The fallacy of "big breaks" and "getting discovered"

In the acting world, how often do you hear these types of statements or questions?

Now, it's obvious what people mean by these terms---a "big break" often refers to a lead/starring/breakout role or the first role the actor played that gained them some type of notoriety. "Getting discovered" usually means catching the attention of a casting director, agent, or other person that is able to send the actor out on auditions. But when people focus on these terms, it places the emphasis more on getting lucky, rather than on preparation, hard work, and other factors within one's control.

Don't get me wrong. Luck and knowing the right people are still factors in virtually every career path. A very talented person may end up being unlucky when it comes to life circumstances, and someone who is not particularly exceptional in their field may still find opportunities by being in the right place at the right time and knowing someone willing to give them a shot. But especially in the current oversaturated market of voice actors, the number of roles and opportunities can be few and far between compared to the sheer number of people attempting to do this as a career. With the market these days being so large and so accessible - especially when you factor in modern technology - the days of pulling in the receptionist or programmer to voice a game character or finding random people on the street who have "nice voices" is an anomaly. Even people who claim they "fell into" voice acting often have training in a related field, such as theatre, on-camera, radio, production, voice directing, etc.

Part of the problem with the "big break" idea is that it assumes that if you can find someone willing to give you a shot, your career is made. But the fact is, getting on a studio's casting roster or getting represented by the agent is only the beginning of a journey. These people may provide you with audition opportunities, but they're not going to guarantee you career success or longevity. That's your job. In workshops and articles, agents often talk about how some actors think they can get signed to the roster and then sit back and wait for work to start pouring in---when in reality, not being proactive is the type of thing that can get them dropped from that roster after a year is up. When an agent invests in your career, they expect you to be invested in your career as well. They want to see you in class, updating your materials, and constantly looking for opportunities to improve. And an agent is only one piece of the puzzle---unless an actor is so established that they can work exclusively on opportunities through their agent, they will ideally have auditions coming in from all sorts of sources and be looking for work on their own, too. There are actors with agents who rarely book, and actors without agents who manage to make a full time living. "If I just had an agent, I could get my big break" isn't really an excuse.

It's also important to note that having a lead role or being in a popular series or franchise doesn't necessarily correlate to financial success. Most of the time, popularity means little when it comes to how much money you are making, aside from perhaps booking you more live appearances. A lot of the higher paying gigs are the ones that don't come with fame or notoriety - things like commercial and narration gigs, not anime or JRPGs. But it's also less about what you are working on and more about how much you are working. There are actors who are making fantastic livings doing what they love and doing it all the time, but you may have never heard of them before. And even if you get that one big role, it's not going to carry you forever.

To illustrate the problems with this way of thinking, let's take a couple hypothetical scenarios with our fictional actors, "Kathryn" and "George".

Kathryn has always been interested in acting, and appeared in some on-camera TV commercials as a child and teenager. After college, she decided to pursue commercial work again and got repped by a large agency. Noticing that Kathryn also had a great speaking voice, her agent asks if she would like to pursue opportunities in the agency's VO department as well. After taking some recommended voiceover-specific classes and getting a commercial demo produced, Kathryn is reading for - and booking - both voiceover and on-camera commercials at her agency.

A few years pass by and thanks to Kathryn's great choices on her many audition reads, she is now the voice of several major national campaigns and is making a nearly six figure income! She realizes she is more passionate about voiceover than on-camera and decides to pursue character VO as well. She gets some coaching and a character demo, but her agents say that unfortunately, they haven't had many character auditions come across their desk as of late that would fit Kathryn's vocal type.

Because Kathryn has been an anime fan for many years, she ends up sending her demo to an anime dubbing studio in her area. Her submissions stand out and she gets called in for a general audition. Her agent doesn't want any part of it as the industry standard dubbing rates are far too low for them to bother, so Kathryn handles the scheduling and contracts on her own. After booking some bit parts and supporting roles in series that end up flying under the radar, she gets cast for a lead in a show that makes it to Toonami. Suddenly, the fanbase is starting to know who she is. Her Twitter and Instagram follower counts - which were previously quite low despite her best marketing efforts - climb astronomically, and the main cast of the show get flown out to a convention where they're invited to talk about working on the show and sign autographs.

A fan comes up to her table and says "Wow, I'd never heard of you before this show---you must be brand new. Well, it's really cool that you got your big break overnight! I hope I can do that one day."

Now, of course this person means well, but let's imagine it from Kathryn's perspective. She's been acting virtually her entire life, starting in front of the camera and ending up in the recording booth. While she's incredibly passionate about the anime series she works on, it barely pays her bills---in fact, it barely pays even a fraction of the union commercials she was booking at her agency, not to mention there are zero residuals or "use fees". By her account, she got her "big break", if you will, when she first started consistently booking commercials at her agency. But by fans' accounts, she was an "up and comer" who was brand new to voiceover and managed to achieve "overnight success" by playing the lead in an English dub. By writing her off as an overnight success, it completely discredits all the years of hard work and preparation that led up to what just happens to be one particular facet of her career.

