Acting as a Business

by O'Neil, Brian

• ISBN13: 9780307473929
• ISBN10: 0307473929
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2009-10-06
• Publisher: Vintage

Summary

REVISED AND UPDATED EDITION Long regarded as an essential and extraordinarily useful handbook for actors,Acting as a Businesshas become one of the classics of the genre. Avoiding the usual advice about persistence and luck, Brian O'Neil provides clear-cut guidelines that will familiarize actors at all levels with the business behind their art. Some of the insights he provides includes how to put together a winning theatrical resume, practical ways to join the performer's unions, and tactics for getting an agent. In this new edition, O'Neil has updated the book to keep up with the latest show-business trends, including how best to use the Internet.Acting as a Businessremains a necessary and integral part of any actor's library.

Author Biography

Brian O'Neil is a former talent agent and personal manager who has represented actors for theater, film, television, commercials and radio. As a talent representative, he was responsible for the career guidance and professional placement for hudreds of actors. Brian is the founder of Acting as a Business, a one-on-one career-consultation and career-coaching service for actors. He lives in New York City and is a frequent guest-lecturer at some of the nation's finest acting-training programs including The Yale School of Drama and The Juilliard School.

www.actingasabusiness.com

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Author's Note	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xv
From Stage to Screen	p. 3
The Arsenal	p. 17
About the Unions	p. 30
Television: Daytime vs. Prime Time	p. 38
Approaching the Agents	p. 54
The Agent Interview	p. 67
What's Going On? Who's Casting What? Theater and Film	p. 99
The Local Scene	p. 121
Reflections on Personal Management	p. 126
Q&A	p. 136
Appendices
	p. 165
	p. 166
	p. 167
	p. 168
	p. 169
Recommended Reading	p. 170
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

1
 
From Stage to Screen
 
Recently, I was invited to address the graduating class of a top conservatory training program for actors in New York City. I asked the group to give a few minutes of thought to where they would like to see themselves professionally in five years' time. Then I asked for a show of hands from all those who were thinking in terms of "film." Every hand in the group, except one, shot up. The one holdout responded "theater and film."
 
Prior to the above-mentioned speaking engagement, I was a guest at another well-known acting training program, also in New York City, where I posed the same question to a theater full of young acting students. And got essentially the same response—mostly "film," several "television," and only a few "theater."
 
In the past, an actor seeking a career in film or television usually ventured west to Hollywood while the actor pursuing work in the theater migrated to New York. The westward trek is still made, but it has become equally true that most young actors who come to New York are also eyeing careers in film or television. This has become the ultimate goal, or dream, for most of the actors with whom I come in contact.
 
Why this change? One major contribution to the powerful lure of the film and television industry is a now decentralized theater scene, which makes it necessary for most actors to accept often low-paying out-of-town engagements if they are to be employed in the theater at all. Yet, despite the hardships, there is still probably no better way for the New York actor who seeks a career in film or television to give this dream a chance than to strive for the highest quality visibility possible in the theater. With models, child actors, teenage actors, and actors still youthful enough to convincingly portray teenage characters comprising the main exceptions, the overwhelming majority of film and television careers born out of New York are of actors who have first been seen on the stage.
 
Why is this so? Mainly, for two reasons: visibility and credibility. First, let's talk about visibility. When a play opens on or off-Broadway and receives good notices, it is the actors in this play whom the film and television industries—such as they exist in New York—see. Literally. A big part of the jobs of those who cast is to be aware of which actors are being praised for their performances, and to see their work. In turn, it is these actors who are often requested to audition for, and then frequently land, roles in film and television productions that are being cast in New York. This is especially true in television, where there is a continual demand for new and ongoing programming. Not only does New York now boast several hit prime-time series of its own, but there is also pilot season—the bulk of which takes place in the first four months of the year. It is at this time when Hollywood casting executives visiting the east are able to see the New York talent pool. From this talent pool, a number of actors will be cast in leading and supporting roles in television pilots, the most well received of which are then developed as new series for the upcoming television season.
 
And where do television casting personnel go to find the New York actors who will be auditioned for these new pilots? Mainly, to the theater. They attend the hit shows of the current season. An examination of the upcoming fall television season in any given year will usually boast several actors who made a splash in the previous New York theater season. In fact, the annual prime-time Emmy Award nominee roster often contains the names of a number of actors who were nominated for—or in some cases have even won—a Tony Award in the theatrical season or two prior to becoming known to national television audiences.
 
Earlier, I mentioned that the stage is the likeliest route to film and prim

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Excerpted from Acting as a Business: Strategies for Success by Brian O'Neil
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