How do I get on tv?

[TKH]

Does anyone know how to get onto the TV?

i.e TV Adverts, or Soaps, but ive never done anything like this before? Do i need Qualications for this?

[Quizmonkey]

Are you serious???? Try years at drama school. Then fail umpteen auditions. Then pay a fortune to get an agent. Then you might get a bit part in an ad. Alternatively sleep with an ad production company exec.

[gammaray]

You need to posess an equity card. equity is the artists, performers and technicians union. Without this you won't be considered for speaking roles.

[tonymclark]

If you have never done it before, I guess acting is not what you mean.

I guess an Extra, or Background Artist is what you are talking about. There are agencies that provide extras for film and TV, register with one of them.

Beware, any agency that asks for money from you to put you on their books, won't get you any work.

It doesn't pay that well, �40 per day is the Equity minimum, but some TV jobs will pay less that this. If you get �100 a day, that is not bad. The jobs may well be few and far between, one or two days here and there, so don't think of it as a regular income.

[4getmenot]

Shoot the queen, you'll be known all over the world :-) Nah I'm joking (obviously). there are many agencies that can get you on adverts or get you work as an extra.

[4getmenot]

Just put 'film extras' in google. lists loads of agencies :-)

[sunflower68]

I would think you would need experience and/or drama school You will not rank amongst the best in any auditions if you have never done it before and you may be a little deluded if you think you can walk into a soap opera job!

[sunflower68]

I'm sorry, I did not mean to sound harsh there . Had the devil in me for a mo! ;)

[RogK]

Sadly, gammaray, you don't have to join Equity any more. Since Thatcher made the 'closed shop' illegal it's every man/woman for themselves. There are lots of established actors who have let their membership lapse.

TKH - first of all go out and get some professional photos taken. Not cheap. And then follow what others have written here. You will not find it an easy life, and you are extremely unlikely to be famous.

[joko]

you won't get any calls for acting without some kind of training.

extra work is hard and boring - you won't be allowed to meet the stars unless you have a main role, which you wont get without experience. you can't chat to anyone, as sets need to be quiet. you will just wait around until you are told what to do. it is not glamourous, regular, well paid or fun.

find out if you have any talent - go to college

if it were that easy to do, everyone would be doing it and the pay wouldn't be so good

[lionelhutz]

just pure luck half the time, so many talentless people on tv these days, ie former big bro contestants, Tara P-T, unfunny comics, just being in the right place or having the right connections will do it for you.... sorry to sound like mr cynic but it's true in at least half the cases!

[andy-hughes]

Sadly, all the above are true. Actging of any kind is something you should only consider if you are going to be utterly miserable doing anything else at all. That way you'll cope with the competition, rejection, low pay, long hours, precarious job prospects, and hopefully have the tenacity to cling on, and get the right breaks by being in the right place at the right time - and that is down to luck as much as anything.

So, if you're ready, remember, all media is based on London, so get a train ticket to Newcastle-on-Tyne - that's where the end of the queue is!

Best of luck.

[noxlumos]

Hello, I'm Noxlumos' wife and I am a Director and actress.You don't need qualifications necessarily and you certainly don't need to be in Equity. There are more and more open auditions these days for even major roles and a good way to get relevant experience is to involve yourself in what are called nolo's ( no or low pay) independant films.They are always crying out for people. Once you have done a few you'll have something to put on your CV.

Some Directors dislike Drama School trained actors to such an extent that they prefer not to work with them , so training, although useful from a practical angle, can also have drawbacks.Ken Loach loathes and detests what he once described as "farmed actors" and will pick people up off the stret he likes the look of and I have probably worked with trained and untrained actors in more or less equal numbers.

A good site to browse for nolo's and some well paid work you might have a chance with is www.mandy.com

Don't be disheartened if your not instantly picked up, you will have to apply and re-apply until someone likes the look of you, but if you are determined there's always work available eventually.

[Playbill]

My girlfriend has been doing this work for about 14 years. She has had small parts in some feature films and has been in Eastenders and other TV programmes

She was in a show that was recorded at the BBC last week and I was in the audience. I was meant to meet her in the foyer later to take her home, but as I was waiting she called and said come to the after show party. As her 'driver' I suppose this allowed me in and I met some well known people.

But as others have already said, it is not too regular and not always as glamorous as you think it is. A scene in a film where people are standing in the rain for five minutes can mean extras spending hours being 'wetted down'. And in the winter that does not sound like fun.

[gammaray]

Rogk - thank you, that's actually very interesting. I'd always assumed that unless you were in the union you wouldn't be able to work, and actually now you mention it a freind of my wifes, who "acts" when she's not waitressing or whatever it is she does, had a line in Holby City, or Casualty...? Anyway, she's not a member of equity. So TKH, go for it!

[Dollie]

If you're interested in being in studio audiences or reality tv shows then have a look at the website

StarNow.co.uk

It gives you loads of openings to audition for lots of different tv stations - regardless of whether your a trained actor or performer.

[mr007]

Hi,

Interesting debate here, if you just want to get some experience to start you off with then Uni-versalExtras Ltd is a good place to start. www.universalextras.co.uk

They are currently working on the block buster feature film Stardust