Brian ONeil - Acting as a Business

FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, APRIL 2014

Copyright 1993, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2014 by Brian ONeil

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House LLC, New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, Penguin Random House companies. Originally published in slightly different form in the United States by Heinemann, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc., Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 2005.

Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

Portions from Actors Take Action: A Career Guide for the Competitive Actor by Brian ONeil. Copyright 1996 by Brian ONeil. Published by Heinemann, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
ONeil, Brian.
Acting as a business : strategies for success / by Brian ONeil.5th ed., 1st Vintage Books ed.
p. cm.
1. ActingVocational guidanceUnited States. I. Title.
PN2055.O54 2009
792.028023dc22
2009015191

Vintage Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0345-80707-6

eBook ISBN: 978-0-345-80708-3
Cover design by Linda Huang

www.vintagebooks.com

v3.1_r3

For my wonderful parents
my mother, Aileen Therese ONeil,
and my father, Joseph Patrick ONeil

For their assistance and support in this fifth edition of Acting as a Business: Strategies for Success, there are many people to whom I am indebted and to whom I wish to express my gratitude. Thank you, Anthony Gentile, Donna Daley, Robert Rigley, Rosemary Keough, Paul dePasquale, Stephen Gregory, Brick Karnes, Scott Comin, Anthony Cistaro, Josh Casaubon, David Charles, Jason Nuzzo, Jason Milton, Lorraine Gracey, Ben Curtis, Kyle Zingler, Tony Vincent, Lisa Gold, Tony Nation, Paul Michael, Lanie Zipoy, Tom Rowen, Max Van Bel, Catherine Weidner, Brandon Ruckdashel, Terry Schreiber, Matt Jared, Zachary Wagman, Holly Lebed, Jane Kronick, Jeffrey Gill, Robin Dornbaum, Jenny Carbone, Marilynn Zitner, Claudia Black, Diana Secker Tesdell, Lisa Beach, Jane Jenkins, JoAnna Beckson, Ron Stetson, Michael Howard, Jack Newman, Larry Singer, David Alan Basche, Mary Harden, Nancy Curtis, Josh Radnor, Eric Millegan, Colin OLeary, Sam Chwat, Sherry Eaker, Dan Mason, Marilyn Glasser, Lois Goodwin, Arline McGovern, Tess Steinkolk, Robert Todd, Lydia Laurans, Barry Shapiro, Janis Dardaris, Andrea Frierson, Tim Phillips, Kevin Brunnock, Jacob Harran, Susan Varon, Steven Harris, Ellen Orchid, Sara Krieger, Mimi Hines, Flo Rothacker, Scott Glasgow, Joan See, and Melanie Baker.

For their continued support of my work with their students, I am grateful to Katherine Hood and Jerry Shafnisky of the Drama Division at the Juilliard School; Kyle Donnelly, Charlie Oates, and Linn Fridy at the University of California, San Diego; Evan Yionoulis and James Bundy at the Yale School of Drama; Daniel Renner at Theatre Development Fund; Ray Dooley at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Stephen Berenson and Brian McEleny at Brown University/Trinity Rep Consortium; Richard Seer at the University of San Diego/Old Globe Theatre; Donna Snow and David Ingram at Temple University; Lisa Nicholas at Syracuse University; John David Lutz at the University of Evansville; Deborah White McEniry at Anderson University; and Roberta Sloan at Florida International University.

Thank you also to my mentors (and friends) Steve Carson and the late Fifi Oscard, who taught me everything and entrusted me with so much responsibility so early on. Thanks to Matthew Broderick and Meg Ryan and to my agent (and friend) Barbara Hogenson.

A very special thanks to Lisa A. Barnett for her invaluable suggestions, guidance, warmth, and humor. And for their ongoing support, my gratitude to Kerry, Chris, Marie, Michael, Cheryl, Joe, and Liz ONeil.

And to the many actors it has been my pleasure to know, my friends and clientsyou have enriched my life. Thanks to you all.

Id like to say thank you to the acting communities of New York, Los Angeles, and everywhere in between for having made the first four editions of Acting as a Business: Strategies for Successsuccessful! After selling through twenty-five printings, we now have a completely revised and updated fifth edition.

I have two minor revisions left to make, and I have saved them especially for this space. In the introduction, youll read that the information in this book is based on my twenty years of experience in the entertainment industry. Thats now thirty years. The introduction will also tell you that Ive held over one thousand private, in-depth career-planning and counseling sessions. Make that four thousand.

The latter point is crucial. Most of you who have met me since the first edition was printed have reinforced and reassured me of what I already knew to be true: These ideas work.

Theres something else. Over the past several years many actors have told me that Acting as a Business inspired them. It was never my intention to inspire, only to inform. However, if these words also serve to inspire you, all the better.

For best results, I recommend reading the book in its entirety before implementing any of the ideas or strategies I have outlined. And if there are topics youd like to see covered in subsequent editions, or if you are looking for information pertaining to my services, please contact me through my website: www.actingasabusiness.com.

Certainly, there has been no dearth of books written on the subjects of starting an acting career and breaking into show business. And much has already been said regarding the need for quality training, proper photographs, and resume format. And, of course, we have been repeatedly treated to the time-worn admonition that show business is a business, and that perhaps more than talent and luck, the trait most necessary for success is persistence.

What has not been written, to the best of my knowledge, are words that instruct the actor in specific methods and strategies that the actor can implement to create career-advancing opportunities. In other words, actors have not been taught how to persist.

Some years ago, when I was an actor myself, a famous casting director said to me, You have to bug these agents and casting directors! Bug them, in a good way, I mean! This seemed to me, contradictory. Bug them in a good way? What did this mean? It haunted me! Later, as a talent agent, I would discover what it meant. And still I would have to bug peoplebug them to audition my clientsif I was to thrive as an agent. What words would open doors for the clients I represented? I was soon to learn! In the manner that agents speak to casting directors, directors, and producers on behalf of their clients, so must the actor learn to speak to agents, casting directors, directors, etc., on their own behalf. But actors often dont know how best to communicate, because they are often unaware of specifically what those with whom they are communicating need. Therefore, much of this book concerns communicationboth spoken and writtenthat most clearly and effectively makes an impact on both those who represent actors and those who hire them. The book also details resources by which an actor can research and gain access to necessary casting informationwell in advance of the casting process. Perhaps most important, this book will teach the actor how to ask for what he or she wants from those in a position to give it.

The information in this book is based on thirty years of experience in the entertainment industry: as an actor, as well as a talent agent and personal manager who represented actors in the areas of theater, film, television, commercials, and radio. These observations also come from over four thousand private, in-depth career-planning and counseling sessions I have had over several years with actors at every career level. This is