Today we’d like to introduce you to Valorie Hubbard.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
When I graduated from acting school at the Goodman School of Drama thirty years ago, now the Theatre School of DePaul, I went straight to New York with an agent. As it turns out, the agent was more interested in bedding my then actor husband than helping me with my career. The agent told me I didn’t have the name recognition to get the roles I wanted and that I needed more roles before he could do anything for me.
This was not a good start. I struggled along by myself with NO direction and NO idea how to get to where I wanted to go. All I knew is I wanted to make money as an actor and I wanted to be a movie star, but I had no idea how to make that happen. Despite going to a big acting school, I wasn’t told when I graduated that I was now an entrepreneur and owner of a small business. I wasn’t told this because the acting school didn’t know it either. And when statistics say 80 percent of small businesses fail in the first two years, what were my chances going to be for success if I didn’t even know I had a business?
As great luck would have it, I found the wonderful Jay Perry and his company, Actors Information Project (now, regrettably no longer in business!) Jay literally changed my life and my career. He taught me how to build my career as a business and go after it with fervor on a daily basis. He showed me how to boldly step into my career. And I have had a blast! When I was 40 years old, enthused by the idea of working on the big screen, I moved to Los Angeles. I was dismayed to learn I had to start all over again. WHAT!? I’d had New York credits! But it didn’t matter.
Plus, there were five times as many casting directors in Los Angeles as there’d been in New York. I was so overwhelmed! It felt as though everything I tried had a roadblock, “actors can’t do this or that.” But here was the deal and the reason I didn’t perish in the maelstrom: Jay Perry had taught me that my acting career was a business, and he’d taught me well. I knew if I could be successful in New York City, I could replicate that success in Los Angeles. So when my agent told me I didn’t have the name to get work, I made a plan and hired a career coach. And, yes! I marched right to casting on my own and got the role!
The next thing I knew, I was hired on How I Met Your Mother, Workaholics, True Blood, Resident Evil, etc. As I became more and more successful, I started to notice great actors around me were falling on their proverbial asses and tragically giving up their dreams. I knew I could help these people because I understood the dynamic that underscored getting exceptionally great work. I know what it means to be a struggling actor. It’s hard, discouraging, and even scary at times. But it’s my mission to change the world and the way actors get work one actor at a time.
THE ABOVE EXCERPT is from my Book Rule Breakers I started my company Actor’s Fast Track 6 years ago and I believe I am changing the way Actor’s do Business We as a company have had many success’s We have clients in countless TV shows and Film work. If you want to check out www.aftmindgames.com you will see a photo of our client’s logos and a great commercial.
Has it been a smooth road?
HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO ABSOLUTELY NOT every business has EBBS and FLOWS, I mean one of my hardest Ebbs has been the lessons around money as a CEO of my own company there was and have been a lot of lessons around that.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Actors Fast Track is changing the way actors do business. We are known for getting an actor to the next level, so whatever or wherever they are stuck they hire us to build a plan and help them get there.
I am most proud of all of our client’s bookings in the last 6 years, I get WAY MORE EXCITED when a client calls me with a booking then when I book!! HA, I had a young lady Rebecca Knowles hire us a little over a year ago and she wanted to be in Kimmy Schmidt and the day she called me that she had booked the gig I nearly wrecked my car!!!
So how are we different @Actor’s Fast Track we treat Acting as a business? We are Pragmatic and Customized for the individual you will Learn from highly successful actors and Skill development beyond acting we deliver Creative career solutions we develop personal brand WE BELIEVE Actors are entrepreneurs.
OUR competitors Acting is a hobby. Tells clients what they want to hear. Cookie cutter plans. Never been successful in the industry. Only acting skills are honed. Same advice for everyone. Minimal personal branding.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I believe my business is needed now more than ever, a planeload of actors unloads every day in LA and unfortunately, 3 plane loads leave. I know I can help a lot of actors not leave and have their dreams come true, so it is a perfect city for me.
I believe if you are starting out LA is a great place but you need to create community because that is one thing LA could improve on, community you see in NYC we have the subway everyone at some point during the day is with everyone else, we don’t have that in LA, so it’s easy to get lost as a young wanna be actress from Nebraska, so it’s important to find people you trust and make good judgement decisions.
Pricing:
- We constantly have events in LA so you can always text the word ACTOR to 38470 to receive a 10 Dollar ticket to one of our upcoming events.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.actorsfasttrack.com
- Phone: 323-650-4072
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @Valoriehubbard @actorsfasttrack
- Facebook: @actorsfasttrack @valoriehubbard @valoriehubbard1
- Twitter: @valorie_hubbard @ActorsFastTrack
- Other: www.valoriehubbard.com
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
