You don't have to go out that far to pay cheaper rent. Besides, the valley is a cesspool. Nothing but tards and autists live in these regions.

Killing my dreams one post at a time.

This. Go live in a nice coastal city with a nice house/condo in a happening place. Some unmarried misers have really nice condos in a happening city (seattle/toronto/pittsburgh/etc) and pull sloots and just live freely.

All you need to be happy:

Nice kitchen with good food and learn some cooking skills
Nice home gym
Nice home office
VR gaming setup (oculus rift or the Vive)
Some sloots on call, a rotation of sloots.
And a puppy

What's your portfolio look like? Know a guy who moved to LA and went from amateur Instagram
Model to traveling from city to city doing shoots, after being found in LA

One girl, a singer, moved away from home at 16, legally and lives by herself in LA now as a singer after being discovered.

Thats really interesting. Repped.

My portfolio consists of whatever pics I have on ********/Instagram + a video of me impersonating different wrestlers when i was a kid that my mom video recorded. That's about it brah.

Some miscers need to get together and make their own film. Make a comedy for the youtube lulz and views. If it's actually good and funny, could make their own show and series on youtube possibly get bigger and a big following.

Lmao. Jonah Hill is hilarious he's cool in my book

So why would any agency pick you over a kid who's been acting since he was 5, in commercials, plays, shows and movies?

yeah.. it's definitely a good thing to have dreams.

Cause I'm probably cooler than him

Been told by many girls to that I should act cause I look like one srs

1. Get the hell out of detroit.
2. The reality is with acting going into it with the sole dream of becoming famous/rich for most people isn't the right mindset, and it'll burn you out FAST. You NEED to have a passion for acting.
3. I HIGHLY doubt that an engineering job will allow you the flexibility to leave at the drop of a pin to attend an audition callback. Think about that.
4. Twitch streaming / Youtubing is tight, but don't just up and quit your day job to start it. I hope to start motovlogging this year in Novemberish but I'm not gonna quit my job to do it.
5. It's a killing market, but freelance web development would be the way to go for this. Upwards mobility of income & flexibility, aside from owning your own business. However LA is no doubt competitive as fuk.

Also, DEFINITELY start getting your hands wet with acting before moving out to get to know your direction, if you want to do it, etc.

I'm starting to take acting lessons this summer after being in a student film this past semester. Gonna do that and after I graduate it's off to LA for PR/Coding Job and Acting (srs).This is not feasible unless he owns his own business. Unless engineers have extreme time flexibility with jobs.Usually I consider you troll level but your advice is VERY legit itt.This. Also, miring SAG membership. Wanna get me into a SAG production so I can apply to be a member?

But this advice is solid. The main takeaway is that you NEED to be passionate about acting itself and not in it for the money/fame. Going into it for that reason is probably the worst reason to do it unless you are a God.

Trying to become a male model is easier than becoming a female model. There's also a shortage of male actors so it's not that dire of a situation. This is what I've heard in person from a very reputable casting director.

I'm not gonna be a pessimistic ******* like some people are on here and encourage you to do what ever floats your boat OP.

That said, you have to be realistic.

Every year, thousands of kids from all around the world go to LA to "start over". From the prestigious theatre school grad with years of experience to the instragram bimbo who thinks she can act because she has dozens on betas kissing her ass on the regular. You will face very harsh competition for the chittiest, most degrading jobs you will find in this business.

For these on-set jobs where you could get an idea of how acting and filming works, 1 gig will have a solid 300-400 people applying for it within 48 hours of it being posted online. Those pay garbage wages, you get constantly yelled at by actors and technical staff, you have to cope with big egos, sociopathic fuks who will put you in their crosshair and try to ruin your career for fun just because you brought them a latte with too much milk. These people are at the bottom of the food chain and work 80 hours a week on average. But still, you got massive competition just because you are "in" the environment and it's the perfect place to network and get contacts, since these big egos and sociopaths can also prove to be strong allies if you suck it up and don't disappoint them.

Now here's acting: The chittiest role in the chittest show ran by the most low-budget company will have thousands of people applying for it. I went to LA many times, and everywhere you go, from starbucks to random restaurants, it's always the same thing: The folks you meet are either "actors" or "trying to break into the industry". Since the profession name is vague, every ******* who big aspirations can claim he's an actor regardless of his looks and talent, and that translates into lots of random bastards showing up at auditions.

Not only you got these social media kids wanting be actors, but you also got to compete against dudes who are proving themselves on the internet. You will meet tons of people who claim to be actors but their only acting experience comes from internet shows. For example, The Online Gamer has tons of wannabe actors wanting to break into the industry, and after 6-7 years of acting, only 2 of them got 1-2 decent roles in big shows while the others who were part of the cast switched careers. One is living in some LA suburb doing wood work lol. So these people apply to basically every role they can and they got more relevant experience than you.

There's also the proven material, the kids who did acting since the age of 6-7, went through threatre school, won multiple awards, have tons of acting experience and these kids always end up applying everywhere. Even them are working chit jobs, being waiters at restaurants because the competition for jobs is just too much.

