By Chris Violette
Successful business people and successful artists are not polar opposites. One may primarily be a left-brain thinker, the other right-brain, but that doesn’t mean one can’t do the other’s job. I’ve had the good fortune of working with some extraordinary people over the years and have learned that the best in any field always exhibit traits of both an artist and a business person. A successful business person is often where she is because of her creativity, and a successful artist is often so in no small part because of business acumen.
Your favorite artists, whether actors, recording artists, fine artists, dancers, are likely also astute business people, however disinclined they may be to advertise it. You can take heart in knowing that you don’t need a MBA from Harvard to effectively manage your own business.
Here are four simple but powerful attributes of good character commonly used as business skills by successful business people and artists alike that you can adopt today. They are essentially matters of common sense, so common they are readily overlooked and underestimated as tools for a competitive edge.
“I spend more time studying common sense than I do my instrument” – the late Tommy Tedesco, legendary studio guitarist for The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, etc..
1. Keep Your Word
Trust is at the heart of every successful relationship, personal or professional. To state the obvious, the easiest way to betray that trust is to break your word.
One way we often set ourselves up to not keep our word is to ‘over sell’. Whether with regards to budget, deadlines, or quality, in the excitement (or desperation) to book a gig or land a client we can be quick to make uninformed promises that can’t be kept, however well-meaning. In the interest of longterm relationships, credibility, and reputation, it’s better to communicate what you can actually deliver without promising the moon, even if it means losing the prospective work. It’s often better to under promise and over deliver than to over promise and turn what would otherwise be a success into an apparent failure by falling short of your word. This is not to be confused with selling yourself short. Self confidence is key but it is only as valuable to others as your ability to deliver on your word.
A tenet of the popular book, “The 48 Laws of Power”, offers similar advice in the chapter aptly entitled, “Always Say Less Than Necessary”. Jeff Kwatinetz is a marquis talent manager and producer. His clients have included everyone from Martin Scorsese to R. Kelly and he is the executive producer of the hit television shows “Royal Pains” and “Wilfred”. I’ve known Jeff for some time. A while back I sent him an email asking if he was interested in developing new talent. He wasn’t. I told him I knew of an artist in Australia he should listen to nonetheless. He acquiesced and asked me to send him some music. I forwarded three songs. He asked for more. I sent along a few more tracks along with a picture of my friend and colleague, Amali Ward, a brilliant singer and charismatic performer first introduced as a top ten finalist on Australian Idol. Jeff ended up managing her, the only unsigned artist in a roster of gold and platinum artists.
As you might imagine, Jeff gets pitched all manner of projects every day. After meeting Amali he thanked me not just for the introduction but for the way I did it. “Hype is the enemy”, he said. “You just let the music speak for itself”. I didn’t tell him she was the next best thing since sliced bread, that she was going to be a huge star or make his wildest dreams come true. I told him less than necessary and left it to him to see the future. Moreover, I didn’t jeopardize my word by giving him a hard sell then potentially underwhelming his expectations.
The absence of my selling him hype or, more plainly, bullshit, meant he would likely continue to listen to me. And he did. The next artist I referred him to was Jason Gann, with whom he subsequently set up the hit series “Wilfred” at FX.
If you can’t meet the expectations your words would create, keep them in your mouth.
2. Return Calls Fast
We all know communication skills are imperative for the success of any business. Clear, articulate messages delivered professionally save time, money, and aggravation, and are essential to executing plans and realizing your ideas uncompromised by misunderstanding.
How fast you communicate is just as important as what is communicated. For simplicity’s sake, I’ll use returning phone calls as an example but the following applies equally to email, texts, and any other professional correspondence.
So, you should return phone calls and do it fast. Sounds like good common sense. But how fast?
In my mid twenties I was the national director of the college representative program at PolyGram Group Distribution where I was responsible for developing and maintaining the awareness of artists from A&M Records, Island, Mercury, Polydor, and Motown, among the college demographic. After some hard-earned success, however, there was a large layoff and my position was eliminated. Nonetheless, I was fortunate to retain the favor of the company’s president and CEO, Jim Caparo, with whom I regularly stayed in touch.
I liked to pick his brain about the business, the way he conducted his own, and how he organized his day. His advice was always helpful and insightful. As you might imagine, Mr. Caparo was a very busy guy yet he always returned my phone call. Always. And if he didn’t return my call the same day, I’d receive a call from his assistant who would say, “Mr. Caparo received your message. He’s traveling today and will call you back tomorrow. In the meantime he asked me to see if there was anything I could help you with”. His return phone call always made me feel special.
After roughly a year of checking in with him each month I began to wonder why he returned my call, let alone so quickly. I was still unemployed. Desperate, frankly. I was young, ambitious, hard-working, and smart, but I hadn’t accomplished anything remarkable. Yet, this very powerful and busy executive always returned my call and fast. The next time I spoke with him I asked why.
“We are in the business of returning phone calls”, he said, with more than a hint of disappointment in his voice that crushed me.
He proceeded to take me to school with the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove. He asked how it felt to not have my call returned by someone and what I thought the subsequent message was.
