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   149

   

   11-12-13

   David H. Lawrence XVII says:

   Answer: Great question. It used to be pretty simple, before the Internet came along and changed everything. Now, there’s a lot more to think about before you choose your new stage name.

   First off, congratulations on getting into the union. You’ve worked hard to get here – now let’s make the most of you most obvious brand: your name.

   Once you join the union, you’ll be asked a simple question: what would you like to use as your screen name? It reminds me of the old days on AOL, actually. What you tell the union at that point will have a huge impact on your career, your credits, your ability to be found for casting opportunities and where fans and industry colleagues can locate you online.

   
   

   And there’s one requirement: that it’s unique to all of the other SAG-AFTRA names already taken.

   Your given name might just be fine, but not if it’s fairly common. If your name is John Smith, that’s probably going to be taken. You’ll have to come up with some form of your name that is different from your given name.

   One possibility that a lot of actors choose right from the start is to include their middle name. If the use of your middle name makes your stage name unique, like John Dale Smith, that might be all you need.

   But there are a few more considerations, very important considerations in the digital and social network laden age we live in, you’ll have before you finalize your choice.

   
   

   One of these considerations is homophony. You don’t want to pick Tom Cruze, Jorge Kluny or Cathy Baits as your SAG-AFTRA name. Chances are they wouldn’t allow that anyway, but even if they would, the novelty of that would wear off pretty quickly, as you verbally give your name then have some ‘splainin’ to do. John Dale Smith passes this test.

   The next thing to look for is whether or not your chosen name is available as a domain name URL, so that you can have yourname.com. If your chosen name is available as URL (a simple search on GoDaddy can help you determine that), then great. Make a note of it and move to the next item in this list. But if it’s not available spelled out simply, like johndalesmith.com, with no hyphens or character play, my advice is to choose another name. You don’t want to have to deal with explaining to people who want to visit your website that you need hyphens between all the words.

   Along with the URL issue is a quick check to see if your name is available as a Gmail email address, as in johndalesmith@gmail.com, as this too is an all too common talking point – how to reach you via email. Certainly, you’ll create john@johndalesmith.com, but having the equivalent email address with the all-pervasive Gmail is a big boon to the easy sharing of contact information.

   And finally, you’ll want to choose a name that is still available on twitter, facebook, linkedin, pinterest, google+ and other social networks. @johndalesmith is under the character limit for twitter, so you might want to go as short as possible with your name as you investigate the availability on these social networks and others.

   Follow these guidelines and you’ll be looking at a much more effective name every time you take your SAG-AFTRA card out of your wallet.

   
   

   What’s your answer to this acting question? Let me know in the comments below.

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