Personal income histories - Actor Video Transcripts
Video 1 Transcript
As an actor, personal income, it's interesting because actors, if you look it up, the average actor in the United States makes only $5,000 a year. So most people are part-time acting, which I totally respect, and you have to grind a lot to build up your resume and get opportunities. One thing that's helped me out to be able to do acting full-time is just to take advantage of commercial work. A lot of actors are like, no, I only want to do feature films, or I only want to do narrative content. I don't want to sell out. But commercials, I've found to be very rewarding. They're fast. They only take usually one to two days, and they pay a lot better because you're marketing a product. And so they're backed by companies that pay you for using your image and things like that. So yeah, I would say look for commercial work. And the best way to do that is to get an agent. You can look them up online and start getting commercial gigs. It'll make a big difference.
Video 2 Transcript
So my personal income history has varied vastly. Obviously, when you start out doing community theater, you're typically not getting paid. I got into doing things with Hale Center Theater that does pay their actors. It's not a ton of money, but it's, you know, maybe 25 to 100 something per show, depending on your role. And you get paid a little stipend for rehearsals. That's always really nice. Then film jobs can really be anywhere. You can do them for free for a friend, or I've made like over a thousand bucks for an hour of filming. It's insane. There's no like set rate. If you're with SAG, the union, then there are set rates for how much you will get paid. But as far as how often you're working, that will determine how much you're making, which sometimes can be a lot and sometimes can be not as much as you would like.
Video 3 Transcript
If you're looking to get into acting because you want to make a lot of money, there's so many other ways to make a lot of money. Way, way easier ways. This would be probably at the bottom of the list of how to make a million dollars or how to get rich quick. Acting really, and performing in general, is really about the art itself and the fact that you can't seem to shut it off inside of you. And you know what it is that you do, and you hope and pray that the pay is pretty good. I know other people on here will tell you there's a pretty broad range, and it's true. And I've made enough to stay alive, but I've also had to work other jobs.
Video 4 Transcript
Making money as an actor is really, really difficult for most actors, and probably for all actors just starting out. Now, there's some people who have success very quickly. There's some people who have success very much later. Most people struggle for years and years and years, and then they have success very quickly. People almost always have side jobs or other people who support them. I've had lots of different jobs until I settled into all industry jobs. Some of my side jobs in the past in the industry have been, I've been an editor, I've been a composer, I've been a director, I direct music videos, I do comedy videos, I've made money on social media. It's a great place for actors to create content and make money. I've won lots of prizes on social media for my comedy videos. It's really hard, and feast or famine.
Video 5 Transcript
Income as an actor, it can go from zero to thousands of dollars. It all depends on what kind of project you get on. There's projects I've done for nothing, and there's projects I've done for $100. There's projects I've done for $250. So income varies. It fluctuates so much. It just all depends on what you get is what you get paid.
Video 6 Transcript
Personal income stories. Yeah, that's kind of, that's funny. I'll just tell you one. There are ways to make a lot of money in this film, in this business, and ways to make absolutely no money, but there was a time as an adult married with children when I had ten dollars to my name. Yeah, I'm not lying. Ten dollars to my name. And I had ten dollars because I went to lunch with a friend and he gave me ten dollars. I didn't ask him to, but he just did. And so, yeah, there's a good story for you. You want to be an actor? Think about the money. You have the talent and all that kind of jazz. Sure, but you want to live in a house, you want to drive a car, you want to have food to eat, clothes on your back, food on the table for you and your family, your kids, your wife, your husband. Just to follow up on the personal income histories. Yeah, there was a time I had ten dollars to my name and as an adult with a family. And so, yes, well, how did I get out of it? I don't know. I really don't remember. I mean, it was a while ago, but probably what happened was I probably got a really nice residual check that got me through for a few months or a film came along or somebody owed me money or something. I don't know how it happened, but I will say that the hand of God is a really important aspect of life in general and certainly in the life, I think, of an actor because it's such a tough business. And I've seen the hand of God in my life, all through my life, and I'm going on 80 years old. So, yeah, God is good. God is great. And we thank him.
Video 7 Transcript
Some of my funnest projects have been volunteer projects. Like for JC Films, that has been amazing. Some of the most amazing projects just collaborating with other ALS actors who are also volunteering for the project. There has been some other projects where the income history where I didn't think I was going to get paid for like three months and it got in my mailbox like 10-12 days later. So I was pretty excited about that. But yes, I've worked on volunteer projects and then you just never know. You never know how long a project is going to last. If you're getting paid one percentage or even one set fee, it could go way higher.
Video 8 Transcript
I don't even know how to answer this one. There's sometimes a lot of money, sometimes there's a little bit of money and you can't predict anything. So you just have to be ready for it all. When I was single, it was a lot easier. In the LA market, in New York, I could just focus. I'm an actor, that's what I do. And then I'd have like a little side hustle and just focus, focus, focus. But I got married, I got kids, I got responsibilities. So priorities have changed and I have to balance that. And that's my choice. So acting can't be the number one. But I have found lately, instead of the wildland firefighting and running the power plant and whatever real estate job, I have found that I can find ways to make money inside the industry. Work as a PA, work as a boom operator, editor, producer, directing, whatever. Get into, if you could find a way to make money inside that creative space, it's only going to help and prepare you.
Video 9 Transcript
As an actor, there are going to be jobs that you work that will pay nothing and are still completely worth it, and then other projects that aren't as fulfilling but do pay well, so it's kind of a toss-up. It's definitely hard to make all of your income on just acting alone or just in the industry. I haven't worked a job job for a few years, but I also do a lot of I do a lot of commercial writing, so there's definitely a lot of ways to make money in the industry that are non-conventional or maybe not even what you thought you would be using your talents or skills for, so I would just say get creative. Also, be willing to do things that you love and you're going to have to sacrifice money for sometimes. It's a balance, you know?
Video 10 Transcript
When you start out as acting, you're going to work for free. If you start in community theater, which I recommend everyone does, it's going to cost you money because you've got to get gas to get there, and it's your time, but time is your investment. But once you start getting paid, you can get paid as little as, phew, $25 a movie up to I've gotten $2,000 a day to do things, which in the Hollywood scheme of things, not a lot of money, obviously. But it pays crap and it pays well. It depends, and it depends on your level of success, too, and how badly they want you. So if you're looking for a steady income and a reliable income and the certainty and the sanctity of a steady paycheck, look somewhere else because I've said before, you're not going to get rich doing this, and the money's all over the place, but always go after what you think you're worth. If they offer you this, ask them for that, and then settle somewhere in the middle. It usually works.
Video 11 Transcript
I think a common misconception is that being an actor and booking roles just means you're going to be rich. I one time googled myself to see what the internet thought my net worth was and it said I believe like two to three million dollars. No. I have probably made max twenty thousand dollars from acting in a year and that would be like a really solid year of a bunch of big jobs. So unless you're working on a big studio film or a really huge project a lot of times it's only you're only making a couple hundred dollars. So you have to have sort of a side income or a day job and I mean I've walked dogs, I've been a personal trainer, I've waited tables, I've done all the survival jobs actors do and eventually I just picked a career job and I take acting gigs when I can because I had to survive.
