Full Description

"Actors need the acceptance of unknowing. That's a legitimate job tool." So says Thomas Mills whose twenty years in the profession-eight of them in LA-have made him something of a philosopher, but even better an insider. Author of the "Tombudsman" and "Working Actor" columns for BackstageWest, Mills knows acting. He knows Los Angeles. And he knows what it takes to survive there-and even thrive. He now shares his knowledge in LA from A to Z.

From A (acting classes, auditions, and agents) to Z (getting enough of them), Mills offers actors a realistic, helpful, and at times bemused guide to life in the big city. Along the way he looks at:

• attitude-a bad one will earn you the ultimate scarlet letter
• boredom-how to deal with that long time between acting jobs
• film set etiquette-don't park in Mr. Katzenberg's space, for starters
• demo reels-be honest, ask yourself, "Based on this, would I hire me?"

Find work. Avoid scams. Cope with your first earthquake. Read Mills and make the most of your LA experience.

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Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction—What This Book Is and Isn’t...
Chapter One: Surviving To Succeed
Chapter Two: Career Acting
A	Acting Classes, Actors, Ageism, Agents, Attitude, Auditions, Avoiding Scams
B	Background Work, Billing and Credits, Breakdowns, Burn Out
C	Casting Directors, Casting Director Workshops, Cold Reading, Commercial Auditioning, Commissions, Consistency, Continuity, Coverage, Crashing auditions
D	Demo Reels, Dialects, Directors, Distractions, Down Cycles
E	Earthquakes, Energy
F	Feedback, Film Auditions, Freelancing
G	Getting Cut, Giving Back, Going Up on Lines, Good Stuff
H	Headshots, Hitting a Mark, Hype
I	Inexperience, Internet–itis, Is It Really Worth It?
J	Jaded, Joining SAG
K	Keeping the Faith
L	Lateness, Looks, Los Angeles—The Living Film Set and Beyond, Los Angeles or New York?, Luck
M	Managers, Marketing
N	Neighborhoods, Nepotism, Nonunion work, Nudity, Numbers
O	On–Set, Overcoming Problem Areas
P	Photographers, Pilot Season, Producers, Public Transportation
Q	Quiet Acting, Quick Results, Quotes
R	Rejection, Residuals, Reviews, Runaway and Disappearing Productions
S	Safety, Self–Esteem, Sexual Harassment, Sides, Stars, Studio Lots, Survival Jobs
T	Television Auditions, Test Deals, Theatre in Los Angeles, Tracking, Traffic, Turning Down work, Typecasting
U	Unemployment
V	Victim Mentality, Voice–Over Work
W	Waiting Rooms, Watching the Show, Working Out
X,Y,Z	X–Rated, You, the Boss of You, Sealots, Zero Auditions
Concluding Thoughts