What are Local Hire Actors

Local hire actors are performers are booked for roles based on their proximity to the filming location rather than being brought in from a different city or country. This practice is common in the entertainment industry to minimize costs of travel and accommodation, as well as to facilitate logistics.

Local hire actors can include both seasoned professionals and emerging talents who reside in the area where the production is taking place. They bring their skills, experience, and local flavor to the project, often enriching the storytelling with authenticity and depth. While they may not always have the same level of recognition or credits as actors based in major entertainment hubs like Los Angeles or New York, local hire actors can offer a fresh perspective and a unique energy to their performances.

But actors may lie about their local hire status. They do that to have more opportunities to work, even though the consequences can be from throwing off the production’s schedule to being blacklisted by casting directors.

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A Convenience for The Industry

Local hire actors provide several conveniences for the entertainment industry, including:

• Cost savings,
• logistical ease,
• actor availability,
• cultural authenticity, and
• community engagement.

Hiring local talent reduces expenses associated with travel, accommodation, and per diems for actors. This can result in significant savings for productions, especially for smaller-budget projects. In addition, working with local actors simplifies logistical arrangements. They are already familiar with the area, which reduces the need for extensive location scouting and logistical coordination. Local actors may have relationships with local crew members, further streamlining production logistics.

Local actors are often available for auditions, rehearsals, and filming schedules without having to deal with travel arrangements or potential conflicts, making it easier for productions to schedule shoots and rehearsals.

Another benefit for productions working with local hire actors is that they bring an authentic regional flavor to their performances, enhancing the authenticity of the production. They have a deeper understanding of local dialects, accents, customs, and nuances, which can enrich the storytelling experience.

Overall, local hire actors offer a convenient and practical solution for productions, helping to streamline operations, reduce costs, and enhance the authenticity of the storytelling.

But are those conveniences detrimental to actors? What is the cost to them?

To provide this type of convenience for productions, actors often make sacrifices. These sacrifices can range from accepting lower pay rates to enduring typecasting or limited opportunities for advancement. In essence, actors may find themselves between the desire for steady work and the aspiration for good roles to play.

While local hire gigs may offer immediate benefits such as steady employment, they may limit an actor’s exposure to larger audiences, industry professionals, and career-enhancing opportunities.

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Why Actors Lie

Actors may lie about being local hire actors or being capable of working as local hire actors for several practical reasons for them.  When faced with few auditions, little to no access to casting of big productions, and a sense of wasting creativity, actors feel compelled to “make something happen” for themselves. In a nutshell, actors lie about their local hire status to:

• Increase audition and consideration opportunities;
• have access to casting directors outside of their local market;
• improving their booking ratio.

By presenting themselves as local hires, actors can access a wider range of auditions and casting opportunities. Productions often prefer to hire local talent to streamline logistics and save costs, so being able to position oneself as readily available for such roles can lead to more auditions and potential bookings.

In addition, many actors believe that being flexible to work as a local hire will enable them to establish connections with casting directors and other industry professionals in different locations. They see it as an opportunity to expand their network and potentially secure more work in the future.

The downside of lying

Some actors may have a sense of adventure or spontaneity, believing they can “hop on a plane” and show up somewhere else the next day if a promising opportunity arises. And while this mindset seems optimistic, it often overlooks the practical realities and challenges of working as a local hire. Before pretending to be able to show up in another state by Monday, actors must consider these unexpected challenges they may face:

• Last-minute changes to filming schedules,
• fitting dates that may be far apart from filmind dates,
• production delays that end up costing the actor an extra hotel night stay and a plane ticket change.

Moreover, when production assumes you live locally, no “per diem” is provided to you.

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What is “per diem?”

A per diem for non-local actors is a daily allowance provided to cover living expenses while they are working away from their usual residence. This allowance typically includes costs for:

• meals,
• transportation, and
• incidentals such as toiletries or laundry.

The “per diem” amount can vary depending on factors such as the location of the production, industry standards, and the duration of the actor’s stay.

“Per diems” are designed to ensure that non-local actors are adequately compensated for their additional expenses while working away from home. They help to offset the costs associated with living in a different city temporarily and enable actors to focus on their work without worrying about financial burdens. Per industry standards, local hire actors do not receive “per-diems.”

Blacklisted

When you are willing to work as a local hire, it is important to clarify to casting that you are not a “true” local hire actor – you are just willing to cover your own costs and show up on time for the dates scheduled.

When casting knows you will be traveling and covering the costs, they can have clear conversations with you when changes happen. The communication about updates is certainly different with a “true” local hire actor and one who is willing to cover their costs for the opportunity.

A severe consequence of being a no-show when you realize the prohibitive costs to show up on set is being blacklisted by the casting director who now needs to re-cast the role in the next minute.

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Conclusion

Actors may underestimate the logistical complexities and costs of traveling for work, including:

• transportation,
• accommodation, and
• living expenses.

While the idea of pretending to be able to work as a local hire may be tempting, actors must approach such opportunities with a realistic understanding of the challenges involved, prioritizing professionalism, honesty, and integrity when dealing with casting directors and productions.

On the industry side, productions must be realistic about their budgets, and prioritize:

• offering actors fair compensation;
• accommodate fitting schedules when possible;
• opening their casting needs to non-local actors, negotiating with them on a case-by-case basis.

The more opportunities for consideration actors have, the less they will feel the need to lie about their local hire status. The benefits of that transparency to the industry go from finding the best possible talent to not having to manage last-minute recasting because your “local hire actor” missed their flight.

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