Title - The Working Actor Podcast
Episode - Straight Cash
Date – Mon, 17 November 2008
Time – Approx. 40 minutes
Website - http://www.workingactorpodcast.libsyn.com/
Description of Episode (from the Podcast producers) - Ah, the money edition. Chris and Jon break down the myths and legends of an actor's income, giving the latest info on WHAT WORKING ACTORS MAKE in commercials, TV & film. In the process they uncover a species that until now was believed only to have existed in industry folklore... the middle-class actor.
A great listen for working and aspiring actors alike.
Why did I pick this podcast?
I want to be an actress. I felt that since Mr. White had posted the title to a podcast about two working actors it would be a great chance to find out what it would be like. And there's no substitute for experience. What's even better, is that they're not actors who make tons of money or George Clooney, they're just regular ol' guys doing what they love.
So, I googled "The Working Actor Podcast" and found their website.
It's hosted by Chris Marrs and Jon Wellner. They are both working actors trying to make it in the business. In their podcasts they tell the listener everything there is to know about acting. I chose to write about their latest podcast: Straight Cash.
Chris and Jon break down how much money and actor would make in different situations. In their opinion, a successful actor would work about 10 times a year.
First they talk about commercials. Commercials are "the lottery". An actor would probably get more money in a commercial than if they were given a small part in a TV commercial. They can give you a great amount of income. Well in commercials, you have a Session fees, which is the amount of money you get for just showing up. The session fee is the only money you can count on, you can never be sure if it will air. It can be around $565.10 and that is usually a fraction of what you're going to make in total. The actor will be paid one of two ways. Either they will be paid a one lump sum, where they will give them a certain amount of money and will be aired as many times as the advertiser wants, or they will be paid every time it airs. They both have their advantages but they both have their disadvantages. If the actor is paid a one lump sum and the commercial airs quite often, then they would have gotten much more money if they were paid every time it aired. But, if the actor was paid each time it aired, and it didn't air much, or at all, then of course, they would have gotten more money from the on lump sum. The one lump sum, usually applies to cable TV commercials.
Later on, they move on to the topic of TV shows. In a traditional sitcom, like How I Met Your Mother, someone with a small role, like a bartender, that has just a few funny lines would get about $26.34 per week. If the actor was only there for one line, and wasn't very important to the show, would get a day rate, which would probably be around $7.59. The actor would get that amount of money, each time it runs (omitting the first time, since you were paid for showing up and doing your part). However, most TV shows do not run more than once. So, the actor would probably just get a day rate or would be paid for the week that he worked. Some TV shows, like the show John Adams, that are about 1 hour long would offer the actor more money. An actor with a small role could get up to $6,527 per week he works there. I'm sure our fellow Paul Giamatti makes more money than that, since the whole show is based on his character and he is in almost all the scenes and as you can imagine that is very good. Guest stars on a TV show are usually hired for the whole week. For example, if you work 9 days on CSI you could get around $65.27. In some cases you could work for 2 days and get the same about of money if you worked for 4 days. But it can get much more complicated than that. Actors usually get quite a bit of money for looping. Looping is where they don't catch the actors voice well or some other problem occurred with the sound and they go into the studio and record it while trying to match their lips to the sounds they make. Actors would probably be payed half their pay rate, just for saying 1 or 2 lines like this. So, not only do you get paid for showing up on the set and doing your part, you also get paid for looping.
Extras on a TV show or commercial can get quite a lot of money. On a commercial you can get around $3.60 and on a TV show you can around $120 (every 8 hours).
The one downfall do all this is that, if the actor is not getting paid a lot of money and some of it is going to their agent or manager then they're going to get very little money.
So just imagine the check you get will be like this:
Check = (what you got paid) - what the agent gets - what the government gets(taxes) - what the manager gets (if the actor has one).
Acting is one of the few industries where you have no idea how much you're going to get. In certain other jobs you have a solid salary that you can count on. In acting, the only thing you can count on is your session fee.
I'm definitely going to continue listening to the Working Actor Podcast and it's going to be very beneficial for me. I would definitely recommend this for any aspiring actor, like myself.
