hello welcome to organic acting and this is the truth about the acting industry
okay i'm gonna try and be as honest as i can as open as i can
obviously this is my subjective opinion but hopefully i'm gonna give you some truths that
some other people might not tell you or you might have not realized and you need to know
these things before you come into the acting industry the first one is training no one cares
what i mean is when i came out of drama school i thought that because i because i trained and
because i had my equity card and spotlight and all this jazz that i had a big acting badge on my coat
and you know i'm an actor now and everyone's gonna bow down before me doesn't work like that yes it's
important to be on a cast in site like spotlight in england to have your equity card but i don't
remember one audition where a casting director or a director asked me if i'd been to drama school or
looked to my cv and went oh you you went you went to east 15 oh what's a good drama school isn't it
people don't care they really don't care and i know a lot of other people who didn't go to drama
school when are working in the industry it is more important to have networked and to have experience
and yes to have an agent and to be on spotlight have an equity card in terms of going to drama
school don't expect that to open up doors for you networking you need to network if you don't
network you're invisible that means going to see shows meeting directors meeting producers going
to after show parties i laugh at that because that's that's the kind of stuff you need to do
you need to put yourself out there um it's it's it's a strange kind of self-indulgent
um round-nose kind of kind of system that you you have to put yourself through if you don't
network if people don't know who you are don't know you're there you're invisible again using
my own experience when i was 22 and i came out of drama school i thought the phone was going to ring
the people would be ringing me up to invite me to auditions giving me parts
it doesn't work like that now you you are your own business you have to be networking
sending out letters going to these shows meeting people you've got to network or you're invisible
auditions and silence going to audition and not getting the part is bad it's terrible but it's
something you've got to get used to something else which is a lot harder to get used to is going to
an audition being prepared feeling that you're great for the part feeling that you've nailed it
going home and then never hearing back ever again it's the whole don't call us we'll call you and
that silence that indifference is something that is very difficult to get used to and
come to terms with if you don't get the part and no one tells you why you don't get any feedback
all you can do is start to turn the spotlight on yourself and say oh maybe i did something wrong
maybe i'm not good enough you know maybe maybe maybe i shouldn't be an actor and you need to get
used to that the the acting industry isn't necessarily malicious or unkind it is just
indifferent a lot of casting directors don't have the time to get back to you even with a simple yes
or no you know never mind a page review of how you did so get used to auditions and silence
mail outs so you need to be mailing out at least once a month to casting directors
directors people on tv you've seen their shows maybe you found the casting director if you tell a
favorite television series you need to be sending out emails if they don't take emails sending out
hard copies of your photograph and your cv and introducing yourself and saying i really enjoyed
this show that you did in the theater or this this this um uh this this television series um i'd just
like to introduce myself and say i'm available for work or maybe we can go out for a cup of tea
this is part of the networking that i mentioned earlier you need to be doing this
regularly are you ready to be sending out multiple emails and i do mean multiple
are you ready to go out and buy reams of paper reams of envelopes get your hard copies of your
10 by eights all these things cost money of course just get used to the fact that it's part of your
networking you need to be mailing out work when you're working fantastic great the the sun is
shining it's a summer's day in the acting world you are doing what you're supposed to be doing
you're working and you're getting paid hopefully what happens next when you're working don't forget
you need to be planning what you are doing next do you have an acting job lined up do you
have some touring lined up do you have something that's going to keep you um in a wage and keep you
paying the bills if not do you have another job that you can go to is this something that's going
to support you so don't rest on your laurels when you're working think about what's gonna happen in
two weeks four weeks six weeks when it finishes we've spoken about being in work but being
out of work being out of work as an actor is a horrible horrible feeling you feel useless no
matter what you do you can't get a job and again there's no one to help you no one to really say
what the issue is um hopefully you've got a good support network with other actors
but you know it can be one of those horrible situations where you're turning the spotlight
on yourself again and saying maybe it's me maybe maybe i'm not good enough are you prepared
emotionally and psychologically to be out of work as an actor you will meet some amazing people you
will work on jobs for four to six weeks perhaps and you'll build a family you'll find some best
friends then when the show's over you say goodbye and that's the end of your family and you might
see these people again in you know a few months maybe a few years maybe 10 years down the line
you'll stay in contact perhaps maybe you go and see each other maybe you'll bump into each
other in audition some people you may never ever see again it's one of the hardest things
about acting you make these great friendships and then they just dissolve at the end of the project
you've got to be prepared for that keep some other interests acting is fantastic it can be your
passion there's nothing wrong with that but don't forget to have some other strings to your bow
when you're out of work when things aren't working for you what else do you have in your life do
you have other interests do you have another job another source of income don't forget your family
friends don't let the negative side of acting kill you inside can you can you just leave it
away for a while put it in a box and remember that life does exist beyond the acting world
don't let negative side of acting kill you money so income expenditure
are you good with your money yeah you might have just made 10 000 pounds on a commercial
what about for the next couple of years when you might be out of work and there's no commercials
can you save that money can you spend just what you need and put a little more aside
um what do you need to spend money on your expenditure your photos
your mail apps travel to auditions think about what you need to spend money on food
food don't forget food food for that for that week for the rest of the month paying your rent all
this expenditure and then you have to think about tax anything that you've you've any income has got
to be taxed at the end of the tax year you need to give the the tax man 20 or whatever it is nowadays
so just be aware that any income you have there has to be a percentage of that's going to go to
the tax man are you good with your facts your figures your income your expenditure
sacrifices this links to my previous point there are some things you are going to have to sacrifice
as an actor if you need money for traveling to an audition you perhaps can't go out and buy
your favorite pair of nike trainers some things you've got to sacrifice you've got to suffer for
your art your acting needs to come first in a lot of ways financially so you're gonna have
to make sacrifices are you prepared for that what about your hair what about your facial hair what
about your body your weight your your size your shape if you have a headshot which looks like you
that is selling your look to casting directors and agents and directors so if you let's say
let's say me if i have my headshot that looks like this and then i decide to shave my beard
and grow my hair out maybe dye orange i'm no longer going to look like my headshot
so you've got to realize that you need to look like your photo consistently
casting directors hate it when they have a photograph of this this actor and a completely
different actor walks in who doesn't look like this photo who's supposed to look like this photo
so you have to keep the way you're looking keep the hair the same your facial hair the same uh
if you lose a lot of weight or gain weight you're gonna have to have new headshots taken so are you
prepared for that side of the industry and finally yes you might be out of work for periods yes money
might be tight yes you might go to auditions and never hear anything back yes you might have to
spend money on headshots on travel yes you might have to keep your appearance the same all the time
but you get to experience you get to experience an industry that is so unique
no two days are the same when it comes to performing you might get to perform on a
stage one day you might get to perform open air at a in a park or a wedding the next week you might
be traveling across the country you might be going to places you've never been before you might get
to meet people you've never met before think about all those people who never get to experience that
you have to go into an office five days a week and sit at the same desk until they retire
they never get to experience being an actor that's worth its weight in gold is it not
that's something to treasure that's something to relish so yes there are some bad negative
i've tried not to be too negative but there are some things you need to realize about acting
which you know are hard to come to terms with but there are some great rewards with acting as well
that's what i'm trying to tell you if you can take the hard times on the chin you will be rewarded
with your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow i've been chris and i will see you next time if
you've enjoyed this video be sure to like comment subscribe are you an actor have you had some hard
times what have you had to face in the industry let me know down below i'll see you soon bye bye