Actor Growth

I was talking to some people the other day who always wanted to try acting but were simply too scared with the notion that they can’t stand the thought of not knowing when their next job will be. At the same time, I guess everyone has heard the starving artist stories where the majority of performers make less than a minimum wage job for the whole year.

While I don’t have enough examples of diverse acting role payments, today I got a phonecall from my BG agent as I apparently had a ton of cheques from past work that I have yet to pick up. While looking at them today I thought this just reminded me on what you have to prepare for when you are trying to pursue acting as a career. I just scanned these three cheques to demonstrate my example:

Imagine everyday you have no idea what your next gig may be. At the same time, you can’t necessarily predict how much you will earn in a month. Just take a look at those examples and how different the pay was for each production.

In my opinion, the smart way to do this is to have something you can rely on that is flexible. I’m actually surprised at how many real estate agents try to pursue acting for example as you would think every performer would be working at say a restaurant as a server.

But hey, enjoy what you do as always. If you are going to be in a self employed type of environment then you have to enjoy it I’d say. Unpredictable income just comes with the territory regardless of what field you are in until you are semi established.

Some may say that you have to starve yourself on purpose so that it pushes you to reach your goals faster. But, that’s the great thing about situations like this as there are just so many ways to do it that you need to find what way works for you the best.

Sorry for not updating earlier all. I have just been swamped with various stuff lately. The filming went okay as it lasted a whole day. It was more of a test run I’d say to see if people would click with each other. Overall everyone did. I didn’t actually get to see the footage yet myself.

I did get injured a little bit unnecessarily since everything was improvised and made up on the spot in many cases which involved some physical stuff. It was also interesting to learn about the process that O’Keefe went through when he had to go to the US to play some roles. Those greencards and such sound like a real pain even if a studio does all the work for you.

So far it seems like I am the only real technically savvy person within the bunch. I suppose a good thing about all of this is that at least I found another good person who is willing to teach me some of the ins and out of the business from a performer point of view.

Also, incase my updates are sporadic you guys can subscribe to my feeds where you will be updated when I post new stuff.

While working on set yesterday I was talking to a person that was telling me about his life as a stuntman. I always heard that this was a very difficult field to get into not so much about the type of work that you do, but rather the politics involved in getting those opportunities.

Essentially, what I learned was that to get stunt roles here it doesn’t involve having an agent where say they submit you and the casting director chooses who they want. Instead, the way it works is that the productions hires a person called a “stunt coordinator”. This person then brings people in to do the work.

This is where it got interesting. He was telling me that when it comes to stunts there is usually a lot of money involved as you may imagine and as a result the stunt coordinators can become very territorial to each other in a dog eat dog world type of scenario when one person gets hired by the production over the other. I was just joking at first on how it was like a gang mentality in some ways.

To further paint that vision of how things work, he was saying that when the stunt coordinators give out work a lot has to do with distributing it as see fit based a lot on making sure his/her favorite people are “fed”. With that in mind, it’s not hard to see why this field is so hard to get into from a political standpoint.

You know, before this my perception on how stunts worked if you wanted to get into that field was that you would work very hard in doing simple set work like say background work and then as you become known in the industry as a very reliable person a casting director would be inclined to call you and ask if you would like to do that kind of work.

I remember my last agent told me for example that when you become known as the reliable person, in many cases you have to join the Union to start getting the higher gigs and so if casting directors know that you are the hard working and reliable one they will go out of there way to try and get you gigs such as stunts so that you can get your credits to join the Union.

While both cases are probably true, the story this guy told seems to make sense in a more everyday scenario.

There was this letter that was floating around the Internet about the state of the film industry and what it means for us actors (Especially the ones that are not as known). It is a few days old, but I thought it was an interesting read nonetheless. It was this:

Dear Clients,

I wanted to take a moment and give you a number of important updates….

Before I begin, however, I wish to tell you all that I am so very proud of you all for your dogged determination during these most difficult times. Hollywood is being challenged on multiple fronts – labor uncertainty, paradigm shifting and the ‘great recession’.

I know a lot of your are getting antsy to get out more, and frankly many of you are in a tight financial pinch; as such, I wanted to describe to you all the current climate in LA and the factors influencing the current environment.

1. SAG STALEMATE: Since the SAG contract expired on June 30, 2008, there have been few to no STUDIO feature films (this does not include companies such as Lionsgate and the Weinstein Company who are not in AMPTP and as such have completion agreements). Some analysts say there are up to 200 feature films on hold. Around September, we started to see a mass movement of film actors to TV projects. Many of my “name” actors have done one-day guest stars (this is very typical right now), and we are seeing a number of Guest Star level actors doing CO-STAR roles. Remember from November of 2007 to March of 2008, due to the Writer’s Strike, again there were no feature films shot. So for the film actor, there has only been 4 months of work in the last 17 months.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Due to the lack of studio feature film production, BOTH film and TV actors are now competing for a limited number of jobs in the episodic and pilot environments.

