The Angry Generation.....

Well, I’m back! After finishing panto on the 9^th of January I suffered a rather bad case of the flu and conjunctivitis! So I’ve only really just got over that after getting out of bed on Friday....

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year! And hope you are looking forward to getting back to blogging and whatever is in store for us in Module 2 over the next couple of months of 2011!

Right, so where to begin............ the 17th of January is officially the most gloomy day of the year so I think this allows me to have a moan and get my "gloom" off my chest ?!

I found a very interesting article in Cosmopolitan this month and I thought I’d share it with you as we are all in the creative industry somehow and a lot of us in the performance business. So, here goes.... I’d appreciate to hear what you think of this.

The article is called ‘The Angry Generation’ and talks about the frustration of student debts, careers going on hold and how some just can’t seem to get jobs in the career of their choice or with their qualifications.

Not a cheery article to read on the most depressing day of the year I know?

A lot of my friends (in the industry) have taken jobs in offices, shops, supermarkets etc. just to pay rent, bills and basic living things but really they dream and search for a job of their chosen profession and like me discover there are lots of disappointments and constant rejection!

Due to the mad recession last year unemployment and redundancy have become most people’s hard reality and it always seems to hit the younger end of the scale more, particularly those in the age ranging between 19-24 – ie: graduate ages/students! The struggle to find work in your chosen industry and profession is getting harder and harder and in a recent survey taken figures showed that almost a quarter of unemployed under-24’s have given up searching for work altogether due to the lack of jobs and opportunities. Many are working in jobs that they hate and that can be as damaging to self esteem as having no job at all.

A lot of people have said that they feel that they’re not secure in the job they're currently working in and are scared of redundancy cuts – now in the entertainment industry this is constantly the case as we go from one job to the next and don’t know what will happen within the next few months. Our lives have to always be on standby to drop everything to jet off somewhere or disappear and with the current climate of government cuts to the arts, theatre’s are threatened with closure. Me included here – I’m on 2 cruise ship books and on Disney’s too and I have to be prepared to fly out somewhere in the world within 3 weeks but waiting around for that email is like waiting to be shot. But also we know that the job we’re working in won’t be around for that long, maybe the longest 12 months and it’s really scary when things are coming to an end and you have no idea what will happen next!

It says in the article that a quarter of people can’t even get their first foot on the career ladder of their choice!! I consider myself lucky as I was offered a job in pantomime over Christmas and it got me a lot of valuable experience and contacts and some good networking connections but some of my friends from college have not been so lucky and are working dead end jobs in places like Costa or Starbucks while still turning up and queuing for hours at auditions awaiting their number to be called. It really is quite scary and I think rather sad! I mean what happens if we never get there? What happens if that is it for me and I get no other work? How low does that make us feel?

It was interesting to read that a lot of students who have paid out lots of money and have a University degree are struggling to pay off debts and have taken any job possible just to try and pay back some of the outstanding debt! Isn’t that bad?

I turned up to an audition on Monday – it was for singer/dancer’s for a cruise company and we had to sing first so naturally the majority of auditionees were singers. [I tend to reagrd myself as a dancer/singer]. It was performed like a workshop so everyone got to listen and watch everyone else which is really quite daunting to the added pressure of an audition but also very interesting to see how others audition and so a very good learning process. You can guage the competition up close and personal.  So there I sat listening, waiting, finally performing myself and observing lots of interesting stuff  – what songs are the most popular and how others present themselves in an audition situation!

One girl got up to sing, having arrived late, and told the panel that she didn’t have a Musical Theatre song (this was a listed requirement in the advert) so she only had 2 pop songs to perform instead. She sang both songs looking at the floor and bobbed up and down unmusically,  no personality, no performance, she looked like she'd just got out of bed and turned up - Ugg Boots for a dance audition?. I could hear echoes of my Bird tutors lecturing me and my peers about audition technique and presentation!!

 Afterwards the casting director asked her why there was no CV with her application form (another requirement from the advert), she replied ‘I didn’t know I had to bring one but I did a 2 year course at college and got a ‘thingy’, you know one of those ‘thingy's’ (I think she meant a BTEC certificate) and I’m in a band’. I 'm thinking, "No  chance!"

Of course,you can guess what I'm going to say - she got recalled. 

So to my 3 years of hard work, dedication and training at a vocational college to get a professional qualification, which despite having a DADA for my tuition fees has cost my parents a hell of a lot of money to support me in living expenses for 3 years in London – was it really worth it?

