52 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A critical must read for all actors and agents, February 1, 2005
This review is from: An Agent Tells All (Paperback)
"Now, explain it to me like I'm a four-year-old"
Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), PHILADELPHIA
In a brave act of generosity, honesty and salty discourse, Professional talent agent Tony Martinez introduces the simple, cold hard facts of THE key point in becoming a working actor: finding and working with an agent. In his helpful, thoroughly accessible and entirely entertaining AN AGENT TELLS ALL, Mr. Martinez, assumes two truths about his perspective (and specific) audience.
1) Either they are complete and utter neophytes wearing rose-colored glasses entering a noble profession with visions of red carpet glory.
OR
2) They are experienced actors who have had their souls and bums kicked by the reality that professional acting is ultimately nothing more than an industry and need to heal and adjust after a few years of making the same mistakes repeatedly.
Writing in a direct, unpretentious, jargon-free style that invokes visions of a long conversation over a lunch of cheap margaritas and oysters in the half shell, Martinez refreshingly holds nothing back as he sets out to define not only the agent's job, but the actor's job as well. Like Denzel's character in PHILADELPHIA, he works hard to explain everything to his readers, as though they were four years old. Ultimately the business all boils down to building relationships and being completely committed to constantly evolving as both an artist and as a person.
Cutting through all the empty "positive-think" self- help posings of so many other similar authors, Martinez rightfully portrays acting as a capitalist venture based upon the laws of supply and demand. If an actor has never thought of themselves as a product, it is time they did. If they have never before considered the acting industry as a world of Social Darwinism- it also is time they did.
But Martinez is not here just to micturate upon dreams, dashing them out in the guise of name dropping and power tripping. His ultimate objective is to provide the actor (and ultimately too, the agent) advice and specific tools to increase one's chances of not only survival, but success. His advice is always both practical (get a map of LA, keep working, be prepared and get over yourself) and personal (he provides many fine anecdotes illustrating the "do's" and "don'ts").
At a quick, easy to read 211 pages, AN AGENT TELLS ALL deserves to become a dog-eared personal reference for all who dare to enter the world's most noblest profession. He constantly emphasizes how special actors are and urges all to look at their craft as a business yes, but also a dignified art. He has no intention to install despair- just reality. His experience provides positive solutions to age old problems that seem to plague many who enter the industry without any frame of reference.
His constant litany is: be smart while one keeps working and, most importantly, be a decent human being. For at the end of the day, it is the relationships one develops with themselves and the people around them that will carry one through to the end.
This is a must read.
"Despair is the only unforgivable sin, and it's always reaching for us."
- Sam Peckinpah
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Filled With Great Information, March 4, 2005
This review is from: An Agent Tells All (Paperback)
An Agent Tells All is filled with alot of useful information for anyone desiring to get get ahead in the acting business. The author is an Agent, and gives tons of useful advice on what to do to get ahead in your acting career.
There is helpful advice on agents and managers, headhsots, auditions and lots more. I really found the chapter on TV Pilot Season very useful.
Also scattered through out the book, are a few true-to-life stories of situations that happened to this agent. I really laughed at some of the stories he told about actors who came to interview with him. These stories really got his point across about the Do's and Don'ts of the acting business.
All in all, a very useful and informative book for the Actor.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An absolute neccessity for actors, January 11, 2006
This review is from: An Agent Tells All (Paperback)
This could be the most useful and concise of all the books I have on the acting business. I have just finished reading it the second time and must say that I still find it enjoyable and informative. It's an easy read with decent sized text and best of all... it doesn't take six months to plod through. If you are looking for a tome on everything acting, including places to walk your dog, look elsewhere. A lot of information without a lot of fluff, and from the pen (or word-processor) of someone who IS an agent as opposed to an ex-wanna-be actor who thought they might learn a little about the business by asking some questions of a few agents. It also gives you the perspective of the least understood job in this business. The last Chapter should be printed and hung on the wall of anyone aspiring to be a professional actor.
This should be the first acting business book you read. ...And next time you see your agent, give her/him a hug and tell them how much you appreciate them.
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