How To (Actually) Make Money As An Actor

It's no secret that being an actor is hard work. In fact, only 2% of actors can turn it into a full-time career. To those with the ambitious dream of becoming one of these select few, there is a long road ahead. Many questions surround those with a real passion for the craft, namely, how can I make a living doing this?

Professional actress and co-founder of League of Filmmakers and Cinematography for Actors, Haeleigh Royall, shares the tips and tricks she has learned over the years of her professional career.

What is the best way to find consistent work?

As an actor, I think the best way to find consistent work is through word of mouth from other actors that you meet. Not even actors, just other people who work similar schedules in the film industry. If you're an actor, you have this freelance kind of mind. A lot of people who work in production, a lot of people who have roles on set, have this kind of feast and famine mindset. There's a lot of downtime, and they have to take the jobs that come. But I think the best way that I've been able to find jobs coming more consistently is asking people I meet.

At the beginning, I remember it being a little rough. You're only meeting people in the spheres and spaces that you're in. I started meeting people first [doing] background. Then, during days working as a background actor, we would talk and compare notes on how are you working? What is your day job? Where do you find these other little things we can tie together? Once I found those things, which included things like seat filling, daytime court TV shows, you know, these little jobs. Then once I was in those spheres, I could ask people working on set what are your jobs? They had other little things I could piece together, and you can really work those out to end up becoming full-time work.

It's a smaller circle and then it becomes a larger circle, and then it becomes a larger circle. I felt so contained, oh, I have to do the little thing first, I have to go be a background actor first and start in this little circle. But there are ways to throw yourself into other circles through networking events, trade shows, meeting people that way. There will be opportunities that are completely outside of the sphere that you're currently in. You'll be able to try new things that are way out in left field, where you can really grow as a professional, which can help in the long term with a bigger career. Work always begets more work.

Is there a certain type of work you tend to pursue? I know some actors who tend to stick to one thing. Is it better to look for different kinds of projects, to do voiceover one day, then commercial, and then background?

As far as one path being better for any person, I think that it's so personal, and it really depends on a person's work style and the lifestyle that person feels they want to create. I tried a lot of different things, and I have learned that what is best for me is whatever is lighting me up at any given moment. Whatever I'm enjoying the most, I should do that a lot. So, for a while, I did basically only background work, and I loved that for a long time. For a couple of seasons, I was on a show, and that was great. When that stopped lighting me up so much, I tried something else I was interested in, and I went with that, which led to very fruitful outcomes. I noticed that when I was doing something because I thought it was going to be better, I wasn't interested in it, and it would die on the vine.

I don't think there's any one style of work or path that anyone should be following. But I do think that you have to be excited about whatever you're doing, because for such a long time, these little tiny jobs we're piecing together to try to make money [is] the grunt work, right? You're a set PA, or you're a grip, or you're background. It's laid back, but it's grunt work; it's not a very rewarding job to be doing. So if you're not having fun doing it, then theres absolutely no point in doing it. There's other grunt work out there that's going to be more exciting for the time that you're doing it.

Would you recommend joining the union [right away] and doing union work? Does it lead to more or less opportunities? I know this is a concern that some people have.

You hear it all the time, and everyone always wonders. My opinion has changed. I think for the times we're in right now, unless you have to join the union, you should wait. I personally joined way too early. It's been many, many years of figuring out how to still work, even though I still have restrictions, and how to get the experience that I need to actually be able to perform at the level I need to perform, to be able to compete at the level I need to compete at. It's taken many years, and those are years that I could have spent gaining experience, building the right kind of community, building the right kind of reel. I had to leave the typical actor lifestyle to be able to go get the experience I need to put myself back in competition. I think right now there are so many great non-union opportunities, and you can really build a body of work before you join. I think I was on the cusp of that being possible, and for me, I thought I wanted my career to be a career that I would be in a union for. I want to be in those rooms.

