How to Sell Yourself As an Actor: From New York to Los Angeles and Everywhere in Between

Rating:
Summary: A must have for every actor's library
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: excellent book & resource for all career levels
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: excellent book & resource for all career levels
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Super Book
Review: 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.