Actorpreneur Tips

Recently I purchased the Amazon “Kindle”. After traveling with the WSJ newspaper, two of three hard covered books and of course my iphone, blackberry and a few other unlocked GSM mobile phones….and that does not include at least one Mac Book Pro and now the Mac Book Air. I was relieved after waiting two months after ordering my “Kindle” on Amazons web site.

The electronic pad can hold 200 books! Newspapers, magazines, and blogs. All downloaded wirelessly via the A&T GSM network.

Now consider how cool to have all the film scripts you can be reading while you are determining your Film next project!

Just as actors market themselves, American casting directors have been creating amazing web sites. Above is NY Casting Director and TVI teacher Judy Bowman.

Also take a look at Los Angeles casting directors Terry Berland’s and Renita Whited new sites.

At some point in an actors career, an attorney will become part of your “team”. While all attorneys are educated in the law, it is wise to have an individual who practices “entertainment law” and understands your industry.

I came across an interesting blog written by Los Angeles entertainment attorney, Gordon Firemark. Take a look at his bio, and postings, fascinating and informative reading.

NY Daily News staff writer Heidi Evans has an interesting article on the modern stage mom, and kids entering showbusiness. With the digital resources available on the internet, Theatre Kids and their “moms” have a huge amount of places to go to seek auditions in every corner of the world.

“What about schmoozing the casting director to win the part? Or offering to buy him a new BMW?

“NOT a good idea,” Mama Roth admonished. “Just sit back and let your child show their talent on their own.”

Take a look at the article here.

While working out the other day I read in this months Forbes magazine an interesting article by Anna Isgro on how many people on the Forbes 400 either never graduated from college, or never even enrolled!

How many actors can you name that have become successful without a traditional theatre education?

The availability to showcase yourself to a world-wide audience is phenomenal with the popularity of all the networking social sites on the web. LA based actor Jeff Grace who is also a TVI Actors Studio’s Los Angeles career coach has the third most watched video on digg.com in the last 365 days and the link was only posted 24 hours ago!

An article in today’s USAtoday web site has an article about actors and how they achieved success. The Screen Actors Guild which was formed 75 years ago, and the article talks on how getting the guild off the ground wasn’t easy.

“Leading men such as Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and Cary Grant met secretly to discuss it. Beautiful starlets like Gloria Stuart risked their careers by affiliating with the upstart crowd. They all knew a guild was important.”

They interviewed the following actors for this article….
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Many actors fictionalize their acting credits on their resumes, and many get a way with it. Such is the case with George Clooney and Los Angeles casting director Barbara Claman.

In an article written by David Ansen and Devin Gordon in Newsweek interviews several actors and about their careers.

Clooney goes on to say in the article…

Clooney: You couldn’t get a job without getting into the Screen Actors Guild, so everybody I knew, including myself, would make up these credits just to get in. They didn’t have the Internet at the time, so you could get away with anything. I remember lying to a casting director, Barbara Claman, about this movie called “Cat People.” She was, like, “You were in that, were you?” I was, like, yep. And she goes, “Because I cast that.” I finally just said, “I can’t get in SAG. Help me out.” She helped me get a job on a film then called “The Predator.” We shot it in Hungary. It was Charlie Sheen and Laura Dern and I, all three of our first jobs. As big as they became later, the movie never came out, that’s how bad a film it was. But I got my SAG card.

Do not lie on your resume, it is not worth it, as most casting directors will throw you out of their office once they discover your lies.

See the entire article here.

Arrived in San Francisco yesterday for the annual MacWorld expo. I will be posting in the next few days on cool new technologies that actorpreneurs can use to enhance their acting careers.