Post-Graduation Expenses for Settling into LA or NYC

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
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<p>Here’s some more gloom and doom from the real world consisting of ‘block & moves’ of what it costs to get settled in as an actor in LA and NYC that should be considered on top of what your college will cost. It’s best to know all this now before you find yourself staring into the abyss third or fourth year. </p>

<p>It’s a bit late for it this year, but it might be worth bumping around next March or so for next year’s crop of seniors. It’s definitely worth considering before you commit to ‘tapping out’ your parents or taking on huge amounts of debt for a BFA if you aren’t a trust fund brat like me. :wink: As I said in the “Decisions” thread, I’ve already seen and heard about some very talented and well-trained people having to pack it up and go home because they couldn’t keep their heads above water. Hopefully, the economy will have recovered by the time most of the kids on this forum graduate, but what I’m hearing from some people who are ‘out there’ right now is that it’s tough to even get regular, good-paying office temp work due to all the competition from highly experienced office workers who have been laid off.</p>

<p>The first is from an LA working actress that I lifted from the Backstage forum followed by some pertinent replies. We aren’t supposed link other forums here, so look at the Backstage.com message board under ‘New Actors Only’ for a thread by ‘Miss Stone’ entitled ‘For all newbies - must read!!’ for the whole discussion. It seems to be geared more towards people who don’t already have a lot of training (i.e. not BFAs or MFAs), so you MIGHT be able to deduct a little off the costs for that (The author initially trained at Adler LA) although you should know that EVERYONE needs to continue with some kind of training to keep their chops fresh no matter where they went to school. Most commonly, I’m seeing people from my school and others taking audition technique and improv classes. You can also deduct some of the costs for obtaining representation if you’re one of the lucky ones who lands a good agent or manager from your showcase.</p>

<p>I’m not sure who originally authored the second one since it’s been passed around via email and on blogs so many times, but it speaks to the reality of getting settled in bare bones for the first few months in NYC.<br>

NYC Specific by unknown author …

</p>

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<p>Thanks for the info, but one thing about SAG. I would NOT recommend it if you have an agent in the Southeast. Georgia is one of those free to work states and most of the work is non-union and it’s the same with Nashville, Carolina’s and Miami. You would be limiting yourself if you were. You can ask any agent here and they would tell you to not join just yet. It will be harder for them to find jobs and non union stuff is a good way for the resume. My agent has one guy who is in LA, but comes here for auditions (dad is pilot) and the guy is SAG. And it’s very hard for them to get him jobs. I would recommend SAG for LA though.</p>

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<p>Bump. More stuff to consider.</p>

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<p>FB, I didn’t see this when you first posted it, but it is very good information for everyone planning to move to either city. I’ve seen the post written about NYC before, in fact, I think my D may even know the girl who wrote it. That girl isn’t an actor, though. She’s a Dartmouth grad who had a good job awaiting her in the city. :slight_smile: In any case, her information is accurate. You definitely need a sizeable bankroll to get yourself started in the city. If you cannot find a sublet, be prepared to have to qualify financially in order to be approved for a rental. You’ll be required by the management group for the apt. to submit to a fairly stringent credit check for both yourself and for your guarantor (parent). General rule is that you must provide proof of annual income 40-50x monthly rent, and then for the guarantor it’s usually between 80-100x, depending on the management group. Often, a guarantor who is not from the area is denied. If you have the ability to pay for 6-8 months rent in advance, you may get a break on the credit check numbers. A substantial ‘nest egg’ of liquid funds is absolutely necessary. You will be surprised how quickly you go through those funds.</p>

<p>Two items to add to the list of expenses above:</p>

<p>-student loan payments
-health insurance</p>

<p>I agree that every applicant and parent should be aware of this information!</p>

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<p>Bump for so.confused117.</p>

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<p>Wow. This is food for thought. thanks for posting,</p>

