Put on your galoshes, because Seattle just might be the city where you start your career! Though it's best known for rain, coffee, and grunge music, Seattle is a fortress of the arts in the Pacific Northwest. The long rainy season has bred an intellectual culture that appreciates its artists and supports a live theater scene that rivals Chicago and San Diego.

Many TV shows have been filmed in Seattle, either using the city itself or using its proximity to rural forest areas to recreate small towns and "the woods." Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure, The Commish, The Fugitive TV series, and parts of Frasier were all filmed in Seattle. TV production has since fallen off, however, after Seattle was hit hard by the dot-com burst and lay-offs at Boeing. Vancouver in Canada also started luring productions away with low production costs and government incentives.

Seattle still has full production capabilities, pre, post, and everything in between, and they've been put to different uses. Although more movies are now filming in Vancouver, Seattle has enjoyed an upswing in recent years. This is partly due to new state incentives, and a large population shift from California to the Pacific Northwest. Movies like Into the Wild, The Last Mimzy, Firewall, Rambo, The Ring, The Hunted, and Elephant were all filmed in and around Seattle, and hired many local actors.

Seattle is also renowned for its output of short films, many of which have won awards at film festivals. The majority of screen acting roles available in the city come from short and independent films, which cast year round. Given Seattle's large college population there are also many acting opportunities available in student films. Most roles in short, independent, or student film won't pay anything, but can be a great way to network, build up experience and a reel, and gain exposure from festival screenings.

Most actors living in Seattle pay their bills by acting in industrial films. Many large tech firms are based out of Washington, the biggest of which being Microsoft. Microsoft hires actors year-round to perform in industrial films and record instructional voice-overs. Adobe is also based out of Washington, and also has a high demand for actors for industrials. Many smaller firms do similar casting. And in recent years, as video games have become more advanced, more Seattle actors are finding regular work recording voices for video games. Microsoft Game Studios, Nintendo, Bungie, Sierra, and several other notable video game studios are based out of the area, and require voice actors.

Most actors move to Seattle for its vibrant theater scene. There are over a dozen professional theaters operating under Equity contracts. Several venues, like Seattle Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, Intiman Theatre, the 5th Ave. Theatre Association, and Seattle's Children's Theatre are famous across the country. The bigger troupes and stages operating out of Seattle are in the same ballpark as the best theaters in the country. Broadway shows will often open in previews in Seattle to workshop them as much as possible before moving to Broadway. There are also two smaller, more experimental theaters that use Equity contracts: The Empty Space and the Taproot Theatre. This is in addition to the dozens of non-professional groups and student theaters.

Most big theaters in Seattle cast actors seasonally, or during one of the several open calls they have each year. There is also a thriving theater group that unites most of the acting groups in Seattle called Theatre of Puget Sound. TPS has general auditions twice a year, where casting directors from all the major theaters come to watch and potentially cast fresh talent. A membership to TPS costs $50 and comes with online casting, resume, and headshot services.

AFTRA and SAG share a regional office in Seattle and provide support services to union members. In Seattle, actors can only sign with one agency, so the union offices can be very helpful for figuring out which agent to sign with. AFTRA also handles most of the advertisement acting that happens in Seattle, which is another major source of steady work for both stage and screen actors.

If you don't mind a little rain and love the outdoors move to the cultural capitol of the Pacific Northwest to start your acting career!

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