bills, bills, bills #6
A look into the life and wallet of an American actor living in London
Editor’s Note: For this installment of Bills, Bills, Bills, we are featuring our first actor and going international! The trials and tribulations of an acting career are well-known, but the new-ish world of remote work is providing flexible job opportunities for actors between gigs. And while this diary features a hefty charge from the NHS, it’s still a sobering contrast to the many scams of American healthcare and the stranglehold our broken system has on our lives on this side of the Atlantic. Would single-payer healthcare absolutely revolutionize arts careers in the United States? You betcha. Consider this your official Bills, Bills, Bills reminder to get out and vote next week!
This month’s diarist requested that their honorarium be donated to the National Network of Abortion Funds.
Currency Note: Unless otherwise noted, all the amounts listed are in US dollars.
Age: 30
Location: London
Job: I am an actor, which of course means a freelance life. I lived in New York for six years working at my day jobs (tutoring, New York tour guide, briefly the world’s worst server). When I met my partner, who is Australian, we figured out that New York was not going to be a viable living situation for us as a pair, so we started considering our options. London seemed like a good compromise, so I auditioned for graduate school and got into one of the top drama schools here in the UK. I was on a scholarship for undergrad and my parents helped me with living expenses during that time, so I was incredibly lucky to graduate without debt and worked to build up my savings in my years in New York.
I attended graduate school in the UK from October 2019 through October 2020 (I cannot recommend attending a large portion of acting school on Zoom) but was able to work my remote job throughout this time as well. While I am incredibly privileged to be in a position where I can do that, tuition is obviously not cheap. As an international student, my tuition was triple what UK students pay — and yet my program as an international student in the UK costs half of what a grad program of equal caliber in the US costs.
When I graduated, I secured a start-up visa to run my own tutoring business, which gives me a ton of freedom and flexibility with my schedule and earning potential. This has been vital because earning actual livable money as an actor is incredibly hard, especially post-pandemic. I am between acting jobs at the moment, so my side business represents most of my income right now.
Annual Income: In the last four years my income has fluctuated with a roughly $20,000 margin, with my lowest earning year being $39,000 and my highest being $60,000. We’ve also had the pandemic and I was in school for one of those years, so the last few years have been less lucrative than previous ones. This year I am on track to make $35,000 as I’ve had no acting jobs and all my income has come from my side gig. It’s been an uphill climb starting over in a new city, and while I know that I am doing a lot to become familiar with how the industry works in the UK and auditioning/meeting lots of new casting folks, I understand that it takes time and a hell of a lot of investment (time, effort, and money-wise).
Debt: $0. I am very lucky to be without debt due to working through grad school and being on scholarship during undergrad.
Savings: $29,535
Checking: $28,687
Monthly Bills:
Rent: $1,300 (I share a 2 bed/2 bath flat with my partner, we both work from home so can write off a portion of rent as home office)
Utilities: $140
Gym: $40
Phone: $26
Amazon Prime: $9
Apple: $29.97
Scribd: $12
NowTV (where to get HBO shows in the UK): $11.58
Sunday
I had a monster day of online work. I mostly work weekends and evenings around 7-midnight during the week with the time difference since most of my students are back in the US. I went grocery shopping for my partner and I, grabbing just a few essentials ($18.91). I tried to do some work editing some stage combat footage from when I got my certification back in July, but even with noise-canceling headphones, the construction that will be happening on our building for the next year was breaking through (tons of UK flats are having the cladding redone after the terrible Grenfell Tower fire) so I went to a cafe to get some work done before tutoring. I bought a coffee and salad there ($9.66). I bought myself two new bras for the first time in literally five years (I know) ($83.77) and then headed home to tutor straight through from 1pm to 12:30am. I’m stretching it a bit later when I feel I can to make up for some slow periods I’ve had this year. I am so grateful to be able to do this job because of the flexibility of it and the ability to make a relatively high hourly rate. My partner snuck food in to me that we’d cooked at home while I taught.
Total Spent: $112.34
Monday
I went for a run, had breakfast at home, taught an afternoon lesson, then helped a pal rehearse over Zoom for a tape they’re doing. My partner and I then got tickets to see Nope at a local movie theatre (cinema prices are INSANE here but what usually costs £25 a ticket is £10 on Mondays, so we try to go on Mondays when we can) ($11.62). It’s one of those fancy cinemas that has food you can order in the theatre, so I get dinner there ($23.18). After the movie, I taught 8:30pm-12:30am.
Total Spent: $34.80
Tuesday
My agent has asked me to put together a musical theatre reel to try to increase how many MT auditions I’m getting called in for. Lucky for me I have a friend with a nice condenser mic so I recorded everything at her flat for free. I ate breakfast/lunch at home, then took the Tube to her place ($3). We recorded for 4 hours or so and then I dashed off on the Tube ($3) to meet up with my partner and two friends to see a show at The National. We bought tickets at a friends and family discount rate since my friend knows someone in the show ($34.85). We get dinner on the Southbank from a food truck before the show and I order a glass of wine because this MT reel has been a bit of a slog to get through ($26.32). We take the bus home after the show ($1.65).
