ShowBiz Sundays at The Drama Book Shop & an Acting Career Seminar at Micheal Carson Studios (250 West 54th Street).

Last Sunday and today, workshops that have focused again on the business side of acting: while taking advantage of the type of opportunities discussed in these seminars is for me (relatively) far into the future, I'm definitely interested in 'advanced' topics that interest professional working actors.

Last Sunday, a session at The Drama Bookshop covered: Self Promotion. Where to Begin & How to Keep Going...

Panel: Casting Director Kristine Bulakowski, Kristine Bulakowski Casting
          Agent Phil Cassese, About Artists Agency, Inc.
          Career Consultant, Annie Chadwick, Up-To-Date Theatricals
          Henderson Mailing Labels, Sue Henderson

These workshops, organized by Annie Chadwick, have been excellent, especially for a beginner: well organized, highly informative, positive, common sense and good advice that's clear and practical. There were several components to this seminar that I found quite helpful:

Interesting . . . Ways to promote yourself (to agents and casting directors):

• If I'm in something, announce it, but use targeted mailings (I'm not exactly sure of the calculus that produces good targets, but this is the idea).
• Keep in touch (again, pick my target's well) with creative, 'eye-catching' post-cards.
  (NOTE: these two method are used to create repeated exposure of oneself to agents and casting directors, so that you become familiar to them in case something comes up. Over and over again, knowing your type, targeted mailings and target exposure is stressed over and over. This is the marketing end of the business, and however it's done exactly, every working actor today does this).
• Networking: if, if an fellow actor has an agent, and if they like you and your work, and if they seem receptive to the idea, one could ask if they think their agent would be a good fit for you.
• EPA -- Ah, Equity Principle Auditions: something I did not realize until last Sunday was that non-union people can audition for EPA, but you always have to wait until the end (i.e., last person) and only if there's time. Even if the show is already cast, the real opportunity is 1) more audition experience 2) Go, Be Seem. (But the monologue and/or cold read skills need to be solid). So there is some risk here, i.e., you don't want to make a bad impression, but it is a calculatable risk.

A question again was ask about "type," and this led to an interesting discussion:

One way to "discover" one's type is to watch film and television -- which "characters" resonate with me, which could I see myself playing. Not a perfect guide, perhaps, but this method could definitely uncover some clues.

Another way happens to kill two birds with one stone: in between jobs, the down times, stay ready and stay primed by studying (this is why professional/working actors are always studying -- acting's there business, and they stay in shape). Ready-to-go is also where you want to be when opportunity knocks. The other advantage of this, (and for me, this gives me some focus of the type of training I'd like to have) is to work on and keep alive a few things things that are really fun and interesting for me (e.g., Warren Leight's Stray Cats). This is actually an excellent idea, and it can help me to discover:

1. What's unique about me.
2. Really understand the "package" I'm selling (someday) to agents and casting directors.

Today, keynote & Guest Speaker Glenn Alterman was part of an Acting Career Seminar with an agent and a high energy casting director, actor, and audition coach (Craig Lechner) uptown at Micheal Carson Studios on West 54th Street, just north of Times Square.

Glenn is a very talented guy: writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor, monologue coach, and career development expert. Once again, the best, the absolute best training in acting seems to be in New York City.

I've been reading several of Glenn's excellent books on auditioning and the business side of a profession in the arts, so I won't repeat anything in detail here. However, he gives great advice, probably the best beginners and seasoned professionals will find anywhere, because not only does it apply to career development, it could just as easily apply to life and personal development.

Some points:

• Be Pro-active, take a chance, have fun, do your best, and then . . . just let it all go
• Know what I want.
• Focus on that.
• To be a working actor: it's all about marketing and focus: the most important step is to find/discover (create?) my type. All else, type of headshot, which audition to submit for, will follow from this.
• Interestingly, when casting directors look at a resume, then first look at the actors training rather than their credits . . . I'm not sure what the logic is, but I'll need to see if I can find this out.

He also spent a great deal of time on monologues -- but that's for tomorrow's entry.