The final term of professional training is an exciting yet stressful time. With rehearsals for final shows, the industry showcase, and the London Season looming, the move from OSD into London marks the beginning of our students’ transition into professional actors.
We know how mentally challenging this transition from student to professional can be. Still, it is the financial burden that comes with this transition that poses the biggest hurdle to our students. Headshots, London rent, Equity membership, Spotlight membership…the costs mount up.
While OSD has been able to support some students through our Student Hardship Fund and external schemes such as the Laurence Olivier Bursary, we know that the demand for support is greater than we are able to respond to. Beyond this, we truly believe that all Drama School graduates should enter the industry on as level a footing as possible.
Headshot sessions can cost anywhere from £200 to £400. For many students, they represent a huge financial commitment. Headshots are an investment in your career, and they’re important as students begin to take their first steps into the industry. Still, the financial element means there is a natural disparity between students who can afford multiple shoots or the most expensive photographers and those who can’t. Not necessarily in the quality of the headshot, but certainly in the mental burden of covering yet another industry cost.
Having confidence in an image that represents you, rather than a performative or overly posed image, is vital. To be able to have that confidence without the potential of financial stress or hardship is even more important, which is why we are thrilled to announce our partnership with leading headshot photographers, Akta.
Who Are Akta?
Founded in 2020, Akta is a career development company dedicated to making the creative industries fairer for all.
During the first lockdown, Akta founder Charlie and his flatmates offered ten pay-what-you-can headshot sessions to actors who had been impacted by the pandemic. A Casting Director saw and shared their tweet, and overnight, they received hundreds of applications. Rather than the planned ten headshot sessions, they ended up offering one hundred sessions and Akta has only grown from there.
Through their Pay What You Can initiatives, they are breaking down the financial barriers associated with headshots, voice reels, and showreels.
They’re a popular choice for headshot photography, and many of our students have chosen them over the years for their graduate headshots (a few of which can be seen above). Alongside many students choosing them for their graduate headshots, we know that Alumni also continue to use their services as they begin their careers through their self-tape, voice reels, and showreel studios.
So What is Akta x OSD?
Our partnership with Akta is more than just a formal endorsement of the work Akta is doing to break down financial barriers in the industry; it will also directly benefit our students.
Akta are providing free headshot sessions to all our 2026 graduating actors. This means that all students graduating from the One and Three Year courses in 2026 will have a free headshot session with Akta for use in their public productions, spotlight profiles, OSD profiles, and Showcase materials.
Alongside the headshot sessions, Akta will also be providing duologue reels for all graduating students, enabling them to have a high-quality professional recording of one of their showcase scenes for use on their spotlight profiles.
In previous years, students have been encouraged to self-tape their showcase scenes as an additional resource to send out in their conversations with industry contacts. To have access to Akta’s studio equipment and team of editors is another massive asset to our 2026 graduating students.
We are incredibly proud to be able to work with Akta in providing these services to our students. The values of those at Akta align wonderfully with us here at OSD, and they already do fantastic work with their other partners, RADA, Clean Break, Lyric Hammersmith, and Theatre Peckham. If you’re interested in learning more about Akta, you can find their website here.
We hope that, through partnerships like this one, we can continue making Drama School and the Acting industry a more equitable and welcoming place for all talented individuals.
All headshots featured in this post were taken by AKTA