How To Set and Keep To a Weekly Budget

If there is a stereotype about actors that is unfortunately true more often than not, it is that they're terrible with money. The good news is: it doesn't have to be that way. You can take control of your finances and its easier than you think. Here's a little primer on setting a weekly budget, and some tricks you can do with cardboard, cash, and a wallet to keep you on point throughout the month.

Determining Your Budget

1. On the first of the month look in your bank account, find out how much money you have.
2. Pay all of your monthly bills in full.
3. Take out as much money as you can stand to for savings (if you're new to this, or living close to the margin start with 10% of your monthly income). Your savings priorities should be:
1. 401k up to your employer's match limit (Free money!).
2. Paying down high interest credit cards.
3. Your emergency fund (enough $ to cover your expenses for 3months)
4. Roth IRA up to the maximum deposit amount (this is especially important for actors)
5. Personal savings goals (home, car, camera fund, etc)
4. Figure out how much money you have left, and subtract an overdraft buffer ($100 - $200 should be okay).
5. The amount you have left is your monthly discretionary income.

Determining Your Daily Allowance

1. Take your monthly allowance and divide by the number of days in the month. If you've got a monthly budget of $495 in January, this becomes: $495/31 = $15.97
2. Round down to the nearest dollar. $15.97 becomes $15

The Weekly Budget Wallet System

This one is easy enough, but you may need to modify this system slightly to fit your personality and spending habits.

1. Take your wallet and insert 3 cardboard tabs: Savings, Week, & Expense
2. At the start of every week, withdraw 7 times your daily allowance. $15 x 7 = $105 and put it into the "Week" section of your wallet.
3. At the start of every day, take your daily allowance from "Week" and put it at the front of your wallet for general use.
4. At the end of the day, take any remaining cash and put it in the "Savings" area.
5. If you run into an expense that you know you'll have to pay later in the week (like a friend buying a ticket to a show for you), take it out of your daily allowance and put it in the "Expense" area.

The Most Important Part

The single most important rule for a stable financial life is: don't spend any money that you don't have. If you only have $3 left in your day's allowance - sorry, but you're not going out to dinner you're having packet noodles today. If you spend less than your daily allowance on a given day, you'll have extra cash in your savings section which you can spend whenever you like on whatever you like.

Some Things You Might Notice

• You'll make fewer impulse buys. Having to pull cash out of your wallet, and realizing you have a limited amount on a given day makes it harder to spend money on crap you don't really want or need.
• You'll actually start preparing meals at home instead of thinking you should.
• You'll recognize just how much money you're spending on cigarettes, an astounding cessation aide.

Traps

• Gas & Groceries: If you know you buy a tank a week, and spend $50 on groceries, reduce your daily allowance and put enough money for gas and groceries in your "Expenses" section. Also, the earlier in the week you buy your groceries the more money you'll save on eating out.

 Get a wallet as bitchin' as your new budget will be. Note: Bitchin' is in the eye of the beholder.

Put a sticker on your ATM card to remind yourself that it is to be used to withdraw cash only. This is to keep you from accidentally busting your budget.

Your day's spending cash should be in the front-most compartment of your wallet.

At the start of every week withdraw your daily budget * 7 from the bank. This is all the dough you're allowed to spend in a week. Try to get this cash in small denominations so that you can easily split it evenly into 7 days. Don't withdraw more than a week's worth, because if you do and your wallet is lost or stolen you'll be super screwed.

If you don't spend all of your daily allowance on a given day, it should go into the savings tab. If you're a spend-thrift M-Th you can have a fun Fri and Sat night. If you've still got this money at the end of the week, put it in a savings account towards a fun goal like an HD Camera or a plane ticket to Thailand.

This is where you keep cash that you know is owed to somebody else. Be that the City of LA for a parking ticket you just discovered, or your friend who bought tickets to the concert on Friday.

How To Lose With a Winning Hand

Since moving to LA I've started doing something I haven't done since I was a small child - playing poker. Things are a little different since I took up the game as a six year old in the green room the high school theater. For one, I've started playing for money. Not much, no more than $10 a night, but enough for it to feel like proper gambling.

The problem is, I know as little about the game now as I did then. My strategy basically breaks down to: hold onto any face cards I may have and go all in if I see any cards on the table that match. I have yet to win a game of poker.

