May 7, 2025 • 22 mins
Actors: The industry is shifting fast. Are you keeping up?
Veteran talent manager Jess Canty breaks down what every working actor needs to know in 2025. In this episode of Take Fountain, Jess breaks down the current trends shaping the entertainment industry, and how professional actors can smartly respond to them.
From understanding the lasting impact of self-taping and shifts in casting expectations, to protecting your digital likeness and strategically using social media, Jess shares actionable insights to help you stay competitive in today’s evolving Hollywood landscape.
Whether you're a seasoned performer or just starting out, this video will teach you how to read the trades effectively, spot the trends that matter, and build a long-term career with purpose, clarity, and resilience. Subscribe for weekly guidance on the business of acting and how to thrive in a changing industry.
Want to watch this episode? Check out the Take Fountain Channel on YouTube.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I'm Jess Canty.
I've been a talent manager in Los Angeles for over 10 years
and this is Take Fountain.
So today in Take Fountain we're talking about
trends in the industry.
Hollywood is a little bit of a strange animal in
that there are trends that are current
(00:21):
and it is an industry that doesn't move very quickly
because it's so big and so well established.
You not only have to pay attention to
what the current trends are,
but also understand what current trends are actually going
to have a long lasting impact on the business
and that the business is going to respond to over time.
(00:42):
And this requires a little bit of a tap dance where you're,
which means you're paying attention to current trends,
but also paying attention to how
and if they're seeping into the business at large.
Because if you're responding to every little thing,
it can start to feel like you're playing a game
of Whack-a-Mole, that old game
(01:02):
that you would find at like a Dave
and Buster's where you're, you're just sort
of chasing something
but you're never really getting anywhere.
Now the number one way we recommend that actors
confront this issue is by reading the trades.
And we bring this up quite often
in our discussions here on the channel
and it is for good reason, variety, the Hollywood reporter
(01:24):
and to some extent deadline.
And if you're in theater backstage
or Broadway world, those are going to be the places you want
to go and read regularly.
The reason why I recommend
that you read them regularly is you're gonna start
to see patterns over time.
And that's really what you're looking for when you're trying
(01:44):
to learn how to discern which trends are sort of,
of the moment and you can maybe ignore
and which trends are going
to actually have a long lasting impact on
the, on the business.
It can seem a little daunting at first.
I always recommend that you pick one
of the trade magazines to start with.
(02:04):
So whether it's Variety
or the Hollywood Reporter, I actually recommend
that you get a physical subscription if you can afford one
because there is something about holding
that magazine in your hands every week
and actually reading it in physical form
that I think sticks in a way that it just is hard
(02:25):
to manage if you are only looking at the online version.
The items that go into the print versions are the things
that the editors
of these publications think are the most important
for people to know
because they're gonna take the time to put them in print.
So if you really put in the time and,
(02:46):
and it really is sort of like a practice, right?
You find a time of day just like you would do your workout
where you're gonna take 30 minutes
and read a couple articles from that week's variety
or that week's Hollywood reporter
that's really gonna give you that basis over time
to start understanding who the players are in the industry,
(03:09):
how each of the businesses in the industry react differently
or the same to different market forces
and to these trends over time you're gonna start
to recognize names, you're gonna start
to recognize companies, you're gonna start to recognize
which reporters are sort of reporting on
what parts of the industry.
(03:29):
You're gonna understand what parts of the
magazine are most beneficial to you and what you can skip.
You know, sometimes there's fluffy articles in there
that may be fun to read
but aren't necessarily important for you.
And so you can kind of skim past those unless you have time.
So that really requires engaging
with these publications on a weekly basis.
(03:51):
The production cycles
for a TV show from the time the idea is purchased
to the time it actually makes it to the screen for people
to watch, whether it's the big screen
or the small screen, is typically a couple
years at the fastest.
And so that requires anyone that is in the position
to green light those shows in those films
(04:14):
to really be looking into the future
and saying, what do audiences want
to see two years from now?
What are they gonna be excited about?
And so they're actually trying to guess
what the trends will be ahead of time.
