Posted in: Movies, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: hollywood, opinion

Some Thoughts on Hollywood Actors' Struggles, Kirk Acevedo's Comments

Some thoughts on Hollywood productions contracting since 2020, and actor Kirk Acevedo's comments about "middle-class actors" being erased.

Actor Kirk Acevedo, who has appeared in shows like Marvel's Agents of SHIELD and Arrow, as well as films like Insidious: The Last Key, spoke about the struggles of the "middle-class actor" and said he had to sell his house due to the contraction of the Hollywood film industry. "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 said. "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?" Other actors, like Elias Toufexis (Star Trek: Discovery, The Expanse), corroborated this narrative.

"He's not wrong," Toufexis posted, "I stopped doing theatre because you just can't live off of being a theatre actor. TV and film for guys like me is trending the same way. My auditions for on camera went from 3 / 4 a month to 1 every three months. The pay for a middle class actor guest starring on a show isn't fantastic anymore and you have to stretch it out until your next gig which is god knows when. If any of you are wondering why I leaned so heavily into games and animation."

As a note, it's not just middle-class actors who are struggling with this in Hollywood; the whole industry is. As everything contracts, the bigger players are now taking on work they've outgrown career-wise just because there's not much out there across all facets and departments of the industry. Many have had to bolster film work with non-freelance jobs or leave the industry altogether in favor of stability.

Hollywood has generally been a bastion of work and prosperity, with opportunities for most in some capacity (though how available those opportunities are is still up for serious debate). But since 2020 and exacerbated by the "streaming wars" fallout and 2023 strikes, productions are costing more, and studios are cutting extra crew, actors, sets, locations – costume, prop, and gear houses are closing. Making films and TV shows the same way they have been made for the last 20+ years is becoming cost-prohibitive, especially in California, so many cut costs by cutting crew positions and/or taking production to Canada, overseas, or wherever they can film that's cheaper.

Can it sometimes be hard to feel bad for actors complaining about not having enough money? Sure. However, it's important to remember that California has the highest cost of living in the United States, and while some actors' salaries may be high, production assistants, costumers, and camera crew are paid far less and generally work more. These are the jobs that have been sacrificed to keep Hollywood alive – the mid-tier productions, and the crews and actors that made rent from the TV movies, YA teen drama shows, and spin-off series.

Do we, the consumer, really need a plethora of mid-tier shows, sitcoms, and movies that all rehash some version of the same stories over and over? Arguably not, and the television landscape for viewers may be better off focusing on quality over quantity. Hollywood is scarcely recession-proof, and stories like these just reiterate that. The question is: will (and should) Hollywood bounce back from this and return to form? And what exactly would that "return to form" look like?

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