If acting is calling out to you, and you don’t know where to start: it can be frustrating. Endless people love the stage and performance, but a large part of creating this career is building yourself up. People rarely start with a manager or pro to walk them through this work. Instead, you have to set yourself on the right track for success.
Here’s how to get acting jobs when you’re new to it!
Look On Local Advertisements
Websites like Craigslist are an excellent way to find tiny parts to fill out your acting reel and gain experience. Although most of the jobs there are for local commercials, trim pieces, and local theater groups: don’t turn your nose up at these. Nobody goes straight from no roles to staring in blockbusters anymore.
Avoid doing ‘work for experience’ or ‘work for clout’ work that expects you to do a lot for free. Unless you want the practice and don’t mind doing it for free: you should get paid for the work you put in.
Advertising On Job Boards
There are many gig sites for actors who do everything from theater to dub voice acting, don’t be shy about putting up an account on these to seek out your market. This allows you to be a little pickier and corner your market as Hayden Byerly does. When you post on these sites, please read everything carefully and research potential clients when they message you. Don’t fall for ‘private photoshoot’ scam artists or anyone spamming you. Your safety and bodily autonomy are essential.
Use Social Media To Build Audience
What better way to prepare for success and popularity than to get big on social media? Seek out communities of other actors, and post clips of you practicing or performing. A fantastic app to grow on is Tiktok: but I don’t think popularity is a sure-fire thing. The most common experience for users on these apps is to post a lot and randomly have one video or post that gets popular. Even after this one popular post, success isn’t guaranteed. Keep cracking at it, and work to post and work on a schedule so that your fans will know what to expect. Popularity can lead to job offers and being noticed by studios.
Be Reliable, Work Hard
The better your work, the more likely it’ll be that a company or studio will want to work with you again. Pay attention to what time you’re supposed to be on location, what they want from you: and how you can do the best job possible. Keep a calm head, be open to criticism and critique, and do your best.
Simultaneously, you mustn’t think producers and directors can walk all over you just because they have connections. Respect yourself and only seek fair pay, good work, and people who respect you. If a prospective job doesn’t feel right, you can ask for someone else to go with you to it or decline the appointment if necessary.
