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“The Acting Biz: A Career Guide to the Twin Cities” By Beth Chaplin:

A Book Report

Careers in Theatre

Fall Semester 2019

Matthew Caron

Arianna Rotty

September 2019
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The book that I chose for this book report was “The Acting Biz: Career Guide to the Twin

Cities” by Beth Chaplin. I chose this book in particular because it focuses more on the film and

Tv aspect of the the theatre world. The Film and TV world is something that I do not know a lot

of about and is something that I am very interested in pursuing once I leave my undergrad. I also

chose this book for the reason that it is specifically directed to my home town of the Twin Cities.

I thought this would be very beneficial as that I am most likely going to be living at home for the

first couple of years until I save up enough money to move somewhere and I thought it would be

smart to read about the market that I would be doing some of my beginning work in and learn

how to successfully navigate it. One important thing to note about this book, though, is the

publication and copyright of this book. The publication in the front cover says that it was

published in the year 2009. The importance for this date is closely related to the relevance of the

information presented in this book for the reason of historical contexts surrounding it. In the year

2008, one year before this book was published and theoretically during the writing and reviewing

stage of this book, the United States went through a very large recession, effecting millions of

Americans. This recession really affected the theatre scene right in Minneapolis and St. Paul and

its’ constituents very hard. The “Union” work (AEA, AFTRA/SAG, etc.) became very hard to

come by or ceased show up in general because of high costs of hiring Union workers and the

movement of large companies that created most of the job flow such as Target: Print and the

closing of the Americans Actors Equity Association Office for the region that the Twin Cities was

associated with. That being said, from that point on, the Twin Cities became a predominantly

“non-Union” work environment for the primary reason to keep cost low for hiring talent for

producers but in turn created more job openings for the non-union Actor (Chaplin discusses this

point to be union or not in depth in chapter 5).

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This book is separated into several sections focused on specific areas of the business and

for the most part, goes in order of application if you were to use this book as a literal guide to

starting out in the Twin Cities theatre market. The topics covered int his book are The Biz in the

Twin cities, Your product and Your survival in the Biz, The Troops to Support and Enhance Your

Product, Agents, Union or Non-Union, Casting Directors, and Auditioning. Her side sections

within the book are At the Shoot, Training and Classes, Theatre in the Twin Cities, Film and TV,

Voice Overs, Kids and The Business, Modeling and Print Work, Standup Comedy, Legal and

Accounting Issues, and Other Markets: Resources.

The chapter entitled “The Biz in the Twin Cities” is an overview to what the Twin Cities

holds for potential in the actor world. Chaplin states that TC is the 4th largest production market

right under Las Angeles, New York, and Chicago. In this section, Chaplin lays out “do’s” and

“don’ts” when it comes to the Minneapolis theatre scene. She says to not pay for representation,

pay to get your photo in a book unless you know that they have a lot of clients looking through

said book, and to not give money out to people who promise they will “discover you”. Coming

from first had experience, the last statement could not be more true. I have witnessed fake

production companies and agencies tempt the unknowing mother of young women saying that

they have “the perfect look and should get photos done for their book” and then proceeded to

charge you through the roof with feed just to not get any work ever. Chaplin continues to state

that Minneapolis has a lot of work to give when it comes to acting but does not have everything.

Minneapolis has stage work, student films, commercials, industrial work, voice over work

modeling/print, and even jingle singing for well known singings in the area. The only thing that

Minneapolis does not have a large abundance of are large movies and television work here. I

think this statement is especially interesting because I never knew that Minneapolis did really
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have any large movie deals come through or that Minneapolis has jingle singing. Chaplin buttons

up the chapter by laying out the hard facts about what being “an actor” means for the real world.

She writes that there are a series of ups and downs with this “life”, including but not limited to

no paid time off, no 401K, no employer health benefits, but also unlimited vacation and a

flexible, self made schedule, for example But it is all how you look at the situation to judge

whether the “acting life” is for you. Personally these facts scare me about joining this business.

The next section Chaplin leads into is the about your product and your survival in the

Biz. In this section the topic of look is brought up and how it can be very misleading almost

always wrong. Your look is more your personality mixed with what you look like. She ranks

them from most important to least important with Look, personality, and then skill. Now, I don’t

always agree with this. I think that skill and personality could be interchangeable because

sometimes actors can be tolerated because they have great skill, because ultimately the client is

paying the agency for a good actor or actress who is going to nail to sides in the first take and cut

down on production cost for going more than one take and using up precious studio hours.

Chaplin also impress upon the reader to know your look. She says to know what you look like to

tother people as well as what you look like to the camera. Chaplin also warns about the pitfalls of

marketing yourself and get stuck with negativity against yourself if you do not land jobs, and

taking that loss as a personal blow. Chaplin writes that you need to separate yourself and your

self-esteem from the “product” that you are trying to sell; yourself!

