Nah, unless they're big roles then you're definitely still grinding at that stage, like constantly looking for your next gig to make ends meet.
If you get an actual cast role of any sort, even if it's a janitor or some shyt who just has one line, you make like $1000 for the day's work. But you can make more if your role is big enough to carry a scene, and you get paid by the day so if you're lucky then you might get 2 or even 3 days pay depending on how long it takes to film your parts. And if you land a big role for the episode that has that "Special Guest Star" billing that you see at the beginning of the show, where you're a focal point from beginning to end, you can make like $7-10,000 for that one episode.
But my friend has only had a couple of those guest-star appearances that I remember. So most of the time it's a grind - you make $10,000 for a few day's work and then spend the next few months trying to land your next roles while you might just be getting $2-3,000 once every couple months for those little roles in-between. Sometimes he gets roles where they'll use him for 2-3-4 episodes though, and that's much nicer cause that's consistent work. But really, if you ain't in films regularly or have an actual recurring role for the whole season, then you probably need to have other income streams.
I'd actually have to talk to him to see how he's doing now, cause he's getting a lot more roles than the last time we hung out. I used to be best friends with his brother but I haven't seen his brother in a couple years and I haven't run into him in even longer than that. Back in the day when we first met (2002) his brother and I were always constantly rooting for the next gig and it felt like he was still "trying to make it". Now that he's had work pretty constantly for years now I'm sure he's doing better but I doubt it's at the point where he ain't still doing other shyt on the side. I'll have to send out a line and see what he says, you're making me nostalgic for the homie and it's been too long.
