Act Like It's Your Business: Branding and Marketing Strategies for Actors

by Jonathan Flom

Overview

Many actors treat their profession as a purely artistic endeavor, rarely conceding that there is more to making a living than simply showing up on stage or in front of a camera. By refusing to seriously acknowledge that self-promotion is vital to their livelihoods, many performers can get quickly discouraged by the vicious circle of audition and rejection. However, with a little foresight and planning, actors can learn how to become their own best advocates for a career in the business of show.

In Act Like It’s Your Business:Branding and Marketing Strategies for Actors, Jonathan Flom helps actors and others in the arts understand the power of branding. This guide walks the reader through the process of creating a personal brand for a small business and then marketing that brand and broadcasting it through every step of the process—from choosing clothing, arranging headshots, and designing resumes to selecting a repertoire, building a website, obtaining business cards, and networking. Flom also offers advice on such real-world issues as goal-setting, finances, contracts, and day jobs and provides insight and guidance on how to approach agents, auditions, and casting directors.

A book of empowerment meant to shift the balance of control to actors themselves, Act Like It’s Your Business is aimed atprofessional performers as well as students who are getting ready to transition from college to career. Structured logically and step by step, this accessible guide will become the standard for nearly anyone hoping to build an enduring career in the performing arts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810891593
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	07/18/2013
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Flom is an associate professor of theatre and the musical theatre program coordinator at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia. Also a professional director, Flom is the author of Get the Callback: The Art of Auditioning for Musical Theatre (Scarecrow Press, 2009), which has become one of the foremost sources of audition technique across the country.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

1. Pre-Show Announcement
2. Overture

ACT I – Preparing for your career: What is in your Control?

1. Act I, Scene 1 – Begin with Goals
2. Act I, Scene 2 – What is Branding?
3. Act I, Scene 3 – How Does an Actor Begin to Craft a Brand?
4. Act I, Scene 4 – You Have a Brand; Now What Do You Do With It?
1. Attire
2. Headshots
3. Resumes
4. Cover Letters
5. Repertoire
6. Business Cards and Postcards
7. Websites
8. Social Media
9. Attitude/Reputation
5. Act I, Scene 5 – The Six “Be’s”
6. Entr’ Acte
1. Check in on your budget log
2. Supporting yourself in the city: Day jobs vs. Self-Employment
3. Working for free
4. A brief word about taxes

ACT II – Putting it into Practice

1. Act II, Scene 1 – General Audition Technique
2. Act II, Scene 2 – Agents and Casting Directors
3. Act II, Scene 3 – Equity versus Non-Equity
4. Act II, Scene 4 – Contracts and taking/turning down work
5. Act II, Scene 5 — Networking
6. Act II, Scene 6 – The Cities Project
7. Bows
8. Recommended Reading
9. About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Those who have encountered young actors on campus will have heard the question, 'How do I get my career started?' Many professors will inevitably start talking about training, auditioning, and honing the craft of acting. In this book, Flom (theater, Shenandoah Conservatory, and a professional theater director) offers important, up-to-date information about the business side of acting—the way an actor establishes and promotes him- or herself to get work and keep working. This little gem of a book covers such standard subjects as auditioning (both live and video processes), agents, and networking, but it also includes information about branding oneself as a unique actor, marketing oneself, and setting realistic goals for success in the field. The easily digestible chapters are written in no-nonsense language. Flom does not gloss over unpleasant topics like financial stability or career longevity, and in a chapter titled 'The Cities Project' he encourages actors to think about careers that do not necessarily focus on New York or LA. The book also includes 'Performer Profiles'—interviews with working professionals from the many facets of the business. This book is long overdue in the extensive literature on careers in acting. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; professionals.

CHOICE

Flom (theater and musical theater, Shenandoah Conservatory) helps actors just starting out (and some who have been out there for a while) understand how important it is to sell your own special "brand." He helps students prepare for their career by determining what is in their control, beginning with goals and crafting a brand. He then gives advice on audition techniques, agents, casting directors, equity versus non-equity, and networking. To make sure that performers understand the "branding" concept along with the traditional routes to selling yourself he includes portraits of people just starting out, self-help questions, and asks hard-hitting questions, such as just how naked do you want to be on film.

Inc. Book News

Those who have encountered young actors on campus will have heard the question, 'How do I get my career started?' Many professors will inevitably start talking about training, auditioning, and honing the craft of acting. In this book, Flom (theater, Shenandoah Conservatory, and a professional theater director) offers important, up-to-date information about the business side of acting—the way an actor establishes and promotes him- or herself to get work and keep working. This little gem of a book covers such standard subjects as auditioning (both live and video processes), agents, and networking, but it also includes information about branding oneself as a unique actor, marketing oneself, and setting realistic goals for success in the field. The easily digestible chapters are written in no-nonsense language. Flom does not gloss over unpleasant topics like financial stability or career longevity, and in a chapter titled 'The Cities Project' he encourages actors to think about careers that do not necessarily focus on New York or LA. The book also includes 'Performer Profiles'—interviews with working professionals from the many facets of the business. This book is long overdue in the extensive literature on careers in acting. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; professionals.

Choice Reviews

Those who have encountered young actors on campus will have heard the question, 'How do I get my career started?' Many professors will inevitably start talking about training, auditioning, and honing the craft of acting. In this book, Flom (theater, Shenandoah Conservatory, and a professional theater director) offers important, up-to-date information about the business side of acting—the way an actor establishes and promotes him- or herself to get work and keep working. This little gem of a book covers such standard subjects as auditioning (both live and video processes), agents, and networking, but it also includes information about branding oneself as a unique actor, marketing oneself, and setting realistic goals for success in the field. The easily digestible chapters are written in no-nonsense language. Flom does not gloss over unpleasant topics like financial stability or career longevity, and in a chapter titled 'The Cities Project' he encourages actors to think about careers that do not necessarily focus on New York or LA. The book also includes 'Performer Profiles'—interviews with working professionals from the many facets of the business. This book is long overdue in the extensive literature on careers in acting. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; professionals.

Choice