Hi Bonnie,
Not sure if you’ve already covered this but I didn’t come across it in your columns archives.
As you may know a lot of actors work at night. For example, I work the hours of 4:30pm to 1am Monday through Friday.
Now this is good because days are free for auditions and shoots, however, a lot of networking events and workshops are held in the evening and due to the job many of these are missed.
One has to really think if missing a night of pay (for rent, etc.) is worth going to an event that may or may not be productive.
It’s a big sacrifice and it’ll take probably twice as long to build relationships than someone who is free in the evening.
Some actors work a graveyard shift!
How do these actors make it work? I know I’ve done my best, but I’m low on inspiration. Maybe some of your readers have got some great ideas and it’ll make for an interesting subject for everyone to read.
Or if you already covered it; just send me the link. 🙂
Enjoy the journey,
Robert Keniston
Fantastic topic, Robert! I am always fascinated by the actors who do manage to juggle their survival job schedule (whatever the hours), auditioning, bookings, acting classes, and all of the various networking activities that are out there. But some do! They do it very well, sometimes.
I managed all of that, back in my actor days, by having so very many different survival jobs that none of my days looked the same. I had different hours free, day to day, and if I could hit a networking event because I suddenly had that night free, I went. I did so much work from home that could be fit in at whatever time of day I had the time to do it, that I could structure my days to get to whatever events were a priority at the time.
Now, that option doesn’t exist for everyone (depending on the types of survival job work you choose), nor does everyone have the discipline to manage freelance work in such a way that would make them productive and available to take advantage of everything you’d like to experience, socially.
So let me do as you’ve suggested and open this up to our awesome readers. What are your tips for balancing work and auditions and bookings and networking events and classes? Since building relationships is such a vital part of getting leverage in this business, how can actors who work during the most typical networking hours start the process?
Thank you for having checked the archives for this topic. I look forward to having this one covered thanks to readers who write in with advice for you!
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001222.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.