5 comments about How to Sell Yourself as an Actor: from New York to Los Angeles (and everywhere in between!).

1. Don't call successful actors "sellouts." Everybody has to earn a living. This book is a great reference that will show you how to really sell and market yourself as an actor. Rather than just throwing some stuff out there and seeing if it sticks.
   
   I highly recommend this book if you are an aspiring actor, looking for a real career.



2. I had to review this book. When you're looking for a bit of guidance or reassurance as an actor from a book, you want to be sure that you're spending money on a good opinion. So to any actor that's feeling a little lost and is in between auditions, I think this is a worthwhile buy. However, if you're a pretty opportunistic and entrepeneurial kind of person with a positive attitude and bucket loads of self-belief, then I'd keep a hold of your money. K Callan's book is great to give you that motivation you need to keep going. It's practical, sensical and, although you could probably think of a lot of her ideas yourself, sometimes it's great to have it written down on the page - a checklist of sorts. I live in Australia and I still found it helpful. Basically, the book is a way to get you thinking about yourself - what you have to offer, is there work for you, how can you market yourself, how can you create your own work and then thinking about the marketplace - who's going to hire you, what are producers, casting agents thinking when they see you. It's all those non-acting elements that are vital to your career. The only thing I didn't like so much, as usual, is her list of figures about the type of career you can expect - average length five years!! - the rest of the time, you're just trying to get by. I think that's important to keep in mind, but you can't shoot for the moon and always be practical and realistic. You've gotta have those big dreams and believe you're going to be the next.... But, just be grateful for the breaks you do get.
   Easy read, great wrap up tips at the end of each chapter. A good motivator.



3. As a talent agent, I've been lucky enough to speak with K Callan at several seminars and I've always been impressed by her concern for actors who are just starting out in the business. Her book is full of valuable information and I think every actor out there will benefit from reading it.



4. okay...so maybe not ALL career levels. if you're julia roberts or deniro, i think you can pass up this book (but probably only because you're now rich enough to PAY someone to handle all this rigamarole for you, not b/c you couldn't learn anything from it). i have been an actor in nyc for the past 5 1/2 years, and when i picked up this book, i wrongly thought that it would be juvenile in tone and would offer me little that i didn't already know. not so. yes, the first few chapters deal with issues that many mid-career folks have already encountered, but the majority of the book is very informative and insightful even to hardened, old actors like myself - choosing an agent and/or manager, unions, protocol and etiquette, and my favorite, a chapter she calls 'getting a life.' she paints no pretty, glamorous picture of the biz, the info is updated and current, and it's a pleasant read. don't be a snobby actor...you've got something to learn; buy the book.



5. This is a great book to guide an actor to the different aspects of chasing her/his dream. She gives advice in every possible thing an actor can face. Buy this book with your eyes closed.
   I give it 5 stars despite the fact that I have a comment to the author. At the end of the book, she gives an advice that could detriment and help an actor not following this career. Because she writes that some well known actors, like Duchovny, after they reached the fame they have now, are not happy, and feel empty. I criticize her in this issue, because, she could have taken this information as an advantage to the actor, as an inspiration and not as a negative warning as she did, instead she could teach that sometimes actors chase this profession for the wrong reasons. She could have said that if an actor just want the money and fame, and is not interested also in the pleasure that acting brings, he or she will be disappointed, because once you get there, you will notice that you are the same person in the inside. She can use this information to show that the grade of frustration sometimes reached in this profession is not different from the one reached in other professions as well. I have a cousin who was in his 5th year of Medicine, and told me he was bored and tired, because he realized, medicine was not what he expected. That was 7 years ago. Today he is a radiologist, but he would rather be a full time Digital Photographer. So, there's no reason to disempower a future actor with a wrong interpretation of a fact. Because probably she will finish in another activity, that will bring even more dissatisfaction. And is well known that when we, actors, feel a little emptiness, is usually for a short time, while we recharge our batteries. On the other side, I have seen lots of other professionals, with years of frustration for not following their initial dream, but I have never seen a working actor frustrated because he wants to be a dentist or engineer.

4 comments about Autobahn: A Short-Play Cycle.

1. I have both read these plays and seen them produced at a small theater in Los Angeles. Whether on the page or stage, these plays are always interesting, incisive, and leave you pondering them for days afterward. Much like a good short story, LaBute is able - in just a few pages - to conjure up his worlds and characters in full, letting you know enough about them that you have a good idea (often an unsettling one, to tell the truth) of what happens to characters once the play ends.
   
