I’m sure household names have plenty of wealth to life however they want, but what about the rest? Ill read Wikipedia articles about actors who have a 10+ year gap in their filmography and wonder, what the he’ll have they been doing to survive? Are they all waiters and bartenders during their downtime?
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It depends a lot. Most of these actors have other careers. It might be in studios where they do work that is not creditable like tallent screening, they might work as actors in other fields then movies such as theater or host or they can work completely unrelated jobs. But there are people who just streight up quit working as they have made up enough funds to retire early, either permantent or temporary. It is for example popular, not only in the movie industry, to retire from your career early after having kids to spend more time with the family and then to return to your career when the kids require less attention. They may do some work in the meantime but it is hard to film movies or tour the country when you are prioritizing the family.
This is one of the least glamours things about people in the acting and entertainment world… and one thats rarely discussed in a flattering light… if discussed at all, because its absolute not something people are usually proud of. The deal is, for the most part, its not a great time when you don’t have a role, even for once in-demand people, there’s always a chance that the last role you had is going to be your last (significant) role. ]Edit: See below for an example]
For people who are really pro actors, they spend a lot of time looking for roles, auditioning occasionally, and trying to make it happen. They are probably also working on their own scripts, maybe a play, some smaller budget stuff, and so on, most of which never make it anywhere significant, and they are just trying to make it work as hard as it is.
For others… yes they are bartenders and waiters, a joke is that every waiter in LA is an actor or screenwriter, its not true, but there’s truth to it. If you’re and actor, and you’re serious about it, you live in LA (for the screen) or NYC (for theater/plays). Its expensive to live there. You find work when you can, and if you get an acting gig, you find a way to go do the gig, leave your job permanently or temporary, or whatever.
It’s also pretty common to see actors transition out of directly acting and end up elsewhere in the entertainment world. Maybe an agency, development, production company, things on the business end… its also not uncommon to see someone 10-15 years in without much to show, thinking every next audition they get is going to be their big break.
In reality, few actors make enough money to sustain themselves (and their lifestyle) reasonably if they aren’t getting constant work or aren’t working outside of acting. Even those that do make enough are often quite busy with other projects they are interested in be it in the entertainment world or otherwise.
Edit: Wanted to place this as an example from my first paragraph, just one example is all. Had a mutual friend (friend of a friend) who was an actress with supporting lead role on a TV series that ran like 5 or 6 seasons, she had done some stuff before and a little after, but basically within a year or so after the show ended, she couldn’t even get a legit acting job, it was done. She shot some minor stuff, indies, and involved in various ways in these things, that paid almost nothing, and most die somewhere in production process because of lack of funding, or its just awful and everyone moves on and gets over it. It’s really easy to go from in-demand to nothing literally overnight.
Funny cause i live in NYC. Went to a bar weeks back and saw a bartender who was in a play i saw months back. Gotham Bar & Grill has many actors. Hey, good looking ppl.
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