Acting: Make It Your Business

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.

Paul Russell's career as a casting director, director, and former actor has spanned more than forty years. He has worked on projects for major film studios, television networks, Broadway, and regionally. He directs for leading regional theaters and teaches master classes to actors at universities and colleges.

Introduction: Cows and Greasepaint-A Journey Begins 1. Working Actors Speak Out: Candor and the Business 2. Being an Actor: A Tough Love 3. Training for the Actor: Tend Your Dreams 4. The Picture and Résumé: An Actor's Business Card 5. Cover Letters and E-mail: Covering Your Assets 6. Actor Marketing: Set Yourself Apart from the Crowd 7. Auditions Actors Encounter: Are Your Auditions Safe? 8. Audition Preparation: Be First, First 9. Audition Strategies: Leaving a Lasting Impression 10. Negotiating the Contract: Get It On Paper 11. Rejection: "Thanks for Coming in..." 12. Agents and Managers: An Introduction 13. Agents and Managers: Finding One 14. Agents and Managers: Keeping One 15. Exit Lines: Parting Advice Acknowledgments Appendix Index About the Author