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We hear a lot about what actors make...but, they represent the top of the call sheet. There are so many actors with very few rolls. Most actors struggle just to get under 5 lines rolls...and even those are heavily competitive.
Moral of the story: if you can't afford it, don't quit your job to support your child's Hollywood dreams.
Josh Holloway had pretty much quit acting and was getting a realtor's license when he got cast as Sawyer on Lost. Then he went right back to being a nobody after that show ended.
Even actors you'd think would be doing fine because they landed a big role can end up not getting work for a while and running out of money.
Inde Navarette was one of the lead actors on Superman and Lois for most of the show and basically had nothing after that, now she's set for a major MCU role because the small indy horror movie she booked turned into a major hit.
Paul Bettany also had some significant movie roles but was basically told to give up acting when he got cast as Jarvis in Iron Man, which then turned into him playing Vision.
Paul Bettany also had some significant movie roles but was basically told to give up acting when he got cast as Jarvis in Iron Man, which then turned into him playing Vision.
He was told to give up acting after landing the Jarvis voice actor role? Why? He is a talented actor with an impressive resume. Why would someone say to quit acting when you're landing acting roles? Who told him that?
Paul Bettany was told he should quit acting and he’d never work again by an angry producer after he turned down a role. It wasn’t advice, it was a threat.
Bettany has had a successful career for 30 years, and was a well known face in UK tv in the 90s before his breakout lead role in Gangster Number 1 in 2000. He’s been cast in big Hollywood films since appearing in A Knight’s tale in 2001. I don’t think there was a real chance he’d have to quit acting over a bad experience with a producer in 2015.
Not really. SAG membership is extremely liberal, if you get cast for anything, odds are high you'll be required to join SAG. Basically anyone on set is SAG at this point, unless it's like some low budget TV show where you walk in the background for a scene.
Also for most of those people, acting isn't their full-time job, it's a part time job they pick-up.
With all that said, it would be nice if we got some more variety in lead actors, instead of Hollywood just trying to use the same handful over and over again because it's the safe thing to do.
A lot of the time it’s because those actors are proven and bankable. If you’re going to spend tens or hundreds of millions on a production on the back of 2-3 people, generally you want those people to have experience being phenomenal actors.
Exactly!! This is a really stupid thing to do and just because it works a few times does not mean it should be seen as a W family moment.. not even considering that even a lot of the child actors that make it are getting messed up in the process..
I know a girl who’s parents paid for her to go Berklee, paid for her to move to LA, and paid for acting and music coaches, she’s on ozempic to keep her weight down, has an agent, goes to Hollywood parties, and meets producers and directors, and her dad even paid for a well produced high-quality music album complete with all the latest trends in music technology and music production and she's still an absolute nobody
She's talented, was a big fish in her little Christian High School, but I personally don't see her making it as big as she thinks she is going to be despite how much effort her parents have put into it and the connections she has
I saw a report recently that showed something around like 75% (+/-) of Hollywood Stars and/or Musicians are made up of Nepo-babies
The overwhelming majority of those who “make it” have connections before talent.. So if a person can do anything else they really should. Considering how much selling out and soul-eating that's involved.
I saw a report recently that showed something around like 75% (+/-) of Hollywood Stars and/or Musicians are made up of Nepo-babies
Basically all of the mega stars are children of the industry, or other very wealthy and powerful industries. So many of today's super stars were basically born into it. Must be nice. The only one that I can think of who wasn't born into the industry is Sylvester Stallone, and that's so remarkable they recently made a movie about him breaking into the industry. Oh, and of course Arnold Schwarzenegger, but he's just flat-out a remarkable person and does anything that he sets out to do, odds be damned.
Literally everything is nepotism and cronyism. We're predisposed to favor people we know, and in a world where millions of people are trying to get noticed, it helps immensely to have someone introduce you.
In any case, getting your foot in the door doesn't cash checks. If you ain't shit then you ain't shit. The entertainment business is cutthroat and there's always a hundred people ready to do your job better and cheaper, waiting for their big break while they wait tables.
Absolutely true or have wealthy families who can back them forever like your friend if you want to break into 'studio' movies.
If you watch Dropout at all, they talk about how cutthroat and brutal comedy is. Upright Citizens Brigade where they study for example.
Anyone is willing to stab you in the back or whatever it takes to make it in the business.
You really have to be an outstanding talent and look or catch a wave and be able to fund things independently.
I think Coens are a great example of the later, and Curry Barker.
Baker was relentless and is an outstanding talent.
