Confession of my Profession

mrwang (69)in #story • 8 years ago (edited)

I Have A Confession To Make

I'm Not Rich, Bish

There's a common misconception of my profession that I would like correct in this community. Everyone seems to believe that I'm a rich sonofabitch

Unfortunately this is far from the truth... However, I'm one of the few people that can proudly declare

I LOVE MY JOB

Rub it in your face and post all the fun looking pics from on set and behind the scenes. Then continue about by usual boring day... writing, creating, developing another story and video OR for the most part, responding to my agents emails and submitting my head shot/resume/demo reel to casting directors for an opportunity to audition for acting gigs.

Benefits of an Agent

Having an agent is pretty awesome... but the sole purpose of our relationship is to continue booking work so we BOTH can get paid. She looks for the opportunities and let's me know what she's found then ask to book me for an audition if I'm available. She takes care of all the legalities and fights for my success in the industry.
It's up to me to bring my "A+" game and impress the casting director and book the gig..

If and when I do

Book a Gig

she steps back in and negotiates the terms of the contract. This usually includes negotiating the cost of travel, per diem and accommodations among other things including stuff like

Co-Starring Wallace Carranza

^{My name in the end credits}

Travel and Accommodations

I reside in Houston, Tx and usually have to make a weekly 2 hour trip out to Austin for most of my auditions. This for the most part is due to the rise of...

SXSW and the boom of film production in the city

What makes most of the traveling difficult is the fact that my work is not promised.. I'm committing the time and whatever money I have to gas and food just to make a scheduled audition and I'm competing with other actors who are just as hungry and committed as I am.

Sometimes I wanna channel my inner Mexican Cartel

and snatch up a snobby rich kid to hold for ransom

It's a different story for Queen of the South because I booked that gig. Still, I have to make a 3 hour drive to Dallas whenever I'm needed for an episode. My agent negotiated the terms of my contract to include travel, per diem while the production takes care of me by booking my room at a pretty classy hotel for the duration of my stay.

It's my responsibility to provide a credit card with sufficient enough funds to cover "incidentals" I might incur during my stay, usually around $100/night. I've been booked thru the weekend sometimes and left with shit to do because the 5 days they booked me for pretty much maxed out my credit card. There was a few instances where I wasn't so fortunate and I had to find someone at 3 am in the morning to put their card on hold and get me into my room.

When it comes to television.. all bets are off, everything including urgent calls and request are always LAST FUCKING MINUTE and you find yourself hauling ass to another city just to be on set the following morning, UGH

NOT A COOL FEELING

I guess I have Tom Cruise, Will Smith and The Rock to thank for this very common assumption that I'm balling out of control, pissing out gold coins and wiping my ass with $100 dollar bills. After all, they are making the $50-$150 million dollar deals to do the same job as me.

What most of you fail to realize is the average income for television and film actors is between $35,000 - $50,000/year and it's only that high because of the blockbuster actors such as the ones mentioned above.

Average Salary of An Actor

Most of us actors have to hustle every day and make sure we are in tip top shape for any opportunity to book a gig. Nothing is promised but you keep grinding till you find success. I am very fortunate to be a part of a hit network tv show which just got renewed for a 2nd season. I will continue making far beyond $35,000/year from now on..

BUT ONLY WHEN I'M WORKING ON SET

Since this is the first season of the show and my character barely made his debut... I don't expect to see residuals for a while. I get paid per day with all travel and per diem expenses included on a check every 2 weeks just like most of you guys get paid from your job. The current issue for me is we are not in production and I'm on standby until whenever they start back up for filming season 2.. until then, it's my responsibility to find other acting gigs and continue making a paycheck until production is ready.

My contributions to steem and the debt I'm managing

As most of you know I create a ton of videos and have some powerful messages to share with everyone. This is an outlet to test material and express myself by sharing my deepest darkest secrets as a form of self therapy. It's also an alternative source of income I use to pay off debts I built from producing other projects that are soon to be finished and released. The commitments I made to producing these projects was fueled by passion to create and inspire along with the possibility of attracting the right people and being picked up by networks such as Netflix or Hulu, to say the least.
This is a very stressful business and I'm constantly dealing with rejection and criticism but I keep grinding, creating and promoting the work I create because I believe in the message I have for this world.. My legacy will make a huge impact on this world and I will do my best to make it a better world for my son. The debts I've created from loans and credit lines isn't really so bad but it's recently become a bit overwhelming. Currently, I create on here to make payments on those loans and I can't wait to pay them off so I can start powering up on here and raise my STEEM POWER. It's only a matter of time this will happen and when it does.. I'm sure you guys will notice.

My Crowdfunding Campaigns

I do have 2 crowdfunding campaigns active... One is the crypto-currency based Bitcoinstarter.com

@MrWang on Steemit

My Campaign Happens To Be "Staff Pick"

This campaign will allow me to produce even better content exclusively for steemit by upgrading equipment and covering the cost of production expenses and resources. They accept several different crypto currencies allowing contributors an option to donate with a preferred crypto currency. Unfortunately they have yet to implement STEEM

Otro proyecto (Other Project)
Carranza Production Studio On Indiegogo

This campaign is focused on helping me get into a studio so I can have the privacy and space to raise the volume of production. It's also limited to $USD$ but offers several different payment options
If I might have caught your attention.. please visit the links above, check out the details and donate if you support the cause. These projects do not include any of my debts I mentioned above as those are my responsibility but I feel a high level of transparency is necessary for everyone's benefit, so I'm including this notation. All donations from the 2 campaigns above will only be used for those campaigns.

Contributions & donations/tips via Steemit welcome

If you feel like contributing but unable to make a donation to either of those campaigns but have any form type of contributions that can help me get my projects launched including Network Connections, Equipment, Supplies, Website Development/hosting, Marketing, Advice or you want to simply donate/tip me via STEEMIT I'd be very grateful for your generosity and will apply it accordingly. Any specific request should be left in the message of the transaction itself.

There you have it.. more inside details of the, not so pretty "actors life." I bet you have a different opinion of me now, so fuck it. Let's just say, The Struggle is Real and throw any prior assumptions you might have of me into the recycling bin and maybe, just maybe you can reuse when I'm back up and running in season 2 of Queen of the South.