Working in the Performing Arts Industry
Working in the Performing Arts Industry
My end goal is to become an actor. Ideally an actor like Angelina Jolie, Julie Roberts, Emma Watson, Scarlett Johansson etc etc. The kind of actor who's name you know, who made it big and is recognised, but who wont have to worry quite so much about the crazy stalkers and paparazzi frenzy. However, acting is an incredibly hard industry to get into if you rely solely on your acting abilities. That's why I want to also go into directing as my secondary choice and have other skills (singing, dancing, producing, hair and makeup application, SFX application and operation, and limited camera and lighting/sound operation) to fall back on when the acting gets too busy or isn't suitable for me. My location is also pretty terrible...After contacting agents, agencies and exploring job opportunities. Gloucestershire may be a great place for location scouting, but its not good for representation. Gloucester falls between the boundaries of Manchester, London and Bristol, which are the most popular places for agents/agencies to base themselves. Agencies (as I seem to be finding out...) require some kind of upfront fee, whether that's a sign-up fee, loyalty fee or portfolio fee, they usually request money from you, and that can be anything from £45 (one agency's website fee) to £1500 (a portfolio creation fee). Whichever way you look at it, THIS IS WRONG!!! An agency or agent is supposed to find jobs for you to complete and then take a percentage (or commission) of your pay. That's how it works. If any upfront cost is given, what's that agencies incentive to find you jobs? You've already given them money... Agents however seem to be much better at not requesting any upfront costs to represent you, but they are located around the hot-spot cities (London mostly, but also Manchester and Bristol), and you can either apply online for them to represent you, or invite them to see you perform (which is what the final performance is for at Uni and College). But the closest hot-spot city to Gloucester is 35 miles away, 70+ round journey. That's a lot of petrol and time spent on a possibility, so the likelihood of an agent making that trip with no compensation is slim.
So overall, the odds are pretty stacked against me becoming an actor, and that's without considering all the other wannabe actors out there, and the roles we are all competing for. Sometimes, you could be the best actor in the room, blowing everyone away with your talent...but if the casting director needs a 5ft 7inch actor and your only 5ft 4inchs, you're not getting that role because you don't meet the insanely specific job criteria's...Acting is the only job in the world (and modelling but that's another fight) where they will actively judge you based on your looks, and will reject and dismiss you based on your appearance. Harsh and cruel...but necessary.
The next challenge I face? My health...Being a performer with Fibromyalgia and Endometriosis means that I have to be careful not to push my body too far out of its safe zone, or else I risk a flare-up which could leave me bed-ridden for days and unable to function normally for months....but everyone knows the industry is tough and unfortunately, the health of cast and crew is usually pushed back as other 'more important' things take over (e.g. deadlines, budgets, missing characters etc). Muscular-skeletal problems are one of the biggest issues that performers face, because of the rigorous schedules and intense workload, as well as vocal problems such as Larynx and vocal cord strain occurring frequently in actors and singers. Mental health problems are also incredibly common in performers, due to the stressful nature of the work (unstable jobs, long hours/days, financial stress, performance pressure and emotion memory can be huge stress and anxiety triggers). Eating disorders and addiction are also common conditions to develop as pressures increase to become a character or complete a job.
But will I be able to make a living out of this? Long term? The performing arts is constantly changing, largely in part to the evolving technology that we have access too. AI especially is doing a great job at replacing people when it comes to fact checking papers, so will there reach a point where AI is writing the scripts for us? Editing the videos post production? Finding locations instead of scouts? AI has the potential to erase the majority of the people needed in a production team, which in turn cuts job opportunities in the industry. And it is. In 2022, its estimated that 283,000 people were employed in the performing and visual arts sectors in the UK. In 2024, that number dropped to 210,000. Many things could have influenced this; covid-19 ripple effects, economy issues, less ideas to be made...but one of the big factors was the use of AI over people. That's why keeping up with industry trends is so important, because if you fall behind even a little bit, you'll be replaced by a computer who will do your job much faster than you, and for free. Keeping up with those trends means you can get a job servicing the AI machines!
So how am I going to do it? Well to start off I need a showreel, headshots and portfolio as well as a CV. Having these means that I can give any future employer any information about me that they may need, as well as a demonstration of previous work. Having an updated website and social medias is really important as well, especially in todays technical age. A lot of jobs happen because of the networking those artists do. If a film has a small budget, a producer wont want to waste money going through the audition and hiring process's. They just want cast and crew, now. So they employ people they've worked with before (or who's work they've seen before), and those people recommend people they've worked with before. Eventually, you have an entire crew without having to look hard at all.
Once I've got these under my belt, ill start getting exposure. An example of me already doing this, is with the HN Media department at college. For their end of year project, they needed an actor. I had worked with one of the students (Dom) and the technician (Harvey) before of previous projects and so Harvey recommended me as the actor they could use. They contacted me, I agreed, and now we have almost completed the project, which is of much higher standard than anything the course has produced before and will (hopefully) be submitted to film festivals. Once its submitted to festivals, more people will see it, and a previous project I had done (The lost maze- Clockmagic films) gained widespread exposure doing exactly that!
Lets hope it'll be 2 for 2!
https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/contribution-of-the-arts-to-society-and-the-economy/