Tonight, I was quite impressed by just how bad a player I am. We were playing Texas Hold 'Em. I had a five and a king. On the table were three other fives. The betting was getting pretty intense. All cards had been revealed, but the bets were still going up. I looked at my cards, and looked at the cards on the table. The best hand the other players could have had was a full house. I only had four 5s. Given the tenor of the bets, I knew someone had the full house. As the full house would beat my four-of-a-kind, I folded.

The only problem is: Four of a Kind beats a Full House!!!

I didn't know this at the time, if I had, I would have gone all in. I managed to claw defeat from the jaws of victory.

The moral of the story: before you start gambling where something real is at stake (money, job, relationship, etc) - make sure you know what winning looks like. If you don't, you might fail to see that success is within your grasp, give up, and lose everything.

Alternate moral of the story: ensure that every game of poker you play is worth the amount you are betting in entertainment value alone. More likely than not you'll lose, so be okay with that.

Moral #3: If you want an easy 10 bucks, challenge me to a friendly poker game.

Pinching Pennies: Washing My Car

This is the first in what will likely become a series of posts describing how I'm trying to minimize my expenses amid the recession.

So, I know this isn't world-shattering news, but I washed my car. The car that had gotten so dirty I couldn't drive at sunset because the glare made it impossible to see. The car that would have been towed from the all-too-nice neighborhood it is parked in. It was not parked there because I live in the nice neighborhood, but because the nice neighborhood which is a 10 min walk from my apartment is the only place that doesn't have time-restricted parking.

COST
$3 To figure out how to use the car wash and spray the high-pressure suds.
$3 To restart the bubbly soap brush after it died without a warning beep.
$1 To frantically run around my car trying to rinse off all soap while my 15 remaining seconds counted down to goose eggs.

I could have spent the same $7 and gone to a 1,000 Illegal Aliens Car Wash. They would have done a better job and I wouldn't still have dirty carpets.

But next time, I'll get it all done in $3; $4 at the most.

Surviving the recession, $3 future potential savings at a time.

Holey Schmoley I'm Off of the Doley!

For the past few months I've been on the dole - accepting cash donations from myself. My savings has been hemorrhaging the green stuff like a stuck hemophiliac pig. Continually doing this caused me significant mental duress. But, I'll have you know there was a time in my life where I made more money than I spent. It was a dark time for me emotionally but was much better for me fiscally. For quite a few months, after graduating from UCSC, I lived with my parents, taught high school full time, and did not have a girlfriend.

I believe that this is the month where my accounts will climb out of the red and return to the black. I completed 4 consulting projects for Maxon, and finished out 1.5 months with VetPrep. In fact, I suspect that I'll even have some cash left over to put into long term savings. Woohoo!

Now the trick of this is not to think of the checks I'll be depositing as money I can spend this month; it really isn't. It's money to be spent next month after I've settled up on rent, etc. But another month living off beans won't be so terrible if my net worth increases - unless you're in the unfortunate position of sleeping next to me.

I now work in Customer Support.

Sorting out my financial woes has many times surpassed acting as my primary focus in LA. While money is something that impacts everyone, I'm excited for the day that it will be less of a concern.

Although I've yet to sign on the dotted line, it looks like I've got a new job lined up. I'll be doing customer support for VetPrep.com – an online veterinary test preparation service. This job will be salaried and should cover my rent and utilities – relieving the stress of wondering when the next check from freelance work will roll in. The work consists of answering customer emails, making phone calls, and sending out promotional materials. In fact it's not terribly different from what I do as an actor: respond to breakdowns, make phone calls, and send out promotional materials.

My technical background is a real boon for me. Geeks have a leg up on most actors with day-jobs. There aren't many non-technical jobs that pay as well or offer nearly as much flexibility in terms of: place of work, time of work, and amount of work.

Too Busy to Blog

This past week has been pretty hectic and I've given this blog less attention than I would like. However, leading a life so interesting that I don't have time to write about its myriad happenings is not an altogether bad situation to be in. For now, I'll just give you the bullet points, and with luck I'll be able to find time to write more detailed entries later.

• I attended the opening night of my friend Diablo Cody's film "Juno". See this movie – you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be quoting it for weeks.
  