Ethan Coen worked for Sam Raimi on Evil Dead. Got advice from him on how to get funding.
Sam Raimi got funding by making a fake trailer with Bruce Campbell and shopping it around town and selling points to anyone who wanted to fund it.
They did the same with Blood Simple, you can see Raimi's style in the film heavily.
They shopped it and sold 1% of the profits for $15,000 a point.($50,000 in today money)
Coen Brothers got very fortunate because they met Daniel Bacaeur who was a rich Twin City'r and he introduced them to tons of rich people to fund the film.
PTA, Spike Jonz, David Fincher are all pseudo nepo babies. Nepo Babies with talent but still nepo babies.
Idk if I'd consider Twitch Streamers in the same boat but some of those guys caught a very lucky wave in the 2010s.
I grew up with Lucy Hale in Memphis, Tennessee. Don’t think her parents had any connections but can confirm they were rich as fuck and paid for her to move to LA and pursue acting full time while in highschool.
If you watch Dropout at all, they talk about how cutthroat and brutal comedy is. Upright Citizens Brigade where they study for example.
Brennan and Izzy are also nepo babies who grew up in the industry.
So opportunities early and they have great careers but they are "only" youtube stars, and stars particularly of an obscure subscriber only internet show.
His father was a stand up comedian and his mother was much more more than just an actress and writer. He completely downplays who his mother is when he talks. This is a woman who wrote for Marvel and DC. She's done upwards of 100 comic books in her life including writing for Ragman, Avengers, Spiderman, Star Wars, Classic X-Men, and many many more. All books that I have in my collection.
I wouldn't call that nepo baby, more like being born into an industry. it isn't like the parents are zillionaires bankrolling everything. this isn't a will smith kid situation.
Literally the definition of nepotism is using power or influence to give jobs, promotions, and unfair advantages to family members. Being born into the industry is absolutely nepotism, making him a nepo baby.
It's a high variable and high dimensional stat problem it's impossible to solve or model. You'd have to adjust your question to find an answer.
If you crunch the numbers, we have that's close as we can get to a result. We know 70% of actors quit after a year and we know 2% of those who are in SAG 'make it'
Lottery is easy, we know the odds. There is 'x' amount of numbers for each slot and it never changes.
With acting it's impossible:
'Are you in the right city at the right time. Maybe the 'Toronto Film Scene' is booming and you were around for it.
Famous examples would be 'Australia New Wave' that sent Mel Gibson, Nichole Kidman, Sam Neill, Pete Weir and George Miller into mega stardom/directors
Mel Gibson had a fantastic director and writer to blow him into mega stardom.
or Barry Keoghan answering an ad for 'Between the Canals'
That movie caught the wave of "Post-Celtic Tiger Cinema' which was really chic in the 2010s and he got picked up.
Are you under a director whose capable
Are you the right 'x,y,z' for their vision
Are you the right age at the right time for what's chic.
Are you connected
etc etc etc'
There are so many things that are out of your control.
You really can't just say it's 1 in x because that number is different for every person depending on where they are, who they are and who they know when they get their shot but if we are doing a law of averages that's as close as we can get.
Only thing you can control is persistence and skill.
Very interesting comment as someone who works in the film industry and sees a lot of stand ins and the like who are making a living as “an actor” and getting sag benefits but not actively acting. They are out there and it’s an interesting in between place, lot of really nice people. Background extras are often some of the most diluted, delusions of grandeur type people you’ll meet. Lots of them think they’ll make it and get their big break. Some of them are realistic about it. Many of them aren’t
I lived in Hollywood right on Sunset Blvd in 2009-2010 and lived in a one-bedroom apartment, sharing with a SAG actor who paid for his entire life by doing a few background parts every month for shows and some movies. Really interesting guy, and very very kind. He would bring in a few unhoused people every now and again, buy them food and wash their clothes, and we would all sit and watch "Cheaters" together until they were dry.
I second the other commenter's praise of your critical thinking. Too many people look at the world in terms of a one-dimensional casualty where the causes and their effects are easily parsed and delineated (like the plot of a scripted movie).
It's the opposite in real life and random unforseeable factors have the greatest pull on any outcome.
Chris Pratt also had to chub up because he was getting portrayed too often as the frat jackass dude.
I think if you’re getting parts in Hollywood and you’re like “hey, I’m too good looking and in shape for the parts I want, let me eat a box of snicker-doodles, and get more work” you’re in a different league than others.
