I’ll be back in Melbourne this coming Friday morning after just over a week in Sydney, during which I enjoyed a huge Thanksgiving celebration. Love those pumpkin pies!  The film I’m working on started shooting on Monday, so I’m helping them stay on track with their dialects via phone as they are deep on location outside Melbourne.  Thank god for technology.

The newsletter for December is almost ready.  Running a bit late due to my Sydney trip.  There will be, as usual, some interesting articles to help actors further their careers, as well as news on developments for the New Year that many of you really need to know about to help yourselves get where you want to be.  If you haven’t signed up to receive the eBrief, the button to do so is on the right hand side of the website. Subscribers to the eBrief list also become eligible for special deals as they come up.

It’s such an important time of year for creative people in all areas, but especially actors as it’s their Busy Season, including connecting with the work in overseas projects (particularly the American TVCs). If you’re an actor, and not feeling this, then maybe you need a Career Boost session to help you get back on track and start booking more auditions and work.  My private session list is very limited at the moment due to my other commitments, but slots are available if you allow a couple of weeks advance notice.  Skype/phone sessions are much easier to arrange, but can’t be done for any time slots over 1 hour, so please bear that in mind. (BTW, heavy discounts available through until the New Year for eBrief subscribers.)

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR:         COMMUNICATION is the key to finding work.  They need to know you exist, and they need to hear from you in APPROPRIATE ways.  I’ll be covering this in greater detail in this month’s eBrief.  Bad communication lets a lot of actors down – excellent communication can open networking doors like you wouldn’t believe.  ”It’s not what you know, but who you know,” is not just a saying, it’s way to get work!  Communicating properly is the way you get to know the people who can help you do this.

Most actors don’t realize it, but just as the “Pilot Season” in L.A. is the busy season for American actors (from about the end of January to about the end of March – it’s a bit flexible), now is the busy season for Australian actors, up through about March/April. The unfortunate thing is that those actors who don’t know it’s the busy season, they think like “civilians” (anyone not in the Industry) and plan on holidays, parties and going away for extended periods. BAD IDEA! I have known actors who actually got either their big break, or just a really good gig, simply by being around during December and January. When I ran my actor’s agency, CDs would ring me up specifically to see who was going to be around, particularly in January, and ESPECIALLY during the period between Christmas and New Year’s. Yup, things actually happen then. I have personally done gigs as an actress or coach right up until the day before and the day after Christmas. Yes, it was for the Americans, but that’s the thing. We’re now in a global economy, and not everyone has the “silly season” like Australia, where things seem to come to a slow down or complete stand still until about February.

The slow season, and when you should plan your breaks, is around the end of the financial year – June/July. Often, producers wait until the new financial year starts to begin their productions because of the tax implications. Then it slowly starts to pick up again from August.  The Americans come to make their holiday TVCs, and the Australians, of course, make a lot then, as well, not to mention the other offshore companies. The Americans even make some of their Super Bowl TVCs here – which are very high profile gigs for actors. Millions and millions of people end up watching them.

We have a challenge this year because the Australian dollar is so strong. It’s causing many of the American producers to cancel their plans for providing work here – that’s why we lost the film, “Green Lantern”. There is also the challenge of the supposed “strike” that Equity has called because SPAA finally refused to sign the offshore agreement contracts. I won’t get into it here, but even though most people (including actors) aren’t even aware this “strike” is on, it’s creating an uneasy feeling among the Americans. The joke is that the rates Equity wants enshrined in contracts are lower than the usual market rates!

So while there may be less work than is usual in our Busy Season, it’s still better than our slow one. The main message I want to get across is that you must be AVAILABLE for the work that DOES appear. Don’t go away or not be available for any reason and then complain that you aren’t getting any work. Actors don’t leave their businesses at this time of year. Be available and be employed!