Trying to find work as an extra...HELP!!??
Thu, 31 July 2008, 10:35 pmBald and hooked on XBOX8 posts in thread
Trying to find work as an extra...HELP!!??
Thu, 31 July 2008, 10:35 pmOkay I'm new here so please don't crucify me if this has been asked before.
I'm a pretty interesting looking guy with a shaved head and a lot of tattoos
and whilst I'm not loony enough to fancy myself as the next Brad Pitt I was kind of interested
in finding some paid work as an extra and just seeing where the journey took me and I figured not really being an actor as such it probably wouldn't be that hard too find bits and bobs of work..you know the quaint commercials where the daughter brings home a boyfriend that is the Father's idea of the Anti Christ etc,etc.
In Melbourne at least this seems to be a positon for the wealthy who are bored and don't know what to do with their spare time,every Talent Agency I've tried to contact seems to want about $360 - 400 off me and I'm unemployed.
I can kind of understand that agencies would do this too make a profit and stay afloat but it being a pretty big amount of money too me I'm really concered that some Agency instead of helping promote me is going to take all my money(which of course what with being on Centrelink I'd have to borrow off someone else) and leave me with nothing to eat but about 25 Glamour shots of myself.
There was an agency called "Creature 2BU" in Melbourne that dealt with alternative looking people and I was really keen to work with but they wanted $400 upfront and I had to wait about a month or two before I could borrow the money off someone and then I tried calling them but the operator message told me the call could not be connected and then I emailed them..no reply and then when I googled them yesterday and clicked on their link it changed to some weird Russian or greek page of google that I couldn't understand.
I went to see another agency on Wednesday but the interview was at the guys house instead of the office,He was late,didn't ask me my name and was pretty insistent that casting was closing on the 30th of this month and if I wanted any work I needed to come up with $360...needless to say I declined that particular offer.
If anyone out there can help me with these couple of questions I'd really appreciate it because I'm a newbie and frankly quite lost.
Are there any talent agencies in Melbourne at all that don't charge upfront fees??
With "Creature 2BU" seemingly gone is there anywhere else an alternative looking person such as myself should go too find work as an extra??
If they all do charge fees,what is the average industry fee??
Thank you
Oh you really just have to
Thu, 31 July 2008, 10:52 pmOh you really just have to read this:
http://www.theatre.asn.au/book_page/agents_and_agencies
and the links given at the end: Union Membership and Finding an Agent.
DO NOT GIVE ANYONE MONEY UPFRONT. Good agents take commissions; although it's not clear from what you say what the money is even for. Some will ask for a photo shoot with you at your cost; even then, it's suggested to find your own headshots/photographers, to avoid anything dodgy happening with your 'agent'. ... Even though the above links discuss issues in QLD, the same is true of agents in Melbourne. Please search the rest of this site for threads on good agents in the Melb. area. (Could you post the link for the agent "Creature 2BU"... I googled and couldn't find anything. I'm curious to check them out)
As for looking for extras work, perhaps you need these links (less the first, but you get the idea):
http://www.theatre.asn.au/blog/na/looking_for_work_2
http://www.theatre.asn.au/book_page/best_places_to_look_for_professional_theatre_auditions_and_tech_admin_work
If you seriously want to 'see how the acting thing goes', then don't try and do pro extras work. There's enough pro unemployed actors out there to fill the limited work in Melbourne as it is. (Actually, it is that hard) You might want to try your luck better doing amateur stuff and fringe shows; there are more than enough fringe performances looking for actors and student films to be involved in. Especially as you're "not really an actor"... Do your research, and you'll be less likely to be ripped off... Having said that, if you're willing to beg and borrow money, to save and scrimp to do pro extras work because you want to see where it goes - my suggestion is you use the money to attend local acting classes, which frankly, will benefit you ten times more than hunting for an agent at this point in time. There are a number of classes available in Melbourne that I can suggest, beginning with St Martin's, National Theatre, and ACOPA. There are also short term classes available at VCA and Swinburne. If this is a way of trying to earn money, I suggest trying a different industry entirely.
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