A Guide to the Impossible: First Hand Accounts of Life in the Worlds of Acting and Modeling, and Notes from a Beginner.

Abstract

I had no idea how much I would be able to accomplish when I began this project. All I knew was that I wanted to create a paper full of tips suggestions and warnings for those interested in the entertainment business. I intended to interview agents, actors and models, and in addition to that try to break into the business myself. Since one of the hardest things, I discovered, was knowing how to start, I decided to focus on the beginning of an actor's or model's career. I ended up interviewing agents first, models second, and actors last. Only the interviews with the actors, however, actually appear in my paper. In the case of the agents, this is because their responses were quite bland and were not only covered but expounded upon by the actors. And in the case of the models, they did not seem to be able to drop their guard and be honest about themselves and their experiences. In fact, I almost felt like they were lying to me in some instances. My impression was that this was because they felt competitive with me and also that there is a collective modeling myth that it is better to pretend that they did not have to work to get to where they are, and that weight is not only not a problem, but that they can eat whatever they want. So my paper is a collection of interviews with actors and personal anecdotes. It was a learning experience for me and hopefully will be for those who read it.