When you don’t return someone’s call you are nonetheless sending a message. You’re saying that they’re not important to you, that your relationship with them isn’t a priority, that you’re not interested in what they have to say, or that you just don’t respect them. Or, it can simply convey that you’re badly organized and unprofessional.
Conversely, he asked me how I felt when my call was promptly returned. Valued? Appreciated? Respected? He suggested I follow the ‘Golden Rule’. If I want people to promptly return my call, I’d better promptly return theirs from the beginning.
Mr. Caparo then asked me what my policy was for returning phone calls. “You’re your own company”, he said, “so what is your company policy for returning calls? Within a day or two? By the end of the week? The month?”. Truthfully, I didn’t have an answer so I said a day or two, naively thinking that was the indicated response. He was frustrated.
“The answer”, he said, “is unbelievably fast“.
He went on that the tougher the call would be to make the more important it was to promptly make it. He added that if someone was looking for an answer I didn’t have yet, call them and say, “I’m sorry. I don’t have an answer for you but I wanted to return your call….”. His final admonishment regarding returning phone calls was that as my career progressed, the behavior of those who would work for or represent me, and the subsequent culture they will conduct themselves in, will be determined by how they see me conduct myself. If I was slow to return phone calls, so would they be.
So, return calls, reply to email, and respond to texts unbelievably fast. It’s the easiest way to show respect, earn trust, make friends and allies, and set yourself apart from the competition.
3. Always Be On Time
You won’t necessarily be praised for being on time – you’re supposed to be on time – but you will be remembered for being late.
Not unlike breaking your word, being late is akin to breaking a promise. At best, it’s unprofessional. At worst, it expresses a lack of respect for other people’s time, your relationship with them, and an appreciation for your job/gig/opportunity/responsibility. Tardiness among artists is frequently rationalized as being an acceptable character trait of creative people. That is all it is, however, a rationalization. There is no quicker way to not be taken seriously, to be labeled a flake, than to be late.
My own experience has been that the higher up the food chain you go the more punctual people – successful people – are.
By way of example, some time ago I was supervising the music to the feature film “Lockdown”. We were preparing to record a cover of Chaka Khan’s “Tell Me Something Good” (trivia question – who wrote “Tell Me Something Good”? No Googling). I had lined up a brilliant drummer, Curt Bisquera (Elton John, Seal, KD Lang), and one of LA’s most soulful guitarists, Randy Jacobs. The bassist I wanted was Chris Chaney (Jane’s Addiction, Alanis Morissette, prolific session player) with whom I went to college. Unfortunately, he was on tour in Italy and wouldn’t be arriving back to Los Angeles until the morning of the session on a red eye. Consequently, I all but ruled him out. To my surprise he said he’d love to do it and would have no problem making it on time. We also ended up hiring keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac (John Mayer, Seal, My Chemical Romance) who was on the road with Chaney in Italy.
At first I was excited to have them, then I became anxious. Half of the rhythm section I hired would be in friggin’ Europe until the morning of the session. You don’t get your money back from a studio, engineer, assistants, and other musicians just because you’re stupid. On top of it, executives from the production would be there. It would be a disaster if the session fell apart because half the band didn’t show up.
Call time was 10:00am for drums, then the times were staggered for the rest of the players to arrive, allowing some room for error. On cue, Bisquera promptly arrived at 10:00am. To my great relief, the remaining three players walked through the door right behind him, including the two gentlemen who had just arrived from Europe on a red eye. “Pros”, I thought. That’s why these guys are so in demand (in addition to being talented).
They were all on time, despite whatever fatigue they may have had (and didn’t show), because i) they love what they do, ii) great musicians love to play with other great musicians, and iii) they’re professionals. Not for nothing, they killed it in three takes.
There’s really no good excuse for being late. In Los Angeles, you often hear, “Sorry. You wouldn’t believe the traffic.” Really? Traffic? In LA? Who would have thought? If this is your excuse you can be sure everyone else in the room thinks you’re an idiot. With all of the apps, GPS devices, and the news, traffic is absolutely the worst excuse. I’ve heard others say the only excusable reason for an actor being late to an audition is to say that your prior audition ran late. Right. That’s a bit like saying, “Hi, honey. Sorry I’m late for dinner but drinks with my mistress went a bit longer than I expected”. There’s no good excuse for being late apart from a serious family emergency or your own death.
I’ve learned to be punctual but I wasn’t always. For me, I had to obsess over leaving on time versus arriving on time. Now it’s just a habit. Do whatever works for you. Not unlike returning calls, as your business grows the people who work for you will behave as you do. If you’re habitually late so will they be. The entertainment industry has enough obstacles in store for you without you creating any of your own.
And it was Stevie Wonder who wrote “Tell Me Something Good”.
4. Know The Ways Your Business Makes Money
Taylor Swift surely knows music publishing is a nickel business that adds up. Misty Copeland likely understands the value of lending her name and likeness to a brand. Bono knows how much licensing a song for use in a national commercial is worth. Aziz Ansari presumably knows that if he’s getting paid a piece of a venue’s box office that he’d better count seats.
