Speaker 1: We're rolling. So you want to be an actor. Oh, OK, you want to be an actor. Well, let me tell you, the acting industry is cutthroat. It can be really fun when you get to tell your friends, hey, I'm on this TV show you should tune in and watch. Getting to go to auditions, work at different studios, the glitz, the glamour. But it can also be very emotionally and mentally draining. There's a lot of rejection, a lot of heartbreak. You put a lot of money into it, a lot of time, and you don't know if you're going to get any reward back because a lot of things are out of your control. Oh, are you fine with that? Oh, even despite all that, you still want to be an actor? OK, well, let me help you. Hello there. My name is Mikayla Lizak. Welcome to my YouTube channel or welcome back to my YouTube channel. And today, I'm teaching you how to start an acting career. Honestly, you clicked on the right video. You clicked on the right face because this face has been on almost every network you can think of. I've worked at almost every studio in Los Angeles for 10 years of my life. I've worked at Raleigh, Paramount, CBS, Radford, Buena Vista, Hollywood Center Studios, which is ABC. You can check the link in the description to see all of my acting credits. I've also been on critically acclaimed shows such as Grey's Anatomy, New Girl, Station 19, Brooklyn 99, Mr. Mercedes. I was a recurring on that show. I have a lot of experience. But enough about me. This video is about you. It's about helping you. While I'm on a break from my acting career as I'm in film school, in college, and also had a mental breakdown, which, you know, that might be a side effect of you starting your acting career, but we don't talk about that. You can watch that video a little bit later. But right now, we're helping you and we're trying to be positive over here. Acting is fun, but not for the faint of heart, okay? I am going to tell you everything. Everything that I know, everything that has helped me has helped others. I have so many people who have been watching my videos for years start careers. I've walked into audition rooms and had moms and daughters walk up to me saying, I wouldn't be in this room without your advice, without your videos. And so I'm here to tell it all. So I would appreciate it if you subscribe to this channel, subscribe to start your career, and also follow me on my journey as an actress, screenwriter, and film school student in LA. So without further ado, let's get into the tips. If I was starting an acting career now in post-Strike Hollywood after, wow, that was a long year. I have vlogs about the strike. I'm a SAG-AFTRA member. But if I was starting a career post-Strike, post-COVID, the first step of starting an acting career is being realistic. You might not book for the first few months of auditioning because you're new. I mean, you've never acted before or maybe even auditioned before, maybe taken a class. Expecting yourself to hit a big movie right away or TV show right away might not be very realistic. And you kind of have to warm up to getting on camera and performing in front of people. It's gonna take time. And having a career is a marathon, not a sprint. It usually doesn't happen overnight. You get better as you keep auditioning, as you keep getting rejected, and you learn more about the way you perform, your style, and you start developing your own voice as an actor. It takes time. Now, don't get me wrong. It has happened for some people. Some people, they can go into the industry and book immediately. But I would say that's a very small percentage. And again, I want you to be realistic. Everybody's journey is different. I have a whole video about kind of the reality of being an actor in Hollywood and why it's so hard to break into the industry. And it can give you a more realistic understanding of why so many actors don't necessarily make it in the business. So if you can get over all of the hardships that you may encounter, here's what I would do first. Now, you're definitely gonna wanna go to an acting class. You can do a Zoom class or in-person class. I feel like in-person classes are way more valuable because one, you're in a physical space with other people. When you have a scene partner right in front of you, you can interact with them, look into somebody's real eyes. Why should I take an acting class, Mikayla, when I can look at your YouTube videos and get all these tips for free? One, when you go to an acting class, they're probably gonna give you a script or asides to read over like a little scene and they'll assign you a scene partner. Or you can do it kind of like audition style where it's just you reading to the instructor. I've done a lot of those types of classes. But they're gonna provide you with material that's industry standard, something that has maybe been taken from TV shows or movies. Every acting class I've been to, they give me scripts that are from a certain show or they're archived from different writers. So you'll start to get familiar with what script format looks like, how to read it, how to understand it. And you'll have somebody there to help you understand it, even though I do have a video on how to break down a script. But if you have immediate questions, an acting class is great because you can ask them in person and get immediate feedback. Same with when you're performing. Usually there's other people in the class. So then you're gonna start learning how to perform in front of other people with other eyes on you because acting doesn't happen in a vacuum. When you audition, maybe because you're doing a self tape, but as you move up from a pre-read to a callback and then producer