This was the inaugural West Coast/Los Angeles seminar from The Savvy Actor which is very exciting.  They’ve been helping actors in New York for the last three years and they’ve finally expanded.  Now we can benefit from their wealth of knowledge and experience here in LA.  A chance to learn the all important business & marketing aspects of your career management from pair of people who extensive experience with both the business/marketing and the acting parts of the equation.  And not only that, they’re out there practicing what they preach right now.  They both have acting careers in addition to running The Savvy Actor.

Currently they have one Crash Course MBA Weekend scheduled here in LA.  It’s coming up in just under a month towards the end of October (23&24, 10am-6pm).  I believe that this will be the only event that they will have out here in 2010, so if you don’t jump on it you’ll have to wait until 2011 to get their marketing wisdom and savvy in one big concentrated dose.  If you can’t make it, they do offer a few other options, including buying their book/course manual, a couple of seminar/workshops (some of which are webinars/held online & there for accessible anywhere you have an internet connection), and one on one coaching.  So lots of possibilities.

Before I finish this, I’d like to just share a few of the gems I picked up in the hour that Jodie  was speaking.  She really emphasized the importance of consistency.  Having a reason, a purpose, and a strategized plan behind everything you do.  And basically realizing that you are your product (a thinking feeling product for sure, but still a product) and as such everything you do inevitably reflects your product/brand and the sooner you realize that and behave accordingly the better your results are going to be.

She also gave us an overview of the The Savvy Actor’s Six Vital Business Fundamentals.  These are the six business fundamentals that they delve into in great detail during the Crash Course MBA Weekend.  I’ll give you a summary here (based on my notes) so that you can get an idea of what the weekend really has in store for you.

These are the 6 roles or mindsets you need to incorporate into your thinking & being to effectively market yourself as an actor.

1. Be an Entrepreneur

Which Jodie tells us means embracing the entrepreneurial spirit and living your passion.  It’s about know what you want in your life as well as your career.  Letting go of what you think others want or expect from you and finding your “must”.  Entrepreneurs are a passionate dedicated lot who happily blaze new trails in the pursuit of their passion.  As artists we have no excuse for not doing the same.

2. Be a Project Manager

This fundamental is about having a plan of action – knowing how you are going to get there.  ”There” being your must, your passion that you clearly defined with the first fundamental.  Of course, your must is (or should be…) much bigger than a single goal or even a couple of goals, so as project manager you break it down.  Jodie recommends working on no more that 3-5 goals at a time.  Specifically 2 career goals, 1 life goal, and 1 financial goal.  She likes a year time frame and stresses the importance of getting organized, mapping out a plan, and incorporating tasks related to your goals into your daily life.  Goals are achieved by small steps on a regular basis.

3. Be a Brand Specialist

This is perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of all.  As an actor, your brand is you.  And to know your brand requires knowing yourself.  Knowing not just what you like about yourself (or even what you don’t like about yourself) but knowing what other people see.  What you bring to every situation you are in.  Knowing your essence and not being afraid to show your essence to the world.  A brand is a promise.  People will choose your brand when they understand it and know that you understand it and will deliver what they are expecting.  But don’t scare yourself with visions of typecasting.  Your brand is your entry point, it’s your foot in the door.  And people in this industry know that brands change, they evolve.  So understand what your brand is now, polish it and sell it as is, it will launch your career & down the road it will evolve.

4. Be a Marketing Director

In this role you will need to make sure that all of your marketing materials reflect your brand (do you see how these fundamentals build on each other?  I’m not mapping out explicitly from one to the next, but it’s not hard to see the connections if you look).  Remember that your materials are how you communicate your brand – is your brand clear in every piece of marketing you are putting out there?  Jodie gave us the Savvy Actor Definition of Marketing:

The creative promotion of your essence, your relationships, & your successes.

With your essence being your brand, your relationships being the people you connecting to and meeting with, and your successes being your successes.  And she made a point of how important it is to own our successes.  Even little ones.  Success has a momentum, Celebrate it.

She also talked about the three types of headshots… 1. the one your significant other likes (the sexy one, you probably like it too).  2. the one your mother likes and 3. the one that sells you (your essence, your brand).  The audience all laughed when she shared this with us….