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<p>thANK YOU SO MUCH.</p>

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<p>It looks like this got blocked and moved over to the MT forum and it’s relevant to at least one current discussion, so … BUMP.</p>

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<p>Its funny but after reading this again and then a year ago, my daughter is doing exactly what the article saids. She never read it but she joined AFTRA, has a great manager, is taking camera audition classes, improv classes. Doing a ton of student films to get her reel together, getting headshots, sending cards out to all casting agents and commercial agents. We will see what happens. She also had some money saved up so she could go at least a year or two without a job.(we hope she will get a part time job soon so she can stay out there longer)Its funny but I never discussed the article but she is following it. BTY she graduated from NYU drama. People in LA really are impressed with actors that have BFA training from good schools.</p>

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<p>The stats that fishbowlfreshman stated are a bit extreme. I am a working actress in Los Angeles. I live in a good neighborhood and I have one roommate who is also an actress. We split a one bedroom for $550 per person. One person gets the bedroom the other gets the full living room (this is a common struggling actor arrangement.)</p>

<p>The classes she mentioned are excessive. Most actors I know out here spend roughly $200/month on a good scene study class that meets one or two times a week for four hours per session (this is pretty standard.)</p>

<p>It was pretty expensive when I joined the unions. I joined AFTRA and Equity in 2007- when AEA was $1600 to join and AFTRA about $1300. Equity only made me pay $400 upfront though they other two unions make you pay FULLY on the spot to join. Don’t get me wrong this is definitely pricey. Also most actors out here take a few casting director workshops each month (they are about $35 a piece and you might wanna take two or so a month.)</p>

<p>Cars arn’t cheap. But you know what? I save gas money by taking the bus a lot of the time. It’s not perfect and I need my car for far away auditions in places like Malibu or Manhattan Beach but it’s doable.
You need to pay Actors Access/LA Casting site fees once a year in order to submit for acting jobs on your own. About $175 a year. $3 a week for Backstage magazine too. </p>

<p>My point with all of these prices is that you CAN live as an actor affordibly in Los Angeles. Not every actor is a trust fund baby who can afford a MILLION extras. I make do quite well by booking the occasional paid acting gig and I hostess twice or three times a week at a restaurant to make enough for rent between better paying acting gigs. If I can do it than so can you! Don’t believe the hype that you need to be a millionaire to be a struggling actor. Though it was more expensive when I was acting in NYC…but still not THAT much.</p>

<p>Also headshots in NYC are about $700 buck but in LA a lot of good photographers charge under $300 and sometimes quite a bit less if you refer a friend as well.</p>

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<p>As a point of clarification, those are not my numbers. They’re from another LA working actress. Here, also, are some updates on those numbers that recently appeared from still another regular on the same forum…</p>

<p>Headshots (assume you only need to take new ones once a year)=$250-500
Acting Intensives (multiple weeks/months)=$500-1000
Monthly training= $200-300/month
Casting Director Workshops/Showcases (Assume you go to one a month)= $35-40/month
Headshot reproductions= $200-300/year
Postcards/Business cards= $100-200/year
LA Casting subscription= $120/year+$100 in photo updates/uploads
Now Casting subscription= $120/year
Actors Access subscription= $68/year
Parking for classes/auditions= $100/year
Mailings (stamps,envelopes,postage, labels)= $100-150/year
Reel Editing= $150-300
Paper=$50
Printer Ink (assume $40/replacement cartridges and cartridges last 2 months)=$240</p>

<p>I’m going to be in New York and the two bedroom apartment I’ll be sharing in Astoria is going to cost me $750 per month. My latest headshots ran me $925, but that was going with one of the high end guys (worth it imho) and included having a hair and makeup person on the spot.</p>

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<p>Couldn’t agree with you more Darla!
Also, I’d deduct the Now Casting Subscription, LA Casting and Actors Access cover it all.
Also, the yearly dues to the Unions is based on your income from acting gigs. The minimum I believe is $100/year each union.</p>