session and then chemistry read, all of that is happening with other people. And when you're on set, you're not only interacting with your scene partners, but you're kind of on a stage with like a hundred crew members watching you. And you can't like just practice in your room and then be like, oh yay, like I totally would feel comfortable performing in front of other people when you haven't done it yet. And when you're performing in front of your classmates, you're also gonna get active feedback from a whole bunch of different perspectives. And you'll have to learn to take direction, which is a huge part of being an actor. That's something that every director looks for in an actor, the ability to take direction. If you don't have enough money for an acting class, one, you could save up a little bit each month, work up towards that goal. You could join a club at school. You can even post TikToks online, performing little audios and just practice like that. Maybe get feedback from people online. There's so many benefits to taking an acting class when you have no experience, because all of this stuff is gonna make you decide at a starter level, do I wanna continue deeper with this? If the answer is yes, this is what I would do next. I would subscribe. I would subscribe. That's what I would do next. My coffee's cold. Start building a calling card. You gotta start putting yourself out there, basically. You gotta show the world, hey, this is who I am. I wanna be on a screen near you. You're gonna wanna get headshots for multiple reasons. If you're going to an audition, you're gonna give them your headshot. Even if you're not going into an in-person audition, but you're doing something online, usually there's a barrier between the actor and the casting director, and that is a casting website, okay? And you're gonna have to have a profile, which means you need a headshot. They're not just gonna look at a name and be like, oh yeah, you should audition. They're gonna look at photos and see, okay, well, she has curly hair, or she's dark-skinned, or she's light-skinned, or whatever, and then they'll decide, okay, I want them to audition because they fit the role description, right? I would definitely recommend spending a good amount of money on headshots, a realistic amount, not a scam amount. I've had people send me DMs, because you can DM me on Instagram, and I can answer some of your questions if you have any. I have had people send me photos of them being like, is this a good headshot? And it's them with the Snapchat filter on, and I'm like, babe, no. These are my headshots. I got them done at Kenneth Dolan Photography. They were probably like 400 bucks or something like that. They're a lot, but they last you a few years, and I would say invest in a headshot. Again, it's the first thing that you're gonna see. You can probably keep your headshots pretty much digital. I don't think anybody takes a physical headshot anymore, or a physical resume. I would always keep some on deck. You might go into an audition room that's kind of old school, and they want that. Always be prepared, but for the most part, you're just gonna want your headshots digitally. I'd also recommend creating a demo reel. A demo reel is a collection of work that you've done as an actor, usually in video format. So it showcases you performing. But if you're new to the industry, and you have no experience, and you haven't worked on any shows yet, how do you make a demo reel? You're gonna wanna film your acting scenes that maybe you've done in class that you're really proud of, and your classmates are like, yeah, that was a really good one, you did great at that. Use audition tapes that you're proud of, and also film maybe monologues. You're gonna wanna have scenes that are comedic, some that are dramatic, something that shows your range as an actor, so that if an agent, a manager, or a casting director is taking the extra step to look at a demo reel to see a little more of what you can offer to a role, you wanna show that you can do a lot, and that you're just not one note. Have it well taped, have it professionally taped. Put a lot of time into it, especially if you don't have a lot of credits yet. I would also create a resume, and I do have a video on how to craft a resume. If you have no experience in the industry, and you don't have credits to put on your resume yet, I'd recommend putting special skills, whether you're a union or non-union, you're probably non-union if you have no experience. Casting websites. If you wanna start auditioning, but you don't have an agent or a manager to send you opportunities, you can self-submit for different casting opportunities. Some casting websites include Casting Networks, Backstage, Actors Access, Breakdown Services. What you'll find on casting websites are lower-level opportunities for people who are primarily non-union, people who kind of want to do background work, maybe student films. Again, they're lower-budget opportunities, but they're great opportunities for you to kind of warm up to being on set, or being in front of a camera, having a crew around you at a lower level. So don't discount those opportunities. If you see an opportunity to work as an extra on a Netflix show, I would definitely recommend taking it, even if you want to do principal work, which is any role with speaking lines, because you're gonna get the experience of what it's like just being on a set, and you're gonna get to observe, you're gonna look around and see the process, see how it works. And for self-submission casting websites, you are going to have to pay a monthly fee to host your account on there. It comes with the demand of