What do people snort?

[Slim Shady]

What do actors snort on tv when pretending to do a line of coke?

[abbie10]

i fink its sugar/salt

[Slim Shady]

MMMM I'm not sure thats right cos that would bloody kill !!!

[joko]

mostly they wont actually snort they will blow, or just act it out and have a cut away, but for the powder itself lots of things can be used - i use canderel - but stuff like flour, icing sugar, talc, chalk dust etc can be used - if they have to dab and taste it, then obviously stuff like talc is no good

if they were to film a real closeup and the actor actually had to snort something, you could use the canderel as it is edible so wont do any harm but you could also use certain medical nasal antibiotic powder if absolutely necessary, though this is not ideal.

others may have found better substitutes though.

[joko]

sugar and salt wont do as its grains not powder and salt especially would hurt the nose

[Slim Shady]

Cheers Joko, thought that might be the case but we was all just wondering here in my office.

Sure they would all prefer to use the real stuff he he

[andy-hughes]

You will find that in most cases, the actual sight of cocaine ingestion is still tabboo on TV - i know they showed it on 'Hotel Babylon' last night - but it is pretty rare to actually see.

Acting calls for the suggestion of a situation, rather than actually carrying out the perceived action - you don't need to punch someone in the face on TV to convey to the audience that you have done so.

[joko]

agreed andy, mostly its just acting and blocking the shot so the powder is not seen, its the movement and the sound and the reation that give the scene its authenticity not the actual snorting of a substance.
there is not much call for, or need for, extreme closeups

i would think many actors would refuse anyway.
one did on mine which is why we eventually discovered the antibiotic powder, which was specifically designed to be squirted up the nose.