Negotiating a TV Contract

Kevin, the main dude at The Actors' Network is (in)famous for what he calls his "Kevinisms". This little beauty sums up just about everything you need to know about negotiating television contracts.

You better know when you dick's big enough to swing it. Otherwise keep it in your pants.

Which is to say, unless you have strength of position in a negotiation, you can't really negotiate anything. At my level in this field, I'm essentially expendable, so I have no room to negotiate.

And for my visual learners out there, here's something I whipped up in Photoshop for ya!

Investing in myself.

Faced with the possibility of going back into the work-a-day world, I am apprehensive. Mostly because it introduces the same problems I was having in SF - not wanting to let-down my daytime employers and coworkers because I want to pursue acting (which means cutting out at odd hours for auditions). Independent contracting, while inconsistent, provides me with the most flexibility to pursue my acting.

The areas that most interest me are graphic design and animation. But I don't really have a portfolio to sell myself with. I'm going to make that my top priority and give myself a deadline - the end of August. Which means I've got to dig into savings to make rent and pay for other things. After I've got a portfolio, I'll take some menial job to make rent until such time as my contracting surpasses the consistent work.

Of course, I probably have this completely backwards. I should probably make rent now, and work on my portfolio in the evenings - it'd certainly give me incentive to finish quickly.

Argh. For the first time in my life, I've begun to enter the real world.

How Donovan Keith became Donovan Keith Inc.

INCOMPLETE: MORE TO FOLLOW

To setup yourself as a business you need to follow these steps:

1. Get an EIN from the IRS (irs.gov, keyword: EIN) or just use your SSN.
2. Separate your business finances from your personal finances.
3. File your taxes quarterly (?!)
   

Logging Expenses

1. Amount
2. Date & Time
3. Location
4. Business Purpose
5. Business Relationship: (Client, ??)
   

Keep your records 3+ years.

Incorporating

My First Post
This is the inaugural post in my new Actor's Log. My goal is to have this BLOG serve as a resource for myself and other actors who are moving from regional markets to the big show: Los Angeles. My goals are fairly simple: dedicate myself to acting as much as I can in film and television.

To that end, I've already jumped some pretty big hurdles. The first of which is the proverbial "day job". I've lined up some consulting work with a software company and my previous employer which will allow me to work my own hours; leaving me free to audition whenever I need to.

Becoming a Business
Now that I no longer have full-time employment from any one company, I have become a small business with 1-employee: me. Which means I now have to file taxes as a business, which led me to this resource:

The IRS's "Online Classroom" for Small Business/Self-Employed
http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=97726,00.html
There's some pretty cool videos on how to set up you bank accounts and keep records so that Uncle Sam doesn't bite a chunk out of your keester come next Easter.