JAMES FRANCO: Aspiring Actors Have It Much Easier Today Thanks To Technology
instagram.com/jamesfrancotvNowadays, the definition of a famous celebrity has evolved a bit. You've still got your traditional movie stars and musicians, but then there's also the YouTube personalities and the Instagram celebs.
And according to James Franco, this trend is making easier and easier for aspiring actors to succeed.
During a Q&A session to help launch the first three episodes, one Twitter fan who hopes to become an actor asked Franco for some advice.
Franco began with the obvious answer of "Work hard," but he continued to explain how many of the obstacles actors faced just a decade ago are no longer relevant and that aspiring actors have it easier nowadays thanks to technology.
Pointing to his AOL show as an example, Franco explained that it didn't actually take that much money to pull off. All it really takes is concept and comedy.
"The technology nowadays and the distribution platforms are so much more available and open than they were even ten years ago and certainly in the last century, so I would say don't sit around and wait for somebody to welcome you into the secret gates of Hollywood, just start making your own stuff," Franco said.
Instead of having to find a manager and figure out how to get auditions for TV shows and films, aspiring actors can just find some talented friends, write up a clever bit, shoot it with their smartphone, and post it on YouTube. It's as easy as that.
"And once you start making stuff you'll be able to see if people like this, are people responding to this, do I respond to this, and then at that point you can say, 'alright I'm going to make more and get better or realize, oh, maybe I wasn't made for this,'" Franco said. "But it's so much easier to make things now."