Our daughter is a film/television actress based in LA and it is a tough, tough business. She wanted to be an actor since the age of 5 when she appeared in a local stage production of the Wizard of Oz as a Munchkin and a snowflake in the snow storm. Critics all agreed that she was the best damn snowflake in the whole blizzard. By the time she graduated high school she had 35-40 plays on her resumé. Some high and low points of her career thus far:
• We did not want her to be a professional child actor, so we didn't let try to get an agent until her senior year. She put together a reel, resumé, recommendations, and because we had knew one two-degrees-of-separation professional actor friend she got an interview at one of the few talent agencies in our medium sized city. They signed her. One partner told us, "Just so you know, we get approximately 1200-1500 requests for representation each year. We sign maybe 2-4 of those. We're signing your daughter."
That's the first hurdle to becoming a professional - getting a good agent at those odds.
• She moved to LA and had an agent but was not a SAG-AFTRA member. You can only get a Union job if you're a Union member, and you can only become a Union member if you have a Union job. Solve that puzzle.
She did.
• Her first professional job as a low budget commercial. Her second she had one line on a TV show. Lightning struck for her third job - she booked a series regular part on a pilot for a big network. Only about 15% of pilots get picked up for production - they got picked up. Most series die after one season. Hers got picked up for a second season. Then it died. But, she made well into six figures for about threee months work for two years.
• Mustachian sidebar: She went crazy with her new wealth and bought a lease-return Kia to replace her high school car, and a small electric piano that fit in her apartment. She saved the rest.
That was good, because then she went into a long professional drought, which included such lowlights as.....
• After an open casting call with over 1,400 submissions getting cast for a major new character in a long-running show ("contracts will be to your people in a few days"), then having a suit in a corner office decide to recast the role in a different ethnicity. Never mind.
• Being one of two finalists for a part in a major movie filming in Hawaii. Her character was the daughter, the Mom was the more important role. She looked like Mom A of the two Mom finalists. Mom B got cast, so daughter B got the part.
• Getting cast for the lead in a good budget independent film. Another "contracts are on the way over" thing. Then the director changed his mind and went with an actress who had made the Maxxims Top 40 Hottest Starlets List or some shit like that.
• Last year (2024) auditioned for a really good role on a current big TV hit. They were told upfront that an offer was out to a Name for the part, but they were auditioning in case the Name turned it down (standard industry thing). She was told the part was hers if the Name passed. Yeah, the Name accepted a couple of weeks later.
There are plenty more example of her near-misses, but the cruelest was two years ago booking a medium size part in a good movie, signing the contracts, talking with production, working with wardrobe, and being flown by private jet to the on location shoot. She started feeling a little off during the flight, but didn't think anything of it until she popped positive on the mandatory Covid test the next morning. They were on a tight schedule, hers was a medium part and there's no telling how Covid will run, so the instantly replaced here with their second choice. She spent three days in the hotel feeling mildly ill, tested clear, and they flew her back home.
So.....she works three days a week in an insurance office and has several side hustles to keep the rent paid while waiting for SOMETHING to break her way, finally.