having to constantly look for opportunities and submit yourself, but it's also kind of a grind. Like, I've talked to multiple actors who are like, yeah, I love self-submitting because I can just scroll through, submit myself to everything, and put myself out there all the time. Because everything is self-tape, you can easily just film yourself in your room and upload it to the casting website, and then you have one audition in, and then you can do another audition in another. And the more you put yourself out there, the better chance you are going to have, probability-wise, of booking something. But let's say you don't want to submit yourself and constantly look for opportunities, and you want somebody to do that for you. I would recommend looking for an agent or a manager. They're going to get you higher-quality opportunities, higher-paying opportunities, probably SAG-affiliated opportunities that you wouldn't be able to find on a casting network, something that's just available for everybody. Usually, casting directors are going to go through an agent or high-level manager for series regular roles, for recurring roles, for guest star roles, for anything with speaking lines, really, because they know if an actor signed with an agent or a manager, they're probably good, because that agent had to vet them, and they had to decide, yeah, I think they're talented, and I'll put them on my roster. You know, that's the agent's reputation on the line. So if you're signed with an agency, you're considered a little more qualified to audition for certain parts. How do you find an agent or a manager? Without getting scammed, okay? Because scams are out there. You need to listen good. If any agent or manager is like, yes, we would love you to join our roster. You just pay us a fee of like $11,000 or something, or any amount of money. Run. Scam, scam. You only pay an agent or manager commission off of a job that you book and you work. If you want to find an agent or manager, SAG-AFTRA actually has a page on their website about registered SAG-affiliated agencies, and you can search based on your location, which is a really nifty tool that you can use to also get the phone number of the agency. It's listed on there too. So you can just cold call, cold email, and put yourself out there. But again, don't just call somebody and be like, hey, I want to be an actor, but not have a resume, not have a demo reel, not have all of your calling card prepared. Don't reach out to an agent if you're not prepared. If you haven't done the steps that I talked about before, okay? Because they will not take you seriously, and you probably won't have a chance to reach out to them again, because they're gonna be like, yeah, they wasted my time. So you can go on the SAG-AFTRA website. You can also go on IMDb Pro. On that website, you can look at who represents different actors. I would say look at actors that are maybe on a lower level if you're just starting out. Because, I mean, look, you can look up Millie Bobby Brown or whoever, and be like, oh yeah, I want to be with their agent. And it's like WME, CAA, UTA. Babe, they're not gonna give you a phone call. They're not. Look at actors that are on newer things, smaller projects, and you can see who represents them. The phone number, the email, the name. You're welcome, because that's a really good tip. I'll leave links down below, again, for those resources that can help you. If you have a big following, I would also recommend putting that in your calling card as an actor, in that email. So, you know, you could say like, I'm also an actor. Here's my stuff. And I also am big on TikTok or YouTube, because that's a really valuable thing nowadays. It's not like the end all, be all. Don't worry if you don't have followers. That's not necessary to be an actor, obviously. But it does help, and it can open up a lot more opportunities for you. And it's kind of like that extra cherry on top for an agent or a manager, or even a casting director. I would definitely recommend putting your social media if you have a substantial amount of followers. And I think that comes to my final point. There's never one way to make it, to break in. There's no right way to break in. There's no guaranteed way to break in. This is just my advice to help you, but you don't have to listen to me. You don't have to take this direction. There's so many other ways to break into the industry. You never know what life has for you, what this career has for you. Literally, so much of it is out of your control. And if you don't book a job, if you book a job, it's all just your journey. And your journey might be fast. It might be slow, but you just have to remember that it's for you. And don't compare yourself to other people's paths, to other people's journeys, because yours is unique and be happy about that. Thank you so much for watching. If you liked it and you found something valuable in it, I would love it if you subscribed and follow me on Instagram because you can reach out to me with any questions you have. I'm always posting about what I'm doing in film school. What I'm doing right now in the industry is trying to make things more accessible for young talent and young creatives who want to join the industry. I hope that this year I can create a lot of opportunities and get you guys involved in them because I've been making a lot of short films. This last semester was amazing. Like I produced three short films and I might post one of them because I really like one of them. If you're interested in like what my film school life is like, you can check out my whole college diaries series. And yeah, I will see you in the next one. Bye.