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

A close family member is an actor as well as a good friend. It's very tough indeed. You absolutely must go to drama school , and one of the main 'names' like LAMDA , Guildhall, Bristol Old Vic, RADA to have any real chance. At the end of degree show agents are invited or come to spot talent. Those who are good enough will get an agent who will try to get them work. This is when they need headshots . A lot depends on how good an agent the person has as to what sort of work of any might come their way. Auditions for roles are tough too. There are long periods of not working, no reliable income and constant instability and worry. It's difficult to plan holidays as if an audition is offered it's madness to turn it down. It's a very difficult life. You need a second source of income and a very tenacious personality .

Excellent summary!

It's a competitive industry and by auditioning for the sorts of things @Newgirls has listed, you & your DC will see how s/he compares.

@Treeabove when you say the school doesn't allow them to work, do you mean paid work? There's a lot your DC can do that is not paid.

And honestly, get them:
dance lessons - ballet & jazz twice a week at the minimum
voice lessons - once a month or so, to learn the techniques of breathing, phrasing, modulation, voice production, enunciation
singing lessons - once a fortnight or so

What your DC needs to learn is the proper use & training of his/her instrument ie his/her body

Most actors spend most of their working hours not working in acting. Most actors aren't getting a huge film contract of the kind that Benedict Cumberbatch might be offered. Most actors earn very little indeed from acting.

Front of house is minimum wage. If the actors you know are working in writing or TV production, they'd be well advised to concentrate on those areas instead. They have a better chance of making a living that way. Theatre pays the bills in my house, though not acting. We are well aware of all the difficulties around making a life in the creative arts.

Absolutely. Being an actor isn’t about acting only the whole year. It’s a portfolio career. Working front of house, teaching, writing etc is all good and part of the industry.

im not saying it’s easy or for everyone or it will make you rich - but I don’t agree with the generalised negativity either. I know several very successful actors at a range of ages. They pretty much met the criteria listed above.

Said by a professional performing arts teacher to me whilst we were standing chatting after a dance workshop at a vocational school:

"They don't look at pieces of paper in an audition, they look at the dancer"

I'm guessing this applies just as much to acting as it does to dance.

The best advice would be to do some appropriate A-levels (eg: English, Psychology, Film Studies, Drama) and continue with local training. It is an extremely competitive field, and you have to have a Plan B in place in case things don't work out.

Are GCSE's and Level 2's important for their future prospects in the performing arts? No. UCAS point will probably be necessary to get them onto degree courses for drama though, but they would also need to audition.

Some local franchises such as Stagecoach and Top Hat do have connections with agents and can sometimes find professional opportunities for their students, but they would tend to be for musical theatre, as extras or child modelling work.

By the way, schools can and do allow their pupils to take on performing arts work, but they will need a performance licence from the local authority. If they still dig their heels in, ask them whether they would allow a pupil who was an elite athlete or footballer to take time out of school in order to compete at national level, or to play with the Manchester United Youth team...

There is no rush with drama. A lot of successful actors didn't take it up until adulthood, and never had formal training early on.

OP - it's important your DC decides what they mean by 'acting' as there are lots of different categories which will lead to different types of work:

• Musical Theatre - need to be able to sing, dance and act ('Triple Threat') and more likely leads to West End Theatre type musicals/Pantomine/ Cruise work/ Disneyland perfomer-type roles
• Touring/ TIE (Theatre in Education) - happy to be away from home, often just peforming in a venue or school once or twice before moving on again
• Stage/ Classic work (less likely to be singing/dancing) - London and regional theatre
• Screen acting - TV and film

While there is obviously some overlap, Musical Theatre is very much is it's own thing. Some people love touring, others hate it (it's disruptive and pretty poorly paid). Some people naturally work well with schools/ children, others not so much!

If your DC wants to do musical theatre they need to do a MT course, not a straight Acting one.

Yes all good points and ones I wish I'd made in my earlier post.

On the point about A levels etc - yes some actors don’t need them but if someone wants to direct, run a theatre, write, teach, produce etc as wide an education as possible is essential. Cultural capital.

They are studying theatre but would like to focus in screen acting. They will be studying screen acting part time alongside the other college course. They can decide in the next 2 years whether they want to go to drama school or pursue something else.

OP - You say your DC is doing a 16+ course in Fashion Retail, not A levels? That is also a highly vocational course. Is there a reason why they're not doing broader A levels before narrowing down their options?
Having said that, it sounds like they could be heading in a more Acting/Modelling direction perhaps?

