
Only 2% of actors make a living. How do you become one of them? - adrian_mrd
https://www.theguardian.com/film/shortcuts/2019/jun/05/only-2-per-cent-of-actors-make-a-living-how-do-you-become-one-of-them
======
mattzito
I actually went to a prominent theater school for acting before switching
careers to tech. My school, unlike many, emphasized that unless you want to
treat acting like a lottery ticket you are responsible for your own success.

Their general philosophy was:

\- take everything seriously. Be 15 minutes early for everything, learn your
lines, be a professional no matter how trivial or vacuous the role. Directors
and producers remember people like this and want to work with them again.

\- audition, audition, audition. Accept the odds are low and follow the above
rules anyway.

\- if no one is hiring you, create your own work. Start a theater company, do
improv, teach children’s theater.

They took this to the degree that if you did a third year Of study there, your
major project was to start your own theater company and mount two productions
during the year - they had classes in marketing, business and legal issues,
how to approach agents, etc.

The overarching message throughout all this is that it takes the typical actor
10 years to support themselves on their craft. For both men and women there is
a steep drop off in employability around 35-38, for men it rebounds in your
late 40s, for women, it never really does. So you need to have your act
together before then.

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hyper_reality
Another reminder that the advice doled out to teens to "follow your passion"
when selecting a major and a future career, is rather irresponsible. Cal
Newport's "So Good They Can't Ignore You" is a great read on this topic:
[https://commoncog.com/blog/so-good-they-cant-ignore-
you/](https://commoncog.com/blog/so-good-they-cant-ignore-you/)

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ck425
This is why I entered tech first. I love acting and want to go drama school
but after graduating a top uni with a Compsci degree it made far more sense to
spend ~10 years working as an engineer first. I can save a ton, get into a
good financial position with investments and learn the skills to get well paid
flexible work (tech & agile/operations consulting). After that I go to drama
school in my mid/late 30s, when it's easier to get in and to get gigs, due to
less competition my age (most folk have either given up or gone onto bigger
roles by that age).

It'll still be tough but if you don't need to worry so much about money and
you have other skills to base self esteem on it'll be so much easier.

~~~
pm90
Your acting skills might make you stand out as a very effective communicator
in the world of Tech.

It sounds like a good strategy, although I have to ask if being unemployed,
struggling with what comes of that and having to interact with a whole bunch
of people (while employed in part time gigs like restaurant etc.) is part of
what makes actors great. They hone their skills through exposure to the wide
swathes of humanity that you may not see while being gainfully employed in a
nice software engineering job.

~~~
ck425
They do actually. It's part of why I also specialize in agile/operations
stuff.

You have a point. Tbh I might consider doing some of that work just for the
experience, but I've also done a few odd jobs in the past that involve that
sort of thing. Also doing amateur theatre exposes you to a ton of random folk
outside of the tech bubble.

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yellow_lead
This article doesn't offer much advice other than "be tough and don't be
late." Seems to be clickbait.

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hhs
This piece cites a paper where researchers used IMDb as their database. Folks
at HN have expressed concern with the quality of this information [0] [1].
Still, assuming the database has some validity, one point from the research
paper is interesting:

"The first message that emerges from our quantitative analysis is that one-hit
wonders, i.e., actors whose career spans only a single year, are the norm
rather than the exception. Long career lengths and high activity are found to
be exponentially rare, suggesting a scarcity of resources in the acting world.
These results are in agreement with previously collected evidence, pointing to
the fact that unemployment rates in actors hover around 90%, and that as low
as 2% of actors are able to make a living out of acting".

[0]:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20099023](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20099023)

[1]:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20128467](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20128467)

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stupidcar
The comedy TV show Party Down, about a group of struggling actors working a
side-gig as caterers, provides a good insight into the mindset required to
have a chance at "making it" in Hollywood.

Its message seemed to be that, yes, you have virtually no chance of success,
but accepting that fact means you have _no_ chance of success. To have a
chance, you have to willingly accept a degree of self-delusion, and have a
support system of fellow wannabes who'll back up this self-delusion, as you
back up theirs.

~~~
leovander
Are we having fun yet?

What a great show.

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nelsonic
Could it be that the way to become one of the 2% is to just follow Steve
Martin's advice: "Be So Good They Can't Ignore You"? 98% of people only
_kinda_ want it and the 2% who get it are the ones who put in the work to be
remarkable. Those who don't make it in _any_ field attribute the success of
the few who do succeed to "luck". Luck (right place, right time and right
skills - or looks in the case of acting) is definitely a factor in being able
to do the work you love, but its absolutely not the only factor. Craftsmanship
is the key; working _really_ hard to be great at what you do.

The advice at the end of this article is good advice for everyone; not just
aspiring actors:

“It’s not fair, and don’t be late”. Be punctual.

But the author has excluded the most important advice that Nick Offerman
offered in his book which is: show up _early_ , work really hard and be
_known_ for both these things.

~~~
ck425
That's definitely a factor, but I'd say acting has proportionately more luck
involved that most professions. If you don't fit the looks that are in at the
time the only real thing you can do is write your own roles. But that requires
being an excellent actor and an excellent writer.

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pmoriarty
One of the things that can be done about this is to increase funding for the
arts and arts education.

~~~
goto11
Wouldn't that just create even more actors who can't make a living?

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HNLurker2
Do playwrights and you'll be called an actor. Do it in your free time?

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ykevinator
I think honestly the answer is luck.

