Hey, r/Acting. I've worked in Hollywood for 16 years. Here's some random advice.

I love doing commercials. I never hear working actors that are doing well poo pooing on commercials...It's always people who "want to be taken seriously" and have no real credits that say they won't do commercials.

There tend to be a lot more commercial auditions which helps keep you sharp. They tend to be funny (at least the ones that I book). And I know a couple of people that have gotten some career changing happenings because of booking commercials (whether its booking a campaign or getting noticed during the super bowl and ending up getting straight to offer pilots).

I've only been out here 6 years... I've had a lot of great things happen for me in that time...but I come from a business background and am lucky enough to be a funny heavyset character actor which narrows the field down for me quite a bit.

You need to live your life The best advice I can give is...You NEED to have a real life when you're out here. You can't ONLY focus on acting. You need to go camping, hiking, learn another language, have your family, try new things, ect...because those are the things that make you interesting. Whenever I meet actors that only talk about acting...it makes my head want to explode...

Also, you need to understand that yes it is just a business...like any other.
That all these weird "rules" that actors feel like they are stuck behind are made up. Do drop offs, be courteous, but drop offs work. I did a drop off to a top 5 agent who specifically "does not take unsolicited submissions". I dropped off to him, emailed him, snail mailed him. When he called me in...I owned the room...had all of the agents laughing for an hour...at the end of the meeting he pulled out my cover letter (from an email) and said...We do not accept unsolicited submissions. We work on referral only. He then said...the reason he called me in is because the subject of my email made him laugh...He then said... No one ever stood out by following the rules. Just be polite...and no one will say anything. I signed with him and plan on sticking with him because he's awesome.

/r/acting Thread