So if you are trying, if you're noticing a pattern in,
you know, all of a sudden there's a lot of vampire movies
(04:36):
or TV shows out
because you're watching those shows, that's probably a trend
that is over, quote unquote in terms
of the development cycle.
Meaning that those shows are now out,
maybe they're doing really well.
But if you're being reactive to that as an actor
and thinking you need to like go out
(04:57):
and get a headshot with, you know, some vampire teeth,
you're, that's where that
whack-a-mole thing starts happening.
So the reason why we want people to read the trades is
because you're going to be paying attention more to
what is being greenlit for the future as opposed to reacting
to what is available now for consumers.
This business is always reacting
to changes in distribution and changes in technology
(05:21):
or advancements in distribution and technology.
And so being aware
of the things coming down the pike in terms of new cameras
or a new way of distributing something in theaters
or you know, a, a new technology,
something like AI that is going to impact the industry
(05:42):
and how it's impacting the industry from the moment it is
germinated rather than to the point where, you know,
you're watching the first AI movie
directed by a big director.
There's been stories about AI in the trades
for the last three or four years.
And so anyone that's even just reacting to
(06:06):
that now is sort of catching up as opposed
to having been aware of the trend from the beginning.
The things that you're gonna see reported on over and over
and over again, that's a likely indication
that something is sticking
and having an impact on the industry and is then
therefore probably going to impact you
as an actor in your daily life.
(06:27):
A perfect example of one of these quote unquote trends
that is now sticking to the industry is self taping.
If you're just now sort of reconciling with that,
you're probably behind a bit in terms
of getting yourself tape set up
and being competitive in a place where
that has now become the norm
(06:47):
and has frankly been the norm for a few years.
And if you had been following all along as
that shift was happening,
you could have been building up your self
tape set up slowly.
You would've been doing it at a time when casting wasn't
necessarily sure exactly what they wanted to see.
SAG hadn't weighed in on it yet,
(07:07):
and so you would've been able to kind of learn
with everyone as they were going.
It looks like self taping isn't going away anytime soon.
And so what are those things that you need to have?
We've talked about this in another video, we'll link
to it at the end of this video.
But again, good lighting, clean background, good sound,
(07:30):
you don't need anything fancy to get started,
but these days you are competing with a number
of actors who've been self taping for quite some time.
And so you do wanna make sure
that you're doing this in the most
professional way possible.
I think the days of, you know,
having an unmade bed in the background, um,
(07:50):
I don't know that people are as accepting of that
as they may have been in the beginning.
I think there's ways of inexpensively
hiding that and being able
to produce a self tape on a plane background
that are really gonna make you be in that crowd that is
(08:11):
doing this in the most professional way possible.
I think another couple things with self-tapes these days
that are sort of expected is that you know your eye lines,
you know how to interact with the camera
or if you're on a zoom, you're comfortable sort of,
you know, bantering
with casting like you would've done in the room prior.
(08:31):
And you're knowing how
to use the camera potentially on your phone
or your computer in a zoom situation
and how that impacts your setup
and your background a little bit differently than if you
normally tape with a camera on a tripod.
I think also having a set of readers on deck
and ready to read with you
(08:52):
and knowing which readers are great for you for comedy,
great for you for drama, those, all
of those things are things that actors
who have been self taping for the last five years
have at the ready.
And so that sort of the bar has been raised for the minimum
of what needs to happen in a self tape
(09:16):
so that casting really can focus on your performance.
And so I bring this up
because self taping is not a trend anymore
and it is something
that has fundamentally shifted in the business
and it is here to stay it least for the time being.
And so really getting good at that, investing in that,
you know, I've been around long enough
(09:36):
to remember the days when actors had to
bring physical headshots to their agency
or management company to do submissions with
and actors were driving around town for auditions.
There was a lot of cost that went into both of those things.
So that cost has shifted to the self tape setup.
So there's always a little bit of cost,
like we talk about here all the time on the channel.
(09:59):
The cost of running your acting business, um,
and investing in your self tapes is definitely something
that we recommend and is worth it
because this is a trend that looks like it's not going away.
