Professional vs Amateur
Thu, 22 Dec 2005, 02:31 pmBill Macpherson17 posts in thread
Professional vs Amateur
Thu, 22 Dec 2005, 02:31 pmCan anyone point me in the direction of info about the differences between setting up a professional company vs an Amateur one.
Am I naive in assuming the major difference is that some people might get paid ?
cheers
Russell Chandler
Am I naive in assuming the major difference is that some people might get paid ?
cheers
Russell Chandler
Re: Professional vs Amateur
Wed, 4 Jan 2006, 10:33 amAs a professional actor receiving equity rates, I have to say as a fulltime job it would be essential.
When it comes to theatre (In Perth especially) no company offers you equity rates (unless you somehow manage to get involved with Deckchair or Black Swan as far as I am aware) and most of the supposed professional companies are merely co-ops and profit share.
In these cases I personally prefer to tell the company to keep my share of the money to help them put on their next production (hopefully this is the case and they don't simply divie it up amongst everyone else) unless (here I get greedy) it is of a reasonable sum of money(of which I would probably still divide and give some back to the company but this case is very unlikely in the first place) or if I have incurred costs that I think should be covered.
To expect equity rates in Theatre in Perth is simply naive and we all tend to be grateful for whatever little bit is offered.
So in perspective the difference between amateur and professional theatre here is simply the professionals might make a token amount of money for their effort where as the amateurs (I really prefer community to be the term because some pros are no better in talent and some community actors are a damn sight better than the pros) do it because they enjoy theatre for whatever reason they do it'.
Besides which companies have the guts to put on massive musicals with a cast of forty or more where you simply have an absolute ball meeting and socialising with everyone? The Community companies.
Some of the best and pobably most educational theatre experiences I have had have been with Community theatre and I have performed at larger venues to larger crowds with better direction, better technical aspects and as I have said before, better actors, by being involved with these companies and I have had a much better time of it. (Then get back to community theatre I here some of you cry - I don't think I'd ever leave community theatre if I wasn't moving to England - it's way too gratifying to simply ignore both as an actor and as a human being)
When it comes to theatre (In Perth especially) no company offers you equity rates (unless you somehow manage to get involved with Deckchair or Black Swan as far as I am aware) and most of the supposed professional companies are merely co-ops and profit share.
In these cases I personally prefer to tell the company to keep my share of the money to help them put on their next production (hopefully this is the case and they don't simply divie it up amongst everyone else) unless (here I get greedy) it is of a reasonable sum of money(of which I would probably still divide and give some back to the company but this case is very unlikely in the first place) or if I have incurred costs that I think should be covered.
To expect equity rates in Theatre in Perth is simply naive and we all tend to be grateful for whatever little bit is offered.
So in perspective the difference between amateur and professional theatre here is simply the professionals might make a token amount of money for their effort where as the amateurs (I really prefer community to be the term because some pros are no better in talent and some community actors are a damn sight better than the pros) do it because they enjoy theatre for whatever reason they do it'.
Besides which companies have the guts to put on massive musicals with a cast of forty or more where you simply have an absolute ball meeting and socialising with everyone? The Community companies.
Some of the best and pobably most educational theatre experiences I have had have been with Community theatre and I have performed at larger venues to larger crowds with better direction, better technical aspects and as I have said before, better actors, by being involved with these companies and I have had a much better time of it. (Then get back to community theatre I here some of you cry - I don't think I'd ever leave community theatre if I wasn't moving to England - it's way too gratifying to simply ignore both as an actor and as a human being)
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