CONTENTS
Preface - 6
Introduction - 7
The One-Minute Guide to Start Your Career - 7
Underage - 7
Start immediately and get paid - 8
Who you know - 8
What's in this book - 9
Expect the unexpected - 11
SECTION ONE --THE MOVIE BUSINESS
Chapter I
Getting Started
Part 1 – Be Prepared
Agents? - 12
Video Reel - 14
Workshops - 16
I do not have a headshot -17
So now I wait for them to call? - 18
Photo session - 20
Managers - 14
Acting classes? - 15
What’s a headshot? - 16
Resumes, I have not done any movies yet? - 17
Headshots and snapshots II - 19
Part 2 – If You Are Not Near A Movie
Where are the movies? - 22
Finding the movies - Film commissions and Hotlines - 22
800 number - 24
Yeah, but where are the movies? - 22
Movie Fax numbers - 24
Phone card - 25
Chapter II Being There
Part 1 – Who Else is There?
Crew and Cast – 26
Wardrobe - 27
Hair and Make up – 28
Craft Services – 29
Part 2 – Your Long Day
I.D. and S.S.# - 30
your voucher - 31
Donuts then coffee - 32
Extra Do nots - 35
Lunch - 37
Getting paid - 30
Sitting and doing nothing - 32
Being an Extra – 33
Trying to work as much as possible - 36
Chapter III – The Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG)
Part 1 – The Law and the Lie
Who is the union? - 39
SAG Jurisdiction and Limited SAG agreement - 40
SAG Lie - 40
Is the Union everywhere? - 39
SAG AND THE PENALTY - 40
To Join or not to join. - 40
Part 2 – Becoming a Member
Why, how, and how much - 41
Become SAG eligible - 43
Union Pay - 44
3 vouchers only - 44
SAG eligible in right to work state - 45
Right to Work - 42
Appeal to SAG - 43
Lust and luck for vouchers - 44
SAG purgatory - 45
1
Part 3 – Once You Join
SAG residence - 46
SAG/AFTRA HOTLINES - 46
SAG deferred – 47
SAG skills and pluses - 46
SAG Benefits - 47
Chapter IV - Opportunities
Part 1 – Finding Better Work
Do not be an extra? - 48
Meet the director - 49
Agents on Line - 50
Open casting calls - 49
Online - the internet world - 50
Part 2 – Get Ready For It.
Auditions - 51
Call backs - 53
Networking - 54
One Minute Acting - 53
Slates - 54
Everything is favoritism - 55
Chapter V – New York
Why you should not go to New York if you do not live in the area - 56
Why you should go to New York - 57
Chapter VI - California v. The World
Intro - Forget everything I’ve heard
Part 1 – Living There
A. How To Get to California - 59
B. The Commute Traffic - 59
Pay the stupid quarter - 60
Accidents Cannot happen - 60
Thomas Guide, well worth the extortion - 60
Highway hunting season - 61
Roads are not for cars - 61
Car Insurance - 62
C. The Finance
Banking - 62
Check cashing businesses - 63
Buying food - 64
D. The Home
House furnishings - 64
SVDP - 64
Animals and Roommates - 65
Apartments and Hostels - 65
Part 2 – California Actors
Bread Lines - 66
Touch my chair and I’ll tell on you - 66
Politics, Religion, No. Astrology, yes - 67
Go to work to work - 67
Tell you what you already know - 67
Part 3 - Working
A. GETTING PLUGGED IN
The search for an agent - 68
Spec’ing - 68
Fear of Spec’ing - 68
Calling service vs. extra casting agents - 68
The somewhat elite - 69
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B. WHEN YOU ARE UNPLUGGED
Hiatus - 69
Headshots to studios - 69
Pilots and defeats - 70
If you survive - 70
SECTION TWO - BE PREPARED
Must know movie vernacular – 72
Sample resume – 76
List of Right to work states - 75
Futility of online acting companies - 75
SECTION THREE - WHO YOU GONNA CALL?
Hotlines - 78
Film Commissions - 78
SAG offices numbers and addresses - 84
Periodicals - 87
Mass Photo production - 88
SECTION FOUR--FILES FROM THE GRATEFUL EXTRA TOUR
The Map - 88
The Players and what has happened - 89
Chapter 1 – Before the Tour- GA., AL., VA., LA., CA.