Another thing that we believe is a trend that's here
to stay right now as of April, 2025
(10:19):
when we're recording this, is that you really need to know
who you are, know your brand for lack of a better word,
and stick with it.
I love the saying, if you are trying to be everything
to everyone, you end up being nothing to no one.
We really encourage our clients to know who they are, know
what kinds of roles they want to go
(10:41):
after, what kinds of roles they're best at, communicate
that effectively to their reps
and position themselves through their headshots,
their reels, all of their social media
and marketing materials so that it's clear to casting
and producers and directors what lanes they wanna play in.
You can look at people like Kristen Wi, you know,
(11:04):
before she was on SNL, there wasn't an improv stage in LA
that she wasn't on on a regular basis.
Matthew McConaughey certainly had a couple
of lanes he was playing in regularly with repeat business
until he decided to pivot and,
and change things up well into his career.
Um, Sophia Vargara was, you know, on Modern Family
(11:29):
for 11 seasons playing a really particular type of character
and then she was able to pivot.
So we really believe in the premise
that you wanna get good at one
or two things, be the very best at it, be the go-to
for casting and producers
and directors for that kind of role.
And then once you're able to make a name for yourself doing
(11:54):
that, then you can kind of raise your hand
and say, okay, I'm ready
to pivot, I'm ready to do something else.
So really understanding who you are, what you love
as an artist, where you fit in terms of
the, in enormity of storytelling that is happening in film,
(12:15):
TV and theater and communicating that effectively.
You know, Tom Cruise still hasn't done a TV show.
Um, Daniel Day Lewis I don't believe has ever done a comedy.
So again, these performers
who are incredibly successful are also completely
comfortable knowing what they do well and leading with that.
Another trend that we're seeing in 2025
(12:38):
that we think is going
to be sticky just based on everything we read
and where the industry is going is really
using your social media strategically.
Now we say that with a caveat that not every actor has
to be on social media.
We don't believe that it is a must.
We, if you are someone who finds social media to be a chore
(13:00):
and you don't have fun interacting with it
and don't have fun posting, um, I actually think it's better
to completely not participate
and kind of live in the mystery of that these days than
begrudgingly participate in social media.
'cause I think at this point people can kind of feel that.
(13:21):
And so I think it's better to either do it
because you love it, do it
because you see it as an extension of yourself, something
that you find fun doing that you want to make time to do
and curate your taste and share what you love
and share your own updates
or back way off and don't participate
(13:42):
and wait until you book that big job that is going
to put you in a place where, you know,
maybe you can pay someone to run your social media for you
or you'll have more time to be focused on that
and you'll have an audience that you'll be interacting with.
Whatever you are doing with social media, you want to
(14:04):
interact with it strategically.
So, you know, I heard this great thing where
Instagram is kind of your look book.
It's the place where you can share obviously photos
and things that inspire you.
I think with Instagram reels you can also feed in a bit of
(14:25):
your personality as well as sharing other videos
that align with your taste so that anyone
that's looking at your social media on Instagram can kind
of get to understand who you are from that perspective.
TikTok is really a showcase.
So if you are a comedian, if you are someone
that does sketch, if you are someone that likes
(14:48):
to create characters,
TikTok can be a really good place for that.
And if that doesn't really speak to you,
then maybe TikTok is not a place you wanna interact with,
but maybe Instagram is
because it's a more natural fit for the kinds
of things you wanna be sharing or or curating.
I think another thing that's happening these days too is
(15:08):
that there is starting to be a difference
between sort of the creator economy
and the traditional Hollywood storytelling economy.
And what I mean by that is, I think for a while, you know,
Hollywood was dabbling in
seeing if creators could cross over into being actors.
(15:31):
And actors were kind of dabbling in, you know,
turning into YouTube creators to see if
that would help their acting career.
Obviously there are some notable people
who created really amazing things
in places like YouTube who then have pivoted
to successful acting careers in Hollywood.
But those are really the exceptions rather than the rule.