Total Spent: $68.82
Wednesday
I eat a banana at home from my grocery run earlier in the week and then go to a fitness class off ClassPass. I shower quickly at home and bolt down some more food I cooked before hopping on the Tube ($3) to my alma mater to see a friend I know from undergrad who happens to be at the same grad program I did now in her final show. She gave me her comp ticket, so the show was free. I bought her flowers ($17.42) on the way to the show and check my email as I’m going into the station.
I am in the middle of a very bureaucratic process of trying to switch onto an artist visa to stay in the UK since my current start-up visa is up at the end of November and there’s no feasible route to extend it. I opened my email and was delighted to see that the Arts Council has endorsed my application, so now I can move onto stage 2 and file the actual visa application.
I buy a sweatshirt from my alma mater ($22.64) and come back home after the show ($3) and my partner and I book a weekend away in Stratford to see some RSC shows. We buy tickets to two shows and round-trip train fare ($151.80), but have not yet booked a place to stay overnight. I teach from 8:30pm-12am.
Total Spent: $197.86
Thursday
I file my visa application today! It is expensive. But first, coffee ($3.35). We do some grocery shopping ($33.49) and also grab some stuff we need around the house ($18.66). I did not use a lawyer in order to keep down costs and I was pretty sure I could figure it out on my own. Still, it’s a hefty up-front price. I already paid more than $500 a couple weeks ago to begin the endorsement process with the Arts Council, which is basically them assessing if your career as an artist merits obtaining an artist visa to be in the UK. Today, I pay the visa fee to actually apply since I now have the endorsement ($192.77).
The real hit comes when I have to pay what’s called the Immigration Health Surcharge. The NHS is amazing for so many reasons and it winds up being cheaper than what I’d most likely pay for healthcare in the States, but it does mean I have to pay for my access to health services for each year of my visa, which is five years. So I have an Immigration Health Surcharge bill of a whopping $3,601.42. My credit card whimpers. I proceed to what I pray is the last step of the process where I must sign up for my biometrics appointment and am aghast to see that these appointments are charged. I look for the cheapest I can find, searching at clinics that are 20 miles outside London, and the very cheapest appointment to get my fingerprints stamped sets me back $152.37 (I saw some appointments going for £285, outrageous).
In a daze, I drag myself to the Overground ($2.60) to train out to West London where a friend has just started a yearlong tour of a show. This is the closest location he’ll be to London, so some pals and I go together on friends-and-family tickets rate ($29.04). On the way I grab a sandwich ($5.77) and I buy myself and a friend a drink at the theatre ($13.62). I take the Overground back home after the show ($2.60) and don’t teach tonight since it’s too late.
Total Spent: $4,055.69
Friday
While on the train to the show yesterday, I get the news notification that the Queen has died. Living as a foreigner in the UK has been really eye-opening in a myriad of ways about both the US and the UK. This is its own essay, but suffice it to say that in the UK there is both great great ire at the monarchy and colonialism and also great respect for the Queen, her 70 years of service, and the work she did as a woman of her time bringing the monarchy into a new century. I am in no way a royalist, but wanted to witness this undeniable turning point in history for the UK, the likes of which we won’t see again, so I walk across London to Buckingham Palace, stopping for a smoothie to share with my partner on the way ($5.78) after a morning of emailing work. We bought another snack ($6.59) and then grabbed the Tube home ($2.91). I tutored 8:30pm-12am and my partner brought dinner in to me that he’d cooked from our groceries.
Total Spent: $15.28
Saturday
We wake up and walk to the craft fair at Spitalfields Market, grabbing a coffee on the way ($4.02). We look around the market but don’t buy anything, but I take a business card from a woman who crafts hand-stitched embroidery hoops with pop culture references for my friend’s birthday gift next month. We stop by the most amazing dumpling stand and share six between us ($8.16) and a bagel on the walk home ($2.33) for a weird brunch. (The bagels in London are a travesty but this place comes as close as I’ve found to the real thing.)
When I get home, we order some more laundry detergent and valerian root extract to help with sleep ($14.82) and buy two tickets to see a West End show off TodayTix for when a friend is in town next month; she Venmos me for her ticket ($57.67). We do another grocery shop ($23.64) and buy a baby book for my partner’s incoming nephew, who is due in two weeks ($11.64). I teach from 3pm-11pm, sneaking in helping a friend with a self-tape during my hour break.
Total Spent: $122.28
Total Weekly Spending: $4,607.07 Because of paying for my visa, this weekly spending is close to $4,000 higher than what is typical for me.
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This American-Abroad POV is SUCH good info! That NHS bill is wild but even more wild is not having to weigh your health needs against being able to afford it. Would love to hear from American theater makers in Canada!