On the issue of drama schools again

Hello everyone. I came across this post on Facebook and was very tempted to respond... but I know that if I spoke my mind, I would simply offend my friend who shared it who clearly supported this cause. It is about a 25 year old young man in London by the name of Bolaji who has gone from being homeless to getting a place at one of the nation's top drama schools. Now he has a problem though: he is trying to raise £5000 to pay for his place there to start his studies in the autumn. It costs about £9000 a year in fees and he has managed to raise £4000 thus far. Through Indiegogo, he has only managed to raise a very small amount. To be frank, I am actually cynical and won't be helping Bolaji - I feel that I really cannot justify myself with a short statement on Facebook (and I certainly don't want to discourage anyone either if they wish to give Bolaji some money), so here are the reasons why I won't be supporting Bolaji. And for the record, no I did not attend drama school either yet have manage to find success as an actor in the UK.

1. Drama schools are so overrated and do not guarantee you work as an actor

I'm incredibly cynical about drama schools, specifically about the link between spending three years at drama school and that leading to a viable career as an actor. Students pay good money to feel like an actor there, they give you loads of tasks, assignment and homework to make you feel like you are acting but at the end of the day, there's really no guarantee that any kind of drama school training will lead to paid work. It may, it may not - there are plenty of actors who have been to drama school and have struggled to get any kind of paid work. I have loads of friends who are trained actors - some are incredibly successful, others are not and some have long left the profession: there seems to be an element of luck as to who gets the big break and who ends up doing a crappy part time job just to make ends meet whilst not acting. This is a big commitment of a three year course that will get Bolaji into a lot of debt - is this really worth a gamble? The odds are poor. Bolaji is already 25 - he'll be at least 28 when he finishes drama school, we're talking about taking 3 years out of what could be the most productive period of his working life to be a student again. If he was younger, then I would say, fine go ahead and find yourself, but time is not on his side.

Furthermore, the cost-benefit analysis of drama schools should be done with full knowledge of the way the drama training industry works. It is a big industry keeps a lot of keeps a lot of people employed: teachers and trainers charge a lot of fees for their courses and a lot of the business is repeat business, ie. former students coming back for more training. Thus it would be bad for business to tell the student, "you're talented and ready for the real world now" - but instead, telling the student that he still needs to do this (rather expensive) next course is what is going to keep the student spending more and more money with you. These drama schools are businesses at the end of the day and they need to make money, they are not charities. Thus students become brainwashed that unless they spend obscene amounts of money on expensive courses, they cannot compete with everyone else who has also forked out a lot of money to attend these courses. Hence they are practically preying on the insecurity of young actors at times.

With my fellow cast members, filming in Belgium

2. Bolaji is already acting, without even having been to drama school.

I read from his page that Bolaji is already acting: he has been a member of the Tricycle Young Company and has been in other projects dating back to 2013. So that goes to prove that he is indeed able to get work as an actor and going back to school now would take him out of the cycle of being able to build of his experience, attend more castings and expand his CV. These drama schools keep their students extremely busy which means that Bolaji would not be able to attend auditions whilst being a full time student - again, this is a gamble. If he has never had a single's day work as an actor, then I would say, fine go to drama school (if money isn't an issue) and you have to start somewhere - but it is clear that this young man has already managed to get started in this process, why kill the momentum just when you've managed to get started? Killing this momentum is probably not a wise decision at this point.

3. If you're looking for validation, you're barking up the wrong tree.

Actors have the door slammed in their faces all the time, it is a very harsh industry. I don't doubt that it was hard for Bolaji to have earned a place at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama - but I get the feeling Bolaji is too eager to seek their validation that he has any talent. Please allow me to speak as someone who is older and has had plenty of experience in the working world (both in media and finance). At the end of the day, nobody cares what degree or qualifications you have: what really matters is what you actually achieve within your working life. When you're 40, people are not going to question what your qualifications are but what you have done with your working life, what projects you have worked on, what kinds of companies you have worked with, how much money you have earned and if any of your achievements really stand out. That is the true validation one is looking for in one's career; the actual training is pretty insignificant in comparison. Nobody is going to say, "he's that great actor who went to RADA or (insert name of drama school)." But people are going to say, "he's that great actor who is in the latest James Bond film."

