If you don’t know who Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez is then you probably are not a baseball fan. He is one of the game’s most talented and controversial figures. No, he’s not into drugs or steroids, and he’s never been in trouble with the law. The reason he is controversial is that he is by far the game’s highest-paid player.
At the end of the 2007 season he opted out of his existing contract. It was a 10-year, $252 million deal and he had three years left on it. Apparently he was convinced– and this is where his agent Scott Boras enters the picture– that he could get an even better long-term deal. His agent made the announcement that A-Rod was again for-hire the day of the clinching game of the 2007 World Series in a brazen and classless attempt to steal the spotlight away from the two World Series contenders. This and the fact that A-Rod and his agent were seeking an even larger ridiculous sum of money quickly turned the tide of popular opinion against them. Scott Boras announced that he wouldn’t even talk to a club unless it was offering at least ten years and $300 million.
Only one team responded (Anaheim), and their offer was not inspiring. After two weeks Rodriguez began to sense that he had made a horrible decision. He approached the Yankees entirely on his own and asked if he could sit down with them and negotiate a new contract. The two parties are in the midst of this negotation right now– without the agent– and hopefully both parties will be satisfied with the outcome.
Now what could this possibly have to do with acting? I’m so glad you asked.
I become very frustrated at times listening to the aspirations and problems of some actors. They are talented, they have a marketable look, and they have for some reason decided that they are too good for the sort of entry-level, career-building opportunities available to them today that will, eventually, accumulate and put them in a strong position to compete for the jobs they desire most. They want to skip over the lean years of struggle and become quite impatient when somebody (like me) suggests that unless they get incredibly lucky it’s simply not going to happen. In other words they want to enjoy a career trajectory that exists only in theory. They’re chasing after a pie in the sky the same way Alex Rodriguez and his agent convinced themselves that somebody would be willing to sign a gigantic contract. And make no mistake– A-Rod is an outstanding talent. But even he doesn’t get to invent rules for his industry. Even he has to be aware of what reality is and act accordingly.
Belief in yourself is very important. But it is also important to be knowledgable about the industry and how it works and what is realistic and what is not. You need to be and should be ambitious and err on the side of over-reaching. But when things aren’t working out like you’d hoped you need to re-assess your approach. When you are acting do you ignore the other actors and what they’re doing and just do whatever you’ve previously decided upon? Of course not. And we can’t do that with our business approach either. The actors that work the jobs you feel are beneath you today are too often the actors booking the jobs you want tomorrow and beyond.
Remember that if you are just starting out nobody in the industry– no agent, casting director, producer or artistic director– is sitting at a desk waiting for you. The challenge you therefore face is to create a demand for what you offer where none currently exists. To oversimplify, you can meet this challenge by being the best actor you can possibly be and by putting yourself in the best possible competitive position. Because long resumes and constant bookings impress better than anything else you need to distinguish yourself in the sectors of the market you have access to right now before you will finally– and deservedly– gain access to the opportunities you covet the most.
