Udemezue John
Introduction.
The movie industry is one of the very creative industries that has made more millionaires than any other given industry.
It seems like an easy industry, but to be honest with you, it is a complex industry to crack; there are so many talented actors, but there are few platforms and opportunities available for all of them together; this is a significant problem in first and third world countries all over the world.
So many talents have waited to be discovered, but they become discouraged and eventually retire to do something else in the long run.
This is why this article Is here to demystify the movie industry to the barest minimum so that you would be able to find your bearing and get started without any hassle.
Do you have the following Questions;
- how to become an actor with no experience
- how I become an actor
- how to become a successful actress with no experience
- how to start an acting career in Hollywood
- I wanna be an actress how do I get started
- how to become an actor in Hollywood
- how to get acting classes
- how to become a superhero actor
- how to apply to be an actor
- how do I become an actor
- how to become a famous movie actor
- how to become a childhood actor
- how to start an acting career at 20
This article has been created to help answer the above questions with clarity. Make sure to stick to the end to get a comprehensive understanding.
Who Is an Actor?
An actor is someone, either male or female, who portrays or acts a role in a play and is then displayed to an audience through a communication medium such as radio, television or the internet.
The Global Film Industry Stats.
The film industry has created so many millionaires and is still doing so now; there are few data and insights to help you analyse the drive properly. By the way, this data and insights have been gathered from trustworthy sources.
1. Do you know that the US is the third largest movie industry globally, just behind China and India?
2. Do you know that there are about 5,750 cinema sites in the U.S. as of 2017 compared to over 10,000 in 1997?
3. Hollywood-made films will dominate the global box office for a more extended period, but it has also been discovered that these movies are mostly shot overseas.
4. The worldwide theatrical market had a box office of US$38.6 billion in 2016. The top three continents with the highest box office gross remain Asia-Pacific with US$14.9 billion, the U.S. and Canada with US$11.4 billion, and Europe, the Middle East and North Africa with US$9.5 billion.
5. As of 2011, the nations with the most significant number of film productions were India, Nigeria, and the United States(USA).
6. The United States cinema (Hollywood) is the oldest film industry globally and the most significant film industry in terms of income.
7. The cinema of Nigeria, usually referred to informally as Nollywood, was the second-largest film industry, in terms of production, in 2009 and the third-largest, in terms of overall earnings produced in 2013.
8. India is the largest producer of films globally and the second oldest film industry globally. India is also home to one of the most famous cities in the global film industry, Mumbai. In 2009 India created 2,961 films on celluloid; this figure includes 1,288 feature films.
How To Become an Actor.
Do you have a talent or interest in picking up a carer and making good money as an actor?. Then there are very few walkthroughs that you might find very interesting.
1. Discover Your Talent.
The first step to getting started as an actor is to discover your Talent is one of the chore features when you decide to venture into a career of your choice.
There will always be ups and downs when it comes to success, but the determination and agility that such an individual would exhibit depends on the fact that they have discovered a talent in such a field.
I wrote an article on how to discover your Talent on this blog, and I recommend you read that article to be sure if you want to pick up acting as a career.
2. Choose a Movie Genre.
A movie niche or genre is simply a type of movie for a particular audience, there are various movie genres, and a few numbers of them are; Action, Comedy, Thriller, Epic, and so on.
The upside of choosing a movie genre is that you get to focus and create well-born stories out of creativity; of course, you are free to dwindle into whatever movie niche of your choice, but it’s better to stick to one in particular.
For example, when you think of Charlie Chaplain, Mr Bean and Kevin Hart, what comes to your mind is a comedy; the same goes for actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rambo and the Rock; you get the feeling that they are in for action movies and the list goes on like so.
3. Get Equipped.
The next step to achieving your goal as an actor is to get equipped with the necessary skills such as production and learning to handle the camera mind you, this is not important, but at least have little knowledge in any of the skills mentioned above as it would help you tell your stories better.
Also, as a newbie actor, you are likely not to receive calls for a role, but in the meantime, you can get busy and creative with production and filmmaking.
