There are some things you should know….
This is a tough business. Before you quit your job to go “all in” on being an actor, there are some REALLY important things that you need to know.
First, you need to have the skills and experience to be a great actor BEFORE expecting to make a full time living as an actor. Some people have a ton of natural talent, some not so much, but “talent” is not nearly enough to make a living as an actor. Acting requires serious skills and knowledge (ie. “experience”) as well, if you expect to get paid for something that most people will do for free. No matter how talented you are, if you don’t know or understand the framework of how to make that talent shine, you have no chance. If you have no work history in the industry, you have no chance. If nobody knows who you are, you have no chance. Remember, no matter how great you are, you are competing with an entire industry of great people that have been doing this long before you were.
So.. before you go all in, take the time to dip your toes into acting like a very hot hot tub. Toes in first. Take some acting classes. Do a little community theater. Make some connections in the industry. As you gain a little knowledge of the industry & geography you are working in, you’ll find your way to the next steps. Take some more advanced classes, submit yourself to some indie films to get some experience, and look to get an agent. Book some more work, build your resume, start marketing yourself as an actor on social media.
If, over a few years, you find yourself booking paid** acting work regularly, then maybe you’ve got the right stuff to jump in and become a full time actor. A good way to know you’ve “got the right stuff” is when producers, directors, and CDs are offering you roles without auditioning for them. They know you and your skillset, and are confident that you are perfect for the role from past history. Many people wouldn’t believe it, but even in markets like Seattle & Portland, there are actors with strong enough experience, reputation, and connections that they book regular work without even auditioning.
**Note: The difference between booking unpaid work and paid work is the skill level of other actors competing for those jobs. The best actors in most markets do not even do unpaid work, so they are the toughest competition for paid jobs in any market. An actor booking lots of unpaid indie films may not even be aware of their real competition, until they try to make a living as an actor. You may be the best basketball player at your local park, but that doesn’t mean you could get a spot on the Chicago Bulls.
Let’s assume that you’ve done all of the above. You have experience, significant training and a great resume, a few IMDB credits, some social media for marketing, and are booking fairly regular paid acting work around your day job. You’re ready to make the leap to “full time actor”… Here’s what you need to know..
1. Financial Flexibility is a MUST.
Never think that you can cut the cord on your day job, and you’ll immediately start making an income as an actor.
At best, many projects can be 60-90 days between the initial casting and having a paycheck in your hands. If you want to survive, you absolutely must have a means of making a transitional income that has flexibility. Acting has to be your top priority, and it cannot be #1 if you are worried about paying the rent or buying food. You MUST make sure that you are in a stable living situation, have transportation, and enough income to survive on without absolutely needing to book acting work to survive. The best way to bomb an audition is to be desperate to book the job.
Straightforward “side hustles” like Uber driving & food delivery are great. If you’re got a house or a car, try Airbnb or Turo to make some side cash. Many actors get into bartending at night because if rarely interferes with their acting work. Possibly tutoring, or training some other skill, as long as you’re not trying to market yourself to book this work. Every hour you spend on this “side hustle” needs to be paid time, not marketing.
Just remember, it needs to be a job with a near-guaranteed income for hours spent, but flexible hours. If you try to work another “gig based” job that you need to spend time selling your services, it’s likely to eat up all your time and energy, and you won’t be able to focus on acting.
2. Fitness. (to be completely honest..)
To put it simply, there is FAR more work (jobs, roles, opportunities) for extremely fit people than for average or overweight people. You are not going to change the clients’ minds, so if you want to make a living as an actor, make yourself fit the most work, rather than expecting the work to fit you.
Mathematically, out of 100 jobs, 40 of them are looking for “fit and healthy” looking people, 25 are looking for “average to fit”, 25 don’t care, and maybe 10 are specifically looking for someone that’s a little heavy.
If you are extremely fit, you’ll have 90 opportunities out of 100 jobs. If you are average build, you’ll have 50 opportunities, and if you’re even slightly overweight, you’ll have less than 35 opportunities.
IT’S JUST MATH… That’s nearly 3 times more chances to book paid work if you are fit. If everything else is equal, the means you’ll be making 3x more money as an actor by keeping yourself in great physical shape. It’s a MUST. That’s why 90% of the actors you see in Film, Television, and Commercials are fit.
As an actor, your body is your tool for work. Spend the time on your body to make it the best tool that you can. “Sharpen the axe” (Google it) Workouts, yoga, running, stretching, weight training and eating healthy are all part of the job description for “actor”. Make fitness part of your life, not just something you do when you gain a few pounds after the holidays. You literally cannot be a full time actor if you are not physically fit, so build that into your lifestyle before you decide to go full time. Additionally, you need to pay attention to your hair, nails, etc. You never know when you’ll get an audition, so you need to be looking your best at ALL TIMES.
“IF I ONLY HAD AN HOUR TO CHOP DOWN A TREE, I WOULD SPEND THE FIRST 45 MINUTES SHARPENING MY AXE.” – ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Side note, working a side hustle as a fitness trainer, yoga instructor, etc. is a genius combination of #1 and #2.
3. Keeping the pipeline full.
#1 and #2 may seem obvious once you’ve read them, but this one is tougher because it never seems obvious until you’re in trouble. Your career momentum is always either growing or shrinking. Any time you’re not gaining momentum, you are losing it.
