to wonder why some peoples lives are so easy compared to others?

[Ageingtofast]

Ok I know everyone has hard times and that's just the way of the world but do you ever feel like some people are just lucky and happen to be in the right place at the right time? I'll give you my example.
I'm an "actor" or at least trying to be, I spent 2 years at drama school and the rest of my time waitressing or doing any other job just to bring in some money, I'm now 29 and have found myself back home caring for my parents (I don't begrudge this as they have always been there for me) but I work hard continuing to pay for acting classes, getting new headshots done, applying for any opportunity that is even remotely related to the field I'm in but just can't catch a break. What really gets me is you can't get anywhere without an agent but can't get an agent if you don't have enough experience but you can't get any jobs without either of these so it is a bit of a vicious circle. Then you get celebrities and models who have no acting training but get given parts as they are popular and people will go and see the movies just because they are in them!!! Just makes me want to scream.
Sorry for the rant but this just kills me, I think it may be time to give up my Hollywood dreams and try and find a new career that I enjoy. Makes me even angrier that I've wasted 10 years and haven made it, I feel like such loser and am no better off than when I left school!!

pps How much acting work have you done in the past ten years?

Do you do amateur dramatics? Is there a local theatre group you can join?

Gosh, I really thought this was going to be about something else.

Uh, yes, acting is a hard gig to excel at. Sorry you're only just finding this out.

And there I was feeling hard done by because both my brother and husband died super young of the same rare cancer.

Find s job you enjoy, do the acting as a hobby. So many people do this - it’s the same with writing.

One of my closest friends was an actor. She did most local plays and small tours. She retrained as a teacher and is now head of her department.

I think you need to decide what is most important to you.

Do you want to be famous or do you want to act. Acting does not equal Hollywood.

Also, I think my own life is harder than yours.

It isn't "unlucky" not to become a Hollywood actor! Its the normal, expected outcome.

It's not "unlucky" to have wasted 10 years trying, its a decision to put your time and energy into chasing an unrealistic dream.

Actors and acting skills are valued in plenty of other fields, amateur productions, tourist attractions, medical training, murder mysteries, school assemblies, training workshops, all sorts of things.

Acting skills probably gives you an advantage in many different professions where public speaking etc is required, event organising, for example.

There are plenty of things you could do with your life. I have actor friends doing all sorts of things. Most of them have set up companies and made themselves available and advertised. One company is doing school assemblies and workshops on gang culture and violence, the consequences and the strategies for getting yourself out. They do very valuable work, and are always busy. Another has a company specialising in being the patients in medical training and exams. Again, very busy.

The world is your oyster! but your clinging onto an unrealistic childish dream is holding you back

I have a friend who has had leading parts in the West End and on Broadway, has appeared in tv shows and adverts. He also works as a garden designer as the work just isn't regular enough. He thinks he will move into this area full time before long.

I read an interview with Celia Imrie in which she said that people imagine her with a pile of scripts, carefully selecting what she wants to do next, but in reality she just takes what she is offered, because work is not that plentiful. I was amazed that "the business" was like that for someone as famous as her.

Sorry you are not having better luck than you are. It must be hard seeing people who have no talent and/or have had no training offered roles (I expect you have been told that you need to have a drama degree to get work but you see loads of people without one get work).

However should you choose to do something else your acting skills will be of a huge advantage, so none of this will be wasted.

It must be hard seeing people who have no talent and/or have had no training offered roles Ain't that the truth.

Ok, my advice is going to be different from others, because I've just produced my first feature film, and I'm writing a tv series. I'm as skint as fuck, and no, I won't be able to get you a break - but I can give you some advice.
But just before we get into that - to all the pp's who said the entertainment industry doesn't matter, isn't useful, or that you're a bit wet for wanting to work in it - film making is fucking hard work. To make a film (regardless of your role) you have to live, breathe, eat and shit it from the moment you start to the moment you finish your part. It takes loads of people to make one, all doing their bit, and the hours are long, even in top grade films. And if you don't think making a form of entertainment is worthwhile - try going a month without reading a book, a newspaper, going online, listening to music, watching television or watching a film - if you're fine with that, then slag the creative industries right off. And if you don't think art is worth striving for, then you have no respect in my eyes, for art, music, theatre, along with science and technology is what makes us more than animals. I study the creative industries, and I can tell you, without a doubt, it's the second biggest GDP industry in this country, and near enough the same worldwide. So, go figure.
SO - my advice. From someone who's 'only' made one feature film.

