7 Ways Actors Can Use Spreadsheets

Business

Jul 22

Confession time: I love spreadsheets. Many of my friends tease me about using our projects together as excuses to make them. I was unreasonably excited when I used the “Concatenate” function for the first time. (For the record, it’s combining two formulas in one cell, which I used to create a subtask completion calculator that automatically updates when checkboxes are ticked.)

Because of this love, I’ve tried many different ways to use spreadsheets to build my acting career. Some of these spreadsheets are things I’ve been using for years, and some are ideas that I had while writing this blog article and am chomping at the bit to experiment with.

The reason why I love spreadsheets is simple: I can keep track of data and use it to make informed choices about my career. Every single time I needed to make a big acting career choice, a spreadsheet had my back.

So what are some of these different ways an actor can use spreadsheets? I’ll tell you seven!

1. Bookkeeping

This is the most obvious use of spreadsheets - it’s what they were invented for. If you want to keep track of your revenues and expenses (hint: you do! Read “Actor’s Guide to Getting Ready for Tax Season” to find out why), then you can find several hundred templates for bookkeeping spreadsheets online. You can also build an invoice template in a separate tab in the same bookkeeping spreadsheet so you can quickly send a professional invoice to your clients.

2. Budgeting / Financial Planning

This is definitely the runner-up for “most obvious use of a spreadsheet”. At first glance, it doesn’t seem different from a bookkeeping spreadsheet. The difference between the two, however, is pretty important. Where bookkeeping is focussed on what your money has done before, financial planning is about what your money is going to do in the future. This is how you track the progress you’re making on savings goals, set revenue targets, and determine if you have enough money now to purchase something. Again, there are hundreds of templates available to choose from, some of which already include bookkeeping.

3. Habit Tracking

If you read my blog post on setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals, you’ll know that every goal you set needs to be measurable. What better way to measure than with a spreadsheet!

Say your goals are about doing a number of tasks per week (eg. email 3 agents/week). You can build a number of weekly habit lists, like so:

Habit	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
e-Mail 3 Agents		X	X		X
Practice Group	X			X

Every day, open up your spreadsheet and track the habits that you’ve filled out. It doesn’t even need to be on a computer, it can be a chart made with pen and paper so you can carry it around with you wherever you go.

4. Client Relationship Manager (CRM)

This is a pretty common tool in sales jobs, and if you’ve got a sales background then you may have used one already. Basically, a CRM is a database of current or potential clients/agents/casting directors/producers that you know of, which includes their names, contact details, dates you’ve contacted them, and any notes or comments you have about them. You can even customize it further by including outstanding invoices, location, how you met them, and more. I’m currently building a CRM in my ClickUp Workspace (which is really just a fancy worksheet with pretty graphics), so when I’m happy with that build I’ll write a blog post just about using ClickUp as a CRM for actors.

5. Long-term Project Production Schedule

For audiobook or long-form narration work, you have to set and keep your own schedule, and communicate it with your clients. You also have to keep track of how much progress you’ve made and what you have left to do. I know several audiobook narrators who have built spreadsheets for themselves where they plug in some factors about the project - word count, PFH budget, etc. - and it automatically gives them an estimate for how many days it will take them to complete. They can then share this recommended deadline with their client, and they can then keep track of how many chapters they’ve recorded, edited, and grabbed pickups for.

6. Monologue/Scene Directory

Rather than having a huge stack of papers and playbooks, create a database of your old scenes and monologues so you can easily find them again! Scan or take a picture of the page(s) and any notes you have, and save them to your computer. Then, copy the link to that file (in Windows, you can find “Copy Link” in the home bar when you’ve highlighted the file) and paste it in a spreadsheet. When you click on that link, the file is automatically opened on your computer so you don’t have to go digging for it! You can include information on each line, such as whether it’s a monologue or a scene, what genre or style it is, whether you’ve used it before, and more. You can then sort and filter by these features so you can quickly find the perfect monologue for your upcoming musical theatre audition.

Play	Character	Type	Genre	Link
Reasons To Be Pretty	Steph	Scene	Comedy	C:/Larissa/Acting/Scenes/ReasonsToBePretty.pdf
MacBeth	Lady MacBeth	Monologue	Drama	C:/Larissa/Acting/Monologues/OutDamnedSpot.pdf

7. Scene Breakdown Worksheets

If you, like me, have a structured scene analysis process for your acting work, then you might benefit from building a worksheet outlining your process. Create fields to fill out the scene’s context, relationships, emotional core, structure, backstory, forestory, theme, and motivation. This is one of the ideas I had when writing this post and I’m really excited to experiment with it. Think of it as creating your own homework assignment worksheet!

As you can see, spreadsheets can be used for more than just money stuff - though they’re great for that. Their versatile nature means that you can use them to track and analyze any kind of data, or even use it to make a simple worksheet.

If you regularly use multiple devices, such as a laptop and a smartphone, then using cloud-based spreadsheets might be the best option for you. You can use Google Sheets, Microsoft’s cloud program, or several other options. Just keep in mind when you’re using these cloud-based services, to never include personal or private information, such as bank account details or passwords. The chances of a security breach is just too high to risk the convenience, in my opinion.

So, to summarize:

Spreadsheets can be incredibly useful tools to analyse data and make informed decisions for your career
Bookkeeping is a necessary element of managing your acting business, and spreadsheets are designed for this use. There are lots of free templates available to you through a Google search.
Budgeting/financial planning is another crucial component of business management, and just like bookkeeping, there are lots of templates available.
You can use spreadsheets for habit tracking and sticking to your S.M.A.R.T. Goals. It doesn’t have to be digital either, you can use pen and paper if you like.
Client Relationship Managers (CRMs) are great tools for salespeople, and since you’re selling your acting product, it makes sense to use this tool to keep track of the agents, casting directors, and producers you have, or would like to, contact.
Managing a long-term project requires organization, and a spreadsheet can help you keep track of where you are in the project and how long each step needs, making it easier to keep a client aware of your progress.
Keep a database of your favourite monologues and practice scenes so you can quickly find audition or practice materials when you need them! Link to a scanned copy of the material saved on your harddrive so you don’t have to dig through stacks of paper.
If you have a structured, consistent workflow for preparing scene work, then make a worksheet! Make it fit your technique and thought process.
Cloud-based spreadsheets are great for people who use multiple devices, just be sure that no personal or private information is stored in these files.

Do you use a spreadsheet? What do you use it for? Let me know by posting a comment!

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About Me

Larissa is a professional audiobook narrator, voice over artist, and actor. With her home recording studio in Vancouver, B.C., she is able to spend her time doing what she loves most - becoming a conduit for stories that resonate with us.