 Acting, like the actual career is expensive to even get to the position where you can start auditioning and booking jobs because of training and headshots and wardrobe and all of that stuff. But even after you do that, you keep spending money. This year, I paid for casting networks and I did have a discount code. So I paid $205. I also used Actors Access, which is $68 a year, plus if you want to ever add media to it, it's $22 a minute. And then I just wanted to dabble on backstage for a month. So that was $25. Because I am non-union, my agents are allowed to charge me for certain things. And one of the things that my agents in San Francisco charge me for is another casting website that's pretty private. And that was $108 late in 2023. I also signed with an agency in Arizona. And because I am non-union, they are allowed to charge me for certain things. So because of like the initiation stuff, basically website fees, they're legally allowed to have us pay. I had to pay $104 for that. And then annually, I'll have to pay $50 unless I become union, which I do plan on doing that this year. I love to go to events because I meet a lot of cool people. I sometimes get cast in projects just from mingling with people, sending them my headshots and resume and things like that. So this year, I went to the Southwest Actors Conference. And that's actually where I met my agents in Arizona. I met that team in 2022. And then again, in 2023 at the conference, I just really like them. They're like, hey, you know, do you have a rep in Arizona? Long story short, I auditioned for them. They offered me representation. And I said, yes, I love to go to events like this. I'm, I'm very much a people person. And for the Southwest Actors Conference, I did have to pay for my own food, my own hotel, I got a VIP ticket, my flight because this is in Arizona. And I live in California and also Ubers. So I spent $1,300 to go to the conference. I don't want to choose favorites. So I won't because I really enjoyed all of the different mixtures that I want to. I just want to tell you that I spent $150 to go to the Brave Maker Film Festival. And that was for a VIP ticket. And I had such a great time. And now I just want to go to like as many film festivals as I can, because I made lots of connections, I booked jobs there, I met new friends, and I just watched so many incredible films, went to workshops, learned so much for parking, I spent $42 on that. So total I spent $192, but dang, like bang for your buck, that was the bang for my buck this year. There are also other events that I go to sometimes like the Bay Area Filmmixer and the San Jose Film Collective screenings where you do have a lot of opportunity to mingle. And on that I spent $61, which was like tolls and parking and tickets. Sometimes when you do indie films with friends and you agree that you're not going to get paid, you're like, okay, fine, I won't get paid, that's okay. But you're actually spending money because you're paying for parking and tolls and gas. I did two different short films. One of them, I only had to spend about $28 for parking and tolls. And then the other one was from a filmmaker that I am a huge fan of. I was talking to him about the project at an industry event. And he mentioned that he was about to do a short film where the actors were pitching in for the makeup because it was FX makeup. And I was like, hmm, how much money? Because I was like, if it's affordable for me, then I'm down to do it. Well, I mean, my day job paid for it. But that plus the toll was $248. And I would never recommend for you to pay to be in a film unless you know the person and you're like a fan of them. And you know, they're not taking advantage of you. Like in this situation, obviously, this friend was spending a lot of their own money in order to create the short film that they've been wanting to do for a while. But in order to actually make it in a reasonable time, he was like, hmm, I wonder if the actress would be willing to do this. And let me tell you, I would not do it for everybody in this specific situation. I read the script. I know this person. I was like, you know what, I do want to do this. I do want to get paid every time I film. But sometimes in independent work, it's not possible. Since I do travel, I got a traveling tripod, which ended up being really handy. Even when I'm not traveling, I'm actually using it right now. And that was $15 printing when I get self tape auditions. And I want to print a script or when I'm in a film and I want to print a script. Usually they print it for me, but I want to have it at home to memorize and things like that. I only spent $23 on that because I usually just use my laptop and write it on something. And I try my best not to print it. But sometimes I just it's necessary. I have a lot of self tape audition stuff. Luckily, I didn't have to spend much this year because some of the stuff does get gifted to me. But I spent $120 to organize myself tape stuff this year. I used to never spend money on my hair. It wasn't until recently where I was like, okay, I need to have like a good haircut. And let me tell you, I would not spend this much money on my hair if it wasn't for needing to look the same as my headshots. And I'm actually due for haircut. I'm about to go get one. But this year, I spent $200 on just haircuts. I only really put makeup on if I'm either going out to go do something fun or to film a self tape audition at home. And because of that, I'm going to say that about half of the makeup that I own, I bought because I needed for acting. So that's $60. I do try my best to watch TV shows and films in order to do research. So I wouldn't necessarily have a lot of these streaming services if it wasn't for like, Oh, I should check that show out or I love Abba Elementary. So I'm keeping Hulu. I spent $126 this year. And how I only spent that much is that I like to cancel some get a different one. I'm like, Okay, this month, I'm going to watch stuff from Netflix or this month, I'm going to watch stuff from Hulu. Obviously, I'm an actor and I film a lot of self tape auditions and need extra room in my hard drive in order to edit. I like to use an external hard drive as well as have some storage online. So I pay $20 for online storage every year. And I had to get a new hard drive this year. That was $150 IMDB Pro because if you don't pay for IMDB, your information gets erased. And also when you get a subscription, you have just access to way more information. So I spent $150 on my IMDB. So that means I spent $3,076 on acting this year. And that doesn't even include headshots. I didn't get headshots this year. I didn't get any private coaching or go to any paid acting classes, which if you have a day job isn't too bad. When you're a non union actor, agents and managers are actually allowed to take more money from you. So because I am non union, any amount of money that I made 20% immediately goes to my agents and then of course taxes. So just keep that in mind in 2023, I did 35 auditions. And out of those I booked eight out of those eight, I had to decline one, two were for representation two are coming up, which means I only actually completed three acting jobs. I earned $1,530 from acting, but like the return on the investment this year, emotionally, definitely worth it. Fiscally, I don't think anybody would recommend for me to continue. Okay, but don't worry about me too much yet, because I just booked a commercial that's going to be way more money than what I earned all of last year. So in my heart, like, I'm like, okay, this year is going to be better because last year I basically took half of the year off. And I was just not okay. And not really in it. But now I did do lots of self tape audition practice. And I mean, now I also have reps in Arizona, and I'm still working on reps in LA. Oh my gosh, how long have I been saying that? Because I'm definitely looking for an agent in other markets, other than San Francisco, I am looking for representation here in LA. I am seeking commercial and theatrical representation LA agents, LA talent agencies. I'm logging on right now to a callback for an agency that represents in San Francisco and LA. One of these days, if you guys know somebody, let me know. If you think I'm a fancy actor, it's not too fancy. My videos genuinely, I always want to just share with you what works for me, what is right for me right now. It's always changing. Make sure that if you're using me as like a guide, that you are doing so with a little bit of caution of like, hmm, well, I don't know if that would work for me or how about I ask an acting coach or my acting teacher or my manager or agent, if you have a manager or agent girl, you should be talking to them, not me. I'm probably forgetting expenses that I had, but I will make sure to keep track of them because I am developing that same little tracker that I had before. But also, I did a cute little audition tracker. And if you want to see all of the auditions that I did in 2023, here is my 2023 audition recap. And I talk about where I got my auditions, which ones I booked, what agencies I'm with, all of that.