04.03.07

Acting Is High Pay But Don’t Try To Live Like A Movie Star

Posted in An Actors Life at 5:13 am by admin

When my friends ask how much I earned for a 1 day TV commercial (TVC) they stare in astonishment at the high payments for a single days work. Yes acting is high pay on an hourly basis but there is very good reason…. the down time between jobs.

Professional actors are hard to come by, it is a major struggle through initial low payments, irregular work, delayed payments, bad agents and terrible working conditions and long hours. Not to mention all the outlays as you get experience acting for free and paying for lessons.

The problem I see time and time again from inexperienced actors is to get a job earning good money and then instantly adjust their spending to match their income. The go from a subsistance lifestyle to a movie star lifestyle as soon as first pay day hits.

The money is good because it is supposed to hold you until the next job, whenever that might come along. It is supposed to be for additional training and practise you undertook for this role.

What you need to do is budget. Sounds like fun doesn’t it? You are supposed to be a movie star why live on instant noodles if you have a reputation to uphold?

Well the reputation is in the inexperienced actors head to start with, no one else cares, and it is not fun to be a literally starving artist.

Take your actors pay and budget it out, save as much as is possible and plan on it lasting well into your next job, or better plan on your next job being cancelled and having to make it last twice as long.

Often you do not even know when/if you next job is on, and even the biggest movies with the biggest budgets get delayed, sometimes for years, sometimes they never shoot. Look after your money in case this happens.

Sensible people keep their spending well below their income levels, and put the excess money into income generating investments. This is how you retire or break out of the rat race that is modern society. As an actor this is probably your ultimate goal, as you have already forsaken the regular 9 to 5 drudgery.

Save your money, save your money, save your money. At some point you will start getting regular enough work to actually start accumulating a reasonable amount of money. This you need to invest in something worthwhile, something that makes you money, but don’t gamble it on things you do not understand.

In your down time you should be reading up on property, stock markets, writing a book or website, anything that can generate income with little ongoing work. Try to get your costs covered from other sources.

Once you are financially independant then you are in a much stronger negotiating position when it comes to your acting pay. If you do not need the money then you can afford to walk away from the job, if you NEED the money then they will screw you for as little as possible.

Live like a movie star at the end, once you own a block of apartments and money is coming in each week without work that is when you can afford to throw money around, but while you are still working for your money be frugal or you will never be a success no matter how much money you earn.

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