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BREAKING AND ENTERING:

A MANUAL FOR THE WORKING ACTOR

IN FILM, STAGE AND T.V.

From Auditions to Agents to a Career

 
 
By Philip Carlson
 

 "Philip is the REAL DEAL. Students LOVE his classes. His knowledge of the industry is VAST. His advice is INVALUABLE."

-Mary McCann, Executive Director, Atlantic Acting School

"Required reading for every acting student in search of a meaningful career. 
Count on Philip Carlson to light your path."
– J. Michael Miller, Co-Founder, Tisch School of the Arts, The Actors Center
 

 

PHILIP CARLSON was the first agent to sign Philip Seymour Hoffman, Billy Crudup, Liev Schreiber, Claire Danes, Idris Elba, Kyra Sedgwick, Adrien Grenier and Paul Giamatti. He has represented Viola Davis, Kathy Bates, Brian Dennehy, and W.H. Macy among many and gifted others.   He shares his practical trade secrets in this extraordinarily comprehensive guide on how to get into show business. 

Carlson shares his insider trade secrets on:

  • Schools & Classes

  • Showcases

  • Casting Directors

  • Agents

  • Auditions

  • Producers

  • Negotiating 101

  • Which Coast?

  • Where the Money Is 

"BREAKING AND ENTERING is  a great theater seminar, giving the inside dope on auditions on both coasts, cold readings, packaging oneself, talent agencies, and unions. Carlson’s refreshing, informative look into American theater, film, and TV offers major lessons about acting, career decisions, and the cutthroat business of entertainment."-- Publishers Weekly

 

His clients rave:

"He saw more in me than I saw in myself."  – Kyra Sedgwick

 

"A great and resonant canyon of thanks to Philip Carlson for his invaluable work with a generation of young talent—including me."    – Billy Crudup

 

"Philip Carlson is one of the wisest people on the subject of building a career that will last. Luck didn't have him representing New York's top character actors; wisdom, intelligence, patience and loyalty did. He was, and is, as good as it gets.”   – Tim Blake Nelson

 

"Philip Carlson was my 'Guide in shining armor!' Smart, honest and hardworking, this book is his thinking and experience on a shelf."  – Idris Elba

 

"I was so fortunate to have found Philip when I did. I can't imagine a better introduction to the world of acting and the business of getting there."   – Liev Schreiber

 

After making his living as a working actor, Philip Carlson turned for the next thirty-two years to the art of discovering and representing young talent for the stage and screen. He created the legit department at Curtis Brown. He teaches The Business of Showbusiness at the Atlantic Theatre Company. He lives in Manhattan.

Performing Arts / Acting & Auditioning 
An Opus Trade Paperback Original • $19.99  
376 pages • 5.5 x 8.5 • World
ISBN:  978-162316-078-4  

 

Also Available As An E-book and An Audio Book

 

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