<p>Is it manageable to both go to college/take classes/prepare for exams while at the same time acting in a movie on the side like an extracurricular? Has anyone done it before or is it suicide? I have limited experience in acting, but would like to go deeper and on-stage acting doesn’t appeal to me at all–I’m more interested in acting in movies. I will be somewhat close to NYC, though. </p>
<p>Thanks for any suggestions or advice!</p>
<p>You are really the only one who can answer this. You know how many hours a week you are going to be able to work before you explode.</p>
<p>Personally, I was able to direct a play while attending my first semester of law school. However, I took a slightly smaller courseload than most people do in law school. And this meant that I had no time to have a job in addition.</p>
<p>Many people work while going to college. For you, you could say that your college job is acting. And like me, you could take a smaller courseload so you have more time to act.</p>
<p>Have you actually been offered a good role in a real movie (i.e. paying work?). Consider postponing the start of college until you have finished working on the movie.</p>
<p>If you really want to be a film actor, have you considered majoring in acting in college, and finding a program that emphasizes film acting? If you want to be a film actor, why are you majoring in whatever-it-is that you are majoring?</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>I agree with the above poster but it also partially depends on your college requirements. Some schools say no outside work during training, or not during the first year of school at least. You might have to get special permission from the Department Head and have a certain GPA. Look it up!</p>
<p>I can’t speak for FFs, of which I have no direct experience, but student films might be a possibility if you are in striking distance of NYU or Columbia. Their graduate film schools are highly regarded. My son, who is at Tisch NSB, was asked to audition on a number of films. Unfortunately, his BFA schedule made it difficult to commit to any of them. Film students tend to be on tight schedules due to equipment and crew, so they can’t really move their shoot schedules to accommodate an actor’s studio schedule. Tisch is one of the schools which discourages outside activities that would cause a student to miss studio time. My son’s priority right now is to his studio training. Still, he would love the opportunity to work on some student films in the future, should schedules match up.</p>