Moving to LA to become an actor/model

[disgruntled la native]

Old thread but I should add my 2 cents. I went to school and hanging out with the kids of real famous people. Actors, directors, producers who are oscar winners multi millionaires have mansions in brentwood, beverly hills, bel air. Guess what - their own kids who are trying to make it in the industry have trouble too! These producers who make some of the top shows on TV you're watching on NBC can't even get their own kids jobs! Then there are the super famous actors.. the ones with hundreds of thousands of followers on twitter and pulling in 20 mil a movie.. their kids want to be actors, yeah, and the connections don't even work there! they get the leg up in auditions but it just isnt enough! Now I'm not pitying these kids, their parents have millions and they basically end up living off them... but if the kids of the connected can't make, it sure don't bode well for the Okie pursuing his dreams out here.

Now i live in west hollywood/miracle mile area and every other person I meet is trying to make it as an actor/singer/model. . Lot of attractive nice people too. Increases the eye candy count since us natives aren't as spectacular. but 99.9% not making it. and even if they have 5000 friends on myspace and 50,000 hits on their page, it aint a record deal.

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by 415_s2k

I moved to LA because I wanted to live in LA. Sure, I played in a band back in Boston, but I had no plans to join one in Los Angeles. I just wanted to be there... and so I moved at 18.

I was floored when I got there at how many people were f'in rich. A third of the people I met or saw who were my age were driving a late-model car; I was driving an '86 Saab hatchback that needed to have fluids dumped in it every few days to keep it moving. Everyone was wearing the latest, coolest designer duds; I dressed like the Boston hardcore/punk kid I was. It blew me away; I had no idea how they did it, and it just seemed that the further people got into their 20's, the more were successful.

Then, I started selling cars, and had access to everyone's credit report, and got to listen to their stories about how they were going to make it: most of them were living on credit (which was plentiful around '02-07), or on their parents' money. The ones who were actually working were, indeed, usually waiters, waitresses, bartenders, barbacks... the lucky ones were assistants to successful entertainment biz types, and they made barely above minimum wage to be someone's glorified beer *****. But they would milk the hell out of that position, and they'd heap their living expenses onto the pile, knowing that in just a few more weeks they'd get that big break, and they wouldn't be able to walk down the street without being noticed by fans and they would be jetsetting across the globe, ruling Los Angeles.

I recall in particular having a young guy come to the Lexus dealer I was a manager at. He was in perfect shape, super-cool looking, and was driving a beat-up 80's Ford Ranger. The way he talked and acted, you'd have sworn he'd just woken up in a penthouse west of Bevery Hills on Wilshire in a bed full of European models, who then bathed and dressed him as he nursed his hangover, then roared up in a Ferrari to see if Lexus had anything he was interested in today.

I asked him what he did, and he said "actor" in a cooler-than-thou lethargy. After a bit more conversation, it came out that he'd moved there three days ago and was sleeping on someone's couch, but his agent was really awesome and got some ******* on some *******y show that only *******s watched. Right now, he had no income. But he was really going to be the next big thing. He was young, hot, the best actor at his high school in PA, had a good agent who had some really good auditions lined up for him... he told me that although he had zero credit, no money down, and probably couldn't make the first month's payment, we'd get a big, fat check in the mail for the total balance of a brand new LX470 plus ten thousand dollars gratuity in a few weeks if we let him drive it off today. He was serious.

I called him back a couple times to find out how it was going, if he'd made it yet. He always had auditions lined up... was always about to get his big break... the last time I called him, he told me to f-off and he was moving back to Pennsylvania.

When I went back to school and was working in a hotel, I'd see a new, hot girl in the employee lounge eating a salad and go say hi, introduce myself... I'd ask what she did (as in, where in the hotel she worked) and generally I heard, "I'm an actress. *crickets* But I'm a cocktail waitress here, for now."

At the restaurant Fred 63 up Vermont in Hollywood, they have some witty shirts the waitstaff wear... one of them is "Jesus is our dishwasher," but my favorite is black and says in big, white letters: "ACTOR AT WORK."

The thing these people have to remember is that although you may be talented; you may be attractive; you may be just plain damned awesome at your craft... many of the most talented, attractive, and just plain damned awesome people in the world are flocking to LA to do exactly what you're doing, and many of them have way more financial and social resources to work with than you do from the get-go... so you'd better be prepared for some seriously stiff competition.

I know this post is months old but you made the best post I've read on this site. Couldn't be more astute

[SlowMotionApocalypse]

If it weren't for all the wannabe stars struggling to make it and in desperate need of cash, I would never get laid.

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

I know this post is months old but you made the best post I've read on this site. Couldn't be more astute

Thank you! Appreciate that!

[Troof]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

Old thread but I should add my 2 cents. I went to school and hanging out with the kids of real famous people. Actors, directors, producers who are oscar winners multi millionaires have mansions in brentwood, beverly hills, bel air. Guess what - their own kids who are trying to make it in the industry have trouble too! These producers who make some of the top shows on TV you're watching on NBC can't even get their own kids jobs! Then there are the super famous actors.. the ones with hundreds of thousands of followers on twitter and pulling in 20 mil a movie.. their kids want to be actors, yeah, and the connections don't even work there! they get the leg up in auditions but it just isnt enough! Now I'm not pitying these kids, their parents have millions and they basically end up living off them... but if the kids of the connected can't make, it sure don't bode well for the Okie pursuing his dreams out here...

Unfortunately, Will and Jada seem to have enough resources to push their kin upon the masses...

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by Troof

Unfortunately, Will and Jada seem to have enough resources to push their kin upon the masses...

That little girl looks exactly like her daddy.

Exactly.

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by Troof

Unfortunately, Will and Jada seem to have enough resources to push their kin upon the masses...

I know, what a shame

The most annoying transplant actor wannabes are the ones who try to adopt the lingo and moves of what they perceive to be Hollywood. They watch a lot of Entourage so they think that's how they're supposed to be. Like "I just had lunch at the ivy and now i'm off to a quick trip at barneys before my audition" and name dropping the crap out of people they've never/barely met