Pursuing a career in acting

[Treeabove]

Looking for advice from people on the same boat.

DC is coming to the end if year 11 in a performing arts school studying theatre. I have a few questions:

They will get UAL level 2 Diploma in theatre: How useful will this be?

They said they need professional photos taken and an agent. How do they go about doing this?

How important are theirs GCSES grades for their future ?

How do they go about applying for jobs? They would prefer screen acting but conscious competition is fierce.

What about further education? How hard is it to get into acting schools? Which ones should they apply to? Do they need this or can they just start auditioning for jobs.

We want to be supportive but the reality of a career in acting is hard.

Noone in my family is on this field

I agree with Clary and Wadsworthy’s comments. I find it really odd that your child’s PA school hasn’t advised you. My DS is (hopefully) going to an RG uni - there are several which are highly regarded for drama and film. He’s also done a really good course at the National Youth Theatre.

School doesn’t allow them to work until they finish year 13

Maybe not work but presumably they could do am dram or NYT?

Also are they staying their till year 13? You said earlier they were going to college so I assume they have left the school if they were in year 11 this year?

Anyway you have had lots of good advice on this thread so hopefully some of it will be useful. All the best to your DC.

Qualifications don't really matter, but any experience gained from e.g. Drama GCSEs/ A levels is useful vs another subject. Subjects like English, History, Film are good complementary subjects.

BUT

Really try to persuade your DC to do something else, not acting.
However much they say they understand how hard it is going to be they really don't, and when all their friends in their 20s start earning money and they are still living at home working a shit minimum wage job and juggling auditions for student films paying £50, they will regret it!

Our DC (now 24) did loads of performing arts from 11, GCSE Drama, A level, degree, post grad at top London drama school.
Has done Edinburgh Fringe, made their own work, networked, auditioned, auditioned again, turned up for auditons that have been cancelled without telling them 😡- honestly, it's a terrible career, and I honestly wish I'd persuaded them to do something different!
Our DC knows about 150 friends/ colleagues who are actors and only about 2 of them have done any significant work in the last year.
They have friends at all the London drama schools. At least 50% struggled to get represented after graduation. The 'showcases' are a bit of a sham - the agents have so many actors on their books they can't find any work for that they're not taking on more. The drama schools are all money-making machines just taking advantage of young people's dreams.

I think parents get a bit embarrassed about the fact they encouraged their child to pursue this route. Everyone thinks 'oh, it will be different for my talented little Johnny or Jemima...' but it isn't - it's awful.

We knew it would be hard, but when DC started out we had no idea how AI was going to decimate the film industry, or creative writing, for example.

What's their Plan B?

I think a kid or anyone has to be realistic.

1. do they get good parts in school shows
2. can they get into NYT
3. do they get good grades in gcse/ a level drama, lamda etc
4. can they get into a top 10 drama school in 1-2 years
5. are they unusual casting type or very good looking

if not then the odds are stacked against them to get parts and enough work.

I'd say that all our DC's friends who are actors ticked the box for 1-4 of these, and yet are still struggling. The ones who have worked in the last 12-18 months are:

• Black (sorry, but it's true...) OR
• Have parents who are actors AND/OR
• Started out as child actors and went to drama school with experience of being on stage (National Theatre) or TV (BBC drama)

I have been around a lot of working actors (and actors who no longer act) and it truly is the hardest profession to gain work and over a long period of time, allowing for dry spells. Hardly anyone is successful, and hardly anyone still does it as their job years after graduating. Almost all drift into something else, retrain, or meet a well-off partner, so they can pay their rents and, you know, eat. You need talent, be the right kind of good-looking, have tenacity, and be social and personable enough to network successfully. And even then the odds are still against you. For every Cynthia Erivo or Keeley Hawes there are a million Jane Bloggs.

With the increasing impact of AI in all areas of working life, I think it’s only the rich who should be training as an actor on a full-time course, the ones who can comfortably’ ‘fail’.

Black (sorry, but it's true...)

So now colourblind casting is supposedly actively discriminating against white actors, is it?

Well, there's a reason for that surely?

Your child needs a mainstream route if they are to become an actor. So audition for National Youth Theatre for example. Do A levels then apply to accredited drama school.

It sounds like they are telling you there are other routes. There are but as I've said before it's rare as hens teeth to make it.

I've been an actor (now given up) since 1991. Most of my friends are actors, only one had no formal training at all, but she has some very specific skills and casting profile. She still lives in a bedsit at age 67, still dreaming of making it, working once a year if she's lucky.

Did you make a living out of your acting career? What do you do now?

