<p>Momcares, I don’t think that that should ever be a worry. The goal in this business is to book good work. A national tour is excellent work. You’re working! It’s not only a worthwhile use of a year, it’s an excellent use of a year because you are getting professional experience, making new connections, adding to your resume, and earning good money. Would it be better to be sitting in NYC, or Chicago, or L.A., waiting tables and standing in line at open calls? Not at all.</p>
<p>In my opinion, a tour or two for young actors is an amazing experience. It is entirely different than being in a production for a similar amount of time in one theatre, in one city. Another anecdote. We have known many, many actors who have toured in both Equity and non-Equity tours. Often, one or more of them have had to fly back to NYC for an audition. It can be done, relatively easily, and isn’t unusual. After all, this is the life for these kids. They will ALWAYS be looking for a job, even when they have one.</p>
<p>@alwaysamom - Thanks so much for sharing you post-grad experience. It is hard for our kids to know what that world will be like until they get there, and hard for us parents to council our kids on a world so removed from our own, so it is really great to hear your perspective.</p>
@alwaysamom - This is a bit of a crossover from the Showcase thread, but the question of what constitutes “good” work is one where my lack of knowledge of the business is apparent. I realize that in general work is better than no work, and any paid MT work is hard to come by. Still, I know D has turned down work before… usually because it directly conflicted with another project, but at least once because she felt she would find a more productive use of her time (she did). And we all know of projects where the non-eq pay would barely cover travel expenses, let alone cost of living, and others where no real learning or networking is apt to happen.</p>
<p>I know from watching film careers that some actors seem to get “stuck” making bad movies, while others seem consistently to land in good projects - and the difference isn’t always related to budget. I’ve had some older MT friends warn D that some MTs seem to get “stuck” doing non-equity tours and cruises forever. And if you commit to a year on a non-eq tour do you miss better opportunities, or will those find you wherever you are working?</p>
<p>Do we think actors with golden careers usually make better choices, or is it just that they are offered better choices?</p>
<p>MomCares - there is no correct order or guarantee for anything you’re looking at in terms of your daughter’s career. Unless you have a crystal ball, there is usually no way to know what will or won’t work, what is a good or bad choice, etc. </p>
<p>Here’s an example of Who Knows? At an Equity audition my daughter met a girl from the midwest who booked a Broadway show. It was a good part (ensemble with a few lines) and she packed up, signed a lease, and moved to NY. The day she moved in - the show closed! Seemed like a great opportunity, but wasn’t. She is now in NY living in an apartment she can’t afford because she has no job, doesn’t know any of the CDs, she might have an agent, I can’t remember. But the point is you can’t predict the future or know what’s best in this business.</p>
<p>Another example of this is Matthew Mcconaughey, guy made romcoms for years, was the cute guy, etc. Suddenly he makes Dallas Buyers Club and he’s got an Academy Award. (BTW, I thought he was okay in the part, but FOR HIM, he was fantastic. Tom Hanks did this part years ago and was better, as would have Dustin Hoffman in his day.) I guess because he was so far outside his typical role he was noticed. Did he plan to make mediocre but pleasurable movies for 20 years and then switch it up? I can’t imagine he even thought about that in the past, he was famous, he paid his rent. Plus he just did that HBO or Showtime series which was also highly reviewed. BOOM! Goodbye romcoms. </p>
<p>Don’t even start with woman, there’s no way to know what might pop up as they age. Do you wait for the best opportunity? You might be waiting years. If you’re busy working and something better comes up, it will come up again in a slightly different form. Don’t look for a formula in this business, there is none. All you can do is keep plugging along.</p>
<p>Momcares, the reality is that there aren’t many actors who can pick and choose what opportunities they are going to take. As I’ve said many times on these forums, the vast majority of actors are unable to earn a good living solely from theatre work. Being choosy about whether or not to audition for a non-Equity tour or a cruise gig is a mistake for any new grad, in my opinion. Hold out for ‘something better’, and you may be holding out for years.</p>
<p>AMTC’s story about the girl moving to NY for a Broadway show only to have it close isn’t all that uncommon. I happen to know several actors who have had that happen, and probably even more who left a production for another one, with the new one closing shortly thereafter. One young actor who comes to mind, and I may have given this example already here on CC. He booked an Equity tour when he was 19, went on to the same show on Broadway where he stayed for years, eventually wanting something new. As with most actors in Broadway shows, they continue to audition and he was cast in a new show, quit the long-running show, and darned if that new show didn’t close in about three weeks. Now, he’s actually not the perfect example, because he went on to other shows, married a girl who he met in his first show, she had great success, won a Tony, moved to TV, both moved to L.A., her show cancelled, they got a divorce, and now he’s in L.A. playing gigs in small clubs and bars and occasionally taking a very small role in procedural tv series. Just an example of how you never know what this crazy business is going to bring.</p>