   It's not all doom and gloom, though. There are laughs throughout, even the occasional sweet moment, albeit against backdrops that aren't 100% wholesome. Although if you are looking for 100% wholesome, LaBute wouldn't be your first choice. From an acting point of view, it's difficult to find material that does a better job of celebrating theater in its most basic form. Difficult to be sure (in many of the plays, one of the characters doesn't say anything at all!), but thrilling when well executed.
   
   The short play, like the short film, doesn't have a lot of marketability in the commercial sphere, and it is a treat that one of our leading playwrights has tried his (expert) hand at them. If you like short stories, or are a fan of good writing for the stage, you'll enjoy Autobahn.



2. Autobahn is a collection of seven vignettes that all take place in cars. That's the basic idea, but anyone familiar with Mr. Labute's work should be aware by this point that nothing he writes is ever as simple as it's synopsis or (how I loathe this word) it's PLOT. Just as In The Company Of Men is not simply about two men who torment a deaf woman, this is so much more than what it initially appears and intelligent readers will be rewarded for their efforts.
   
   The scenes range from funny to disturbing to downright heartbreaking: A man questions his wife about having been raped while on a business trip only to discover that it was consensual. A mother picks up her daughter from rehab only to listen to a painful but honest confession of a desire to relapse. A pedophile kidnaps a young girl and drives her to a desolate lakeside cabin, all the while convincing her that it will be fun.
   
   The interesting thing about Autobahn, and the challenge I think for actors and directors, is performing a play which is so spatially limited. Movement is cut way down and what we are left with are the words they speak and the stories they tell. In this way Autobahn can be read as experimental, but it is also deeply rooted in classic storytelling; folks sitting around a campfire, the guy at the bar telling you a tale of loss or betrayal, or (as is the case here) the driver telling the hitchhiker a story they can not ignore but probably do not want to hear. The doors are locked, the speedometer is rising and the radio is broken. All you can do is listen. Enjoy.



3. I just saw a production of this, and unlike my fellow reviewer, who appreciated it's depth and power, I and my friend who went with me, were pissed and aggravated at the excess that Autobahn represents.
   Now I've read much of LaBute's work, and seen several of his films, so I am aware of his style. I have liked his works and notice when he is active. But this was a lesson in the danger of artistic ease, of guaranteed publication, of knowing that there will be people lined up to see one's newest work; because the name has overtaken the substance of the work. And like a subplicant I and my friend went to see this...and it was a lousy experience. And not for the acting, or the set. But because putting people into a car to deal with each other's various conflicts or monumental gaffs or uncontrollable urges and thinking that is all that is needed to illuminate our dark recesses is naive at worst and cruel at best. And nine scenes of cruelty is not my idea of a good time, nor are nine scenes of foolishness.
   LaBute mailed this one in. One star for the scene Bench Seat (with possible half credit going to the actors) and an occaisonal laugh.



4. I've read all of Labute's plays, and this one is greater than the others in some new and interesting ways. I always read his introduction last, because it usually gives away some of the story. This intro said two really cool things.
   
   He introduces the first cool thing by a fellow playwright wanting to "see his play performed in living rooms, in front of audiences of ten or twelve people. I feel the same way. Theater is anywhere you make it. I hope that with this print edition of autobahn actors take the text and memorize it, gather their friends in their own cars, and take off down the road, filling those intimate interiors with my words and their emotions. That would be a pleasure to behold."
   
   This is really cool, because as I was reading one of the six acts in the play called "long division," I realized that was a play that I would enjoy memorizing and performing in front of friends. I'm not an actor at all, but this book contains a bunch of one person and two person stories that are short enough for the lay person to memorize. That's what I think is cool about this book, is I could picture high school drama classes using this, and it really is some of the best literature out there.
   
   It's also ironic, because all of his books have a warning about needing to arrange a royalty schedule for any public performance of his play.
   
   The second cool thing is about how plays encourage the imagination by having very scaled down and limited sets. I saw a local play that had a limited set about a week after reading this intro, and Labute's discussion on this aspect of theater accentuated my experience.
   
