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\n\tKirk Acevedo<\/a>, a working actor who has appeared in series for Marvel<\/a> (\u201cAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.\u201d) and DC<\/a> (\u201cArrow\u201d) and in movies such as \u201cDawn of the Planet of the Apes\u201d and \u201cInsidious: The Last Key,\u201d gave a stark breakdown of the difficulty of being a middle-class actor since the pandemic.<\/p>\n \n\tAcevedo appeared on the March 23 episode of Ryan M. Perez\u2019s podcast \u201cAn Actor Despairs\u201d and spoke about how Hollywood\u2019s \u201cmiddle class\u201d has been \u201csqueezed out.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201c2021 comes, and I\u2019m up for some TV shows; it just goes one way, this way, and that would have saved me. That would\u2019ve saved me. That doesn\u2019t work, and I keep coming in second place, and the reality is second place, you\u2019re the first one to lose.\u201d he said. \u201cSo, I went from working non-stop, to now I got to sell my house. I got to sell my house, and everyone\u2019s going through this. I have so many friends, people you know, actors you know, that had to sell their houses.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAcevedo said that fewer overall roles are becoming increasingly competitive as different levels of actors head to television and other projects.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIn TV now, all the movie stars \u2014 since there\u2019s no more films, not the way it used to be \u2014 they\u2019re all in TV. Every Oscar winner is doing some eight- to 10- to 13-episode show multiple times,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m competing with Oscar winners. It\u2019s like, \u2018OK, should we pay Kirk his quote, or this guy that was nominated for an Oscar seven, eight, 10 years ago?\u2019 See the problem?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAcevedo also broke down how recurring television roles that might seem to pay well can\u2019t cover many lifestyles once expenses are removed.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cLet\u2019s say you do 10 guest spots,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s $100,000, right? You have an agent and manager. So, we take 20% out. That\u2019s $80,000. We got taxes, too \u2026 $45,000. Let\u2019s say your rent is \u2026 let\u2019s go on the low side, we won\u2019t even go on the high side, say $3,000. That\u2019s pretty low. That\u2019s $36,000. Can you survive off of 10 episodes? You could if you\u2019re just starting out.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWatch the full podcast below.<\/p>\n \n