4. How are you going to pay the bills if it nothing works out?

 I remember this conversation I had with my friend Jessica when I worked on a play with the National Theatre two years ago. You see, with the both of us being Chinese (I'm British-Chinese, she's American-Chinese) we are armed to the teeth with professional qualifications and thus are quite used to being able to get very well paid work with our brains when we are not acting. We were quite shocked to hear that some of our actor friends in that play earned so little that they don't even need to pay income tax (and many of them are in debt because they borrowed money to go to expensive drama schools). I turned to Jessica and said to her (in Chinese, so no one could understand us), "how can they live in poverty like that? I wanna be an actor but I don't wanna starve. There's nothing artistic about being a starving actor." She just shrugged her shoulders and replied (in Chinese) that these people have gone to drama school and all they want to do is act, they don't have a plan B and that's why they end up starving when the acting work dries up - but at least they don't have to pay income tax like us. I hate to be the pragmatic Asian here, but putting all your eggs in one basket is often a very bad idea: you need a plan B in life.

5. What does a very successful actor have to say about this?

Back in 2008, I worked on a TV-movie for ITV called Clash Of The Santas. Despite having my own trailer whilst on set, I was very sociable and often mingled with the many extras. I met this endearing young lady called Claudia who was pretty much in Bolaji's position: she had earned herself a place in a prestigious drama school but her Eastern European parents simply didn't have the money to pay the fees. So I said, hey let me introduce you to the star of the show Robson Green who is a really nice guy: he's a huge name in British TV, he has had three number one hit in the UK charts (including the biggest hit of 1995) and two number one albums. I thought that a huge star like Robson could offer Claudia some advice on whether she should try to beg, borrow or steal the money to go to drama school (I even joked that if she asked him nicely, he might even give her a little money given how very rich and famous he is).

Robson was very friendly, spending a good deal of time with Claudia, explaining his very humble background  - he was from the village of Dudley, near Newcastle and his father was a miner. He left school at 16 and began acting through the local amateur theatre groups. It was his music career that first took off and one thing led to another before he was cast in BBC's Casualty which brought him to national prominence. And no, he did not attend drama school - his family's circumstances would not have made it possible for him to have attended one of those expensive drama schools in London, yet he still managed to find success through hard work and a bit of luck. He told Claudia that going to drama school wasn't going to make or break her career, but she should pursue more acting experience through the amateur route in the first instance. Hence by that token, I can probably guess what Robson would say to Bolaji too.

With Robson Green on set in 2008

6. The importance of having a good agent

Here's the thing about the casting process, everything goes through the agents. If you are not represented by the right agent, then forget it - you are not even going to get to attend the most vital auditions. Yes casting directors can sometimes put out casting calls through Casting Networks or Spotlight, but they often get inundated by so many responses that they often play favourites and see the submissions by the best agents in the business. There are even times when a casting director may go directly to his/her favourite agents and show them the casting brief directly. So unless you're being represented by one of these important agents who have some clout in the business, who gives a damn if you did go to a good drama school? Ultimately, it is not your drama school diploma that gets you the audition, it is your agent who does that for you. These good agents already have their books very full and often would not consider taking someone new on unless they have proven themselves in the real world by getting paid work.

There are so many actors who have been to good drama schools out there (the same way there are so many, say, engineers or architects who have been to good universities), you are seriously kidding yourself if you think an employer is going to fall over himself to kowtow to you just because of you have a good qualification from a worthy establishment. Honestly, I can't imagine an architect boasting that he has a degree from UCL - I can understand if he boasts that he has designed the Shard or the new Wembley Stadium. So get real: so much of your success depends not on your training, but having the right agent who can get you into those vital auditions that matter. An actor is nothing without his/her agent. I have found some work on my own through the years but the best projects on my CV have always come through my agents. All the agent cares about at the end of the day, is whether or not you are going to be a working actor who can make money. My agent gets a cut of my earnings: when I work, we both earn, when I don't work, neither of us earns. That's why agents want to take on talented actors who can make them money and if you clearly have what it takes to get paid work (and a CV to prove it), then yes you will be able to get a good agent.

When I worked with Rowan Atkinson last year

7. The age of Youtube and Social Media

I have had the pleasure and privilege of working with The Midnight Beast on a number of their projects (including series 1 of their sitcom on E4). They are such incredibly nice guys.  They were a Youtube sensation who went from making videos in their parents' home to getting 73.56 million hits on Youtube along with 425,000 subscribers. They have had their own sitcom commissioned (for two series on E4), they have released two albums, two EPs, they have gone on tour, they have performed in countries from Australia to America and one of their hits even reached number 4 in the Australian charts. Now these guys worked super hard for their success - making so many of their music video parodies on their Youtube channel. Some were hits, others were misses - but they had obvious made enough really good videos along the way to build up a big cult following around the world which has led to their success today.

