Don't Quit Your Day Job - Or Do... Eventually!

I got tagged in the following Facebook Post by a friend today:

RATS!!! I just got called for BCG work on “SHOW NAME” tomorrow, but I'm already booked with an interview and training for a new job. I know BCG work isn't a huge deal, but it IS a step closer to doing what I want to do. Industry peeps, how and when is it appropriate to bow out of other work last minute to pursue the dream? I don't want to burn any bridges. Help!

www.reddit.com via giphy.com

So of course, I asked if I could use this question in a new blog post, (she agreed – obviously!) since this is a quandary many artists face.

It doesn’t matter which side of the camera/curtain you work on, which city you live in or which of the arts your pursuing.  This is a serious question that deserves more than just a comment on her Facebook page – so let’s talk DAY JOBS…

1)   It’s pretty impossible to pursue a career in the arts if you are completely homeless.  You are expected to show up clean to STUNNING at jobs, interviews and auditions – especially in the performing arts.  But you have to at least smell good and your clothes should never look like you slept in them – at least not until you wrap!  This means that you need a home…

2)   Homes require MONEY.  The recent economic crash led lots of people to ‘down scale’ their lives.  My friends have eliminated financial redundancies like landlines, cable TV and in some cases even Internet because so many wireless plans offer portable hotspots through smart phones.  But you can only scale back so far before it limits your ability to be hired!

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3)   Work in the arts – even CREW jobs like Sound Design, Production Assistants and Lighting gigs ebb and flow.  Many of these jobs are short term at best and frequently hire educated professionals on a day-to-day basis.  If you live in a good market and you hustle hard, you could average 3 – 4 working days per week – maybe…

4)   Jobs in the arts – especially if they are entry level – tend to pay right around minimum wage – just for longer hours than you’d work at your typical Micky D’s…  The work times also vary widely and shift from day to day making it pretty impossible to try to work multiple jobs in the same 24-hour span.

So what does all this mean?

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One of my writing teachers told us the best thing we could do would be to marry someone rich who would be okay with supporting us.  Chris Hardwick – I’m still waiting for you to call me!  (Our children would the cutest little blue-eyed geeks you could imagine…sigh)

In the interim, however, many of us find it necessary to take “day jobs,” which run the gambit from waiting tables, to nanny-ing to cleaning houses to becoming a professional fluffer… (and if you don’t know what that is PLEASE don’t look it up!)

Three of my friends recently made that leap of faith by leaving shift jobs in favor of freelancing in order to make their schedules more flexible for their art. 

I’m not telling the girl who asked me this question to walk away from a brand new paying job that she’s obviously gone to some trouble to apply for.  But if you don’t show up for those first few days/weeks of training, you might end up terminated before you’re able to cash that first paycheck.

So you have to make a choice.  Here’s what I advise:

1)   NEVER Lie – It’s a terrible habit to develop. It reflects poorly on your work ethic and you never

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know when one boss might know another.  The world is much smaller than you think.  “But-but… I’m an ACTOR!” you say.  “I make people believe fantasy for a living.  It’s what I do!”  For a paying audience? Yes. For people depending on you be somewhere and do something? NO.  In the words of Eric Cartman, “Not cool…”

2)   Let Your Shift Boss Know Your Story – Everyone knows somebody with a dream. And most of us have dreams of our own at one point or another.  You might be surprised by how supportive a supervisor can be.  Work hard at your shift job. Show them how lucky they are to have you.  Build relationships with your coworkers, and discuss with your boss the best possible ways you can “play hooky” without leaving the company in the lurch.  Maybe you’ll find out Tuesdays are really slow, so it’s no biggie if you call in on a Monday night to ditch out.

3)   If Your Boss is NOT Supportive, FIND ANOTHER JOB – I’m serious. Life is too short to spend it pleasing anyone other than YOU.  You’ll find something else that’s more flexible with people who are more supportive.  Just keep looking.

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4)   Keep Pursuing Your Art Every Available Moment – Here’s what happens when you don’t: your cool job with nice people, a supportive boss and/or your supportive spouse eventually become prison wardens keeping you from your dreams.  You’ll blow a fuse, say or do something terrible that you’ll never be able to take back, and burn all those proverbial bridges you are currently worried about.  What’s worse?  By the time that happens – you won’t even CARE!  Because you’ll have had it.  So you work Tuesday – Saturday?  Make sure you’re booking gigs every Sunday and Monday.  Sleep when you’re rich and famous!

