Actors Business

An Actor's Business covers everything you need to know to market yourself as an actor, with thorough and concise information about the movie-making process, drama school, community theatre, acting on television and in commercials, unions, and agents. A thorough and well-written resource for anyone wanting to understand all facets of the acting business, this book presents an experienced perspective on the world of professional acting.

The Actor's Mindset: Acting as a Craft, Discipline, and Business uniquely prepares actors to live full, successful lives as performing artists. While most acting books focus on either the art or the business of entertainment, Archibald looks at the entire picture of what it means to be an actor, focusing on the foundations of both the artist and the entrepreneur to guarantee a complete and fully functioning approach to a career.

This book describes a technique developed and refined by the authors, all of them young actors, in their work with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet, actor W. H. Macy, and director Gregory Mosher. A Practical Handbook for the Actor is written for any actor who has ever experienced the frustrations of acting classes that lacked clarity and objectivity, and that failed to provide a dependable set of tools.

The protagonist of Just Do It is Phil Knight, a reclusive billionaire who started a two-man operation importing Japanese running shoes and built it into a $4 billion company. Irreverent, unpredictable, and leery of the sports establishment, Knight created the most muscular jock culture in business, a place where employees routinely took two hours at lunch to work out and then strategized late into the night in their holy war against competitors Reebok and Adidas.

Paul Newman, the Oscar-winning actor with the legendary blue eyes, achieved superstar status by playing charismatic renegades, broken heroes, and winsome antiheroes in such revered films as The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Verdict, The Color of Money, and Nobody’s Fool. But Newman was also an oddity in Hollywood: the rare box-office titan who cared about the craft of acting, the sexy leading man known for the staying power of his marriage, and the humble celebrity who made philanthropy his calling card long before it was cool.

David Mamet went to Hollywood on top—a super successful playwright summoned west in 1980 to write a vehicle for Jack Nicholson. He arrived just in time to meet the luminaries of old Hollywood and revel in the friendship of giants like Paul Newman, Mike Nichols, Bob Evans, and Sue Mengers. Over the next forty years, Mamet wrote dozens of scripts, was fired off dozens of movies, and directed eleven himself. In Everywhere an Oink Oink, he revels of the taut and gag-filled professionalism of the film set.

Philip Carlson was the first agent to sign Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Billy Crudup, Liev Schreiber, Claire Danes, Idris Elba, Kyra Sedgwick, Adrien Grenier, and Paul Giamatti. He has represented Viola Davis, Kathy Bates, Brian Dennehy, and W.H. Macy among many and gifted others. He shares his practical trade secrets in this extraordinarily comprehensive guide on how to get into show business.

Sumner Murray Redstone, once feared as the “mad genius” of media who would dump his CEOs for mere wobbles in his companies’ stock price, had built one of the world’s greatest media empires through a series of audacious takeovers constructed to ensure that he always maintained control. Today he controls 80 percent of the voting shares of both Viacom and CBS, meaning that on a whim he could replace the entire boards of two public companies with a combined value of $40 billion.

Veteran character actor David Dean Bottrell draws on his 35-plus tumultuous years of work in the entertainment industry to offer a guide to breaking in, making a living, and making a life in the fabulous trenches of show business. Mixing prescriptive advice with wisdom drawn from Bottrell's own professional highs and lows and those of his acting compatriots, this book's humorous, tell-it-like-it-is tone is a must-have guide for anyone hoping to successfully navigate show business.

The definitive biography of movie executive and philanthropist Sherry Lansing traces her groundbreaking journey to become the first female head of a major motion picture studio, shares behind-the-scenes tales from movie sets and Hollywood boardrooms, and explains what inspired her to walk away from it all to start the Sherry Lansing Foundation.

An invaluable reference for anyone who is a working actor, or wants to be. Learn how to make it in the day-to-day business of acting and stay sane and focused while attempting to merge art and commerce. This audiobook covers everything the author wishes someone had told him about how casting decisions are made, what rejection really means, how to behave on a set, the two factors the business is built on, and much more. Markus Flanagan offers encouraging, highly useful pointers on such vital matters as: How do you combat getting typed?

Actors! Have you been considering the enticing move to LA? Well, this is the book for you! Join award-winning actress Krystina Bailey Brawer as she takes you on her journey to navigating the "City of Dreams". She will share with you her wins and woes and how to never give up on your goal. Are you down for the ride?

In the cutthroat world of theater, actors need all the help they can get to have a #legup on the competition. This essential "how-to" guide explains it all - from choosing the right college to making your Broadway debut - while teaching you how to behave on social media along the way! This book will aid you in your quest to find what it means to be #SOBLESSED.

The Authentic Actor: the Art and Business of Being Yourself illuminates for today’s actors the skills, strategies, and mental approach to navigating the intersection of art and commerce. It’s the culmination of Michael Laskin’s over forty years in the profession, and thousands of hours of classroom work and private coaching. Today’s “Authentic Actor” is someone who has successfully merged their highly developed talent with their fully examined identity. Defining, refining, and understanding your indelibility as an actor, your “blink-of-an-eye” factor, is key.

Revealingly candid, this Hollywood memoir is the story of Jay Bernstein, an entertainment industry fixture who helped launch and sustain the careers of many celebrities including Farrah Fawcett and Suzanne Somers. From his childhood in Oklahoma City and his first job in a Hollywood mail room to the ownership of his own public relations firm and his work as a television producer, Bernstein’s life is chronicled in his own words.

From watching his colleague get shot in the testicles by a jealous producer to running Hollywood's most successful television studio, Harris Katleman had a front row seat in the development of the television industry. Through a number of hilarious accounts, Harris Katleman shares his journey from office boy to talent agent to television producer, and finally to studio head at both MGM and 20th Century Fox. Along the way, we meet industry giants including Rupert Murdoch, Bob Iger, Barry Diller, Marvin Davis, Kirk Kerkorian, Mark Goodson, and Lew Wasserman.

Every time you deliver a speech, give a presentation, or simply tell a good story, you are taking centre stage. Here, one of the world’s leading voice coaches introduces the simple exercises that great actors use to hold people’s attention – and reveals how anyone speaking in public can use them. Drawing on 25 years working at London’s National Theatre, Jeannette Nelson explains how to warm up your voice and body before a big speech, how focusing on your breathing can improve your clarity and pace, and much more.

Debra Wanger knows how difficult it can be to pursue your dream of acting without compromising your health or your sanity. She drew wisdom from decades of working as an actor, talent manager, and wellness coach to write The Resilient Actor and give emerging and experienced actors a holistic approach to their profession that marries mind, body, spirit, and craft. Sustaining a healthy and satisfying career requires more than just talent - go beyond the skills you learned in your BFA program.

Do you have a talented child that everyone says is made for television but you’ve hit a brick wall in helping them break into show business? Well this audiobook will outline everything you need to know and do to successfully navigate the entertainment industry. No matter where you live, there are steps you can take to get your child’s professional acting career started today! There are many people out there who claim they can help guide you through this journey but the reality of it is that no one can understand what it means to be the SPCA (Supportive Parent of A Child Actor).

You could be the proud parent of the next big child star. Naturally, you’d want to support their dreams and help them put their acting prowess to work. But first, a reality check: Even if your kid has plenty of talent, finding success in the entertainment industry can be quite challenging.