When the business is slow, an actor can feel like they may never work again! Our clients at the studio often ask for advice on what to do during the downtimes. These dry spells can take a dramatic turn if we don’t use our downtime effectively. So we’ve got a few ideas on how to make the most of the quiet before the new year craziness! Check out our two part series starting here with “What To Do During Down Time: The Calm Before The Pilot Season Storm, Part One.”

— Stay up to date on the business! You can’t play if you don’t understand the game. Make sure you know what is in development, what is in production, and what is going on in Hollywood and beyond. Read websites like Deadline.com or The Hollywood Reporter or Variety. You may get a word of a project before many others and have the upper hand. You may land a new agent meeting, and need that up-to-date information to talk about in your interview. Remember your elementary school teacher saying “Knowledge is Power?” This advice rings even more true in the entertainment world.

— Take care of the personal stuff you’ve been neglecting. Yup, putting energy towards things like housework and errands during the downtime will help you be in a good place to rock Pilot Season! If you are unorganized, recruit a type A friend to help you. Once January comes you may not have time to tie up all these loose ends, so get everything set in advance. File receipts, stock up on breakfast bars and canned soup staples, iron all those audition clothes. Whatever you can do now to save your time later will help skyrocket your career when the opportunities come!

— Get back into class. Don’t let yourself get lazy or your skill set get rusty. Enroll in a class, specifically one where you can practice mock audition sides so you can get in your best acting shape yet. During Pilot season you may get heavy sides only the night before a 10am audition. Your voice, body, script analysis and imagination must all be raring to go! Olympians train all year round, not just the night before the big race.

— Brush up your go-to sides. If you have a favorite piece of copy from a previous audition, revisit it. Give yourself sometime to have fun and play with it in a completely new way! Thinking outside the box with material we are already super familiar with can take our acting to a whole new level. Most actors play it safe at auditions, but if you can practice being completely in the moment and letting go of all your preconceived ideas about how a scene “should be” played, you’ll wow them in the audition room.

— Take an industry workshop. Some actors avoid these like the plague. But what better way to spend your time and money than building your network before Pilot Season? You may even be able to use your favorite go-to sides from above. These professionals will be way too swamped with work in January to take on new clients or see new faces, so this may be the perfect time to introduce yourself and show them what you can bring to the table!

Stay tuned for “What To Do During Down Time: The Calm Before The Pilot Season Storm, Part Two” later this week. And don’t forget to write us and share your tips with us on how to stay motivated and fresh during this time of year.

Break legs!
Megan