Hollywood Contraction: Actors Struggle To Find Jobs As TV Castings Dry Up

deadline.com:

Editor’s note: Deadline is launching a new series, Hollywood Contraction, which examines the toll the job losses caused by the ongoing industrywide cost-cutting has had on different sections of the entertainment community, starting with actors. Most of the college-bound aspiring actors from the high school class of 2020 received their acceptance letters in the first days of the pandemic.

Their early studies and stage training were disrupted by Covid, with many classes moving online. Four years later, the same class is graduating from college and facing an even bigger challenge — a contracted TV marketplace post-strike. “It’s so f*cking hard out there.

There is so little work. It’s a brutal time in the business. There are no jobs,” I hear consistently from agents, managers and actors.

On top of fewer shows and virtually no pilots, the available acting gigs pay less than they used to amid rising cost of living, talent sources say, making it hard for many working actors to afford their rent or mortgage and support their families.