My training taught me to prepare for an audition and to treat it as a job application and interview and to make sure I did my research beforehand - what is required etc and present myself professionally. When you witness first hand a mockery of all that it really makes you wonder why you actually bother!?

As the article discusses it seems many employer’s these days don’t ‘reward the efforts and talents of many’. Why set audition requirements and then reward the ones who ignore them? This may sound a little bit of sour grapes as I didn't get the job but if I could have honestly sat there and thought well she is  a marvellous singer and they would take her whatever on such an amazing voice then I could accept the injustice of it but she was no better than anyone else, in fact worse than many, who could be bothered to follow the requirements asked for, had the relevant training and could be bothered to turn up on time.

This wouldn't happen in a job outside this industry - you would be sifted out and not even get an interview. Even a basic requirement such as not following the instructions to fill a form in in black ink is rejected - fill it in in blue your application doesn't even get read no matter what qualifications or attributes, experience you have to bring to the job  - it is sifted out because the applicant did not take the time and care to read the form correctly. So why should this not apply in our industry? I think the same principle applies - if you cannot be bothered to follow the requirements then what does that say about you as a person? 

Almost two-thirds of graduates are stuck in a job that doesn’t interest them just for the sake of a regular pay cheque and 60% are unable to save any money which brings me onto another subject..............most people I know who live in London who are in the performance industry struggle to live in the capital due to a lack of money, but don’t we need to be in the capital to make ourselves available for auditions and castings? Not many companies and certainly not any directors casting for musicals/shows audition outside of London which means we either get into debt to live in close proximity to London or  get up at 4am and spend a small fortune on travelling or miss out! What about us Northerners? Or those who live even further down South or in Scotland, Wales etc?

I know I certainly can’t afford to live in London and pay my own rent – that means asking my parents to support me when they have just supported me through three years of college. Some parents cannot afford to pay so some are having to support themselves on benefits or very low income which is why most graduates move back in with their parents after graduation – such as me! I'm sure auditions could be held regularly in Manchester or Leeds as well as London ! At one audition last week I was chatting to some guys from Scotland who had travelled through the night to get to London on time for a 9am audition!!

I thought I would bring this to my fellow ‘BAPPers’ attentions and to ask what do you make of this? And what are your feelings?
I suppose if you have a good job onboard a cruise ship it won’t affect you at this moment but maybe in a few months time... you’ll be back to square one?! Or perhaps you may want to try to change direction, like going into the West End or on a tour but can’t afford to take the risk ? Or are unsuccessful in auditions to move away from a cruise ship?

Discussing this article with my mum she’d listened to an interview with Dame Judi Dench on the radio who discussed this very same issue, she said she felt sorry for young actors and actresses entering into the business with cuts to the arts because in her day there was rep theatre to learn your trade and make your mistakes and get valuable experience and now there is nowhere to do that – everyone wants a famous or well known person in their show just to put bums on seats and get an instant success to get a return on their investment !!! How can someone starting out even get an agent if even agents don’t want to know and don’t deliver opportunities because you’re 'unknown'?

She also said many in the industry are grossly underpaid and have to travel often 2-3 hours to work either end of their working day to be able to live as they can’t afford to live in London. All the theatre bar staff and box office staff at the Leicester Square Theatre where I was doing panto were ‘resting’ actors and actresses waiting for their next job trying to survive on very low wages until the next opportunity came their way.

In my latest Equity magazine an article showed a pie chart of earnings in the industry and 11% of people in the industry are working for no pay and another 19% work for national minimum wage which is the lowest you can be paid for any work. That's 30% of people working in the business! Quite depressing facts, I thought?

A dance agent friend of mine told me that it is the ones who stay determined and who keep going, working hard and persevering who finally get there but so many talented people give up.

I remember watching ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ series one and the eventual winner (Charlie) had trained for 3 years at Laine but had worked in a shoe shop for 12 months since graduation she said she was always over-looked at auditions and just couldn’t get work no matter how hard she tried. Obviously now she will always work ,she’s working on the West End in Dirty Dancing,  but if it wasn’t for a reality TV show maybe she would still be working in a shoe shop....?

I think it’s official this industry is one of the most stressful and demanding and sometimes it really takes its toll on our lives and, more importantly, our self esteem.

Sorry to be quite negative and depressive but it is officially the gloomiest day of the year after all!?