Obtaining a mentor can help aspiring stunt doubles develop their skills and find roles. If you meet an experienced stunt double at your training program or gym, consider asking them for advice. You can inquire about their diet and workout regimen, or you might ask how them how they chose their specialty. When you build relationships with these professionals, they may invite you to be an apprentice or recommend you to stunt coordinators looking to fill roles.
Nonunion roles tend to pay less and be in less popular projects, but they can help you build your resume. Consider using your connections and online job boards to find stunt double roles in the film industry. You can also look for performance-based roles at theaters and amusement parks.
Once you gain more experience, consider joining the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Union membership qualifies you for union jobs, which typically pay more and are part of more popular projects. Members also receive more protection because the union implements rigorous safety policies.
This is the most in-depth article you are going to find explaining how to break into and work in the stunt industry, parkour athlete or not. At least from what I've googled.
Let's be clear about one thing: There is no half-assing your way into stunts. There is no half-committing. There is no "testing the waters." If this is what you want to do, you need to be prepared to go balls-to-the-wall and do whatever it takes to get in. This requires hard work, financial sacrifice, and patience. It seems to take an average of 2-3 years to really break into the industry and start getting consistent work according to the people I've talked to. However, once you break in, it can be one of the most rewarding careers out there(financially and otherwise).
• HEADSHOT & RESUME: Please refer to the previous article, "Documents You Need" for more detailed information regarding your headshots and resume. The types of headshots most commonly used in the stunt industry are 3/4ths Headshots and Composite Headshots. Your headshot and resume should be printed on the front and back of a single page. Semi-gloss cardstock paper is my recommendation. No multi-page headshots/resumes and no staples. Period.
• LOCATION, LOCATION: With stunts, you have to move to where the work is. There is absolutely no getting around this. You may get some lucky requests from out of town here and there but you're not going to get consistent work unless you live in one of these cities. Many productions prefer (and are even required) to hire "locals" as listed in their SAG-AFTRA union status or otherwise. If you don't have an address in their zone, you are not a "local." This isn't something that you can lie about or work your way around.
The vast majority of stunt performers that I know work in Atlanta and LA. Those are the two big ones- however, here's a site that features some more cities to consider.
Here are the essential skills to have in the stunt world. It is highly recommended that you at least be moderately proficient in ALL of the following areas:
• Pratfalls: "Pratfall" is a flexible term used to describe falling to the ground from a standing position without getting wrecked. This is not to be confused with falling techniques like Aikido Ukemi. Pratfalls are meant to look like actual, unplanned, painful falls- without actually being painful.
• High Falls: Falls from high locations (20', 30', 50' et al) to resi-mats, boxes, or airbags (not water. These are not high-dives good lord don't ever do these to water).
- Suicides: Go down feet first, fall in a chair position & land flat on your back
- Headers: Go down forwards and headfirst to rotate over your head & land flat on your back
- Backfalls: Go down backward in a flat or chair position to land flat on your back
- Face-Offs: Fall flat, face-down, and do a half-turn at the last second to land flat on your back
• Parkour: Don't be one of those losers that did a punch-kong off a springfloor in an open gym once and tells everyone they do parkour. Actually learn parkour. There are gyms and classes for that. Or watch this video to get started.
• Rigging: You should at least know the basics of rigging. "Rigging" refers to setting up the wire systems that will yank you around at their mercy. Learn the knots, the different wire setups, the basic physics of it. It is IMPERATIVE that you understand how this works in order to keep yourself safe at all times.
Here are some other very useful skills. You can often find classes and/or workshops for these, especially in big cities:
• Aikido Ukemi: Falling techniques you can resort to in actual, unplanned bails. This is meant to keep you safe and prevent injuries, not to be used for camera (unless they want that).
Accredited Stunt Academy• Fire Burns: ONLY TRY THIS WITH AN ACTUAL, LICENSED EXPERT. IT IS A RIGOROUS PROCEDURE AND YOU SHOULDN'T SKIP A SINGLE STEP.
• Wushu: Chinese Martial Arts. This encompasses various styles and sub-disciplines. Staff (Gunshu & Nangun) and Broadsword (Dadao) are very useful wushu weapons styles to learn for stuntwork.
• Stunt Driving: This can be an incredibly useful asset to have. Many productions need simple car stunts- and many others need very advanced ones. There are many stunt performers that get hired exclusively for car and motorcycle stunts.
• Tricking: If you don't know what that is, think of it as an acrobatic expansion of Tae Kwon Do
Any other miscellaneous or specific skills that you may have such as dance, baseball, scuba diving, rock climbing, et al. are all still relevant and should be present on your resume if you have the space for it.
Are you really skilled at one particular discipline? You can improve your chances of standing out and securing jobs by honing a variety of skills but having one outstanding specialty (mine being parkour, for example). As previously stated, anything that makes you unique makes you that much more valuable.
The most important skill of the ones we have discussed is honestly just taking a convincing hit and getting wrecked. Slamming onto the ground. Slamming into the wall. Slamming into a table. Barreling down some stairs. Taking a punch really well. Yeah.
The most important skill of the ones we have discussed is honestly just taking a convincing hit and getting wrecked. Slamming onto the ground. Slamming into the wall. Slamming into a table. Barreling down some stairs. Taking a punch really well. Yeah.
IMPORTANT: When sharing your skills or building your resume, don't ever exaggerate your capabilities. EVER. You 👏 will 👏 be 👏 a 👏 joke 👏and 👏 never 👏 work 👏 again
Some countries (such as the United Kingdom) have a government regulated, standardized qualification system that prerequisites working in the stunt industry. The United States has no such thing. However if you can afford it, I highly recommend investing in some stunt training.
In addition to the skill-specific classes mentioned above, a stunt education center can provide access to equipment that is widely used in stunts but extremely difficult to come by on your own; such as high falls, fire-burns, and ratchet pulls. Stunt education also gives you the opportunity to film yourself on this hard-to-find equipment, making them very useful for obtaining demo reel footage!
Lastly, you will also have the opportunity to network with your instructors. Regardless of whether they have retired or not, your instructors will most likely have active contacts and intel from the stunt community that you may be able to tap into.
Regardless of how much work you're getting, you have to keep training your skills and continually working to develop new ones. Look up stunt training facilities in your area that offer "open gym." The types of gym most widely used for stunt training are Cheer Gyms, Gymnastics Gyms, and Parkour Gyms. Don't be shy about going up to people that you see training stunts there and making connections. I will expand on networking later.
You will need to own an assortment of body pads and armor to work in stunts. The best pads for stunt protection tend to be motorcycle and motocross gear. Here is the gear that you need by relative order of importance:
Have TWO pairs: one for you and one to keep fresh and brand new to offer for the actor that you are doubling.
Ya know, because female actresses often wear slim and revealing clothing when having to do lots and lots of action. I got mine at StuntBumpers
This is a complete back armor, like a turtle shell. Think you don't need this? How many times have you seen someone get kicked or thrown onto a table and break it in a movie. Yeah, you need this.