What we drove and what we packed – 89
Tom and Huck in Alabama - 91
Tinkle, tinkle, little star - 93
Andersonville in Georgia - 90
Emmy on First Kid and Shadow Conspiracy in VA - 92
Neill auditioning and sleeping in his car in Virginia - 93
Chapter 2 – June, the Tour is Official – Wilmington, NC and Richmond, VA
Andersonville reshoots in North Carolina - 94
Finally meeting in Wilmington - 95
More first kid in Virginia - 96
A Waiter in Richmond - 97
Trying to get on the set - 94
Sleeping in the car with an open window - 96
Roller Skating in Midlothian - 97
Chapter 3 – July, Virginia, D.C., Philly and Pittsburgh
Rain delay on The Shadow Conspiracy - 98
Tysons Corner, VA - 100
Long nights on The Shadow in D.C. - 101
Diabolique in Pittsburgh - 103
Late nights in Richmond - 105
First Kid in D.C. - 106
Sleeping in Hamilton, VA - 99
Working 24 hours straight - 100
Watermelon Woman in Philadelphia - 102
Last of the Shadow in Richmond - 104
Working 24 hours straight, again - 105
Chapter 4 – August, Baltimore, Atlanta, Wilmington, Virginia
Auditioning in Baltimore - 107
My Fold, Emmy's gold on First Kid - 107
Emmy's Homicide - 108
Neill on Lolita in Wilmington, N.C. - 109
Chapter 5 – September, Baltimore, Virginia, Atlanta, Mississippi, Louisiana
Philadelphia casting call in Baltimore - 110
Neill in Mississippi on A Time To Kill - 112
Batting for Emmy, bumping for Neill - 114
Going Commercial - 114
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Linda Barr's and Cats and Dogs - 110
Commercial for Neill? - 113
800 reasons for cellular - 114
Chapter 6 – October, New York, Atlanta, Wilmington
Purgatory in Georgia - 116
Emmy gets the girl - 116
The Long Island - 117
First nibble on the apple - 119
N.Y. to N.J. to P.A. to G.A., hopefully - 120
Neill gets typecast and an attitude - 116
Neill in N.Y.C. - 117
Barking dogs - 118
It helps to know somebody - 119
Stand by stand in - 121
Chapter 7 – November – Atlanta, Jackson, Mississippi
Pay to play - 122
More A Time To Kill - 123
Running and Bonding - 124
Chapter 8 – December – Time To Quit in Canton, Miss.
Outside it is frightful - 125
Gotta work, gotta work, gotta work - 125
A new year - 126
Chapter 9 – The Year of Living Aimlessly – January - Memphis
Neill and Emmy V. Larry Flynt - 126
Chapter 10 – February – “Savannah” and Tennessee Prisons
Savannah - 129
Who’s the prisoner, who’s the actor - 130
Chapter 11 – March – Jackson to Memphis
Audition disaster - 131
More Grisham - 132
Nudity Loves Company – 132
The Memphis, Jackson Commute - 133
Chapter 12 – April/May – Jackson/Memphis II
The Untitled Mississippi Project - 135
Sore, inside and out - 136
Chapter 13 – May/June – Mississippi to California
So we Loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly - 138
Terry, come in Terry, where are you? - 138
Stretching a single motel room into a quad - 139
A/C does it. 2 out of 3 cars survive - 139
Chapter 14 – How us Non-Westerners Fit In
Hiatus - 141
Our second calling service - 142
SAG in the family - 143
Crime - 143
Plugging in - 142
Spec’ing - 142
Progress in the industry - 143
Chapter 15 – The Movies We Had Success On
Schumacher reprise - 145
Other Shows - 147
Crews and Extras II - 152
Frankenheimer reprise - 146
One rung up - 148
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The Shows
The Casters & Crew
The Stars
The Friends
3rd rock from the Sun 137
12 Monkeys 86
13th Floor 81
Andersonville 24 84-86 88-91
101 110 113 115 117 123 124
134 137
Against the Wall 89
America’s Most Wanted 135
Arliss 138
Austin Powers IMOM 131
Baseketball 029
Batman & Robin 65 133
Boogie Nights 137
Burning Zone 032 139
Cannonball Run 126
Cats & Dogs 104 113
‘Cept Jim 116
Chamber15 120-122
Chicken Motel 53
Cigarette Girl 140
Client (TV) 50 52 85 108
Close Encounters 100
Curious Case of Benjamin
Button 136
Cultivision 140 141
Dangerous Minds (TV) 013
Dark Pines, AL 140
Dark Skies 046 135 138
Diabolique 96 97
Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman 66
138
Eddie 110
Eraser103
Face Off 042 131
Fargo123 124
Fat Chance 87 106 111
First Kid 82 86 87 90-94 98-101
105 139
Flick Freaks & Fiends 116
Fried Green Tomorrows 80 140
Friends 137
