Some of you might have heard this story. It happened about 10 years ago, and a lot of us agent types are still talking about it.
On a bright Monday morning, one of the largest talent agencies in Los Angeles had a manila envelope delivered to its mailroom. The letter was addressed to the company, not an individual, so one of the mailroom guys opened it. Inside, he found a note that read, “This building will explode at exactly 3 o’clock if you don’t sign John Smith.”
The mailroom guy freaked and called the police. They responded quickly, the building was evacuated, and a search was mounted. No bomb was found. But you know what they did find? John Smith’s picture and résumé inside the manila envelope. The actor was under arrest by the time his deadline rolled around.
There’s a whole lot of crazy to unpack in this story, but the real lesson is that you will catch a break when you have earned it, not when you come up with a crazy stunt that is destined to fail. In this case, the actor turned out to be a standup comedian who wanted to break into television, and he thought this would be a funny way to do it. News flash: It wasn’t.
READ: Being a Working Actor Can Be Anything but
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