Believe it or not, actors are not naturally proud of the work they produce for your theatre company. Now I know that many of you will say something like: “Everytime I ask my actors are they proud of the results they achieved, they all say ‘YES’! “

And to that I will say, “yup, of course they are going to say that. To say anything contrary will probably lead to them not working with you again”. So how can I say that actors are not proud of the work they produce, and say it with conviction? It has less to do with your company, with your organization and more to do with societal pressures.

I am an audacious marketer for an actor. Ask any professional who has worked with me and the majority of them, within the field I work in, will attest to that. I say that to say that I have not always been audacious in my marketing efforts. In fact I use to be quite meek in my efforts, like 98.9% of my peers.

You see, most companies that I worked for wanted actors to market the show. The artistic director, director, managing director, would always say something like “hey, the postcards have arrived and we would like all the actors to take a stack and pass them out to friends, family, or who ever hands you can put them into. They look great by-the-way.”

Every actor would express interest in taking postcards or fake interest in wanting to take them. For the majority of my career I would fake interest in wanting to take them so that I could pass them out. And I use to feel bad about this. I use to feel that I was being fake. And I use to feel that I was probably to only one faking interest in wanting to take these postcards and wanting to pass them out. That is until I started hanging out with actors after a production had closed.

When a show would close, many of us would go out to a bar, or go to someones house and have a closing night party. And it was at these types of events, going to them production after production, year after year, that I began to realize that I was not the only actor who fake interest in marketing the show. In fact, I noticed the majority of us faked it.

How did I make the discovery that actors faked their interest in wanting to market a show and were ultimately ashamed to do so?

Every time I went into another actor’s car. Every time I went into another actor’s house, inevitably, I would see a stack of postcards sitting there (in the trunk, on the back seat, on their piano, on their living room table).

At first, upon making the discovery that I was not the only one not going out and handing out postcards, I was relieved. But after a few years of noticing this, I began to wonder why this was so. Why would actors tell admin they were willing to take a stack of postcards to pass out but never pass them out? What motivated them to not pass them out? (Yes there can be a motivating factor to NOT do something).

The answer I came up with took years to formulate, but I began to realize that although we, as artists, can be proud of the work we produce, it is nearly impossible for us to express that proudness outside of industry insiders. Why?

Societal pressure.

If you are not an artist, this may be difficult for you to understand. But go out to a function, a party, a business gathering (not related to the arts) and watch the faces and listen to the responses to people when you tell them you are an actor or a painter, or a sculpture (whatever type of artist you are). 9.8 times out of 10, you are going to receive a negative expression or a negatively slanted comment.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

“Ohhhhh so you’re an actor? That’s nice. So what do you really do for work?”

“Ohhhh my daughter wanted to be an actress, she could do that if she like, but if that was the career path she took I would not be paying for her college tuition”

“That’s interesting. So you actually wasted you time and money to get a degree in that when anyone can call themselves an actor without spending a dime?”

“So how do you pay your bills?”

“Why would I come see a theatre show. I’m a lawyer.”

“So what kind of job can you really get with an acting degree? Hunh?”

“Oh really. That’s very cool. So what movies have I seen you in?” they ask you “I’m actually a classically trained stage actor so I do most of my work on the stage” I reply. The next few seconds are filled with an awkward silence. “Ohhhh reaaaalllllly. That’s nice. Ummmm. Ohhhh I think I am going to go get another glass of wine. Nice meeting you.”

“I am sooo thankful that none of my children wanted to go into the arts. There’s no money.”

“So you actually have a Masters degree in acting?” He asks me “Yup” I say with pride Uproarious laughter ensues that envelops every square inch of the cafe we are sitting in. “That is the craziest thing I have ever heard of” he says, after wiping the tears of astonishment from his eyes. “Yup” i say, but this time in a more defeated manner as I try and figure out a way to minimize the glaring heat I feel from people all around staring at me being laughed at for my educational choice of pursuing a post secondary education in acting.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

These things to happen to us artist over and over and over and over and over and over again and again and again and again and again. It does not take long before we are conditioned to expect the worst from people when asked what we do for a living.

So naturally, it becomes ridiculous difficult to hand out materials advertising our profession that asks people to come pay to see what they themselves do not inherently respect as a profession.