5. Be a Community Embassador

This fundamental is all about how are you going to talk about your brand….  Ever been stumped by the question “What do you do?” or “Tell me about yourself?”?  I know I have.  And Jodie cut straight to the chase on how we really need to spend some time working out our answers so that not only are they short and sweet (and sound like they come from a human being), but that they communicate your passion, your understanding of this crazy business called show business and how your fit into.  Your communications also need to highlight your successes.  Jodie says think of networking as “enriching your support systems”.  And realize that your communications are an important part of how you do business.

6. Be a Financial Strategist

And finally we get to the importance of money.  Money is the backbone of your business.  You must invest in your business/product (which is YOU! remember…) to develop it, to promote it, to market it.  Of course, there are always ways to save money and so on, but without a financial plan you’re flying blind.  Jodie brought up the importance of really taking the time to come to terms with you own thoughts and beliefs about money.  She explained how she used to have some rather detrimental beliefs in this area and that her success took a huge leap forward when she shed them.  I know that this is an area I have been working on in myself and it really makes a difference.  So, take a good look at your beliefs and relationship to money.  Give yourself permission to shed those beliefs that are holding you back.  Get organized and invest in yourself and your career.  You can thank me later .

So those are the 6 business fundamentals Jodie shared with us.  There is clearly room for a lot more detail in each area.  No wonder they need a whole weekend to really get into this stuff.

A couple of last thoughts… remember that brand you is a process and a balancing act between the essence you know to be true and that which the rest of the world perceives.  It’s also important to remember that everyone will see you differently.  So if someone sees you in a way that goes against the essence you know to be true, realize that they are not a good match for you.  Take your power back by taking responsibility and choosing not to pursue working with that person.  There are other people who will you in ways that are at least in line with what you see, if not exactly the same thing.  It’s your career, take control of it!

These tools are used to help an actor get jobs, find an agent, a manager and generally get their face out there.  And I now have the two main tools in place.  I have plans for starting my reel, although they have to wait until I have the money for that.  The web side of things I’m handling myself because I am a geek and have a lot of knowledge in this area.  I’m wondering about the best ways to use these tools.  There are a number of standard practices for the traditional tools, but the newer web based tools are still in their infancy.

I don’t think anyone quite knows how to fully leverage personal sites for actors.  The ones I’ve seen that appear to be geared toward landing jobs are often polished but feel vacant.  I rarely feel connected to the actor or like they even care that much about their website as a place to express themselves and connect with others.  Mind you, I don’t really know how casting directors, agents, and managers respond to these sites.  I just know that I find them hollow.  I also wonder how likely it is that anyone from the industry will come across an actor’s website while randomly browsing the web.  It seems to me that if a casting director (or someone similar) is at your website it is because they have already had some contact with you.  And their visit to your site is to get to know you better.

This all leads me to believe that the most important thing you can do with your website is to make it come alive.  Really find a way to connect with the people who visit.  Welcome them into your world and give them a reason to keep coming back.  Entertain them, offer them something of value, and keep updating.  It doesn’t have to be every day, but offer them something of interest, something to check out.  Even if it’s just to share some discovery you made recently.  Some website or video that inspired you, or gave good advice or simply entertained you.  But don’t make your only updates be when you have a new credit to add to your resume.

A slick design, fancy graphics and a flash interface do not make a good website.  These things can enhance your site.  They can even be fun.  But they do not replace having your heart and soul at the center of your website.  If you’ve already got a thriving career there probably isn’t much need for a personal website (Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney – these people don’t need a website to support their career).  But if you’re just getting started, I’m willing to bet that a website or at least some web presence is going to become increasingly necessary.  And the best site are ones that help people connect.  So build your online empire with your heart.  Start with easy free tools like facebook, twitter, and flickr.

There are a number of websites out there that are designed to connect actors with auditions and casting directors.  These are primarily membership sites.  I will be trying many of them out as I am able to do so and I will let you know what I think.  I am certain that these sites are just the beginning and as the web continues to alter the way we do just about every thing in life we will see some significant shifts in how actors use the internet to connect with jobs.