4. Start Shooting Short Movies.
Short movies are just ways and strategies used to express yourself as a newbie; as stated above in the introduction, the movie industry is saturated. So one way to avoid being depressed is by getting your hands dirty.
If you can’t do this on your own, you can get the help of someone very close to you that is passionate about seeing you succeed. Short movies are just low funds films that you use to promote, learn and market your Talent.
5. Register With The Actors Guild In your Country.
One of the significant steps to take as an actor is getting recognized by people of your kind, and one of the ways to do this is by going local with the actors guild in your location.
This would help you connect with like minds in your location; you never can tell, you might be called upon to feature in a film project; who knows, that is the power of networking.
6. Go for an Audition.
An audition is a sample performance by an actor, usually used as a yardstick to feature in a role. For example, before a movie is shot, an audition is generally hosted to select actors that would feature in such a movie.
As an aspiring actor, you should follow up on audition websites in your location and link up with local actors to get information about auditions being performed anywhere close to you.
7. Go To Film School.
If you don’t have the time and stress to read theatre arts in school, a quicker way to get started is by attending a film school close to you. Film schools are just like Bootcamps that teach you the basics of theatre arts and all you need to know to get you in the industry.
8. Start monetising Your acting career.
There is so much money to be made as an actor. However, creativity only produces a lot of cash if it is well channelled appropriately. You can also turn your skills into cash flow by following the steps below.
1. Become a Social Media Influencer.
A social media influencer is someone who can spark engagement on any given social media platform.
Almost every primary industry has seen a surge in influencers. And trademarks are leveraging them now more than ever. Being an influencer has become so profitable that it’s no surprise that everyone wants to be one in their domains.
You might have gained popularity to give you the desired voice across every social media platform as an actor. You can then convert this into a money-making business and begin to charge brands to pay for your services.
I wrote a comprehensive guide on this blog to help you start as a social media influencer; click the link below.
2. Google Adsense.
Google AdSense is a business run by Google. Through which website publishers in the Google Network of content sites serve text, images, video, or interactive media ads targeted to the site content and audience.
These advertisements are delivered, distributed, and sustained by Google. As a result, they can produce income on a per-click or per-impression basis.
As you can see above, you will need a website or a YouTube account to start making money with Google Adsense. I wrote a comprehensive guide to help you own your blog and start making money; click the link.
3. Affiliate Marketing.
Affiliate marketing is a way to receive a percentage for endorsing products or services to your colleagues, readers and followers.
As an actor, you may have gained influence over a specific period; you can leverage this influence to start promoting other people’s products online and start getting commission from it.
I wrote a comprehensive guide to help you get started with affiliate marketing; click the link below.
4. Voiceovers.
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice that is not part of the story is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations.
The voiceover is read from a script and maybe vocalised by someone who performs outside the movie or by a specialist voice talent.
The voiceover industry has boomed recently, and with the advent of technology, it has become more accessible to stage and screen actors.
Many actors connect voiceover studios in the rest of their own homes and work in their pyjamas. Voiceover can be profitable and pay bills between those difficult film and TV acting jobs.
You don’t need to be on sight to work as a voiceover artist. All that is required is the proper use of your voice, which settles it all.
5. Appear In Commercials.
You must have seen famous movie actors in a commercial for top brands in your country. But unfortunately, many actors used to think that acting in commercials was not working.
The acting style for commercials is more complicated than performing on stage or in film because actors are marketing a product. However, actors are paid to use their performing skills to sell a product or service.
9. Use Movie Distribution.
Just like music distribution, movies are usually distributed also in a way to make them profitable. Again, this is because so many movie distribution platforms, including popular Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Netflix is a streaming service that offers a broad diversity of award-winning TV shows movies, and via the internet for a paid subscription. Selling your movies on Netflix allows you to go super fast when making money. If all you can do is sell your films to Netflix, then be sure to make instant cool cash without the cinema.