(15:55):
And that is another thing about trends
that can be really dangerous is
that if you're only looking at the exceptions, it's hard
to say that that's a trend.
There's always gonna be someone that is able to do
that in a new way at the highest level
and get Hollywood's attention and potentially pivot.
(16:16):
Now if that's you, congratulations, that's awesome.
But for the majority of people,
that's not gonna be their path.
And so again, we really recommend
knowing who you are, what it is you wanna be doing,
what turns you on artistically and sticking in that lane.
And I think the lane of the content creator these days
(16:38):
is quite different to some extent than the lane of someone
who is a tr you know, an actor that is auditioning
with casting and going to class
and coming up through the ranks In that way,
I think there's quite a bit
to do if you're just following the path of a, you know,
the traditional acting path.
(16:59):
And so adding in content creation on top of that,
unless it comes naturally to you,
it can kind of split your attention.
I think another thing that's we're starting
to see some seeds of starting
to see potentially becoming a trend
that's specifically very important to actors
and anyone that's on camera
(17:20):
is protecting your digital likeness.
So this is something where if you,
before watching this video
or listening to us as a podcast, if you've never heard
of the trades and today you go out
and you start to read them, I think you're gonna start
to see more
and more stories about actors who are having run-ins
(17:40):
with sort of AI companies
or companies that are
utilizing their likenesses in ways they haven't approved.
SAG has started to weigh in on this.
And so really keeping up with understanding all
of the changes and rules and regulations
and potential laws that are being passed
around your digital likeness, I think that's something
(18:02):
that's gonna be really important in the next
two to three years.
And we're gonna see a lot of movement on that front.
We've, there have been some one-off things.
Scarlett Johansson had a kerfuffle with open ai
and you know, a couple other performers have had things
happen where their likeness was used in a way
that they hadn't approved.
(18:23):
And so that is something to definitely pay attention to
and for yourself, understand so
that if you are in a position where
your likeness is used in a way that you
did not approve, you know what resources are available
to you in that situation.
I wanna close with the idea that in this business,
(18:47):
the number one trend that has always been true
and will never, ever go away is that you have to have
a long game mindset.
This business requires tenacity, it requires persistence,
it requires grit.
It has always been hard.
I was recently reading a book
that was written in 1919 by a couple of writers
(19:12):
who were writing about how to
break into Hollywood in 1919.
And it was honestly shocking to me how,
you know, with a little bit of update of some terminology,
they talked about writing scenarios instead
of writing screenplays.
(19:32):
But you know, with some of this
tech swapped out terminology, a lot
of the book really truly could have been written today.
And so that just goes to show that even though there's all
of these micro trends that happen in the business
and all of these changes in technology, the fundamental
underpinnings of the business have always
(19:54):
worked the same way.
And you know, probably worked
that way in Renaissance theater and Greek theater.
There is just something about the relationship between art
and commerce when it comes to storytelling
that is always fundamentally gonna be the same.
And so having that long term mindset, having
(20:15):
that consistency, having that resilience
and coming into this
collaboratively are fundamental.
And if you focus on those things,
that is never gonna go out of style.
This is the most collaborative art form in the world,
and that really is paramount that you have
(20:39):
to be approaching this from the perspective
of collaboration, whether it's with casting, with writers,
with directors, with your friends,
with your agents, with your managers.
That is what's going to lead to long-term success.
You truly, truly have to love this work.
Whatever you're doing in Hollywood, outside of
(21:00):
the accolades, outside of the recognition, outside
of the same, you have to love it for its own sake
in order to have a long-term career.
And so when those things come, they become an extra bonus
as opposed to the goal right now, the business is
more competitive than it's been in the last few years,
(21:21):
and that's another trend that's happening.
We were in a period of what everyone was calling peak tv
for quite some time.
There were more shows being made than had ever been made in
the history of television.
And so that meant that there were more roles available
for actors than there ever had been.
And were shifting back to
(21:43):
a more constricted business, one where we're not making
as much, but perhaps we're getting more eyeballs on the
things that we are making because audiences aren't spread
so thin across so much storytelling.