   About the actual stories...I keep using the word "haunting" to describe his work. It's extremely well written, and the stories just stick with me. I keep thinking of the story where the girl tells her mother "I know I'm gonna do everything within my power to use again." For some reason I can't get that out of my mind, and I think that it's kind of an allegory to a bunch of other things in life. The other one that sticks with me is where the husband tries to convince himself that the wife didn't do it again. "You didn't, did you? No, you didn't. I know you wouldn't do that again. Right? You would not...Honey? Angel?"
   
   The rest of the stories are like that...they haunt me because they stick with me.

5 comments about Stage Management (7th Edition).

1. Indeed the Lawrence Stern Book is one of many excellent books on the topic of Stage Management. Perhaps the now plethora of excellent texts comes from the intrinsic organizational skills required in the industry. At one time the LS text was the only modern text on the topic, but since there are now a number of great books, some even better, I'd urge folks to consider them. The Thomas Kelly book, for instance has a very similar organization, and seems to be somewhat more current. To me the Kelly book is a much better value.



2. I used this book for my stage management class. It is an excellent starter book for any stage managers library. Pick this one up.



3. Stern writes as if he were sitting around talking. The book is extremely easy to read. And the subject of stage management is so thouroughly covered that I feel confident to approach any task a director would lay before me. Appropriately nicknamed, this is the "Bible of Stage Management"!



4. This book is completely indispensible. It helped me very much, and I recommend it to anyone involved in theatre - either onstage or backstage.



5. This book is the penultimate guide for stage managers. From what every stage manager should have in their box to pre-show tech checks to the obvious and sometimes not so obvious responsibilities of the stage manager, Mr Stern covers them all, and much, much more. If you're just starting out, or even if you've stage managed before - Buy this book. You won't regret it!

1 comments about A Prescription to Kill.

1. When Dr. Carrie Williams is asked to help with an assisted suicide at a small town hospital in Oregon, the only state in the union where assisted suicide is legal, she has no idea that she is about to be used as a tool for murder. Caught up in events beyond her control she's stripped of her hospital privileges, threatened with the loss of her medical license, and becomes a suspect in a murder investigation. Forced into hiding by threats on her life she seeks the help of John Kirk, a staff reporter for The Seattle Times, to help her clear her name.
   
   Thomas W. Griffin scores a ten with his second novel. A page-turner in the true sense of the term, A PRESCRIPTION TO KILL is a thriller that leads its readers through a maze of medical ethics, false accusation, suspicion, and a trail littered with murders. Suspense, mystery and thriller fans will appreciate this action-packed and very original novel.

1 comments about Teaching Movement & Dance.

1. No music or p.e. teacher should be without this book! It is just amazing. Easy to follow steps, great for teaching form and basic movements to children. So much fun!

5 comments about Taxi Driver (BFI Film Classics).

1. I thoroughly enjoyed this insightful little book, especially it's satisfying psychological portrait of Travis Bickle, "Taxi Driver's" disturbed and fascinating protaganist, deftly played by Robert De Niro. Amy Taubin is a gifted writer, whose acute sensitivity--perhaps a bit too acute regarding some of her comments about Bremmer--makes for an engrossing read. It's inconceivable to me that anyone who reads this work could put it down without a deeper appreciation of this seductive, volatile film.



2. This is a very short book that summarizes the plot of Taxi Driver. The author adds a handful of ideas along the way, ranging from the obvious (Travis Bickle is a borderline personality) to the questionable (when buying guns, he's choosing from a wide range of penises). It helps that the author is a woman. Her take on the violence and sexuality of the story is slightly different from the other (male) reviews I have read. However, there's so little here that is new, it's not worth buying. This would be better as a chapter in a larger book.



3. I felt that many of the ideas 'behind' Taxi Driver postulated here were rather far-fetched to the point of being ludicrous. I can't elaborate as it's been years since I've read it.



4. This is a very good look at "Taxi Driver." Taubin covers the making of the film (the money Scorsese got for making it might buy one day's worth of catering today) and gives the movie a very close analysis. She touches on key issues such as 1)how it stays close to and deviates from Arthur Bremer's experiences as he tracked George Wallace 2) the interplay between Bernard Herrmann's score and the images 3)how "Taxi Driver" can be seen as borrowing from the horror film 4) how Travis Bickle relates to black people. These are topics that, to me, have not really been covered in such depth before.

   "Taxi Driver" is very well done, one of the best in the BFI series.




