Pursuing an Acting Career: The Financial Struggles of Aspiring Actors

I’m sure you’ve heard how hard becoming an actor (or any professional creative) is. If you don’t grow up in or around the industry, becoming an actor admittedly can seem like this unreachable goal. All I heard growing up was how difficult it was how impossible things like that are… and to an extent it’s true, but not for the reasons you think.

To me, it’s not the actual learning to act that’s hard, or even breaking in to the industry, though that isn’t exactly easy. The most difficult obstacle to overcome in my pursuit of acting was figuring out “How do I pay my bills, and pursue an acting career at the same time?” Try organizing a shoot for your short film around 10 peoples’ work schedules– hell, try having the energy to organize a shoot after working a double-shift at a dead end job.

The Golden Ticket: How Money Plus Free Time Pave the Way to Acting Success

So, who is best set up to pursue an acting career? In my opinion, someone with a trust fund. Plain and simple. I know, you might be thinking “Won’t that make their too life easy? Isn’t art supposed to be about struggle?” Well yes and no. I think if we’re talking about what kind of life leads to producing great art that’s another thing. But if we’re talking about who will have the ideal setup to pursue an acting career, it’s someone who’s bills are taken care of.

Not only is your bandwidth freed up, but so is your time. Rather than having to be somewhere for 5-8 hours, doing something that has nothing to do with your art, you can write a screen play or work on your scene for your acting class. When you have a random idea come to you, you can write it down instead of thinking about it, then forgetting about it because something at work pulls you out of that headspace.

Additionally, let’s look at some of the expenses that go into pursuing an acting career (but similar costs apply to other artistic professions).

• Classes ($200+ per month) – If you’re going to pursue acting as a profession, you’ll most likely need to take classes for at least a few years if not as an ongoing thing (like going to the gym). Very rarely there are people who never took a class in their life, but in my experience, more people than not will need or benefit from taking classes. Prices will vary, but you can probably expect to pay anywhere from $200-500 a month for classes depending on the school.
• Headshots ($200+ every couple of years) – You’re gonna need some headshots. Every time you audition, you’ll submit a headshot or two for the casting director to look at. A headshot session can run you anywhere from $200 upward to thousands of dollars, again, depending on the photographer. However, if you live in an artistic city like LA or New York, you’ll probably be around a bunch of photographers that are trying to make it and will shoot you at a discount (sometimes for free) so they can build their portfolio.
• Gear (varies) – You’ll need some equipment to get your audition tapes in. Half of this stuff you’ll have already, like a smart phone or laptop, but you’ll probably have to pick up a few things, depending on how deep you want to go. If you just want to record tapes for auditions (not necessarily making your own content), then you’ll need a tripod and something to light you. Lately many people have been going with a ring light, but for a more versatile lighting setup, you can get a couple soft lights. You’ll probably also want a basic mic, nothing fancy, but something that will help your phone pick up sound better. For just the basics, you can probably get away with something like $100-$150, but after you’ve done it a while, you find yourself splurging on the higher quality stuff because it just suits your needs better.
  
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  • If you want to make films, you’ll need a bit more. This is where the higher end equipment comes in. Your professional lighting and audio setups, your boom mics, professional camera. The camera alone can run you a few thousand dollars. Honestly, I myself have never looked into professional lighting kits and audio mixers, so I couldn’t tell you what they cost, but it’ll definitely be more than $100.
    
    Oh, and you’ll also need people that know how to to run those things. So you’ll possibly have to hire them, unless you’re a crew of film students/actors and can help each other out for free.

Mind, Body, Performance: Unpacking the Mental State of the Best Actors

What are the qualities that make the best actors? Obviously different people will tell you different things and because it’s art, there will be a lot of answers that are right. In my opinion, it’s someone who’s comfortable experiencing their full range of emotions in front of a camera and a crew. A lot of actors have trouble in the beginning because they’re trying to act and they’re aware people are watching. To use a singing analogy, can you get to a point where you’re almost as comfortable singing in front of people as you are singing in the shower?

Another issue I’ve noticed with actors just starting out is that some can’t connect to certain emotions or have not had the life experiences to understand the different layers of their character and the script. I don’t really know how to “solve” this, other than going out and having more life experiences. Therapy is something that a lot of actors use as well. It can help you process things you might not have even realized were affecting you and it can help you understand why you have certain behavioral patterns. The better you understand yourself and human nature in general, the better off you’ll be.

Meditation, mindfulness, and odd enough Alan Watts Chillstep mixes on YouTube are a concoction that definitely helped me. I can’t pinpoint a cause and effect, but mixing concepts from eastern philosophies in with the western culture I grew up in, definitely made me more comfortable not just onstage, but in life.

All that said, at the end of the day, I think people who love acting make the best actors. Just for the fact that they’ll keep coming back. It can be difficult in the beginning and if you’re not “good” right away, some people can get discouraged.

I sucked when I was just starting out, more than most people. I didn’t know how to be a person offstage let along on stage. But, I enjoyed it, so I kept coming back. And I would get better and better with each session of classes I took. Eventually I got to a point where I was comfortable, and that made me a better actor.

Final Thoughts on Pursuing a Career in Acting

So, should you do it? Should you pursue your passion? If you have something inside you that is pulling you toward it, then I say yes. Take a class, find out if you like it first, then you can decide. You might like the idea of being an actor, but you might not actually like acting. And if you don’t like acting, you probably shouldn’t try and do it professionally. A lot of people don’t pay their the bills acting, but it’s still like a full time job to them. So if you’re willing to do everything it takes and make no money, the by all means…

As much as I regret being behind a lot of my friends financially, I do not regret the personal growth I’ve experienced as a result of having pursued acting. It might sound a little weird, but one of the ways I look at it is, “have I built myself into a person I’d want to have a conversation with?” And for me the answer is “yes.” I’ve come across a lot of people that– and I don’t mean this as a judgmental thing– but, they don’t seem to have anything about themselves that lights them up and they don’t seem to have much to talk about.

So, I consider myself lucky in that way and I have acting to thank for much of that.