Guide For Actors who Want to Move to Los Angeles

Hello guys!
I have been thinking about all the mistakes I made when I moved to LA and all the mistakes that I have seen people make when moving here to pursue their dream, so I decided to write this article in hope that this will save you a lot of time, nerves and money if you have decide to come to Hollywood.

First make sure to come to LA with enough money to support yourself for the first couple of months. In LA you will need a car, especially if you start auditioning. You will have days when you have to go to more then one audition and locations will be in the different parts of the city, so you need to be mobile. Also you will have to find the apartment and even if you move in with a roommate, you still should know that rent is very expensive in Los Angeles. Talking about that, you are going to need a plan on how to support yourself. I would love to tell you that you will book a big Studio part in your first week here, but for most of the actors, the story is very different. More likely you will need money for Headshots, work out, mail-outs to the agents etc, so you will need a job. Not any job, you need to find the way to make income and still not to work 40 hours a week, so you will still have the time to work on your craft, go to auditions, work on your skills , etc. If you have any skills like Editing, Photography, Graphic Design, now would be a good time to use them, but if you don’t, driving for Uber, or working at a restaurant is also an option. If you don’t feel comfortable doing any of these things, you should definitely consider joining Central Casting and work as a Background Actor. There are many reasons why, I will just tell you a couple of them: you are working on set, so your day job is still some form of acting, if you are Non Union, every time you come to work, there is a possibility to get a SAG voucher, shootings go to overtime almost always, so you can make some good money and if you are a SAG-AFTRA Union member you will be paid $162 for 8 hours, with the additional time and half for the first 4 hours of overtime and the double time after that, so at the end of the day you are making enough to support yourself while still doing acting.

Now when you have basic things covered, you want to start getting yourself out there and to do that, you need to know how the Casting Process works. All the Theatrical Breakdowns in LA go trough Breakdown Express which is part of Actors Access, so in order for your Agent/Manager to submit you for the job, or to submit yourself on public breakdowns, you HAVE to have an Actors Access profile. Here is the link to go and create it http://www.actorsaccess.com When you register your AA profile, make sure to put on your new Headshots, to put on your up to date work and all the special skills that you have (believe it or not the Drivers License is considered a special skill, so don’t be modest) and of course your Reel if you have it.
Now when you have Actors Access profile, you can submit yourself to all the public breakdowns that fit you. You should go over the breakdowns every day, and submit for all the roles you believe match you. When Casting wants to see you, you’ll get the Audition details trough CMail on AA and it will include sides, location and audition time, so yo can prepare your self and get it :)))

Actors Access will work for Theatrical work, but if you want to go out for Commercials you will need to create a profile on LA Casting-link here https://home.lacasting.com It is the tool that Casting Directors are using for the Commercial Breakdowns and you will find a lot of public breakdowns there. Like on AA make sure to put on as much info as you can. After you submit yourself, Casting will contact you through an email if they want to see you.

First thing that CD’s are looking at are the Headshots. Think about it like this, they will have to go through thousands of submissions and your Headshot is the first thing that will get their attention or not. You HAVE to have good Headshots. What do I mean by that? Photos that will show that you have the right look for the role. Photos that still look like you (not photoshopped to the unrecognizably stage). Professional and strong headshots. Find a good photographer, make sure to check out his/her work, make 4 different appearances and make sure that you have acting, not modeling headshots.

As you can see I was talking a lot about public breakdowns here, reason for that is, that you as an actor can submit yourself only trough public breakdowns. Real work, studio jobs, are going trough Breakdown Express that can be accessed only by licensed Talent Agent or Manager, so in order to be consider for studio work, you will have to find representation
Please let me know if you want me to break down for you the best ways to find representation, join junior etc… With this we have the basics covered :)