Circus Act
#WAITING AROUND
A creative world (along with other career paths that require a lot of sacrifice early for very little reward, e.g profession athletes) is often at times a financially poor world. We are regularly asked to do quite a lot of unpaid jobs under the premise that "it will be great for your show reel", or the film will be entered it into every festival on the planet and surely it will win some award somewhere... So what we are required to do is find a flexible yet substantial income. That leads us to these odd jobs that we need to juggle in order to sustain our life and career. Sooner or later it seems all actors have once in their life been waiting tables, serving coffee or other jobs that might not pay us a great deal, however they at least give us enough freedom and flexibility to keep the dream alive. Juggling the income stream is quite an art. How few hours can you work? How many different jobs do you need? Can I still travel? All while being able to take any opportunity that presents itself to you on a whim. It often feels that keeping all these balls in the air might seem as tricky as Cirque Du Soleil. How you go about this is a completely individual process. There is no right or wrong, it's more about what works for you. I personally work quite a lot with numerous flexible jobs that keep multiple streams of income flowing towards me and it doesn't affect my ability as an actor. However if you're like me you would prefer your income to stem from avenues that are more directed towards your desired career path.
#OPENING ACT
Now hopefully at this point in time we have something that works for us, a job(s) that keeps us creative but still allow us to live a life. This can be enough for us, it can keep us happy while we are working and auditioning until we land that big break when we can finally tell our boss that we won't be coming in next week. But if it isn't, if the day job isn't inspiring you and feels like a ball and chain you drag behind you everywhere, then this is something we need to rectify. If we are unhappy in our lives outside of our dreams there is a possibility that this could spark some overall negative habits. We may begin to slack off, unwind with some Netflix on a more consistent basis, let our training and classes slip because tonight we "just can't be bothered". This mind set can stick, it can be hard to break and who knows - that opportunity that we have been waiting for can come knocking but we are to busy finishing off season 9 of scrubs for the forth time and when we answer the door that chance has slipped out of our grasp without us even realising. It was another audition we could have landed, but in our delusion we just accept that that one wasn't meant for us. How do we keep that positive mindset? Of course we love to act, that's a given, but maybe the daily grind is not benefiting us in any other way aside from income. We can go to the extremes, quit our job, move to LA and live the dream. I know a few who have done this, some are now back home no longer acting. Because when we get over there we need to remind ourselves that we still need a little bit of money to survive, so it's back to waiting tables. A different strategy could be to look at transitioning your income streams.
#THE RING MASTER
You are in control of your own fate, stop clowning around and become the ring master. If your job is brining you down don't be afraid to look for new avenues of income that feed your soul more. This process doesn't happen over night. It takes time and patience along with everything we do. Find a job you would enjoy with people that inspire you, this will keep you creatively productive. If you juggle multiple jobs then it's a matter of phasing one job out at a time and replacing that with another option that is more inline with your soul. Over time this strategy can help you get that spark back. Work isn't just about making money anymore, you might be around more like minded creatives, or be involved in the arts more. Whether that be ushering at theatres, teaching children, working in a production house, writing articles for websites, you name it just go out and find it. Over time you can build upon this keep filtering out all the other job that have a negative energy surrounding them. If you can continue to build that positivity in all aspects of your life, it will help you stay focused and prepared for that next big break with your name on it. This same philosophy should also be used for acting work. How many student films or unpaid films are worth your time and effort? This doesn't mean throwing your ego everywhere declaring that you shall never do another unpaid acting job in your career. What this means is over time you can begin to know your standards. Those first year student films might end up become more of a hassle, you wont see the footage it might not turn out as clean as you had hoped and you can't use it anyway. With those standards in your own work comes more paid opportunities, that is not to say you are above the non paid projects. There are some very cleaver film makers out there all working for nothing just like you but with some brilliant ideas and sometimes they are worth taking a chance on. What it means is your career is also in transition, with more paid acting jobs coming at more regular intervals you can stop juggling one of those other jobs, which you may actually enjoy, and focus more on reaching a place where you can sustain a carefree life style without any stress as you get paid to live out your dreams.
Have you been working towards finding a happier, healthier work life to support your creative dreams? What have you found that has worked for you?