And so that does require that you
are undeniable in your performances every single time
(22:03):
because there simply is more competition than there may have
been when there were more roles available.
And so even if it's just one line,
bringing your unique artistic vision to the role
in an undeniable way, that is a trend
that is also always going to be here.
And it is the thing that is going to be
(22:26):
assuring you the very most success.
Thank you for being here today on this episode
and give us a like or hit that subscribe
and we will see you next time on Take Fountain.
I'm Jess Canty.
I've been a talent manager in Los Angeles for over 10 years
and this is Take Fountain.
So today in Take Fountain we're talking about
trends in the industry.
Hollywood is a little bit of a strange animal in
that there are trends that are current
(00:21):
and it is an industry that doesn't move very quickly
because it's so big and so well established.
You not only have to pay attention to
what the current trends are,
but also understand what current trends are actually going
to have a long lasting impact on the business
and that the business is going to respond to over time.
(00:42):
And this requires a little bit of a tap dance where you're,
which means you're paying attention to current trends,
but also paying attention to how
and if they're seeping into the business at large.
Because if you're responding to every little thing,
it can start to feel like you're playing a game
of Whack-a-Mole, that old game
(01:02):
that you would find at like a Dave
and Buster's where you're, you're just sort
of chasing something
but you're never really getting anywhere.
Now the number one way we recommend that actors
confront this issue is by reading the trades.
And we bring this up quite often
in our discussions here on the channel
and it is for good reason, variety, the Hollywood reporter
(01:24):
and to some extent deadline.
And if you're in theater backstage
or Broadway world, those are going to be the places you want
to go and read regularly.
The reason why I recommend
that you read them regularly is you're gonna start
to see patterns over time.
And that's really what you're looking for when you're trying
(01:44):
to learn how to discern which trends are sort of,
of the moment and you can maybe ignore
and which trends are going
to actually have a long lasting impact on
the, on the business.
It can seem a little daunting at first.
I always recommend that you pick one
of the trade magazines to start with.
(02:04):
So whether it's Variety
or the Hollywood Reporter, I actually recommend
that you get a physical subscription if you can afford one
because there is something about holding
that magazine in your hands every week
and actually reading it in physical form
that I think sticks in a way that it just is hard
(02:25):
to manage if you are only looking at the online version.
The items that go into the print versions are the things
that the editors
of these publications think are the most important
for people to know
because they're gonna take the time to put them in print.
So if you really put in the time and,
(02:46):
and it really is sort of like a practice, right?
You find a time of day just like you would do your workout
where you're gonna take 30 minutes
and read a couple articles from that week's variety
or that week's Hollywood reporter
that's really gonna give you that basis over time
to start understanding who the players are in the industry,
(03:09):
how each of the businesses in the industry react differently
or the same to different market forces
and to these trends over time you're gonna start
to recognize names, you're gonna start
to recognize companies, you're gonna start to recognize
which reporters are sort of reporting on
what parts of the industry.
(03:29):
You're gonna understand what parts of the
magazine are most beneficial to you and what you can skip.
You know, sometimes there's fluffy articles in there
that may be fun to read
but aren't necessarily important for you.
And so you can kind of skim past those unless you have time.
So that really requires engaging
with these publications on a weekly basis.
(03:51):
The production cycles
for a TV show from the time the idea is purchased
to the time it actually makes it to the screen for people
to watch, whether it's the big screen
or the small screen, is typically a couple
years at the fastest.
And so that requires anyone that is in the position
to green light those shows in those films
(04:14):
to really be looking into the future
and saying, what do audiences want
to see two years from now?
What are they gonna be excited about?
And so they're actually trying to guess
what the trends will be ahead of time.
So if you are trying, if you're noticing a pattern in,
you know, all of a sudden there's a lot of vampire movies
(04:36):
or TV shows out
because you're watching those shows, that's probably a trend
that is over, quote unquote in terms
of the development cycle.
Meaning that those shows are now out,
maybe they're doing really well.
But if you're being reactive to that as an actor
and thinking you need to like go out
(04:57):
and get a headshot with, you know, some vampire teeth,
you're, that's where that
whack-a-mole thing starts happening.