I want to be there, so I might as well join as soon as possible and then work my way toward that, which is what I've done. But I think right now is not the right time. Wait until you need to, and that doesn't mean the union is weak. I just think that there's a lot more growth and a lot more demonstration of growth that can be had before spending all your savings to join the union. However, if you're doing a lot of background work, it is much nicer, and you make more money being a union actor.

How do you find the pay, or negotiating pay, when you're doing something that's non-union?

When you're doing something non-union, unless you have an agent, you're going to need a business brain, and you're going to need to be a shark a little bit. You've got to understand the game. It's business. It has nothing to do with talent. It has to do with the production team trying to make something with the smallest budget possible. If you can get an agent, get an agent, because they will do that work for you. If not, you've got to read some business books, and you have to get really tough about being a business person until you join [the union] and then those rates are basically pre-negotiated for you.

How do you remain financially stable when you aren't booked for anything?

Get really good at budgeting. Understand that when you book something, you should squirrel that money away and then go back to those little freelance gigs and start picking up a dollar here and a dollar there, and hang on to it with your life. There was a period when I first moved here [Los Angeles] that I was cracking eggs in beans for my meals, so it's not going to be sexy. It can be sexier, I think it's very possible. I've only been talking about the freelance lifestyle. I think it's very possible, especially right now with so much work-from-home work, to be able to piece together an acting career and a full-time job. I've had the experience of very, very restrictive shift work. I worked at a restaurant, and the problem with that was that if I booked something or if I had an audition, it was really hard to find coverage because everyone was an actor. Nobody wants to do shift work if they don't have to.

It's not fun. No one's picking up work for each other, and then if I didn't show up to work, everyone was in trouble; I ruined the day. So that was more restrictive to me than when I worked a full-time office job. I could be like, "Hey, I can't come in today. I can work half the day from home," or "Hey, I can't come in today. I need to use a sick day or a vacation day," because the engine will still run even if you don't go in for a day, so that's a possibility too. If you are the type of person who can work a desk job and not feel super restricted, a lot of the time that's less difficult because you're able to shoot your self-tape in the evening or the morning before, or after work, which is also the beauty of self tapes.

Do you find you're earning more or less or about the same than when you first started?

More. I would say when I joined the union, there was a three-year dip. I joined the union, I was making more money when I was working background, but then background wasn't lighting me up anymore, so I wasn't doing it as much. Then I didn't make money as an actor for three years, and then the uptick started. But I had to take those three years to build those skills to be able to compete.

How do you think social media has helped or hindered you from getting jobs?

For me, personally not. I haven't done a single thing because I haven't focused on or used it as a tool. But I think it's a very powerful tool for anyone who's willing to put in the time or the effort or pay the agency to create that successful online brand and grow using that. Having been on the other side of things or having had conversations with people on the production side, that's something they're looking at. As artists, we can be really jaded or really annoyed about that, or we can understand it and use it as a tool and use it as such. I haven't.

What are some things that those who are just starting in the industry should know?

This is a really, really, really, really, really long game. I don't think that even I know how long. I still feel like I'm in the middle part of the game. What am I at now, a decade? It's a long, long game, and I deeply believe that something that speeds up the game is building your community, being a reliable friend, and creating things with the people you like. You can't sit back, you can't wait to be chosen because you're the best or because you're working very hard. It's a business that, at its very core, is about people, and it's about creating together. So don't isolate yourself, I think is the big, big, big thing.

Is there any other advice you want to share?

Get context. If you want to be an actor, be an actor; that's beautiful. Get context for other parts of the industry. Take time doing other jobs, take time working in production, take time to develop something. I'm working on developing a couple of things this year, and I have learned so much that if I had known it eight years ago, it would have helped me in my acting career so much. What's important is to do other things. I don't mean work at a restaurant or be a bartender. Sure, do all that, but within the industry, do other things on all sides of the camera and all sides of the business.