Clay Space's Lounge Discussions

Lets be serious, who doesn't need the money? Most aren't 19 and living in their parent's basement. At some point you might look for a day job with more flexibility so you can make more auditions on short notice. Or a job that's second shift.

I believe Starbucks offers benefits at 25hrs a week. Although I heard that a few years ago, so the requirements may have changed. SAG insurance just raised the minimum wage requirement to $16K/year to be eligible, so unless you're booking a lot of consistent UNION work, that will be hard to sustain. As far as what to do? Some people above have offered good advice. In the end, it's your life and your happiness on the line. Think/pray/meditate on what you want, and start taking steps in that direction. It might mean moving to a bigger market. It might mean taking a full-time job to build up savings while you put acting on the back burner. It might mean finding a compromise that lets you have it all (just maybe not to the extent you dream of).

You got it girl! Balancing both is not easy but if you keep it up long enough you may not need to work a full time job. You've been acting your whole life, if it's your passion I think you shouldn't feel hopeless but determined! Also most actors tend to think commercial work has less integrity- commercial work is great, you need to be seen/heard somewhere. It also looks much better on a reel than a lesser-featured role in a non-commercial production.

Hey Michelle The model I use is that I work 6 hours a day as an aviation educator 5 x a week, then 2x month as a media educator for around 5 hours (part time obviously) then around 3-4 hours a day are dedicated to filmmaking in one way or the other, the model it self took me 3 months until I was settled, important is plenty of water and a healthy diet : D no joke otherwise when your acting stuff comes around you won't be up to it... maybe 2 free weekdays is more what you need for readings perhaps? Either way, you will find a way, stick to it and don't neglect the rent : D! GooD luck

What I'm doing, and I know this doesn't/wouldn't work for everyone, is I am a day trader. The money I make from day trading and my acting gigs has so far kept me solvent... But there is a steep learning curve to the freedom day trading provides. I guess the idea I'm getting at here is that there is a lot of money to be made online, be it trading like I do or writing for bloggers/companies, or what have you. And online jobs can also offer a lot more flexibility.