Frustrated actor
I took a break on this site because any time I would post, I'd get a lot of troll type comment. (Warning long read) I just had a lot of this bottled up and needed to express this somewhere
I'm an actor from the dmv area and right now I feel I'm at a crossroads. I feel like I put so much into this but I'm not getting any thing in return. I know that's just how this industry is so I had to accept this kinda feeling before going full fledge into it but when you spend 500 dollars just for two decent head shots, when you spend thousand of dollars on a reel footage (did this because I can't even get auditions since you have to submit first, sort of like a pre selection phase kinda deal before even getting to audition) I'm mixed Asian origin and Native American black foot so I fit a specific niche look, and so I can only submit to "all ethnicity" type roles. They also have to fit my age, within that, even though I am not doing this for money, I was also willing to travel but when the distance is too far and the money wouldn't even compensate for travel that narrows my submissions even further. So with that being said, I can't mass submit/audition like most people. I understand you need thick skin to even pursue this but I'm finding myself in a place where to hell with booking a role, I can't even get rejected because I've submitted for hundreds of projects and it's all sent off into the void as they say. Like I said I've submitted to hundreds of projects and I haven't gotten selected for a single audition. Let that sink in. The problem is self tapes in my opinion. When that became the norm even after covid stopped being a thing, that's just sort of where the industry moved to in terms of auditions.
Before you could just openly audition, show up and do your thing, now you need to be pre selected just to be picked to audition and according to most casting directors, even for smaller projects for small jobs they're getting hundreds if not thousands per gig/role. This is straight from the horses mouths of casting directors. It is so hard to be seen when it's set up like this because if you showed up to an in person audition, yeah they'll see a lot of people as well but you could stand out in other ways that your head shots, even your acting could not show on tape. Your energy, your vibe, your personality can make you stand out. Now you're just another submission waiting to be sent off into the void. Then people have told me to make my own stuff, which I have but there are 2 problems with that. For one knowing it's your own project and it isn't something you feel you've worked for or earned, nor will get proper credit for since it's only coming thru you as the producer, director and writer, it stopped being fulfilling. Even if I was fulfilled, part of the other problem is casting, finding willing participants to be a part of your vision is hard, even whenever I did make it paid and trust me I'm a struggling actor, I can't afford to pay decent pay to get a decent cast so I can shoot something. Now I can just turn on the camera and shoot something quick by myself if I really wanted to film something that badly but I pride myself on quality and have a set standard for myself as well. If it's not going to be good or up to par with the ever growing standard of filmmaking, I'm simply not going to do it. There are so many short film scripts that had juicy stories I have written out that never came to light simply because of not being able to find affordable location or find cast.
Everything feels like a bust. I've taken classes, started seeing a 1 on 1 acting coach, everything within my power to improve myself as an actor, I did and nothing is paying off in the slightest. At this point it's not about your acting skills anymore, or maybe it never was. I know someone is going to say that's just part of the business but I am slowly but surely starting to realize that this isn't even a business anymore, it's a raffle. You put your name in the hat just so you can audition, then if you do good and absolutely kill it, there's also call backs, 2nd call backs...It's soul draining to say the least. I get it, more people want to be actors, so this industry is very overly saturated which I know that's an overused term by many but it's simply true. There's so much more competition even at the lowest level. I mean this applies even for student film projects on backstage. It's basically like fighting for crumbs with max effort. It just sucks to feel this way because you know it's really out of your control no matter what you do. I've been told by my acting coach who has gotten many people signed by agents that I was up there, told I had a decent look as well, but I feel I am not being seen at all. Tbh I am not looking for advice, as any advice that can be given I have probably already done, (well within the realm of my possibilities and what I can afford to do) This is more just me venting my frustrations. And every other kind of "short cut" way to is mostly a scam and the legit way the way I've been trying to do it just feels like I'm beating a dead horse. Any other struggling actors here who share the same sentiment on this?
