A Hollywood tragedy

From The Economist (my '06 plan is almost ready to go live...and no, after reading articles like this, it is not "abort!"):

A Hollywood tragedy
Hollywood’s best actors can cry on demand, but the industry's executives may soon be shedding real tears. A new report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation predicts that 2006 will be a hard year for the entertainment industry, which employs about 249,000 people in LA County [btw, note the word 'employs'...people like me don't fit in that category]. Falling cinema attendance, a slump in DVD sales (which fell from $15.2 billion in 2004 to around $10.2 billion in 2005) and the increased threat—thanks to evolving technology—of copyright piracy are all contributing factors. As if this wasn’t bad enough, studios will begin new contract talks with unions in late 2006.

With the industry aiming to cut costs, the city itself may suffer. Los Angeles is facing increased competition from other cities in America and around the world which are wooing film and television producers with tax incentives and lower labour costs.

This. Is. Hard.

I just got out of an hour long Q&A with an Agent (hosted by The Actor's Network). Why I or any Actor in that room would want to continue as an Actor is confounding.

I'll put it like this: the future is bleak. For Actors just starting out, anyways. No, this is not news to me, but damn...it doesn't help to hear it (or worse, see it) again and again. And again and again and again.

Some realities:
1) Commercials are down almost a quarter this year as advertisers move money to other mediums (Internet, Mobile phones, etc). This means that the shows they support (most anything on the networks) are cutting episodes. Clearly, this is not good for Actors, for two reasons: first, the obvious. Secondly, commercials are often the bread and butter that allow Actors to stay in LA, as they used to pay a fair amount.

2) There are three screens: TV/Film, Computer, Mobile. Currently, a compensation structure is in place for Actors on the first screen. Not so much for the other two, so talent is being sold on the cheap.

3) There are so many actors in LA now that Agents have most of the power (they have their pick, 10 times over). Agents are the gate keepers to Casting Directors, so without an Agent, it's tough to get cast. What's better? They consider me (and so many like me) too old. At 27 (wait, Agents might read this...) AT 22, without major credits to my name, they say I'm a tough sell. Being ethnic helps a bit (and is why I'm getting the agent meetings I'm getting), but still.

4) Casting is moving so fast that casting directors often have projects cast (through phone calls to a couple of Agents) before the word is out that a project is even casting.

5) In order to keep advertisers happy, there are rumors that cast members for TV shows will be required to advertise for the shows' sponsors. For free.

So.
What am I going to do about it?
Stay tuned for my '06 plan.....

Demand creates Demand

Quick post that I probably shouldn't make, but I will anyways.

After I got the two offers for representation I mentioned in my last post, I began marketing those offers to other Agencies/friends to see if I could get meetings/referrals out of 'em--and I did. I have 3 more meetings over the next month. And it's not like I didn't contact these agencies/friends before; they just weren't interested (or interested in helping) until someone else was interested (btw, I've found this to be the case with investors too. And women.)

Also, I want to add a THING THE SIXTH to my previous post: cold calling. A couple of Fridays back, I called 74 agents (that's 74, people) to see who was accepting submissions from my "type" (ethnic). Thirty-six asked me to send 'em stuff (18 didn't answer, 3 were weird, and only 1 hung up on me). Anyways, I sent materials to the 36 and am waiting now to see what happens--but the moral here is that calling helped me avoid wasting my efforts on agencies that just weren't interested (wait...maybe they'll be interested now that I've got offers...).