Challenges working in the industry:
An Actor, Dancer and make-up artist discuss the performing arts industry
Risks to physical health as a make-up artist includes catching colds and sickness easier, as a make-up artist you work close to actor/client for several hours usually. I could reduce risk of getting sickness by making sure there are windows open, increased handwashing/sanitisation and increased sanitisation of the area. As a make-up artist the role requires me to be hunched over when stood to apply make-up, this can be for several hours, this could result in back pain. To reduce risk of this, it will be vital to exercise the area, stretches, perhaps yoga and if there is a chair, I can move to height so that I am directly facing the client. As well as the physical risks, it is important to look after well-being. Negative comments of work could impact self-esteem, for me personally my anxiety could impact how I work so I make sure I reduce that feeling by keeping organized, talking to friends and family, keeping up with mindful art and reducing my caffeine intake.
It is important to feel safe and respected in the work place so if anything arises that makes me feel uncomfortable I will make sure I know who talk to in the team (HR). I also think joining a union such as BECTU (non performance roles) would be beneficial in this area as they, support you, they have help for legal and finance as well as helping with negotiating pay and conditions with the company you work for, You can also get training and go to networking events and they can help you with opportunities. This is especially important if I am doing freelance work.
When I start taking on paid jobs it is important I look out for myself and client by making sure I have insurance (Salon and self-employed makeup artist). Being self-employed means also needing to register with the HMRC or set up a limited company for tax reasons.
A part of the industry I am becoming more and more aware of is the sexism, I had been reading an article online about a female professional make-up artist of 20 years talking about all the sexism she has faced and seen, this includes, less pay than men (data from huge cosmetic brands) for example, L’Oreal Paris has a gender pay gap of 9.9%, seeing a male professional make-up artist of one week and the least experience getting promoted (she was in a 8 person team, only one male). She says this happened often. As I continued reading I saw that they are Australian statistics but I was still shocked reading all the data and you can find UK statistics of the gender pay gap of companies on the government website but only if the company has more than 250 employees that it has to do this. According to the government website they define 'The gender pay gap' as an equality measure showing differences in pay between men and women. The information I have read about this has definitely made me feel more aware.
How is AI going to affect my career in the Make-up industry? Initially thinking about this I could see positives and negatives; I think it could help with creating mood boards and making working a little bit quicker but how accurate is it going to be? A negative for me personally is it is making the whole process slightly less creative because it can conjure up any kind of image you ask it to. I read on a website where they made a survey asking 46,384 make-up professionals their thoughts on AI and I found it interesting because 29.6% (over 32,000) said they did feel concern about it, knowing that I also share that concern, I do think I need to see how it could be used positively in this career.
As I make my way into the industry it is important for me to build up a portfolio of work to show off to future employers. I am going to do this by including my website in my CV which includes all my experience, with photos, videos and positive reviews. I will update my website often and keep it organised and have professional contact details advertised clearly. As well as making my website, I will create professional social media counts (such as Instagram) to post videos and photos, try and create a following, clientele and advertise my work. Social Media can be a great positive but its downside is negative comments which can impact mental health, I will try and keep the negative comments away either by deleting the comment or seeing if can ban them from commenting on the app as some already automatically do get rid of them if there are certain words used.
Useful employment sites:
https://www.disneyonstage.co.uk/career-opportunities
https://careers.rsc.org.uk/jobs/vacancy/find/results/
https://www.productionbase.co.uk/
As well as checking the main sites such as production base and the stage, I do think going directly to theatres and TV websites career page, can be as effective because when I have researched jobs specifically in theatre I normally do go straight to the website.
There are many different avenues and jobs to choose as a make-up artist, some requiring specific skills. Some jobs require a make-up artist to be able to work with hair and wigs, I have seen jobs advertised before for a specific role called wigs, hair and make up (WHAM Deputy/assistant) usually for theatre and that may mean taking other courses and getting the skill to say yes I can do it as well as make-up and this increases my chances. Even if a job didn’t require it, I think it would still help me overall and make me stand out better. The level I am at now I would need to look for either trainee work or assistant work and work my way up as I get more experience. I can find these jobs through websites stated above and keeping contact with professionals I have already worked with as well as mentioning on my website, all of this is going to boost my chances and give me the best chance finding work.
There are skills I don’t have now that I do need to gain and work on which includes working with hair, wigs, ageing and working with latex. A couple of these I have already started working on such as the hair, ageing and latex but I know I need to get more experience working with them and even trying different brands because there are going to be many scenarios where I need to bring my own case of products to set and I want to have the best products to get the best possible result.
My goals for myself short term include getting even more confident creating an ageing look and using latex in different ways, preferably to have this ticked off by the end of the summer. I have had conversations about helping create sfx looks for a movie which is going to help me with this specific skill. I would like to be more confident working with hair so just making sure with directors if they would like me to do that for any actors in any future projects so that I get that experience. And depending on which path I go, learning and going on course to create wigs so that I have more doors open. Mainly looking for more opportunities that I can add to my CV and website. I will continue looking at jobs advertised and seeing what they require from a make-up assistant so I can know if there is any other skills I need to learn.
Websites and articles used for research:
https://gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk/
https://online.professionalbeautydirect.co.uk/blog/how-to-become-a-makeup-artist
https://amp.nine.com.au/article/feb13d30-e535-4a14-95ce-c66f23efb628
https://professionalbeauty.co.uk/site/newsdetails/nearly-30-of-make-up-artists-concerned-about-ai