Job Discussion Forums

[RyznFree]

What's the haps on this?

I'm a 26 male Teacher/Actor from Los Angeles and positive about moving to Asia for a bit. Just trying to find the best country and fit for both my passions.

1)What city/cities is the center of Film/Television?

2)ESL teachers able to do this on the side?

3)Any visa complications?

4)How difficult is it to get started?

5)Casting agencies want headshots? Bodyshots? And is it best to get that done in China (their style?)?

Thanks a ton!

[SnoopBot]

Many of these "acting" positions pay a whopping few hundred RMB for a day's worth of work.

You will sit around all day until you are needed and paid peanuts.

Many "female models" were promised high salaries and after entry into China expected to entertain business clients at the local KTV's.

A Canadian model was suckered and then killed before she could escape back to Canada.

If you just want to boost your ego (score some chicks) and get some exposure, acting in China might fulfill this need. However, if you want a serious career with a living wage, the Chinese market is horrible.

The Lawai that can speak fluent Chinese and star on CCTV-9's programming still get paid peanuts.

I have been involved in a few commercials and some of my fellow laowai friends have done the same. Beijing would be a good place to start meeting the producer and director contacts.

Just don't expect much from it

[El Macho]

I were interested in working in film/TV, I'd look at being in one of the three cities where the Chinese film industry is rooted: Hong Kong, Beijing, or Shanghai.

That being said, there are probably opportunities everywhere if you look hard enough and are willing to work for free (or close to it) and don't mind the projects being for regional TV.

[joey2001]

I know a female foreigner who works as an actress/host on TV in Guangzhou. I have no idea how well she is paid but she told me she only works like 2 or 3 days a month on average. The soap she appears in is pretty well-known in Guangdong, and most of my Chinese friends know her. Practically every time I meet her she is approached by people asking for autographs and wanting to have their picture taken with her. So for a foreigner she's pretty famous here. I think she started appearing on TV in Beijing over 15 years ago, and is fluent in Putonghua and Cantonese.
But I doubt it would be easy for a non-Chinese speaking newcomer without any connections! I don't think appearance or acting abilities are enough in China. I'd say you need to at least have some fluency in the language first

[RyznFree]

Good info! Thanks thanks . . .

If anyone else has some experience in Acting in China, please share

[brsmith15]

See if you can find a copy of "Foreign Babes in Beijing (or it might be 'China')." It's about a Jewish (She made a point of this for some reason.) US gal that made it pretty big doing a soap opera here. I think she was one of the very few foreigners here to make it AND get paid as well. If I remember her story, she didn't know much Chinese.

[nolefan]

there are a number of people doing that in Beijing but the competition is fairly fierce. The usual rules apply in terms of skill and experience. Being fluent in Chinese can present much better opportunities... otherwise, you might be stuck with crumbs and bottom end stuff for a while..
the pay scale can vary from 300rmb/day to a couple of 1000s

[North China Laowei]

[arioch36]

Unfortunately they often don't care about your acting abilities. 100% truth. Certainly Hong Kong is the biggest market, followed by Beijng, Guandong maybe Shanghai
Each province has many state run tv shows, if you ever struck it lucky and arrived just as someone wanted a laowai (foreigner)

I agree with Nolefan, if you don't speak Chinese and Joey, chances are slim. For instance beijing has ton of young punks spending mom and dad's money studying Chinese, this is always a reliable source for Beijing tv shows. They get paid, yeah, peanuts. They also have the advantage of networking (won't use the word guanxi here). They know enough people , been here long enough, that somone knows someone who knows them. Actual auditions are few and far between. Sometimes CCTV 9 has some.

However they are always looking for a nice laowai face to sell their latest medical drug. Put on a white lab coat and look like a doctor, or claim to have impotence, and u may land a gig in a sleazy ad.

[SnoopBot]

[Moon Over Parma]

Laowai acting opportunities are not strictly Shanghai-Beijing-Guangzhou based, but those are the cities where most of the opportunities exist. There are film and production houses scattered in provinces like Shaanxi (in Xi'an), in Jilin (Changchun), Zhejiang (Ningbo and Hangzhou), Fujian (Fuzhou), and a few other spots, here and there. Ability to speak Chinese is important, but the pay is low, even the "high paying" gigs pay far less than what a featured extra can make in America.

Good luck.

[bradley]

There is work like this even in Shenzhen. I've done one infomercial here before and a lot of my friends have been in some tv series here but I don't think it is a viable way to make a living. It's good for some exrta money sometimes

[Moon Over Parma]

I'd like to add that the days of any gwai lo scoring acting work on Hong Kong films are long over. That tide ebbed around 1994 and most of the foreign faces you find in Hong Kong movies that aren't international pros (like say, Michael Bein, or Paul Rudd, Mark Decoscos, or Michael Jai White) have been in the territory for some time and are usually friends of the filmmakers, or have a serious mastery of Mandarin and/or Cantonese.

Some of the usual faces have either died off (Louis C. Roth), retired (Anders Nelson), stick to their day jobs (Paul Fornoroff), or left the country (Rochard Norton, and Sophia Crawford).

The Asian country where western nobodies might stand a chance of finding work right now is Thailand. Their film industry is booming.

[citylightsruralcalm]

Most English teachers in the Orient are actors by default. Flow with it and Godspeed.

[consumetake]

To the OP: How is your road plan going along?


My plain is similar to this.. travel to China, look for opportunities to get on TV and Film, while teaching English Part Time or Tutoring Privately to get some money. Are any of you signed or know anyone that signed with an agency?

My plan was just to apply to some agencies in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, along with joining some interest groups to get work experience..

any advice.