At this point, it’s hardly controversial to say that acting or film school is a bad idea. Despite that, we keep having the same conversation, and we keep saying the same things over and over again. But have you ever noticed that a lot of those conversations rarely involve actors and filmmakers? They’re dominated by educators and industry figureheads.
Whether or not it’s because they want to exploit your eagerness isn’t for me to say. However, I can say with confidence that we need to bring actors and filmmakers into the conversation. It’s your experience and your literal future that’s being argued over – you should have a say in that! Here are a few talking points to get you started.
Waste of Time
There are a handful of industries which can be entered without formal education. These are typically more hands-on work, like welding and carpentry. They are more concerned with how well you use the tools than where you learned how to use them. Acting and filmmaking are no different.
Now, I’m not saying you should never pursue some type of education. Acting classes are worth looking into no matter how much industry experience you have. A-listers have coaches who continue to help them over the course of their career.
Therein lies the difference. Meaningful relationships are a key component to success, but once you graduate…that’s it. No acting coach comes with you, no one volunteers to be your agent, and you’re left to figure it out on your own. Networking for actors isn’t something they teach you, and it takes time to foster those relationships.
Waste of Money
Higher education is a gamble, and your career opportunities are what’s at stake. No pressure, right? It’s hard not to be haunted by that tiny voice in the back of your head saying ‘you’re spending too much’ and ‘the fees are outlandish’.
That tiny voice has a point.
There’s a joke floating around social media about how we never use algebra and all we remember from high school is ‘the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell’. It’s just a meme, but it also provides some interesting social commentary. We spend money to get an education, and we lose money trying to find work with the education we were given (or should I say, lack thereof).
It makes more sense for you to pay for an education that will serve you. Not only are you wasting money by attending a two or four year school, you lose money because you can’t create a stable source of income after graduation. You’re never taught how to find work as an actor or filmmaker. You need something more practical. Which brings me to my next point…
Lack of Real World Experience
This is true for both sides of the camera. I’ve already alluded to it, but it becomes much more apparent when you dive deeper into the consequences of lacking experience. Let’s take a look at the issue from both angles.
We’ll start with actors.
You aren’t equipped with the know-how to spend your time wisely, so you spend more time trying to figure it out on your own. Waste of time. That time should be spent making important connections, creating your assets, marketing those assets, all the while honing your craft with a coach who understands your brand. It might sound like a lot, and it is, but it’s easier to tackle it if you can build a strategy that informs the way you allot your time. That makes things significantly easier, and far less time consuming, in the future.
You’re not going to find work right away if you don’t understand the basics of business for actors. Without a steady stream of income, you’re struggling to pay off your student loan debt. Waste of money. You become desperate for roles and you’ll take on anything that comes your way. This makes it harder for you to establish a brand, which makes it harder for you to market yourself. Brands help talent agents and managers understand the roles you’re best suited for, so they will have an easier time finding work for you. There’s consistency, and consistency creates financial security. Financial security inevitably lends itself to financial independence.
Now let’s look at it from the perspective of filmmaking.
Since you aren’t taught how to identify and connect with prospects, you struggle to get clients. Waste of time. Without understanding how to market yourself and your skills, you aren’t going to attract higher paying clients. Instead, you become generalized, the person who does a little bit of everything. No matter how talented you are, spreading yourself thin like that interferes with your ability to focus fire on a specific market. Just like with acting, a brand is necessary – unless you want to keep making wedding videos, birthday videos, graduation videos, and…literally everything else.
It’s time to make a production, and you need to acquire funding. You haven’t been taught how to find film investors and negotiate with them. Waste of money. You end up funding the project yourself, assuming you’ll make it all back as profit. The economics of filmmaking don’t work that way. Funding isn’t difficult to obtain, but if you don’t know who to approach and how to speak their language, the conversations won’t get very far.
Acting School Hurts Your Confidence
That’s a pretty bold statement, but hear me out. For many people having a degree in higher education is a source of pride. It reflects your work ethic, your hunger for knowledge, and your dedication. But, as we mentioned above, it doesn’t reflect desired experience. In the entertainment industry, experience in the business of acting is significantly more attractive than experience in learning how to act.
As you struggle to find gigs and clients, you worry that you won’t be able to succeed as an actor. This often leads to discouragement and throwing in the towel. You can’t help but reflect on all of the people who tried to talk you out of getting your degree and pursuing something more practical or lucrative.
There is no super special secret magic that can whisk away all of your problems. There is, however, a strategy many actors use today for achieving and maintaining financial independence. It’s more hidden in plain sight, you could say, since almost everyone is doing it. What am I talking about?
A production company.
Life is a stage, right? It’s time for you to run the show! Sign up for my online course full of tips for actors ready to take back their independence.