~54
Episode - Straight Cash
Date – Mon, 17 November 2008
Time – Approx. 40 minutes
Website - http://www.workingactorpodcast.libsyn.com/
Description of Episode (from the Podcast producers) - Ah, the money edition. Chris and Jon break down the myths and legends of an actor's income, giving the latest info on WHAT WORKING ACTORS MAKE in commercials, TV & film. In the process they uncover a species that until now was believed only to have existed in industry folklore... the middle-class actor.
A great listen for working and aspiring actors alike.
Why did I pick this podcast?
I want to be an actress. I felt that since Mr. White had posted the title to a podcast about two working actors it would be a great chance to find out what it would be like. And there's no substitute for experience. What's even better, is that they're not actors who make tons of money or George Clooney, they're just regular ol' guys doing what they love.
So, I googled "The Working Actor Podcast" and found their website.
It's hosted by Chris Marrs and Jon Wellner. They are both working actors trying to make it in the business. In their podcasts they tell the listener everything there is to know about acting. I chose to write about their latest podcast: Straight Cash.
Chris and Jon break down how much money and actor would make in different situations. In their opinion, a successful actor would work about 10 times a year.
First they talk about commercials. Commercials are "the lottery". An actor would probably get more money in a commercial than if they were given a small part in a TV commercial. They can give you a great amount of income. Well in commercials, you have a Session fees, which is the amount of money you get for just showing up. The session fee is the only money you can count on, you can never be sure if it will air. It can be around $565.10 and that is usually a fraction of what you're going to make in total. The actor will be paid one of two ways. Either they will be paid a one lump sum, where they will give them a certain amount of money and will be aired as many times as the advertiser wants, or they will be paid every time it airs. They both have their advantages but they both have their disadvantages. If the actor is paid a one lump sum and the commercial airs quite often, then they would have gotten much more money if they were paid every time it aired. But, if the actor was paid each time it aired, and it didn't air much, or at all, then of course, they would have gotten more money from the on lump sum. The one lump sum, usually applies to cable TV commercials.
Later on, they move on to the topic of TV shows. In a traditional sitcom, like How I Met Your Mother, someone with a small role, like a bartender, that has just a few funny lines would get about $26.34 per week. If the actor was only there for one line, and wasn't very important to the show, would get a day rate, which would probably be around $7.59. The actor would get that amount of money, each time it runs (omitting the first time, since you were paid for showing up and doing your part). However, most TV shows do not run more than once. So, the actor would probably just get a day rate or would be paid for the week that he worked. Some TV shows, like the show John Adams, that are about 1 hour long would offer the actor more money. An actor with a small role could get up to $6,527 per week he works there. I'm sure our fellow Paul Giamatti makes more money than that, since the whole show is based on his character and he is in almost all the scenes and as you can imagine that is very good. Guest stars on a TV show are usually hired for the whole week. For example, if you work 9 days on CSI you could get around $65.27. In some cases you could work for 2 days and get the same about of money if you worked for 4 days. But it can get much more complicated than that. Actors usually get quite a bit of money for looping. Looping is where they don't catch the actors voice well or some other problem occurred with the sound and they go into the studio and record it while trying to match their lips to the sounds they make. Actors would probably be payed half their pay rate, just for saying 1 or 2 lines like this. So, not only do you get paid for showing up on the set and doing your part, you also get paid for looping.
Extras on a TV show or commercial can get quite a lot of money. On a commercial you can get around $3.60 and on a TV show you can around $120 (every 8 hours).
The one downfall do all this is that, if the actor is not getting paid a lot of money and some of it is going to their agent or manager then they're going to get very little money.
So just imagine the check you get will be like this:
Check = (what you got paid) - what the agent gets - what the government gets(taxes) - what the manager gets (if the actor has one).
Acting is one of the few industries where you have no idea how much you're going to get. In certain other jobs you have a solid salary that you can count on. In acting, the only thing you can count on is your session fee.
I'm definitely going to continue listening to the Working Actor Podcast and it's going to be very beneficial for me. I would definitely recommend this for any aspiring actor, like myself.
~54