When you decide that you want acting the be your full time gig, you HAVE TO make it your #1 priority in life, no matter what. The biggest mistake actors make is thinking they can pass on an audition or job here and there because they had other plans, or other commitments, and it won’t matter. This always leads to long dry spells. EVERY audition needs to be like water in the desert, because you never know when the next one will come in.
For working actors, this can be a difficult balance because the production that you’re involved in today always wants to suck up all your time and energy, but making sure that you’ve got another job next week or next month needs to be the highest priority at all times. When you were hired for the film/commercial you are in, they paid you for today, but didn’t pay you to not have work next week, or next month.
For actors that aren’t working constantly, it’s even worse. It’s SO easy to think “this is just a slow time, so I’ll take a little vacation, or get involved in something else for a bit, then get back to acting”. This is a career killer. If every audition and opportunity in acting isn’t your #1 priority every single day, you’re momentum will fall to zero, and game over. I’ve seen it happen over and over and over. I’ve seen actors take a 2 week vacation, and end up with months of no work because of it. I’ve seen actors miss huge bookings because they were out of cell phone range for a weekend. I’ve seen actors pass on a single audition, and then get ignored by a casting director for a year.
Every single day, your next job needs to be the most important. The day you lose sight of this, it’s game over.
4. Building and keeping your TEAM happy
Actors tend to think of themselves as “solo operators”, but in the end, it’s never a single actor that creates their own success. It’s ALWAYS a team of people that have pushed for them in some way. Your agent & manager, photographer, acting coach(s), local producers and casting directors, makeup artists, and even craft service people can all have a say in casting in some way.
I once had an actor who had a small (1 day) role in a feature film. In his “down time” on set, he offered to help craft services make sandwiches for everyone’s lunch. At some point Craft Services must have mentioned it to the director or producer because a year later, when that same director was casting another major film, they hired him for a 14 day lead role, and said that “Sandwich guy” was great to work with on their last film.
This is how teams, and connections, and “the grapevine” works over time. Everyone that you come in contact with can have an effect on your career, for good or bad, and the more contact you have, the bigger that effect is.
Likely, your agent is the biggest part of your team, and always remember they only get paid for their work if you book a job, and for every job that you didn’t book, they didn’t get paid for that work. NEVER expect that somehow your agent should be doing more for you, if they aren’t making money for the work they already did. Agents are not coaches, friends, tech support, or therapists if they are not earning an income from the work they put into you. The only thing they get paid for is booking you work, so help them do their job by giving them what they need, and staying out of their way. Don’t expect them to spend a bunch of time with you on non-income producing tasks, and when they produce results (getting you an audition), you NEED to take advantage of it. Turning down an audition from your agent is the equivalent of a “dine and dash” to a server. It’s like pickpocketing $10 from them. They already did all the work, and you are denying them to possibility of getting paid for that work. It won’t take many, and you won’t have an agent on your team.
It’s your job to show your agent that you can book the opportunities that they get you, not their job to prove that they can get you opportunities. A good “working” actor should have a booking ratio of 1:5 or better. (books one job for every 5 submitted to). If you aren’t booking 1 of every five jobs that your agent submits you on, you need to work on yourself, not your agent. (see “Sharpen the Axe” above)
If you have a manger, their job is to make you more marketable, so you get more opportunities. They should be helping you build marketing materials, planning photo-shoots (to create materials), doing PR & Social Media, setting up websites, and recommending training and coaching in areas that you may be weak at. Some managers try to book you work like an agent, but this is actually illegal in some states, and not their actual job. Managers should provide guidance, not jobs. If they are paid by a % of your earnings, all the same rules apply as with your agent. If they aren’t making income from you, they won’t be a happy member of your team.
Producers, directors, and casting directors in your market should know your name, and they do that by seeing great auditions, over and over, and knowing that you’ll consistently produce good work. Once you book, doing a fabulous job on your role (including being professional on set, on time, communicating well, etc) is the best way to ensure that you’ll get more opportunities from that producer/director/CD again.
Everyone else… Treat people with respect, compliment them, mind your manners, be on time, and always be over-prepared. Everyone in the industry has an opinion about you, and will share it when they can. Make sure their opinion of you is AWESOME, and they will tell others about you. Over time, and completely behind your back, this can create significant momentum, either for you or against you. It’s up to you.
5. Wake up every day and think “What can I do to be better?”
If acting is your full time job, then you cannot spend your days waiting for success to come to you. Watching Netflix, waiting for auditions is guaranteed failure. If you want to be a full time actor, you need to work FULL TIME to be the best actor you can be, whether you have an audition to tape, script to memorize, or job booked for next week or not. You should be spending 8+ hours a day working towards your own success.
YOU HAVE TO CHASE IT. (see “Sharpen the Axe” above)
In addition to the list I have provided, there are many many many things you can do to push your career forward. Even in quarantine. 😉 Here’s a few:
1. Read acting blogs and articles
2. Read classic acting related books like “Audition” by Michael Shurtleff
3. Learn to edit video on your computer (for auditions, and…)
4. Start a video blog to help market yourself (and get used to seeing yourself on camera)
5. Go work out, again.
6. Self submit, Self Submit, Self Submit
7. Join a 48 hr film festival team
8. Write a Script
9. Meet with other actors and discuss books, career plans, etc.
10. Join a meisner studio or acting dojo, or start one
11. Do community theater.
12. Do stand-up comedy
13. Take an improv class (or 2, 3, 4, 5, etc)
14. Send a handwritten thank you note to someone you worked with on set, casting director, or your agent