Kirk Acevedo, a working actor who has starred in Marvel (‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’) and DC (‘Arrow’) franchises and films such as ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ and ‘Insidious,’ has opened up about the challenges of being a middle-class actor since the pandemic.
Acevedo appeared on the March 23 episode of Ryan M. Perez’s podcast, Actor’s Despair, and talked about how Hollywood’s “middle class” is being “squeezed out.”
“2021 is here and I’m going to be on some TV shows, just going over there and going over there. That would have saved me. That’s not working. I’m still in second place. The reality is second place. You’re the first to lose,” he said. “So I went from working non-stop to having to sell my house. I had to sell my house, but everyone goes through this. I have a lot of friends, acquaintances, actors who had to sell their houses.”
Acevedo said there are fewer roles overall and more competition as actors of various levels head to television and other projects.
“Now on TV, all the movie stars are on TV because they don’t have movies like they used to. All the Oscar winners are doing eight-, 10-, 13-episode shows over and over again,” he said. “I’m competing with Oscar winners. It’s like, ‘Okay, should I pay Kirk his quote or should I pay this guy who was nominated for an Oscar seven, eight, 10 years ago?'” See the problem?
Acevedo also explained how even regular TV appearances, which seem like a good paycheck, don’t cover many lifestyles after expenses.
“Let’s say I did 10 guest appearances,” he said. “That’s $100,000, right? You have an agent and a manager. So they deduct 20%. That’s $80,000. You also have to pay taxes… Let’s say it’s $45,000. Your rent… Let’s keep it on the low side. Don’t go on the high end, like $3,000. It’s pretty low. $36,000. Can you live on this money?” If you’re just starting out, can you do 10 episodes?
Check out the full podcast below.
