Hello beautiful people!
Let’s tour the world.
It’s awesome.
If your creative vision has you eyeing more than one market, there are some important considerations to keep in mind.
The process of navigating from one tier to the next is something you can replicate market to market. You just can’t do it simultaneously. You can, however, do it gradually and methodically. So we’ll lay the groundwork with some research (as always) that is definitely more beneficial the earlier you do it. Of course, this research is done while you continue to do the vitally-important relationship-management in your current market! Don’t get so focused on where you’re headed that things dry up where you are! Remember, a multimarket career needs roots in all places, so don’t ignore tending to the “plants” at home.
Another caution: Don’t reach ahead to all the markets you want to inhabit simultaneously. That’s crazymaking and it’ll split your focus more than it already will be due to maintaining momentum in your current market while keeping an eye on where you’re headed. So with just *one* larger market in mind — ideally one where you can work as a local hire, one you can get to easily, and one with which you have some industry-level familiarity — start your ninja research.
In case the concept of “local hire” is new to you, here’s an episode of my podcast The Work in which I break it down.
Okay, so the research: Find the shows that are actively shooting where you’re targeting. Use CastingAbout and search the city out. Even if the show is casting in LA or NY, if it’s shooting elsewhere, CastingAbout will tell you that detail. You can also use local film commission websites or hotlines to get some basic information. IMDb will help you out if the show has been in production for a while (use the location sidebar to refine the search). Of course, use all these same resources to find feature film production happening (although it takes a little more digging to get good info about what’s what EARLY enough for it to make a difference sometimes), and add iSpot.tv and the tactics I mapped out here to get up to speed on commercial production personnel you can target in this new market.
Start building your new market show bible and map out all these folks, their Web of Trust connections, and your potential connections to them through other folks with whom you may be able to meet earlier.
Next, set up Google Alerts on those folks. Let a steady stream of information about your targets hit your inbox and then organize this information as if your next tier depends on it. Keep an eye on your targets regularly. Don’t get lazy about your Google Alerts’ upkeep. Just because something is set up and headed into your inbox does not mean you automatically benefit. You have to budget time for digging in, updating your show bible to map out the patterns you’re tracking, and making contact with those folks you’re looking to build relationships with.
On that last bit, let them teach you how they’d like to be contacted — social media, snail mail, drop-offs, self-submissions, via agent pitch only, etc. — and then set up a schedule for getting (and staying) on their radar using their preferred method on a timeline you can maintain. Over time (read that again: OVER TIME — seriously, don’t try to get married on a first date, y’all), let them know you’re also working in their market. Don’t lie about your true home base, but make them aware you’re a sometimes-local actor where they are. Keep them apprised of your visits. Time those visits to intersect with events your Google Alerts show are happening in that market so it’s easy for you to connect in person and elevate that relationship a bit more with each visit. Do as much virtual connecting as feels organic and aligned, with consistency.
Layer it in.
This will take time, but when you’re established in two markets and want to add in a third, you do exactly what you’ve done to get that second one going. Again, without compromising the momentum you’ve got going in your existing markets. Again, with doing loads of research from afar. Again, with deference to how your research shows they would prefer to be contacted. Again, without rushing to close the deal. Again, with time and patience and consistency.
Now, you are going to have to spend money going from market to market. Thanks to Profit Clarity (Day 28), I actually restructured my budget a few years back to reclassify my travel expenses as advertising. I’ve never bought ad space for the book, I’ve never campaigned for “best of” polls, I’ve never spent money to get my book positioned somewhere inorganically. But I looooove to travel. And travel is not cheap. A trip to a new city is now an advertising expense for Self-Management for Actors. It’s my opportunity to meet proactively with college professors who teach business of acting courses. And then they put my book on the required reading list and hire me to come back and speak to their classes! It’s my chance to do Q&A events at the actors’ unions and in private acting classes. It’s my chance to work with private coaching clients on their turf for a change. And it’s an investment in the marketability of my book and my coaching work for years beyond the first trip. Eventually, each new city becomes profitable. Becoming multimarket fancy takes time.
If you’re serious about going multimarket, begin to contribute to a savings account that’s dedicated to the trips you will have to make. This is an investment. Don’t resent having to spend money to get to your chosen next market; the whole point is that you want to build up to the tier at which you have work in each of the markets you call “home” so that you’re able to finance this jet-setting lifestyle with money made from the bookings you’ve picked up in each place, all the while increasing your brand profile exponentially due to all the coverage.
Sometimes, your bookings in one city will pay for your trips to another, and sometimes it’ll even be your survival job that’s financing everything, but eventually, momentum does take over and you’re finding the trips are more affordable for the money you’re making as an actor in multiple markets, you’ll find you’re never bored because there’s always something happening elsewhere that needs your attention, and you’re perceived as higher tier in each market because you’re a working actor beyond that one city. You’re in demand!
Downside (other than financial investment): You *do* have to communicate clearly with everyone that you may be in another market when you’re needed locally. The good news is, thanks to self-taping and Zoom callbacks, even that’s not a deal-breaker. Future you is *great* at setting up your hotel room lights (plus maybe a little travel light and mic kit you’ve packed) for a gorgeous self-tape! And (as your IMDb-Pro research will reveal) more and more agencies have offices in multiple cities — or they work to cover actors in multiple cities despite only having a single office — so it’s not the end of the world for you to be on the go. In fact, some agents will love this about you! The more markets to which they can submit you, the better!
If you’re looking to layer in a multimarket career, start out as if you’re learning how to juggle. Start with one ball. Get good at that. Add a second. Get good at that. Add in a third ball. Get good at that. If you can get great at three balls, you could add a fourth or even a flaming chainsaw at some point because now you have the muscle for how it’s done and each new addition is actually easier. But at first, it’s ONE. And even if that’s where you are now, you can start your plan for what it will be like to add in the second market and the third and so on by getting realistic about this whole thing now, and layering in progressively, methodically, and patiently.
Today’s work: Using what you know about your most castable brand thus far and the shows for which you know you’re a good fit at or just above your current tier, find out where these shows cast *and* shoot. You can figure this out on IMDb, CastingAbout, or even with a good ol’ Google. Start tracking patterns to determine which markets might be the most fertile for you to expand into when the time is right! Share below which cities feel the most exciting to you at this point, because there may be all sorts of resources available to you right here within your ninja community! Let’s find out!
Extra credit: Do this with films, webseries, commercials, or plays — or all of these depending on how ambitious you are for this work! Without getting overwhelmed at all the options, just start to notice which cities may be ripe for some attention as you continue to build your show bible.
And… even if you’re not at all interested in working in multiple markets, today is a GREAT day to update your show bible. Right? That’s always good work to do!
’til tomorrow… stay ninja!