<p>Thanks! We also know several kids with similar stories involving big moves to NY for Broadway roles that were short-lived and followed by a long work drought, as well as kids who committed to NY leases only to land long term out-of-town contracts, so I realize there is no formula for success.</p>
<p>I guess I’m thinking of those rare moments when young actors have choices before they are well equipped to know the pros and cons… but I should probably concern myself more with the reality that most often there will be no work rather than confusing options. :)</p>
<p>@MomCares - There is no right or wrong decision in booking gigs. I often tell young people who seek my advice on theater degrees to go to the school that is cheapest if they can’t get into one of the Top 20 or so. One of the main reasons is that it is easier to take “Career Building” work if you don’t have student loans.</p>
<p>I can tell you from personal experience - I have been on the bad end of many casting decisions as an actor. I passed up a low-pay opportunity to do a workshop for a high-pay supporting role in a summer stock - my summer stock contract was three months, the workshop ended up moving up, up, up all the way to Broadway with most of the workshop cast staying with it. That contract, on and off early on, would have been years had I not passed on it (and been asked to continue). But I was in the position that I had to make the best financial decision. Truth be told, I probably would still be acting (more at least) if I didn’t have to worry about consistent money. </p>
<p>The other thing to remember is that each project will allow you to make connections, no matter how low-paying it is. Almost every Director/Choreographer that I hire is someone I have crossed paths with during my career. Many of my AEA Actors are, too. Also - remember that most Producers are no tyrants. I have been involved with MANY productions where producers let actors break contract to pursue a better lead. I acted in a project where the LEAD (in a major star vehicle) left mid-week, mid-run, to take an emergency replacement contract in West Side Story on Broadway. The producer was very supportive. </p>
<p>Lastly - most Non-Eq tours are cast through one of the major agencies, too. Bob Cline, Dewey, etc. Best way to get a Casting Director to notice your work is to work for them! I tell young actors NEVER TURN DOWN WORK FROM A CD - unless you have something MUCH better. There are very few second chances to say yes in the theater world.</p>
<p>Unless you are very well established with multiple offers on an ongoing basis, I think it usually makes sense to take a performance job if offered it. The thing with this line of work is that the job offers do not all come at one time (unlike college admissions or unlike a recent grad in another field who is doing a job search). You just never know what will or won’t come around the next corner. My daughter usually accepts what is offered. I can think of just a couple of things she has ever turned down. Another thing…if you really don’t want to be on a non-Equity tour, for example, for a year, just don’t audition for that. Only audition for things you have some remote interest in doing. But if offered something, I’d hesitate to turn it down other than for a very good reason because you have no way of knowing if anything else will come along soon, or if something better is around the corner, or not. Each performance job builds the resume, experience, contacts, etc. </p>
@TheatreHiringCo and @soozievt - you have no idea how helpful your insight is to someone who knows as little about this as I do. Are all casting agencies and non-eq tours somewhat equal, or are there some with iffy reputations? If so, where would one get a feel for that?</p>
<p>
Does this also apply if you are invited to audition for something by a prior contact? It seems it could be awkward to decline to audition even if you weren’t sure you were interested? Also - it seems it would be hard to know if you are interested until you saw the specifics of a contract?</p>
<p>I guess all of this matters less for short-duration contracts, but for a year long gig I can imagine it might. The current theatre work world feels very alien to me, in spite of being in it many years ago.</p>
<p>I have to agree with Soozievt. If you are not interested in a show, you should decline the audition. If you are lukewarm about it, I’d recommend doing a bit of research beforehand about the show, the director, and the theatre to see if you would be more interested. Yes, this would certainly apply to an invitation; many auditions are by invitation. If you are invited to audition, you can take a moment to evaluate the role/theatre/director/venue before responding.</p>
<p>It’s generally not a good idea to decline the work once you get it unless you have a compelling reason to do so. If the pay is extremely poor, for instance, much worse than you were led to believe (although many shows are open to negotiation). You do not want to get a reputation for turning down work after putting people through the trouble of recommending you and considering you, only to have you, at the end say, “Nevermind, I’m not interested”–people will stop asking you to audition. And as TheatreHiringCo alludes, a lot is based on reputation.</p>