Honestly I don’t want to kill their dream but hope they change their mind or at least have a second job while they try

Yes I made a living but I went to an accredited drama school. Out of my year only 3 people actually still act in any capacity. I'm sort of retired now. There aren't many parts for women over 50.

My mum paid my drama school fees but made me do teacher training first (which I hated). I think even the fact that I went to drama school late stood in my way quite a bit as it's an unconventional route. I earned my living as an actor but not in the way I would have wanted. It's the only thing I ever wanted to do though

For the first 3 years out of drama school I was mostly a supply teacher. I haven't done any teaching for 30 years so the teacher training was a waste! Until I was 35 I had to temp in between jobs which sometimes meant a year temping on a low income

Glad you made a living out of it and somehow managed to fulfil your dream.

That's not what I said.
However a large number of casting calls state they are looking for black or brown actors. And DC has previously booked a commerical job, only to be told with one day's notice that 'the client has decided they want someone black/mixed race' (the agency said this is 'not unusual' and has happened before).
Look at the casting of all the London theatre shows - at the RSC, The National, Regent's Park etc. It's not colourblind casting, there's usually a 50% quota.

It's just the way things have gone. It's an observation, not a political statement.

Sorry your child has invested so much time on it.

I am not really encouraging it; but not killing their dream straight away either; when I try to say how difficult this career is they either think I don’t believe in them or being supportive.

They are going to study fashion retail at college; and will continue with acting studies part time. Hopefully they will figure it out or come to their senses in the next few years.

Problem is your child needed to figure it out for themselves or they will say later on you never supported them and they could have made it.

I am not encouraging it but not killing their dream straight away either

I think you've misunderstood me! I didn't fulfill my dream at all. I earnt a living as an actor but not in the way I'd dreamt of. At least I didn't have to do something else. But 'the dream' certainly never happened.

Got it. I said it because you said you didn’t want to do anything else but acting and somehow managed to made a living out of it and retired early; unless you are struggling and on benefits

Do you regret it? Wished you have done something else?

I appreciate you may not want to be exact but I was wondering if you had a ball park figure per year for your income when you were working as an actor?

What is your child doing now?

What is your child doing now?

Well, they are only just one year out of drama school, so still pursuing various acting projects, and looking at developing some of their own film-making work.

Thankfully they didn't do a straight acting degree for their BA, so have a respectable uni degree if they decide to pivot to something else.
But honestly, AI has been one of the biggest disruptors:

• Voiceover work - being taken by AI
• Extras work - being AI generated
• Scriptwriting - AI creeping in
• Film-making - so easy to use AI to generate and edit using AI stuff

The screen industries have been hit heavily by covid/ the US writers strike and now AI production.

It's all changing so fast it hard to keep focused on where the work might be in the future! Plumbing probably!

A family friend, who went to drama school as a mature student and graduated 8 years ago, works pretty hard at it and earns less than £6k a year... is obviously supported by her DH who is a director of a big company!

On the first sentence - people always say this about every creative career. They say it about my industry all the time. It’s still possible, and IMO it’s never a good idea for a parent to step on dreams. They may come to the realisation later on they they want a different path for themselves with more stability, or they may choose to keep questing for it. But let it be their choice.

i don’t know much about acting but if he’s already at a performing arts school their careers advisors should know the best path.

DS also interested in acting. He did Drama to Higher (Scotland) level…best move was to get involved in a local film/production company-he has a paid summer job as runner with them and has secured speaking role in their upcoming feature. He’s also training for a total tangent career at moment but one that will allow him to work on self employed basis (gotta pay the bills!) with flexibility to work around any acting opportunities that come up.

He’s listed with a casting agent which until this year has been pretty quiet but since March he’s been in 2 feature films…current one was SA initially but was offered speaking role after a couple of days.

Our experience is so far is that formal acting qualifications aren’t as useful as experience.

Oh at first about £4000 a year! In the end £20-30k. Which when you're 50odd isn't great, for all the training and years of experience . I think I earned £45k one year. But nobody does it for the money.

I think acting is one area that is more resilient to AI. Theres a backlash already with people wanting a more in person and authentic experience away from screens. Human social skills will be in demand even more.

we can be tough on acting careers and the dream yet most people have to be flexible in their work and aren’t living a dream. I’ve met teens who wanted to be doctors, architects etc and didn’t make it. We do seem to be harder on budding actors

I’ve met teens who wanted to be doctors, architects etc and didn’t make it. We do seem to be harder on budding actors

Well yes. Because 90% of professional actors are out of work (as an actor) at any one time and only 2% of them actually make a living from acting. The same can't be said for doctors, architects or pretty much any other profession you care to mention.