Bypass New York and L.A. and Start Your Career in the City by the Bay!
By Wyatt Elling
Do you enjoy the sunny environment and laid back Western attitude of California, but don't want to deal with living in Los Angeles? San Francisco just might be the best place to start your life as an actor. The city is culturally vibrant, diverse, beautiful, and full of working actors and artists of all types.
San Francisco is best known for its live performances, and the majority of acting opportunities are on the stage. The city also serves as a casting hub for Mid-to-Northern California, with many smaller cities like Oakland, Berkeley, Monterey, and San Jose under its umbrella. It has a highly active and organized SAG/AFTRA office that operates a casting hotline. Talent agents in the area spend a lot of time watching theater performances to scout out fresh talent, and are more aggressive with recruitment because agents in San Francisco only represent actors exclusively. The stage acting world is well-respected and competitive, and agents will commonly video tape their actors to send to casting directors in New York and LA.
Outside of San Francisco proper, there are many non-equity theaters and performance groups to be found. There are also several nationally recognized professional theaters like the Berkeley Repertory Theater, the San Jose Repertory Theatre, the American Conservatory Theatre, and the Marin Repertory Theatre. Back in San Francisco, the theater community is renowned for a large degree of diversity and many opportunities for culturally diverse actors. Many productions deal with progressive issues surrounding race and gender, and give a voice to groups that don't have an outlet in other regional acting markets. Regardless of size, location, or mission, most theaters in the Bay area run on a September to June seasonal schedule, though there are a variety of seasonal summer companies and festivals to keep actors busy.
As far as screen work goes the opportunities are somewhat sparse. TV and film production in the city has fallen off since Canada has become a hotspot, and cities like Toronto and Montreal are routinely made to look like San Francisco. San Francisco is notoriously difficult to film in, given its high costs, eccentric geography, and bureaucratic rules that bog down large film productions. Still the San Francisco's special charm is hard to replicate on a sound stage, and a few major productions are set there every year. Diverse films like Vertigo, The Graduate, Dirty Harry, Big Trouble in Little China, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Rock, The Hulk, and Zodiac were all filmed there, and recent tax incentives have increased the flow of new productions.
Given the high proportion of artists and actors living in the San Francisco area, Independent film production is very high. While residents might not be welcoming to large Hollywood shoots that shut down multiple city blocks, people are much more tolerant toward filmmakers running around shooting scenes with little more than a camera and a dream. Independent films provide a steady source of work and can help you build a resume and a reel quickly. Television work is generally sparse, though several notable shows like Nash Bridges and Monk have been filmed mostly or partially there, and cast local actors for supporting and background roles.
Many stage and screen actors in the Bay area make their living working in live and filmed industrials for the many, many tech firms operating out of the nearby Silicon Valley. This has extended in recent years to include a wide variety of voice-over work for multimedia projects and video games. Software companies will also hire actors and models for motion capture and character modeling work. There is a fair amount of traditional advertising work to be had in San Francisco as well, split between SAG and AFTRA, though several of the largest advertising firms have moved out of town in the last decade, so both national and regional commercial work has decreased overall.
If you want a gorgeous view of the water, a friendly and accepting atmosphere, close proximity to LA, Portland, Ashland, and Seattle, and can handle the steep rent, San Francisco just might be the place for you!
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