If you can't be bothered to upload 5 seconds of a slate onto just one of your pictures so I can hear what your voice sounds like, I can't be bothered to consider you. If I take the time to look at your reel and the first five seconds is someone else speaking not you, or the entire thing is in the dark, or you don't even bother to have any dialogue and just put music over the entire reel instead, you have no idea what an acting reel even is.

Everybody has a phone. Get yourself a tripod and just record yourself talking about anything even for 5 seconds even if it's just to share your name and height.

I know a lot of actors stress about " getting a reel made" but what is better than most reels is just a few very short clips you recorded yourself with your phone. It could be anything at all. One of the best things I ever saw on an acting profile was a girl who had recorded herself with her phone in the bathroom mirror talking about going on a date that night while she put on makeup.

Stop waiting for somebody else to give you a part so you can have a reel. Get motivated and actually make some effort.

And btw I've also been an actor for over 20 years. So don't even whine about how casting doesn't know how hard it is for you.

I’m white. And I hate it when I see a listing that specifies that they’re only looking for white actors when the race of the character isn’t at all relevant in the script/a member of a family that’s already been cast. Example: a call for a Shakespeare play that specifies only white actors. Or a call for a modern play where race is never mentioned. And so many fucking ingenue roles for amateur short films do this too; describing the love interest as “blonde and light-eyed” and specifically looking for white actors when none of those details are mentioned in the script at all. I also don’t like roles that specify you have to be thin. I understand some roles requiring you to be fit enough to move in certain ways but everyone knows what it means when a listing specifies “athletic/dancer’s build.” I know lots of people who are not very thin who are very fit. I run 6 miles every day and I’m only a size 8 but I’ve been denied roles based on the fact that I don’t look like a dancer.

Anyway, it feels wrong to submit to these roles that are so blatantly reinforcing everything wrong with casting. Then again, I think about the fact that only submitting for roles that are open to all sorts of phenotypes has the opposite effect of adding competition to the job market for performers who are already underrepresented.

Hey is anyone here a Covid conscious actor? How have you stayed connected to the arts while still staying safe?

I want to know if it’s worth pursuing an acting career in this current era, things are changing and it seems like the public are not focusing on actors or putting them on a pedestal anymore, a lot of celebrities, influencers and high profile personalities are being exposed for their dirty past , plus the actors strike, salaries, etc, is this been done on purpose? I’ve seen plenty of videos saying it’s not worth it becoming an actor in this day and age. Any opinions?

A prominent local director/producer followed me on my socials and then approached me to audition for his next feature film.

We chatted, he’s a nice guy, we went back and forth about the character and agreed on how they should be played.

I taped and he loved it.

He just messaged me to tell me that whilst he loved what I did, they want to go on another direction 🤣🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

We all get rejected a lot in this game, but when you submit yourself for something and throw your hat in the ring, there’s always a chance of knock back

But when the producer himself approaches you then rejects you….i mean fuck 🤣🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️

Granted, he did say I wasn’t right for this role (I personally think I might have been a bit too old for it) and that he wants to stay in touch so we can hopefully work together in the future, but if I had a dollar for every time a producer/director/casting director told me that, I wouldn’t need a career 🤣🤷‍♂️

Oh well, on to the next one 😅👍

Do we truly think we’re gonna get replaced by AI, especially within the less than 3 years this contract will be in effect? Everything everyone is worried about is hypothetical. I’m not crazy about scanning, but so far its just been used to fill the background of scenes, and extras are still be employed en-masse despite this technology already being possible.

Think of this too; filmmakers, actors, and audiences want to see “real” things. That is why despite CGI being able to do pretty much everything we still have practical explosions, stunt drivers drifting around turns in real cars, and animated characters performed by humans in mocap suits rather than being completely done in the computer.

Also, let’s say a restaurant scene with two A-list actors with a waiter character is being filmed. How do you think the director and the A-listers would feel about sitting in an empty room with AI/CGI extras (patrons, bartenders, wait-staff) being filled in later, and waiter character also being an AI/CGI creation that they have nothing to act to?

should I mark my designation on websites and auditions as actress and go for fem roles?

First of all, let's not beat around the bush. The studios offered us a 5% pay rise, we went on strike for six months and got a 7% pay rise. I have been active in the acting trade unions for 20 years and this is not a victory for the industry or the labour movement.