<p>I also agree with TheatreHiringCo about breaking contracts. People often will break contract if another clearly better opportunity comes up, and very frequently, directors and producers are supportive. It is done all the time. Of course, you have to be upfront and courteous about it, and ask their permission, and the opportunity has to be genuinely clearly better. (Like, you can’t break contract because you realized you wanted to go on a month long vacation with your boyfriend instead.) But breaking contract to go to a clearly better offer is done all the time. </p>
It seems so odd to have an industry where it’s not ok to decline a job offer, since you can’t know the particulars of any job until seeing the actual contract, but I do understand your points. The jobs D has turned down in the past either resulted from General auditions, where she couldn’t know details of the contract until a specific offer came (summer stock) or an offer that wound up conflicting too much with school. As far as I know those situations caused no bad feelings, and I know one theatre involved has made subsequent offers.</p>
<p>We know people who have broken contracts (in both cases for Broadway) and while completely understandable I’d see that causing more problems that just declining an offer up front.</p>
<p>Momcares, I think the cases in which she turned down the offer are fine. If it’s a general audition for a bunch of theatres, then usually it’s ok to turn down the offer if it comes. For the one she turned down for school, I’m assuming they didn’t give her the schedule beforehand? Usually theatres will give you the rehearsal/performing schedules going in - before you even audition, you are given the schedule and have to indicate if you have any potential conflicts - so if you’re offered a spot, you aren’t in the position of having to decline for your schedule. </p>
<p>Your D is so talented, it’s thrilling she has these choices!</p>
<p>@connections - You’re very kind, but I’m thinking in more general terms about all of our actor-kids learning to manage careers which will usually be composed of many varying-duration part time jobs. If one hopes to work steadily, I can see where you would need to have MANY irons in the audition fire at all times, never knowing which auditions will turn into offers or when. And adding the Equity/non-Equity question into the mix seems to create an unmanageably complex scheduling/decision challenge. Given that, maybe it’s better that steady work is the exception rather than the rule?</p>
<p>Btw, the specific school conflict situation above was for a show involving a mid-run city switch. When D was invited to audition they’d said they could switch performers at the venue change, but the subsequent offer was for the full two-city run which involved missing more school than she had originally thought. But I can also imagine situations where an offer from a prior audition comes through after you had already auditioned for another show, resulting in a schedule conflict.</p>
<p>Aw well, I suppose an over-supply of offers isn’t ever an actor’s main concern. </p>
<p>Over the years I’ve heard post-mortems from many auditions – both for equity and non-equity theaters-- and it has generally seemed that in auditions for the equity theaters the actors were treated with far more respect. Auditions were run very professionally and happened on schedule, or if not people communicated clearly about delays and worked to accommodate the actors. Conditions at the non-equity auditions sounded very different, with actors frequently being treated with disrespect, including long delays, uncomfortable waiting conditions and a general “we don’t need you, you need us” attitude and unprofessional behavior by the people in the room.</p>
<p>My experience with this is second and sometimes third-hand, but is this the norm? Does this difference in attitude toward actors carry on into the workplace? If so, I can see some young actors deciding they’d rather work less but limit themselves to equity theaters to avoid being mistreated.</p>
<p>This site <a href=“http://www.auditionupdate.com”>http://www.auditionupdate.com</a> especially the Callback Corner and Bitching Post sections give you kind of a fly-on-the-wall view of what it’s like to be auditioning in NYC, equity and otherwise. </p>
<p>There is a great web-series that Entertainment Weekly just named “The best TV show not on TV,” called Submissions Only. They have their own website that links to the webisodes. The series is a snarky glimpse into the world of NYC auditions. If you’ve ever auditioned (or taken your kids to auditions) in NYC, you will recognize the studios, but more importantly you will recognize the character traits. Very funny!!!</p>
<p>I totally second “Submissions Only” – all of the writers and actors in it are performers in NYC (including MTCA coach Anne L. Nathan), so they know whereof they speak! </p>
It’s not only a worthwhile use of a year, it’s an excellent use of a year because you are getting professional experience, making new connections, adding to your resume, and earning good money. Would it be better to be sitting in NYC, or Chicago, or L.A., waiting tables and standing in line at open calls? Not at all.</p>