5)   Don’t Get Too Comfortable – Your day job pays $800/week?  Awesome. Live on $500.  Or $400.  Don’t go on cruises.  Don’t go to fancy shows and pricey bars. Don’t get hooked on upscale clothes, shoes or cosmetics.  Because when you start spending every dollar you make every week – and it’s super easy to do – you get trapped in the lifestyle of that paycheck.  So now you “CAN’T” leave your day job unless, you know, you get offered a leading role on Law and Order SVU – which will never happen, because you can’t miss a day of work to audition, workshop or get set experience because if you do, you won’t be able to afford that set of custom gels every other week at that cute salon that brings you ‘complimentary’ mimosas…

6)   Save Money and Make an Exit Strategy – Remind yourself DAILY that your day job is only temporary.  Continue to set goals daily and weekly as an artist. Remind yourself that you ‘don’t belong’ in the office, or with your coworkers.  If you become ‘one of them,’ you truly run the risk of losing yourself in the process. Stash some cash in savings or at least pay off any debts/loans you have. That way, when you take your leap, you’ll be able to live off of less money from day one.

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7)   Do the Math – All opportunities are not created equal.  If you’ve already played a Brooklyn Hipster Pedestrian three times in a month, maybe it’s okay to tell Casting that you’re already booked for the day they want to use you. (NOT a lie if you’re booked to work at your actual JOB!) That way, next week when you’re offered a featured spot at SAG scale because you can ride a unicycle, you don’t feel guilty taking THAT day off, and your boss will be happy to give it to you. (PS – Whenever refusing a casting, ALWAYS SAY you’re already BOOKED on another job.  And then, of course say, thank you!)

8)   Set Specific Goals and Stick to Them (Within Reason) – Nothing pushes you harder than putting goals in writing and reviewing them daily.  I put sticky notes on my mirror.  That way, when I’m checking out that fine ass in my ‘first change,’ I’m also reminding myself that I’m working toward a SAG speaking role by the end of February.  If I don’t land it until March 3^rd, I’m not going to flog myself or give up on my dreams.  But make a plan.  How long before you want to be following your career goals full time?  Six months? Eighteen?  Get out a calendar, a pen and some PAPER.  (I’m serious about the pen and PAPER.  It really makes a difference.) Do a little math.  Need to pay off a student loan?  Can you at least pay off enough to refi at a lower payment in ten months?  Well, write down the steps and dates to accomplish them by.  And most importantly, decide when this job’s expiration date is.  Don’t say – “when something better comes along.”  You’ll spend your life waiting instead of LIVING.

www.google.com via giphy.com

So no, it’s probably not worth blowing off your training for your new job just to work background on a network TV show tomorrow – unless of course, you’ve decided while reading this to just throw caution to the wind entirely and ditch the day job altogether!  But if you think this shift job can be a port in a financial storm for a bit, then by all means, hunker down – but don’t loose sight of the bigger picture.

And remember – everything CAN happen for a reason!  Maybe by saying no, thank you to “NAME OF SHOW,” tonight, when you’re free in a few weeks, you’ll get a chance at working it again in a more featured capacity that you’d have missed out on if you worked it tomorrow!  Stranger things have happened – like “blizzards” for example! Hope this helps!

19 Ways Being a Working Actor is Like Being in a Bad Relationship

1)   You literally spend days waiting for a call, and you always pick up IMMEDIATELY!

 

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2)   You are constantly judged primarily on your looks – and you’re somehow okay with that…

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3)   You’re willing and eager to let them make you over any way they like.

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4)   You’re happy to become someone totally different for them for as long as they keep calling you back.

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5)   You build your entire schedule around them.

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6)   You know when they stop calling that they’ve got someone else, but you’re happy to go back as soon as they call you again.

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7)   They forget or never learn you’re name – but you don't mind…

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8)   They expect you to come out at ridiculous hours of the day or night and you always go to them – no questions asked.

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9)   They can be very secretive and give you a ‘Fake Name’ (aka – a Working title) and you respect their privacy.

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10)  You’ll subject yourself to extreme temperatures, rain, snow, heat exhaustion, sleep deprivation and sometimes starvation just to spend the day ‘together.'

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11)  They say, “Jump,” and you LITERALLY ask, “How high?”

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12)  You’re probably giving a lot more than you’re getting out of it.

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13)  You spend most of your money trying to make them happy… (clothes, beauty products, workshops)

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14)  When you’re sick or out of town, they completely forget you exist.