If you are ready to deal with all of the people mentionned above, from psychopaths working on set to very good and experienced actors wanting the same gig as you, then you can go. But you have to know that to do well in this business, you need a combination of skill (from acting skills to selling yourself properly) and solid networking skills (most people who do make it big, had solid connections).

Don't get fooled thinking some people who arrive in LA get gigs immediately while others wait years for their chance, it only means the dude who got the gig has spent the last 7 months networking his way to that gig.

Some of this is true, but a lot of it is conceited garbage. Only a few people can act? It's akin to being a brain surgeon or an astronaut? There are a lot of great actors mate, just not all of them are famous. I can tell you're an actor who thinks highly of themselves based off of this ludicrous post.

This.

If you want to be an ACTOR, you move to NYC and act in the theater with all the gay dudes.

If you want to be a MOVIE STAR you move to LA and sit in traffic everyday going to auditions where you will sit around even longer making small talk with endless cringeworthy tryhards, before finally getting your 90 second turn in front of a casting director to audition for a non-speaking line in a toothpaste commercial airing for the next six weeks on Bravo. Out of all these continuous auditions you will get one or two small roles per year that you think are "just the beginning" but in fact they are the beginning, middle, and end. Good luck.

1. Become a Model then start Acting Classes

2. Go to LA Movie Agency's

3. Profit?

lmfao

enjoy grinding your way all the way up to an impressive 50k annual salary job requiring you to chase contracts here and there

Lol haha I would but Im not about that life anymore, I live in AZ now. Peacefully.With all due humility, I apologize if it comes off a bit grandiose, the memories of it is really all I have left so I try to milk it for all its worth considering I never actually made it. All I have left is the memory of hope and that forever unknown potential of, "what if.."

Even if you are as handsome as Brad Pitt or Matt Dilon its still almsot impossible.

you would have a better chance of winnig the lottery and your odds if getting stuck in terrible traffic ( which now starts at 6-7am and lqstst until 1am) is close to 100%.

But at the same time...follow your dreams.

That legit sounds like hell.. Maybe the grass isen't always greener then. Mind as well stay in Michigan and pursue something else now.

Not trying to discourage you bro. The ones who make it into acting are those who would rather die than do another career. They don't just show up for the fame, big parties, big paychecks, they work their asses off to keep their jobs. Here i'm just talking about normal actors who make a decent living with contract work. The blockbuster movie actors you see on TV making the millions, they're on another planet. Most of these dudes got there with crazy contacts, got some of the world's best agents, and those guys can find them work within the biggest studios out there.

If you want to go there and live your passion, then go for it, you will succeed sooner or later and have your own niche somewhere. Just don't expect to pull millions unless you spend years networking your ass off and living through normal work.

If you just want to live the good life, make solid money, and explore the world, then there are tons of other careers that offer these options. Just go get an MBA, then move into finance, or go the entrepreneurship route and explore ideas. At least it will be meaningful work rather than slaving away doing chit jobs, doing weekly auditions and eating McDonald's value meals every single night after coming back from work at 12am because you're too tired to cook and have a social life while waiting for a contract in acting.

This. I live in Venice Beach and it's full of beautiful people. All the beautiful people from all over the country move here, so the competition is staggering.

I snuck onto the set of the Muppet Movie to be an extra and most of the extras where self important a-holes either talking about their pill addictions or where they went to theater school.

Wrong answer bro. GTFO of michigan and find yourself. Get an engineering job in a much nicer city. Channel your energy into maybe starting your own business with engineering like start freelancing your skills or whatever.

If you really really really want to act, save a bit of money and think of a small film idea. Use the money to film it and star in it hire people to help you. Put it in the indie film circuit. Start your own path not rely on others to give you the chance, not compete with thousands of others that never thought to do their own path.

Most importantly, get out of michigan get out of the comfort zone and make something of yourself. You have a degree that not many others have. Take advantage. Look at engineering jobs in nice big cities in nice areas (California or florida or TX or where anything is happening)

This is pretty much it. I've had a lot of "actor" friends growing up, and for every "we need x, y, z characteristics," there are 1000 results. Good luck winning that role as the non-speaking register jockey in the new rosarito beans commercial!!

There was an older guy there talking about how he was just doing the extra part as a favor to the producer. I was trying not to laugh in his face. I didn't see him in the movie, and I got a good 5 or so seconds of screen time in the final cut. I even made the trailer. I was on TV like 200 times a day.

Why would you want to purposely try and kill your dream? you could be bigger than tom cruise for all we know.. go, move there and pursue your dreams

The only difference between CHAMP and CHUMP is "U".

http://nextluxury.com/business-money/famous-failures/

Even the "most interesting man in the world", Jonathan Goldsmith kept grinding for 50 years. Half of his life GONE.

But you know what, he kept chasing after what he wanted.

Or, Michael Weston (Burn Notice), Jeffery Donovan, look at his background.

If you want to be an actor, you can become one.

Money, resources, privileged, background, etc. is ALL an excuse the weak use as a crutch.

Either you want it or you don't. You MUST make sacrifices, most people don't.

Are you going to overcome your fear or regret it for the rest of you life?

No one can answer that.

Only YOU can.

Period.