• I signed with a talent manager named Blair Silver who found me through a cold-submission by Sage Marketing for Actors.
  
• I love my Groundlings class. I'm learning a ton, and my commercial acting is improving as a result.
  
• I've got one week left in my commercial acting class with Jeff Hardwick. I'm learning scads here as well.
  
• I attended a free workshop held by John Sudol on commercial acting which was extremely informative.
  
• I've fleshed out the story of my screenplay a bit more.
  
• I got the first of a series of checks in the mail from my day-job. Thank goodness!

Audition Tip: Take Time to Take the Note

I did something new in an audition today, and it paid off. For once, I actually took the time to take the note.

Earlier today, I drove down to Orange, CA. It's a 50 minute trip in the best of times, and a 2.5hr trek in the worst of times. The traffic was relatively light during my trip, so I got to Orange in about an hour and a half. I was just in time – to try and find the audition room that wasn't listed on the casting notice. Apparently, I had arrived before the director, I later found her in one of the spots I had already searched.

I took a decent first stab at the sides, I was partially off book and I gave a partially interesting read. Afterwards, the director gave me an adjustment (or note) "Imagine that during the second half of this script, your mother is really talking about you needing to take care of your autistic brother for the rest of his life." I felt like I had a good sense of what she wanted and was just about to plow ahead with a second read when I asked "May I have a few moments to look over the sides?" The director of course granted my request.

Roughly 20 seconds later, I knew at what point in the script my character realized what was going on and how he felt about it. My second read went much better, and afterwards the director said "I really saw that you made the adjustment. It was nice to see him realize what was happening. His whole energy changed."

Audition Tip: Take some time after you've been given a note in order to plan out that change. It's not enough to understand the note, you need to know it.

Don't worry about taking up too much of the casting director's time. it's a far greater waste of time for them to give you a note that is essentially ignored because you didn't take the time to follow it.

Financial Note:

Driving to/from Orange and a stop into Pasadena required half a tank of gas. Filling up my car cost me $39 today. Which is to say, it cost me $20 to audition for a non-paying student project. There's something wrong with that.

Protecting my Money from Myself.

Since my arrival, I've been dipping into savings on a monthly basis. On average, I've been taking $1k-$3k out each month. In part this has been due to move-in costs, classes, headshot reprinting, etc - but mostly it's been due to my own complacency.

Before the move, I had $17,232.43 in savings. Earlier today I had $12,474.50 in savings. That was until I took out another $2000 to make rent and pay my various bills.

Clearly this pattern of spending way more than I make is unhealthy and unsustainable. As a stop-gap measure, I've taken 8k of my remaining 10k and placed it in a 6-month CD through ING Direct. That means I can't touch the last of my savings for at least 6 months.

My goal: Change from a monthly loss to a monthly surplus.
How to get there:

1. Finish the application process at LA Unified (I just need an ID Photo) so that I can work as a substitute teacher.
2. Finish my current training project, and begin on the next immediately.
3. Take every paying gig I can get my hands on.
4. Prioritize my spending and make some cuts.

Realizing how poorly I've been handling my money is absolutely terrifying. Let's hope the fear can fuel my productivity.

Ooh, Ooh, Pick Me, Pick Me.

Being a theatrical agent in Hollywood is like being the prettiest girl at prom - everyone who isn't already spoken for wants to dance with you. I was a pretty big dork in high school (what's changed, right?) and asking anyone to dance was horribly intimidating. Thankfully it looks like the years of swing dancing lessons have paid off, I'm not nearly so afraid to ask agents to represent me.

A couple commercial agencies contacted me through Casting Networks and asked me to send them a Headshot & Resume. I reformatted my resume so it's now oh-so-fancy with 3 columns and blue accents. I also wrote a cover letter to accompany my packet:

Dear [John]:

I am seeking theatrical representation with your agency. I moved to Los Angeles from San Francisco three weeks ago with the goal of making a living as a film and television actor. I’ve been told that you are one of the premiere agents for actors looking to build up their careers, so I was delighted when I received your solicitation through Casting Networks. I earned my SAG card while I was still in the Bay Area, and I’d like to put it to good use!

When I arrived, I hit the ground running. I’m in my fourth week of Richard Seyd’s ongoing acting class. I’m attending workshops and using all the resources available at The Actor’s Network so that I can be intelligently proactive about my career.