5. With this entry in the BFI Film Classics collection, Amy Taubin has written a very well-researched, entertaining and informative examination of this indisputable American film classic. In addition, this book isn't too literate or hard to understand, as some of these type of film analyses can be. It is written clearly and with a great deal of detail. A must for any fan of this film, anyone interested in American cinema of the 70's, or fans of legendary director Martin Scorsese. Excellent!

3 comments about Echo Booming Monologues: 100 Monologues for Teens.

1. After only a few of these one hundred monologues for teens,
   it is very obvious this former drama teacher is in touch
   with her audience. And it seems to me adolescents need to
   start by expressing their real feelings (in and out of
   plays) instead of grasping for the larger issues of Love,
   Death and God they seem to think gain them more attention (I
   only found one of these here, a child talking to his or her
   dead mother at her gravestone). Each of these monologues has
   a built in drama playing up the opposites possibilities of
   its subject matter in a way to make and audience wonder what
   will happen. And each builds to a climax that would allow
   the actor to show off his or her strengths.
   
   Some of the monologues struck me as more poignant that
   others--"A Favor" in which a young person asks a friend if
   the speaker can sleep over at the friend's house because his
   or her father is acting strange; "Thanks, I Think" where a
   guy gets a ring from his aunt but worries that it might be
   designed for a girl; and "Jerk" in which the speaker finds
   his or her birthmother but that person doesn't want to speak
   to her child. These made me think there are real situations
   that happen outside of the classroom and the author is
   giving teenagers words they perhaps would have difficulty
   finding on their own to express how they feel. That seems
   very healthy and worthwhile in itself. Isn't it the same
   reason we, as adults, go to plays, read books and attend
   thoughtful movies? They help us express what we cannot.
   
   When the monologues dip into the vernacular they seem less
   genuine to me: "I came home from work and she was out of
   there man. No, man. Yeah, it kind of sucks, but that's cool.
   No note, no nothing. Yeah, dude I'm sure. Dude, I looked all
   over the place. You think I don't look all over the place?
   She's my mother, man." But there are cut-ups I knew in my
   high school teaching days that I can hear doing "Money" with
   its quirky logic and ironic conclusion. And were I the
   teacher of students doing these, I would certainly ask why
   they chose the particular ones they did. I can see many an
   active class discussion following their answers.
   
   I didn't really spot any clinkers. These monologues seem
   thoughtful, field-tested and great tools for teachers of
   drama, English, creative writing, and some classes in
   sociology that involve self-discovery. And what would happen
   if after reading and performing these you asked kids to
   write some of their own? I just bet they would include
   teacher/student interaction, sex, drugs and rock
   music--conspicuously absent in this collection (probably
   because administrators and parents would object). But there
   is plenty here and it is terrific. Plus, what a great title
   for the book, whatever the "Echo Boomer" term may mean about
   the audience's generation. This is a very worthwhile tool
   for students and teachers. As "Use It" says: "I know I'm
   only fifteen, but I'm smart enough to know that a lot of the
   crap you're going through right now, it's gonna change. It
   just seems like it never will. But, hey, you know what, look
   at the bright side. You're an actress. You're an artist. You
   have the opportunity to take all this...stuff...I mean this
   pain, and use it. Use it baby. If you look at it like that,
   all the bad stuff that happens, it's the best thing that any
   actor could hope for." Bravo!



2. Sensitive, powerful messages, reflecting teen Echo Boomer daily life, values, tribulations and triumphs and will to succeed.



3. Echo Booming is a soul searching look into the lives of today's youth. Humorous, insightful, and for delivery straight to the heart, these monologues hit a Bull's-Eye!

5 comments about John Carpenter: The Prince of Darkness.

1. This is an excellent work,probably the best thing a John Carpenter fan could wish for,almost as fascinating and exciting as the movies themselves,John Carpenter in his own words,with the help of the excellent questions provided by the author,most of them of the kind I would like to raise myself.Only fault there is not much talk on his latest movies,at least not to the extent I would like.A great book to read and have,and a great gift to everyone who ever really felt what a John Carpenter film feels like.



2. Featuring details from all his films, including the writing, the problems, the music and everything in between. This is an essential book for any John Carpenter fan! It also gives details of his childhood, Howard Hawks and other films that have inspired him, Growing up in Bowling Green and his time learning the trade he knows so well.



