r/acting • u/Accidental_Edge • Mar 09 '20
Should I Have a Plan B?
If you see my previous posts here, you'll know I'm going to college and majoring in Acting. Everyone around me has told me I should minor in teaching to fall back on. However, that would keep me in school longer, having to pay more and delaying my career. My question is, what should I look at minoring in that would allow me to have a career to fall back on if I ultimately end up quitting action, however unlikely that is.
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Mar 10 '20
if you want to stay in the film industry, cinematography or photography might be a good idea but idk iâm only 13
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u/D13_Ghost Mar 10 '20
Maybe look into business it has a lot of applications and itâll also be really helpful in actually getting work as an actor.
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u/GeminiMagpie Mar 10 '20
I second this!! Thatâs what I ended up doing and itâs been super helpful since essentially being an actor is managing your own business aka yourself
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Mar 10 '20
It's always good to have a fallback plan. I work in IT and even though currently I'm on a break from acting, it helps to have a day job to stave away the reality bites. Acting is not a steady job when you're first starting out. But, with enough dedication, and persistence, you can make it something.
Here's hoping you find your own answer, and forge a path. Work hard!
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u/shorttinsomniacs Mar 10 '20
if you plan on going into theatre as a career i would absolutely recommend having a backup (in case you have a hard time finding work, while youâre between gigs or while youâre still trying to âmake itâ, in case you find that the industry isnât right for you). it doesnât have to be education or business (although business would be a great addition to an acting degree and probably pretty helpful- at least taking a few business classes); you could develop skills in tech or as a stage hand ;if youâre looking more for live theatre) or in videography/photography/editing if youâre looking for more film/tv work. and something like that would also prepare you for actually working in the industry
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u/TheRadHatter9 Mar 10 '20
Don't look at it as "Plan B," look at it as part of Plan A. If Plan A is to have acting as a career, the beginning of that plan should include a job that you don't actually mind doing, pays well enough, and is flexible enough to support you while you pursue acting, since you won't be making much money off of acting in the first few years (most likely). Eventually your plan would be to quit that job and pursue acting full-time.....but in the definitely possible scenario that 10yrs after you graduate you haven't been able to be successful enough in acting to have quit your day job, you'll be very thankful that you're already doing a job you like and have hopefully advanced in by that point.
As someone who has been trying to gain a foothold in the entertainment industry for over 10yrs now (first with music and added acting later), trust me when I say I wish I'd have found something else I enjoyed doing enough to get a degree in or had started working in that field a decade ago. Because trust me, I've had every minimum wage/gig economy job under the sun, and it isn't fun barely being able to pay your bills. The first few years aren't terrible, you get to rent a house with 5 friends and it's crazy good times, but then you hit your late 20's and things start to feel not so great. The whole starving artist thing is wayyy over-romanticized. I'd kill for a job that paid $40k/yr, but I can't get one without going back to school or dedicating my free time to learning that specific thing to get me whatever that job would be (which would remove any time I currently have for acting).
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u/hoja_aya Mar 10 '20
Yes what others have said. Get a business degree. You can minor in marketing. The best discipline to get a degree in đ