2. PILOT SEASON: During the Writer’s Strike of 2007-2008, Studios adapted and used the void to eliminate pilot season as we know it. Gone are the days of hundreds of pilots. In fact, this year, there are only 67 pilots to have registered for production – of which only about 35 have been green lit for production.

And this year, due again to a sagging economy, studios and networks believe that by committing named stars to their projects, they will receive more money from this year’s up-fronts from ad agencies. They are banking on star power to leverage better buys at the all important UPFRONTS. So, stars and pop-stars like Richard Dreyfuss, Chevy Chase, > Brittany Snow, Elle McPherson, Rebecca Romijn, Ashley Simpson, Scott Caan, Skeet Ulrich, and proven TV talents like Kelsey Grammar, Eric McCormick, John McGinley, Joel McHale, Jenna Elfman, Donald Faison, Maura Tierney, Peter Krauss, Craig T. Nelson, Dax Shepherd, etc…. You do the math, 37 pilots… top stars being sought… BOTTOM LINE: the conflagration of the economy and a lack of roles being cast, means that this pilot season may be even more competitive than the concurrent regular TV market right now. So those of you who have gotten auditions for series regulars… feel great about that!

3. TV: While TV has been steady, again due to the conflagration of film and named actors doing Guest Starring roles, we have seen a horrible trickle down. Many Guest Stars are now doing Co-stars and Co-stars/Developmental Actors (those with less than 5 primetime credits) frankly are not getting seen much. One CD recently told me that she had over 25 women who would be considered ‘working actors’ going for a co-star role. BOTTOM LINE: Again, due to the abundance of name and working actors, many less-developed actors are not even being seen right now.

4. ECONOMIC IMPACT I – THE EROSION OF QUOTES/RATES: There are really three major impacts to actors during this economic crunch. First, we are seeing the erosion of quotes. Due to the availability of so many talented actors, CD’s and Producers are in the driver’s seat in negotiations. When they say, “well we got someone else who will do it for less”, they ain’t kidding. I have spoken to a number of my peers who have confirmed this erosion of pay for their actors. In short, right now, quotes are eroding and for many, the minimum has become the maximum pay.

5. ECONOMIC IMPACT II – THE CONCLUSION OF SAG STALEMATE: Many are hoping that with the end of this stalemate, Hollywood will get back to normal. I have to say, that I am not one who necessarily believes this. First off, due to the economic conditions, most studios have lost their millions of dollars from hedge funds; and European, Asian and Middle Eastern money has dried up. Even Stephen Spielberg has had to beg, borrow and steal to get his company financed …. And it wasn’t anywhere near what he originally asked for. I believe that, even after the SAG stalemate is over, there is probably not enough money for 50 Studio Feature Films to be done right out of the gate. BOTTOM LINE: While this will help us move towards normalcy, it will not be the cash cow some people think it will be. One side note, is that I expect that more formulaic projects will be down out the gate as Studios will be less likely to take significant risks since most of these projects will be financed by both the studio and their investors. In short, you will see more Iron Mans, Animation, and SAWs… they are money in the bank when you factor in ratios, etc.

6. ECONOMIC IMPACT III – OVERALL STATEMENT OF ENVIRONMENT: It is important that everyone follow the economic conditions closely. I know it is easy to be skeptical over the studios, networks, cablers, production houses, show runners, etc, losing money, but it is a cold-hard fact right now. These entities are truly in a difficult spot. If you have read much lately, there have been dramatic cut backs at every studio and network, from firings to asking show runners to cut between 2-7% of their budgets (not to mention the 25+% cutback shows like the Sarah Silverman were asked to swallow recently). Furthermore, these networks and studios are largely owned by conglomerates who have lost in the billions over the last 6 months. When I attended NATPE in January, all the talk was how to get ‘thinner.’ Everything is getting tight. Budgets, Marketing, Staffing, etc., and this will undoubtedly impact the actor. Also, the foreign sales market (where much of the TV and Film money is made, is being hit hard by the erosion of the US Dollar. So these entities are not able to recoup the costs they were in better days by the one-time explosion of the foreign markets. BOTTOM LINE: The economic conditions are forcing the industry to be as ‘thin’ as possible.

7. COMMERCIALS – INDUSTRY AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS: One analyst said last year, that 2008 was the worst commercial market since maybe 1974. I would not argue with this. Think about it: three of the top products/services for ad agencies are banks, cars and other financial services – all of which were struck down in 2008/early 2009 by this recession. This was confirmed when news struck that even the Super Bowl did not sell out advertising this year. The good news is that the advertising industry tends to be one of the first ones to be negatively impacted by a recession, but one of the first to grow as the recession moves to an end as advertisers of products want to start accumulating market share before the turn of the economy. Another impact relates to the overall conditions of the TV/FILM/PILOT situation. Many strong actors have made enough money on TV/FILM, etc so that they have not had to do commercials in years. Due to the last few years and the lack of work, many top actors are now back in the commercial market; thus again, causing a logjam in casting.

