New interview about The (New) Business of Acting explores managing expectations ...

I just did a Web radio interview about the (new) business of acting with Trena Bolden Fields, the actress/entrepreneur, etc. behind the Website PaidActor.com. If you haven't heard enough of me on this topic, it's available on-demand. :)

We talked quite a bit about the "managing expectations" part of launching, building and maintaining a career. Actors need to get a handle on this skill to help empower both themselves in this process and to learn how to manage the expectations that others who love them will have (parents, partners, friends) of them. 

For the non-industry person who is connected to a seeking-to-be-working actor, it can be frustrating when they don't understand why the person they love, the person they know is a gifted performer, isn't getting more opportunities to do the work they are passionate about and trained for.

There is a fiscal fitness piece of this emotional fitness equation, too. We talk about that, as well.

Thank you, Trena!

"Webster" & "Things Were Rotten" co-star Henry Polic II Dies at Age 68

Henry Polic II

After a long battle with cancer, I am so sorry to have to announce this morning the death last night of my pal and client of nearly 30 years actor Henry Polic II.

Henry, who found television pop culture fame as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1975 Mel Brooks television series "When Things Were Rotten" and as Uncle Jerry Silver in the 1980s television series "Webster," was 68.

Henry was also a prolific and popular television game show player and host, having been a semi-regular on both "The $25,000 Pyramid" and its later incarnation "The $100,000 Pyramid," both hosted by Dick Clark. Henry also hosted the 1986 ABC-TV game show "Celebrity Double Talk" and found cult fame as the voice of the Scarecrow in the 1990s "Batman: The Animated Series."

In 2011, Henry joined me for a chat about his life and his career journey for four segments of our Web TV series "Inside the Business of Acting." I'm happy to share segment one with you here. The three that follow are available on-demand through links at InsideTheBusinessOfActing.com.



A memorial scholarship fund has been established in Henry's name at his beloved alma mater to provide funding to assist the School of Theatre's annual production of new works. Contributions can be made by contacting Fred Salancy at fsalancy@admin.fsu.edu.

Henry, you are already missed ... XX

Fame and the evolution of an actor -- and a ground-break television series ...

I was a big fan of the 1970's ground-breaking comedy series "Soap." 

In 1977, before moving to Los Angeles, I got to interview series creator and producer Susan Harris for my WBZ Radio/Boston interview show. 

Then, in 1992, we were lucky enough to have series star Robert Mandan pay us a visit on "Lemack & Company Live," our little Beverly Hills-based coffee shop chat show. We talked about his life before, during and after his role as Chester Tate. We just added that interview to our RerunIt.com collection.

Robert's story is an interesting on in the discussion of a career journey. He was a seasoned New York-based actor prior to coming to Los Angeles, where sit-com fame came to him. 

Much like other strong, comedic television characters (Carroll O'Connor's Archie Bunker, Jean Stapleton's Edith Bunker, Sherman Hemsley's George Jefferson and Isabel Sanford's Weezy Jefferson come to mind, among others), Mandan's "Soap" fame got him typecast in his Chester Tate character persona.

Fame ... It's an odd dilemma. Robert talks about what happened to him, casting-wise, post-"Soap" in our interview.

You can view a promo clip on YouTube.

BL

A standing ovation for Bonnie Franklin ...

Bonnie Franklin and Brad Lemack at the 2009 taping of
"Inside the Business of Acting"

So, so sad to hear the news this morning of the death of actress Bonnie Franklin, one of the best.

I first met Bonnie back in the early 1980’s when I worked as the publicist for her acclaimed CBS-TV series “One Day at a Time.” When I later opened my own talent management and PR company, Bonnie soon came along and it was beyond a joy to work with her and for her through the many projects we did together.

Much will be written today and in the days that follow about Bonnie and the impressive career she earned and the legacy she leaves behind. We can leave that reporting to the entertainment news outlets around the world.

What they cannot share with you is something exclusive to us at Lemack & Company that I want to share with you.

In 2008, following the success of my book “The Business of Acting,” I joined with Gary Marsh and his Virtual Channel Network to produce and host a limited series of interviews about the business of acting with “working” actors talking about their career journeys.

Bonnie was one of those amazing folks who came to our little studio in West Los Angeles one particular Saturday afternoon to talk for four segments about her life, her career and the lessons she learned along the way.

I’m happy to share Segment #1 here. You can view the remaining three segments on-demand at InsideTheBusinessOfActing.com.

