ACTING:
Make It Your Business

How to Avoid Mistakes & Achieve Success as a Working Actor

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"Humorous and witty...

Actors everywhere who are trying to succeed in the business, young or old, on stage or on camera, in New York or anywhere in the world, take note:

This is your roadmap!"

-- BERNARD TELSEY, casting director
(Rent, Wicked, Sex & The City)

"Paul's book made me proud

to be a part of this community we call 'show'."

-- KAREN ZIEMBA, Broadway actress
TONY® & Drama Desk Award-Winner

Authored by award-wining casting director, director and former actor, Paul Russell and published by Back Stage Books (a division of Random House), ACTING: Make It Your Business is the NEW, first and only, truly blunt industry-insight how-to-book for actors on how to survive and thrive as a professional, working actor and pursue acting as a business. Pros and stars of Hollywood and Broadway speak out.

ACTING: Make It Your Business is required reading at many universities including: NYU, Millikin, Elon and numerous more industry-respected schools of the performing arts.

ACTING: Make It Your Business has been making the business of acting, getting & keeping agents and landing acting jobs more successful and plentiful for actors. The results and reviews herald actor successes (read here). Book info below:

"Entertaining,
insightful, well-written.

Paul Russell has a keen eye, razor-sharp insight
and a big heart. I urge all actors young and old to
read this book!"

-- MARCIA MILGROM DODGE,
TONY® nominated director (Ragtime), playwright, arts teacher
ACTING: Make It Your Business
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About ACTING: Make It Your Business

 

ACTING: MAKE IT YOUR BUSINESS - How To Avoid Mistakes and Achieve Success as a Working Actor

Acting: Make It Your Business puts the power to land jobs and thrive in any medium – stage, film, TV, or the Internet – directly into the hands of the actor. Well-known actors, powerful agents of Broadway and Hollywood make cameos throughout, offering newcomers and working professionals alike a clear-eyed, uncensored perspective on survival and advancement in the entertainment industry.

Fifteen chapters including advice from well-known Broadway actors, LA screen stars, power talent agents, and casting director Paul Russell. All offering in-depth guidance on how to be a better working actor.

The best-selling, blunt, acting book for actors featuring up-to-date info on:

 

  • How to Improve Audition & Interview Techniques

  • How to Find & Maintain a Thriving Relationship With a Talent Agent

  • The Business of Acting: How to Be A Continual Working Actor

  • Best Actor Training: The Industry Approved Schools

  • Actor Marketing for the Digital Age

  • How To Negotiate Contracts

  • Build Stronger Interview Skills for when Meeting Casting, Directors, Producers and Talent Representatives


 

Chapter titles...


Introduction: Cows & Greasepaint - Journey Begins

  1. Working Actors Speak Out: Candor & The Business

  2. Being an Actor: A Tough Love

  3. Training for the Actor: Tend Your Dreams

  4. The Picture and Resume: An Actor's Business Card

  5. Cover Letters: 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: An Introduction

  13. Agents: Finding One

  14. Agents: Keeping One

  15. Exit Lines: Parting Advice

About the author...

 

Reader Testimonials

Purchase ACTING: Make It Your Business and have it delivered within 1 -2 days!

Paul Russell's career as a casting director, director, and former actor has spanned nearly thirty years. He has worked on projects for major film studios (20th Century Fox, Warner Bros), television networks (NBC, CBS, HBO), Broadway, and is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers directing at TONY® award-winning theaters. Some of the many talented individuals he has worked with include: Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Anniston, Cynthia Nixon, and Bill Cosby.

He has been on faculty as part of the NYU-Tisch program at the Atlantic Theatre Company School and has taught master classes on over a dozen campuses of major universities including; Yale, Rutgers, Elon, and Temple University.

When not behind an audition table or guiding actors in a rehearsal you’ll find Paul on a distant road exploring places new and familiar; preferably on his way to the Pine Barrens of South Jersey or to the nearest roller coaster. Paul lives in a small, Jersey town with many trees, quiet streets, and his two rambunctious cats that he parents with his partner.

About ACTING: Make It Your Business

 

ACTING: MAKE IT YOUR BUSINESS - How To Avoid Mistakes and Achieve Success as a Working Actor

Acting: Make It Your Business puts the power to land jobs and thrive in any medium – stage, film, TV, or the Internet – directly into the hands of the actor. Well-known actors, powerful agents of Broadway and Hollywood make cameos throughout, offering newcomers and working professionals alike a clear-eyed, uncensored perspective on survival and advancement in the entertainment industry.

Fifteen chapters including advice from well-known Broadway actors, LA screen stars, power talent agents, and casting director Paul Russell. All offering in-depth guidance on how to be a better working actor.

The best-selling, blunt, acting book for actors featuring up-to-date info on:

  • How to Improve Audition & Interview Techniques

  • How to Find & Maintain a Thriving Relationship With a Talent Agent

  • The Business of Acting: How to Be A Continual Working Actor

  • Best Actor Training: The Industry Approved Schools

  • Actor Marketing for the Digital Age

  • How To Negotiate Contracts

  • Build Stronger Interview Skills for when Meeting Casting, Directors, Producers and Talent Representatives

Chapter titles...


Introduction: Cows & Greasepaint - Journey Begins

  1. Working Actors Speak Out: Candor & The Business

  2. Being an Actor: A Tough Love

  3. Training for the Actor: Tend Your Dreams

  4. The Picture and Resume: An Actor's Business Card

  5. Cover Letters: 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: An Introduction

  13. Agents: Finding One

  14. Agents: Keeping One

  15. Exit Lines: Parting Advice

About the author...

 

Paul Russell's career as a casting director, director, and former actor has spanned nearly thirty years. He has worked on projects for major film studios (20th Century Fox, Warner Bros), television networks (NBC, CBS, HBO), Broadway, and is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers directing at TONY® award-winning theaters. Some of the many talented individuals he has worked with include: Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Anniston, Cynthia Nixon, and Bill Cosby.

He has been on faculty as part of the NYU-Tisch program at the Atlantic Theatre Company School and has taught master classes on over a dozen campuses of major universities including; Yale, Rutgers, Elon, and Temple University.

When not behind an audition table or guiding actors in a rehearsal you’ll find Paul on a distant road exploring places new and familiar; preferably on his way to the Pine Barrens of South Jersey or to the nearest roller coaster. Paul lives in a small, Jersey town with many trees, quiet streets, and his two rambunctious cats that he parents with his partner.

Reader Testimonials

Purchase ACTING: Make It Your Business and have it delivered within 1 -2 days!