I just closed a successful extended-run of Take Me Out. I’m also pleased to say that Phoenix Rising, a full-length film that I played a featured role in, is now touring the festival circuit.

Sincerely,

Donovan Keith

I tried to find an enthusiastic tone that also established my willingness to do the work. My friend Lolly (another recent SF transplant) felt that I might seem a little too fresh off the bus. We'll see how the response goes.

Expense
Theatrical Headshot ($0.95)
Commercial Headshot ($0.95)
See-Through Envelope ($0.75)
2 Resumes on 8x10 paper ($0.50)
Postage ($1.20)
TOTAL ($4.35)

To submit to just the two agents who contacted me, I've got to pay about $9 for materials/shipping. They say it takes money to make money, but I can see this getting expensive really fast.

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.

Broke... Broke... Broke...

This could get very painful very quickly. It looks like I need to get a "real" job. The contract work for the software company is too inconsistent for my tastes (it's been 3 weeks and none of my projects have been green lighted) - I need a salaried gig that ensures I'm going to make rent and pay my essential bills (utilities, car, food). Once I've got that, everything else is gravy.

For a second I thought I had another job doing tech support for a monthly stipend, but it seems like that isn't going to happen any time soon. I'm scared. But I'm sure that I can get work of some kind.

Priorities are shifting away from the acting for a little bit and the emphasis is now on making a living.

Ideas:

• Substitute Teaching
• Extra Work
• Community College Teacher
• Temp
• Whatever I can find on Craig's List*

* = not including "full release".

Oh, and I've got about 30 minutes left on my cell phone plan before calls cost me about $0.50/min.

Mud People Music Video

So I drove up to the SF bay to do some contract work for my old school, and while I was there I helped my buddy Gabriel shoot a music video for his new solo album. I have a background in film making and thought I could assist in some meaningful way.

I ended up being in charge of making mud. Having spent the better part of my childhood making cat-turd pies in a sandbox this was a specialty of mine. I lost my pair of brown euro shoes to the bay - it's a shame because they cost a grip and were some of my favorites.

In addition to making mud, I shot production stills and promotional photos for the album.



Towards the end of the shoot, I also got covered in mud from head to toe so that Gabriel could have more mud-people for the final shots. It was quite disgusting - and expensive. I had forgotten to bring a change of clothes, so my friend Emily ran to Target and bought a whole new outfit for me so that I could make it to my friend Tom Orr's "iTom Shuffle" cabaret show @ 8. But it gave me some taste of what it might be like to work on a Zombie film - maintaining continuity from the master shot would be quite difficult.

Financial Update:
+$300 Contracting Work.
-$70 Replacement outfit at Target.

Polishing your little star

When I was an infant, my mom would bundle me up and drive me out to countless commercial auditions. Eventually I booked a commercial where got to play around in a giant pile of Kleenex. My sister also did a fair amount of work as a child actor in commercials (her big break was 1-episode in TV's "The Judge"). Based on this limited success, my parents wrote a book and marketed a workshop called "Polishing Your Little Star". At the end of the 2-hour workshop where they made it clear why you shouldn't put your kids in show business, they said "If anyone wants more than $50 from you, it's a scam." Then they proceeded to sell book after book for $35. This is the mid-80's people: $35 for a mimeographed and spiral bound book written by my parents.

Today I spent $50 dollars on a mimeographed, spiral bound, book on the industry written by someone that I don't think has kids. I did so willingly, and with full knowledge of what I was doing. In addition, I plunked down another $200 to join an organization called "The Actor's Network" - they host a lecture series that is populated with industry professionals. They promise to save me the 3 years of getting up to speed that it takes the average nuevo Angelino. I did all this despite an oogy feeling I got from the gentleman running the orientation: the man brought up race far too frequently - and I didn't appreciate the joke about an Arab friend of his being a terrorist. I'll probably be posting with some regularity about events at The Actors' Network because they do seem to offer a cadre of useful services.

Financial Update
Oh, and I have $850 in my checking account.
Rent is $825 and just this morning I got a $50 parking ticket (the same street sweepers that plagued me in Oakland).

It looks like I'm going to have to dip into savings before the month is through - but (and we'll see if I keep this promise) I won't dip into savings next month. No sirree.

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.