There are two popular ways to attract Netflix. You can go old school by going into significant festivals and markets to draw the Netflix team’s attention directly. Or you can choose to work with a middle man in the form of a distributor who has a direct relationship with Netflix. To give you a quick heads up, the latter is better.
If you are genuinely looking for publicity, the subscription service allowed by Amazon Prime is an excellent option for Netflix. Amazon Prime has millions of subscribers and gives a powerful platform for “discovery.”
And unlike Netflix, Amazon Prime rewards you every time someone streams your film on its platform, making it better than NetFlix. This makes Amazon Prime very filmmaker helpful.
You can distribute to Amazon Prime on your own and even get the chance to explore data and insights.
Once your film becomes live on Amazon Prime, a straightforward publicity tactic involves asking the cast and crew to invite family and friends to engage in such a movie.
This activity’s increased engagement can also increase the chances of gaining traction in Amazon’s ranking engine and even rank the first page.
You can also use various digital marketing strategies such as email marketing, search engine ads, etc.
I wrote a comprehensive guide to help you understand various digital marketing strategies and how they work.
10. Promote Your Movies.
Marketing is the blood of every business; many people do not see your creativity because no one knows you yet. Most companies spend so much on setting up logistics and productions stuff and eventually spend so low on marketing, guess what happens to these people? They pack up in the end.
Now that you have put so much work into creating this fantastic movie of yours, it’s time to get it out to the right audience; remember, so many people want to see what you’ve got; you have to own up to your responsibility of engaging in a massive promotion.
1. Use social media.
Social media is one essential tool to get started when it comes to promoting anything; platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have become popular in marketing.
A graphic designer is one of the legit ways to create acknowledged content for your marketing on social media; you can get the services of a graphics designer on Fiverr.
I recommend you seek out someone very close to you. Then, all you need to do is understand how promotion on these platforms works. I wrote a comprehensive guide to help you start marketing on this platform; click the link below to get started.
- How To Create A Successful Facebook Ad Campaign
- How To Grow Your Business On Twitter
- How To Grow Your Business On TikTok
- 6 Effective Digital Marketing Strategy For Every Business
2. Email Marketing.
Not too many actors have time to build email lists, but please do if you have the time. There is so much gap when it comes to an understanding of how the digital world works with actors and celebrities; a lot of them rely on their influencer and popularity on social media, so when it happens that they go out of sight for a while, they tend to lose relevance.
This is because they don’t tap into other digital marketing strategies. For example, email marketing can help keep your fans loyal; social media is not a good place to build loyal fans. So many people slide to your DM to hate you and bully you; the best thing to do is make a dedicated following and create an email list.
I wrote a comprehensive guide to help you build an email list below.
3. Leverage The Power Of YouTube.
YOuTube can also serve as a medium to promote your brand; you don’t need to upload the complete videos; all you need is the trailer, which settles it. If you don’t have a massive following on YouTube, you can seek out the services of an influencer to help you out.
The best to promote it is Via YouTube and link to a movies distribution platform where the whole video is hosted.
4. Own a Website/Blog.
Owning a blog is also crucial for promoting your materials on the internet; how many actors own active websites? Unfortunately, I can only count a few.
Most of them eventually do when they get lonely and bored, and they are no longer have too much going on in their lives anymore; this is a lousy market, and it called striking at the wrong time.
As discussed in this section, it takes a lot to keep your brand stable until the end of time, and one of them is using a blog.
A blog can go a long way in building and maintaining your followership. When your blog has a lot of readerships, they can be compelled to watch your movies when they are launched.
I wrote a comprehensive guide to help you start owning a blog; click the link below.
Conclusion
Not all productions can bear to pay you for your work, and most unpaid projects can pay off in surprising ways.
Suppose you see the artistic significance in the project, and you think it will help you grow as an actor, accept it is a story that needs to be told, want to add reputation to your resume or specific clips to your reel or have an opportunity to make encouraging connections within the industry.
In that case, it will not be a bad idea to consider the occasional unpaid gig now and then.
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