RT
The entertainment business is rough. Most people will not get to the stage they want to be in with their career.
That’s why many have a fallback plan, a Plan B. People who say that having a Plan B is planning to fail are wrong, short sighted, and ridiculous. A study says that having a backup plan while going for the main goal is setup to failure, but that is quite seen with business, not entertainment, where failure is common. Aspiring actors to writers to singers should always have a Plan B.
That’s actually showing a lot of courage knowing that failure could happen and you have to go to a fallback plan.
A key to handling any obstacle is having super strong nerves in thinking and planning. When you find yourself helpless and struggling, this where having a Plan B helps. It is involved all sectors besides entertainment: get a “survival job,” and be open with the employer as you can on what you are trying to do.
Bosses like to help young people who aspire for something bigger, especially in entertainment, and work with them some flexibility between work and auditions.
When you have free time, do whatever you want like your life depended on it.
To start in taking those steps toward your goal, start small and get small wins that prove yourself as worthy in your climb up the ladder. Build a resume of successful gigs and once the results pile up to where your confidence level is at 100%, then shift most of your time and focus to whatever you want to do.
Pad enough money and the resume to move full-time into whatever job you are doing in the industry. Use the time between now and then to research, learn, build the foundation of the skills needed to be even better.
For example, a lot of writers have various writing gigs as freelance while working towards getting their natural scripts in and trying to get on a writing team for a show. Some who are getting into the industry could have the advantage of having a college degree; others are still in school when they are trying to get in.
School is a good backup plan itself because of the impossibility to be a full-time actor and the decision by many to switch careers. There is no guarantee one will sit in this business for that long.
Some of the most talented people will have “survival jobs,” or another form of Plan B that they have to fallback to if necessary.
This isn’t pleasant, but needed.
Finding one that will allow the flexibility to pursue auditions and major gigs at any time is impossible, but there is a way to strike while in this holding pattern. In this business, where nothing is guaranteed and everything is decided in a split second, it doesn’t hurt to have a backup plan.
