Aaron Marcus weighs whether acting school justifies its cost, covering the debt risk, differences between theater and film training, and how to research programs before committing. He recommends auditing classes first and exploring cheaper alternatives like specialized or local instruction.
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In this video, I'm going to be talking about, are actors wasting their time and money at acting schools? And watch this until the end and you'll get a link to a great bonus video. Is acting work dead? Well, here are 5 amazing strategies to help resurrect your career. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel. The Actor Career Center. I have to say, this might be the most difficult video I've ever shot. And the reason why it's so difficult is because most of the videos that I shoot, I have very definitive answers. I have very specific things that I share with people. This one, you know, are actors wasting their time and money at acting schools? I don't have a yes or no answer to that. It's complicated, and there are so many different variations. And so what I do want to share with you here are a number of different ideas that I do have that I want to share with you. And here's the hard part. I really Seriously consider what I tell other people. I, I don't want to say something that's going to be harmful to you or anybody else. So what I'm going to be doing is sharing my thoughts, but I also want to make this really clear. These are decisions that you have to make, and I will give you some details that I believe will allow you to make the right decision for yourself. So here's the very first part: acting schools are expensive. You know, any, any college is very expensive, and you could be spending, you know, $20,000 for a 1-year program. You could be spending $50,000 a year At, you know, a place like Juilliard, which doesn't even include housing. And so the question is, you know, will this information allow you to get the kind of work that you want to get? And also understand, you know, you could easily be $100,000 and more in debt when you get out of school. So look, if you were someone who just asked me on the street, what should I do? Here's what I would say to you. And once again, there are a lot of factors involved. And most importantly, what I have to say, these are just ideas. I'm not telling you what to do, and I never tell people what they should or shouldn't do. Actually, I take that back. There are a couple things. You're putting together a headshot, make it 8 by 10. You're putting together a resume, make sure it's, it's an 8 by 10 on an 8 by 10 piece of paper, and it's on the back of your headshot. Okay, aside from some of those specifics, everything is up for interpretation. So one of the things you want to keep in mind— and look, getting great information and becoming a, a really skilled actor Is crucial if you want to have success in the industry. And if you can get that at an acting school, great, then you should definitely be doing that. But here is something that you need to consider at the school, and you have to do some research. There's a lot of research that you need to do before you make a decision because these are big decisions. It's just like, you know, you're going to buy a car. You're not going to just, you know, walk into any place and say, yeah, I'd like to get that car. You're going to do a lot of research. Same with acting schools. Basically, are you going to be getting your money's worth? Are you going to be learning what you need to learn? So like, for instance, if you're going to a place that's strictly theater-based and you want to do film and television, that might not be the best place for you because working on stage— look, being a great actor is being a great actor, but depending on the medium that you want to work in You're going to change your technique. When you're working in front of a camera, you don't hit the back row. You know, you're talking in a very intimate kind of way. So number one, make sure that the school is offering the information that you want and that you feel that you need. Something else to keep in mind, look, sometimes whether it's a local acting class, whether it's a university, whether it's a specific acting school, along with taking classes and getting great information, sometimes the most important part of the institution are your contacts. Do some of these schools bring in well-known alumni, or do they bring in agents? Do they bring in casting directors? Are they having guest speakers? filled with industry professionals who you can connect with and hopefully work with in, in the future. Now, having said that, I'm going to jump a little bit. You might or might not know I do lots of workshops, and I've— I think I've done over 800 in spanning 3 continents. And, and I have done some college workshops, which I really enjoy doing. But I'll tell you something that I found really fascinating, and this even happened at my son's college, which has a really good theater program, although he was not involved with that at all. I contacted them and I was going to offer to do a free workshop because I wanted to get a chance to hang out with my son. So I felt, well, if I travel to the college, I'll do a free workshop and then I can spend some time with him. And they weren't interested. Now, like I said, I've done over 800 workshops. I was kind of shocked. And when I asked about that, they said, well, we bring in famous alumni. Okay. And that's great. But what I really— and this actually happened at a few places for me. I also had a connection up in Syracuse and I contacted them and they said the exact same thing. They like bringing in famous alumni. And, and I know I'm kind of going