Interested in becoming a stuntman?
The typical movie watcher thinks of stuntmen as daredevils with dream jobs. If you’re interested in pursuing a career in the stunt industry, you should know it is not for daredevils—it’s for performers. Becoming a stuntman takes a great deal of hard work, training, and connections. It is recommended you become an actor who can perform stunts rather than a standalone stuntman. Before pursuing such a job, you should know that the hours are long, the pay is unstable, and the safety is limited. Work days commonly last up to 14 hours due to the need for impeccable planning, detailed setups, and careful filming. Moreover these 14 hours are often spent in less than optimal conditions—an icy mountain, a hot desert, submerged in water, or surrounded by fire. As far as location goes, stuntmen go where the movies go: everywhere. The pay depends on a stuntman’s experience and the specific stunt they perform with the top tier stuntmen making six figure annual incomes and the lower making anywhere from $5,000-$70,000.
As for actually becoming a stuntman, the road is long and bumpy. You’ll want to be trained in gymnastics and martial arts (fight training is a necessity because it’s easier to hire a practiced stuntman fighter than train an actor for a fight scene), have experience with high speed driving, extreme sports, and falling and fire techniques. There are stuntman schools located across the country where you can learn the tricks of the industry from stunt pros. The United Stuntmen Association offers an International Stunt School with high credence that will help get noticed and book a gig.
Unfortunately for stuntmen, computer generated imaging technology today replaces many of the traditional scenes where stuntmen used to be used. While this serves as a minor setback in the stuntman industry, there are still plenty of stunts that require stuntmen. If you’re still interested in becoming a stuntman despite the dangers and negative aspects of the job, you should look into moving to Vancouver where the largest stunt industry is now based.