3. this book is great. it covers every film in good detail and carpenter doesn't sugar coat any details and shares some great stories. this book is contagious and essintle reading for any who loves the films of john carpenter or films in his genre. do your self a favor and buy this book now!



4. While I have always been a huge fan of John Carpenter, enjoying each of his movies on more than just one level, I never really knew that much personal information about the man behind the camera. This book changes all that with a lengthy interview that touches on topics both professional and personal. Both film buffs and Carpenter fans will come away feeling as if they have been talking with the quiet, self-deprecating man that has written, scored, and directed such trend starting classics as Halloween and Escape from New York. This is required reading for any Carpenter fan. Highest recommendation.



5. In John Carpenter: The Prince of Darkness, French author and magazine publisher Gilles Boulenger conducts a lengthy (book-length, obviously!) interview with the man who has done more for the horror movie genre than any other director working today.

   In the book, Carpenter touches on and discusses each of his films - from the student project Dark Star from 1970 to his most recent (at the time of this book) The Ghosts Of Mars - revealing his thoughts and memories on the inspiration, method, problems, filming, cast, box office, lessons learned from his successes and failures, and more.

   We learn of such disparate topics as: his first initial directing efforts as a child; being inspired by German expressionism; the inspiration drawn from Howard Hawks movies and how many of Carpenter's films are simply westerns in disguise; his early obsession and present-day compulsion to make films; and even trying to write a movie for Barbara Streisand (sort of!);

   It is a wonderful, in-depth look into the mind of a modern-day director. Particularly interesting is seeing, through Carpenter's own words, his growth in maturity as a director, both in his craft and, sadly, learning how the "studio system" really works--executives who don't know what they're doing making decisions that usually worked to the disadvantage of the film.

   Through the book we read, fascinated, as Carpenter's career comes to resemble a roller coaster - we read as the director's films slowly rise in terms of success, accolades, and budget, culminating in a huge hit or peak - invariably followed by a huge failure, sending Carpenter plummeting back down the ride that is a career as a film director, resulting in him basically having to start over from scratch.

   Author Boulenger is an intelligent and insightful interviewer. He seems to know every minute detail about Carpenter's movies and often brings to the table telling insights and interpretations that even Carpenter hadn't thought of, but readily agrees to.

   The book is generously illustrated with photographs and some sketches, including a handsome 24-page collection of color photos.

   Only a few minor problems for me with the book: while each of Carpenter's films are touched on and discussed, some are not "...thoroughly..." discussed as the book's back cover offers. While one can argue their quality or importance, some films, such as Body Bags and Elvis: The Movie--among others--are allotted just one or two pages.

   Also, while the behind-the-scenes photos in the book are interesting and fun to have, many of the production photos reproduced here are very common and have been seen many times before. More unique, less often-seen photos would have been nice.

   But those two minor quibbles cannot begin to take away from the greater achievement of the book - a fascinating, thoughtful, career-spanning, one-on-one personal conversation with the man who's made some of the most important and interesting horror movies in the past few decades.

   Highly recommended.

1 comments about The Prestige - Screenplay.

1. A page turner with great visuals. Captivating from page one. One can only hope it transfers to the screen with the same brilliance.

2 comments about See the Circus (Lift the Flap Series).

1. This is a great board book for kids, and we find out the name of the man in the yellow hat. All of HA Rey's "Lift the Flap" books are great.



2. I love ALL of these H.A. Rey "Lift the Flap" books. They are just well done and appealing. His art work is so innocent and perfect for children, a rare thing in this modern world of distorted, cartoon caricature-type art so prevalent in children's books today. I have 3 children, ages 19, 10, and 4 and ALL of them loved these books at certain times in their childhoods. In this one, it is very colorful and varied in its pictures of what you would see at the circus. It is one of our favorites in this series. I have never given this book to a child and not seen the child enthralled by it and going through it again and again, opening the flaps each time. If you are looking for a sure-fire hit for a small child (2-6 or so) then get this book. They can enjoy it themselves, and even if it becomes a favorite that mom and dad have to read over and over and over....(it's happened to me lots of times!), Mom and Dad will love it too, because it is not too long to get tired of. It is a very good price, and while a paperback, I find it sturdy. Our first set was bought 14 yrs. ago or so, and just now we had to replace them. These new ones are made of much sturdier paper. I guarantee you will like this book! And your child will too.