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| Jenny Sauer |
The main thing I notice about my fellow actor friends is that they don’t realize that acting is a job…that means IT’S WORK. Being an actor is the hardest and best job a person can have. I can say this because I used to be a farmer growing up on my family farm, went college and obtained a B.S. in biology, dabbled in modeling during college, then went onto performing clinical research in a lab and writing published research papers, all the while being a fitness instructor on the side of all these occupations. I decided to take a leap of faith and just try out acting. Now why in the world would I do that when I had a great job and was a published scientific author? I had zero (zilch!) acting experience, but traveled to Los Angeles to take a risk.
A couple attributes most actors obtain is taking a risk and willing to try anything to be happy. I wasn’t happy sitting in the lab every day, I couldn’t be creative. LA is the hardest place anyone can start out, especially not knowing anything about the industry. Here’s the catch, I didn’t go out there with stars in my eyes and thinking I was going to be the next Angelina Jolie. I went out there with realistic expectations. I did my research and learned about the industry. Basically, I worked. I didn’t sit in my apartment thinking I was going to get that phone call from Warner Brothers Studios wanting me to be the next lead actor in their big budget feature. How are they going to call you if you aren’t out there working? I’ll answer that for you: they won’t see you and won’t know you unless you get out there! I’m in Chicago now and still have to work. I was a must-join into SAG, three years ago, after being in LA after only three months. I will tell you, there weren’t a lot of actors that were truly happy for me; however, the difference between us was that I went out and did what I could to meet people and network.
I am going on being in the industry for three and a half years. You can learn a lot in a short span of time, especially when you are that sponge that loves soaking up knowledge and experiences. The other main thing that helped is that I said, “Thank you.” You would be surprised how far a simple “thank you” will get you, but you have to mean it. I’m appreciative of everyone that ever helped me, and they knew I meant what I said.
I also just landed my first national commercial over this past summer, again, because I kept my head up, didn’t give up, and continued working. I’ve heard “no” so many times, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to give up on my dream. I believe in the talent that I have, and that is one of the most precious commodities an actor can possess. First thing, believe in who you are, be confident, then find the free events, find out where people in the industry hang out, all that kind of stuff. The main thing is, is that you cannot be afraid. You went into this job knowing that you had something to offer, so get out there and show these people exactly what you do have to offer, which is a whole lot of amazing talent.
When I mentioned earlier that “being an actor is the hardest and best job a person can have” I meant that acting is so difficult because you getting booked isn’t solely based upon merit and job performance. For instance, let’s say you work at a factory and started at the age of 22. Once you reach the age of 30, you have some sort of seniority and hopefully, have been a stellar performer and not been late to work every day. This great performance at the factory more than likely leads to a promotion. As you've already figured out, the acting world doesn’t work like this. Just because the entertainment industry doesn’t work exactly like that factory, doesn’t mean you don’t have to work just as hard as you would if working at the factory. If anything, you work harder in the sense of keeping your self-esteem intact. When you work somewhere and obtain a paycheck, there is a sense of pride that you receive when that paycheck is handed to you. That means you actually did work and were compensated for it. This approach needs to be the same when it comes to acting.
What I decided to do was actually make myself have a typical work week, a 9-5 so to speak. I dedicate a certain amount of hours, Monday-Friday, on the computer to networking and reading articles. Another thing I do is practice. Practice, practice, practice. I was a basketball player for fifteen years; you don’t get better if you don’t practice. Pick up a book on Amazon, get a Kindle (or applicable device) and buy an electronic version of a book, go the library, or even better? Look up a play on the internet for free and read it. It doesn’t matter if you’re by yourself and reading five different characters at once, you are simply taking the time to familiarize yourself with not only that play but also with the art of acting. I myself am not a stage, theatre type of gal, but I enjoy reading one I haven’t ever heard of because what is wrong with more knowledge? I’ll tell you, NOTHING! Play around with different voice and accents; make the play your own. Pull a “Christopher Walken” and take out all the punctuation, make it fun!
Making this job fun is the main point I want to get across. Not only is acting challenging, but it is the most rewarding job as well. It means so much more when you know that you have put the work into it. Once you book that next big gig, you will have pride in knowing that you didn’t have to know someone in order to book it, rather it was based upon your due diligence and hard work. You will never learn anything if you continue to be handed things. Take pride in what you do, and work like a mule to be the next big “thang” in the entertainment world. I have faith in all of you that take this job seriously. You might not see that light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s there folks. Look really hard into yourself and you’ll find it.
Best of luck to all of you this New Year, and I hope you hard workers book, book, book!
-Jenny Sauer
-SAG-AFTRA
-www.jennysauer.com
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