I think there are many reasons that we fail in these types of negotiation, but here are a few:

1. We consider ourselves to be artists rather than workers, and as such we fixate on things that have more to do with that identity than our bottom line - I would prefer if basic pay rates, conditions, minimum periods of hire, consecutive employment clauses, ridiculous unpaid holds etc were addressed as a primary concern. Instead we are obsessed with residuals (and let's remember that it's the obsession with class 1 residuals that got us into this mess in the first place when we went in to negotiate streaming originally), and fixated on AI, and everything else gets thrown to the dogs. Let's worry about whether anyone can make a living now first of all. The streaming residuals offer is useless - 100% uptick on a pittance is still a pittance - but what is clear from the negotiations (for both us and WGA) is that the old models of residual / royalty remuneration just don't work any more. These are companies that desperately want to own their content outright, but are used to paying astronomical salaries to employees - so let's innovate with them rather than chasing old scripts. What would happen if we went into the room and suggested ditching residuals completely in exchange for doubling all salaries?

2. We are essentially negotiating on behalf of (at least) three totally different professions, with totally different needs. (a) Background; (b) Part-time actors (day player, occasional guest star, < $30k a year, say); (c) Full-time actors (regular guest stars, movies, series regular etc). We're not negotiating for the stars - they do that themselves.

3. Basic supply and demand. I can't think of any other industries where there are so many people out there who would do the job for free. Keeping a strong collective in those situations is very difficult (though even more important).

4. It is currently not at all clear how essential we are to the profitability of the studios and streamers. We like to think we are, and the streamers and studios don't particularly want to test it out, but drama is expensive to produce, and people will always watch TV. The pandemic broke cinema, and it broke theatre, and we're still trying to figure out how to fix them. Because people adapt, and corporations adapt. Will people still pay their $10 a month if it's only reruns, bought-in overseas drama, reality, true crime documentaries and sports? I don't know and the streamers aren't ready to gamble on it yet, but the answer is... probably. Netflix are at the table in good faith. At some point they'll just say screw it, move all their production to the UK and Europe and call it a day... knowing that eventually the stars will go fi-core and follow.

AI

Since everyone seems to be obsessed with it, I'll throw in my two cents on this. We got good protections on reuse of an actor's likeness. On generative AI / "synthetic performers", firstly they have been used in background roles for decades. And if/when we get to the point where completely synthetic performers (no partial likeness or prompt to look like any specific human) can genuinely and believably replace human performers then we're all out of a job anyway, and there's nothing we can do about it (you don't need to negotiate with a union if you don't need to hire any of their members!)

In any case, we got a pretty good "reserve the right" clause to reopen bargaining if a synthetic performer is used to replace a human. This paves the way for future negotiations on this point.

Generative AI will be trained on all existing TV and film, and there's nothing we can do about it. It will also be trained on *real life* and real people and that's nothing to do with actors. The best guard-rail against training models for generative AI is actually (I think) monopoly laws - let's be real Warner Bros cares more about someone using every episode of Friends to train an AI to write a sitcom than we do.

Anyway, my point is that right now, unlike for the writers, we are not facing an imminent existential threat from AI. We are facing one from lower production levels, one-day guest stars, crappy compensation, unpaid table reads, endless unpaid auditions, a cost of living crisis, and a thousand other ways our expectations have been eroded over the years. I just wish we had addressed some of those first of all.

But I'm voting yes...

... because I don't believe, with the current set of priorities (both from the leadership / negotiating committee and the membership), that there is a substantially better deal on the table. And as someone who works a lot in theatre, and has seen how utterly catastrophic a two-year break in production has been to audience's needs and expectations of going to the theatre at all, I am worried that we will simply end up proving to the production companies that they can make money without us after all.

It's a three-year contract, with meaningful AI protections. The salary upticks are awful, but that's partly our own fault. We can negotiate harder on AI when we know what it looks like and when we face the threat directly, but remember that if they don't need us at all, then we have no negotiating power anyway, and v/o is a good lesson in what can happen if we push too hard when the supply and demand equation is so horrendous.

It's came to my realization that Hollywood/acting has basically vanished. I mean sure there is still production of shows and movies still going on, but I feel nobody watches them and theres no fame to them at all. To me it feels like when was the last time there was a good/popular movie/TV show released that everyone watched and talked about? Oh wait.. not for a long time

If you think about it, basically all live action kids tv shows/movies are completely gone. No more shows are being made like iCarly, Victorious, Good luck Charlie, Shake it Up, Austin and Ally and so on (the list is literally endless). It's just sad that theres no more of this anymore.

As for adult movies and TV shows, I feel like theres still production of it, however these shows or movies just do not get attention and fame like they did before.

I mean I get that now the entertainment industry has changed to YouTube and TikTok, but honestly I think it sucks. I grew up watching TV shows and movies for entertainment, not this social media crap. The celebrities we have now days are not actors anymore, it's now what we call "influencers" we see on social media that now gain fame. I liked it back then when people became celebrities and earned their fame from Hollywood and TV shows/movies. Now we consider celebrities as these stupid influencers that gain fame from posting stupid TikTok/Youtube videos.

