Customer Reviews

The 7 Steps to Stardom: How to Become a Working Actor in Movies, TV, and Commercials

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Usually, when one is looking for information on what you need to really make it in Hollywood costs a lot of money. This little book with a 2-hour DVD is amazing for what it costs! Sure, the production is a bit cheesy, but the content is amazing.

Now that I have redone my headshot, and worked out my resume, I feel that I am much better prepared to deal with what I will be up against at my next audition.

Thanks Christina!

Co-written by founder and president of "The Acting Edge", one of Hollywood's leading acting schools for 15 years, The 7 Steps To Stardom: How To Become A Working Actor In Movies, TV, And Commercials is an easy-to-use workbook-and-DVD set that gives the practical advice on earning success in the entertainment business. Printed in color with photographs and a number of consumable pages, the workbook covers how to network and find an agent, avoiding scams, taking appropriate headshot photographs, writing an actor's resume, the business side of acting, honing one's acting skills and more. The two-hour DVD is divided into seven lesson segments: You are the Product, Acting Skills, Your Photograph, Your Resume, Your Agent, Your Unions, and Networking. Written in a direct, no-nonsense instructional, The 7 Steps To Stardom is a "must-have" for anyone contemplating or getting started in a profitable career in acting.

This book is a very quick read yet its pages contain some very helpful, specific tips to enhance your resume, headshots and acting skills.

I am grateful that Ms. Ferra-Gilmore is willing to share her expersites with up and coming actors.

Ms Christiana Ferra-Gilmore and her husband Gene Gilmore were most recently involved with the most outrageous and persistent scams in recent Hollywood acting history. Though the Be/GonnaBe and several other Eric DeSantos fraudulent businesses, the team cleverly lured thousands of trusting parents into schemes where Ms Ferra Gilmore was entrusted with providing the acting, singing,m dancing and modeling classes through her Rising Stars set up.

Of course, all turned out fake in any of the name guises, and several class action law suits are under way against all involved, reason why you won't be able to find the Rising Stars, nor any of the Be/GonnaBe web sites anymore.

So, the book in itself clearly explains the scams they set up, and the DVD further extrapolates the level of detail these scams worked to ensure the trusting parents gave their hard-earned cash by the thousands for the promisse of fame for their children.

I have several books along these lines, and this is probably one of the easiest to follow. It is a good general overview to the business of acting. The DVD enhances the book as you watch Christina talk with her students about the seven steps; I felt I was right in the class with them. At the end of each step is a brief recap of the key points by Wink Martindale. Thanks to Christina's examples of good and bad photos and resumes, I now know what to do at my next headshot session and I've already redone my resume. I will be taking some classes from The Actor's Edge after I move, and I will definitely be submitting myself to her casting agency!

This book is really well put-together - easy to use. Some of the tips and suggestions may seem like no-brainers, but there are a lot of little things you may not think of when marketing yourself in the entertainment industry. Resumes, agents, your photo, Ferra-Gilmore breaks it all down and gets you to rack your brain for other attributes you can use. A reference/workbook in one, with a two hour DVD.

This is one of my favorite books on the business of acting. The author breaks down exactly how and what to do to market yourself and become a working actor. Christina Ferra-Gilmore created a FANTASTIC book that every actor must have in their book collection AND the DVD that comes with it is worth GOLD. Buy This BOOK!!!