Actors and Offering Value

There is a tendency for us to 'value' ourselves by the contract we work.

Broadway principal.

Top of show recurring.

Guest Artist.

Or, by our paychecks.

Our unions have established minimums for contracts, so some of the 'valuation' work here is done for our agents.

Beyond that, there are negotiations for status, risk, celebrity, complexity of the role, industry platform, and many other intangibles.

Straight scale happens a lot.

Are you valuing yourself based on one of these?

I invite you to think of your value as bigger than this.

Let's think about a definition of VALUE.

The regard that something is held to deserve.

The exchange of value for value is as old as the first barter system.  There is even a theatre in Virginia where the patrons were allowed to bring produce and farm animals to exchange for a ticket to see the show.

And yes. The actors were sometimes fed this way!

Remember, 'we'll work for food!'?

At some point, one of the values in the exchange became money.

In some professions, the status of the employee is dictated by years in the industry, certifications from accredited institutions of learning, and general ladder climbing.

In ours, it looks quite different.

The most highly paid (in dollars) actors can be emerge untrained but exactly 'right' for a job. They can appear with natural undeveloped talent and take the world by storm.

Conversely, the most meticulously trained graduate student from one of the nation's top conservatory programs can find themselves shot out of the prestige cannon and collecting unemployment right alongside peers from schools few have heard of. (Doesn't mean they aren't amazing programs!)

Excellence in our field can come from anywhere.

And it does!

The place where we get hard on ourselves is when we define our value by someone else's metric.

Where is the good news in all of this?

You get to determine your value!

Have you heard of picking your number?

Try this: pick a number that you could earn in a year and be satisfied.  Not over the moon, buying every family member a new car and house ecstatic, but comfortable and have the feeling of compensated well for what you offer.

Got that number? 

Now. Keep that in your head, and think about what else offers you value from your work.

The applause? The command of a great role? The followers to your social media accounts? The professional respect and regard? Being fawned over? Being famous?

Being excellent? 

Now think of what you offer. Today. 

You have your experience.  Your facility with accents, or period work, or language skills, or stage combat, or flexibility and range to cover many roles.  

You have your vocal range. Your ability to fill the space, to hit the notes.  The discipline to show up on time and ready.  Your reliability.  Your integrity. Your body's capability to dance, to move through space, to juggle, to lift, to duel. Your ability to make the camera love you. 

Sometimes you have your appearance. You look like someone.  The younger or older version of someone already cast.  You complete the family.

You are charming. You are athletic. You solve their problem. You are the 'right' age. The tolerable height.

You have your intelligence. Your quick and ready wit. You play nice. You play rough. You ooze sex. Your charisma is magnetic. You are every person. You are original.

You are you.

This is Your Offer.

So very much of what we offer is subjective. 

So why not decide for yourself what your value is?

Then, when you seek work. When you decide where to look. When you receive an offer. You'll know if it is right for you because it is getting you closer to 'your number'.

Remember the one you thought of?

You can get to that number in a variety of ways.  
(Really, it's just math.)

One hugely compensated job.

Ten well compensated jobs.

2 jobs you take for the love of the role, the experience, working with the director you admire, and 3 you take for the compensation.

You can work a job that is not acting, to get your number. Then only take acting work that makes your heart sing, no matter the contract.

You can be unemployed due to global pandemic and still work toward your number.

You can book a highly compensated job, one that provides the math of 'your number, 'but still have a heart sinking feeling when you walk on stage, or into the rehearsal room, or on set. 

Because you don't find enough value there for yourself. 

Alternatively, you can work a LORT D contract in a small venue and Love Every Minute of it, even as you see the small increase in your checking account. 

Because. You feel valued. And you receive value, from the audience, the role, the stretch, the growth. 

You can love and loathe your company members in equal measure, no matter the pay.

But try to remember this.

The number is a number. The simple math to tell your brain, 'I'm working toward this.' 

To make it real to your primitive brain. Telling it 'This is a job on the way to my number'.

Your value. Your Offer. 

Is much much much more than math.

It cannot be quantified.  
It cannot be reduced by a producer offering you much less compensation than you want.

Maybe the production doesn't have the funds.

Maybe you don't solve the problem they have today.

Nothing to do with your value.

That is exponential. And only yours.

The regard that someone is held to deserve.

There is no downside to holding yourself, and your work, in the highest regard.

Carry your value with you, no matter the job.

No matter the role. No matter the venue.

No matter the pay.

No matter the review.

And truly, no one can lower what you bring.

You bring you.

Excellence.