It is the process by which someone's original idea meets with someone else's money, and a fledgling movie is conceived.
In some cases, the idea is not original. Sometimes ideas are taken from elements of pop culture, such as the recently ubiquitous super hero movies, sometimes they're adapted from other popular media such as TV shows, best-selling books, and familiar legends.
Once the idea is decided upon, the creator of the story either hires someone to write a treatment or starts writing one themselves, if they're a writer. A treatment is a 25-30 page basic layout of the story, its setting, the characters, and other details of the story.
This is then presented to a studio or an independent movie producer to be considered for production. Several things are taken into account before a movie can receive the greenlight.
Some of those things are who's going to star in the movie, the principal themes of the movie, the time of year that it will be released, its most likely rating, etc. The more money that the movie is capable of earning, the more likely it is to go into production.
Of course, if the movie is being made independent of the studios, then the producers just need to pay for it, without seeking approval first.
2.
There are three ways that movies can be paid for: studio backing, independent financier(s), or the purchasing of distribution rights.
In the instance of a studio backing a film, there are several things that you've got to realize. Firstly, for the most part, studios don't input much creativity during the movie-making process.
They might assign an executive to function as a producer on the film, as Laura Ziskin did for Columbia Pictures on the three Spider-Man films. This person may veto some ideas, but ultimately serves as an agent of the studio to report the progress of the shooting and protect the studio's interests.
Secondly, studios don't really make movies; they pay for them. Think of the movie studios as the banks of Hollywood. Producers/writers/directors present them with treatments, and the studios either pick them up for production or they don't. If they do, they'll give the producers a bunch of money that they hope to earn back when the movies go into distribution.
The second way that a film gets paid for is through independent financing. This is when several wealthy people or entities who want to make a movie pool together their own money to finance a project. As a result, they're often credited as producers and rewarded as such as well.
The third way isn't exactly how a movie is financed, but how independent producers can make a profit before the movie ever even has a theatrical run. In this scenario, a distributor will purchase the film or the rights to distribute it.
This way, the producer can turn a profit on their work, and real marketing can go into making the movie a success.
Also, many times to hedge their risk, studios will cut other studios and distribution companies into their projects by selling them distribution rights in other regions around the world.
For example, a studio like 20th Century Fox, might make a movie for $100 million. To make sure that they don't take a huge hit if the movie bombs, they'll sell another studio, like Warner Bros. Pictures, the rights to distribute in international markets for $50 million to play it safe.
3.
Once the money has been secured, the film goes into the next step: production.
Production is actually made up of three phases: pre-production, production, and post-production. These are the times when everything is planned and prepared for the movie's creation, when the movie is shot, and when it is cleaned up and prepared for theaters, respectively.
During pre-production, the budget of the film is established and a crew is hired, including the director, cinematographer, casting directors, and writers who will turn the treatment into a complete screenplay. This is also when the cast of the movie is assembled.
First, if the movie's big enough, the filmmakers will make a list of proven celebrity actors and actresses who they want to try to get in the lead roles. Typically, they'll try to get A-listers, but they may run into scheduling conflicts, the stars may want too much money, or they simply may not be interested.
If they can't sign the actors that they want, they'll move down their list of stars that they're considering until they either fill all of their principal roles or start looking elsewhere.
This is one way that new talent gets a chance to come up. Take Pretty Woman for example. Julia Roberts was not even close to the first choice.
Before her were Karen Allen, Molly Ringwald, Mary Steenburgen, Michelle Pfeiffer, Daryl Hannah, Valeria Golino, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Meg Ryan, who all declined, and Winona Ryder and Jennifer Connelly, who were both considered too young.
After going through ten choices for the part, the filmmakers started to look elsewhere, considered the then relatively unknown Julia Roberts, and screen tested her for the role. The rest is history.
In another example, when casting Titanic, Matthew McConaughey, Chris O'Donnell, Billy Crudup and Stephen Dorff were considered for the part, but James Cameron felt that they were too old. Tom Cruise offered his services, but the studios had no intention of paying his exorbitant salary.
Again, with an exhausted list and on a scavenger hunt for a male lead, Mali Finn, the casting director on the film, noted Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet, they brought him in for a screen test, and once again, a star is born.
For the major supporting parts, including non-celebrity co-stars, the filmmakers and/or casting directors will screen test up-and-coming talent. These actors and actresses make themselves known generally by supporting roles that they play in other movies or leads that they play in small movies.
For the lesser supporting roles, the main casting director will put the word out to agents that they know represent quality talent, and hold auditions for these parts. This is where your career will start.
The remaining garbage roles and bit parts are cast by the second (less valuable) casting director through Breakdown Services, LA Casting, Actors Access, etc. through Lottery Auditions.
The casting director posts a casting call, and the lesser agents throughout the industry submit their clients who match the look of the characters the filmmakers need.
Lastly, there are the lowly extras, who are cast through Central Casting or the local casting director. In some cases, the director may toss in an extra line to be spoken by someone, and a lucky little extra will get a "bump" to say a line on screen.