off on a tangent here, but I think, I think you'll enjoy the story. Famous alumni are wonderful people who aren't even auditioning at this point because people write scenes and roles for them. It's great for students to hear that, but if If somebody doesn't have to audition anymore, it's going to be a very different kind of talk than someone like me who can actually give them specific information about what they need to do after graduation. You know, how to find the agent, how to put together a resume, how to market yourself, auditioning techniques, you know, things like that. So getting back to, to, to, to this, the Look, you need to make sure that they do bring in people that will be helpful to you, that you can connect with and follow up with perhaps after graduation. Those are some of the things that you absolutely need to, to find out. You know, the other thing too is, you know, maybe if you're interested in doing TV commercials, Well, going to Juilliard, I don't know if spending hundreds of thousands of dollars is what you really need to do. Maybe you can find somebody who specializes in that and offers TV commercial classes. I think that would be a much better investment than going through a 2 or 4-year program. And even if it's not so specialized, even if it's just film and television, Maybe there are local people who are really great instructors, people who know what they're talking about. And once again, you've got to do your research. Speak to fellow students, speak to people who have taken the class. And you can't just go by, well, how many of those people have booked jobs and things like that? Because Look, everybody doesn't work as hard as other people. And maybe people have taken the classes, gotten a lot of information, but they just don't follow up and they don't use the techniques and they're not out there hustling. So who books the jobs? I don't know if that's necessarily a great indicator, but you certainly can talk with people and find out whether they've liked it or not. Here is something else that I would highly recommend. You can't always do this, but I would ask— I would want to audit a class. I want to make sure that the teacher— if this is not a university, but even at a university or, or an acting school, I'd still want to sit in on a class or two. But if it's something local— and look, you don't have to sit through, you know, their entire 4 weeks. Or 6 weeks and then make a decision because they're not going to allow you to do that. But maybe even just a couple of minutes sitting in will give you a really good picture as to, are you getting the information that you need? And probably even more importantly, does the teacher speak to you? Are they teaching in a format, in a way that works for you? I remember there was this one class, and I want to mention the person's name, based in LA, doing workshops across the country. And the information was actually very helpful, and I did sit through all of, you know, the entire class or classes. I didn't like the teacher though. This was a teacher who would demean students, who would make fun of them, who would embarrass them. who felt the need to be a tough guy, be in charge. And he also knew— and it's something anybody can do— he knew how to push people's buttons. So he would insult you, he would say things because he would get information about you and use it against you and might have you crying. And everybody in the class is thinking, wow, look at that actor work. The person's crying. Look, anybody can learn how to cry, and you don't have to do it by being abused. So I never worked with this person again. Sat through a couple classes, and I decided this isn't how I want to learn. I don't need that in my life. I don't— I'm not going to be abused by somebody. So always see if you can audit a class, and that will be really helpful to you. So So the real question is, look, there are very famous, hardworking actors who work a tremendous amount who didn't go to acting schools. Some did. And so I think part of it is dependent on you. Yes, I mean, there are some people who are— just have this innate ability and are incredibly talented and can work. But to me, I truly believe that those are far and few between. Even if you have talent, you need to learn specific skills. Just like when I first started, I hadn't taken any classes, and I did have some innate abilities, but I quickly learned that those abilities could only take me so far. And if I wasn't feeling something in the moment, I needed to learn techniques so that I could, whether I was feeling it on my own or not, so that I could pull pull off the dialogue and do it in a believable way. So yes, studying is crucial. It's going to be up to you to decide where is the best place for you to learn. Please do your research, do your homework, and make sound decisions for yourself. If you have attended schools— and look, I don't want people to be commenting here and just trashing places. I don't think that's helpful. So you don't have to use a name if you're going to be saying negative things, but just let us know. Have you found acting schools to be helpful? Were there specific classes that you took, whether it was locally, whether you found those to be helpful? Please share this with us so we can learn from you as well. Also, this is so important if you haven't done this yet. Please subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when a new video has been uploaded. That way we will continue to just have a larger group of fellow actors helping each other. I did promise a great video for you. You'll find it right up here. And if acting work is dead, here are 5 amazing suggestions of ways of resurrecting your career. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
