Why people quit - Actor Video Transcripts
Video 1 Transcript
I can tell you why I almost quit. I almost quit because I was represented by people that were taking me down a specific path that was trendy. I'm sure it would have brought success in my life, but it didn't feel comfortable with me and I wasn't confident enough to voice my opinion. And after years of trusting them, I looked in the mirror and barely could recognize myself and decided I needed to take a hiatus and reassess my life and found out who I was at the core and then realized what it was that I was going to present and give and offer to this industry. And at that point, I took back control. Now I don't care if I get the part or not, I want to have certain moments. I could have an amazing audition and have lightning coming out of my fingertips and feel just as fulfilled as if you gave me the lead role in a film. But this work is hard. There's a lot of rejection and there's a lot of terrible feedback. You just have to get to a point where you don't take it personally.
Video 2 Transcript
I think a lot of people quit because they don't realize how much work it's going to be to be an actor. More than that, I think people quit because it's tough. You have to go through a lot of not getting cast to get cast. Any actor, the best actor you know, is going to audition for far more projects than they actually get to do. So if you're taking each one of those personally, that's going to get really, really taxing. And I think one of the most surefire ways to make sure you stay in the industry is to learn to let things go, to audition for something and just forget about it. Pretend like you're definitely not going to get it. And then if you do get it, then what a pleasant surprise. But after you've auditioned, you can just let it go and move on to the next thing.
Video 3 Transcript
I think the main reason people quit is because of rejection. You will get rejected quite a bit. You know, like I said, I've done over 60 auditions and only gotten one or two parts. But you know what? You've got to keep going. You will get rejected a lot. You'll get a lot of bad feedback. You'll have people look at you and say, oh you ain't, this ain't for you. You don't give up. Keep going.
Video 4 Transcript
I think it's just, it's hard. It's a hard thing. I think there's a lot of financial reasons why people quit. You know, if you have a family and other responsibilities, it can be very tough. I also think just the fear of being rejected and that it's hard. I mean, I remember I had about a time where, I mean, six months in a row, I got rejected after rejected on commercial work and it's hard not to take it personally. Brian Cranston gave really good advice. He said when he stopped worrying about when he didn't get a part, taking it personally, he just realized like, that's not a reflection of who I am as an actor. Casting directors are looking for, you know, the right look. So many things that are out of your control. You just have to focus on doing your very best in an audition. And then if you don't get the part, not taking it personally and moving on to the next one and not lingering on it. And that he said has made all the difference for his career. And it's definitely helped me out.
Video 5 Transcript
I think people will quit for many different reasons and myself included I've quit probably 12 to 15 times in this industry but the problem is it just keeps calling me back it draws me in and you know that's how I knew I was sort of destined for this industry whether I liked it or not but others aren't a lot of times once you get a realization of how much of this job is actually not working and just trying to get work a lot of people quit because it's not as rewarding as they think if your goal is to be rich or famous there's much easier ways to achieve either so you have to really love acting to stick with it and and that's my problem is I keep trying to quit but I love it too much and it keeps bringing me back and you know it's one of those things that if you're born to do it you're born to do it
Video 6 Transcript
I think a lot of people quit because they give themselves a timeline on how they expect their career to progress and I just don't think that's the most productive way to enter this industry and to try this career out because almost always you're going to be disappointed if you set those expectations for yourself and that's that's different than believing in yourself and setting goals and trying to achieve those goals but there's really no timeline and there's no one right way to do it so I think a lot of people get discouraged that it's not happening for them or that they're not working right away or that it's not the work they wanted so I would just say patience and most of being an actor is just trying to act and that's that's what most of it is but it's definitely worth it so I encourage everyone to just stick to it and not quit.
Video 7 Transcript
Why do people quit? I feel like maybe people quit because they don't realize that they're going to have to, you know, work on the side, you know, be a working actor until they get those higher projects. And so, you know, maybe their finances just give out or they just get discouraged. They don't realize that you get booked like 10% of the time. So you might submit a hundred auditions that you loved it and you were perfect or, you know, all these film scripts that you wrote, you might feel like they're amazing stories, but it's not capturing the producer. You're not, maybe you're not submitting to the right producer. Maybe people quit because they don't keep up their physique and they realize they have to keep up that physical attributes for fashion shows, for the actor, for the characters that you're submitting to.
Video 8 Transcript
I would say the biggest reason people quit in this business is the amount of rejection that you have to endure. You are rejected probably a hundred times before you can get one gig, and then you're rejected a hundred more times. So, you gotta be able to handle that rejection.
Video 9 Transcript
Why people quit. Because it's hard. It's hard to do, but most of all it's hard to get jobs. It's really hard. We talked about rejection earlier. A good friend of mine and great teacher, Glenn Morshauer, told me not to think of it as getting rejected, but think of it as not getting hired. Just an energy shift there. It's really hard to not get hired. It's really hard to not have work. It's really hard to not have money while you're building up your skills, while you're building up your credits. Discouragement is maybe one of the biggest things as well. So I would say money, discouragement. If you can save up some money. Again, don't move to a big expensive city. Start in your market. Get a lot of work done. Get a lot of credits and work, work, work, work, work. Practice, practice, practice. Do acting for the love of the acting.
Video 10 Transcript
Well, people usually quit doing this as a vocation or career because they simply don't get enough work and they're out of money. You know, maybe they've saved up a nest egg or they've, you know, sold their house and taken their equity, whatever. Just say, I'm going to give myself five years and I'm going to try to go at this full time. And after three to five years, if it just isn't panning out, they say, well, I'm moving on. And that's probably smart. But those that are really actors that know it will be who they are until the day they die, they figure out a way to stay in it, even if they have to go back to college and get degrees in something else. Like I did. I got a master's degree in human resources management and I'm a professional inspirational speaker at conferences and other retreats for organizations. So I do that so I can afford to be a starving actor.
Video 11 Transcript
The reason most people quit is because they don't have the patience. They can't take rejection. They don't know that it's a slog. It's a long work of passion and you have to be willing to grow and learn and take those kind of notes.
Video 12 Transcript
I think people quit on being an actor because maybe they're not getting work or enough work. Rejection gets to them. That's one thing about being an actor. You have to have a reptilian thick skin because you're going to get rejected nine out of ten times. But the tenth time makes it all worth it and you keep going for the next nine out of ten times. But I think people who aren't equipped to deal with rejection and take it personally quit. And you can't. I mean, I never take it personally. Every audition I go into I think, I got this. And then they don't most of the time. It's like, okay, I'm going to get the next one. You really do have to have a thick skin. So I think that's why people quit. They just give up on themselves. But if this is your dream, if this is what you want to do, if this is what you have to do, not want to do, but have to do, like breathe and eat and sleep, do it. But as to why people quit, they just give up on the dream. No one should do that. You know, just tinker with the dream, make it a different dream, but just keep dreaming.
Video 13 Transcript
I think people quit. A lot of them quit before they really get started. They try it and they realize, wow, this is nuts. This is crazy. You got to be nuts to be an actor. And it's true. You have to be kind of insane to be an actor. But I think people quit because they don't make any money. And you get to a point where you're married and your spouse is putting pressure on you to pay bills. You got kids that want to eat food and stuff, just greedy little kids. And you quit because it's an impossible business. Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, it's nuts. So I think that's why a lot of people quit. They just find that it's a lot harder than it looks. And acting is a lot harder than it looks. We make it look easy, but it's not. So there you go.