Just to clarify something that was said earlier about Spotlight and self-representation - yes, if you're self-repped on Spotlight you will see some jobs listed, but this list is only about 10-20% of all available castings for jobs, and usually the fairly low paid, 'entry level' jobs. Most castings go out to 'All Agents' or 'Selected Agents' lists, so will not be seen by actors without an agent.
Most of the good quality TV/film castings will go to a small list of favoured, or Top 10/ Top 20 agents - hence the need to get as good an agent as possible (which is very difficult, even for drama school grads!)

This is really good advice what made me as a parent really consider DD could have a career was getting a lead role in a BYMT production.

Thank you. Will suggest this

I know of three young people(23) that have tried to get into acting , two did A levels/uni resulting in..
1)Does panto/ a couple of adverts, teaches drama.
2) Full time drama teacher at her old secondary school.
3) Didn’t go to uni but has done insanely well. Has her own Netflix series, voiceovers for Disney, lots of tv, models for Prada. Her mum is an agent, her nan is a producer, her grandad directs and writes for the west end musicals.
I don’t know how common it is for people without connections to make it like she has.

But it seems surprising that his current school has not already encouraged applying for such programmes, even if not permitting paid work. Arts Ed was one who certainly used to restrict their pupils but think even they now do for students 16+. Casting opportunities for early teens tends toe more limited anyway and they often choose from 16+ who look younger as it gets round working hours restrictions and a need for chaperones.

Yes I agree with @LIZS - what has DC’s school suggested?

Numerous PPs have asked what your DC has done in acting terms @Treeabove but you’ve not said. School shows? Local am dram, pantomime or others? Local youth theatre? Yes National Theatre youth offering?

If they have done this there must be some clarity at least on how talented they are. If they have done nothing then that doesn’t bode well at all for a profession where you have to be prepared to hustle and get yourself out there.

School shows and local theatre shows mostly during holidays or weekends as school was quite full on with GCSE and portfolio deadlines for the Diploma. They should have more time to get more involved now as college is just two days per week plus course work.

School didn’t allow them to take any time off during term time for any work; which was good as they need at least core GCSES to keep doors open.

NYT and NYMT courses and rehearsals take place in holiday periods or weekends, no time off required. It would be odd for a PA school not to publicise such opportunities to those they think would benefit. How much research has your dc done into what is available?

It seems quite odd that your child is at a drama school but they are not giving any guidance on next steps, such as audition prep for work or further training, or even where to go for head shots. The school doesn’t sound like they know much more than you do.

OP - I mean this in the nicest possible way, but if your DC is serious about wanting to pursue a career in acting then both you and they need to get seriously invested in finding out how it all works.

Questions about how to get headshots and agents, and whether they should attend drama school, and which one etc are all very basic and important questions, but this forum may not be able to offer the most comprehensive advice.

There will be useful discussions and groups on The Student Room/ Facebook/ Reddit etc and you will discover just how difficult a career this is!
e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/1ddlxj7/is_acting_a_feasible_career_in_the_uk/

There are thousands of applications for every drama school place, with some students auditioning for many schools every year and taking several years to secure a place. Virtually all of these applicants will have started acting at a young age and already have an impressive list of experiences/roles. However even going to drama school is no guarantee of success.

There are nearly 100,000 actors on Spotlight and only an estimated 5-10% are working at any time. Only 2% of actors make a living from it.

It's not a career anyone can make a living from part-time/half-heartedly.

A portfolio career sounds lovely. Romantic, even. But that isn't the reality for the vast majority of actors, simply because there isn't enough work to go round. There never has been. What is common is that in their 30's, most actors get tired of struggling because they want the same things most people want, and so they pivot to a full-time job doing something else. The rest have partners or families to support them, or struggle on, their highest profile job three scenes in EastEnders, in 2011.

Those several very successful actors you know make up a teeny tiny (negligible) percentage of actors, or people who used to be actors. What you call generalised negativity I say is realism.

I am not sure if it is a passion or a childhood dream. I am just going to go with the flow; let them take the initiative and I will support if needed/asked. They are the ones who need to research, get actively involved. They will continue with part time acting classes; which hopefully will give the more clarity of what they want, help them with contacts, etc.

You don’t have to decide your life when you are 16; and I won’t invest hours researching and pushing them; kids change their mind all the time. DC1 didn’t decide their career until year 13; same for me.

However all the information provided by everyone has been helpful in getting myself educated on this field; and I can suggest things if they show an interest in something, help with applications, etc.