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George is a struggling actor in Los Angeles, having moved from his hometown in hopes of pursuing a career in the entertainment business. He works a bartending job to help pay rent, and in the meantime he is part of a comedy improv group that does stage shows. He's also really interested in voiceover, but doesn't know where to start.

A friend recommends he take a voice acting class and also introduces him to online communities. George's acting background helps a lot with making choices in auditions, and he books some roles in indie projects, but is unsure how to break into the actual industry.

One day, one of the members of George's improv group is talking backstage about a voiceover gig he did that day for a video game. George mentions that he's been doing some voice gigs online for small projects but would love to pursue things like games. "Oh, send me your demo," his friend says. "I've worked with the casting director Josh for years, so I'll pass it along to him."

The problem is that George's demo is something he put together himself, and while it serves him well for online work, he knows he needs a professional demo if he's going to send it to a casting director in LA. So he picks up extra hours at work and digs into his savings. Nearly $2,000 later, he walks away with a fantastic demo.

Two weeks later, he still hasn't heard anything, so he follows up with the friend.

"Sorry, man. I sent it over to Josh, but I haven't heard back."

Thinking that maybe it wasn't meant to be, George is discouraged, but notices that said casting director Josh will be doing an upcoming workshop. He really doesn't have the extra money for it, but convinces his parents to loan him enough so that he can go to the workshop and at least get in front of Josh.

At the workshop, when George is asked to slate his name, Josh says "Oh, your name sounds vaguely familiar. Have we met somewhere before?"
"We haven't met yet, but my friend Chris sent you my demo a few months ago. We're in a theatre group together."

"Fantastic," says Josh, and makes a note on his laptop. "I'll definitely keep you in mind."

Six months go by, and finally, George gets an e-mail from Josh. It's an audition opportunity for a new game he's casting. George books one of the roles, goes in studio and impresses everyone with his acting choices and ability to take direction. One day, Josh is swamped with projects he's directing and has a schedule conflict, so his colleague Maria takes over directing that day.

At the end of the session, Maria takes him aside and says "You know, I think you'd actually be a really great fit for a project I'm directing over at Other Studio. Are you in their casting pool already?"

Nope, says George. But because Other Studio greatly trusts Maria's judgment, they're happy to let George come in and work on the new game she's directing there. He ends up getting brought in more at both places, and the cycle continues. Eventually, he quits the bartending job.

One day, he's having coffee with a friend. They're celebrating George's recent accomplishments, but at the same time, his friend can't help feeling a little bitter. "You're so lucky," he says. "I wish I could get discovered like you did."

Sure, you could argue that George "got discovered" when the friend from his improv group was willing to stick his own neck out and pass along George's demo to a casting director he knew well. But that completely discounts all the time, money, and hard work that George put in to help make those connections pan out. It wasn't like Casting Director Josh was sitting in the audience at one of George's improv shows just looking for someone to bring in for his new game. Had George not invested in the professional demo or the casting workshop, chances are that particular connection wouldn't have worked out, at least not for a long time. Had he gone in studio and acted unprofessionally or incompetently, not only would he probably not be brought back (or referred elsewhere), but his friend would have looked bad for recommending him, too. Had he not had prior acting training, the demo he spent so much of his savings on would be a waste of money. And had George not even packed up and moved to Los Angeles in the first place, the whole situation never would have even happened. You can see how there are so many factors that come into play rather than simply sitting back and waiting to get "noticed" by the right person!

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Having doors open for you in the business is great, and if you're good at what you do, more and more of those doors will eventually open. But having that door opened, getting that email or that referral or that gig, is just that. Actors are freelance contractors, not employees - we don't "work for" specific companies or studios, and we need to constantly be auditioning in hopes of getting more gigs lined up for the future when our current series end or when we finish recording for that big client. Getting in the room at one place doesn't necessarily guarantee they will continue bringing you back, or even that they will have much work for you in the near future. Even some of the most established professionals in the business will tell you they are still constantly auditioning, updating their materials, taking workshops...and they too sometimes worry about where their next job will come from.

In the end, terms like "big break" and "getting discovered" aren't necessarily bad, but it's important to reframe your way of thinking. Remember that what constitutes a "big break" is largely subjective! Like in the first story with our fictional actress Kathryn, what constituted success for her was largely different from what her fanbase considered as success. Success isn't always linear and it isn't always a definitive moment. Your career isn't a destination to be reached, but rather a journey, with ups and downs along the way.

Just something to think about!