From her Tony Award-winning musical, with a salute to Bonnie, “Applause, applause” – and thank you.

Farewell to the always tip-minded "Jeffersons" doorman Ned Wertimer ...

Ned Wertimer 

Sad to report that my long time client (32 years!) and pal Ned Wertimer has died. Ned, who earned TV pop culture fame from his role as Ralph the Doorman on the long running, hit series "The Jeffersons," was 89.

Ned was the first client to sign with Lemack & Company when I left my publicity post for "The Jeffersons" (and other Norman Lear series) in the early 1980's to open up shop.

Ned was born in Buffalo, New York on October 27, 1923. He made his acting debut as a youngster at the Nichols School, in Buffalo, most notably in a school production of A Christmas Carol. 

He was appointed a naval aviator on 1944, having fulfilled the requirements of the United States Navy Department. After serving as a pilot in World War II, Ned attended the University of Pennsylvania’s renowned Wharton School from where received his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. He was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity (as was his father).

While at the university, Ned was active in the famous Mask and Wig Club, the all-male musical troupe founded in 1889. He had major roles in their 1947 production of Juleo and Romiet, playing Lady Montague, and in the 1948 production of Alaska Right Away, playing Senator Forghorn.

Despite his degree in business, Ned moved to New York City right after college to pursue an acting career. He found success immediately, appearing in two Broadway shows within a year. He was both assistant stage manager and cast member in Texas L’il Darlin’, a Robert Emmett Dolan/Johnny Mercer musical that opened in November 1949 and as a cast member in Garson Kanin’s play The Live Wire, which opened in August 1950.

In New York, Ned also began to get roles in the new medium of television, appearing in many of the popular shows at the time. He become a regular guest on the popular children’s series The Shari Lewis Show, which highlighted his natural gifts for mimicry and improv comedy.

In 1961, he replaced Paul Lynde in the Tony Award winning Broadway production of Bye Bye Birdie. Ned also worked in numerous national touring and stock productions of plays and musicals, including Brigadoon, Hat Full of Rain, Witness for the Prosecution, Man For All Seasons, Cyrano de Bergerac, Annie Get Your Gun, Bells are Ringing, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter and, much later, The Best of The Jeffersons, a recreation of three episodes from the television series starring its original cast.

Over the years, he made appearances in more than 100 television programs and series in both New York and Los Angeles, a list that grew to include The Debbie Reynolds Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, Mork and Mindy, You Can’t Take it With You, Mister Peepers, He & She, Gunsmoke, MacMillan and Wife, Family Law and, of course, The Jeffersons, to name a few.

In the mid-1960s, Ned moved to Los Angeles to continue his career in film and television. He soon met and married the love of his life, Dr. Skyne Uku.

In Los Angeles, his film credits grew to include The Pack, What’s So Bad About Feeling Good, Tora! Tora! Tora!, The Impossible Years, Chiller and as stockbroker Fred Cates to Lucille Balls’ Mame.

Ned had a passion for travel, which enriched his life and became a part of his most memorable years. His worldwide adventures included riding a camel in Egypt, riding an elephant in Thailand and snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Ned was active in social and political issues regarding civil rights He was very involved in AFTRA and SAG’s union contract negotiations and was a dedicated, long time member of the board of directors of the AFTRA SAG Federal Credit Union. He was also a voting member for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Emmy Awards.

Ned also enjoyed sports, especially golf, and played in many celebrity gold tournaments for a variety of non-profit organizations.

Condolences and hugs to his wife and best friend Skyne Uku-Wertimer.

How "low" can you get ... ?

The unrest and rioting against the U.S. in the Middle East this past week has, according to press reports, been sparked by a poorly made and cheaply produced “ultra low budget” film.

This fairly new SAG-AFTRA classification of production makes it possible for union actors to appear in films produced by students and other people with limited budgets (or people or organizations who may have money, in general, but who choose to spend as little as possible producing a film — for whatever reason).

Whether or not the film in question is truly the cause of the latest round of violence is not a Business of Acting topic, but the category of “ultra low budget” productions and the risks actors can face when they choose to appear in one of them is very much a part of the new business of acting landscape.

What happened to the actors in the cast of this film raises the question, "At what price act?" In other words, is every breakdown for a project that seems right for you worth submitting on? Is every audition you are called in for worth going in on? And is every role you are offered from a self-submission worth taking?

In short, no.

