My personal experience as a new actor in the Los Angeles area, trying to break in to show business is a typical story at first. Joel Brooks and I teach lots of young actors just starting out, and I can’t stress enough the idea that every situation is different, and there is no right way to get your chance in Los Angeles.
I moved to Los Angeles during college to “try it out a bit” as a member of a four week summer workshop for pop singers on Catalina Island. After my workshop was over, I just stayed. I got a job as a waitress, found a cheap, shabby apartment, and signed up for film school. It began an association that lasted for nearly 25 years, and from which most of my film craft was learned. I eventually became a teacher there, then a vice president. I got my SAG card doing a commercial for people from that school, and met so many friends who were also aspiring actors and built a support system that sustained me in free meals and friendship for years to come.
Joel and I recommend those relationships and associations as show business can be a cold, cruel business, and as you and your “family” grow up in the industry, the support is invaluable. Jobs, apartments, borrowed suits and cars, meals, sympathy and all sorts of help can come from this network.