# How do "free" actors and actresses find acting jobs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2016, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-free-actors-and-actresses-find-acting-jobs/742120 "2016-01-04T02:10:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-free-actors-and-actresses-find-acting-jobs/742120/21 "2016-01-05T15:45:59Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Well, it’s not _quite_ so binary. If you are an actor who gets cast as a regular on a series and it runs for a few years, you can go from being a Starbucks Barista to making $500,000 a year just like that. Not superstardom, but serious money. Sure, but what I was getting at with my original question is whether it’s possible for an actor to have what amounts to a middle-class job as an actor, and bring in roughly 65k a year through acting and nothing else, without some kind of windfall like being cast in a supporting role in a major film, or getting a series regular role. It sounds like the answer really is no, that you’ll get paid scale +10, which would require you to work something like 72 days a year (6 daily gigs a month) at the SAG daily rate ($906), or 21 weekly gigs at the weekly rate ($3145), which sounds unlikely for an actor to score year in and year out. ([numbers from here- SAG PDF file](http://www.sagaftra.org/files/sag/rate_sheet_theatrical_8_15.pdf)) ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-free-actors-and-actresses-find-acting-jobs/742120/22 "2016-01-05T15:59:37Z")
[That Guy … Who Was in That Thing](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2402200/) was an interesting documentary of several character actors. They talk about the feast-or-famine lifestyle where they make a bunch of money for a short while and then go months without anything and are unsure if something is going to come through. I think I saw it on Netflix or Showtime. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-free-actors-and-actresses-find-acting-jobs/742120/23 "2016-01-05T16:00:24Z")
I imagine that “Flo” the insurance spokeslady is an example of somebody who makes a very comfortable living as the ongoing face and voice of a commercial sponsor. I’ve never seen her appear in anything else, and I’m sure she’s not puling in the money like a regular on a popular TV series. Maybe Carlton the Doorman would be in a similar category as a TV regulator, as we never even saw his face. Or Wilson, the never seen neighbor of the Tool Guy. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-free-actors-and-actresses-find-acting-jobs/742120/24 "2016-01-05T16:20:19Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Haven’t you ever seen “American Idol” or “America’s Got Talent”? > > There are some seriously deluded people out there WRT their performing arts talents. Oh yes. Very true. Dreams of fame sure do die hard. No doubt about it. Very, very difficult to admit that you don’t have any talent once you have convinced yourself that you have “star power” talent. Very, very difficult to let go of that dream. My heart goes out to people who have been infected by the dream of “fame & fortune in Hollywood”. That dream just will not die easily. It’s a very hard dream to kill. But, I wish “good luck” to all those people - regardless of just how much talent they have. It is a very hard dream to kill and it’s very hard to watch people make fun of others because they have no talent but still continue to pursue their dreams of fame regardless. Know what I mean? So sad. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-free-actors-and-actresses-find-acting-jobs/742120/25 "2016-01-05T18:07:37Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Sure, but what I was getting at with my original question is whether it’s possible for an actor to have what amounts to a middle-class job as an actor, and bring in roughly 65k a year through acting and nothing else, without some kind of windfall like being cast in a supporting role in a major film, or getting a series regular role. > > It sounds like the answer really is no, that you’ll get paid scale +10, which would require you to work something like 72 days a year (6 daily gigs a month) at the SAG daily rate ($906), or 21 weekly gigs at the weekly rate ($3145), which sounds unlikely for an actor to score year in and year out. ([numbers from here- SAG PDF file](http://www.sagaftra.org/files/sag/rate_sheet_theatrical_8_15.pdf)) You are forgetting residuals. That is where the money is. An actor in a nationally running commercial makes far, far more from residuals than from the day rate. Ditto for a show which gets repeated a lot, like the Nick shows used to be. (And maybe still are.) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-free-actors-and-actresses-find-acting-jobs/742120/26 "2016-01-05T18:12:49Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I imagine that “Flo” the insurance spokeslady is an example of somebody who makes a very comfortable living as the ongoing face and voice of a commercial sponsor. I’ve never seen her appear in anything else, and I’m sure she’s not puling in the money like a regular on a popular TV series. > > Maybe Carlton the Doorman would be in a similar category as a TV regulator, as we never even saw his face. Or Wilson, the never seen neighbor of the Tool Guy. Since the campaign depends on Flo, the actress playing her surely makes far above SAG scale, unless her agent is a total idiot. But she is still making a fortune from residuals. She’s probably making more money than anyone but the star of a TV series. I believe Carlton’s voice was the voice of the show’s producer or creator or something - so who knows how much he made. I assume they guy playing Wilson’s agent negotiated more than scale also - and he definitely gets residuals too. I assure you - residual checks can roll in for years after the show is made. ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-free-actors-and-actresses-find-acting-jobs/742120/27 "2016-01-05T18:29:27Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Sure, but what I was getting at with my original question is whether it’s possible for an actor to have what amounts to a middle-class job as an actor, and bring in roughly 65k a year through acting and nothing else, without some kind of windfall like being cast in a supporting role in a major film, or getting a series regular role. A regularly-working voice actor can easily make that much. Depending on the client, jobs will generally pay somewhere between $450 and several grand. Five or six jobs a month (which, granted, is a higher than average work-rate) and you’re there. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-free-actors-and-actresses-find-acting-jobs/742120/28 "2016-01-05T19:39:02Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > You are forgetting residuals. That is where the money is. An actor in a nationally running commercial makes far, far more from residuals than from the day rate. Ditto for a show which gets repeated a lot, like the Nick shows used to be. (And maybe still are.) Yeah, my son did one commercial that really made him money - I think the day rate at that time and for what he was doing was between $3-400 ( he didn’t speak, just rode a bike as part of a group). He was paid over $7000 for that one commercial- which wasn’t shown nationally or even in NY and LA. Did the same thing for a TV show - got paid something like $150. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-free-actors-and-actresses-find-acting-jobs/742120/29 "2016-01-06T03:43:02Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I imagine that “Flo” the insurance spokeslady is an example of somebody who makes a very comfortable living as the ongoing face and voice of a commercial sponsor. I’ve never seen her appear in anything else,… She was one of the switchboard operators in the early seasons of **Mad Men**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-free-actors-and-actresses-find-acting-jobs/742120.md?page=1)