Hello, this is Colley Bailey writing to you from Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA. I’ve always been so grateful for all the wonderful friends I’ve met over the years who’ve blessed my life in so many ways. So hopefully what follows here will be received with grace. I definitely send this message with a heart full of gratitude.
As many of you know, Amanda and I recently moved to Los Angeles from Arkansas to pursue our passions and start my acting career. Since September I’ve already been a background actor on projects like:
- CSI:NY
- GREEK (ABC)
- the Sarah Silverman Program (Comedy Central)
- Party Down (Starz)
- a new MTV scripted comedy
- a Lifehouse music video
- a Band Hero commercial with Taylor Swift
- a feature film called Answers to Nothing
- the new MGM movie, Hot Tub Time Machine (coming out in Feb. 2010)
- and many other various productions.
I’ve been auditioning multiple times per week, and landed a role on a Discovery Investigations Channel show, a webisode of Hot and Crowded, and even a promo to help a feature film called Playback get financing (you can watch the video below). I’ve also already secured a commercial agent, Terrell at Sylvia Ferguson & Associates Agency, which is a huge step for any actor. At workshops, I’ve acted in front of casting directors from Days of Our Lives, CSI:NY, Sons of Anarchy, Stargate Universe, Iron Man 2, Smallville, Transformers 2, Paranormal Activity, Chuck, and House.
Here's the Playback trailer:
Click here to see me in a full clip from the Playback promo.
Click here to see ColleyBailey.com for more pics, video, and info
As you can see, I’ve been very busy hitting the streets and following my passions. It’s starting to pay off. Between Amanda’s 9 to 5 job and my acting work, we're paying our bills just fine. I haven’t had to have another job besides acting since we got here. However, after talking to and learning from other working actors, I realize there are some huge hurdles in front of me as I strive to attain the next level.
Let me start by saying that for any business to succeed, you need a solid business plan. Make no mistake, I treat this pursuit as a business, otherwise I would never have made it this far.
In any business, money is brought in (for the most part) through 3 main pillars:
1. Advertising
2. Sales Conversions
3. An excellent product or service that warrants repeat business
Let me explain how that applies to an acting career as well as go into a little bit about how the entertainment industry works.
As an actor, you have several ways to advertise: you can submit yourself to roles online, an agent can submit you, a manager can set up a meeting for you, a publicist can get your name and face in front of producers, etc. However, the process almost always starts with a headshot picture and usually ends with an audition for a casting director.
Here’s how the process works:
1. A production needs actors to play various roles in their script
2. They hire a casting director who writes descriptions of the roles and sends them to online databases of actors, or to agents who represent actors, or both.
3. The actors and agents submit their headshots to the casting director.
4. The casting director looks through all the submissions (sometimes thousands of pictures) and decides which actors to call in for an audition.
5. Actors audition for the casting director (sometimes through several rounds of auditions), who then makes recommendations to the producers for each part.
6. Then the production reviews the top choices and decides which actor will be offered the part.
It’s a very competitive process. I submit myself for roles everyday. My agent also submits my headshot and puts in a good word for me. That is how I’m able to go on so many auditions. The more I auditions I get, the better my chances of booking a job.
So, the first goal of the advertising pillar is to get more auditions. The best way to do that is to have headshots that stand out from the crowd. Remember, casting directors see hundreds or thousands of headshots for every role, so having a picture that POPS is crucial. There are many photographers doing headshot photography here in Los Angeles, but many of their pictures just don’t bring the actor to life in the way that is necessary.
After doing my research, I met with a few photographers, and decided to go with David Zaugh. His work really stands out above the crowd. Thanks to contributions made through this page by friends and family, I was able to shoot with him and get my new headshots done right.
Click here to visit David Zaugh's site
I believe that if you want to be the best, you have to work with the best, and you have to learn from the best. David is definitely one of the best in the business.
The second pillar in any business is the sales process. While that’s partly my agent’s job, I am responsible for nailing my auditions and winning the part. As a business, you track conversion ratios of your sales process. That is, you need to increase the number of potential customers that actually become paying customers. As an actor, auditions are where I have the chance to sell myself, to sell my acting to a production company. So, therefore, the more jobs I book from auditions, the better my conversion ratio.
Auditions tend to be a lot different than what you’re taught in traditional acting classes. So I decided to find someone who could help me learn the audition process and teach me a way to consistently book more jobs.
Again, if you want to be the best, you have to work with the best and learn from the best.
After a lot of time looking, I found that there are very few coaches dedicated solely to teaching audition technique. One name stood out above all the rest: Margie Haber. She was highly recommended to me by one of the actresses on the set of Answers to Nothing. In fact, most of her former students speak very highly of her. With a client list including Brad Pitt, Heather Locklear, Vince Vaughn, Tea Leoni, Tom Arnold, etc., its obvious that she knows her stuff.