BOTTOMLINE: The economic slowdown has caused a dramatic decrease in ad sales and the lack of work has caused more actors to re-enter the commercial market.

THE GOOD NEWS!!
Okay, so that is where we are today. You know me, I try to always call it straight as I see it. So, I am not going to sugar-coat this either. I anticipate that 2009 will be a tough year overall for actors (and agencies). First off, the economy will not likely get straightened out until at least the 3rd to 4th quarter of this year and so all the factors above will remain in place through most, if not all, of 2009. Secondly, until the labor situation gets straightened out, we will not be seeing dramatic amount of film production, and this seems to be dragging along as well (as we enter the 8th month of the stalemate – it was announced today that SAG is thinking now about taking AMPTP to court for anti-trust violations). But again, even if it was finalized, there is not enough investor money to see the film production level normalize and increase for most, if not all, of 2009. Also, since movies cost around $40 for two (tickets, popcorn, etc) – this is not a recession proof field anymore. During our last significant recession, there were few choices for guilty pleasures to get away from the stress of our times – so many people flocked to the theatres. NOT SO THESE DAYS, one can go to the web, TV, cable (not around in 1974, 1982, 1988 much), Video Games, Netflix, RedBox (movie for a $1). So studios are probably not in any big rush to make films – as people cannot afford this once cheap diversion – better to divert for a few bucks to all the many other sources of guilty pleasures. OKAY, so that didn’t sound like good news…

The good news is that there are some paradigm shifts occurring that make 2010 -2012 look like it might be one of the most prolific times in Hollywood history. Due to technological developments, there are more platforms being developed than ever. The internet is driving millions of new viewers each year. Zillion is going to transform the way we view advertising. For those who don’t know, it has recently been unveiled by the maker of Real Player and the ‘mouse.’ It is a system that makes you watch ads before downloading movies (they already have 14,000 Titles ready for download), TV, other forms of entertainment to your TV Screen. However, the consumer can choose the products they want to see (let’s say you go retail clothing and watch a Macy’s ad and love the jacket; you can immediately click on the ad/jacket and go directly to their website where you can buy it). Also, you earn points by watching the commercials that you can use towards purchases. Furthermore, SONY and others are now selling TVs that wirelessly connect to your computer, so you can download TV/FILMS at anytime from your computer (websites like Hula, Netflix, etc) directly to your TV. In short, technology is making more platforms which will require more content than ever. Also, Cablers are all embracing doing scripted shows, some have up to 5 shows this year… again, more content is needed and thus MORE ACTORS!

BOTTOM LINE: More platforms = more content = more actors! So as long as SAG/AFTRA can protect your rates and jurisdictional issues, there will be more good compensated work than ever in Hollywood by 2010-2012.

There has been a sign of a possible agreement since then just to note. I wouldn’t be surprised if this scares away a large percentage of actors from investing in items such as headshots and workshops. Actually, reading this just makes it sound even more sensible for people like us to create our own work during the downtime.

Wow I was on this set for a long time yesterday. It was for a CBS tv pilot called “The Good Wife”. From what I gathered it had something to with a politician who went to jail for some reason and later in life the wife goes into the world of being a lawyer. I was then reading some info on the Internet and it sounded close enough to what I heard. lol.

My schedule started at 11am and ended at almost 2am the next day. The set wasn’t too bad to work on overall. I met a lot of interesting people too. One note was that one of the person in charge of managing us informed us that this production was very picky/fussy about how things had to be.

Everything from the costume to getting the shots exactly right. They then said because of that the small group of us who were there was specifically hand picked to work on this as this production required definite professional and they wanted to make sure they brought in the right people. That was a cool gesture I thought.

This is the first time where a makeup artist used a spray on makeup on me. Was weird. There were some heated moments I saw where the costume department was being hackled in changing people to certain types of looks from the creative staff. Since the show was being shot for 12+ hours a day non stop they were then complaining that they simply don’t have time nor do they have a large variety of set clothing items.

Again, it was enjoyable overall. I met quite a few aspiring filmmakers too on set which might turn into some possible future work or collaborations. I am booked for another production tomorrow, so let’s see how that one turns out.

One thing about working in film that I have noticed is that when you have been at it for awhile everything seems typical where it is just work. However, for the people around you they seem to get so excited to see someone they know working in say a movie or TV show regardless of how small it is.

I guess most people’s assumption is that if you are say an “actor” that it automatically means you are making say millions for the work that you do or that you are famous to a certain degree. It’s usually not the case though as there are tons of actors that do something else as their main income source and at the same time there are a lot of unknowns.

It’s good to have support though for people who are excited for your career growth. Kind of adds the pressure too though huh? Seems like every time you bump into them they want to know the latest film you were in and if you are a big star yet.