Creative Arts Professional Practice
Access and Developments.
Over the years, acting has developed much further than anyone could imagine. The growing advances in technology have contributed massively. Many of the old traditions that come with being an actor, still stand today. However, as times changed so did the industry. It used to be that actors needed to find auditions by leaving their house, now you can find information online at the click of a button.
Whilst looking online over the last couple of years, I have myself seen new ways to get jobs as an actor. Becoming a member of Spotlight is very important to be taken seriously in the industry. However, it's not that easy to join. You must have paid credited jobs in the industry or professional training. There are sites that you can join to grow your credits. Actors can now access the industry through sites such as Casting Call Pro, Back Stage, Cast Net, etc. These are all casting sites which show the current jobs available in the industry. An actor can sign up for all of these, with a small subscription fee, and grow their online presence and start to network. I myself have only secured two jobs through using these sites, but it is a hard industry to be involved in.
One of the main developments that the industry has seen over the last twenty years has to be the advancements in modern day technology. It has seen the audition room turn into the actors living room. Skype, has become a very popular way of securing parts in the industry. In fact one of my friends secured a role in a BBC period drama through this very method.
Whilst browsing through the Backstage website, I came across an interesting article on modern day technology and acting. Multiple actors during interviews had all agreed that due to the advances in technology they have been able to get work from the comfort of their own home. In fact actress Chrissy Houge, said as soon as it became a thing, she learnt how to use all social media sites, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn to start growing social status and to get networking. She says,
"I have Skyped acting auditions, emailed MP3s of voiceover auditions, and scored starring roles from my reel on YouTube"
Through networking on Facebook, she was able to friend a producer and secure a starring role in "Farmers Market Live TV". All this was made possible through modern day technology.
Funding.
There are three main sources of funding with in the arts, public, private and third sector. Theatre, Film and T.V all need to fund their productions, this is acquired in different ways depending on the type of production.
When we look in to the funding that is available for films, we can see that big independent movies coming out of Hollywood, are usually privately funded. This can be from the studio that is filming the project, independent producers and production companies. Whereas anything coming from the B.F.I (British Film Industry's) can use public money. This can be obtained through the National Lottery, Arts Council, or other local sources.
Due to the new movement in online films, we have exclusives that are only available to watch on certain platforms. Examples of this are Netflix and Amazon Prime. They produce certain movies that can only be watched through their site. Of course you need a subscription for this, so that is a way for them to receive funding. A lot of these films will be privately funded, or self-funded with potential crowd funding. Crowd funding is a fairly new development, you can now present your idea online and people can donate money to help you get started on your production. This is now the case with many student or amateur productions.
If we dive further in to how Television makes its money, we can see it is a mixture of public and private funding. Because of the television license, we have public money distributed to the BBC, which deals with all BBC productions. When we look at every other channel we see they use private money obtained from adverts that run on their channels.
Theatre funding is very much the same for public and private funding. However, this is where we start to see third sector. Third sector is charitable organizations that support the arts. Company's such as Jerwood Charitable foundation, work with the arts to help fund passionate and enthusiastic performers of the arts. They aim to support projects that benefit artist or professionals who are not currently in formal training or education. They do specify that they currently only take applications in the UK. However, there are other organizations that help and deal with applicants on a national level.
Public funding is available to everyone who uses the arts in their everyday life. It is acquired from the working man's tax money. To apply for public funding company's would go to the arts council. It is a fairly simple process and their website makes it easy to follow the steps. There is an application form to fill out, you send it off and then wait for a response.
You can also go to local councils, I am lucky enough to have a friend that worked in the county council that was in charge of the arts and funding, so I asked her a few questions. Every year the council is given money to go towards the arts. If you approach the council with production plan and you treat everything as professionally as it should be, you are more likely to receive funding rather than turning up unprepared. However, because it is public money, the council need to review why you are asking for the grant and then decide if it benefits the general public.
Change in Practice and Audience Demands.
As the time changes, the way we deliver a production changes. With money being at the sole of everyday life not everyone can afford to subscribe to things like Netflix or Amazon Prime or take themselves of to the theatre to watch a show. So the audience changes, therefore the performance changes.
There are far too many company's settled on regurgitation. It's easy to take someone else's work and rework it than it is to take a challenge to create something from scratch. Theatre more often than not comes from previous work like films and books, for example the lion king, the wizard of Oz, the curious incident of the dog in the night time.
