Actors must take meetings to advance their careers. Seeking representation, management, auditions, or work in specific projects, they meet with agents, managers, producers, and casting directors. However, these important meetings are often unsuccessful because the actors present themselves inadequately. Lacking self-awareness and authenticity, actors frequently conduct themselves as victims or manipulators, which leads to their being seen as undesirable working partners, regardless of their acting abilities and credits. This is the first book to address the actor's self-presentation at an interview or meeting. It shows the actor how to be the host of a meeting and the initiator of an exciting experience that may lead to offers of representation, auditions, and project participation. In this book, actors will learn startling, myth-busting truths: They will learn that they will "blow it" if interviewers look at their resumes during meetings or if they answer questions with prepared riffs about themselves or if they are on their best behaviour! Most importantly, they will learn how applying Stephen Book's practical teachings can bring about remarkable transformations of their meeting skills.

Stephen Book is a top Hollywood acting coach and teacher and a theatre director. His students have won Oscars, Emmys, Tonys, Obies, and Grammys. Thirteen of his present or former students are featured in either starring roles or as cast regulars in the current primetime television schedule. This book contains film and television scenes in which Book-coached actors, used his Improvisation Technique to create their performances. These scenes, showing the actors' performance choices, demonstrate the use of Improvisation Technique in different genres of acting. Well-known theatre and film scenes are included, as well as scenes from such TV shows as 'Frasier', 'Melrose Place', 'Star Trek: Voyager', 'LA Law' and 'The Practice'.