Knowing When a Project is Right for Your Career

Domenique Fragale is a graduate of Arts Educational Schools, and holds both U.S. and U.K. citizenship. Working as an actress in both L.A. and London, Domenique discusses how to know when a project is right for you.

An actor saying no to work – who would do such a crazy thing? 

Work for actors seems pretty limited as it is, and what about your reputation? If you say no surely your name will become tarnished and soon enough you won’t be asked for anything at all? First of all, yes there are clearly not enough roles for everyone to be consistently working, and yes, if you did keep saying no to every single job offered to you, the offers would begin to become less and less but trust me, sometimes declining or standing up for yourself in this industry is essential. 

When it comes to a role there is often an ideology for taking it. For artistic satisfaction, for money, or for career benefits, such as contacts, reel footage, a valuable credit for IMDB, or working alongside a big name. It's important that you consider all these factors before passing up a job. Then there are the factors to consider when saying no to projects that you find personally offensive, are potentially unsafe, not just physically, but emotionally too. There are companies and directors with reputations of being rude or abusive towards actors and if that is the case, you need to ask yourself: do I want to be on set with these people for the next six to twelve weeks? If your gut is telling you no, then listen to it, it’s usually right. At the end of the day, regardless of your situation, you need to be happy in yourself and the quality of your work.

For the majority of actors in the industry, effort, time, and patience are the biggest factors to keep on top of. Think of it as a conveyor belt of products that you put in to later reap the success of. Put effort in, along with personal time bettering your craft, and the patience that not everything happens over night. These elements, along with being tolerant, with perseverance in knowing that everyone’s journey is different, are imperative to keep sane.   

On the flip side, some of you may be at points in your careers where work can be turned down because it wasn’t artistically satisfying enough, or wouldn’t help reach a professional goal, and that too is okay. Embrace the fact that you're able to say 'no' and celebrate the fact that you’re moving forward. How you decline, however, can make all the difference. You might have thought it was badly written, there was poor communication, or something seemed unprofessional. Regardless of what it was, keep that information to yourself. Although you may not give it a second thought, it’s someone’s pride and joy and there’s no reason why you should make them feel bad about it. Tell them that you couldn’t clear the dates, that you’re already scheduled for something else, or that you did like the script but perhaps it was already too close to roles you’ve played before. It is important to remember that it should be done so with gratitude of offering and saying no graciously, so that it won’t come back to haunt you. 

A situation I think more actors go through than we actually like to admit (because as I said before, it might come back to ‘blacklist’ us), is dealing with rude and unprofessional industry members. Just recently, I did a job for a director who promised me paid travel and a payment on top of that. I completely understand it can take time for payments to be made, but after ignoring my emails, texts and declining my calls, it was clear something wasn’t right. Four months later, I received settlement, but with aggressive and impolite communication. As it has become clear to me now, the director just wanted actors to work on the project with promised payment, only to later not pay them at all. It got to the point where they threatened to tell this story on an apparent interview they were going to give about the production.

A few years ago I would have most certainly been too afraid to approach the situation after that was said; putting it off until I likely would have let it go and be out of pocket. However, one of the key things I have learnt after graduating and living in two key cities of the world, is the importance to stand up for yourself. Usually your agent handles these situations but when you know you’re in the right and you are owed something, then you need to fight for that because if you don’t, that ‘professional’ has gotten away with it and will do it to another actor. Anyone who is an established and trusted name in this industry wouldn’t need to hand out petty threats so of course, they’re not professional at all. In any situation, whether it be declining a role, addressing a problem in the script or handling blunt communication, it is always best to stay calm, regardless of how they’re behaving, and not to rise to their level of hysteria when defending yourself. If you’re trying to be polite and they’re still not having it, the best thing to do is wish them well and sign off. Equity is here to help with these situations, so get in touch with them for advice if this happens to you.

It’s also vital to know when to say no when you have an emotional qualm:

• Say 'no' to your fears. We’re all scared at one point in our lives in this industry, especially actors. We enter into this profession with big dreams and ambitions, varying from person to person on what that 'success' is but if you’re still continuing to believe that those dreams are too out of your league and you hold a belief that you’ll never achieve them, then you most likely won’t. If you are afraid to put yourself out there and believe in yourself, then how is anyone else supposed to?
• Say 'no' to negativity in your life. There is always someone who is 'doing better than you' in our business. There is also someone in our business that is going through more ups and downs than you, and someone who wants to be in your position. Yet regardless of what stage anyone’s in, I guarantee there will always be people in your life who are dubious about your success. Ever been asked how you’re doing, told a friend about that project and received something that felt like an air of fake commandment? Yeah, I have too and I would be lying if I said I haven’t been the friend that, once hearing about someone’s well doing, had a part of me feel a little disheartened for no clear reason. Why? Unreliability. We suddenly become aware that someone else is 'more successful' than us, which is never the case, because we're all on a separate path. 9 times out of 10 we also wouldn’t have even been seen for the same role as we’re probably not alike and don’t fall into the same casting type, so stop giving yourself a hard time! We can’t guarantee that we’ll all reach that stage of 'success' that we dream of straight away, but with these kinds of worries, I assure you, we definitely won’t. So say no to them and concentrate on your own personal path to accomplishment.
• Say ‘no’ to continual self-criticism. As performers we thrive on notes and critiques – we’re trained to take them on and alter ourselves accordingly. This is all fine of course if it's on a job, but outside of work ensure you give yourself a healthy break from critiquing your appearance or skills; I can guarantee you’ll be the only one blowing it way out of proportion anyway. You’ve got this far because someone clearly believes in you, so you should start doing the same.

 Photo credit: George Gottlieb