Now, if you’ve ever done any real heavy-lifting for minimum wage while a flaming asshole encroaches your personal space, a tough day at work for an actor kinda pales in comparison. Here’s a comment posted after I once mentioned this:
“‘Just keep showing up and eventually you’ll work. Every actor who wants it bad enough makes it. Let’s have fun. It’s showbiz – there ain’t a lot of heavy lifting involved.’ It’s great to be positive, but, that statement sounds sooo naive, don't you think? Thousands of actors struggle their whole lives and never ‘make it.’ And the mental heavy lifting is much harder than lifting fridges all day. Just saying. No?”
-AV
Well, since you asked nicely, I will absolutely respond. As far as physical vs. mental lifting, acting may be a mental challenge, but I personally don’t think it’s tougher than hard labor, which carries the burden of both physical and mental heavy-lifting. Farmers are passionate about what they do, but they bust their asses only to have so many factors out of their control, such as whether their crops will be profitable each year. Judging by the empty beer cans I see at construction sites, they’re not exactly the happiest places on earth.
Even if you aren’t working with your hands, the stress level can be off the charts. Retail has become extremely unstable. Investment bankers have the ability to make a lot of money, but the market is fragile as hell. Teachers may get summers off, and some stability if they have tenure, but the pay sucks, kids are pieces of shit, and with forced curriculums, all of the creativity that drew them to teaching is lost. Etc., etc., etc.
So AV, I’m not sure if you’re an actor, but by the very essence of your question I’d say you’re not cut out for this business, which is fine. I wrote that post for people who’d rather act than do anything else, yet are feeling like success will never come. I wrote it because I don’t want them to give up.
And give up acting up for what? Are there some terrific alternative opportunities awaiting them? If so, I’ll be disappointed, but wish them the best. Yet as I’ve said a dozen times before and I’ll say 12 dozen times again: we actors choose this business, knowing that the odds are crazy, so we have no grounds to bitch about it. A simple co-starring role on a TV show can get 17,000 headshots submitted for it. That means 16,999 of us can either choose to stay persistent, or go become, I don’t know – morticians. It’s a growth industry.
I hope that’s some sort of an answer. And by the way, it’s interesting I’d be questioned about being naively positive, considering I’ve been accused of being ridiculously negative. Tough crowd.
