The Great Acting Blog: “What To Do About This Abundance Of Actors?”

The Great Acting Blog: “What To Do About This Abundance Of Actors?”

In a recent post on his blog, film producer Ted Hope talks about how we make far more films than we watch. He disagrees though, that there are too many films being made, he says simply that there is an abundance and the problem for independent film is what to do with this abundance.

We actors have known about this “abundance” all our lives – we’ve had it drummed into us that there are too many actors, that we are just one of a myriad. It’s just part of our life, we accept it, and we get on with it.

So what to do with this abundance of actors? I’ve long held the view that our culture wastes an enormous amount of it’s acting talent. The structure of the audition pyramid is such that only a tiny fraction are working at any given time, while the rest sit at home. There’s huge waste right there. Further, there is an enormous drop out rate in acting**, largely caused by a lack of opportunity, and all those skills and all that experience gets lost. That’s more waste.

One way I’ve always believed to curb this waste, is for actors to no longer be seen as a great abstraction, but as individual creative artists offering a unique contribution. This means actors must take responsibility for themselves, and not behave like drones. They need to think about their work and put in the effort to develop  their aesthetics. On the other side, filmmakers, directors, writers, producers etc need to value the contribution of individual actors more, which in turn encourages the actor to be more serious and better himself. The wasteful casting process should be eschewed in favour of ongoing collaborations, the habit of mutuality should be embedded. Skills are worked on and aesthetics are worked out. Trust and understanding would be nurtured. Everyone would grow together, the quality of work would improve, and output would increase. Oh, and there would be less waste.

*About 50,000 are made globally each year.

**Many don’t officially drop-out, but acting is no longer their primary, full-time focus.

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