What Smart Actors Do
World War II
The American strategic bombing campaign
The 8th airforce was tasked with destroying German industry
So
Where did they focus their attention?
Did they try to attack all of German industry?
No
There was an overwhelming amount of industry to attack
Instead
They focussed their attention on destroying one small part of German industry
The ball bearing industry
Why?
Because the vast majority of modern machinery
Requires ball bearings in order to operate
America knew that if they destroyed one small component of German industry
The majority of the industry would collapse
Now
The German ball bearing industry was highly concentrated in one area
Schweinfurt
So instead of trying to bomb every industry factory in Germany
They focussed on bombing the ball bearing factories in that one single location
Hit that area
The factories grind to a halt
Machinery required for Germany’s military collapses
Boo-yah
The 8th airforce bombing campaign was built on the simple but radical belief:
You don’t have to destroy everything to win the war
You only have to destroy the right things to win the war
This is leverage
Now
How can we use this to make fulfilling progress as actors?
Well
Let’s be blunt
Most actors
Try to bomb the whole industry
Hustle more
Network more
More headshots
More classes
More posting
More emails
More reading of plays
More updating of casting profiles
More checking of their rating on IMDB
More contacting of their agents
Going to more events for better photos
Endless self-taping without feedback loops
Networking without depth
Training without application
Branding without truth
At one point I even spent 6 months making 30-page summaries of acting books
Yeah
This stuff
It sure can make me feel like I’m busy being an actor
But
More effort
Does not mean
I’m being more effective
And more activity
Does not mean
I’m making progress
Now
Curious
Let’s find our ball bearing factories
The best areas to focus our attention on
Are the ones without substitutes
The areas in our industry that are (currently) irreplaceable
Most actors might go straight to agents
That an agent will mean great opportunities
That without agents, they can’t have fulfilling careers
Is this true?
Let’s explore
In order to build the career I want
Do I need the hottest agent in town?
Mmm
Two years ago I had no agent for three months
(As I was taking my sweet ass time finding a new one after my previous one retired)
During this time
When I had no agent
A casting director called me up to ask me to audition for something
Interestingly
Without an agent
I still got an opportunity
So I don’t believe getting the hottest agent in town is one of our ball bearing factories
But
Who called me during that time?
The casting director
Mmm
Right now
The casting agent
Is necessary for the majority of opportunities in the space of screen work
So
Building healthy relationships with casting directors
Becomes an essential area to focus our attention
Now
How do we build better relationships with casting directors?
Bomb them with emails?
In the 18 years of being a professional actor
I have not heard of one example
Where an actor emailed a casting director trying to get their attention
And getting a response
Not one
For artists who are getting opportunities from casting directors
Fantastic!
Keep going
And remember
Casting does not run on talent
Or headshots
Or social media (I’ll happily have that debate)
They run on risk management
A casting director is wanting to do their work well and contribute great things themselves
So they are always asking
“If I put this person in front of a director, will they solve problems or create them?”
And so our next focus becomes
Get consistently good at giving your best work under pressure
Invest in skills to help you do this
I don’t mean be right for every role
That’s impossible
But giving your best work consistency in those rooms or in self tapes
Is something within our control
Screen skills
Pressure skills
Being able to actually enjoy giving your work to others whilst in the arena
All areas worth investing it
Apply the same logic
Ask yourself
What are the skills most necessary in order for me to increase giving my best work consistently under pressure?
And what about for artists who are not getting opportunities from casting directors?
No amount of badgering your agent will solve this
Your agent gets 10%
You get 90%
So you have to do 90% of the work
There are 80+ official casting directors in Australia
Approximately 10 of them cast roughly 90% of professional screen work in this country
So focus your attention on those 10 casting directors
Do the research of who they are
Then find out when there next casting work shop is
And do the most terrifying, icky, cringy thing you can
Go put yourself in the area
Go expose your work under pressure in the room with them
So you both can get a better understanding of each other
And build a healthy relationship
Side note
You don’t need to be best friends with those 10 casting directors
If you do you
And they do them
There will be a healthy alignment with at least 1 or 2 of those relationships
And that will be enough to see an increase in opportunities
And lastly
The quality of your career will be drastically influenced by the questions you ask
But the quality of the answers you get will be drastically influenced by who you ask those questions to
So
Find the coaches and mentors and have done the hard work
The coaches and mentors who have solved the very problems you’re struggling to solve
And ask them for help
No human survives alone
No actor exists in a vacuum
You need others
So find others you enjoy being around
And enjoy solving problems with
To summarise
We have three ball bearing factories
Three areas where we as actors can focus our attention
In order to be most effective and make the most fulfilling progress possible
No need for carpet bombing
No need to try do more
No need to spend time doing de-energising things
Do what smart actors do
Focus your time & energy
On doing the things which will effect your career most
One - Build healthy relationships with casting directors
Two - Get so consistently good by investing in skills they can’t ignore you
Three - Find the best mentors & coaches you can and ask for help
Why?
Because these things are irreplaceable
You cannot have a sustainable acting career without healthy casting director relationships
You cannot have a sustainable acting career without being consistenly competent in the arena under pressure
You cannot have a sustainable acting career without ever asking for help or without sharing your journey with others
Here’s to making fulfilling progress in 2026 folks
Huge love
Hope this helps
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