I'm not sure if this was even the right category to put this post but there was no section for anything acting related
I'm an actor from the dmv area and right now I feel I'm at a crossroads. I feel like I put so much into this but I'm not getting any thing in return. I know that's just how this industry is so I had to accept this kinda feeling before going full fledge into it but when you spend 500 dollars just for two decent head shots, when you spend thousand of dollars on a reel footage (did this because I can't even get auditions since you have to submit first, sort of like a pre selection phase kinda deal before even getting to audition) I'm mixed Asian origin and Native American black foot so I fit a specific niche look, and so I can only submit to "all ethnicity" type roles. They also have to fit my age, within that, even though I am not doing this for money, I was also willing to travel but when the distance is too far and the money wouldn't even compensate for travel that narrows my submissions even further. So with that being said, I can't mass submit/audition like most people. I understand you need thick skin to even pursue this but I'm finding myself in a place where to hell with booking a role, I can't even get rejected because I've submitted for hundreds of projects and it's all sent off into the void as they say. Like I said I've submitted to hundreds of projects and I haven't gotten selected for a single audition. Let that sink in. The problem is self tapes in my opinion. When that became the norm even after covid stopped being a thing, that's just sort of where the industry moved to in terms of auditions.
Before you could just openly audition, show up and do your thing, now you need to be pre selected just to be picked to audition and according to most casting directors, even for smaller projects for small jobs they're getting hundreds if not thousands per gig/role. This is straight from the horses mouths of casting directors. It is so hard to be seen when it's set up like this because if you showed up to an in person audition, yeah they'll see a lot of people as well but you could stand out in other ways that your head shots, even your acting could not show on tape. Your energy, your vibe, your personality can make you stand out. Now you're just another submission waiting to be sent off into the void. Then people have told me to make my own stuff, which I have but there are 2 problems with that. For one knowing it's your own project and it isn't something you feel you've worked for or earned, nor will get proper credit for since it's only coming thru you as the producer, director and writer, it stopped being fulfilling. Even if I was fulfilled, part of the other problem is casting, finding willing participants to be a part of your vision is hard, even whenever I did make it paid and trust me I'm a struggling actor, I can't afford to pay decent pay to get a decent cast so I can shoot something. Now I can just turn on the camera and shoot something quick by myself if I really wanted to film something that badly but I pride myself on quality and have a set standard for myself as well. If it's not going to be good or up to par with the ever growing standard of filmmaking, I'm simply not going to do it. There are so many short film scripts that had juicy stories I have written out that never came to light simply because of not being able to find affordable location or find cast.
Everything feels like a bust. I've taken classes, started seeing a 1 on 1 acting coach, everything within my power to improve myself as an actor, I did and nothing is paying off in the slightest. At this point it's not about your acting skills anymore, or maybe it never was. I know someone is going to say that's just part of the business but I am slowly but surely starting to realize that this isn't even a business anymore, it's a raffle. You put your name in the hat just so you can audition, then if you do good and absolutely kill it, there's also call backs, 2nd call backs...It's soul draining to say the least. I get it, more people want to be actors, so this industry is very overly saturated which I know that's an overused term by many but it's simply true. There's so much more competition even at the lowest level. I mean this applies even for student film projects on backstage. It's basically like fighting for crumbs with max effort. It just sucks to feel this way because you know it's really out of your control no matter what you do. I've been told by my acting coach who has gotten many people signed by agents that I was up there, told I had a decent look as well, but I feel I am not being seen at all. Tbh I am not looking for advice, as any advice that can be given I have probably already done, (well within the realm of my possibilities and what I can afford to do) This is more just me venting my frustrations. And every other kind of "short cut" way to is mostly a scam and the legit way the way I've been trying to do it just feels like I'm beating a dead horse. Any other struggling actors here who share the same sentiment on this?
I'm not sure if this was even the right category to put this post but there was no section for anything acting related
22-25, M
