In this video Aaron Marcus explains a largely overlooked segment of the acting market: industrial, educational, and corporate training films. He describes how government agencies and large corporations commission these videos to train employees, and he shares personal examples of projects he’s done for the FBI, CIA, DIA, TSA, the Pentagon, the U.S. Navy, the IRS, and private companies. Marcus outlines the two primary on‑camera roles in such productions: (1) acting in scripted scenes with other performers, and (2) serving as an on‑camera narrator reading from a teleprompter. He notes that teleprompter work often pays nearly double acting work and requires specific reading skills, offering a free teleprompter program to help actors develop them. The video then provides practical advice for finding training‑film gigs—researching local federal agencies or large corporations, reaching out directly, and leveraging existing networks. He encourages viewers to explore his library of quick‑tip videos, subscribe, and share their own experiences or suggestions about training‑film work. The overall message is that these niche gigs are plentiful, well‑paid, and a valuable way for actors to broaden their skill set and income streams.
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Hey, I don't know about you, but I have always been very proactive as far as trying to get acting work, trying to learn new things about the industry that make my skills better and make me more marketable. And so I want to share with you a part of the industry that you might not be all that familiar with, but you should be. Because I've done hundreds and hundreds of these types of projects, and I really enjoy them, and they actually pay pretty well also. So there is something called industrial films. They're also called educational films. They're also called corporate films. All the same thing, they just have 3 different names. And what these things are about are either government agencies or companies need to train their employees, need to train others who work there, and we get a chance to share this information with their employees. Let me give you a couple of examples of what I've done. So, and then, and then I'll tell you how to go about Finding these things. So I used to do a tremendous amount of training films for the United States government. Did things for the FBI, for the CIA, for DIA, TSA, Pentagon. And I'll tell you a couple about the Navy, the U.S. Navy. And I've done— I used to do— and actually the IRS too. Learned a lot from them as well, especially things to do Things not to do when you're filling out your tax forms or if you get audited. But let me tell you about the Navy right now. So there are a couple that I'm thinking of. One was really cool where I was flown to the Chicago area. For some reason, I want to say it's Great Lakes, Illinois. I can't remember if that's accurate or not. And this Once again, I don't know what it's like now, but there was a Navy base there where they built diesel engines. And I know nothing about diesel engines, but I'm really good at using an ear prompter, and that's exactly what we used. And I'm explaining how to repair diesel engines. There was another film that I did, actually, in this one It was, it was pretty, it was pretty heavy. It was about suicide in the Navy, and, and the whole film was things to look for with other sailors. If you see somebody doing these kinds of things, what you need to do. And I was flown down to Florida, and there was a naval base, and, and one of the, one of the Unbelievably cool things that I got to watch. It was a day off, and there was a ship where planes were landing on the ship. And let me tell you, it was one of the most exciting things I've ever seen in my life. I don't know how the pilots do it, especially when they're out at sea and you've got a boat or ship that's rocking back and forth and they're coming in for a landing. It's just— matter of fact, I'll even just tell you one, two little things that I didn't know about. So when the pilots are coming in to land on a ship, you would think they're starting to slow up for the land. It's just the opposite. They actually are picking up speed as they're going in for the landing, just in case. So Something happens and they can't land, they need to have enough power to be able to go back up and then circle around again. And they actually have these hooks that get hooked onto a wire as they're landing. Anyhow, I know it's a little bit of a side story, but I just found that so interesting. And there are tons of these kinds of things. I remember doing one for some company, I can't remember which one, where they were laying cable under the ocean. And just explaining what's going on. So there are 2 different scenarios with these kinds of educational films or corporate films or training films. You can either be an actor and you are actually in scenes. Once again, let me give you an example. There was one, it was for— I don't know if it was like the PTA, there was some national PTA organization, and they were coming to Washington and it was teaching These civilians had to deal— best deal with politicians. And so I was the senator, and they're coming in, they need some things to happen, and basically I'm just blowing them off. I'm doing doublespeak. And then we would shoot it a second time with the civilians, the PTA members, changing their language So they can really pinpoint things and get me to do what they need to do. It was, it was really interesting. So sometimes you are acting in scenes with other actors, and it's a great, it's a great acting gig. And the other thing that could happen is you are the on-camera narrator. For that, you're really not acting with other people at all. You are standing— sitting— you're looking into a teleprompter and you are just reading off of the teleprompter. The crazy thing is you get paid like almost double that you would get as an actor, and you don't have to memorize anything because you're just reading off the teleprompter. Now, you have to be very familiar with it. You ought to be very skilled. Reading a teleprompter, which is something I think all actors should do. And as a matter of fact, I will leave you the website for a free teleprompter program that you can use on your computer if you want to develop your teleprompter skills. And that would be really helpful to you if you're trying to do training films and And you want to work as an on-camera narrator. So that's what these films are all about, and it can vary from topic to topic. The way that you can go about trying to find these projects, if you happen to live in an area where there are government agencies, like federal agencies, you know, whether it's military, whether maybe there are some large corporations somewhere in your area, and contact them. And ask, do you, you know, do you do training films? Those things can be really, really helpful to you. Hey, if you haven't done this, you should really check out the other 500+ free quick tip videos here on my Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel. You can just spend days just going through these things. They're really helpful to you. And if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell. And if you like it, give it a thumbs up and share it with your fellow actors. If you have any interesting stories about training films, please share it here so we can learn from you. Or if you have any suggestions on how fellow actors can get these types of projects, please let us know. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya. See ya.
