An Actor's Guide--Your First Year in Hollywood

In this friendly and authoritative companion, a working actor offers essential information for every actor beginning a career in Hollywood. Coverage includes: getting to know Los Angeles, finding a place to live, earning a living while auditioning, getting a SAG card, finding an agent, auditioning, building credits, getting exposure, contracts, publicity, landing parts, keeping the right frame of mind, and more. Interviews with well-known casting directors, agents, and actors provide firsthand tips. Useful lists of contacts and a glossary are also included.

Nicholas has penned a pep talk and warning for the novice actor intent on finding employment in the performing-arts mecca of the world. An actor himself, he provides personal tips and insight, including a questionable chapter on how to stay mentally, emotionally, and physically fit. On firmer ground, he includes advice from casting directors, photographers, agents, other actors, and a writer/producer, a publicist, a manager, and an acting coach. He coaches how to become an extra, what are the requirements for membership in the Screen Actors Guild (a sample SAG contract is included), and how to audition. Nicholas emphasizes the importance of photographs, resumes, and, most of all, perseverance. Addresses for soap operas, game shows, and talent agencies are included. Encouraging but mostly realistic, Nicholas's book could be helpful to those who will not be disuaded from moving to the coast in search of glamor, but libraries that already have M.K. Lewis's comparably priced Your Film Acting Career (Gorham House, 1993) can make this an optional purchase.?Kim R. Holston, American Inst. for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters Lib., Malvern, Pa.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.