At some point, almost every ambitious actor in a smaller market hears the same advice:
“If you’re serious, you need to leave. Go to Vancouver. Go to Toronto. Go to LA. Go somewhere the “real” industry is happening.” I don’t buy it.
Bigger markets absolutely have more productions, more casting offices, more agencies and more auditions. But somewhere along the way, we started confusing the existence of more opportunities with better opportunities for the individual actor. Those aren’t the same thing.
If you’re building a career in Saskatchewan right now, being in a smaller market might not be the disadvantage you’ve been told it is. News flash: it’s probably leverage you didn’t know you had.
Oh—and in case you don’t know me. I’m Style Dayne. I’m a Saskatchewan actor, producer and acting coach. I’ve spent a big chunk of my career working and training in Vancouver and LA, with credits including Deadpool, A Million Little Things, Motive and Words and Pictures, and a handful of MOW’s. Today, I’m an emerging producer with my production company and run The Studio, a space for film/TV actors to build their careers in an industry that’s changing pretty damn quickly. So I’ve seen both sides of this and have those hard conversations a lot. There are three (well there’s way more than three, but I’ll start with three…) things I wish more actors understood.
1. More Work. Way More Competition.
Yes, Vancouver and Toronto have more productions. They also have way more actors competing for them. In a major market, you can quickly become another face in a very large crowd. Another submission in a sea of a thousands. Another tape in a folder of hundreds. Another actor who fits roughly the same breakdown as hundreds of other people: 5’10″, plays 35–45 and can believably say, “Detective, you need to see this.”
In a smaller market, you have an opportunity to become known for what specifically makes you valuable: casting knows you, producers remember you, directors see your work and your reputation starts preceding you.
And the work is here. Actors I get to work with in the studio logged more than 725 hours on Saskatchewan sets this summer alone. That’s 725+ hours of local actors working, learning, building credits and getting better at their craft where it matters: on set.
And a very important thank you to Saskatchewan’s filmmakers, producers, directors, casting teams and crews who keep creating those opportunities and trusting local actors with the work. A thriving acting community only exists because people are making things for them to act in.
So that matters. An actor’s goal shouldn’t simply be to live somewhere with more auditions. The goal is to become an actor people want to audition.
2. Access Is Currency.
Actors can spend years trying to get five minutes in front of the right people. In a major market, thousands of people are competing for the attention of agents, casting directors, directors and producers. Those relationships can absolutely be built, but they take time. Smaller markets offer something incredibly valuable. Access.
You can actually meet the people making the work.
You see them at screenings, festivals, workshops and industry events. You work together. You build relationships before you need something from them. Your network isn’t just a list of people who might hire you. It’s a community of people who know your work, know how you show up and know what you bring into a room.
In a smaller industry, you have an unparalleled opportunity to build that reputation, so don’t waste it.
3. Build Before You Compete.
This might be the biggest one. You don’t have to move to a bigger market to start building a bigger career. Build your résumé here, get the footage here. Book the short. Do the commercial. Land the supporting role. Get your union credits. Build your reel. Learn how a professional set works. Create relationships with the people creating the things.
Then, if Vancouver, Toronto, LA—or anywhere else—becomes the next move, you aren’t arriving asking somebody to give you your first opportunity. You’re arriving with receipts: a good résumé, a professional demo reel. You’ve got credits, training, set experience, relationships all proof that other professionals have already trusted you to do the job.
That’s street credit, and it changes how you walk into a bigger market.
And I’m going to say the quiet part out loud: if you’re not auditioning, booking or building momentum here, Vancouver and Toronto aren’t going to magically save your career. You’re taking the same actor into a market with a lot more competition.
Start Where You Are.
I’m not telling you to never leave Saskatchewan, go everywhere and anywhere you think you will find momentum. I did, and I’m happy to be back in Sask for the previous reasons.
Train in Vancouver, take meetings in Toronto, work in LA, build relationships across the country. Get on a plane, get uncomfortable and find rooms where you’re not the best actor and learn something.
But don’t confuse leaving with progressing, and don’t spend so much time looking toward the bigger markets that you miss what’s happening right underneath your feet. There is an industry being built here, right now. That means there are relationships to foster, credits to earn, skills to sharpen, people to meet and opportunities to take before the playing field gets even bigger.
Your smaller market doesn’t have to be something you eventually escape. It can be the place you build from. Become known. Become trusted. Become undeniable at home.
Then, if you decide to step onto a bigger playing field, don’t arrive hoping someone notices you, arrive having already built something worth noticing.