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15)  You could end up bruised or scarred - physically and/or emotionally…

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16)  You’re always questioning your self-worth…

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17)  When you’re with them, they control everything you do – what you wear, where you go, when you eat…

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18)  Your friends and family all think you’re CRAZY to keep going back…

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19)  But at the end of the day you don’t care what anyone else thinks – because this is LOVE!!!

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The Abundance Trap -or- Don't Forget your Attitude of Gratitude!

 It begins with the best intentions.

You read inspirational quotes.  You clarify a goal in your mind.  You radiate optimism, and your life begins to fill with all the things you were seeking.

Who ISN'T inspired by an eagle? http://aboveaverage.me/best-motivational-posters/

But then…

You fine tune your goals and up the ante.  You panic when the new goal isn’t met immediately.  Your mindset slips quietly from optimism to desperation.  You question your abilities to make things happen.  You start grabbing at leads that have nothing to do with your end goals fearfully hoping that you can change the course of the opportunity instead of staying on your own course to begin with…

And then you wake up weeks, months – maybe years later – and wonder how it all went wrong.

IT didn’t go wrong.  You went wrong.  Or in this case – I went wrong.

I stopped doing the things that were leading me to success.  I grasped at straws and systematically created my own misery and wallowed in my fear and guilt.

And today – I’m trying to check myself before I wreck myself yet again.

I’ve been in NYC less than two months.  In fact, today marks exactly eight weeks.

The first two weeks I spent unpacking, getting settled and reaching out to some of my friends who were already here.  I started meeting up with my contacts, looking for work opportunities, and writing a new web series.

Then I got really sick for two weeks…

My fifth week I registered with a high-volume casting agency, and for the last three consecutive weeks I’ve managed to book three days a week on various film and TV projects as non-union talent.

So last week, I decided that my next step was to become union, and – perish the thought – no one came up to me in the last five days waving a SAG card in my face.

So yesterday – believe it or not – I actually started to panic.  Sure – I’d worked as recently as Thursday night into Friday morning.  But yesterday (Saturday) I just started to lose my sh*t because I hadn’t booked anything for the coming week yet.  And I didn’t have a SAG card yet.  And I’m still not a household name even though I’ve been working for THREE WHOLE WEEKS in NYC…

What HAVE I done?

Booked nine days on shows, seen a Tony-winning Broadwaymusical, attended the final dress of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, shared an elevator with the entire line up of @Midnight comics at a live taping, seen some great live comedy, rocked my first NYC open mic, reconnected with some super talented friends, made some really promising new contacts, written the first two webisodes of my new series, posted a couple blogs, attended a few writer’s group meetings, started singing with a new choir…

So what’s my malfunction???

Today – I’m taking a big breath and smiling.  Today I’m rejoicing at how amazing the last eight weeks have been.  Today, I REFUSE to panic.  Today I KNOW that I’ll get my new headshots, I’ll book more work and I’ll get my SAG card – if not this week, then next. 

Today I accept that I AM doing everything I need to be doing.  I accept that the abundance, which I am already experiencing, is still flowing freely in my direction.

 Thankful for the little things! https://emedcert.com/blog/house-quotes-motivational-posters

I’m still reaching for my goals. But TODAY I am so GRATEFUL to the wonderful people in my life who are helping me each step of the way.

And what I’m doing is more than enough.

I’ll book more work this week.  The paychecks will keep coming.  The SAG card will get here.  The comedy bookings will come.  And the truth is, for someone like me, there will always be a new goal – a new project, a new set of accomplishments to reach for.  I know that about me, and I’m glad that even after all this time I’m still trying to get better.  It keeps life interesting.  But if you don’t take time to appreciate what you’ve done, how far you’ve come and all the people and things that helped you get there, the only person you’re cheating is yourself – and I refuse to do that!

Thank you for your support!

The First Commandment of Background Work - STFU!!!

You’ve seen the ads:

Have fun and get paid!  Network TV shows and feature films need ALL TYPES as working Extras.  Call this number to get started. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY!

You call the number.  You fill out some papers.  Someone takes your photo and… VOILA!

A couple weeks later you are indeed on a set somewhere as a Non-Union extra for a film or TV show starring actors you may or may not have heard of yet.  In return for sacrificing at least 12 hours of you life, you will be paid a flat day rate of somewhere between $80 and $100 dollars, you’ll be fed “Lunch” (which typically is more glamorous than it sounds) and maybe – just maybe – when the project is released, you’ll be able to catch a quick glimpse of your backside or an earlobe that you can point to and tell your friends, “Hey!  That was me just then!”

