I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds
I've
been on both sides of the table and rest assured it is much, much
better on the side with the call sheet and refreshments. The average
income for a member of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and
Radio Artists is $6,127. A year. That's average
income, not median, so I can only imagine what the numbers would be
like if you didn't factor in the salaries of ACTRA members like Kiefer
Sutherland and Mike Myers. It is a hard, hard life and harder still to
justify to anyone who's never been on stage.
I always found auditions nerve-wracking but what I never
would have guessed back then is how much the casting people want
you to
succeed. They'd love nothing more than for you to nail it so they can
stop worrying about whether or not they're ever going to find the right
person for the role. The downside is they've already endured a series
of mediocre performances, so you'd better get it right the first time.
We just went through a session where every actor read their lines twice
in close-up and twice in a two shot. 100 actors x 4 readings each = me
getting sick of my own dialogue pretty quickly.
-Graham
