Archived

Breaking the Bank for a Big Break

Trying to launch my acting career is turning out to be more expensive than I could have imagined.

  bjj208@nyu.edu

My debut as an actor came at the age of five as a flying monkey in “The Wizard of Oz.” After that, I was hooked. When college rolled around, I left my hometown of Rapid City, South Dakota to study theater at the renowned Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

I realized early on that the profession was riddled with cutthroat competition and constant rejection. But now, four years later and on the brink of graduation, I’m beginning to discover another hardship I never considered: just how expensive it is to get started in a profession that doesn’t exactly guarantee you’ll make big bucks.

First, there’s the biggest expense: College tuition. Suffice it to say I’ll be paying back student loans for the next 20 or 30 years. But at least I knew that was coming. What I hadn’t planned on were all these other costs that I’m encountering on a daily basis as I try to launch my career.

Let’s begin with headshots, which everyone knows are absolutely essential. I track down a photographer who’s supposed to be the most under-priced in the city. We talk rates. His usual price: $550. Oh, you’re my friend’s student? Make that $500. Willing to pay cash? Knock it down to $450. Rock bottom.

Actually, it is quite a bargain. Friends have paid anywhere from $800 to $1300, and with mine, I’m getting extras: makeup, proofs, and retouching. I have my photo shoot and select a picture that makes me look youthful, vivacious, handsome, warm, funny, and intriguing all at the same time. The photographer has no problem making those few zits vanish and those tiny wrinkles around my eyes disappear. Awesome.

But wait a minute! I still have to get prints. The photographer recommends a printing company that turns out to be cheaper than the one my friends used – wow, an honest, helpful guy in the midst of the big city. Headshots are 50 prints for $75. That’s per image. And, as my acting teacher advised, I need two pictures, one for commercials and another for features. With tax, it comes to $162.56.

So, now I’m all set. I sit back and wait for my first audition. For some reason, my phone doesn’t ring. What? You mean people aren’t banging down my door? I have to find the auditions myself? Yup. Time to subscribe to the industry’s top weekly paper. In addition to industry news, it lists the all-important open call auditions. Full subscription also includes access to an index of agents and managers. As with any publication, the longer your subscription, the better the deal, so one year it is. That’ll be $195.00 please.

Great. So, now I’m ready. I’ve got my training, my beautiful – and artfully retouched – headshots, and my auditions. But, wait. What’s this? For this audition, it says to show up camera-ready. Huh? A makeup artist tells me casting directors expect you to come in looking perfect. In other words, you need to wear enough makeup to even out your skin and leave you looking radiant, youthful, and bright.

So I head to a cosmetic company whose products are favored by the industry. The salesperson recommends a combination foundation and powder that will provide velvety, matte finish. The thing is, it washes me out. So I need to buy some bronzer as well to maintain some color. Add to that a blotting powder, and I’m set. Three products. $68.28. I walk out the door without even glancing at the professional brushes I should probably buy to apply the stuff. I don’t think my bank account could handle it.

Ca-ching. Ca-ching. The costs keep adding up: A haircut to look decent for the audition: $50. My own promotional website: a measly $9 a year. The webmaster to design it, though: $300. Those makeup brushes, bought cheaper from a drugstore: $17. Styling products. Clothes for auditions. Postcards and business cards to give agents. Infinite postage to send out headshots, resumes, and postcards. It seems like it will never end.

But, at long last, I must be ready. Oh no! What now? I discover the most successful actors have an inside track to casting directors – those behind-the-scenes gatekeepers who make or break an actor’s career. According to a career management expert, most casting directors supplement their income by teaching “workshops.” You pay $30 or $40 to spend a few hours in a room with the casting director and a bunch of other actors. You get to both workshop material and familiarize the casting director with your work. They’re always looking for new talent, and these sessions can lead to auditions. A former director and producer of a well-known soap opera says many daytime actors land auditions this way. And when it comes to acting, you can’t do much better than a contract part on a soap, where pay sometimes exceeds $5,000 a day. Suddenly, paying $50 for a shot doesn’t seem so bad.

But, hey, maybe that’s the way I should be looking at all these expenses. Rather than considering it spending, maybe I should consider it investing, with an eye on what payoff they’ll have for my career. Or, then again, maybe that’s just what I’ll tell myself to keep from crying as I contemplate my empty wallet and the bills from my maxed-out credit cards.

Home | Using Livewire Articles | Contributors | Submissions | Contact Us