We’re talking business today, friends! Maybe you’ve been working on your craft for YEARS, you’re an exceptional artist and feel proud to call yourself an actor. Yay, that’s awesome! But here’s the thing...it’s harder than ever to break through in the biz. And we’re so quick to forget that acting truly is a business. When you go to pitch yourself, what do you have in your arsenal beyond your acting abilities?

There are a lot of great actors out there. There are way less great actors who also write their own projects, have marketing savvy skills, or are masters of inventing new revenue streams, right? Your favorite actors - what other job titles do they hold? What other areas do they work in? Do they write, direct, sing, have business ventures? When do you think they started to develop those skills?

BEFORE WE DIVE IN: Do you prefer to get all these acting career secrets in your earbuds instead? Check out the full podcast episode of 6 Ways to Create More Value As An Actor for the full scoop. I’d love to connect with you personally on social media, too! You can join the conversation over on Instagram @itsaslateofmind or @alison_haselden.

And yes, I know what you might be thinking, “some of those celebrities just get a ton of money and then invest it into selling merch.” and yes, that’s true. There are definitely many famous folk who don’t diversify their skillset and simply hire very smart people to help them invest their money while leveraging their now-famous-name. But we’re not talking about those people. 

I’m talking about people like:

• Mindy Kaling - During and after college her focus was on writing and stand-up comedy. She was eventually hired for her writing skills as the only woman on The Office writing team. Because of that she was able to later be written into the show and act as well. She now has built a powerful empire as an actor, writer, director, and producer. 

• Dan Levy - Just because his parents were already in the biz, didn’t mean that Dan Levy had a free pass. Dan spent many years focusing his efforts on hosting for Canada MTV. He had a few bit parts in film and TV, but was known for his humor and skills purely as a host while working on his writing skills. He and his father formed a production company and pitched Dan’s Schitt’s Creek pilot, which later took off. He now has a 3-year exclusive contract with ABC for producing and developing scripted content.

These two are perfect examples of bringing a TON of value to the table beyond just acting skills. Not only did they have more skills to offer to their creative partners, but they were able to create more opportunities for themselves. Basically, they had more chances to get their foot in the door of the big leagues, right? 

So maybe you won’t break out because of your acting, but once you’re in the “room where it happens” (don’t hate me, I couldn’t resist) due to another element of value you have, you’re better able to use that to lead into acting opportunities as well. Let’s dive a little bit deeper into why this concept is an important tool for the working actor.

what i learned from the music industry

Personally, I learned this lesson early, surprisingly not from my acting experience, but mostly from my career in music. Quick recap for those who don’t know - growing up I was being developed to work in commercial music. I started out at 12, being workshopped for a pop girl group and then went on in my teen years to have my management pitch me as a pop-blues singer because that was what they anticipated the next trend to be (Side note, they were right! A few years later, young female artists like Alessia Cara, Daya, all those gals started popping up.)

Anyway, one of the BIG things that my team drove home for me was that there were a ton of singers out there, and production companies and record labels could always find a good singer with a cool look. But what they always needed and valued - what really made them money was the songs themselves.

So I started songwriting. And learned guitar. And continued to work on my acting. And started to learn about marketing and business. And I can tell you from personal experience, every time I met with a new executive, a new producer, whoever it was. They wanted to know way more about my songwriting than anything else. And then “Oh wow, she could actually sing and act as well? And she wasn’t an idiot? Brilliant. More ways to make money.”

The TLDR summary of what I learned? Talent is a dime a dozen, the true value comes from ideas, content, and execution.

So flash forward to now: while I now am not actively pursuing a career in music any more, I am SO thankful that those experiences taught me how the people pulling the strings think. And it applies to my acting career as well. If you really want to utilize every avenue to get your foot in the door, or you dream of creating a multi-faceted empire like Mindy or Dan, we have to reverse engineer what the guys in the suits really care about and make sure that we’re providing those things. 

6 tips for setting yourself apart as an actor

Now, before we move forward, don’t get me wrong. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with not wanting to expand your skillset to develop these new avenues. It’s not for everyone. And that’s okay, but if you’ve seen those people you admire with these crazy stories and want to learn how to do it too, I’m going to break down a few things to try to get you started.

1. Brainstorm natural options. What comes naturally to you? What skills do you already have that can segway into a valuable industry skill? A few that come to mind are: screenwriting, hosting, singing, stand-up comedy, playing an instrument, songwriting, directing, business and marketing, stunts, and so on. 

2. Don’t force a new skill. If you are not even a little bit excited or interested in it - DON’T DO IT. Stressing over feeling like you HAVE to add something to your toolbox or forcing yourself to do something you hate is going to be counterproductive, so don’t push it. Seriously, I’m speaking from experience here. You won’t be happy if you force this ish. 

3. Be disciplined. Take a class, get a coach, set aside a certain amount of time each week to truly dig down and learn. 

4. Think beyond the arts. You don’t have to add on singing or dance if that’s not in your wheelhouse. You good with numbers? Did you go to school for finance or law and that degree is getting dusty? Might be time to get creative and use that skill to cater to the business side of the industry to help yourself make connections. 

5. Know that it won’t be a speedy process. Hopefully, you know this from your experience in acting, but learning any new skill takes time. Chances are you’re not going to write the next Emmy-award winning TV show on your very first attempt, but that’s OKAY! You have to dig through the dirt and junk before you strike gold. Let yourself suck at first and get excited for the progress. 

6. Start small with content creation. Remember the stories from earlier? Good Content - be it a script, a song, a big entrepreneurial idea, is King. That’s one of the most common ways actors can provide more value. Learn about what makes good content. Start small on your own social media channels or on Youtube. Good news here, kiddos - I actually have a self-guided course coming out that can get you started on this very thing so stay tuned for more info!

I know that thinking about these things strictly from a business mindset can feel so weird and almost wrong for many artists, but I wouldn’t be telling you guys this if I didn’t know it was important. Like I said, I’ve heard it and experienced it from the decision-makers themselves and I want you to have this super important information in the hopes that one of our rising boats will lift all tides. Especially in this weird pandemic-impacted time, these are the types of efforts that can really make a big difference in our careers long-term. Imagine how empowering it would be if we all exit the corona days with added value to bring to the table as actors. That is my hope for all of you.