Click here to check out Margie Haber's site.
Her month long intensives cost $500 for the Foundation Level, $600 for the Intermediate Level, and $650 for the Advanced Level. Its a goal of mine to complete all three levels in the first six months of 2010.
Then the third pillar really comes down to having a great product or service. That means I have to be a really great actor! I have to do such a good job with every role that everybody who sees it wants to keep watching, and every producer wants to hire me. In this town, good work and a professional attitude on set are noticed and rewarded with more work in the future.
To fulfill this pillar, I’ve been attending classes at Ivana Chubbuck Studios. Ivana wrote the influential book, The Power of the Actor, and has been one of the most respected acting teachers in Hollywood for over 20 years. She has coached many of today’s top stars including Halle Berry, Brad Pitt, Garry Shandling, Elisabeth Shue, Eva Mendez, Jessica Biel, Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Kate Hudson, and the list continues. This is what “learning from the best” is all about.
Click here to check out Ivana Chucbbuck Studios' site.
I’ve been getting very positive reviews on my scenes in the class, and I’m looking forward to moving into the Advanced class at the beginning of the year. This is an ongoing class that costs $300 per month.
One additional type of training I’m looking into is stunt training. I rode BMX bikes for a long time and I’ve always loved thrills and adrenaline rushes. Recently I was on a set with a few stunt coordinators and we struck up conversation. The more I learned, the more I wanted to get involved with stunts. They recommended Vega Stunt Academy. They teach stunt fighting, weapons, firearms, falls, gymnastics, etc, over a two week course, after which they will help you find work as a stunt actor. It’s invaluable to have this kind of thing on your resume. The cost for that course is $1000.
As you can see, the tools and training necessary to succeed here come with quite a cost. Unfortunately, there is no system in place to help actors afford their essential tools and training. In professional sports, the franchise provides the specialized coaches and training sessions on top of the athlete’s contracted pay as a way of strengthening the team. In music, the record labels sign artists and provide the funding to advertise to the masses and make the artist a household name. It is essentially a bank loan to get the artist established. Even producers of movies can get financial assistance from the studios. In fact, self-employed professionals in almost any other field can attain financing in the form of a bank loan. Actors can’t even apply for a business loan from a bank. There really is no form of financing for my career and my business.
Maybe this explains why there is such a huge failure rate among people who move to LA to be actors. Most of them don’t have any support, so they get second-rate headshots because that’s all they can afford. Then they either don’t go to classes, or go to the cheapest classes they can find because that’s all they can afford. I don’t want to be left with those options. I didn’t come here to be second-best. I’m here to be a professional actor and I’m out there making it happen every day in every way I can.
When I was in the Honors College at the University of Central Arkansas, I received scholarships to pay for my formal education. However, there is no way to get scholarships toward a professional acting education. I sometimes remember being in the high school band back in Flippin. For every trip we took, for every new uniform we bought, we had to find a way to pay for it. So what did we have to do? Fund raisers! I still remember trying to sell cookies and popcorn and wrapping paper to fund the band. Doing that, you realize that your family, your friends, and your neighbors are your greatest support system.
So I guess this is the best option I’m left with. This page, the videos, this whole spiel is about me believing enough in myself to ask for help, to ask for support. I want to show you how hard I'm working, and also how important your support is. This is my Career-Booster Fund-Raiser. It’s a Hollywood Scholarship. Its an investment in a friend.
My goal is to raise $3,000 toward my career boost this year. I’ve made it super easy to help out in any capacity that you feel comfortable. Below you’ll find a Paypal button where you can donate a $1, $5, $10, $20, or $50 pledge. If you'd like to donate more than that, you can add more pledges at checkout. Any amount is greatly, greatly appreciated. I realized that if all my facebook friends donated $5, or only half donated $10 each, I could reach my goal. So seriously, no amount is too little. I promise that all donated money will go directly to acting tools and training, and nothing else.
As of Jan. 10, $685 has been raised toward the goal! Thanks guys!
Also, anyone donating $20 or more will receive an autographed headshot from me. With your help, those autographs will be worth something someday, and you’ll have a constant reminder of my gratitude. So make sure you have the right shipping address when you checkout.
(I also have some other bonuses in mind for donators that I can't mention at this time! Just know I'll be giving back to those who show support.)
Feel free to give whatever feels right knowing that your payment is secured through Paypal, the biggest online payment system on the planet.
Thanks so very much for your support! With your help, I know I can be successful.
Sincerely,
Colley Bailey
P.S. Feel free to contact me at baileyc2003@yahoo.com. If you would feel more comfortable mailing a donation, please send it to:
Colley Bailey
1725 N Normandie Apt. 4
Los Angeles, CA 90027