There are places, however, where performers can hone their skills in front of an audience, two of the best known being The Comedy Store and The Improvisation. For leads to a new or newly-hot place, check Drama-Logue and ask fellow hopefuls standing around waiting to go on. Each place has its own particular rules as to how you go about getting onto its stage, but basically, first you perform on an "off night" and, if you're good, you move up to a more desirable night and time. Then, depending on the policy of the house, you'll be paid or continue to perform for free.
Certainly these places give performers - especially comics - a showcase. Certainly people have been discovered. And certainly they're democratic, in that the best people move up. However, you'll be performing either for nothing or for a very small salary.
Yer don't get yer money and yer makes yer choice.
For paying work, places like Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm often advertise open calls in the trades.
For versatile performers, including magicians, singers, etc., a good variety agent or personal manger wouldn't hurt. Here are a few agencies:
- Devroe Agency
- George B. Hunt Agency
- International Talent Agency
- Variety Artists International
STUNTWORK
"I don't try to act - don't you try to do stunts," says one stuntman. Absolutely. Offered an additional thousand dollars to do a stunt? Terrific. It'll make a great down payment on a wheelchair.
If you're thinking of a career in stunts, it's at least as difficult to become a "star" stuntman (in the sense of earning big money) as it is to become a "star" actor, and there are additional "dues" to be paid in the form of broken bones, bruises and cuts - and that's if you're lucky. While the pros take all sorts of precautions, accidents do happen. Stuntmen have died.
In any case, you'll need to get your SAG card (all stuntmen must be SAG), and put together a composite with a resume that lists all the physically-oriented things you can do. Then make the rounds of the studios, production houses, and especially any producers, directors and stunt coordinators, and hope they'll take a shot on a newcomer.
You can take a stunt workshop, but it isn't vital.
If hired, you'll be paid standard SAG wages for actors, plus a sum for the particular stunt. This usually is negotiated by you and the producer or director right there on the set, and you're paid each time you do it, whether the camera jams or the director "just wants another one." "Stunts such as high falls are often negotiated by the foot," says agent Karen DiCenzo.
And two last words of caution. First, carry insurance - lots of it. (That is, if you can get it.) Second, as an ad once run by a group of stuntmen in the trades said, "No shot is worth a life."
PORNOGRAPHY
Questions of morality aside, if the film is "hard core," it's a career killer. As soon as you become known for grunting your way through the hard stuff, you'll become virtually non-hirable for legit films, TV and commercials. Even if you should do one only in a moment of desperation, that film will later cause you ten times more career grief than any amount you were paid. Even "soft core" is iffy.
STUDENT FILMS
Unpaid? Only in money. You'll get experience in front of a camera, film on yourself, and make contacts for the future. George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola - just to name three - were once student filmmakers. "Student films," says theatrical casting director Paul Bengston, "Are summer stock for Hollywood."
To find what's casting, check Drama-Logue. Students (usually from the University of Southern California (USC), the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles City College, Loyola Marymount, Art Center College of Design and Columbia College) often advertise. Also, nose around bulletin boards of college film and drama departments, acting schools and the unions.
Both union and non-union people may do student films, making competition for parts keen, so don't think all you have to do is show up.
If cast, expect a daytime shoot (especially weekends) and don't be surprised if you're asked to tote a light or move a prop. (Also, ask to watch the editing, looping, and presentation of the film to the class. You'll learn plenty.)
And brother, you'll need patience. Everybody's learning. Your "director" may not know camera right from camera wrong. Things will go sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.
Since you're working for free, the "deal" should include your own copy of the film (or at least the student should let you make a copy). But don't sit back and wait for him to get it to you. Keep at him. Some students would flunk Responsibility 101.
- SAG/AFI films: An AFI film is to student films what a Mercedes is to automobiles. To have a shot at being cast, you must be a paid-up member both of SAG and its "Conservatory" program. Then you'll be eligible not only for SAG/AFI casting but a host of other free programs developed for SAG members only.
But a student director is like anyone else - he likes to work with people he knows. So, to increase your chances of being auditioned, it wouldn't hurt to volunteer to work in the SAG/AFI office once or twice a week. "Fellows" are constantly in and out of the SAG/ AFI office, and once they get to know you…
