Report from the trenches

My show opens this Friday!  As I type these words I am on my dinner break from tech rehearsal.

My cast includes a few veterans who have been around for quite a long time.  Recently I heard one of them lamenting the SAG strike that occured back in 2000 (just as I was graduating from college).  He had enjoyed a wonderfully productive and lucrative voice over career prior to the strike but when the industry reorganized itself afterwards he found his opportunities had vanished.

I’ve heard many stories like this one from folks that have been around in the industry for a long time.  A good thing will be going for them– like in the old days of commercials, when a single actor might book thirty or more spots in a single year– and then something changes and it’s gone.  Sometimes the change comes gradually, sometimes it happens all at once.

I find an important lesson in this.  First and foremost, we must always remember that the industry is constantly evolving.  Old opportunities dwindle and die out while new ones are created.  If we don’t pay very close attention we risk becoming complacent during a boon period and having the rug pulled out from under us when the boon goes bust.

I think we would all prefer to move fairly gracefully from one opportunity to the next such that as the industry inevitably changes we change right along with it, moving away from what used to work and embracing what is working (or if we’re really savvy, what will work).  But to do this we have to be smart and aware.  We have to thoroughly familiarize ourselves with the history of the acting business and then stay tuned to emerging forces that will alter the trajectory of the industry, and our careers.

May we never look down at the floor, sadly shake our heads, and wonder what happened!