“Acting” and “work from home” might seem like they do not belong in the same sentence. That would be the case 50 years ago, but today’s technology offers actors their share of work-from-home opportunities. Most of the jobs, if not all, do require that actors have a studio at home.
1. Voice Acting
Voice actors participate in a variety of projects including commercials, lessons (teaching), dubbing, corporate voicemails, podcast intros, whiteboard narration, and much more. Each of the categories branches out into numerous subcategories.
For example, many voice acting agencies offer political commercial voice over casting. Political commercials need all kinds of voices, whether they are male, female, gender-neutral, African-American, Baby Boomer, or a specific dialect. Political commercial voice ads appear on mediums such as TV, radio, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and individual websites.
2. Audiobook Narration
Audiobooks are extremely popular in the United States. In 2020, sales revenue reached $1.3 billion, giving more momentum to a trend that began in 2018. Here are some other stats.
- A whopping 20 percent of consumers listened to an audiobook in the past year.
- Most consumers (57 percent) listened on a smartphone. Fifty percent of consumers listened on a desktop, laptop, computer, or tablet.
- Sixty-one percent of consumers listened mainly to be entertained.
All in all, consumers are hungry for audiobooks, and there are many genres for actors to choose from.
3. YouTube or Social Media Entertainer
YouTube and social media acting can mean big bucks. MrBeast and his stunts pulled in $54 million in 2021 on YouTube, and YouTubers as a group made about $300 million in 2021. True, you probably won’t become a top earner, at least not right away, but working on social media channels truly holds the possibility of a good, liveable income.
As long as you have the drive and a decent idea, you could go anywhere. All types of social media channels are waiting. Here is a sampling of ideas for your show or content (there are a lot more ideas out there).
- Cute animal videos
- Challenge videos
- Sketch comedy
- Satire and parody
- Mashups
- Unboxing
- Singing or lip syncing
- DIY
- Cooking
- Gaming videos (speed run, live streams, etc.)
- Magic videos
- Prank videos
- Music videos
- Educational content (acting lessons, voice lessons, etc.)
- Reviews (movie, product, game, book, etc.)
- Explainers
- Tutorials
- Interviews
4. Podcasting
Podcasting is another good avenue for actors to explore. You can host a podcast on virtually any topic. Choose from bite-sized podcasts (10 to 20 minutes long), medium-length (30 to 45 minutes), or long (one hour or more).
5. Teacher or Tutor
Spread your acting knowledge! Teach classes, tutor small groups of students or one-on-one, or make educational videos on acting for social media channels.
6. Consultant
Depending on your experience and expertise, consulting could be a great work-at-home job for you. For instance, you could help a politician or company decide how to produce a series of commercials or episodes. Suppose you’re doing political consulting. You could weigh in on issues such as the following.
- Types of commercials to air
- Goal of the commercials
- Audience for the commercials
- Times they should air
- Platforms they should air on
- What types of talent to use
- Recruiting the talent
- Measuring the effectiveness of the commercials
You acting in the commercials could be a possibility too, of course. Another consulting avenue to look into is helping actors find their path or niche. New actors could receive guidance from you.
Consider carving out a consulting niche, say, working mostly or solely with animal actors, voiceover actors, child actors and their families, politicians, or new actors. On occasion, niches can narrow the opportunities available to you. Just as often, though, (or more often!) they broaden your opportunities because you are specific and transparent about who exactly you can produce results for.
On your website, explain the niches you work in and your background and expertise. Share the successes you have achieved for your clients (with their permission, of course). Client testimonials can be hugely helpful, too. Take a look at Bureau of Labor Statistics data for more ideas and insight into the different industries for actors.
If you have worked as a model or musician, you could do similar work for models or musicians. The same idea applies if you work in any other acting-adjacent professions such as makeup, singing, scriptwriting, dancing, announcing, agenting, producing, directing, photographing, visual technology, or communications.
7. Fundraiser
As an actor, you may have connections or special access that average people do not get. Perhaps you’re able to get a bunch of autographs from top-tier celebrities who are happy to support a tremendous cause. Or you could lend your acting chops to various fundraising causes. Charities, organizations, and businesses are always looking for knowledgeable folks to help them fundraise, and you could be just the person for them.
Actors have many opportunities these days, partly thanks to the rise of social media content and the popularity of remote work. If you’re an actor, you can work from practically anywhere in the world, including right from home.
