Eric Bogosian
A Letter of Advice to a Young Actress
April 30, 1997.
Dear Eric,
Hello and I hope this letter finds you well. All through my four years of college I've had an interest in acting. I've always been the kind of person to go for it when it came to things that I had an interest in. Acting has always been one of them. I know that it's a tough field and there's a lot of rejection, but I've never been one to be shaken by that. Where do I go from here? I have the energy but I don't know what steps to take.
Heather.
Eric Responds..
Dear Heather,
I found your letter on my desk this morning and since I'm on an intense deadline to complete new pages for a play and a screenplay, I thought, now's the time to write back. It gets harder and harder to write or even call people when I want to, because between work and my children, the days don't have enough hours.
First of all, congratulations on your BA. That is a great accomplishment. Now here's the advice. (Your mother will hate me for this!)
Something that's happened with the new people coming into acting and film is that they have an "idea" about what they're going to do before they do it. And this idea usually comes from magazines and TV shows. Without going on at length, let me assure you that any notion you might have of show business is distorted until you've actually gotten your feet wet.
So I'd say the first thing to think about is to separate in your mind whether you really have a LUST to act or do you have a LUST for attention and money. These are actually two different things which sometimes come at the same time, but usually don't. If you have a LUST for acting and the theater or even movies, the only way to satisfy yourself is to get out there and do it, do it the best you can. Most people will not be able to make a living at it, but (and this is how I got into it) it's worth a try, and whatever happens, happens. If your lust is for attention or money, I have no advice - what came my way, came pretty much by accident.
So back to the lust for acting, theater, art, etc.. It doesn't happen in Montague, it doesn't happen in Sussex county, nor does it really happen in schools. It happens in New York and Los Angeles.
Every year, hundreds, maybe thousands of folks in their twenties come to these two cities and try to "make it". Some are Yale graduates and already have an "in", some are kids like you and me, who come from a bump on a log and don't have a clue.
There is no secret formula. But what I did was:
Get a job anywhere, doing anything (I worked at a Gap store first and worked for free at a theater being a "go-fer").
Go see lots of stuff and when you like something, see it again.
Get in touch with the theater people or film people whose work you love.
Meet other people with similar interests.
Start a group.
Wait tables.
Freak out.
Learn.
Notice that this isn't a formula for making money or success. Showbiz is where sharks go to make money, so unless you're a shark, don't go there for that, you'll never beat them.
I didn't get into it for the money part. I barely made a living for almost ten years. But I had tons of fun. I was poor. Luckily for me, just as I was about to throw in the towel, I started to make a living. But if you ever get to that stage, you'll know what to do at that time.
If you want to be a movie star (which is what I think most people want when they say they "want to act.") then you have to be very, very beautiful or very, very talented or very, very determined. (Elia Kazan, one of our greatest directors was very, very smart and very, very determined. People used to make fun of him when he was starting out.)
I better get back to work or I will be very, very unemployed.
Heather, I hope this is helpful. Have a great summer, the world is your oyster.
Yours,
Eric Bogosian.
