Creating Your Network – Doubling Your Income

Written by Gywn Gilliss

First of all what is a network? How does that relate to being an actor?

“A network is a large group of people who communicate, are interconnected and work together as a system.”

If you create a network you double, triple, exponentially multiply your work opportunities a gazillion times. The more people who know you, like you, want to work with you, the more work you will get. Then, the process of submissions, auditions and trying to get work is reduced to zero. Offers come out of nowhere from people who know you, have been referred to you, have seen your work. It’s like virus marketing or the internet which is a humongous network. Career-wise you can then focus on just doing the work-a film, a play, a new prime time series. Read more

Trailer: ‘Hide Away’ starring Josh Lucas, Ayelet Zurer, James Cromwell & Casey LaBow

I saw this film at the 2011 SXSW Film Festival when it was called A Year in the Mooring. I thought it was great and Josh Lucas was wonderful in it. I hope the only thing they changed was the name.

Hide Away: Directed by Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals, Edge of America) and an audience favorite at SXSW festival, HIDE AWAY is a stirring drama that follows the story of a successful businessman (Josh Lucas) attempting to resurrect his life. Entering an idyllic harbor as a broken and haunted man, he buys and boards the dilapidated sailboat, Hesperus. Disturbed at night by unsettling dreams of his past, the boat becomes a beacon of hope as he begins the challenge of bringing back the shine to the tarnished vessel–and to his life.

Director: Chris Eyer
Cast: Josh Lucas, Ayelet Zurer, James Cromwell, Casey LaBow
Writers: Peter Vanderwall

In Theaters: May 25th  Read more

Lilla Crawford to Star as ‘Annie’ in New Broadway Production

After a nine month, coast-to-coast search that had over 5,000 auditions, the new Broadway production of Annie has found it’s Annie.

Eleven-year-old Lilla Crawford will play the title role in the musical that will open in fall 2012 at a Nederlander theatre to be announced.

“Oh, my gosh, it happened! My heart just stopped,” said Crawford, when she heard the news. “I thought it would be so cool just to be a part of Annie, but to actually be playing Annie is a dream come true!”

Crawford made her Broadway debut in 2011, playing Debbie in the closing cast of Billy Elliot on Broadway. She was featured in a workshop production of Craig Wright’s Melissa Arctic. She has also performed in 14 shows with YADA (Youth Academy of Dramatic Arts) in her native Los Angeles. Read more

The Power of Persistence

Written by Amy Lyndon

Well, pilot season’s pretty much over.

Upfronts (where networks officially announce their 2012 lineup) are gearing up, and so the 2012 pilot season is winding down. I’ve talked to a lot of actors and the response I usually get is that it was a quiet year. Yeah, there’s that one friend who always had 5 auditions a day, but for the most part, many actors have found themselves with slim pickings. Naturally, this is the time of year when the largest exodus of actors head back to “the Midwest” or “East” or wherever.

How about you?

My belief is that if you’re taking the time to read another article, then my guess is you’re not packing it in and we want to congratulate you. You’re persistent, and persistence is what separates the haves and the have-nots in Hollywood. In fact, let’s talk some more about power of persistence. Read more

Q&A: ‘Best Friends Forever’ Stars Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham

Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham star in NBC’s new series, Best Friends Forever, a show about old friends, new beginnings and awkward situations.

The two star, created and co-write the show about best friends who live on opposite sides of the country. When Jessica is overnighted divorce papers, Lennon convinces her to return home to Brooklyn and back into the apartment they used to share. It doesn’t take long for the girls to fall into old habits: movie marathons and late night girl talk sessions – none of which is good news for Lennon’s live-in boyfriend, Joe (Luka Jones, Upright Citizens Brigade) who tries to be understanding but begins to feel like a stranger in his own home.

Jessica St. Clair performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York and Los Angeles, was in the hit Bridesmaids and was last seen in Wanderlust. On television, she’s starred opposite Megan Mullally and Cheryl Hines in In the Motherhood and has had guest-starring appearances on Parks and Recreation, Weeds and United States of Tara.

Lennon Parham is perhaps best known for playing the supporting role of Abby Chase, alongside Jenna Elfman on the television series Accidentally on Purpose. Some of her other guest roles include Parks and Recreation and How I Met Your Mother. Parham is also an alumna of Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) Theater where she performed for nine years. Her one-woman character show, “She Tried to Be Normal,” ran in New York and Los Angeles and was selected for the Montreal “Just For Laughs” festival in 2009.

