I'll probably get stones thrown at me but...

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/13/08 at 10:07pm

This is my final year of college and I'm going to be graduating with my B.F.A in Acting and, like most actors, I plan on moving to NYC and being there by this time next year. I know this year is going to fly by even though a year seems like a long time from now. I plan on living in NYC to gain my residency so that the college of my choice will be cheaper and I can get my masters without having to pay twice as much. With that being said, I just want to live in the city and try to make it by working and surviving. I don't want to audition, I don't want an agent, I don't want any of the things that your typical actress that has just graduated wants. I don't feel like I'm ready to hit the auditioning scene in NYC because I think I have a ways to go (which is why I want to continue my education.) So, with that being said is there any advice that anybody can offer? Any job ideas? I know that landlords prefer tentative tenants to have a job before they go looking to rent an apartment so I just want to have a general idea of where I should go looking for work and really any other things you could tell me that would help.

PS. I know I could live anywhere in New York to gain my residency but I am going to be bold and go ahead and move to NYC since it is the place I have always wanted to live. I know it will be tough but I'm willing to deal with it.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/13/08 at 10:13pm

*hurls a bolder*

You gave WAY too much "I wants" and "I don't wants" up front.

Is there a question in there somewhere?

Help an old man out. And stop being so picky.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/13/08 at 10:18pm

eek! I wasn't at all trying to be picky...I guess it does come off that way.

The main gist is: I want to move to NYC and just make a living. Any advice that you can give about finding a job would be nice.

That was way faster to type.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/13/08 at 10:19pm

learn how to be a barista.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 8/13/08 at 10:23pm

She'd have to move to England for that, taz.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/13/08 at 10:24pm

Yea, they don't have those Starbucks stores here in America.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/13/08 at 10:30pm

One of my close friends the other told me "I got Ph.D in theatre and all it got me was a job at starbucks." It may be naive of me, but are there generally lots of jobs open at starbucks in the millions of locations in nyc?

I guess i just have this idea that there are zero jobs available in the city

[StageManager2]

Posted: 8/13/08 at 10:30pm

What? I thought you said barrister. Speak up next time!

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 8/13/08 at 11:29pm

Well, the first and biggest mistake you are making, is your refusal to do auditions. Auditions are about a billion times more important and educational than anything you are going to learn in school.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/13/08 at 11:30pm

I don't refuse to do it but after reading some of the threads on this board it seems impossible to keep a job to have a decent life and still have time to audition.

[elphiesmagic]

Posted: 8/13/08 at 11:44pm

It's possible, but the actors I know who do it and make decent money have evening jobs as waiters/word processors, etc. What often ends up happening is that they're tired from working at night and don't get to open calls anyway. I've known some who have loved the waiting tables money so much that they've eventually given up the pursuit of a performing career altogether.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 7:46am

Oh well, I guess I just don't comprehend why anyone who wants to act, would move to New York not to do it? Why move to NY, at all, then? Why not wait until you are done with your masters? Why take-on the added burden, stress and expense of living in NY?! I mean, there are plenty of great schools, outside of NY. Most of them, in fact.
Updated On: 8/14/08 at 07:46 AM

[Taryn]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 8:39am

Plus, a lot of masters programs really look for their candidates to have gotten some real-world acting experience before coming to their school.

[shameless]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 9:00am

Actually, I do get what you're saying about not feeling ready, thespian. I switched majors very late in the game and I felt the same way about internships in my new major, BUT the only way to get the experience and to ever feel comfortable auditioning is to just go out and do it. Just jump in. And if you're not really expecting to land the job anyway then maybe that will take even more of the pressure off.

Can't help you with the job part except to say that times are tough. Take what you can get.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 9:05am

First off, most grad schools could care less if you have lived in and/or performed in New York City. To other grad schools, it is a "bonus" if you have performed off-Broadway but mostly it's all about this: WORKING IN PROFESSIONAL THEATRE -- wherever that may be.

A lot of graduate theatre programs -- I take that back -- MOST graduate theatre programs want to see that you have had 2+ years' experience doing professional theatre. It doesn't have to be New York. Move to Boston, Chicago, Seattle, Washington DC, San Francisco for a large theatre scene. Move to ANY city in ANY state that has a few good professional theatres and just audition for their shows. They are used to hiring local actors who have day-time jobs to make their living. Chances are, if you are hired for a job and they like you, they will re-hire you for an appropriate show in the very near future. Or someone will know somebody at the next closest theatre and when you audition for that theatre, they'll already know you. You have a much greater chance of getting theatre jobs outside of New York.

I don't know why you MUST go to a grad school in New York, but if you MUST, then here is how a friend of mine achieved what you are wanting: For the price of an apartment in the City, he rented out two apartments in two different states. One was in (I think) Nyack, NY and the other was in Washington DC. He had two addresses but whenever he took a job and had to fill out the tax forms, he wrote down his NY address. In New York, he had his mail automatically forwarded to him in DC. So technically, he "lived" in New York but he was temporarily "staying" in DC. After his contract was up at the theatre he was working at, he simply moved in to his Nyack apartment until grad school began.