It's also been my dream since childhood to become a big actor one day and possibly make it my career, but now with the status of Hollywood and new forms of entertainment, I know that dream is crushed and it is not possible anymore.

Anyone agree with me?

Would you lose your oomph about acting if someone from the not-too-far future told you, that you were not going to be famous and rich but that you would be paid twice as much as you get from your survival/waiting tables job on a monthly basis, always working as an actor, and that you would be recognized locally as an excellent actor but not have worldwide fame.

Would you feel deflated by this and lose motivation and quit?

I was at Film Bar Mondays a few months back. A guy walked up to a director I know, introduced himself, and asked to be considered for an upcoming project inside the first thirty seconds. The director was polite. He also never followed up. I watched the whole thing happen from six feet away.

That guy did everything technically right. Firm handshake, clear pitch, knew the director's recent work. He still left empty-handed. The problem was the order of operations.

Here is what I've learned actually works.

Don't ask for the role

This is the one people get wrong most. You meet a producer or a director and the want is right there at the front of your brain. You can feel it. The temptation is to get it out before they walk away.

Resist that. The first conversation is not a casting opportunity. It is a chance to become a person they remember. The ask comes later, and most of the time you won't even have to make it. People hire actors they already like and trust. You build that by being someone worth talking to, not by being the third person that night who wanted something.

If you walk away from a first meeting and they have no clue what you want from them, you did it right.

Learn the person, not the credit

Before I talk to a filmmaker, I try to know more than their IMDb page. What they care about. What kind of stories they keep coming back to. The frustrating project they're stuck on right now. Most of that doesn't come from research. It comes from asking and then actually listening to the answer.

Ask about the work. Ask what they're shooting next and why that one. Ask what's been hard about it. Directors and producers spend most of their day solving problems nobody thanks them for. Be curious about the problem and you've already separated yourself from everyone else who only wanted to talk about themselves.

Genuine is the operative word. People can smell a transaction. If you're only listening so you can find your opening, they'll feel it.

Be useful before you're needed

The fastest way to matter to someone is to help with something they actually need. You know a location. You know a sound guy who works cheap. You saw their short and have a specific note that's worth hearing. Send the connection. Make the intro.

I've gotten more work from being the person who solved a small problem than from any audition I cold-walked into. Value travels. People remember who made their life easier.

Follow up like a normal human

The day after you meet someone, send one short message. Reference the actual conversation, not a template. "Good to meet you, hope the Augusta shoot goes well" beats "It was great connecting and I'd love to stay in touch" every time. One is real. The other is filler and they've read it a hundred times.

Then stay in their world without crowding it. Comment on the work they post. Show up to the thing they're screening. Be around enough that you're familiar, not so much that you're a notification they dread.

Play a long game

I started acting in Atlanta in my early fifties. I came in with zero connections and a career in a completely unrelated field behind me. The relationships that actually moved my work forward took one to three years to pay off, and none of them started with me asking for anything.

That is the real timeline. Networking is not a transaction you close in one night. It's a reputation you build over years of being decent, curious, and useful to people who do what you want to do.

The role comes when they already know you. So put your energy into being known first, and let the casting take care of itself later.

I pass fine based on looks but my voice is very girly and I won't be able to start testosterone for probably around a year. Will this make it difficult or even impossible to get acting jobs?

We've been getting a decent amount of headshots lately with people asking "what's my type?". I gave a sarcastic (snotty, in his words) response to one individual but thought I'd create a post explaining why.

First, if you don't know your "type", then for the love of god, don't waste money on headshots! A decent headshot photographer should be able to help a little, but it is NOT their job to tell you your type. You should be working with your agent to get the exact pics your AGENT wants to help you get work. If you don't have an agent, then by all means use this sub to help you get a sense of "visual" type. But unless we see your reel, we have no idea what kind of actor you actually are. And unless we see real life pics of you, we can't get a sense of who you really are.

So if you need help, I'd suggest having a friend take a few snapshots of you in the clothes you feel most comfortable wearing (ie, who you really are). This can help get initial "vibes" of your type and then a dialogue can begin to help achieve that type when getting your headshots done. Paying for shots beforehand and then asking others what they see is simply wasting your money and putting the cart before the horse. What's more, if we don't know what you look like in real life, it's impossible to tell you if the headshot is "good" or not. We could say, "blue collar worker" based on the headshot, but as every seasoned actor knows, plenty of noobs walk into the room and look NOTHING like their headshot.

It feels like the sub is being used as a vanity exercise instead of a tool to become a better working actor.

Hi. I am an actor. I'm really good. I promise. I am 28 years old and I started acting four years ago. Four whole years I have been doing this. The last 32 months during a global pandemic. So why can I not get an agent?