So the reason why we want people to read the trades is
because you're going to be paying attention more to
what is being greenlit for the future as opposed to reacting
to what is available now for consumers.
This business is always reacting
to changes in distribution and changes in technology
(05:21):
or advancements in distribution and technology.
And so being aware
of the things coming down the pike in terms of new cameras
or a new way of distributing something in theaters
or you know, a, a new technology,
something like AI that is going to impact the industry
(05:42):
and how it's impacting the industry from the moment it is
germinated rather than to the point where, you know,
you're watching the first AI movie
directed by a big director.
There's been stories about AI in the trades
for the last three or four years.
And so anyone that's even just reacting to
(06:06):
that now is sort of catching up as opposed
to having been aware of the trend from the beginning.
The things that you're gonna see reported on over and over
and over again, that's a likely indication
that something is sticking
and having an impact on the industry and is then
therefore probably going to impact you
as an actor in your daily life.
(06:27):
A perfect example of one of these quote unquote trends
that is now sticking to the industry is self taping.
If you're just now sort of reconciling with that,
you're probably behind a bit in terms
of getting yourself tape set up
and being competitive in a place where
that has now become the norm
(06:47):
and has frankly been the norm for a few years.
And if you had been following all along as
that shift was happening,
you could have been building up your self
tape set up slowly.
You would've been doing it at a time when casting wasn't
necessarily sure exactly what they wanted to see.
SAG hadn't weighed in on it yet,
(07:07):
and so you would've been able to kind of learn
with everyone as they were going.
It looks like self taping isn't going away anytime soon.
And so what are those things that you need to have?
We've talked about this in another video, we'll link
to it at the end of this video.
But again, good lighting, clean background, good sound,
(07:30):
you don't need anything fancy to get started,
but these days you are competing with a number
of actors who've been self taping for quite some time.
And so you do wanna make sure
that you're doing this in the most
professional way possible.
I think the days of, you know,
having an unmade bed in the background, um,
(07:50):
I don't know that people are as accepting of that
as they may have been in the beginning.
I think there's ways of inexpensively
hiding that and being able
to produce a self tape on a plane background
that are really gonna make you be in that crowd that is
(08:11):
doing this in the most professional way possible.
I think another couple things with self-tapes these days
that are sort of expected is that you know your eye lines,
you know how to interact with the camera
or if you're on a zoom, you're comfortable sort of,
you know, bantering
with casting like you would've done in the room prior.
(08:31):
And you're knowing how
to use the camera potentially on your phone
or your computer in a zoom situation
and how that impacts your setup
and your background a little bit differently than if you
normally tape with a camera on a tripod.
I think also having a set of readers on deck
and ready to read with you
(08:52):
and knowing which readers are great for you for comedy,
great for you for drama, those, all
of those things are things that actors
who have been self taping for the last five years
have at the ready.
And so that sort of the bar has been raised for the minimum
of what needs to happen in a self tape
(09:16):
so that casting really can focus on your performance.
And so I bring this up
because self taping is not a trend anymore
and it is something
that has fundamentally shifted in the business
and it is here to stay it least for the time being.
And so really getting good at that, investing in that,
you know, I've been around long enough
(09:36):
to remember the days when actors had to
bring physical headshots to their agency
or management company to do submissions with
and actors were driving around town for auditions.
There was a lot of cost that went into both of those things.
So that cost has shifted to the self tape setup.
So there's always a little bit of cost,
like we talk about here all the time on the channel.
(09:59):
The cost of running your acting business, um,
and investing in your self tapes is definitely something
that we recommend and is worth it
because this is a trend that looks like it's not going away.
Another thing that we believe is a trend that's here
to stay right now as of April, 2025
(10:19):
when we're recording this, is that you really need to know
who you are, know your brand for lack of a better word,
and stick with it.
I love the saying, if you are trying to be everything
to everyone, you end up being nothing to no one.
