I live in Salt Lake City, Utah and I had a few questions for actors living and working in the los Angeles area. I would be very grateful if someone could answer these. 1. Can you make enough money working as an Extra to pay your bills, and go to acting classes while you are working on perfecting your craft? How much do you generally make if you are in Sag vs non union, can you work as an extra every day if you want to? 2. I have heard that there are workshops for actors. one or two day workshops that last all day but I can't find anything about that online. All i find is actual acting classes but if I visit the area in the near future I would love to attend a workshop. Do you have any details on how to find them? 3. Do you feel that its harder to get work in LA because of the competitiveness? or easier because of the fact that they film so much stuff there? 4. What acting classes in the area do you reccomend? there are hundreds and i am confused the ones i've looked at are ivana chubbuck, aaron speiser, and clay banks international. any thoughts on those studios? When searching for an acting teacher what do you look for? acting experience? casting director exerience? coaching experience? reputation? 5. Any other tips, or things that could help me about acting in LA would be grateful. Things I should try to do before I get there, if I need an agent in advance, if i should join the union etc. whatever you think could be important for me to know. Thanks
Acting : Question for LA actors by Dan LaRoy
Question for LA actors
Other topics in Acting:
Check out Trending Discussions
Register / Log In
Thanks for answering those questions. I am also SAG eligable just don't want to fork out 3 grand to join the union yet. I have an agent in LA that is interested in meeting with me called 90210 talent. Have you heard of them? are they good? I just don't want to move down there if I can't make a living as an extra because of how competitive everything is there and because its such an expensive city. Which extras casting agencies are you with? I didn't know you could have more than one.
Well that's great advice. I will have to join multiple casting agencies. Although it could get expensive joining a lot of them. I knew about central casting. I have heard that it's the best one. I also knew about actors access and there is extras access as well. Is there just as much work for union extras as there is for non union? can you work as a SAG extra if you are SAG eligable but not in the union? It's so different where I live. There are no casting agencies here. There are a couple of extras casting people that have email and they send me emails periodically. and there is no union extras. If you are in the union you cant be an extra because its all non union. The rate here for non union is 101.50 for a 12 hour day
There are some successful actors in Utah like Michael Flynn he's been in 85 films and he's never left utah or christopher miller he's been in 51 and he's done hundreds of voice over things. Utah isn't as small of a market as people think. This is where the sundance film festival is held and Because of the mountains and cheapness it attracts film makers. But its nothing like LA. The problem is right now I don't think I could get work in LA. If I can't get it here LA is probably even harder. But If I went there I could possibly take some acting classes and improve at a faster rate. I just don't want to go until i'm SAG and maybe have a couple films on my resume. i'm aiming for about a year from now. Luckily I do have a car. But its kind of an old one. I didn't think LA was like that. I thought a city that big would have lots of public transportation like new york does.
Oh geez. You should get a car. I might need to get a newer more dependable one before I move there. It will be so expensive to get there. 3 grand to join sag, plus buying a newer car, plus moving expenses. I better start saving up.
Central casting no longer charges to register. Extra access is kind of a joke. They want you to pay monthly fee to submit for work. LA Casting has a monthly fee too and sometimes the same projects are listed on here too. Why pay for both.
You want an agent and you are not union. Casting will have no interest unless you got film credits. Unless your a special type they are looking for. Get lots of info at SAG-Aftra site.
I already have an agent. I'm young, very attractive and i'm really not worried about getting an agent. It's the other questions I had that are more pressing.
you should be worried about getting an agent as that is the place where you will get hired and finding a good agent who has excellent relationships with working casting directors is not as easy as you might imagine. They have little time or interest in preening talent these days. My suggestion is to get a reel of lots of different work together before you go. Work with any independent film people in your area now. Your day job should be your last thing on the list before you head out.
first of all do you have any credits second a agent will find you if you get out there and get on some movies also about extra rolls yes you can I have many acting friends that only do background and extra work I don't know everybody says get a agent right away get a website get on LA casting actors access central casting Katz and network like crazy don't listen to people that try to discourage you my 2 cents
Jeff that is great advice thankyou. to answer your questions Yes I do have a couple of credits including two lead roles. I have an agent where i live in salt lake city, utah and they have a sister agency in los angeles that I think I could get to represent me. Why do people say not to get an agent right away? I never understood that. Is it just because they usually turn down inexperienced talent? or is there other negative reasons to getting an agent too soon?
well there can be if you get a agent to soon then your paying him or her 10% what ever you earn and when you not sag you don't earn a whole lot but you can pay your bills if you get out there and go to everything you can or get its good to get at least a dozen credits leads are good plus agents some agents don't really do anything for you maybe send you out to some gigs that you could of got yourself ive gotten everything my self I regularly work either on short films indy feature music video ect.. but if you already have a agent whch has a sister agency out here then awesome
Well I haven't done a lot. the two leads i did were really low budget independent films that were both non union. I'm SAG eligable but i'd still like to puff up my resume a bit before heading out to LA. The sister agency in LA would be a big help but I think you are right. they'd send me to stuff i might be able to find myself but i'm not too worried about paying them if they get me work i'm ok with that. but i'm not too worried about the agent situation. I've always been able to get an agent easily even without experience. Because I have a background in modeling and also martial arts they just want to sign me and I could always do stunts in LA while i'm looking for acting gigs. Do you reccomend any acting classes? there are hundreds there.
You can"t make enuff money doing background work unless your 18 to look younger. And this is for union work.