Nothing to do tonight in LA!? Join me and Bonnie Gillespie to talk career.
There are still seats left. RSVP with a quick email and consider yourself confirmed.
--Jackie

Back Stage invites you to this month's Successful Actor—an ongoing educational series in partnership with the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles.

This month's topic is: "What do you do before you land an agent? Manage Yourself!"

The guest speaker is Bonnie Gillespie, casting director and author of "Self Management for Actors: Getting Down to (Show) Business." Topics include: setting up shop in L.A., marketing tools, self-promotion, submissions, auditions, and—eventually—finding a representative.

The moderator will be Jackie Apodaca, senior columnist for Back Stage and contributor to our advice column " The Working Actor."

Successful Actor takes place on Tuesday, October 27th at 7:30 PM at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (1336 North La Brea Ave., Hollywood, CA). Parking entrance is on De Longpre St.

Admission is FREE and seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please RSVP to laevents@backstage.com. See you there!



http://www.backstage.com/bso/n...elf-1004019134.story

Great stuff! *thumbs up*

Lookin' forward to next month's.

Highly recommended for anyone curious about the series!

THANK YOU FOR HOSTING THIS EVENT!

I got A LOT out of it. More than those CD events that I had to pay for.

hey, you guys were there? i was too! i love bonnie!

but i don't know... in general, as these events become more and more popular, they seem to take on this feeling of "i just want my voice heard and my face seen and it doesn't really matter what's coming out, as long as something is coming out of my mouth and attention is paid to me." i heard several comments behind me from other people who seemed to agree, as some of these questions were asked throughout the evening.

these events are free, so i don't mind sitting through the "hear me see me" types in order to get the good information. but i wish there was a way to get more professional working actor information. of course, there is always awesome information to get regardless of the success of the Q&A section... they just seem very student/newbie based.

but regardless, it was a great event!

jackie, i came up to say hi, but you had a bit of a line, then walked out, so i figured i'd send a belated hello here!

so hello! and thank you!

i'm REALLY looking forward to the next one. i was hoping to get my new headshots by then, but i'd be willing to wait an extra week in order to do the workshop and see what kind of info i can get. with no agent, and being cast in all kinds of roles in the 13-28 age range (yea, for real, all within the last year!), i am LOST for what to do for headshots. no agent to help. so maybe this workshop will?

see you then!

TRUTH and americangirl,

Did either of you ask any of the questions? Just curious if I saw either of you Well, I'm sure we all saw each other for a moment without knowing it. I was in the front row near the middle. Grey hoodie/white shirt.


americangirl,
I took the discussion as more of an inspirational kind of thing. This is the first of this "Successful Actor" series I've been to, so I don't know how the others have been, but I'd say more or less these events are dictated by the questions that happened to get asked. Some might be awesome, some might not.

I do agree that most of the questions were all "student/newbie" based, but it's neat to see a casting director be as personable as Bonnie seems to be. The only problem with the majority of questions (for those that have read her column and books) was that the answers were covered in her articles and books; I thought it was funny (in a good way) when she'd respond with something almost verbatim she wrote prior. But if you haven't read them yet, then this was probably a very informative meeting

The one suggestion I have, and I know this is heavily dependant on the hosts' and guests' schedules, would be to try to have these things run a bit longer if 50-60+ people are showing up and hoping to ask questions. It sure seemed like everyone in the audience would have stayed longer.

Regardless, for a free event, I thought it was fantastic, and am looking forward to the next one Bonnie is awesome! Jackie too!

wow you were all there too! haha, too bad i couldn't tell which was who.

Great speaker, great points, awesome experience. Though I wish I would have thought of a better question when it was my turn, haha.

Can't wait till the next one!

no, no questions for me. the girl who asked about curly hair vs straight hair (um, actor mind taffy, yes, one of those things she does talk about in her books and column) sort of asked my question too (about typing, and personality vs actual look). so no, i just absorbed information.

(edited: never mind, not you) i was in the second row near the middle, house left (like, 3 seats in from the aisle). you may have been sitting right in front of me!

i am very much looking forward to the next one!

quote:

Originally posted by americangirl:
i was in the second row near the middle, house left (like, 3 seats in from the aisle). you may have been sitting right in front of me!

i am very much looking forward to the next one!

Lol, yeah, I must've been right in front of you. I was about 3 seats in from the middle on house left as well

Hope I can make the next one, it sounds like it'll be super helpful!

quote:

Originally posted by actorpat:
TRUTH and americangirl,
I do agree that most of the questions were all "student/newbie" based,

I wasn't there tonight but it is, after all, a school, no?

quote:

Originally posted by JimChevallier:

quote:

Originally posted by actorpat:
TRUTH and americangirl,
I do agree that most of the questions were all "student/newbie" based,

I wasn't there tonight but it is, after all, a school, no?

