We all know how unlikely it is that a recent college graduate will be immediately able to make a living from acting. A survival job for an actor has to be on a flexible schedule to allow for auditions, classes, and low pay/no pay performing opportunities.
The classic job for aspiring performers is waiting tables. Temp office work is another. I know of some acting students who are working hard to acquire additional theater skills such as lighting, makeup, and costuming, so as to be more employable in the theater while taking auditions. I hear contrary opinions that it is dangerous to get stuck in a rut working tech because then nobody will hire you as an actor. Which is true?
Should college theater programs help their students acquire skills they will need for survival jobs?
My son does some tech (carpentry, painting) for money. Mostly he works in a gourmet donut shop in Chicago, which has the advantage of only being open from about 7-2, so that he is free for rehearsals and shows in the evening. He makes pretty good money for what it is, well above minimum plus good tips. I’m still sending him rent money for the summer but I don’t think he needs it that bad anymore, and I know he has paid down a bit of his student loans.
Dog walking does sound like a good idea. Anyone else have some good ideas for survival jobs?
A couple of people have PM-ed me to say that it’s just plain incorrect that you can’t get hired as an actor if you also work tech. It seems it’s quite common to make connections that way. Glad to hear it.
My son has done some “promo” work, but apparently most of those gigs go to young women. Also, the company he has worked for is VERY slow to pay.
D has a friend who took a survival tech job with a theater company on the west coast (deaf west). Someone is the cast had to drop and he moved in. Has been working with them, including their recent production of Spring awakening- the one that is going to bway. So a tech gig might lead to his bway debut…
I’ll have to share that list with the students I know. Most of the above would probably be an option anywhere one is based. It seems to me that dog walking would be more of a NYC thing than LA.
Incidentally I just read a couple of e-books called “The Day Job Diaries” about an aspiring actress in LA who does a lot of promo work, paid focus groups, etc., until her career gets going. The author’s pen name (I presume) is Agnes Webb. She seems to have stopped writing, and the story came across as pretty real, so I’m wondering if she, like her protagonist, has started to land TV and film work. Perhaps she is someone I have seen in small roles here and there, like the subjects of the documentaries “That Guy/Gal Who Was In That Thing.” She’s a good writer so I hope at some point she continues the story based on more of her experiences.
Great thread which unfortunately may possibly be overlooked by the college searching HS junior and senior. I always try to put a bug in new HS students ears, yes that early!!!, to try to learn a something else that gives them a skill which can be turned into a summer job, a part time job, and yes a survival job. Graphics, video editing, photographer, proofreading, writing skills, computer hardware, sound board, lighting, costuming etc etc.
Of the jobs listed in Fish’s post above, I would say the ones that stick out for me as being truly flexible for what would be necessary for the auditioning and rehearsing training and trying to make it actor would be web designer, reel editor, uber driver, proofreader, headshot photographer and tutor all which allow you to make your own schedule.
But I think it is important to get back to the part of the OP’s question which strikes my curiosity and is at the heart of the matter. Is an actor frowned upon and hurting their chances to be seen as a viable candidate for acting roles if they take tech and crew jobs for theatre or even background actor gigs? Or is this a great way to make connections, being humble and learning from all sides of the stage and camera? What is an aspiring actor to do ? I’m not talking about putting it on the resume, I’m talking about bringing in some cash making what? $110 a day nonunion rate can bring home $500 a week if you are needed for 5 days of background work on a 10 minute scene on a feature film that may just be cut on the chopping block, that may be filming an hour from where you live because of film tax breaks.
Personally, I think aspiring actors should take all these opportunities and work as many sides of the stage and screen that they can.
Personally, I agree with @mom2gals. I think that the more people you know, and more connections you have in the theater (whether you get them from performing or tech) the more likely you are to be getting work in the theater…
Oddly, I heard the “don’t take another job in the theater if you want to make it as an actor” argument today from one of my Drama Mom friends, who says her daughter was told this by one of her acting professors (she’s at a conservatory in NYC, but not Juilliard). I prefer to believe the people who say that the reverse is true.
@prodesse Did Drama Mom explain why the professor believes actors shouldn’t take other theater jobs of they want to be actors? Seems counterintuitive to me.
That’s my guess as well. As for resumes, I think my son is typical in that he has multiple resumes for different purposes. There’s the acting resume, the acting/singing resume, the tech resume, and the survival job resume. He has done a lot outside of acting, including paid work as a makeup artist, costumer, wig stylist, props builder, and ASM.
