In the past you’ve worried that:

1. You will become an actor who never acts
2. You will never have the chance to make your own work

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As a result you worried that you will die feeling unfulfilled.

Jaded and bitter with the world.

Saying things like “if only I had been given more opportunities…”

But

You also know that you have a lot to offer.

Many many stories to tell.

It’s what get’s you excited.

It’s what you’ve dedicated your life to.

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And before you say anything –

I know you do not want to use social media.

It is a black hole.

You never feel good coming away from it.

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But I believe the chaps below have something to offer that you were not taught in drama school.

A route to freedom.

Study and learn from these guys.

I will make it easy for you and I’ll leave a checklist you can print out at the bottom. (i know how much you like checklists, future Alex)

1. Make Good Work No Matter What

Luke Barnett spent 15 years auditioning.

He was a late starter.

He made two features through the traditional system. Both relied on traditional distributors and platforms to find success.

They both faded away.

Then he made “The Crossing Over Express”

an 11 minutes long short film.

One day shoot.

Skeleton crew.

Pretty much zero budget.

Based on his mum’s death when he was 17.

It was rejected by all the major festivals.

So Luke posted it on X with the meaningful backstory of why he made it.

Nearly 2 million views.

ʟᴜᴋᴇ ʙᴀʀɴᴇᴛᴛ @LukeBarnett My mom died when I was 17. I only have a handful of pictures and zero videos of her. A couple years ago, on my birthday, I got a text from a number I didn’t recognize. It simply said “happy birthday” with a YouTube link. I clicked it and my heart stopped. It was my mom. I had 6:57 PM • Sep 20, 2024 646 Retweets 3960 Likes Read 314 replies

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Within 2 months literary agents had come after him.

Development deals with 3 production companies

Cast as regular in TV show Dark Winds.

Then said fuck it again, made OVATION – $50 budget. Two hours to shoot. One take. Two lights. One room. Two-person crew.

Released it online. Again.

Over a million people watched it.

Luke made good work. Meaningful work. He used the internet strategically to get his work seen.

Hundreds of thousands of people were affected by it.

He forced the industry to come to him.

He didn’t give himself the excuse-

“I can only make this if someone gives me the money”.

He wrote what he could afford to make.

And then made it.

Twice.

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2. Build Yourself Assets

Jim Cummings spent 18 months editing his first feature film straight out of college

It was “dreadful”.

He stopped for 5 years

Then Jim wrote a short on his commute using voice-to-text.

Thunder Road cost him $7000 to make.

He paid for it by selling his wedding ring (from a divorce)

One day shoot

Six takes

One shot.

One location

Won Sundance.

The industry came to him:

Signed with big agent. Was given $150,000 to make more shorts. Got various acting roles (Handmaid’s Tale and others). Sold a TV show to FX.

But nobody would fund his features. And the Tv show never got made.

So he changed his goal:

Instead of chasing the next break, he decided to build something he owned.

Something that would keep paying him in the future

He decided to build his audience.

An audience he could bring back to every project he made.

And that he did. Making and posting 10 shorts brought him:

39,000 Vimeo followers

70,000 on Twitter.

He released Thunder Road strategically on Reddit:

• 5am Pacific time to catch both eastern and western coasts.
• He spent 48 hours personally responding to everyone who shared it.
• Posted to subreddits.
• Did an “Ask Me Anything”.
• One of his posts got 117,000 upvotes and 1 million views in a day.

Then the moment of truth.

He asked his audience to help him fund his feature. He got:

• $34k from strangers on Kickstarter (his aim was $10k)
• $64k from strangers who got equity (a percentage of the end profits)

Along with $50k from his savings and $50k from his producer, he made his film on a budget of $200,000.

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It won SXSW.

Despite this, the best traditional industry distribution companies could offer was $100k for it (meaning the film would lose $100k).

He turned them down and distributed it himself.

Worldwide, the film made over $1 million.

And he still owns it.

Meaning he get’s roughly 40% of all purchases.

He’s still earning from it.

3. Leverage A Platform

When 6fa reader James was cast in a popular tv show he had an Instagram audience of around 3k followers.

By the time the show ended James had over 77,500 followers.

Did this just happen because of association?

No.

James was intentional.

He built a highly effective social strategy.

He brought his strange looking film camera on set, and just started shooting.

He took pictures of the leads, he took pictures behind the scenes.

He took pictures marketing department don’t take, but wish they had.

He shot everything on film. In a way no one on set was doing. His feed looked completely different to any of the casts.

If fans wanted that kind of behind-the-scenes action, they could only get it from him.

And the fans, they really wanted it.

He shot a “day in the life” video on a Super 8 and handed it to the shows social team.

Of course they used it.

And a producer who came onto the show later said it was that video that convinced her to come aboard.

He’d given the show a depth it might not have otherwise had.

He added value.

Not by making himself the centre of attention. But in fact, by doing the complete opposite.

By framing others.

By elevating the show in a new, unconventional light.

By bringing value to the shows audience.

And as a result his follower count was almost double that of any other supporting cast.

All whilst staying true to his own artistic temperament.

However.

A question remains:

Are there any actual benefits to having over 77,500 followers?

James harnessed the power of his audience to make things he wanted to make.

The Core

What is interesting, future Alex, is that it always comes back to the core fans.

With Luke it was those who shared his short.

With Jim it was those who funded his feature.

And with James it was those who came with him over to Twitch.

A large audience found them on social, and a smaller group of superfans come on the journey with them and helped them create their work.

Social media is really just a means to an end.

The stop in the middle.

Not the goal.

Make good work.

Share it with people.

Repeat.

I made this checklist for you – it should make things easier:

The Creating and Releasing Work Online Checklist:

Know an actor who wants to see the industry change, who loves to make things and wants to make more?

They might find this newsletter useful:

​sixfigureactor.net​

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Reader Wins

• I got to see reader Finn’s play that he wrote, directed and put on at the Camden Fringe. “In This Industry” was a spicy story that really got to the heart of what it’s like to be on the cusp of entering the industry. I was overjoyed to learn this week that off the back of that he got a new agent. Smashing work mate.
• Had a great chat last week with reader Kat, where I learnt she’s writing a show for Edinburgh this year! From what she told me about it it sounds absolutely cracking and I can’t wait to hear more.
• Awesome work everyone – keep it up!
• (and a big thank you to reader POJ. Thanks mate xx)

This week’s resource:
How to Write A Short Film

• Here’s a 5 min clip of Craig Mazin (The Last of Us, Chernobyl) and John August (Big Fish) on their Scriptnotes podcast answering a question about how to write short films.

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Be sure to subscribe to Scriptnotes if you are interested in writing.

Office Hours Are Back!

If you have a project you want to talk about, you want to run through lines, do a read through, you have an idea you need a 2nd or 3rd eye on, you want help setting up audiobooks from home, curious about audience building, you need a reader for a selftape. Or you just want to chat

I’d love to.

I’m doing office hours most afternoons next week.

Hopefully I’m free when you are.

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So, future Alex, when you feel like you are defaulting back to the default path. Remember these 3 mavericks.

When you find yourself thinking “Why aren’t being given any auditions”

When you find yourself saying “this should be my agents job” or “the pr team will handle it”

Remember passivity is death.

And no one is coming to save you.

You know you have so much to give. So prove it.

Go make the fkn thing.

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A x

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P.s. it’s as easy as telling someone you know that you are going to make something (thanks reader Phoebe for this reminder last week!)

P.p.p.s If you have a moment let me know how I’m doing 👇