Table Of ContentACTING: Make It
Your Business
In ACTING: Make It Your Business, Second Edition, award- winning casting director
Paul Russell puts the power to land jobs and thrive in any medium—stage, film,
television, or the Internet—directly into the hands of the actor.
This blunt and practical guide offers a wealth of advice on auditioning,
marketing, and networking, combining traditional techniques with those best
suited for the digital age. Well-k nown actors and powerful agents and managers
make cameos throughout, offering newcomers and working professionals alike
a clear-e yed, uncensored perspective on survival and advancement within the
entertainment industry. This second edition has been updated and expanded to
include the following:
• More stars of screen and stage sharing acting career strategies
• Digital audition techniques for screen and stage, including how best to self-t ape
• New tools to master modern marketing, both digital and traditional with
innovation
• Expanded actor resource listings
• Additional bicoastal talent agents and managers spilling secrets for obtaining
representation, and tips for successful actor- to- representation partnerships
• New insights on audition techniques
An excellent resource for career actors, beginning and amateur actors, as well as
students in Acting I and II, Auditions, and Business of Acting courses, ACTING:
Make It Your Business provides readers with invaluable tools to build a successful,
long- lasting acting career.
Paul Russell’s career as a casting director, director, and former actor has spanned
more than forty years. He has worked on projects for major film studios, television
networks, Broadway, and regionally. He directs for leading regional theaters and
teaches master classes to actors at universities and colleges.
Praise for the First Edition
“Humorous and witty. . . . Actors everywhere who are trying to succeed in the
business, young or old, on stage or on camera, in New York or anywhere in the
world, take note: This is your road map.”
—Bernard Telsey, casting director
(This Is Us, Th Greatest Showman, Tales of the City, Hamilton)
“All the right questions asked and answered . . . and with a generous portion of
good humor.”
—Suzanne Ryan, casting director (Law & Order, Unforgettable)
“Paul’s book made me proud to be a part of the acting community in this business
we call ‘show.’ ”
—Karen Ziemba, actress, Tony and Drama Desk Award winner
“A necessity for any actor. Read it again and again. Listen . . . and learn.”
—Richard Rose, producing artistic director (1993–2019), Barter Theatre
“Paul Russell’s words are not only blunt and accurate, they zero in on all the ques-
tions every actor wants to know but is afraid to ask.”
—Ken Melamed, talent agency partner, Bret Adams, Ltd.
ACTING: Make It
Your Business
How to Avoid Mistakes and Achieve
Success as a Working Actor
Second Edition
Paul Russell
Second edition published 2021
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Taylor & Francis
The right of Paul Russell to be identified as author of this work has been asserted
by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
First edition published by Back Stage Books 2008
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Russell, Paul, 1964– author.
Title: Acting : make it your business : how to avoid mistakes and achieve success
as a working actor / Paul Russell.
Description: Second edition. | New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. | “First edition
published by Back Stage Books 2008.”
Identifiers: LCCN 2020014801 (print) | LCCN 2020014802 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781138299498 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138503922 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781315145648 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Acting—Vocational guidance.
Classification: LCC PN2055 .R87 2021 (print) | LCC PN2055 (ebook) |
DDC 792.02/8023—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020014801
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020014802
ISBN: 978-1 - 138-2 9949- 8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1 - 138-5 0392- 2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1 - 315-1 4564- 8 (ebk)
Typeset in Minion
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For Sandy,
my mom,
who once dreamt of life upon the wicked stage
For Harry,
my father,
who “out there in the dark”
documented my acting career
Contents
Introduction: Cows and Greasepaint—A Journey Begins 1
1 Working Actors Speak Out: Candor and the Business 10
2 Being an Actor: A Tough Love 53
3 Training for the Actor: Tend Your Dreams 81
4 The Picture and Résumé: An Actor’s Business Card 95
5 Cover Letters and E- mail: Covering Your Assets 135
6 Actor Marketing: Set Yourself Apart From the Crowd 170
7 Auditions Actors Encounter: Are Your Auditions Safe? 210
8 Audition Preparation: Be First, First 232
9 Audition Strategies: Leaving a Lasting Impression 258
10 Negotiating the Contract: Get It on Paper 298
11 Rejection: “Thanks for coming in . . .” 313
12 Agents and Managers: An Introduction 322
13 Agents and Managers: Finding One 353
14 Agents and Managers: Keeping One 378
vii
viii Contents
15 Exit Lines: Parting Advice 399
Acknowledgments 408
Appendix 409
Index 419
About the Author 430
Everything I say is right.
Everything I say is wrong.
There are many confl cting opinions in this industry.
Don’t take one person’s words as gospel, including mine.
Take what works for you.
—Paul Russell
