ACTOR
Associations
In the field of film and television, the associations you will look for are the unions. There are two main unions: AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) and SAG (Screen Actors Guild). According to Act One Reports, the “primary responsibilities of the unions include: negotiating contracts that establish the minimum wage scale and working conditions for professional performers; enforcement of those contracts; processing residuals; regulation and franchising of talent agencies; membership record keeping and communications.”
Keep Working!
While you are hoping to land that great role in a film or on television, keep up your acting skills by auditioning for and playing roles in stage plays. Not only will you always be busy and have new things to put on your résumé, you just never know who might be sitting in the audience one night! It could be a famous casting director, an agent, or a producer. Hard work and persistence are the keys to making it big in this industry. You may hear of someone in the business referred to as a newcomer. Rest assured, this newcomer did not just walk into a Hollywood studio and say, “Hi, put me in a movie.” More often than not this actor has been paying his or her dues for years, modeling for print ads, doing television commercials, or taking small walk-on roles in television specials.
Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York all have union offices that you can contact, as do some of the smaller cities, such as Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Nashville, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle. The main Web site for SAG is http://www.sag.org/sagWebApp. You can go to http://www.aftra.com/aftra/aftra.htm for more AFTRA information. There are also links to local chapters at this Web site.
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