• Work on your social media reach. The one thing I learnt through casting is that if a film or project has a distributor, then they will want bankability in the cast. This doesn't just have to be IMDb bankability, but if you have a decent social media following, that will have value to them. It's harsh, but true. At a really cold level, the way most SM companies do it is to find your friends with the most friends, and friend as many of their friends as possible and keep going like that. (It's horrid, really, but is really is just all about advertising. You can't get popular, if you don't know anyone).
• Network. Sign up to local professional network events - there's loads of social media groups on fb/twit/inst etc - even ones for crews and writers. The more people you get to know, the more chance you have of getting work on referral.
• Consider offering yourself for work other than acting for the moment. Many actors on IMDb have credits for other jobs, from soundtracks, to producing. Again - working in film, especially indie film, is hard bloody work. Every person on that set has to multitask and pull creative blood out of their brains to think how they can get shit done, usually with no money. Even if you go for a runner for free (a lot of people end up working for free), you will be useful, and they'll remember you as a team player, efficient, and 'a good egg'. Now we have one big project under our belt, the other producers and I are looking onto the next project, and we are making a list of who were the brilliant people on the team, and who were the PITAS.
• Keep practising - as someone further up said, do am-dram stuff. If there's nothing else going on, do it, because you'll be practising your skills. You won't get through auditions if you don't keep practising your skills - you DO have to be good, you DO have to have a range of accents and depth and face malleability. The more skills you have, the better - learn other languages (film and tv is a worldwide thing, so other languages = more potential jobs), HORSE RIDING, advanced driving skills, musical instruments (most theatre shows now survive on multi-instrumentally skilled actors), dancing - think of what genres you particularly like and TRAIN for them.
• Offer yourself to work for free on shorts, sizzle reels, anything that anyone is filming locally to you. You'd be surprised how valuable you may be as a local actor to a low budget shoot who is struggling to save every penny - if you can get to a set for free, you'll have value to them over one who has a massive travel and accommodation cost attached. Unfortunately, making movies and tv is expensive. When you have to scrape together every penny, because no one sees a value in art, then this is the result - underpaid, but highly educated and skilled jobs. Or lack of.

AN-y-how, I hope that's marginally helped. Good luck out there. It can be done. One of the actors on our film applied for the role through facebook, I liked their reel and fought hard to get them the role - the distribution company said he had no bankability, as no SM reach, no IMDb value, but we fought, so they got it, and then they had a really successful trip to Cannes off the back of it, and were featured in a 'Actors to Watch' display there, and are now getting roles in bigger productions. So keep plugging away. It's perfectly possible to have a regular income from being a jobbing actor, but it's hard work.

Thanks Want2bSupermum & well done you!

I used to work in the non performing side of show biz, I would never, ever want to be a professional performer of for my child to head in that direction. It’s an awful, soul destroying job where who you know or who you’re related to makes more difference than talent.

It’s also an awful job to have a family and do, unless you have a stay at home partner or parents who are on tap for child care it’s almost impossible. As a jobbing actor you can’t afford to turn down work but that could be a TIE tour of the Scottish highlands, a few days filming on Poldark in Cornwall, longs hours on an advert in a studio in outer London, six months as an understudy in Stratford.

If what you really want is fame then go down the Instagram or reality TV route. If you love to perform look for a really good amateur company or semi professional summer rep festival theatre type stuff, or start your own company or make your own film.

Also - I'm presuming you have a showreel, headshots, take part in Show your showreel Thursday on Twitter, or whatever it's called? It's also worth networking with other actors - a lot of actors think you need to get to producers and directors (believe me, I get my fair share of friend requests from actors) but you'll often catch word-of-mouth news about jobs through other actors, so that's worth doing as well.

OP - being honest with yourself... are you exceptionally good looking? Or if not, are you exceptionally interesting looking, ‘full of character’? If not, are you exceptionally talented?

If not, you are unlikely to make it in Hollywood, sorry. Slightly talented, pretty women are in the 10s of thousands in LA alone.

Agree with PP - what meaning does being a famous actor have for you? You only get one life, you need to think how you can live your best life whilst acknowledging that fortune and fame in the acting industry is very unlikely.

