Bypass New York and L.A. and Start Your Career in the Twin Cities!
By Wyatt Elling
Not everyone knows it, but the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are two of the most actor friendly in the nation. Working actors in the Twin Cities enjoy a higher quality of life than actors in coastal markets, and Twin City dwellers buy the most theater tickets per capita of any city in the United States outside of New York.
The Twin Cities boast having one of, if not the most, famous theater in the United States. The Tyrone Guthrie Theatre has one of the most respected track records in the country and has launched many famous actors and plays. And with a theatre of that quality in town, many other successful stages have set up shop in the Twin Cities as well, such as the Ordway Center and the famous St. Paul Children's Theatre.
There is also a large constellation of mid-sized and small professional theaters, many of which execute ethnically diverse and experimental productions. Top playwrights from around the country spend time in the Twin Cities writing and workshopping new material. Add to that an influx of graduates from the robust theater program at the University of Minnesota and you'll find a fresh and intellectually stimulating theater scene.
Most of the major theaters in the Twin Cities run on Equity contracts, though the smaller and mid-sized theaters routinely hire a mix of union and non-union actors. Talent agents actively pursue new talent, and will attend as many as three performances a week in a variety of venues to find fresh faces. Getting an agent in the Twin Cities is easier than in other regional markets, and as a rule agents will send out videotapes of their clients to Los Angeles for pilot season.
Strangely, for an urban area that rivals Chicago for the best Mid-Western theater scene, there is no central casting in the Twin Cities, and talent and casting agents have little to do with it. Instead casting is done on a theater-to-theater and director-to-director basis. Sometimes theaters have organized open auditions, and sometimes they haphazardly pick up actors wherever they find them. It's common for stage directors to cultivate a group of actors and use them frequently, creating productions with them in mind. Casting arrangements in the Twin Cities can be more like movie casting than stage casting.
So what are agents good for in the Twin Cities? If you want to get cast in a commercial, movie, industrial, or voice-over job in Minneapolis or St. Paul you'll need an agent. Luckily there is a large variety of paid work for actors and models, as there are many advertisement agencies in the area. Commercial models will also find a steady flow of print ad work. Industrial film output is also high, as there are many production facilities. The Twin Cities also act as a radio production hub for the Mid-West, and many voice-overs, radio commercials, and even acting roles are available. Garrison Keiller has produced his popular A Prarie Home Companion radio show in the Twin Cities for many years, and relies heavily on local talent.
But what about honest-to-goodness screen work? Aside from getting scouted to go to LA or New York, don't expect to work on a television in the Twin Cities. The only on-going TV series ever produced there was The Mary Tyler Moore show years ago. The news is much better on the feature film front. The Minnesota Film Board is one of the most tenacious and best organized in the country, and they're always actively courting productions to the Twin Cities area. A wide variety of movies have been filmed there over the years, like Escape From New York, Hoop Dreams, National Lampoon's Vacation, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and Fargo. The Road, a post-apocalyptic thriller starring Viggo Morteson, is filming there as of this writing. As in several cities in the Mid-West, Independent film production is ramping up due to the many actors living in the area, easily accessible environment types, and the comparatively low cost of filming there.
If you love the friendly, laid-back nature of the Mid-West, and want to live in a thriving actor-friendly city, forget about Chicago and move to the Twin Cities!
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