Actors are scared to market to the community at large because they have been strongly conditioned to be fearful. Because they naturally want to spare their ego of the pain and rejection that is sure to follow when they tell people that they are in a show. Because no one wants to be disrespected for the profession they have chosen for their life’s purpose.

So if you are in a position to hire an actor for a show, and expect actors to effectively market your show, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE consider the negative psychological impact society has had on the artist mentality. It is almost impossible for an actor who does her work on the stage to have any significant amount of confidence to proudly go out into a neighborhood and market that which the public despises.

So how do we overcome this? I am not going to say I have answers. This is a deep seeded issue that is confounded by the millions of people in the world who find it their duty to belittle artist for choosing to do work on the stage.

If you are talent, then here are some suggestions:
#1. Get real with yourself. Are you really good, or are you one of those people who think they are good, go on American Idol, and are ridiculously bad? Just because your mother told you you should be an actor doesn’t mean you are good.

#2. Accept the reality that if you have not made a big recognizable movie, society will look at you as a failed artist. This is reality, so don’t let it affect your being when you come across this negative mentality from people in the “real world”.

#3 Get psychological counseling. Yeah sounds cheesy, but you need to be able to express your frustrations as well as your desires to someone in a more neutral place.

#4 Stop focusing on fame. Focus on being the best artist you can be or the best business artist you can be or both. Work from passion.

#5 “Weak is he who permits his thoughts to control his actions, strong is he who forces his actions to control his thoughts” -Og Mandino. Are you doing? Are you in action? Are you actively building your career? Or are you day dreaming? Being in action every day, no matter how small, will bring you that much closer to success and build confidence within yourself to know that you can go out a bring value to peoples lives if they come see you perform.

#6 Do you have a USP (Unique Selling Proposition)? What is a USP? Every business should have one. Are you not your own business? Having a USP will help strengthen your internal confidence level and will instill confidence in the people you approach on the street, giving them less pause to look at you like some lunatic who is wasting their time, money and life pursuing the arts.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unique_selling_proposition
-http://www.interactivemarketinginc.com/unique-selling-proposition.html
-http://thinktraffic.net/10-examples-of-killer-unique-selling-propositions-on-the-web
-http://www.sitepoint.com/how-to-create-unique-selling-proposition/
-http://www.economist.com/node/14301696
-http://www.marketingsphere.com/marketing-articles/unique-selling-proposition.html

#7 How professional is your website and is it differentiated from the THOUSANDS of other actor websites in the blogosphere? Being able to stand out is great for self confidence. DARE to stand out.

#8 Who is your support group? And make sure they are not “yes men”. Every once in a while you need to hear the truth.

#9 How often are you feeding your mind with positive motivational material? Yes positive affirmations do work BUT ONLY if they are applied in a disciplined, consistent, daily manner. Yup it is tough work, but it pays off if you do it long enough. My personal favorite: “The Greatest Salesman in the World” by Og Mandino
-http://www.ogmandino.com/
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_Salesman_in_the_World

#10 Get laid. Have sex. Masturbate. Do something to relieve stress.

If you are a theatre company, or an institution that nurtures talent, here are some suggestions:
#1 Nurture talent you feel is your best. By that I mean, maybe do something like create a mastermind group for a small network of your professionals.
-http://christinekane.com/blog/7-real-life-tips-for-creating-a-successful-mastermind-group/

#2 Require talent to market your show, but give them the ability to have input as to how the show should be marketed. Stay away from the more traditional types of marketing methods.

#3 Go out with your actors every once in a while, to show that you can get in the trenches as well

#4 From day one of the rehearsal process, focus on the business side of producing a show. Have daily goals
-ex. 3 times a week actors must have demonstrated that they have went out and marketed
-ex. If an actor brings in audience members who are not on your list, and that audience member buys a ticket and gives up their info, profit share with the actor
-ex. Three days a week, have a 30 minute session on the business side of producing.
-ex. Force the collective to come up with a 15 sec elevator speech about the production that they can say when talking to people on the streets
-ex. Before and after rehearsal, have a group mantra

#5 Invite business people in to give short speeches about what business is, it’s importance to success, and some of the key aspects that an business must do to make it.

Marketing, or the lack there of, is a huge reason why our industry is failing. It is up to all of us to get out there and make a difference. Go do it. Embrace it. Excel at it.