Okay, so two friends of mine have started a new website for actors and sent me the link to check it out (this is not a dis about their site, I think it’s amazingly put together and I think it is an incredible business idea.)  Basically they get actors to pay x amount of dollars and they put together a website and book with all the actors resumes and headshots which is mailed out to all agents for free.  Brilliant, right?  I wish I’d thought of it first!  But anyway, I’m looking at all these resumes because, well, basically I don’t want to work today, and I realized that most of these people have training sections longer than their actual work sections!  You know what?  That means the classes aren’t working! I have met so many people who are going to their first auditions after 3 or four YEARS of taking classes!  I can’t even imagine how much money they have spent (classes aren’t cheap, anywhere from $150-$300 a pop).  Classes in this town are the biggest money making racket I’ve ever seen!  I kept wondering when I took a class (yes, I’ve done it, but I average about 1 for every 3-4 plays I do), why there were no experienced actors in the class, and why nobody seemed to have any commitment.  They’d stop coming after the first week or they wouldn’t even stay to watch other actors perform.  Then it finally dawned on me: all the GOOD actors are out there performing!  Whether it’s stage or film, they’re spending their time actually MAKING art instead of “learning how to perform, learning how to land a job”.  And all these freakin’ actor resource sites just tell you to TAKE MORE CLASSES!  Not, “go audition, keep auditioning, even if it scares the fuck out of you.”  No, they say, “take MORE classes!  You’re not ready to audition yet!”  It’s an incredible racket!  You want Julie’s advice?  well I’ll give it to you for free:  audition!  Unless you are a woman who can play 20-35.  Then don’t go audition, take some more classes.  Especially if you have red hair.  Or are tall.  Then please, you’re not ready to audition.  Go take classes.  Or move.