The next section flows right into the same type of conversation Chaplin was having with

her readers in the section prior. In this section, Chaplin discusses the tools to use to support and

enhance your product. Here, she lists out things that every actor should have to be successful; a

flexible schedule, transportation, phone, headshot, resume, wardrobe and makeup, audio and
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video demos ear romper, and self promotion. I agree with all of these except for one; the ear

promoter. I don think having a promoter is a necessary tool but instead a good supplemental tool

when you are trying to find work in Minneapolis. Most of the time, the sides are short enough to

memorize prior the the audition and the scenes worked when in production are short enough too.

The only time I can see have an ear prompter would be a necessary tool would be during

industrial videos where it is just one person speaking to the camera and there isn’t budget for a

teleprompter. This section might easily lend itself back to my fist comment about this book being

slightly dated. Chaplin continues to talk about the importance of a day job, like a teaching job in

substitution, a coffee job, temp services, a box office job and many many more. This only thing

she really stresses that all these jobs have in common are a flexible schedule. Chaplin writes that

your second job must flexible in order to accommodate for last minute booking and auditioning.

Chaplin also talks about the importance of headshot is this section but it is very basic and covers

a lot of things already known about headshots. But on the hand, this section on headshots is a

very good beginning introduction to someone who has no idea about what headshots are.

Agents are the next thing that Chaplin tackles in her book. In this section, she explains

the importance of an agent and what role they play in the working actor life and equally now the

working actor plays a role in the agents life. Chaplin also explains the ways to go about getting

an agent and the “do’s” and “don’ts” on how most effetely to obtain an agent. One of the main

points I took away from this section is to be strong and diligent about sending in you resume and

you headshot whenever it changes to your potential agent. I really enjoyed this section because it

shines a long on the interpersonal relationship between the actor and the agent and how to keep

that relationship in the right position where you are always on the front of their mind when

submitting actors in for consideration without being overbearing or annoying. I will most
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definitely use this section as advice in my own life going forward with my own relationships

with my agents in the Cities.

These next sections were one of my personal favorites. In these next sections, Chaplin

covers the infamous topic of to go Union or to stay non union, as well as the implications of that

when you go out for auditions and meet the casting directors. She first goes in by explaining in

full detail the different unions and how to join each of them. She also does a chart directly

comparing rates from typical jobs from day rate industrials to full buyouts for national

commercials. She shows you dollar for dollar how much you would be making if you were to be

union or if you were to be non union in each respective situation. After seeing that chart, (at least

in Minneapolis) it makes sense to be non-union just by looking into the numbers. You are able to

hold on to your dollar better and get most of your paycheck back to you when you are not having

to deal with the union taking certain amounts out of that paycheck for dues and fees that are

associated with being in the union. Some of the reasons Chaplin has stated that are pro non-non

are that the pay good in Minneapolis, some procures dislike the “red tape “ when it comes to the

strict union rules and the same is true for actors as well, and there is an abundance of non- union

jobs in Minneapolis and if you were to go union, you would not be able to work them or else you

would be in jeopardy of losing your union status. Chapin then takes the small step away from

topic and goes into final topic about auditioning. Her biggest word of advice is to just do it or just

enjoy it. Chaplin the goes into the mechanic of auditions, how to audition, where to find actions,

and how to utilize your agent (if you have one) when going on additions. “With each subsequent

audition you establish your reputation and credibility” (Chaplin 120). She stresses so much that

auditioning is really about networking and securing that job for the future as well as the job that

is at hand and you are simply building your career one audition at at time. Chaplin then goes to
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explain where the different types of work come from (be it from an audition call board or from

your personal agent). One of the most interesting things I took from this section was the

commercial, industrials, and molding contracts all come from your agent and rarely, if ever,

come from a call board because they usually do not come from in town production companies.

Chaplin buttons up this section by providing a “cheat sheet” on the lingo that is usually used at

any types of audiences as well as an appendix of websites and other places actors can go to find

auctions for theses types of contracts that are not agent-based.

In conclusion, I thought this book has a very wide variety of information that can be

usefully in so many ways. The breadth of information that this one book hold makes it a one stop

shop for beginning actors in the Twin Cities and allows just a quick thumb through the book to

help answering their burning questions in real time. The only downside that I saw to this book

was the amount of information in certain sections of this book. I come from a place of a lot of

bias and a lot of preexisting knowledge about these things, but I recognize the holes in my

knowledge, but yet I found this book to be slightly too full of information to the point that it just

felt overwhelming. Chaplin does a very well job of going into detail about everything there is to

know about the theatre and film scene in the Twin Cities, but I felt some sections, like the

headshot section or the introduction about how to audition, could have be reduced much more.

But over all, wow! This will definably be book that I keep on my shelf for as long as I am an

actor in this business. Brava, Beth!