Story vs. Fact

I've tried to write a post on this concept and how it holds actors back several times over the past year, but once again, Bonnie Gillespie hits the nail on the head in a way better way than I ever could.

Go read ya'll.

And then set aside some time to wade through the archives - she's one of the best resources out there for an on-camera actor.

And Bay Area folks - have you taken a look at Apple Box Studios Films yet?  A new by artists for artists company with a video creation focus - they shoot auditions, edit reels, and put together websites - I haven't had a chance to take advantage of their services yet, but I'm sure I will soon!

Thinking about auditions again

So there's this Japanese business/industry idea called kaizen - it's the principle of continuous small improvements, constant tweaking of routines for greater efficiency, maximum productivity, etc.  The brilliant documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi is all about kaizen through and through (but a warning for the vegetarian faint of heart - lots of fish carcasses)

I've got my own kaizen going around auditions.  It's yet another way that I stay conscious about what aspects of an audition I have control over and which ones I don't.

And I really am digging this recent improvement to my audition routines: the night before, I make a timetable.  I start with the time I'm scheduled, and then work backwards.

Here's a recent timetable!

It keeps me from stressing when I'm getting ready (what time did I need to get on BART again?), makes sure I don't forget anything, and makes sure that I'm doing productive things to get ready (like a vocal warmup) instead of getting stuck on the social medias. Because I do it the night before it also means that I sleep better.    Timetables are definitely a keeper.  For now anyway...

Counting Actors and the local/non-local issue

When I first envisioned the Counting Actors project, I added the question of whether actors were local or not partly because I was afraid that 'just' tracking gender wouldn't get enough people interested.

Fast forward just under two years, and it turns out many many people are interested in tracking gender of actors, writers and directors.  Theatre Bay Area magazine has even published an article about my findings, focused on the gender portion of this study.

In this post, I'm taking the exact same plays used for the TBA article, listed here, and looking at the numbers in regards to local and non-local hires.

I include 235 plays in this count, rather than the full 236.  There was one play that I couldn't find out what kind of union contract it had used, even after a conversation with the LA Equity office, who had to admit that the show had slipped through their fingers.

Here's what I found in table format, broken down by type of contract, with totals at the bottom.

Type of contract	Number of Plays (% of total)	Total actors (% of total)	Total union actors (% of total)	Total non-local actors (% of total)	Non-local actors as % of total actors	Non-local actors as % of union actors
No contract	58 (25%)	406 (22%)	0 (0%)	5 (3%)	1%	NA
BAPP	21 (9%)	122  (7%)	46 (7%)	1 (>1%)	>1%	2%
Contracts without health weeks	24 (10%)	227 (12%)	43 (6%)	6 (3%)	3%	14%
Contracts with health weeks	132 (56%)	1074 (59%)	588 (87%)	188 (94%)	18%	32%
TOTALS	235 (100%)	1829 (100%)	677 (100%)	200 (100%)	11%	29%

235 plays used 1829 actors, and 677 (37%)  of those actors were union members.  Of that same total, 200 actors or 11% of the total were non-local.  The line that probably holds the most interest for the union actors reading this is the line that breaks out contracts with health weeks.  Those 132 shows employed 1074 actors, 588 (55%) of them members of AEA.  188 of the actors working on those shows with the high level contracts were from out of town.  They made up 18% of the actors who worked on these shows, and 32% of the actors who worked on contracts with health weeks in the San Francisco Bay Area.