How the student loan crisis is affecting those looking to break into the entertainment industry
Increasing debt combined with high costs of living and stagnating wages means it's more difficult than ever for those without money or connections to break into the industry:"It has become a diversity issue and a class issue."
Kemm, 33, is a part of a growing contingent of young professionals trying to make their way in the entertainment industry while contending with six figures’ worth of debt, illuminating Hollywood’s increasingly high barrier to entry. More than one-third of the American population between ages 25 and 34 carry student loans, which in the U.S. now total $1.6 trillion. The graduating class of 2016 owed an average of $29,650, up 132 percent from the average debt of the graduates 20 years ago .
Though low wages and living on the cheap is a time-honored tradition for industry newcomers, the more than 40 recent graduates who spoke withsay their debt is holding them back from advancing like their peers without student loans. Many note the irony of the situation given Hollywood’s recent push for inclusion.
To cut costs, several of the young entertainment professionals who spoke for this story choose to work outside of New York and Los Angeles in such cities as Atlanta and Cincinnati because of the lower cost of living. Others have developed side hustles: tutoring, nannying, shooting actor headshots, bartending and driving for Uber and Lyft.
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