At 43, Students Earn More Than Me

Article #1

**This is Part 1 of a 3 part series of articles on making a living as an actor. Feel free to dive in to Part 2 and Part 3. Enjoy!**

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Picture this. A meeting room, Dublin 4. The southside skyline glistening in the crisp early morning autumn air. I swan into the meeting room, bright-eyed and keen as mustard. I’m even wearing a tie to work. And I never wear a tie to work.

Line Manager: A waffler and a showman.

Me: Ah…[beat] sorry?

Line Manager: Feedback.

Me: Right. [beat] So, I didn’t –

Line Manager: No. You didn’t get the job.

When I tell that story now, I laugh out loud. But at the time, I wasn’t laughing.

Then again, it was circa 2012. And corporate HR speak was a little less Californian back then.

To be honest with you, the only thing about that promotion that appealed to me was the cash. I had it spent before I got in the room. I still think it’s the worst audition I’ve ever done. Fluffed my lines and completely unsuited to the role as it turned out.

My ego had written a cheque my domain expertise and hubris just couldn’t cash.

Show me the money

In 2012, I was earning €58,000 working for Eirgrid in Dublin. In 2022, I earned €14,798.

And 2022 was a bumper year. I had over 30 auditions and had finally began to land some regular TV and film work.

I landed my first TV gig on Red Rock in 2017. In March 2018, I was cast in the final episode of the final season of Game of Thrones. And I thought “This is it, baby!”

I didn’t book another TV or film job until September 2021.

When I moved to London in 2014, I took a full-time job and acting classes at night. I left that job 17 months in. From 2015 onwards, I worked part-time, so I could dedicate more time to acting.

In 2020, mid-pandemic, I decided I wasn’t going to work for anyone else again.

Ballsy, right? Right.

Until bills gotta get paid.

The comparison thief

By broad social metrics, I’ve failed in a way. No house, no car, no fancy job title. I don’t even have a smartwatch. 

But society has changed now.

Hasn’t it?

I had a coffee recently with a kid – when I say kid, he’s 30 odd – I used to hurl with in St. Vincent’s. Great bloke. Charming, articulate, you name it. And a smashing hurler to boot – wrists like a wizard. He has a good job and is not afraid of a day's work.

Yet, until recently, he felt like he was coming up short somehow. His peer group were all about when he was buying a gaff and where. He felt an enormous pressure to pull the trigger on a mortgage. But more importantly, he had this gnawing feeling. He should be earning more, accumulating more. Just… more.

He didn’t pull the trigger. And now he’s started to look at the horizon a bit more, to see what else is out there maybe. That gnawing feeling has eased off a little.

Kumbaya

Right here, right now, I’ve never owned or earned less.

And yet, I’ve never been happier.

Now, I’m not gonna start singin’ Kumbaya at ya and suggest you trade in the chelsea boots for a pair of sandals. There are still days when, if I allow myself, my mind races to how I can’t lean on my wife’s income forever and what if, what if. You know yourself.

But today, I can say it feels good to be in the right lane. Knowing that I picked it. Knowing that nobody picked it for me.

Barbara Kingsolver once said overhead will determine the choices you make. At €14,798, I don’t need a forensic accountant to tell me my overheads have to be low to be able to stay in the lane.

But then again, in January 2023, I don’t know anyone who isn’t trying to get their overhead down.

I mean, Intel are trying to get their overhead down.

A success

Bob Dylan once said: a man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between he does what he wants to do.

Well, most days, I get to do what I want to do.

I’ve had 111 professional auditions since I started 10 years ago. And 101 of those were thanks, but no thanks.

But to me, it’s still the best job in the world.

Maybe my line manager was right.

A waffler? Maybe.

A showman? Definitely.