I took a Zoom class for awhile. I rehearsed for it a few times and the teacher said I was great. So what if he knew I would give him a bad Yelp review if he said I wasn't? Just like I did with that nasty woman I started with in-person that kept getting on my case? So what if she had a proven track record for training working actors? So what if there are more than 1,000 actors in L.A. that look just like me? So what if there are more than 5,000 worldwide? I deserve an agent, dammit.

I never did theater in high school. I was too cool to hang out with the theater geeks. I never did it in college either and have never done a play nor do I intend to. I have never done anything artistic in my life. That is nerd shit and this is show business. Not show art. I don't have time for it anyway because I have an office job that tires me out too much mentally. I have that because I majored in something practical in college that is not even what I do. So what if there were at least five perfectly good theater, film, and media arts departments in my home state university system I could have attended for cheap had I applied myself in high school? So what if I could have gotten this same job with any one of those degrees? I am too good to work with my hands so don't talk to me about that. I deserve to get an agent and get famous right here from my cubicle.

See, this is all about luck. Every actor you see on television or the big screen just got lucky if they are not nepotism babies. There is no good reason I should not just blow right by all those privileged theater nerds that have been acting since they were little kids. And those that went to college and grad school for it? That spell it with a TRE? Are you kidding me? Nerds! They aren't special like me. No I am not arrogant. They are the ones that are arrogant for thinking they are better than me. So what if they have been committed to acting their whole lives and I only started dabbling in it a few years ago? We don't need a license for this and do not even need to be good at it. But I am good at it because I say so. Better than them.

I would be a lead on a prestige show and on my way to the A-List by now if not for all the talentless nepotism babies clogging up the works and getting in my way. So what if they are proven commodities? So what if they grew up on and around professional television and film sets? So what if I wouldn't even know where to go if I stepped into one of those places? So what if I don't know what 95% of the people on those sets even do? They are in a place that is rightfully mine.

But I can't get a decent agent and cannot for the life of me book the co-star that would surely lead me to the promised land. That is everyone's fault but my own.

I understand they are professional but they are also a human being. How do they prevent themselves from getting hard?

not trolling. I’m wondering if I should wait for a weight loss before searching for casting calls. Cuz I can count the number of fat actors I’ve heard of on one finger : Jonah Hill, John Goodman, Chris Farley…that’s it

I'm just wondering if great actors like Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt who are extremely attractive would likely have as much fame since they have really good skill and looks unlike some actors who are just famous because of looks with average skill. I've never seen a mediocre actor with mid skills go anywhere though. Especially for women.

This is it. I wish I had the chance to discover my calling when I was a child to get into acting and be among child actors. I feel my experience would have been built up into a long and successful career. I am 21 and am not an actor and even if it happens, I kind of feel like it won't reach the same longevity it could've if I had been as enticing and interesting as Tom Holland, Woody Norman or Asa Butterfield. I love expressing myself in daydreams and feel like with the right script, emotions and crew that I can let myself out and make art. Idk what to feel or how to think at the moment.

I also did skits in the past. Just want to know if this is something I should brag about on my resume? Will it stand out?

Genuine question, with new administration coming in, do you think we will have less opportunity for queer actors? I mean, one would think no, but I don’t know anymore with so many things changing so quickly. I’m genuinely concerned. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Hey guys. I (20M) have been going to a drama school for students for a year and I've acted in a play in may last year. This year we're doing a play and I'm supposed to play a character who's the boyfriend of another character played by a girl classmate. Yesterday we did rehearsals for the first time and the teacher said she wants me to have more physical contact with her. I tried, but it felt extremely uncomfortable for me. First, because I'm not used to touching other people and second because I have a girlfriend who I love and respect very very much. My teacher said she expects a kiss too. I said I can't do that and the whole class berated me on how as an actor I have to give myself into the role and how I should've been prepared to do this if I want to be an actor. I didn't give in and I felt SO uncomfortable and and I couldn't help but think of my girlfriend who I've just had a one year anniversary with, thinking how awful it will be when I tell her of what happened. The teacher told me that the least she can do is a kiss on the forehead and I said I can't do that either. I was nagged about how immature it is of me and how I have to get used to it. I felt so horrible. In the end they said I have until next lesson (in two weeks because of holidays) to come to terms with it or come up with a solution. I left feeling like crap and when I told my girlfriend later the evening it made her cry. People who've done drama, what do you think of this? I'm conflicted. Have I done anything wrong?

i'm confused how do they shoot shower scenes where you can see the whole shower like surely they cant be naked like when theres no steam and stuff also how do they shoot "spicy" scenes surely the actors cant be actully doing it