quote:

Originally posted by wikah_woo:
I'm not an actor, but here because I like to help others out, and after growing up in California and working in LA, thought I'd come by to hopefully help at least one person out. I've worked in LA as a 1st Assistant Camera, DP'd indie projects, toured with bands as a videographer, and am now working on a large documentary project and a start-up company.

What I mean by the title of this post is to advise any aspiring actors or current actors out there to not look away from having a second job. Maybe this sounds crazy to some of you, or maybe you are the kind of person who can't find a way to balance acting and getting an income.

Things I understand about refusing other work (such as waitressing, receptionist work, etc.):
1. Having a second job doesn't give you a full availability to jump onto a project
2. Putting focus into a different field of work will distract you and eventually pull you away from acting.
3. The jobs you come by are just meaningless and won't support your desired career of acting.

But for all of you, especially those who aren't from LA, I have several tips and advice to help you out.

One, don't rule out a second job all together. If you have the luxury of having your parents support you, that's great. To be honest, I was supported in the first several months when coming out here, but my parents got hit by the economy without any warning and either I had to find a way to support myself or move back home.

In any case, save save save your money. The end of the summer and winter are times of low amount of productions (with holidays, award seasons, ...).

As an actor, be as realistic and practical as possible. The hard thing (and I respect you guys for this) is that YOU are the product. So be objective about yourself entirely. Also, keep good relationships with people. Thank your agents, casting directors, AD's, etc. Make sure you keep in touch by asking for work and updating your resume.

So I'm probably throwing everything into one, but I have examples to prove my point (that have happened in the last year).

A friend of mine came out here, graduated from college, to become an actor. To be honest, for those of you who are new, it doesn't matter who you are, what you've done, or how passionate and good you are. There are thousands of others like you. With my friend, he was lucky to be supported by his parents when he couldn't find enough work. He stuck through it a whole year, kept in touch with those who give a lot of work, stayed positive and made good relationships with people, and now those people have given him a full-time stand-in job on Christopher Nolan's film, Inception. He's been here less than a year.

As for refusing other work, I knew someone who came out to LA, worked as an extra, then either wasn't able to support himself or wanted to go back home, so he did... twice. Then he came back a third time after saving up money. He stayed in LA for a month, went through the same things he did before, and almost two months of being here, he had to go back home. I met him the last time he was here, most recently, and warned him to save up money, get a permanent place to stay, and get another part-time job to help. The reason why I mentioned the p/t job was because he was afraid of going back home to his parents a third time, said he'd be depressed back in his small-town again, so forth.

I hope this helps you all (because I care about the acting community a lot and know it's tough times) when I say that if you want to live in the city and make it, it's up to YOU if you can stay here or not. And you're not alone: cinematographers, camera operators, electricians, directors, producers - I know so many people that have second jobs or day jobs. And you find a way to make it work, even though it's tough to really know how.

Good luck to all of you out there!