I talked to both Jessica and Lennon in a conference call recently where they talked about the show, how the work may, in fact, kill them and their time at UCB!

Best Friends Forever airs Wednesdays at 8:30/7:30c on NBC Read more

Pitch Videos: An Essential Tool to Get Your Foot in the Door

Written by Dallas Travers, CEC

Have you ever seen a role in the breakdowns that you were a perfect match for but – for whatever reason – you didn’t get an audition? Have you ever seen a breakdown and thought to yourself, “Man! This is precisely the kind of work I do best! What can I do to land an audition?”

I’m guessing that as an actor, you’ve got a nice arsenal of marketing tools you use to acquire auditions, secure meetings, and land bookings. You probably have headshots and postcards. You might have a one-sheet, a castability sheet, a reel, and a website as well. Read more

Auditions to Offers – It’s Easier Than You Think

by Emily Grace

All of these celebrities are doing it: Pitt, Clooney and Damon. Kristen Wiig, Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler. The Coen Brothers. Judd Apatow.

Why aren’t you?

What are they doing, you ask?  Working with the same people again and again.

In business it’s what is called the Know-Like-Trust Factor.  And it’s the secret sauce to going from auditions to offers.

World renowned speaker and best selling author Zig Ziglar says,

“If people like you, they will talk to you. If people trust you, they will do business with you.”

Professionals at every level of the entertainment industry, when given the choice, will hire someone they know, like and trust – from a-lister’s all the way down to a first time student filmmaker.

When it comes to your acting career – it’s time to stop chasing after random audition opportunities just for the sake of getting into the room.   Create long-term relationships to establish the know-like-trust factor, and you’re well on your way to being hired over and over. Read more

Audition: Director Paul Schrader’s ‘The Canyons’

Let It Cast is now accepting auditions for Director Paul Schrader‘s new film, The Canyons.

Synopsis: The Canyons is a contemporary thriller written by Bret Easton Ellis (Less Than Zero, American Psycho) and directed by Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Affliction, Auto-Focus). The Canyons documents five twenty-something’s quest for power, love, sex and success in 2012 Hollywood.

The shoot will take place in LA with shooting dates starting July 9, 2012 – Jul 31, 2012.

Union/Rate SAG New Media and open to non SAG members as well.

Casting by:  Mary Vernieu, CSA, Venus Kanani, CSA, Michelle Wade Byrd

Seeking:
Christian (M) – 24 – 27
Tara (F) -  24 – 27
Ryan (M) – 24 – 27
Gina (F) – 24 – 27
Lindsay (F) – 30 – 31

For more information, click here

Read more

Chris Klein: “In the movies that I’ve been a part of, I’ve kind of scratched and fought and kicked to be a part of”

When Chris Klein didn’t appear as Oz in the third American Pie movie, American Wedding, many assumed that he didn’t want to continue in the franchise. 

However, in an interview with The Huffington Post Klein reveals that it’s not that he didn’t want to star in the American Wedding, he wasn’t asked.  But Oz is back in American Reunion, and he talks about returning to his most famous role and how he’s fared elsewhere in the movie industry.

When asked if he thought of turning down American Reunion out of spite after being left out of American Wedding, Klein indicates otherwise.  He says, “Never. No, there’s none of that. Not with this franchise. That’s not who we are. That’s not how we got cast in these movies. These movies to me, personally, are incredibly special. As not only a willing participant in these movies, but also as an audience member. And I cherish my moments in the American Pie franchise and I’m really grateful that I get to be a part of it. Because back in 1998 when we made the first movie, we were all just hoping to get a summer job. And then American Pie did well and all of us were ushered into acting careers based on the success of the very first movie.” Read more

Trailer: ‘Total Recall’ Starring Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, John Cho & Bill Nighy

Total Recall is an action thriller about reality and memory, inspired anew by the famous short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick. Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he’s got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life – real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police – controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), the leader of the free world – Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) to find the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy) and stop Cohaagen. The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate.

Director: Len Wiseman
Cast: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, John Cho, Bill Nighy
Writers: Kurt Wimmer, Mark Bomback

In theaters: August 3rd, 2012 Read more

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