We really encourage our clients to know who they are, know
what kinds of roles they want to go
(10:41):
after, what kinds of roles they're best at, communicate
that effectively to their reps
and position themselves through their headshots,
their reels, all of their social media
and marketing materials so that it's clear to casting
and producers and directors what lanes they wanna play in.
You can look at people like Kristen Wi, you know,
(11:04):
before she was on SNL, there wasn't an improv stage in LA
that she wasn't on on a regular basis.
Matthew McConaughey certainly had a couple
of lanes he was playing in regularly with repeat business
until he decided to pivot and,
and change things up well into his career.
Um, Sophia Vargara was, you know, on Modern Family
(11:29):
for 11 seasons playing a really particular type of character
and then she was able to pivot.
So we really believe in the premise
that you wanna get good at one
or two things, be the very best at it, be the go-to
for casting and producers
and directors for that kind of role.
And then once you're able to make a name for yourself doing
(11:54):
that, then you can kind of raise your hand
and say, okay, I'm ready
to pivot, I'm ready to do something else.
So really understanding who you are, what you love
as an artist, where you fit in terms of
the, in enormity of storytelling that is happening in film,
(12:15):
TV and theater and communicating that effectively.
You know, Tom Cruise still hasn't done a TV show.
Um, Daniel Day Lewis I don't believe has ever done a comedy.
So again, these performers
who are incredibly successful are also completely
comfortable knowing what they do well and leading with that.
Another trend that we're seeing in 2025
(12:38):
that we think is going
to be sticky just based on everything we read
and where the industry is going is really
using your social media strategically.
Now we say that with a caveat that not every actor has
to be on social media.
We don't believe that it is a must.
We, if you are someone who finds social media to be a chore
(13:00):
and you don't have fun interacting with it
and don't have fun posting, um, I actually think it's better
to completely not participate
and kind of live in the mystery of that these days than
begrudgingly participate in social media.
'cause I think at this point people can kind of feel that.
(13:21):
And so I think it's better to either do it
because you love it, do it
because you see it as an extension of yourself, something
that you find fun doing that you want to make time to do
and curate your taste and share what you love
and share your own updates
or back way off and don't participate
(13:42):
and wait until you book that big job that is going
to put you in a place where, you know,
maybe you can pay someone to run your social media for you
or you'll have more time to be focused on that
and you'll have an audience that you'll be interacting with.
Whatever you are doing with social media, you want to
(14:04):
interact with it strategically.
So, you know, I heard this great thing where
Instagram is kind of your look book.
It's the place where you can share obviously photos
and things that inspire you.
I think with Instagram reels you can also feed in a bit of
(14:25):
your personality as well as sharing other videos
that align with your taste so that anyone
that's looking at your social media on Instagram can kind
of get to understand who you are from that perspective.
TikTok is really a showcase.
So if you are a comedian, if you are someone
that does sketch, if you are someone that likes
(14:48):
to create characters,
TikTok can be a really good place for that.
And if that doesn't really speak to you,
then maybe TikTok is not a place you wanna interact with,
but maybe Instagram is
because it's a more natural fit for the kinds
of things you wanna be sharing or or curating.
I think another thing that's happening these days too is
(15:08):
that there is starting to be a difference
between sort of the creator economy
and the traditional Hollywood storytelling economy.
And what I mean by that is, I think for a while, you know,
Hollywood was dabbling in
seeing if creators could cross over into being actors.
(15:31):
And actors were kind of dabbling in, you know,
turning into YouTube creators to see if
that would help their acting career.
Obviously there are some notable people
who created really amazing things
in places like YouTube who then have pivoted
to successful acting careers in Hollywood.
But those are really the exceptions rather than the rule.
(15:55):
And that is another thing about trends
that can be really dangerous is
that if you're only looking at the exceptions, it's hard
to say that that's a trend.
There's always gonna be someone that is able to do
that in a new way at the highest level
and get Hollywood's attention and potentially pivot.
(16:16):
Now if that's you, congratulations, that's awesome.
But for the majority of people,
that's not gonna be their path.
And so again, we really recommend
knowing who you are, what it is you wanna be doing,
what turns you on artistically and sticking in that lane.