See the guy across the street in the orange coat? Probably an Extra! (Photo Source)

But I’m here to tell you, that the No Experience Necessary part is a calculated risk taken by Casting Agencies.  There is a need to keep rotating through background actors on a regular basis on TV shows and films.  If you keep showing the same 20 people in the background over and over, regular viewers are going to figure out that the police in last week’s episode are now bartenders this week.  So to mix things up, Agencies sign dozens of new faces each week to keep their projects happy.  And Casting Directors for the shows themselves frequently put out calls specifically for talent that “haven’t worked this season.”

Calls like these open the door to new and hungry background performers, giving inexperienced people a chance to work on a professional crew for the first time.  The problem is, just a few inexperienced extras can considerably slow down the pace of a workday on set – a day that is already designed to be twelve hours long!

So, in light of some recent experiences in the Big Bad Apple, I’m taking some time out of my life to write some tips to new Extras – or people considering working as extras – because yes – it IS work.  And if you’re a PA, AD or Casting Director and you’d like your Background Actors to read this next mini series of posts – go right ahead and share.  Just remember where you read it first ;)

The First Commandment of Background Work – Shut the BLEEP Up!!!

Dear Background Actor,

You do not have a line of dialogue in this episode.  If you did have a line of dialogue, you would have your own private dressing/holding area.  You would go through ‘the works’ and get full hair/make-up and wardrobe, and a PA (Production Assistant) would be at your beck and call fetching you water and snacks.  You’d also have a full contract for your day’s work, and become Union Eligible. 

However – you are a BACKGROUND Actor.  Your job is to be silent while people with lines of dialogue deliver them into highly sensitive microphones during takes.

Admittedly, it’s not always easy to be silent.  Sometimes you’re given specific business (or blocking) to do that involves walking to and from marks across set, interacting with other actors in the scene, delivering food or drinks etc.

Frequently you will be told by the 2^nd AD (Second Assistant Director) or even the 1^st AD (First Assistant Director) to show a lot of energy during the take.  You’ll then be expected to match that level of energy again and again and again as adjustments are made to the lighting, lenses are changed on the camera, and actors are asked to make subtle changes to their performances. 

There will be many takes of the same scene.  You’ll be doing the same thing over and over.  And you’ll be asked to do it in COMPLETE SILENCE with high energy multiple times.

I know what you’re thinking. 

“I’m an Actor, not a Ninja!  How am I supposed to walk with lots of energy, fake a conversation with two other people, toast drinks and not make a sound?!?”

Start working on those ninja skills.  They are very important.  Sometimes you’ll make some accidental noise.  It happens.  You are cautioned by the ADs and the whole scene resets.

But please – for the love of all that that’s holy – DO NOT TALK OR WHISPER DURING TAKES!!!

No matter how quiet you think you’re being – those mics pick up everything.  EVERYTHING!!!  

With or without the Dead Cat - Audio hears it all! (Photo Source)

Sometimes the audio department asks to hold the roll because they can hear the hum of a plane that is still miles away.  The rest of us on set can’t hear it yet, but Audio knows that it will ruin the take, so they wait for it to pass.

So yes – if you’re bitching about the blister on the bottom of your foot – the guy holding what looks like a huge fishing pole with a furry chinchilla on the end of it (actually called the Boom Mic) can hear Every. Single. Word.

You will notice that after the action stops and the Director or 1^st AD yells, “Cut,” the work resumes, and suddenly there is a flurry of movement and talking.  This does not mean, however, that you need to talk. 

Chatter immediately after a take is very important to the crew.  Maybe a light needs to move.  Maybe the script supervisor realized the actress is wearing the wrong shoes for this scene.  Maybe the camera assistant needs to check focus marks.  Whatever it is – the crew chatter is VITAL to the success of the shoot. 

Giggling about pantomiming a conversation is not vital.  If your ‘scene partner’ tries to chat with you, it’s okay to smile politely and indicate that you’re being quiet while the work happens.

This can be very frustrating for first-time Extras – or even Extras who have worked before but weren’t properly schooled about the process.

When told to reset for another take, “same as the last one,” I’ve heard so many Extras grumble, “Man, why can’t the actors get it right?  They should give me the line.  I won’t f%ck it up!”

Don’t say that. 