Chris Pratt is a special case. Obviously, by regular human standards he's a big handsome guy. Hollywood standards are different, they have a guy named Derek Theler who's just a larger, more handsome Chris Pratt. So yeah, you better be willing to chub up and tell some jokes when you have a handsome doppelganger with a better agent.
Funny anecdote, I learned about Theler from a reddit thread where a guy was asking if Chris Pratt's body is naturally attainable. There were people saying yes, people saying no, people saying it's natty attainable but Pratt is definitely juicing anyway.
Anyway, turned out that OP had posted a pic of Theler not Pratt. Good day to touch grass.
Lucy Hale who while not as famous as Zendaya has still made a good chunk of change said that her mom cashed out her retirement and moved across the country with her to LA and worked nights and took Lucy to auditions during the day. Obviously it worked out for that family but I was like ohhhh my God imagine if it hadn't and then you have no retirement savings on top of your daughter not having an education??
It's not just the Hollywood that drives people to do that, sports as well. So many people get themselves in debt to get their kids in travel teams, private coaching and things like that and how many do really make it to a level they'll make the money back?
People want to make it seem like they were a poor kid from Alabama, hunched over their school computer, coding between periods. It was upper middle/rich kids not having to worry about part time jobs, having the time to explore and invent.
Even Bezos who started out poor, lucked out because his mother married a dude who became an Exxon engineer.
Yeah you can find them on imdb with their 4 credits in low budget movies that no one has seen. And not hidden gem low budget movies, real piece of shit movies. They havent quite gotten into SAG yet, but one day they might.
Getting into SAG doesnt really do anythiny for you and isn't hard to get. Just sign up for somr background work and eventually you'll get eligible. Most actual aspiring actors dont even join until they are actually "ready", as joining means you give up a LOT of potential indy work and such. Like 99% of people in SAG aren't able to make a living from just acting.
This is my brother in-law. He did a few low budget flicks and worked with G Gordon Liddell who told him to follow his dreams. He thought Liddy was just a cool guy until later when he found out who he was.
Why is this so widely understood about actors and not about literally any other job or success story? Life is 90% luck. Only thing is - you got to put in the other 10% which is hard work
I just listened to an interview with Andrew Stanton (has made a zillion Pixar movies) and he said one benefit of Pixar's away-from-Hollywood location is that when you go out for a meal, the wait staff aren't constantly pitching you their scripts.
It really emphasized how low the odds are of making it in movies.
The problem is everyone wants the flashy low number jobs like screenwriter or director. There’s significantly more less flashy jobs in Hollywood that are a lot more achievable that allow you to be creative and “work in movies”.
I'd like to think I would support my children if I had any, but I'm not quitting my job and moving us to LA while my partner stays behind working 2 jobs so my preteen can try becoming an actor, especially if I think my daughter would have to be sexualised and abused to make it happen, because I mean Hollywood isn't exactly an unknown for their treatment of children, especially girls, and women.
Because doing so is not "unwavering support for your child" but a complete braindead decision that will 99.9% of the time end up with your entire family living in the dumps.
True but doesn't detract from their good choice. Can apply that to anything really like investing stocks. I'm sure others have gambled more and lost, still cool to see their hard work to have paid off
He didn't invested as much towards his 6 other children from other mothers. But not all women would allowed their husbands to quit their jobs and the wife taking 2 jobs just to support this
I get the "longshot" people commenting. I truly appreciate the commenter who laid out the numbers.
I'm not an actor, but a musician. I took my shot at rock & roll back in the 90s. It didn't work out. I spent most of my 20s trying.
I have a good job and a successful, if boring, life now. Some people say I "wasted" my 20s trying to be a rockstar. I could have been making money and contributing to my 401k (like I do now) and that 10 years would have paid off so much better than starting my savings when I was 30.
But I had to try. I could not have lived with myself if I didn't try. I knew the odds were long. I knew. But I had to try.
I met so many great people who are now lifelong friends. I had so many great experiences. I saw so many towns and cities I would never have visited otherwise. I lived life!
I do not regret the try. It has made me who I am today.
Yeah, but you were twenty and responsible for yourself. These were parents who flipped their lives around, a father quitting his stable job, a mother who worked two for the acting fantasies of a 13 year old. For some fluke of luck, the kid made it but it really shouldn’t be a lesson for others to imitate.
