Everyone's entitled to an opinion of course and this forum is a good place for debate, but Ben, the time to give up acting is surely when you find you can ONLY get parts in short tilms for no money... (That's just my point of view!) Those of us who want to act for a living need to earn money when we act, otherwise it's just a hobby. There's absolutely nothing wrong with acting as a hobby but if it's your profession then you need to earn money. Freebies may have their place but there comes a time when you have to say no to unpaid work. Generally I've found people will pay what they think you're worth to their venture. There are some things as a film maker that you will have to pay for because no-one will provide them for nothing. The acting profession is so overcrowded that people do work for nothing with the hope of getting experience and exposure and moving on to bigger and better things. Experience, yes. Exposure? - only very rarely I'd suggest. I have worked for nothing, but I don't do it any more and to be honest I've found I've had far more properly paid work since making this decision. Working for nothing has to be a decision you think really carefully about because it can be very easy to get stuck there. Hopefully you will also find a time when you can earn money as a film maker.