George Wallace 134
Ghosts of Mississippi 026 122125 129 131 136 139
Grapes of Wrath 126
Green Mile 021 059
Homicide: Life in the Streets 100
101-103 114 115
Jack the Dipper 121
Jerry Maguire 135 139
Jingle all the Way 95 137
L.A. Confidential 120
Last Dance 85 116
Last Laugh 135
Law & Order 95 111
Leatherheads 136
Letters from a Killer 031
Living Single 135
Lolita 050 101 102 110
Mad City139
Matrix 120
Miss Saigon88
Mississippi Burning 123
Pacific Blue131
Party of 5 034
Beverly Blake 107
Bo Bobak 114
Bruno Kirby 45 102 103
Connie Suhr 101 108 112 118
Cynthia Stillwell 14
David Mickey Evans 99
Francine Thomas 105 106
Gray Matthews 139
James Sbardellati 134
Jamie Crumley 114 133
James Dillon 138
Jimbo Barnett 8 136
Jo Doster 117 122
Joel Schumacher 115 133
John Frankenheimer 88 89 134
John Michael McCarthy 121 122 136 140
John Waters 114
Kim Petrosky 85 116 117 123
Lisa Parks 97
Mali Finn 120 121
Pat Moran101
Peter Merwin 134
Ramsey Scott 115
Rob Reiner 124
Shirley Crumley 45 105 121 136
Tanya Sullivan 93 101 111
Theresa Philips 45 121
Todd Murata 129
William Logue 104
The Shows continued
Past Life 23
Pecker 58 141
Phantom of the Opera 112
Pirates of the Caribbean 136
People V. Larry Flynt 50 116 117 119 121 122 125
People V. Leo Frank 140
Pleasantville 131 135
Power Rangers 138
Positive 042
Robocop 118
Santa With Muscles 138
Savannah 115 118
Season in Purgatory 108 110 139
Seinfeld 026 137
Shadow Conspiracy 61 86 90-95 97-99 103 109
138
Silk Stalkings 85
Silo3Jane 88
Smokey & the Bandit 126
Sore Losers 121 122 124 125 137
Talladega Nights 56 96 136
Time To Kill 34 94 105 106 112 114 117 121 122
126 129 136 139
Titanic 120
Tom & Huck 85 86 88 105 114 122 136
Touch of Danger 100 106
Twin Peaks 118
Volcano131
Warm Springs 69 137
Walk the Line 136
Water World 85
Watermelon Woman 96
Wild Wild West 025
Wedding Band 111
White Squall 107
Alec Baldwin 124
Arnold Schwarzenegger 103
Beth Toussaint 118
Bob Denver139
Bruce McKinnon 138
Bruce Winant 88
Bruno Kirby 45 102 103
Brutal Poodle 140
Charles Rocket 86
Charlie Sheen 86 92 98
Charlton Heston 64
Clancy Imislund134
Crispin Glover 116
Courtney Love 117
Danny Vinson 82 114 120
122 124 141
David Duchovny 100
Donald Sutherland 94
Dustin Hoffman 139
Fred Coffin 90
Frederick Forrest 89
Greg Lauren 115
Hulk Hogan 138
Jeremy Irons 101
Jamie Luner 118
John Waters 114
John Grisham 115
Johnny Gill 18
Katie Jordan 116
Kevin Spacey 115
Linda Hamilton 92 94 126
Lisa Eichorn 93
Mare Winnigham 134
Matthew McConaughey 105
Mike Myers 140
O. J. Simpson 109
Octavia Spencer 105 114 129
136
Ray Wise 118
Richard Belzer 102
Rob Morrow 116
Rob Reiner 124
Robert Wuhl 138
Robin Lively 118
S. Epatha Merkerson 95
Sam Waterston 95
Sandra Bullock 94
Scott Brantley 15 89 134 141
Shannon Sturges 118
Sharon Stone 96
Sinbad 86
Stephen Lang 98
Steve Harris89
Tim Parati 115 117
Patrick Dempsey 108 112
Timothy Busfield 86 100 101
Tom Cruise 55 139
Wayne Knight 137
William Faulkner 136
Wilbur Fitzgerald 137
William H. Macy 33 123 124
129 135
William Sanderson 90 134
Woody Harrelson 119 120
122
Barb Eckmann 82 122
125 129
Buddy Smith 106
Chelsea Berryman 90
Clay Cranford 126 134
141
Connie Suhr 101 108
112 118
Danny Vinson 82 114
120 122 124 141
Donna Waterworth and
Teresa Fitzgerald 82 93
98 99
Edwina Seaman 109
Eva Ford 8 26 65 82
122 124 125 126 127
128 129 131 133 134
137 138 141
Gracie 64
Hillary Barber 109
Jacque Lawson 132
Jamie Crumley 114 133
Jeff Stone 111
Jim Spencer 112
Jimbo Barnett 8 136
John Michael McCarthy
121 122 136 140
Jude Walko 19
Kim Barfield 82 122
125 127 129 131 133
134 137 140
Kim Petrosky 85 116
117 123
Laurie Walsh 109
Linda Barr 43 98 103
104
Mary Willis 122
Mike Millner 112
Molly Stern109 111
Nancy Collins 53 103
Nancy Stone 53
Octavia Spencer 105
114 129 136
Paul Reuter 110
Ramsey Scott 23
Randy Collin 93
Scott Brantley 15 89
134 141
Shelley Coates 43 95 97
100
Shirley Crumley 45 105
121 136
Stephanie Revercomb
92
Susan Ferguson 105 106
114 117 122
Susan Stamps 117
Terry Ostovich 82 117
121 122 124 125 126
127 128 129 131 133
137 141
Theresa Philips 45 121
Thomas Keating 112
Todd Borek 138
W.C. 105
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