Aspiring Actors, George Clooney Says to "Get the F*ck Off" Social Media

George Clooney might be one of the last of the old-school movie stars we have, whose name still garners widespread respect and recognition and who has made interesting role choices throughout the course of his long career.

Even with that distinction, he tends to live a pretty quiet life, staying out of the limelight compared to others who regularly pop up on our feeds.

With his new movie, Jay Kelly, about to hit theaters on Nov. 14 (and then Netflix), he's doing the press rounds and commenting on several trending topics in the industry, including artificial intelligence and what the new class of professional actors should know.

He told The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter Podcast:

I talk to kids all the time. I talk to kids at SAG and things, and they’re all on Instagram and everything. And when I was directing and I was casting, and it was between two actors, the casting director and the studio would come to me and go, "Well, she’s got 175,000 followers on Instagram, and the other girl’s got 30,000." Those were literally the discussions we had. And I said to all these actors, "Get the fuck off of it. Get off of all of it. Because if you’re not on it, you have nothing to be compared to."

So, it makes sense that Clooney chooses the Luddite life. When your success can be tied to a slightly arbitrary number that has nothing to do with your skill as a performer, why would he be online?

We have covered the importance of social media platforms and the creator economy, and Clooney acknowledges the value of both elements. It's a tool for making money and getting eyeballs.

And that access, I get it—you can monetize it, you can drink a certain kind of water, and they'll pay you 10 grand, and fair enough, I get it, I understand it. But trying to maintain a career and answer all of the questions that every individual has for you, it's diminishing your ability to be bigger than life. It's inevitable, and I'm sort of swimming upstream, and I don't think that there's much you can do about it, but I do think it's better to not be as available.

What You Should Take Away

The industry has shifted. Casting directors and producers now factor social media metrics into hiring decisions, probably more so than any run-of-the-mill position, treating follower counts as proof of your marketability. Is that a built-in audience you could bring to a project? Maybe. That's what they're thinking.

It's another box to check, valued in some cases as much as your talent and training. For some casting directors, it might even be the thing that tips the scales away from your favor.

Clooney is also saying that the constant availability and exposure can work against you. The mystery, the "bigger than life" quality he mentions, is harder to maintain when audiences can watch your Reels about grocery shopping.

For actors at the start of their career, this creates a balancing act. You need visibility to get noticed, but too much visibility might pigeonhole you or diminish your appeal. And if you haven't built an audience large enough to an outsider's eyes, they might wonder why.

You can take Clooney's advice and get off platforms, or at least make your accounts private. Or perhaps you should be strategic about what you share and how you present yourself.

Use social media as a tool when it serves your work. If you're a filmmaker, it can be a great way to share your content directly with an audience. You can use it to market your projects or fundraise. But if you're an actor, the usefulness is different, and you might find yourself throwing all your skill and time behind becoming a content creator instead.

Clooney wants your performances to speak louder than your follower count. If you take that out of the equation, casting directors can't use it against you.

Let us know what you think.