A Perspective on Pilot Season

 

Yesterday I found a great PDF that a talent agent here in LA put together that gave me a lot of perspective on this past pilot season.  He looked at every pilot that was picked up by a network and analyzed every role and actor cast.  It sheds so much light on the demographics of who is getting cast.  Here is a link to the whole PDF which I would suggest reading, but here's my quick breakdown of some important points.

The majority of male roles in pilots this year were in the 30-39 age range.
21% of series regular roles went to big star names.
50% of series regular roles went to former series regulars of major shows.
27% of series regular roles went to heavy working actors with numerous recurring roles in previous shows.
2% of series regular roles went to actors whose careers are "in development," and most of those were children.

While this may sound a little discouraging (by the numbers, this past season I had less than a 1% chance of booking a series regular role in a pilot), it confirms something I've always known to be true.  You MUST be in this for the long haul.  You MUST be ready to build your career from the ground up, one audition and one role at a time.  You will start small.  You should celebrate every audition, really celebrate every callback, and really really celebrate every booking.  You'll start with a tiny part in a show, and if you're business savvy and a hard worker you'll turn that into a bigger part next time around.  Then, 5 years down the road maybe you've booked a guest star on a TV show.  Then if things go well you can turn that into a series regular role.  Now you're in the top 50% of actors that were cast in this year's pilot season.  Bottom line: building a career in the entertainment industry takes hard work and patience.

Does this discourage me?  No, it doesn't.  I really enjoy auditioning, and when I'm on set working there's almost nothing better.  I can already see my career being built, even though it's being built one little step at a time. I get impatient because I want to be able to provide for my family right now by doing something I love, but I'm SO blessed to be married to someone who supports me while we're on this long road of building a career.