Television Serials as Career Stepping Stones : An Empirical Analysis of Employment Paths of Professional Actors
- Guided by cultural labor economics, the paper analyzes the career paths of former actors from popular television soap operas, and addresses in particular, if and under which conditions such serial engagements may function as a stepping stone for a subsequent professional acting career. A novel database of 396 German artists with detailed and long-term biographical information is used for the quantitative empirical analyses. The results indicate that soaps, contrary to popular opinion, function as a stepping stone, especially for younger actors. However, soap engagements should be rather short but long enough to allow artists to play multiple roles in other shows or films besides being in the cast of a soap. While formal acting education does not influence soap actors’ future filmographies, there is evidence that it helps artists to find jobs in arts-related occupations such as voice acting. Finally, publicity and media presence foster a later acting career. Practical implications for artists and their managers are outlined, along with a discussion on the meaning of serials for the creation and commercialization of stars.
Author: | Kay Hendrik HofmannORCiD |
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Title (English): | Television Serials as Career Stepping Stones : An Empirical Analysis of Employment Paths of Professional Actors |
URN: | urn:nbn:de:bsz:959-opus-29037 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s41471-021-00119-3 |
ISSN: | 2366-6153 |
Parent Title (English): | Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Year of Completion: | 2021 |
Release Date: | 2022/02/09 |
Tag: | Actor career; Contingent work; Cultural labor markets; Soap opera; Television series |
Volume: | 73 |
Issue: | 3/4 |
First Page: | 501 |
Last Page: | 525 |
Faculties: | Fakultät WiSo |
DDC classes: | 700 Künste und Unterhaltung / 791 Öffentliche Darbietungen, Film, Rundfunk |
Review Status: | Peer Reviewed |
Licence (German): | Creative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |