The Acting Page : Promoting Yourself

Promoting Yourself...

Being a successful actor relies a lot on who you know. So, how can you get people to know you? Here are some ways to promote yourself:

Send out postcards to agents and/or casting directors (depending on what stage of your career you're at) and invite them to come and see you in any play you're doing. Send the postcard out about 3 weeks before the show, and make sure to arrange for free tickets for them, and let them know you've done so. Include your name (it may sound obvious, but you'd be amazed how many people forget this!), phone number, the name of the play, what role you have, when you'll be showing up (first person on stage, middle of the second act etc.), and the dates and times of the performances. Send another postcard out about a week before to remind them, then cross your fingers and hope they come! If they do, make sure you introduce yourself afterwards and see if you can score a proper meeting with them!

Let the newspapers know what you're doing. If you're doing something unique, contact your local newspapers or any other publication you can think of, and see if they're interested in doing a story about you. You might be surprised at how easy this is! Concentrate on the smaller papers, since you're likely to have the most luck with them. And the more interesting your story, the better. Were you on set with Tom Cruise? The paper in your home town will probably be fascinated! I even made it into the Winnipeg Free Press because of this site. Anything you can do to get your name - or, better yet, your picture - in front of people is a good thing!

Create a website. This is one of the cheapest, easiest ways to get your name out there! You don't have to be an expert to do it, either. You can always hire someone to make a site for you, or you can go to Geocities.com (like I do) and sign up for a free site. They even have a special PageBuilder that doesn't require you to know anything about HTML. It's also easy to get your own domain name. Use the site to put up your headshots, resume, and contact information, and whatever else might help pique people's interest in you. You can then include your web address on your paper resume as well.

Invite media to your plays or any other event. Call the TV stations, the newspapers, anyone you can think of. They might not come, but it's worth a shot. Do your homework and find out exactly who is in charge of whatever type of event you're inviting them to, and contact them directly.

Attend any party/event/screening/opening/festival/award show you can find. The more people you meet and who see you, the better. Besides, you're apt to pick up some good tips from talking to people at these events, and you might even find yourself in the media if they happen to be there to cover the event!

Send updates on your career to casting directors. This is an "at your own risk" one, because some casting directors hate getting mail from actors and others love it. If you're going to do it, the best thing to do is something simple but eye-catching - like, if you have a good headshot, get postcards made of it, write a note about what you're doing on the back, and send them out. Or create an eye-catching one page "newspaper" about yourself. Get creative, but make sure you remain professional and don't get silly or cutesy. That's a turn-off.

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