In the revised and expanded The New Business of Acting: The Next Edition, talent manager, educator, content creator and author Brad Lemack tackles the tough challenges actors face in seeking, building and maintaining rewarding careers in an industry struggling to rebrand itself and how it does business. His advice and perspective are rooted in more than 35 years of developing, coaching, nurturing and managing talent – and from his nearly 30 years guiding his college and university students in their transitions from acting students to working, professional actors.
From the role of personal ethics and integrity to landing the role of a lifetime, The New Business of Acting: The Next Edition teaches readers how to navigate through and thrive in a continually changing landscape. Whether new to the business or in need of a professional career tune up, Lemack’s guidance will empower the reader with a critical perspective on how to create, map out and embark on a strategic, life-long journey that will earn the kind of opportunities on which careers are built.“
The Next Edition includes 20 new and revised chapters that address the impact of the #MeToo movement, the evolution and explosion of self-tape and live-by-new-media auditions, the "Hollywood Hyphenate," online career branding, the post-merger SAG-AFTRA, the union's $125 a day dilemma for actors, the new tax plan's impact on actors and the overall impact of other industry challenges and changes across-the-board for both new-to-the-business and “working” or formerly working actors who are seeking to restart and rebrand once-active careers.
Lemack also guides readers through the critical process of creating a career Action Plan designed to motivate, focus and empower actors in their steps forward.
Protecting and promoting your brand online has presented never-before-available opportunities, along with never-before-potential risks. The Next Edition will guide readers through the creative and critical process of planning, launching and maintaining a professional, online platform and presence with added value to enhance, not-ever risk, a career in the making – or remaking.
Brad began his professional career in his hometown of Boston hosting radio and television talk and interview programs, and as a television news director and broadcast anchor. He moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980s to work for noted TV pioneer Norman Lear as a publicity executive. He later established and continues to run his own agency, Lemack & Company Talent Management/Public Relations. The agency specializes in a wide variety of talent branding and development, and rebranding and redevelopment, for new, emerging and established artists. The public relations division works to bridge the gap between industry awareness and perception and talent potential and opportunity. The company has decades of experience in entertainment PR, special event creation and promotion for not-for-profit organizations, and special projects and consultation.
Brad joined the faculty of the Emerson College Los Angeles Campus in 1985 and the Elon University in Los Angeles Program in 2010. At Emerson, he created and teaches courses in The (New) Business of Acting, Celebrity Crisis/Entertainment PR and improv comedy. For Elon, he created and teaches a course in Entertainment PR and Scandal. He also oversees the academic component of the University’s Los Angeles industry internship program.
His popular books for actors have become integral components and required reading in many college and university acting and performing arts programs. They have also served as the rebranding manual for working actors seeking to restart and refresh the page on a once-active, but now stalled or stale career.
The best actor never gets the role. But the right actor always gets hired – and if you want to be the right actor, you need to create a well-paved pathway through the traffic jam that can slow you down, divert your attention and create stress behind the wheel of the career you're committed to driving forward.
It's your journey and it's time for a career tune up, even if you're just starting out.
