What does it take to make it BIG in acting? hollywood in particular?

Question

give me serious and realistic answers please
i believe i can do it

Answer 1

Think of the lifestyle of an actor and you think of fame, fortune and fans. You think of glitz and glamour, fabulous parties with interesting people, you think the life of an actor is all apples.

Well if this is the case you need to read on, if you are considering becoming an actor, you need to prepare yourself. The real life of an actor...

... is very different. Think scrounging, budgeting, practising, learning, meeting as many people as you can, always keeping your spirits up even when you feel like crap inside, always putting on a brave face.

As a starting actor you will have to take any role you can get, often you won't even be allowed to audition for an acting part, and will get 'parts' where you are brought in on the cattle truck with 100 other extras. If you do see yourself in the finished product it will probably be the back of your head as you sat in the background sipping coffee as the star walked past a coffee shop.

Years of doing this, gaining small bits of experience along the way, until the day you get a 'big break' - usually a no pay acting role in a no/low budget production that will only be seen by friends and family... BUT you now have that all important piece for the acting puzzle - a real acting role to add to your showreel. So now you have been acting for a while, you make enough money from acting to pay for your lessons, great you are no longer loosing money - just time..

You are working a regular job but your boss has warned you that if you take any more "sick" days off work then you are fired.

The phone rings, it is your agent, she has a real acting role in a real movie... that actually pays! It is only a small part but the director saw your audition and they want you. What are you going to do? Loose your job and take the 3 days acting job for maybe $2000. Or do you stay at your regular job and keep that nice regular income as you climb your career ladder.

If you are an actor you toss your job and take the role. Now you work a crappy part time job as a waiter or a casual construction worker where you can work the days and hours you want

This is where it gets interesting, your big role fizzled into nothing after the job, you got an additional credit for your Biography and some footage for a showreel will be available next year when the film comes out. You are working part time, living in student like accomodation, even sharing a flat. Living in cheap rented apartments in a cheap neighbourhood, running around all over town at your own time and expense going to casting after casting.

Many actors get most of their experience initially from castings. Do three years of casting s and you should be at least a reasonable entry level actor.

Your next job lands you in a decent paying production, you make say $10,000 for 4 weeks shooting.

Ah working on set - here comes another surprise. How do you like getting up at 4.30am every morning? Walking around in a holiday clothing on the beach in the middle of winter, huddling under a small piece of canvas during a thunderstorm because the equipment gets priority over you in the rain. How do you like missing meals and getting cold, soggy meals becasue you were shooting while everyone else had lunch. How do you like getting a 11pm call to get up, you are shooting in 15 minutes. How do you like sitting around for 12 hours staring at the walls of a tiny green room with nothing but instant coffee to keep you company for 12 hours, only to be finally told that they are not shooting your scene today, come back tomorrow at 5am again.

I have heard that John Goodman haas said "We don't get paid for acting, we do that for fun, we get paid to wait around the set all day. This is a fair indication of what you will be doing on set 90% of the time, more if your character is not important.

So anyway you land a gig paying good money, it is set in a swamp, so you spend the next 4 weeks waist deep in water and covered in mud.


But you bring home the bacon, $10,000 worth of Bacon in this case - a good pay rate for a month's work... or is it?


Now as you have climbed the ladder you can no longer do extra work, so you loose all those little jobs that pay a couple of hundred dollars a day. You lost your job as a waiter because you were gone for so long. No matter, you now have enough to live on for a while.

The first month you go out and buy all those things you have not had for the last 2 years - new shoes so you don't get wet feet through the holes in your old ones, new socks and underwear, new jeans, you can even afford to start dating again.

3 months later you haven't landed a job again, that $10,000 for 4 weeks has now had to stretch out over 4 months, you are back on skid row and eating beans on toast for dinner. Things are looking bad if you don't get anything this month.

You score another role, just when you are down to your last $500.

Repeat this cycle until you become well known enough to be one of the few that makes enough money to live a normal life with a decent pay and a good lifestyle. Or until you burn out, or that last job doesn't come in on time and you are 35 years old and moving back in with your parents because you are flat broke.

This is not fun, it is stressful, not knowing where your money is coming from - or even knowing if it is coming.

These situations are real, I have personally been down to the last $30 in the bank and a job came in to save me.

This takes guts and determination, it does not take sitting around a coffee shop telling everyone you are an actor and acting like a wanker with all your wanna-be friends. Many an actor will work for peanuts to do that one role that is ideal for them so they can show their brilliance - to find that role is the quest - but along the way you may starve.

Glitz and glamour? Bah! - Though I must admit the parties are pretty good.

Answer 2

don't experience the might desire to lose your accessory till the section especially demands it. If a director/casting agent needs to hearken to in case you do an "american" or "canadian" accessory they'll ask you. the folk you're auditioning for will comprehend which you're an actor and in the event that they like to work out your selection, they'll ask in case you're able to do something particular. It does not harm to coach, yet i does not especially LOSE your person accessory for that purpose.

Answer 3

G'day Fuji,

Thank you for your question

It takes a bit of luck, a lot of skill, often good looks and a lot of determination.

Best wishes for your career.

Seasons regards.