With the Midnight Beast on set

I think it is a really inspirational story for young people who dream about fame and stardom - they think they can go to drama school and then be cast in some big film, oh and the next thing you know, they're walking down the red carpet in Leicester Square. Note how passive they are in this process: they want someone to train them, then someone to send them to an audition, before getting someone to cast them in a film or TV programme. Why not be a bit more proactive: try doing it the Midnight Beast way - they have retained their character, their identity and most of all, their integrity throughout this process. Don't wait for some casting director to discover you, why not start your own Youtube channel today and start shooting your own videos? It can be a music video, a short skit, an education piece, a travel piece, you can do anything you want. Heck, everyone has a decent video camera on their mobile phones these days...

With Stefan of the Midnight Beast on set for E4

8. Being a businessman rather than an actor

I'm afraid so many actors are too vain to think about the practical aspect of their careers and going to drama school doesn't help with that problem at all - it probably makes it a lot worse. Thankfully, I have had a real job in the business world before going into acting, so I have plenty of sales and marketing experience and yes, I do have the brain of a businessman. As an actor, you need to think about how you are going to package up and sell that product which is yourself: what kind of roles would you suit, what kind of skills do you need (singing, martial arts, dancing, stage combat, accents, foreign languages, sports skills, stunt work etc) and which markets would allow you to flourish? You have got to manage yourself like that, in order to maximize your chances in a very competitive environment.

My friend Ken had proved just that: he is originally a Danish actor who had come to the UK as he was tired of the limited opportunities in Denmark. Well, the population of Denmark is just 5.6 million and the number of opportunities in Danish media for Danish actors are limited - compare that to London where you are pumping out media for the entire English speaking world. Thus he was attracted to the bright lights of London and for a while, he was doing quite well (he was in the same play as Jessica and I) - then he shocked us all last year by announcing that he was returning to Denmark. It was a calculated move - there were quite a few exciting projects and American-Danish joint ventures happening this year and he decided that he was going to have a lot more success in Copenhagen in 2015 than in London. He knew how to put himself in the right place at the right time to get the best work possible: now that has nothing to do with acting, that is about having shrewd business acumen. Ken isn't just an actor - he is a businessman.

Production meeting in Germany late last year

9. The industry is demand led, not supply driven

So let's imagine Bolaji does make it through drama school, then what? The industry is demand led, not supply driven. Nobody is going to create a role for Bolaji just because he turns up at a casting shouting, "I just graduated from Central." The casting director is going to reply, "big fat hairy deal, I have trained actors queuing up around the block." So much of it will depend on his luck, he is a young black man so it will depend on there being roles for him to audition for in the first place. If there are none that fit his ethnicity, gender and age group, then no amount of training is going to turn him into a working actor. So much of this depends on you being in the right place at the right time: when I worked with Rowan Atkinson in his Mr Bean in China project last year, I was in the right place at the right time. The project had been in the planning for a long time, I merely stepped in when they were casting for Chinese actors in the UK. Bolaji's ability to get paid work will depend a lot on him being in the right place at the right time, when they are casting for a young black male actor like him. He needs to consider the demand side of the equation and shape his training to create a product accordingly if he wants to be a working actor: that's economics 101. Don't say I didn't warn you, by all means follow your dreams but engage your brain and ask for practical advice from industry experts at the same time.

10. If Bolaji has what it takes, then he will make it.

I don't want to be cynical about his chances, I don't want to discourage Bolaji. I just don't believe his chances are ruined if he doesn't raise the money to pay for drama school. I think he should still go into acting if that's what he wants to do and if he has the skills and the talent to make it, then he will find a way to succeed. Drama school may help him along the way, but they cannot make shit shine: they can make the best of his talent but they cannot give him talent if he has none. Loads of people have made it in the industry one way or another without drama school and by the same token, loads of people who have done drama school have failed to make any kind of impact in the industry. The crucial factor is not whether they've been to drama school, but whether they are talented enough (and lucky enough) in the first place. As for Bolaji, all I can say is that if he is really talented enough, then no, he doesn't need drama school.

An ad I did for Airbus recently

Finally, I feel I have to now leave you my Spotlight link so you can see my rather long CV (and you can be the judge for yourself) and of course, you can also view my showreel below and see me in action. I did not attend drama school but I have had plenty of other training (from gymnastics to foreign languages to stunt work to martial arts) along the way to ensure that I am a highly skilled performer with plenty to offer. Please have a watch and critique if you wish.

So Bolaji, I'm sorry but I'm not giving you any money but I am giving you my good advice instead which is to act anyway without going to drama school and always have a plan B. Good luck with the road ahead. Thanks for reading.