Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Send out your holiday cards!

Acting is a business, and I'm amazed at how amazed people are by the business side of my craft.

Like me sending out holiday cards to my past and potential clients and co-creative folks.

"That sounds like a lot of work," someone told me. Yes, but The Biz is 90% business. In any other vertical market, it's pretty typical to send cards to your professional contacts, and it's an opportunity to connect with people, refresh contact info, and stay on people's radar.

So if it's not something you normally do ... get over yourself ;-)

Send at least a handful of cards -- to the professional Casting Directors for which you've auditioned, your agent(s), and your coach(es). For most folks, that's under a dozen cards. That's doable. And it's another chance to say, "Thank you."

And for the most part, send holiday cards -- not Christmas cards. We live in a diverse world, and some folks aren't comfy with what they may perceive as a judeo-Christian holiday being shoved at them. You're not necessarily shelving your values, but you're being sensitive to other folks' sensitivities.

There are exceptions, of course, I'm sending out a diverse mix of cards this year, and chunk of them actually are Christmas -- violating a rule I've followed for the years. But they're classic scenes from The Grinch, Peanuts, and Loony Toons, and (I'm sure) palatable to Biz folks.

Anyway, send your cards -- you have a day or two left.

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