I spend a lot of time encouraging young and new-to-the-business actors to be pro-active in every way that makes sense, but there is also a responsibility is this process to perform due diligence at every turn -- and even if if you do, there is no guarantee that after the performance you gave was filmed, that the producers won't go in and do apparently what was done to the actors in this film, replace dialog and edit to an extent that the end result is a film that you would never have choosen to even submit on, let alone act in, if you knew up front what the producer's agenda was.

If a producer meets the SAG-AFTRA requirements to earn the "ultra low budget" classification for their production, it doesn't sanction the production as "worthy," only as "qualified."

Countless organizations produce agenda-driven films, including every political party and the Church of Scientology. I'm not a Scientologist, but at least their breakdowns identify who they are. An actor on a sell-submission and reel-building mission can then determine if he or she is comfortable or interested in appearing in one of this group's films.

The Los Angeles Times ran an excellent front page story the other day on this exact issue. It's worth a read.

It's a discussion we will be having in my Emerson College Business of Acting class tomorrow night and worthy of a discussion here.

BL

"Modern" Inequality?

The cast of "Modern Family"

The news that the cast of Modern Family has settled their salary dispute must come as great news both to them personally and to the production company and network that is eagerly awaiting the launch of the new fall season. However there is another side to this story that doesn't involved Modern Family, but instead impacts the rest of the professional acting community. 


As I wrote on Facebook over the weekend, there is much more to this story that needs to be considered.
As someone who represents talent, the growing trend to offer the actors cast to play roles in single episodes of series scale-only fees, the notion that a series regular is earning roughly $160,000 for the same episode you are been awarded a minor percentage of, continues to slant the playing field further in the direction away from the other "working" or wanting-to-be-working actors. 

Earning a living in the business of acting as a professional actor continues to get tougher and tougher for those not lucky enough to earn those series regular roles. 

I have represented many "series regular" actors over the years. Those big salaries make for some handsome agency commissions. But it also makes it harder, when in the classroom, to encourage acting students to pursue this for their love of the craft (even when they have to work for free) while holding down "day jobs" they would rather not have. It also makes it harder on the "in the trenches every day" actor who longs to earn a living wage that they can actually live on.

My issue is not with the Modern Family actors. Bravo to them for building a brand together with tremendous value. My issue is with the business piece of this. The networks, the studios, the production companies should pay their "cash cows" (if you will excuse the expression) as much as they deserve, but not at the expense of guest stars, co-stars and others who will be lucky enough to book a weekly gig on a show like Modern Family.

If the money exists to pay a series regular those serious bucks, find the money to pay the "working" actors these shows (also) rely on a wage that is fair, a wage that compensates them for their talent -- and a wage that allows these actors to also attempt to earn a living doing what they love, just as their series regular colleagues get to do.

Many times I have been told by a casting director that it's scale or nothing for a client who is up for a role. They are not to blame; they are doing the job they have been hired to do. The conflict for the actor then arises of do you take the job for scale and add a new credit to your resume -- or do you try to do something about it? 


Turning down a job when jobs are so difficult to come by doesn't make any sense. Of course you would take the job, accept the scale payment and then, the next day, return to your "day job" that pays your bills.


There is also a trickle down component of this equation. The less an actor makes, the less commission their agent and/or manager makes. The less the actor's agent and/or manager makes, the more difficult it can become to sustain a level of representation that is essential in moving a client's career forward.


The inequality between star salaries and guest star/co-star/featured stipends needs to be addressed. The onramp to a solution perhaps lies with SAG-AFTRA. Now, in this post-merger landscape, the new union should address the issues that are crucial to a union member's quality of life in pursuit of a career. Of course, greater union actors' salaries also means increased dues paid to the union (which are based on the union member's earnings). SAG-AFTRA's involvement with this stands to be a fiscal "win-win" situation for both parties.


It's time to look at those union minimums and explore how the wealth of a successful series (any series) can be spread out among any and every actor who works on that show. Perhaps it's time to set union minimums based on the rates of pay series regulars get on shows. Add up the total amount being paid to them for each episode, divide that number by the number of series regulars and come up with a percentage of that amount that would be the new "scale" payment for any non-regular actor hired to work on that episode (or series of episodes).


Union scale might not be an issue for the non-series regular actor who works several days a week, every week. But, as every actor knows, the truth of how often they get the opportunity to audition, let alone the opportunity to work, is hardly enough to build a life, let alone a career on.


It's a discussion worth having -- and I hope you will have your say about this here. 


It's a start ...

BL