Which Acting Venue Is For Me? (Part II)
Now let us discuss a little more on which area of acting you would like. As we mentioned in an earlier article, the options include the obvious venues like feature films, television shows, and stage productions.
There are several venues you may not have considered, and should. Its a great idea to try them all. If you choose to try them all then you will learn things from each arena and will become a very good actor. Lets look at the acting venues that are a little less familiar.
Television Commercials
Some 80 percent of the cash that people earn from being an actor is from getting paid to be in television commercials (who wouldve thought?). Nationwide Television commercials give you a lot of money, and usually include residual checks each time the spot is aired. Region wide Television commercials pay well too, and sometimes give you residuals. The other payment option is a buyout, where you are paid once for the commercialwith no residuals ever.
The things I adore about television commercials is that they are fun, there are many of them (even if you are in a smaller city), the pay is great for the time consumed, and they take hardly any time compared to movies or shows. The downsides of doing commercials is that they do not stay around forever and once they are finished, you get to look for another job can you remember this position? It is still true.
Industrial Film
Industrials are corporate, government, training or PR films, How-To films sold commercially, films by religious or non-profit organizations, etc. This field is huge and has many opportunities. The pay varies according to the film you are participating in. Industrial film is not restricted to the biggest cities.
Student films
Its worth mentioning that film school students have to make films in order to graduate, and they need actors for these films. You will usually get paid very well if at all, but you will have the opportunity to have a great experience as well as building up your resume. If you find a college/university with a program that puts students through making films, you will find an opportunity to act. Let them know youre available, and youre bound to get a call to audition.
Voiceover
Even though you arent on-camera acting when you participate in voiceovers, you are acting. Tons of actors make a good living participating in voiceover work for TV, animated, industrial film, and radio. Learning how is as easy as reading books aloud. To make it so more people want you to work in their voiceover, you should study languages, character voices, and dialects. There is voiceover work in most cities. The pay can be good. My last voiceover job was $270 for an hour in the studio.
Ok, we have taken a glimpse at some of the acting options that most people would not consider (we cover these much more thoroughly in my ebook). Again, I recommend very strongly that you turn each of these venues into an experience of your own so you can become a well rounded actor. Stay tuned for the next article and we will see you in the movies.
About the Author: John Fisher is a 20-year veteran actor and acting coach. His passion for acting influences his free, tell-all newsletter which addresses everything about how to get into acting from the importance of taking acting classes, to getting into voice-over acting.
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