And yy to what Bluths wrote! :D

My husband is a former actor, he is very talented but he made connections with the right people early on which is how he get his early jobs and progressed. He also had other skills that were desirable for casting (double up as company/stage manager). I think it’s a lot about luck and who you know and it’s a more difficult industry for women than men. I consider his career to have been very successful (worked fairly solidly in theatre for 16 years until the roles dried up in his mid-30s) but he laments what he wasn’t able to do.

ALso, re-reading your OP, the ‘popular’ actors who are given parts just because people will want to go and see them in anything... that’s surely the whole point of the industry? Films are made to make money, they want people who will draw a crowd. They are hardly going to give a part to the person who has worked the hardest out of ‘fairness’, if it’s not financially viable

You have picked one of the hardest industries to get into I'm afraid.

I don't think it's necessarily luck. Sometimes it's knowing the right connections.

Are you on StarNow? That's pretty good. I'm a musician and got offered a job on Caribbean cruise liners within a couple of months of being on it.

Also, have you just picked acting for the fame? I wouldn't think so... you do it because you love it. If you didn't do it anymore you would most likely be very unhappy. Keep doing things to keep your acting and use your talent.

Even if you don't become famous, you can at least say you used your talent, enjoyed performing, shared your talent with others...

To everyone that has lost someone or had tragedy in their life I'm so sorry, I by no means meant to make out that my life was harder or worse than yours I'm just feeling very sorry for myself at the moment (middle of a depressive episode). For what its worth It isn't necessarily about becoming famous - sure every actor dreams of becoming a Hollywood star but I'm not naïve to think it would happen to me or come easily I just love playing other characters and being someone else because I hate myself so much and when I'm acting is the only time I'm happy.
I know 'famous' people drive up the sales of movies but imagine you had been working really hard at your job for 10 years and then they brought in someone who had never worked in your field before and gave them a job 1000x better than yours - wouldn't you be angry. Example is Harry Styles - I have nothing against him for what its worth but he had no experience as an actor yet landed one of the lead roles in a movie just because of his name, I have been dreaming about meeting the producers and directors he worked with for years and it is soul destroying knowing it will never happen for me.
danglyspider - thank you for all your advice, I have headshots, a show reel and what I think is a decent cv, I have had small roles on tv but because they were in another country they don't seem to count for anything back in the uk. I have also written my own work but I literally have no idea where to start on getting it noticed.
I think it may be time to accept that I'm never going to make it but I have no idea what to do now career wise - being an actor was all I ever wanted to do.

I was reading about the casting of harry styles in Dunkirk - apparently Christopher Nolan had no idea who he was, he was cast for his ‘old fashioned face’

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkirk_(2017_film)

I agree it must be hard, but that’s life. Just like not everyone who works hard can get into medical school and be a doctor, not everyone who works hard in acting can get he best roles and work with the most prestigious directors. Acting is a very visual profession, peoples looks really matter (not necessarily attractiveness, sometimes ‘old face’ or ‘interesting face’

You can still act and play other people, but the money and fame is only going to go to a select few. Just like you can play the lottery, but only a few people will win it, no point complaining you haven’t.

The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they make the best of everything.

Have you seen anyone about your depression?

I always advise people who pick acting as a career that they are picking waiting tables and might get a bit of acting if they are lucky. It has always been the case. I suspect for many you are better off getting an Oxbridge degree, doing Footlights etc stuff at university and then seeing how it goes if you are really sure you want to do that so you have a good degree to fall back on.

I sing, pretty well, 4 grade 8s and much else but knew from age 14 there was just about no money in that so I have been avery happy and well paid lawyer who does loads of music every day. It is a loveloy compromise buit out of informed choices over which jobs earn more money, the same issues my great uncle had in the 1890s when he chose law by the way.

danglys advice sounds really good.
can you give yourself a break for 3 months and then at the end of that time reassess if it's really what you want to do. If it is, you've got to take danglys advice with the networking and giving your time for free and learning other skills.
Sometimes just the fight to get what you want is exhausting, so it's good to have some time away, then you can either do something else whole heartidly and not feeling like a failure. or have a tonne more energy to put into trying to get solid roles.

I have a friend that works as an extra. His far from famous his had 1, 1 line speaking role on the TV otherwise its all background characters. But his part of some kind of agency. They send him various acting jobs, and he does recurring work on long running TV programmes, an episode every few months so people don't notice the same back ground characters constantly turning up.
I did it once, it was an interesting experience. But not for me. I was a lot more interested in all the people running around behind the camera.
Have you ever done any extra work?