April 24, 2004

• $  THE MONEY – PART I – COMMERCIALS  $

  
  

  Besides wondering how to get into the business, the type of money a performer makes is probably the second most thing behind people’s minds, yet it is rarely ever honestly answered.  “What’s it like?”  “How much?”  “Are you livin’ large like the peeps on ‘Cribs’?”  Since this Xanga page was created to give people a peek into the industry, today I will attempt to de-mystify it all for you.  (Sidenote: Most of those houses or cars you see on “Cribs” are rented for the day to make that “Celeb” look like a playa.  You can tell if the place is too neat and doesn’t look lived in.)

  
  

  DISCLAIMER: Before I go into this whirlwind, I want to preface that what I’m divulging is what actors can come to expect after they have paid their dues and have a polished technique that allows them to book the roles attached to these kinds of paydays.  It won’t necessarily happen for everyone.  There are too many people with false expectations who come into this business for the monetary aspect and I don’t want to contribute to that.  So with that said… 

  
  

  … today, I’ll be covering the world of: Commercials - for they are what pays the bills for most actors.  It’s known that on average a commercial will usually bring in about $5,000-20,000/year in residuals for an actor — not bad for 6-8 hours of work.  When you first shoot the commercial, you’ll make a $500 session fee for an 8 hour day.  If the commercial never airs, that’s all you’ll get.  When it airs on National TV (the major networks), you get paid on a sliding scale: You’ll receive about $100 every time it airs for the first 15 times, then $80 for the next 30 times and $40 up to the 60th time.  And then it starts all over from $100 again and so on in those increments.  Even if you have a bunch of lines or none at all, everyone gets paid the same. 

  
  

  When it shows on cable, you are paid a flat rate.  For $2,500 they can show it up to 2000 times.  (Ex: I just received another $2,500 because they already showed my Dell more than 2000 times on cable).  Some commercials show only regionally, sporadically as a wildspot, as still shots in magazines, in training videos or on cable.  You want to book a big one that is on all of those. 

  
  

  As long as the product wants to use your commercial, every 13 weeks they have to pay you that $500 session fee as a “Holding Fee” (regardless if they show it or not).  Last year I shot a Graudation themed Circuit City commercial that stopped showing after last June.  But I’ve still been receiving my holding fees every 13 weeks since then and hopefully it’s because they want to show it again for this year’s Graduations.  And once that happens, the residuals will begin all over again for that commercial.  If they ever stopped paying the session fee though, you know your commercial’s over for good.  So every 13 weeks, my fingers are always crossed.

  
  

  What’s even cooler is that once the contract for a commercial ends (about 1 1/2 years), if they still want to use it–the session fee goes up dramatically.  It’s known as “Renegotiating the Contract”.  Now instead of $500 every 13 weeks, depending on how good your agent is, it is upwards of $4500-$8500 every 13 weeks–and that’s not even including residuals!  But there’s no guarantee–the session fees could stop at any time if they don’t want to use it anymore.  So those really old commercials you see during the holidays — those contracts have been renegotiated several times over! 

  
  

  And here’s the even cooler part.  If they edit your image into another commercial (like they did with mine into another Dell ad)–that’s considered a entirely new commercial–for which you’ll be subject to receive everything you did with your original commercial.   

  
  

  

  
  

  So in a sense, I currently have two Dell commercials running-even though I just shot one.  I received an additional cable flat rate check for the new commercial because it’s only showing on cable.  But I’m so small time, believe me.   I know actors who book these things like crazy and have like 8 nationals running.  Roger has had about 40 under his belt over the years.  I’m lucky if I book 1 a year.  On the other hand, Sung has never even booked one and when I asked him why he said, “Honestly, would YOU want to buy TIDE from me?”

  
  

  The Reality Check:  All of the above sounds very nice, if you can get the work.  The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) negotiated for actors to receive these kinds of payments because actors’ jobs come so few and far between.  Even though it seems like a lot of money–it has to last you until the next job (whenever that is).  I’ve been acting for 7 years and during five of those years, I went 7-10 months without work.  The statics are that you will book one job out of every 80 auditions you go on.  And auditions don’t always come by all the time.  SAG has 120,000 members–fewer than 5% make more than $15,000/year.

  
  

  And even if do book that commercial that will make you “set for life”, things may not always work out.  I shot a Heineken Commercial last year and then got a letter that I was cut out of it.  All I got was the $500 for the day.  A few months ago I booked a State Farm Insurance commercial, got on set and was immediately let go once the clients saw me and felt I looked too young to play a 25 year-old.  All I got was $500 for the day.  It happens all the time.         

  
  

  Also, commercials just don’t have the same substance when you do a Film/TV role.  So while you’re a customer rep selling computers with no dialogue — you sometimes wonder,  ”I went to acting school for this?”  But the money is good.  Some actors who choose not to do commercials also do so knowing that they are cutting off 3/4 of their potential income.

  
  

  That’s why you need the mettle to deal with the competition, countless rejections, the uncertainty, instability, and the whole “game” of it all to see those fruits of labor.  And that’s why they say acting is ‘an obsession not a profession’ because being obessed and loving it is really the only way to cope with that lifestyle year in and year out.  NEXT: The Money – Part II- Film/TV         

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