And I think the lane of the content creator these days
(16:38):
is quite different to some extent than the lane of someone
who is a tr you know, an actor that is auditioning
with casting and going to class
and coming up through the ranks In that way,
I think there's quite a bit
to do if you're just following the path of a, you know,
the traditional acting path.
(16:59):
And so adding in content creation on top of that,
unless it comes naturally to you,
it can kind of split your attention.
I think another thing that's we're starting
to see some seeds of starting
to see potentially becoming a trend
that's specifically very important to actors
and anyone that's on camera
(17:20):
is protecting your digital likeness.
So this is something where if you,
before watching this video
or listening to us as a podcast, if you've never heard
of the trades and today you go out
and you start to read them, I think you're gonna start
to see more
and more stories about actors who are having run-ins
(17:40):
with sort of AI companies
or companies that are
utilizing their likenesses in ways they haven't approved.
SAG has started to weigh in on this.
And so really keeping up with understanding all
of the changes and rules and regulations
and potential laws that are being passed
around your digital likeness, I think that's something
(18:02):
that's gonna be really important in the next
two to three years.
And we're gonna see a lot of movement on that front.
We've, there have been some one-off things.
Scarlett Johansson had a kerfuffle with open ai
and you know, a couple other performers have had things
happen where their likeness was used in a way
that they hadn't approved.
(18:23):
And so that is something to definitely pay attention to
and for yourself, understand so
that if you are in a position where
your likeness is used in a way that you
did not approve, you know what resources are available
to you in that situation.
I wanna close with the idea that in this business,
(18:47):
the number one trend that has always been true
and will never, ever go away is that you have to have
a long game mindset.
This business requires tenacity, it requires persistence,
it requires grit.
It has always been hard.
I was recently reading a book
that was written in 1919 by a couple of writers
(19:12):
who were writing about how to
break into Hollywood in 1919.
And it was honestly shocking to me how,
you know, with a little bit of update of some terminology,
they talked about writing scenarios instead
of writing screenplays.
(19:32):
But you know, with some of this
tech swapped out terminology, a lot
of the book really truly could have been written today.
And so that just goes to show that even though there's all
of these micro trends that happen in the business
and all of these changes in technology, the fundamental
underpinnings of the business have always
(19:54):
worked the same way.
And you know, probably worked
that way in Renaissance theater and Greek theater.
There is just something about the relationship between art
and commerce when it comes to storytelling
that is always fundamentally gonna be the same.
And so having that long term mindset, having
(20:15):
that consistency, having that resilience
and coming into this
collaboratively are fundamental.
And if you focus on those things,
that is never gonna go out of style.
This is the most collaborative art form in the world,
and that really is paramount that you have
(20:39):
to be approaching this from the perspective
of collaboration, whether it's with casting, with writers,
with directors, with your friends,
with your agents, with your managers.
That is what's going to lead to long-term success.
You truly, truly have to love this work.
Whatever you're doing in Hollywood, outside of
(21:00):
the accolades, outside of the recognition, outside
of the same, you have to love it for its own sake
in order to have a long-term career.
And so when those things come, they become an extra bonus
as opposed to the goal right now, the business is
more competitive than it's been in the last few years,
(21:21):
and that's another trend that's happening.
We were in a period of what everyone was calling peak tv
for quite some time.
There were more shows being made than had ever been made in
the history of television.
And so that meant that there were more roles available
for actors than there ever had been.
And were shifting back to
(21:43):
a more constricted business, one where we're not making
as much, but perhaps we're getting more eyeballs on the
things that we are making because audiences aren't spread
so thin across so much storytelling.
And so that does require that you
are undeniable in your performances every single time
(22:03):
because there simply is more competition than there may have
been when there were more roles available.
And so even if it's just one line,
bringing your unique artistic vision to the role
in an undeniable way, that is a trend
that is also always going to be here.
And it is the thing that is going to be
(22:26):
assuring you the very most success.
Thank you for being here today on this episode
and give us a like or hit that subscribe
and we will see you next time on Take Fountain.
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