So many small time actors think that if they can just get to Hollywood and start acting in a few flicks, they’ll become movie stars.
On the contrary, there’s a lot more to it than that. And in addition to the things that you’ve read already, there is one other thing that movie stars do that the other 99% of actors and actresses in Hollywood don’t: they try to become movie stars.
Now don’t start thinking that most actors and actresses who come out here come with intentions of doing art house films and being broke for the rest of their lives. It’s quite the contrary.
Most people who come to LA with the hopes of becoming actors and actresses do want to become stars, but they’re hampered by a scary notion: becoming a starving artist. Thus, in an effort to avoid the poverty (and stigma) of being another out-of-work actor/waiter, they take any acting job they can get, impeding upon their original dreams of becoming stars.
Becoming a movie star isn’t one of those things that just happens. You don’t just audition for a handful of movies, win a few parts, and then the cameras, lights, and dollars start rolling in. Achieving stardom requires a plan that must be formulated and followed through meticulously.
All movie stars started out small, and even though there have been accidental movie stars, it’s the ones who stick around for years who are the ones who planned to be there in the first place. How can you tell the difference? Take a look at a list of movie stars from ten years ago.
The actors and actresses who are still famous today (Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz) were the ones with plans. The young starlets and sex symbols that the media insisted upon calling the “new it girl” or the “next big thing”, those were the ones who got lucky, and shortly thereafter, their luck ran out.
Most actors and actresses (and even singers, models and comedians), come to Tinseltown with stars and lights in their eyes, thinking that if they impress enough (or the right) people, then someone will sweep them off to fame and fortune, and their lives will change forever.
And because of the large number of these types who actually do make it this way, are on top for just a moment, and then are gone the next year, we have this conventional belief that to make it in Hollywood, you’ve got to get lucky and/or get discovered.
Every year, Hollywood magazines and celebrity blogs are filled with stories about the seemingly next big star in Hollywood, and then the next year, they’ve vanished into obscurity.
These types move out here with just a dream and a pretty face, get cast in some slasher pic, teen flick, or kid’s movie that blows up, their faces get splashed on billboards and websites, and suddenly, they’ve scored their 15 minutes of fame.
Unfortunately, that’s all it is, and as their lack of ambition, talent, a plan, and other requisite factors for success sees them taking roles in garbage movies that no one cares to see, they find themselves broke, out of work, and packing their bags to head back home.
One of the biggest movie stars in the history of Hollywood, Will Smith, refused to rely on luck to become who he is today. He used a combination of observation and planning. Luck never came into the equation.
When he first started his film career, he sat down with his partner and manager James Lassiter and plotted out his Hollywood strategy to become the “biggest movie star in the world”.
They looked at a list of the top 10 highest grossing movies of all time (at that point), and they realized that 10 out of 10 of them had special effects. They noticed that 9 out of 10 had special effects with creatures. 8 out of 10 had special effects with creatures and a love story, etc.
From this came the movie star-making mega blockbuster hit Independence Day, which as of writing this reigns as the 23rd highest grossing movie in history.
None of Will’s success was an accident, and none of it was luck. He looked at what makes a smash hit, he applied it, and by following that trend, he (as of writing this) boasts a 17-year filmography with his average film taking in a blockbuster level $133 million in the domestic box office. There’s nothing lucky about that. It’s all intelligence.
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