Kirk Acevedo, a working actor who has appeared in collection for Marvel (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) and DC (“Arrow”) and in motion pictures reminiscent of “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and “Insidious: The Last Key,” gave a stark breakdown of the problem of being a middle-class actor for the reason that pandemic.
Acevedo appeared on the March 23 episode of Ryan M. Perez’s podcast “An Actor Despairs” and spoke about how Hollywood’s “middle class” has been “squeezed out.”
“2021 comes, and I’m up for some TV shows; it just goes one way, this way, and that would have saved me. That would’ve saved me. That doesn’t work, and I keep coming in second place, and the reality is second place, you’re the first one to lose.” he mentioned. “So, I went from working non-stop, to now I got to sell my house. I got to sell my house, and everyone’s going through this. I have so many friends, people you know, actors you know, that had to sell their houses.”
Acevedo mentioned that fewer general roles have gotten more and more aggressive as totally different ranges of actors head to tv and different tasks.
“In TV now, all the movie stars — since there’s no more films, not the way it used to be — they’re all in TV. Every Oscar winner is doing some eight- to 10- to 13-episode show multiple times,” he mentioned. “I’m competing with Oscar winners. It’s like, ‘OK, should we pay Kirk his quote, or this guy that was nominated for an Oscar seven, eight, 10 years ago?’ See the problem?”
Acevedo additionally broke down how recurring tv roles that may appear to pay effectively can’t cowl many life as soon as bills are eliminated.
“Let’s say you do 10 guest spots,” he mentioned. “That’s $100,000, right? You have an agent and manager. So, we take 20% out. That’s $80,000. We got taxes, too … $45,000. Let’s say your rent is … let’s go on the low side, we won’t even go on the high side, say $3,000. That’s pretty low. That’s $36,000. Can you survive off of 10 episodes? You could if you’re just starting out.”
Watch the complete podcast beneath.
