The Actor Takes a Meeting: How to Interview Successfully With Agents, Managers,producers, and Casting Directors

by Book, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9781879505896
• ISBN10: 1879505894
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-07-01
• Publisher: Silman-James Pr

Summary

Actors must take meetings to advance their careers. Seeking representation, management, auditions, or work in specific projects, they meet with agents, managers, producers, and casting directors. However, these important meetings are often unsuccessful because the actors present themselves inadequately. Lacking self-awareness and authenticity, actors frequently conduct themselves as victims or manipulators, which leads to their being seen as undesirable working partners, regardless of their acting abilities and credits. This is the first book to address the actor's self-presentation at an interview or meeting. It shows the actor how to be the host of a meeting and the initiator of an exciting experience that may lead to offers of representation, auditions, and project participation. In this book, actors will learn startling, myth-busting truths: They will learn that they will "blow it" if interviewers look at their resumes during meetings or if they answer questions with prepared riffs about themselves or if they are on their best behaviour! Most importantly, they will learn how applying Stephen Book's practical teachings can bring about remarkable transformations of their meeting skills.

Author Biography

Stephen Book is a faculty member of The Juilliard School and the University of Southern California.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xi
How Do You Present Yourself?	p. 1
Workshop Actors' Interviews	p. 2
Your Goal	p. 18
Victim	p. 21
Inauthenticity	p. 26
Isolation	p. 30
General Interview Exercise #1	p. 33
Losing the Victim	p. 34
Who's Interviewing Whom? Part One	p. 35
Who's Interviewing Whom? Part Two	p. 38
Tell a Truth	p. 42
General Interview Exercise #2	p. 42
Workshop Actors' Interviews	p. 44
The Truth-Versus-Compliments-or-Questions Exercise	p. 63
Building an Experience	p. 66
"Avoid I" Exercise	p. 66
Yes! And...	p. 70
Basic Reflection	p. 72
Reflection Listening	p. 74
General Interview Exercise #3	p. 80
Workshop Actors' Interviews	p. 82
Career Applications	p. 95
Heightening the Experience	p. 99
Rules and Tools	p. 99
40-Breath Process	p. 101
Extend, Intensify, and Enlarge	p. 103
General Interview Exercise #4	p. 106
Workshop Actors' Interviews	p. 107
A Successful Experience	p. 128
Tracking and Changing Behavior	p. 134
Tracking Behavior	p. 134
Keeping Your Score	p. 136
Attitudes	p. 142
Attitude Lines	p. 146
Attitude Line-"I Am"	p. 151
General Interview Exercise #5	p. 159
Workshop Actors' Interviews	p. 160
Fine-Tuning	p. 115
Creating Your Program	p. 182
Gaining Finesse with Score	p. 182
Your Journal and Your Program	p. 194
Boundaries	p. 198
Extension Bumps	p. 199
Boundary Walls	p. 202
The Witness	p. 205
Introductory Witness Walk	p. 205
The Schmoozing Witness	p. 212
General Interview Exercise #6	p. 211
Workshop Actors' Interviews	p. 218
The Waiting-Room Witness	p. 238
The "I Am" Witness	p. 241
It's Your Career	p. 242
Three-Phone-Calls-a-Day Exercise	p. 242
Photo Sessions	p. 244
The Professional Actor Is a Business Person	p. 245
The Casting Director/Agent As a Victim or an Intimidator	p. 247
Finesse for Success!	p. 249
Conclusion	p. 261
Notes	p. 262
Acknowledgements	p. 265
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