No film or TV gigs? Financial experts suggest ways to cope

For many film and TV industry professionals, it’s getting increasingly hard to wait for the production rebound that was widely expected after the strikes by writers and actors ended.

Cyd Wilson, executive director of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, said the foundation’s emergency fund was getting 100 applications for assistance per day at the height of the strike; it’s down to about 10 a day now. But the problems have spread, from members with limited incomes from acting to the profession’s working class, she said.

“We are now seeing people who have earned $100,000, $200,000 a year” applying for help, Wilson said. “Those people have gone through all of their savings, they’ve tapped into their 401(k)s.”

Financial experts say that the best way to weather times like these is to have crafted a budget that helped you save while work was plentiful. But it’s not too late to make some money moves, budget or no budget, that can help keep you going until production returns to normal.

Here are some of the top suggestions for stretching dollars and ginning up extra income.

Know where your money is going

Justin Pritchard, a certified financial planner in Montrose, Colo., said the first thing to do is to understand exactly what you’re spending your money on every month. “You may see some light bulbs go on or be surprised at where the money is going,” he said.

“One of the most common mistakes,” said Paco de Leon, a personal finance expert, author and host of the “Weird Finance” podcast, “is just not having any oversight over your finances and hoping it will all work out.”

Most people have two big-ticket items — housing and transportation — and the choices made there are the ones that really move the needle, said Neela Hummel, a certified financial planner in Santa Monica. Can you share your apartment or home to split the costs? Downgrade from a new Audi to a used Kia to slash your monthly payment?

In either case, Hummel said, the question is whether you’re enjoying the home or car enough to justify all the other things you’d have to give up to keep it.

Food is a third major expense. Joanne Danganan, a Los Angeles-based financial counselor and coach, said she tells her clients that the first thing to look at is how much they’re spending on dining out. If you don’t have the bandwidth to grocery shop and cook, she said, a good middle ground is to sign up for a service that supplies prepared meal kits.

Make a plan (and get help doing it)

As important as it is to understand your current spending habits, you also need to come up with a plan for narrowing the gap between your total spending and your sluggish current income. De Leon said the key is “making a little bit of progress every week.”

Hummel said it helps to get expert advice as soon as your finances are rocked by a big event (such as a strike). “We spend a lot of time undoing things that we wish we could have gotten to before those decisions were made,” she said.

In addition to professionals who charge for their services, film and TV professionals have access to several free sources of advice on budgeting and finances. A good place to start is the Entertainment Community Fund, formerly known as the Actors Fund, which offers a multipart financial wellness program, as well as workshops on financial guidance, career-related concerns and housing issues, among many other topics.

All of the sessions are virtual at the moment, and open to anyone who identifies as part of the creative community.

“One of the strengths of our organization is that we provide wrap-around services,” said Tina Hookom, the fund’s director of social services. People who come in for help with one issue — they need affordable housing, for example — will be connected to a full range of resources.

The Times also offers a free newsletter series on budgeting and personal finances called “Totally Worth It,” which you can sign up for below.

Look for new sources of income

“I have advice that nobody wants to hear, which is, do whatever you can to bring cash to your household,” de Leon said. That applies whether you think the current troubles are just a blip or a foretaste of the job losses that technological changes are bringing to the industry, she said.

She suggested starting your search for more work by tapping the network of contacts you’ve made. Focus on people beyond your immediate circle of friends, she said, because most opportunities often come from contacts a few degrees removed from you.

Danganan suggested becoming a coach or tutor online, offering to teach what you learned working in the film and TV business to students within the industry — and outside it. “There are plenty of industry folks who have transferable skills,” she said.

For example, Hummel said, a manager of production facilities could work as an event planner; or a TV writer could edit copy. To figure out where you might apply your skills, she said, think not about your job title, but about what you actually do.

Temp agencies are good sources of short-term gigs and of ideas for how to put Hollywood know-how to work in other industries.

Hookom said just because you may need to look outside the industry for more income, that doesn’t mean giving up on a career in entertainment. She urged struggling workers to sign up for workshops at the Entertainment Community Fund’s career center, which are designed to get people to think strategically about their situations.

The center can connect you to resources for freelancers, entrepreneurial opportunities and meaningful work that’s not far removed from what you’re doing now, she said. If necessary, it can also help prepare you for a transition out of the entertainment business.

Negotiate your bills and interest rates

Lately, Hookom said, the Entertainment Community Fund has been seeing industry professionals dealing with a lot of debt. One of its financial wellness workshops deals specifically with how to manage debt, including negotiating with creditors for more favorable payment terms.

Credit card companies can be talked into lowering the interest rates they charge on unpaid balances. You may also be able to move the due date for your next payment back, either on the company’s website or by phone.

Medical debt is often negotiable too. Like gas stations, healthcare providers will often offer a lower price to people paying cash, so if you’re uninsured or underinsured, that’s an option worth exploring. Many providers will agree to a payment plan as well. Before you start paying any large bills, though, make sure to get an itemized list of the charges so you can make sure it’s accurate.

Another option for hospital debt, according to NPR’s Life Kit team: seeing if you qualify for the institution’s charitable care program. Federal tax law requires nonprofit hospitals to offer free or discounted care to lower-income patients, so it’s worth exploring. The website for Dollar For, an advocacy group for patients, offers help in determining whether you’re eligible.

Also, how old is your debt? In California, the statute of limitations for suing to collect a debt is four years in most cases. If it’s been more than four years since your last payment on the amount you owe, you can’t be sued for the balance, although debt collectors can still ask you to pay it anyway.

Don’t dig a deeper hole

If you are carrying a balance on multiple credit cards and have other bills that are generating interest charges, one possible action is a loan to consolidate all those debts into one monthly bill. The potential benefit here is that you might be able to find a loan with a lower interest rate than your credit card charges; according to Bankrate.com, the average interest rate for a personal loan was 12.22%.

The downside, though, is that clearing your credit card debt could backfire if you kept spending more on those cards than you could afford to pay off each month. These consolidation loans also may have high or hidden fees; for a good guide to how the loans work and what to consider, see these explainers from Credit Karma and NerdWallet.

A second possibility is transferring debts on old credit cards to a new one with a low introductory interest rate. Plenty of banks are offering 0% interest on transferred balances for up to 18 months; you could save hundreds to thousands of dollars in interest charges if you’re able to pay off your balance during that period, even after factoring the transfer fee.

If you’re burdened by federal student loan debt, consider a new income-based repayment method from the U.S. Department of Education called the Saving on a Valuable Education Plan that has several advantages over its predecessors. The monthly payments are lower, and borrowers who make their full income-based payments will have any excess interest charges waived. Under previous plans, if your income is so low that your monthly payment doesn’t even cover the interest charges on your loan, the unpaid interest is added to the amount you owed.

Times staff writer Jessica Roy contributed to this report.