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Actors Resting On Their Laurels? |
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Written by James MacGregor
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Friday, 27 January 2006 |
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More actors spend time "resting" than working according to
Skillset and a large proportion of them earn less than £6,000 a year
from their acting skills, but a third of those surveyed had worked in
television within the last year.
New research by the Sector Skills Council for the Audio Visual
Industries, and actors union Equity, has found that 71% of performers
worked outside of the performance industry for 28 weeks or more in the
past year. This compares to the 18 weeks on average worked in the
performance industry itself. Two in ten (22%) worked for 40 weeks or
more in alternative industries.
Most actors (48%) who worked in
the past year had an income of less than £6,000 from the performance
industry with only 6% earning £30,000 or more.
The survey was
carried out to create an accurate picture of the size and shape of the
performance industry and to identify the skills development and
training needs of the workforce.
The performance industry survey also found:
- Men
(9%) were more likely than women (4%) to have earned £30,000 or more
from work in the performance industry in the past year. At the other
end of the scale, women (53%) were more likely than men (44%) to have
earned less that £6,000.
- Men working in the performance industry earned an average of approximately £12,100 per year and women earned £8,900 per year.
- Two
thirds (65%) of Equity members working in the UK performance industry
in the past year were aged 35 or over, including 33% aged 50 or over.
- One
in ten (8%) of those working in the UK performance industry in the past
year reported having a disability. This is higher than other
areas of the audio visual industries. It is also higher than the
proportion of the UK workforce who are disabled (5% in Labour Force
Survey Historical Quarterly Supplement, summer 2005). All of these
statistics relate to the Disability Discrimination Act definition of
disability.
- A third (33%) of respondents had worked in
television in the past year. Around one in five had worked in corporate
production and events (19%) and film (18%).
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