With the advancement of online films and television, it means that people are also not partaking in theatre going. This isn't good for the non-household named actors, as big productions are cancelling out smaller theatre companies. Bigger productions tend to side towards names and faces they already no, this is with the expectation that an audience will watch it if they know the actor already. Because of this it is much harder to start a theatre company.
Being an actor is hard enough as it is, now in the modern age people are living longer. With this in mind, actors are living longer. If actors are living longer, it means new actors have a potential that they have to wait for the familiar faces to unfortunately pass before they can have a chance with the bigger roles.
Employment Opportunity's
There is no denying that in the industry you have a better chance of getting work if you have an agent. After all, an agent doesn’t get paid if you don’t get work. However, if you are unable to get yourself representation, there are other options.
As I mentioned earlier, there are sites that an actor can join to boost their profile online. The every advancing way to promote yourself in the modern world. Sites such as Cast Net, Casting Call Pro, The Stage (Online) are all good platforms to find work as an actor. Jobs on Cast Net and The Stage are considered professional jobs, this means that they are almost always paid jobs. This does make it harder to land the part as most people are going for these roles to put food on their tables. Whereas, Casting Call Pro has a mixture of unpaid and paid work. The unpaid work is usually student based films, or recently graduated students.
The main jobs that are usually advertised on these sites are student films, cruises, or holiday resorts entertainers. I have recently joined Cast Net and the work advertised has all been leaning toward paid professional theatre work. For example, currently advertised, multi role actor for a production called TWIST. This is also advertised by a company that is well established in the professional world (Theatre Centre), another difference between new company's on other sites.
With the more professionally established sites and companies, you have the security of knowing that they are probably working with equity standards, this ensures good working standards and being treated fairly.
What Is Equity.
Equity is the actors union. Set up in 1930 by a group of artists, they have rapidly grown to be the most respected and widely known supporter of the arts. With over forty thousand plus members of all cultural backgrounds, Equity works to support the terms and conditions, actors fees and work hours. Equity also gives its members a voice, there are meetings held to discuss actors views and everything is taken in to account.
Equity work with, singers, actors and dancers. All Broadway and West End Shows work with an Equity contract. Equity has set up rules to protect its members, this includes minimum wages, length and frequency of breaks, conditions of rehearsal and performance facilities.
If you are in an Equity contract performance, one or two people of the cast will be put in charge to maintain and oversee a suitable working environment that meets Equity requirements.
you can become a member of Equity when you have worked enough in the industry. Usually, you will have to have a minimum of four paid professional jobs, or meet a certain limit of money earned through professional jobs.
Equity, Health and Safety.
There are also many things an actor must watch out for on set too. There is a lot of health and safety regulations around the set that an actor must be aware of. How much you decide to do as an actor is up to you, however, this is where Equity comes in to play again. As part of the terms and conditions agreed before a job, Equity will find the dangers and make you aware through a documentation.
If you have been promised something and it's in your contract, Equity are there to get it for you. After all you deserve it and companies can take their time to pay up. Unless of course you are in the big holiday movies.
It is very important for an actor to be aware of their rights whilst working on a job. It could be a simple as travel to and from the job or some extravagant stunt that they are asked to do to cut costs on stunt doubles. This can be the case in lower budget productions.
How Do You Market Yourself.
The term Facebook famous, was something I heard about a year ago. Social Media seems to be leap frogging ordinary people to fame. Many stupid crazes and people doing stupid things are everywhere over the internet. This just proves how powerful the internet can be, even looking for lost animals or people on Facebook has results.
With this in mind, an online public social presence has to be a sure fire way of developing your status and getting recognised. With the sites I mentioned earlier, Cast Net, CCP etc., an actor has the chance to sell themselves with a profile. This is where you give yourself a biography and list all the things that make you employable to a company. You can also list the jobs that you have done or anything that is upcoming. However, you must be aware that it is very important not to make things up on your profile, there is nothing worse than saying you can ride a horse and when you get on set you haven't got a clue.
Of course, having an agent is the best method in my opinion. An agent takes a percentage of an actors wages. This means that an agent is going to be promoting you any way imaginable, so he can take his/her cut. It's also good to have an agent that is established well within the industry, they have connections to casting directors and other necessary people in the industry.
There is also a site called, SPOTLIGHT. This is harder to join if you are just starting out, you need for paid professional jobs or to have been professionally trained by a drama school. This is an absolute must if you want to be taken seriously as an actor. It is like the yellow pages for casting directors. This is very important to me and something I am very much trying to get on to.
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