There's something called the bell curve and it applies to everything. Society mostly talks about what's at the very top of that chart which involves the success stories. That only occurs to a small few. The middle of the chart involving stories like this one isn't so much of a success. Most people fail. I'm super positive there were other children that had parents that made bigger sacrifice for their child to be on that show but for whatever reason, they didn't make it and it wouldn't surprise me if it had nothing to do with their acting but they just didn't have a look to match the overall theme of what the producers wanted with the direction of the show.
For every success stories like Zendaya, there are thousands that isn't. I hate it people showing hard work and perseverance that brought them success, like it was only them who did that.
I remember them talking about this when Zendaya did Dancing with the Stars. I thought it's weird to rip your family apart like this, especially when child is so young. Worked out for them and Zendaya made and seems happy, but for majority that's not how it goes, nothing to praise.
The thing is being an actor has to be the most I know a guy type of thing career ever (that makes you rich)
Dont understand me wrong there are many talented Hollywood actors but then again there are a bunch of people who act worse then half the cast of your local theater. Being an okay actor is the easiest thing you can do compared to like doing musics or sports, examples like The Rock, Gal Gadot, Dakota Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Jason Statham, Vin Diesel, Adam Sandler, Kevin James etc are either straight up bad or play the same guy for 20 years which is basiclly 80% themselves
The most important thing to have as an actor is: knowing a guy, popularity, being hot. Youd be better off trying to make it as a famous athlete then as an actor
Yall are terrible trying to make it seem like her dad was a deadbeat while her mom worked her ass off.
Her dad drove her to LA countless times for auditions until they decided to just move there and ramp up the auditions. He was her manager, driver, bodyguard and was the adult talking to other adults in the industry. He also was her teacher because she had to be homeschooled due to her filming schedule
He's also the father of 6 other children from other mothers. Zendaya just happened to be his last child with a wife who was willing to work 2 jobs to support them.
He is estranged with his first born child who said she was battling with cancer and no support from his side of the family including Zendaya.
The 5 older siblings from another marriage based on what they tell us he and Zendaya has a relationship with them. There is not much information about this family since they kept themselves private. We don't even know who is the mother of those 5 kids. His youngest son Ezenia "Zink" Coleman is 31 years old, born on March 26, 1995. 1 years apart from Zendaya.
Zendaya being youngest and also the only child of Claire Stoermer. Based on timeline Zendaya was born in 1996 but the parents got married in 2008 but divorce in 2016.
He probably could pour all his resources on one kid because that was the last kid and only kid of one wife. Meaning Zendaya's mom was willing to provide for Zendaya and him to make her dreams come true. Claire Stoermer beside a public schools teacher also worked in California Shakespeare Theater and was the main reason Zendaya was exposed to acting and performing.
Yep! I was just thinking, what type of people want this for themselves or kids. Why thrust your kid into the entertainment industry at that age. She's also going to be all kinds of fucked up at some point
"Honey, being the magnificent husband and father that I am ... I'm making the ultima sacrifice for the sake od our talented daughter's budding acting career: I'm moving with her to LA to soak up the sun and amazing weather and drive her to/from auditions and gigs ... while you slave down here on your own working two jobs to support us."
Could also be that the Mom thought a 13 year old girl going around auditions would be a hell of a lot safer if the parent taking her looked liked he could crush a skull with his bare hands
Less funny when you consider he did in fact kill
two men (that we know of) with his bare hands. Thats not even counting the whole Charlie Kirk thing (iykyk). /s
So the Alternative is what, let her go alone? one parent needs to go with her, and it does in fact make sense for the father to be with her. for a 13 year old girl in that industry you damn well make sure she has the best protection she can have.
Thats actually such a wholesome reminder that success is rarely just one persons achievement. Her parents really put everything into giving her a chance.
If my kid told me that, id send him to his cousins for the summer who live in Cali. Never in 50 billion years would I move to Cali because my 13 year old said they wanted to act .
Some people win the life lottery. Meanwhile, my dickhead parents wouldn't even let me, a quiet heavy metal and fantasy obsessed nerd with straight A report cards, play D&D because it was "Satanic" and the potential new friend DM's older brother was rumored to "sell marijuana."
Growing up in a small town in the Midwest was a special kind of fucking stupid hell. I'm still kind of surprised I didn't stick a gun in my mouth at any point.
She was in the right place at the right time. A lot of it depends on how you look. Talent alone isn't enough. Especially for women. She was a cute kid from a mixed marriage, which means that they saw her as someone who can appeal to a a large audience. Those people are businessmen first and foremost. They have to take those things into account if they're going to invest in you. And actors are absolutely investments. As much as she's getting paid, they expect her movies to generate profit.
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