So That Was Pilot Season…

April 15, 2019

Pilot Season

The most important three months in the history of the universe have come to an end. It was life and death. Studies suggest that one in five agents acquired more than two ulcers in the last three months. And that doesn’t include agents whose clients didn’t book a pilot. Heroes emerged, heads rolled, TV was made. It was everything.

But as time ticks on and the gap between the only three months that ever mattered and the present day continues to grow longer, we are offered perspective. Pilot Season is over and the earth didn’t shatter as we expected it might. A few actors booked what will be career-changing work, others booked work that will pay their rent for a couple months, and most didn’t book anything at all. But no matter what was booked or not booked, life in Hollywood rolls on. Agents are still pitching clients for TV episodes, Casting Directors are trying to find guest stars and co-stars for their TV shows or films, and the wheel keeps endlessly turning.

And then there’s you. You probably didn’t book a pilot this season. You probably weren’t the darling of the season—testing in second position, having already booked a pilot in January. And yet you woke up this morning, post-Pilot Season, still whole. You took your lumps. You auditioned for this or that, or didn’t go out at all, and that stung. But you’re still here. You’re still an actor. And nothing the networks decide to do during any three-month period can ever take that away from you. No Casting Director’s biting feedback can change the fact that you feel deeply, have a fierce curiosity about the universe, and need to express a unique emotional truth that lives inside of you. Pilot Season 2019 is dead, but you are very much alive.

Truth is, most of the pilots that were shot won’t get picked up. And of all shows that get picked up by all the networks, maybe five or less will last a second season, most succumbing to the whim of the viewing public. A quick look at the numbers suggests that all the insanity, all the anxiety, and all the desperation of the last three months was invested in something that is as fleeting as a summer wind. The Industry is fickle and fleeting, and the only way you attract it in a meaningful way over the course of a career is by immersing yourself in the work of an actor, in vital exploration and expression.

You are an actor. So, the way to deal with post-Pilot Season (or anything about your career or craft that makes you anxious or sad or afraid) is to be an actor. That can mean that you put up a play, that you write and shoot a short, that you get into class, and anything else that feeds your artistic need. Don’t wait to be told to act. When they give you the opportunity, take it. But if they don’t give you the opportunity or they’re promising to give it to you next Pilot Season, create the opportunity on your own.

Actors don’t float. Actors are active. Make post-Pilot Season your time to reclaim your creative identity.

Join us at the Studio for a class to reclaim your artistic identity! BGB Classes

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