Lately, nothing stresses me out more than thinking about life after college. Lots of big questions have found a place to dwell inside my head and drive me crazy. Where am I going to work? Where am I going to live? How am I going to pay back my student loans? Will I be happy? And of course, being as proactive as I am, I took steps to remedy this now before it becomes a problem. I'm a theatre major. I want to act and write. I went auditions and was told I can't act because I'm too busy with college...as if they knew my life! If I took the hours I spent watching Netflix last year alone and combined them, it was probably enough hours to have a part-time job. I may be many things...BUSY is NOT one of them. I realized the issue is not me, its everyone else. Nobody likes you when you're in college.
Today is a day of liberation. I cancelled my subscriptions to Backstage and LA Casting. But why? Don't you want to be an actress? Don't you want to find those opportunities that other people miss out on? Aren't you serious about your career? Yes, I am serious. All the more reason to cancel those subscriptions that leave me at the mercy of whoever it is sitting on the other end of the line. My acting career will be not be destroyed or defined by how many auditions for low budget SAG projects I can procure. Nor will I subject myself to endless hours of sitting in front of the computer clicking away until I find something that "fits" me. How do these sites benefit me? I have to pay $20 a month for a service that gives me access to acting gigs that pay nothing. My money doesn't guarantee me a job. It doesn't even guarantee me an audition. (Speaking of which, WHY AM I PAYING TO AUDITION? This is worse than gambling!) I'm tired of scrolling through casting calls asking for real people. If you want "real people," get off LA Casting! It's a site for ACTORS. It's a site for people who want to play CHARACTERS. If you're looking for REAL PEOPLE, stand outside a Walmart! I'm tired of of reading the same stagnant descriptions over and over again. It's always music videos, sexy girls, bikini models, nudity, reality TV and game shows. Do you want to be an audience member? You can sit in our audience but you have to be upscale with a hot body, 18 to look younger. These are not acting jobs. These are people taking advantage of actors who are desperate for exposure; because we grow up in an industry that tells us we're worth nothing so we better say yes yes yes, no matter how demeaning the job! Don't post a casting notice asking for people with special skills and abilities and you're paying nothing. Stop asking people to work long hours and have "good acting chops" when no one has ever heard of you or your company. Who do you think you are? We, as actors, need to ban together and tell these sites and these people to go fuck themselves. Just because you're a new actor or a young actor doesn't mean you don't deserve respect and the chance to do real work. Sitting in an audience for ten hours or dancing next to some rapper wearing a bikini by the pool is not acting. I'm going to finish college and continue to do my own thing. That's the only thing that has ever really worked for me anyway.