We can really only scratch the surface here but this is the principal point – if you don’t have a better than basic understanding of how your business makes money, you are delusional to think you will make a living from it.
This means knowing not just how much money you should be paid but all the different ways you may be able to make money for your services and when you should typically be paid. Artists, and actors in particular, often work from a fear-based place when negotiating the terms of a deal for themselves. Perhaps you’re afraid of asking a question about the terms, or proposing different terms, for fear of irreparably burning the bridge with the producers. Perhaps you sense the terms of work are onerous and choose to challenge them and, consequently, the opportunity goes elsewhere – only for you to learn that the terms were in fact customary and it was your own requests that were unreasonable. Knowing what terms are customary for an actor’s services is important to know when a deal is good or bad.
The SAG-AFTRA website is a great resource for scale rates in all manner of film/video media and a good place to start. Even if you’re a non-union actor it’s a good idea to know what the going rates are for union work to better understand the nature of the consideration for non-union productions. Your manager or agent should have a good understanding of what rates are standard or not. If you don’t have either, and even if you do, consider finding an attorney. It will cost you but not as much as you may think. If you have an agreement to sign that you’re not completely familiar with you will be able to find a lawyer to at least have a look at it and note any major concerns. I’d suggest telling an attorney up front what you can afford for their services and ask what they can do for you.
If you’re negotiating for yourself, which I don’t necessarily discourage you from, it is much more important for you to know what terms and consideration are standard. Where the skills of negotiating are concerned, I highly recommend the book “Getting To Yes”. It’s a simple book but powerful nonetheless and is in the curriculum at Harvard’s school of business. It will change the way you negotiate for yourself, whether for a role or for a car.
Other great resources for learning about how the entertainment industry makes money are the trade magazines. Read them regularly. The Hollywood Reporter and Variety in particular are terrific, timely resources for anyone in entertainment. If reading them daily isn’t something for you at least dive into their weekly magazine editions.
Film festivals also offer panels with industry professionals who can share valuable information. Festivals are everywhere these days. Go for the movies and to meet people, but bring your questions with you.
Along with knowing how your business makes money an actor often has to consider when to work for free. Though it can always be rationalized – “It will be a learning experience”, “It will be great exposure”, “No one else is making money on this” – the value of your work is ultimately determined by what you are willing to let people pay you for it. I can tell you with all certainty that, during my days as a music supervisor, doing professional favors with the hope of them coming back to me was the biggest reason why I wasn’t making any money. Typically (and disappointingly), when the people for whom you’ve done favors move up to bigger and better things, suddenly finding themselves with a budget to spend, they tend to see you as a cheap, less valuable option, not someone to whom they owe a favor. Now that they can afford a Ferrari, the Accord will be donated to charity.
Before you agree to work for free, take ten minutes and assess how much money you have spent and will continue to spend on acting classes, coaching, headshots, subscriptions to casting websites, workshops, gas for auditions, the hard work, your talent – if it still seems equitable to work for free, great. If it doesn’t seem equitable, ask for reasonable pay or just walk away. It’s okay to walk away from a bad deal, presuming you are sufficiently informed to recognize one. Even still, if you decide to work for free I recommend respectfully asking for the following:
- Have the producers confirm with you in writing that the terms of your consideration would be on a so-called ‘most favored nations’ basis with all other performers, or at least all performers in roles equal to or of less credit than yours. This means that if they were to suddenly find money to pay someone else they would also have to pay you the same amount. It’s a professional way of saying, “I’ll work for free if everyone else is working for free”.
- What happens if the project you work for free on becomes successful? A performance based agreement is the solution. For example, if a theatrical production can’t pay you, ask how much their expenses are and how many tickets they would have to sell to recoup those expenses. In the event that number is met it is entirely reasonable to expect some manner of prospective compensation. For another example, suppose you’re being cast in the lead of an ultra low budget feature for a deferred fee of $100 (the SAG-AFTRA rate). What if that movie blows up? Just because a production is according you union terms doesn’t mean you’re prohibited from negotiating better terms. One solution would be to propose that you be paid a reasonable bonus should the movie reach certain box office plateaus, be released on home video, broadcast on television, etc.. In essence, in either example all you would be asking is that if the producers end up making money, so would you like to.
Another reason actors must learn how their business makes money is because today actors also have to be producers. In all likelihood, for you to book the role of a lifetime you may have to write it, perform it, and shoot it yourself, until those opportunities serendipitously fall into your lap. Though wearing a variety of hats may be daunting to someone who wants to focus on acting, the challenge presents additional sources of income for the actor that should be seen as a chance to continue doing what you love most.
You won’t learn everything you need to know about how your business makes money in short order. For one, businesses are always changing so there will always be something new to learn. Choosing to know how your business makes money is a longterm venture. Make some routines for yourself. Balance the amount of time you spend studying your art and other artists with learning about and building your business. You have to. You must. Otherwise, that survival job you have will become your career.
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Copyright 2015 Christopher Violette All Rights Reserved
