Brad Lemack - The New Business of Acting: The Next Edition: COVID Update

S UPPLEMENT TO T HE N EW B USINESS OF A CTING :

T HE N EXT E DITION
COVID UPDATE

Copyright 2020 by Brad Lemack

All rights reserved

Published by Ingenuity Press USA

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The New Business of Acting: How to Build a Career in a Changing

LandscapeThe Next Edition

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018902635

ISBN: 978-0-971540-8-5

First edition: October 2018

Second printing: October 2018

Printed in the United States

COVID Update s upplement to The New Business of Acting

The Next Edition

ISBN: 978-1-7354716-0-0

First edition: September 2020

Produced in the United States

Also by Brad Lemack:

The Business of Acting:

Learn the Skills You Need to Build the Career You Want

The New Business of Acting:

How to Build a Career in a Changing Landscape

The New Business of Acting:

How to Build a Career in a Changing Landscape

The Next Edition

S UPPLEMENT TO T HE N EW B USINESS

OF A CTING : T HE N EXT E DITION

COVID U PDATE

I FIRST WROTE ABOUT the impact of COVID-19 on the business of acting in my June 17th, 2020 column in Back-stage. As June turned into July and then as July become a template for, perhaps, the rest of the year, I began considering the new, evolving landscape through a different lens. This pandemic is not going to pass quicklyand if you follow news coverage about the perspectives and opinions of medical and research professionals, this new landscape in which we all are living could easily be evolving for a long time.

So how do you get back to business, stay in business and thrive in business regardless of the business you are in? First, you create a sound action plan for the steps you will need to take to get up and running, to get you back on track and to understand the environment in which your work will take youall while keeping you safe every step of the way.

My decision to write this COVID Update to my current book, The New Business of Acting: How to Build a Career in a Changing LandscapeThe Next Edition, is rooted in my intent to help guide you through the current challenges of getting back to work with a perspective on what you need to know and what you need to do to restart your career journey armed with the tools and the information you need to thrive in the art and craft of the business of acting.

T HE W INTER 2020 S HIFT

I cant recall a time of greater shift in the landscape or a more critical call to action for all industry professionals and others than these days we now find ourselves in. Whether artist, actor, writer, director, production assistant, above-the-line, below the line or, as I prefer to call it, a (Hollywood) hyphenate of whatever combination best describes you, this is a time of adjustment, adaptation, reinvention and the creation of a new map for navigating through the business of acting during these challenging times. Both the platforms for which you create content and the delivery mechanisms for audiences to access your work have had a significant shift in this new landscape. While were not yet lining up to head back into movie theatres, arenas or stage venues, we are, instead, seeking out, discovering and rediscovering a myriad of entertainment alternatives elsewhereand saving a ton of money on tickets, concession stand snacks and parking lot fees in the process. Of course, and unfortunately, there is also a big price being paid by these venues who are stuck in business neutral and, for most, struggling to survive, until the situation changes.

If you have read my newest book, you know that each topic about the industry is addressed in a collection of 20 chapters. In this supplement, I will address the topics from the book that are being impacted and shifting the most now. My notes are COVID-landscape specific. I encourage you to go to (or return to) the book for the full coverage of each of these important subjects as they relate globally to the business of acting.

W HAT S D IFFERENT N OW ?

Television, particularly network and other broadcast outlets, had been seeing the worse decline in years in audience numbers leading up to the pandemic. Other content providers, like Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Hulu and others, were luring away those viewers who had been consumers of broadcast content by offering up more cutting edge, often more theatrical, more diverse, on-demand programming. And best of all, of course, your paid subscription to one of these online services ensures no commercial interruptions.

But with the pandemic came lots more time at home for all of us. And for most of us, that meant searching for ways to stay busy, keep current, be safe and find some distraction from the news of what was happening in both the world and down the street. Its too early to announce a resurrection of broadcast television (for entertainment, rather than for just news, sports and special events). But people are talking... and a lot of that talk is about Did you see such and such on TV last night?

As you are witnessing, with the pandemic also came tremendous job losses, which are still happening. As a result, many people began looking for ways to cut their monthly expenses and, for many, a massive move not so long ago to cut the cable has given way to a move to cut out online subscription services in an attempt to make monthly financial ends meet. All of a sudden, having to endure a few minutes of commercial breaks doesnt seem so much of an inconvenience in favor of free.

None of us can say for sure when we will be on the other side of this pandemic. But it is fairly safe to assume that the re-engagement of broadcast television by millions of viewers will/has put pressure on content creators to figure out how to keep those viewersand the answers to that challenge lie in the creation of a lot of new, creative, strategic and diverse programming.

What does this have to do with Back to Work in the COVID Business of Acting Landscape? Just about everything. The demand for new content that will appeal to and keep any audience engaged on any platform will result in the creation of more opportunities (read: jobs) than perhaps at any other time in the history of the industry. There is an audience thirst for this content and to quench that thirst, there will be/is a tremendous need for writers to write, producers to producer, production assistants to assist, directors to directand, of course, for actors to create these new roles that will be a critical component in this new age of storytelling.

T HE SHIFT AND THE CHALLENGE FOR