Quote:
Originally posted by Jak
OK, along these lines...
Who here is actually seriously pursuing an acting career, going to classes, auditioning for parts, etc?
/me raises hand.
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I spent 5 years working for a couple of German commercial, and film producers.
Some of my duties were production management, location scouting, did some offline video editing work, managed casting as well as put together casting reels, and show reels.
Anyway when I first moved to "Hollywood," this was my big dream, to be an actor. I was doing stand up comedy in Texas, and Oklahoma and thought I'd make an attempt at the big time.
Went to some open mic nights and got screwed around, end up going on at like 2 am with only 2-3 real customers the rest are other comics and some of them are sitting there with pads and pens writing down your best material.
I said fuck it and stuck it out working my way up with the company I was working for.
Managing casting sessions, and editing the casting reels to present to clients etc, I got to see firsthand on a daily basis how demeaning this whole process can be.
Imagine spending your day 8-10 hours running around from audition to audition pretending to eat an invisible candy bar, drink an invisible soft drink, or drive an invisible car all the while having a stupid ass grin on your face so you look like you enjoy it.
I watched these people knowing full well that their 15 minutes of fame would more than likely be a regional ad and possibly a national ad for someone like Colgate and that's it.
The money can be good, I've had friends live for years off of residuals from 1 ad. One good friend of mine got paid $30k a year just so they could use her 5 second spot where she eats some yoplait yogurt and smiles...LOL
But spots like that are few and far between.