012 ACTORS TALK PODCAST – ONE LESS BITTER ACTOR – INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR MARKUS FLANAGAN

Summary: ONE LESS BITTER ACTOR by MARKUS FLANAGAN "Tommy, what a fantastic interview! I re-tweeted it. It really is great. I want all my actor friends to hear this." Benjamin Dane, Actor-Producer Use the banner link below to get the audio version of ONE LESS BITTER ACTOR for FREE with a trial subscription to Audible.com. Cancel within 30 Days if you want to and there's no charge. You keep the audio book This episode of Actors Talk Podcast features an interview with actor-teacher-writer Markus Flanagan. I had actually forgotten that I had previously written a review of Flanagan's book on my former blog, Still Acting After All These Years. That review was published on May 4, 2008. I was reminded of that fact several weeks back when the publicist for Rick Lenz' book North of Hollywood (see episode 011 of this podcast) contacted me about reviewing Lenz' book. Please take a moment to leave me a voice mail message if you find this or other episodes helpful in your creative journey. If you will click on the musical note icon on the right side of the page that will take you to iTunes. There you can subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. That will help Actors Talk Podcast gain visibility in the iTunes directory. Thanks for doing that! I was subsequently able to read North of Hollywood and interview Rick Lenz for this podcast. And that contact drew my attention back to One Less Bitter Actor. I recently contacted Markus Flanagan about the possibility of interviewing him and discussing his book for this podcast. He was amenable to that suggestion and this episode of Actors Talk Podcast is the result of that discussion via skype on April 11, 2012. As I began to put together show notes for this podcast, I revisited my original review of One Less Bitter Actor and upon reading it, decided that I should cut to the chase and use my existing review as my show notes for the podcast. So here is my review of One Less Bitter Actor. I hope you enjoy the review and the podcast as much as I have enjoyed putting this episode together. God bless you and keep the faith! First let me dispel a few myths. “Auditions are about finding the best actor for the job.” Get that out of your head. And conversely, “I didn’t get the job, so I must not have been good.” Very, very wrong-get that out of your head immediately! So begins Actor Markus Flanagan’s book, ONE LESS BITTER ACTOR, THE ACTOR’S SURVIVAL GUIDE. This is a book that is filled with information and insight that it has taken me decades to figure out for myself…the hard way. Just the chapter on Auditioning is more than enough reason to purchase ONE LESS BITTER ACTOR. How I wish I’d had this book thirty years ago. I had no mentor, no acting guru and no relative in the business. The information and insight in this one chapter could have saved me a lot of angst, anger and agony along the way. And it is a book that every actor, particularly every actor at the beginning of his/her career should read and should keep handy for review during the tough times. Flanagan uses personal experiences from his successful acting career…twenty years and counting…to offer pointers on topics that every actor will find useful: * How do you combat getting typed? * Understanding the people you are auditioning for * Bad habits to avoid in the audition waiting room * The two deadliest questions you may be asked before starting your reading * What are they looking for in the call back? * Dealing positively with rejection Any actor who has been in the game for more than a little while has personally struggled with or has tried to help friends who have struggled with depression and bitterness. It’s almost inevitable. If a writer’s script is rejected for publication or production, it hurts. If a director’s film is rejected by the public, it hurts. But in each of these instances, the ‘product’ that is being rejected is a book, a script,