Well, the seminar was -at- a school, and I guess a number of the Academy's students were there. And those kinds of questions are going to pop up at any discussion panel. Not that there's anything wrong with those questions.

(paraphrasing)
i.e.

Question: "What do you do if you have one girl who's beautiful, but sucks at acting, and one who has tons of training, but isn't very pretty?"

Answer: "That's the worst casting director ever; that would never happen, they wouldn't be up for the same roles. This will never happen to you."


Question: "What are some other places or events I can come to, like this one, in order to connect with casting directors, etc.?"

Answer: "One place you can start is check out my article 'Help Us Help You' on my column The Actor's Voice." (she expanded on the answer of course).


Question: "I'm managing a friend's acting career, and he doesn't feel he should take acting classes. He's talented, but I told him he should still take them for some training. Is that a good idea?"

Answer: "Look at professional athletes; if you don't practice, you risk injury." (One of her more profound statements of the evening. It was funny, she even said "wow, that's good!" Probably noting it down to publish in a future column or book )


But as with the majority of the questions:

quote:

Originally posted by actorpat:
...the answers were covered in her articles and books... But if you haven't read them yet, then this was probably a very informative meeting!

All I was saying was (and I think americangirl would agree), I didn't really learn anything new, but it was still awesome to get to hear Bonnie talk about stuff. Again, each person probably came away with something different, depending on what they already knew or not. It all depends on the questions asked.

I think it was more those witty analogies and quotes that did it for me and HER insights as a casting director for Casting Directors have different views. I surprisingly haven't read her Self-Management for Actors, but will go out and check it out ASAP.

I didn't ask any questions but I thought some of the people asking the questions were stupid like:

-That blonde mentioning International Students and limited understanding of English, when she was surrounded by a bunch, like the Koreans in the row in front of her.

-Or that guy managing his friend. "But he's talented..."

Compared to what?!

quote:

Originally posted by TRUTHTELLER59:
I think it was more those witty analogies and quotes that did it for me and HER insights as a casting director for Casting Directors have different views.

I didn't ask any questions. I thought some of the people asking the questions were stupid like:

-That blonde mentioning International Students and limited understanding of English, when she was surrounded by a bunch, like the Koreans in the row in front of her.

-Or that guy managing his friend. "But he's talented..."

Compared to what?!

Heh, did you say that? I thought I heard that there. Were you house left?

I wouldn't say the questions or people were stupid; if they (or others) learned something, awesome. But there -was- less time for other questions to be asked. Would they have been more enlightening to more people? Who knows?

Unfortunately, I didn't have -any- questions for her at the time. Everything I've been wondering lately has been answered either in her books/column, or here at the forums.

As you said, it was more about her analogies and mannerisms. I loved the Coke billboard analogy

I didn't have any questions either. It's difficult at an event where there are a lot of people because you can't ask "me" questions which are the questions I usually want to ask.

I just found that blonde girl's question offensive for some reason, especially when she was saying it when surrounded by International Students.

If you were to use the center stairs as the divider, then I was on the same side as the wannabe manager.

Maybe, I did yell that...I definitely was thinking that.

Yes, the Coke billboard analogy was brilliant.

yea... the girl with all of the international whatnot. didn't even apply to her, and the question made absolutely no sense either. and the dude managing his friend... and curly vs straight... and "what? you mean i shouldn't completely change my look/acting for the callback?"

there's no stupid question, but these just kinda got to me. and several other people in the room (likely also not students) apparently also didn't appreciate them either, and the time they took up from real questions. these were the "see me hear me" people i mentioned earlier.

there was so much information. yes, most of it i've heard before, and some of it from bonnie herself in past discussions, or via her books/column, but there were two things that i think really clicked with me tonight that hadn't clicked with me before. you know how it is, sometimes you just have to keep hearing it, or someone will say it in such a way that makes sense with you. important things that i hope will help me as much as i hope they will!

so for that, and for her humor, energy, honesty, and ability to handle these questions as they came, i'm glad i went!

jim, it IS at the school, and students can sign up to attend, but they also open it up to the backstage reading community (they post about it online and i think in print). but i really think it's getting to the point where there should be a student session and separate professional working actor session. i could see a more intimate session like these with just working actors.

quote:

Originally posted by americangirl:
"what? you mean i shouldn't completely change my look/acting for the callback?"

Haha! Pasta and tofu...

The fact that it was the AADA students asking the less beneficial questions shows me how little or lack of Acting Business is taught there.