ARE YOU READY FOR STUNT SCHOOL?

This is a different school. Here you can see students running around with their clothes on fire, jumping from 50 feet onto an enormous air bag or being thrown head first through the air. At the International Stunt School (ISS) in Seattle, those daring acts are part of the beginner’s course. Students pay thousands of dollars for this school hoping they can start a new career in Hollywood. Nowadays, because of the recession, many people are without jobs. Therefore, people who have jobs haven’t dared to leave them to start a new career. It’s a risk that fewer people are taking these days. They are putting off starting a dream career. In fact, the number of workers quitting jobs has dropped by 30% in recent years. So why are ISS students pushing for a new career now? What’s wrong with playing it safe? What’s wrong with drawing a pay cheque, even if it’s not your dream job? “Most of us are risk takers,” says David Boushey. Boushey is a long-time stunt performer. As there is no formal training program for people who want to become Hollywood stunt performers, Boushey decided to start his own school. ISS’s three-week beginner’s course costs about $4,000. It helps students develop many skills including stunt driving, fighting, falling from high places, and working with ropes and wire harnesses . They also set fires in a controlled burn. There’s also a one-week follow-up course, which costs about $1,800. Many students have completed this training program. However, that doesn’t mean that they will succeed in the movie business. Anthony De Longis is an experienced stunt performer and trainer. According to De Longis, people who do succeed will often have to work a second or even a third job because for every six-week film shoot, a stunt performer may go months, or even a year, without working again. Boushey says that about four of every ten students end up working in show business. Only 1 in 100 people without training might succeed. “There’s just so many dreamers out there who think they’re just going to go down there and get a job,” he said. Marcigliano dreams of working as a stunt person too. After graduating from the University of Massachusetts and working in the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service for a while, she understood that she didn’t want a job like that. So she saved money and started the programme. She has completed three weeks of training. She has sore muscles and bruises from the programme, but she says they’re worth it. They’re getting her one step closer to her dream. “Have you ever seen the show ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’? Yeah. That’s why I wanted to do this,” she said with a smile.