This is the definitive insider's guide to getting ahead in the worlds of theater, film, and commercials. Packed with both innovative strategies and practical advice, it covers how to obtain the perfect headshot; prepare for interviews and auditions; select flattering monologues; create professional-looking resumes and cover letters; compose promotional mailings and videos; produce an original play, video or film; launch a theater company; and much more. New sections include information on actor training; voice, speech and voiceovers; using the Internet for self-promotion; daytime serials; and interviews with working professionals from every realm of entertainment.
The Actor's Business Plan is a self-directed practical guide for actors graduating from formal training programs, as well as for those already in the business whose careers need to move ahead more successfully. Using the familiar language of acting training, the book offers a method for the achievement of dreams through a five-year life and career plan giving positive steps to develop a happy life as an actor and as a person. It assists performers to flourish using the same kind of business/career planning that is a necessary part of life for entrepreneurs and business people. This introduction to the acting industry provides essential knowledge not only for how the business actually works, but also describes what casting directors, agents, and managers do, demystifies the role of unions, discusses how much things cost, and offers advice on branding and marketing strategies. It differs from other such handbooks in that it addresses the everyday issues of life, money, and jobs that so frequently destroy an actor's career before it is even begun. While addressing NYC and LA, the guide also gives a regional breakdown for those actors who may wish to begin careers or to settle in other cities. It is loaded with personal stories, and interviews with actors, casting directors, and agents from throughout the US. The Actor's Business Plan is the answer to the common complaint by students that they were not taught how to negotiate the show business world while at school. It is the perfect antidote for this problem and can easily fit into a ten or a thirteen-week class syllabus. Offering support as a personal career coach, empowering the actor to take concrete steps towards their life and career dreams, The Actor's Business Plan: A Career Guide for the Acting Life is a must-have book for actors who are determined to be a part of the professional world .
This practical and entertaining guide readies the uninitiated actor to navigate the ridiculous, impossible, and often heartbreaking world of the acting industry. This book will expose actors to the ins and outs of the world's (second) oldest profession. Topics include how to be "discovered," what to expect from training programs, the grunt work of starting a career, how to persevere in the face of rejection, the new digital world for actors, and much more. Experienced actor and screenwriter Jason Pugatch offers a fresh, hip, and invaluable industry perspective, with sidebar quotations, charts, and timelines, and a quick-reference appendix of the acting trade. Packed with myth-shattering anecdotes and told in a personal tone, Starting Your Career as an Actor is the backstage guide that every aspiring actor must read.
The Actor's Career Bible is a practical guide to building an acting career. Based on a huge range of interviews with actors of all backgrounds at every level of the profession, industry experts, key organisations, casting directors, agents, producers, directors and many others, this guide covers all the essentials as well as sharing exclusive inside knowledge. Whether you're a recent graduate, a young actor or an experienced professional, The Actor's Career Bible will help you kick-start or reinvigorate your career in an industry famous for its high levels of competition. This in-depth guide will show you how to cope with the pressures and strains of being an actor and offers easy-to-follow advice on how to improve your chances of success.
From high-fashion spreads and runway shows to shoe, hand, hair, and character shots to magazine and catalog ads, this comprehensive guide reveals how to be a successful model without being a superstar or drop-dead gorgeous. Tips are given on breaking into the modeling business, finding the right agent, and maneuvering in this often complex business. Aspiring models-men, women, girls, and boys-find out what the modeling scenes are like in New York, other major US cities, Europe, and Australia. Detailed information is provided on modeling agencies, schools, conventions, and contests, along with advice on building a portfolio and using the Internet to expand opportunities. Interviews with industry legends and a complete resource section are also included.
In the second edition of this popular guide, actors learn to use their skills to write monologues, performance art pieces, and one-person plays. Updated to include exclusive interviews and tips on marketing, this guide helps actors create their own exciting performance opportunities and follow in the footsteps of Elaine Stritch, Billy Crystal, John Leguizamo, and other stunningly successful writer-performers of one-person shows. The author, an award-winning actor, breaks down the writing process into simple steps, coaching the reader through each stage of the creative journey.
In today’s competitive society, parents face great pressure to encourage their children to follow their dreams and strive for excellence. Organized in a practical question-and-answer format, Your Child’s Career in Music and Entertainment: The Prudent Parent’s Guide raises and addresses many of the issues parents encounter when seeking to turn their children’s creative passion and talent into a sustainable career in entertainment. Topics include: •Knowing which professionals to consult and when •Finding and preparing for auditions •Dealing with the financial aspects •Understanding statutory and regulatory legal protections for children •Creating balance for the whole family Most importantly, maintaining a child’s health and happiness is underlined throughout. Drawing on author Steven Beer’s extensive contacts in the industry, the book quotes the personal experiences of industry players, stars and their parents, and veteran sources. This indispensable guide will help parents ensure that their children are instilled with morals and values that will make them not just good performers, but good people, capable of becoming responsible adults who will run their own careers someday. Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.
In ACTING: Make It Your Business, Second Edition, award-winning casting director Paul Russell puts the power to land jobs and thrive in any medium—stage, film, television, or the Internet—directly into the hands of the actor. This blunt and practical guide offers a wealth of advice on auditioning, marketing, and networking, combining traditional techniques with those best suited for the digital age. Well-known actors and powerful agents and managers make cameos throughout, offering newcomers and working professionals alike a clear-eyed, uncensored perspective on survival and advancement within the entertainment industry. This second edition has been updated and expanded to include the following: More stars of screen and stage sharing acting career strategies Digital audition techniques for screen and stage, including how best to self-tape New tools to master modern marketing, both digital and traditional with innovation Expanded actor resource listings Additional bicoastal talent agents and managers spilling secrets for obtaining representation, and tips for successful actor-to-representation partnerships New insights on audition techniques An excellent resource for career actors, beginning and amateur actors, as well as students in Acting I and II, Auditions, and Business of Acting courses, ACTING: Make It Your Business provides readers with invaluable tools to build a successful, long-lasting acting career.
This book is written for the beginning or seasoned playwright, as well as for actors (or anyone) wishing to attempt their first ten-minute play. Every aspect of writing a ten-minute play is covered, from perking with an idea, to starting the play, to developing it, to effective rewriting, to completing it, even to how to get the most out of readings of your play once you've finished it. Writing the 10-Minute Play also reveals the best ways to market your play and includes an extensive listing of ten-minute play contests. The guide contains many in-depth interviews with international playwrights who have had substantial success with their ten-minute plays, as well as publishers of ten-minute plays and producers of ten-minute play festivals. Included as well are several award-winning ten-minute plays, followed by a discussion by the respective playwrights on how they went about creating their play, from start to finish. The final chapter offers tips and suggestions from artistic directors of ten-minute play festivals and from well-known playwrights whose ten-minute plays have received awards and publishing deals.