First of all – it might have nothing to do with the actors.  There are lots of moving parts to some takes.  The shoot I was on last week had scenes involving lighting cues in the middle of takes that also used multiple camera angles where at least one of the cameras was moving and so were the actors.  There was probably a boom mic in the equation as well.  That means – for that take to be good for both cameras – the lighting department had to hear the cue and change the lights at just the right moment, the cameras had to adjust focus for each step the actor took and the actor had to hit the exact right mark all at the same time, while the boom mic picked up the sound, followed the action and DIDN’T create any shadow on the actor or the camera lens.  Now are you getting an idea of “what’s taking so long?”

With all those variables – now toss in up to fifty Background Actors who think the mic can’t hear them when they whisper or giggle – fifty human beings who are choreographed to move soundlessly behind the main action as if they had no idea that two cameras were in the room at all.

One clinked glass, rogue giggle, late cross or accidental look into the camera can destroy that entire take.  And we’re all going “back to one” aka the mark we started from.

Sometimes you’ll slip.  You’ll let the monotony get the better of you and in very low tones you talk softly to a scene partner between takes.  If you’re very quiet, you’ll probably ‘get away with it’ without a reprimand from the ADs.  BUT – the minute you hear the magic word, “ROLLING,” you must – MUST – become completely quiet.  They don’t yell, “Rolling” on set just to shut the Extras up.  That’s the word designed to tell EVERYONE – the crew, the producers and yes even the cast – to Shut the F*** Up!  If you need to be told to be quiet AFTER the crew calls “Rolling,” you have done something very, very wrong.  And you could be ejected from set.

You don’t want that.  Trust me.  Even though you may feel a little anonymous as just a face in the crowd – you’re documented.  You have a paper trail – or else you couldn’t get paid.  If you get kicked off a set for unprofessional behavior, you truly may never work again. 

I know how basic this all sounds – but believe me, if everyone on set did this, I wouldn’t be writing this post.

I’ll be writing more Background Commandments in the next few days.  I welcome comments, questions and shares.  The more people who take this to heart – the less pain and suffering the rest of us will have to endure on set and the faster we’ll all hear those magic words… “That’s a wrap!”

Suspicions Confirmed...

Apparently I’m ‘unbelievably’ hot and pretty much the ‘perfect’ woman for most men…

I don’t know why I do it, but every once in a while, I find myself sticking my toe into the waters of online dating.  It’s a morbid curiosity that most closely resembles the fascination one has with a freshly dead corpse.

This week’s single’s site? LoveArts.com

It’s based out of the UK, which should have deterred me immediately because I’m really only interested in meeting men who live somewhere along the I-4 corridor between Orlando and Daytona Beach.  But I thought, maybe this site that claims to be for “arts lovers” might be the right place for a girl like me.

First of all – not many of the men on the site seem to be involved in the arts.  Big negative.  But apparently that doesn’t deter them from wanting a woman in the arts because I discovered that I’m a 99% match for most of the men who bothered filling out profiles.  Of course, that’s not hard with discriminating criteria such as “From Anywhere in the world,” “Between the ages of 21 and 50,” and “Any star sign.”  Don’t get me wrong.  I didn’t specify a star sign either – primarily due to my penchant to fall helplessly in lust with Capricorn men, who are my astrological opposite…

Sounds about right...

But to see so many men for whom I’m a 99% match simply confirms what I’ve suspected for years – I AM the perfect woman! (Probably mainly because I am a woman and not just another right hand…)

So – I’m filling out my profile and I get to the all important ‘photo upload’ page and I think, Okay, I’m going to put up a few of my recent professional shots.  I mean, I’m supposed to be putting my best face forward – right?  Not so much…

The administrator deleted all my photos – twice.  They sited the reason as: It is a suspected fake photo. Send proof of ID before uploading it again.  

Yep – apparently I’m too hot to be real…

I had to send an email in which I pasted links to my professional web site, my IMDb page and my blog to ‘prove’ this hot piece of a$$ is fully legit.

How many times do I have to tell you I'm PERFECT???

This served as yet another warning sign that there aren’t many ‘artists’ on this page because actors, models, musicians and comics all have professional “glossy studio” photos of themselves as a rule.

So this morning I discovered I had 12 profile views… By one member – a 55-year-old ‘party animal’ in Malaysia…

SoNNY – if you’re reading this, I’m sorry to say – even though I might be the ‘perfect’ woman for you, I just don’t think we’re a match…