- 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).
• 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.
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.
Develop Your Career in StuntsYa 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.
You don't need to have this right off the bat, but this is basically considered a requirement for every stunt performer to own once they work in films and TV. Getting yanked around can be extremely uncomfortable and even dangerous if your harness doesn't fit quite right, so stunt performers order custom-made ones. Climbing Sutra is the industry standard. People will straight-up look at you weird if you somehow don't get your harness from Climbing Sutra.
Networking is up first because that's how the vast majority of jobs are attained and doled out in the stunt world. The overwhelming majority. But what even iS that and hOw dO yOu nEtWoRk?
Networking is establishing relationships and connections with people that could potentially benefit the advancement of your stunt career.
- Job Offers: You never know whom you're training around or where they'll end up. You may come across stunt coordinators or people who end up becoming stunt coordinators.
- Access to Private Training Facilities: Some people might know a guy who's an expert at fire-burns and does them at his ranch. Some might know a guy who has a high-fall setup in their backyard. Someone might know of a tactical training facility that doesn't charge up the ass. Getting access to these facilities by becoming friends with the people who go there and meeting even more people at those facilities and having them watch your skills in action is only good for you.
- Access to Private Training Facilities: Some people might know a guy who's an expert at fire-burns and does them at his ranch. Some might know a guy who has a high-fall setup in their backyard. Someone might know of a tactical training facility that doesn't charge up the ass. Getting access to these facilities by becoming friends with the people who go there and meeting even more people at those facilities and having them watch your skills in action is only good for you.
- Training Partners: Training partners are incredibly important to have, for all kinds of skills and disciplines. Hold each other accountable and use an objective perspective to provide feedback and improve each other's skills.
- Demo & Video Collaborators: Hey man you need someone to film for you for showreel footage and stuff. And vice versa.
A bit of personal advice- don't do "networking" by being fake and using people. Help others out for no reason other than it being a nice thing to do, and expect nothing in return. Being a good person will get you much further than acting fake to get people to like you and using others to get ahead. Remember that there are other people trying to make it out here too, and they deserve a shot as much as you do. The world doesn't revolve around you.
Stunt Contact is an online subscription that releases a list of pending and active US productions along with their location and contact information every two months. You can go in on a subscription alone or find someone to share it with and split the cost.
Hustling is the most ridiculous thing. The first time I was told about it, I deadass thought someone was playing a joke on me. Alas, hustling is very real. The act of "hustling" is when you show up to a set or production office (generally unannounced) to get in contact with the stunt coordinator to introduce yourself and give them your resume. Wild right?! This is not a career for the introvert, guys. I don't have any experience hustling as of yet, so I'm just going to tell you what I was told.
How do you know where to go and when? Networking, people. When stunt performers go hustling, they often know someone on the set or were told about it by someone they know outside of the set. You could just show up to a set that you learned about on the Stunt Contact listing, but obviously having a mutual associate with at least one person involved in the production will drastically improve your chances of success. Ideally, you know someone that is working or has worked with the stunt coordinator that you are looking for.
Always wear all black when hustling - it makes you look like you belong on set and is standard stunt dress anyways. Also bring your headshot & resume in a nice satchel to look official; don't hold papers or a folder in your hands.
You can either go to the active set or go to the project's production office if you have the address (Stunt Contact often includes it). Go either by yourself or with one other person that does not look like you.
Really act like you're supposed to be there. Exude confidence, not arrogance. You'll most likely have to sweet talk the PA's (Production Assistants) in order to get to the production office or active set for the hustle.
