Acting

Classes

Auditions Announcements

Agents

Casting Directors

Theatres

Photographers

Video Editors

Sound Studios

I'm having to put my foot down about something. I cannot help you get work, nor get an agent, nor can I answer every question that gets emailed to me. I'm a struggling actor just like you. I also have a full-time job, a husband and a baby. Everything I know is on these pages, so if you can't find the answer you seek here, then check out the rest of the sites to which I've provided links. If you have questions or need help, PLEASE post them on the bulletin boards that are listed below. You'll get MANY very helpful (and in many cases, more knowledgable) folks to help you much faster than I can. 
 

ONLINE RESOURCES
First there are a few bulletin boards/email lists you're gonna want to join. On Yahoo and FaceBook you'll find a BUNCH of acting related groups to join. I've joined about all of them at some point, but only the ones listed below are worth your time. For the rest, they just don't have the infrastructure to offer anything of worth, and most turn out to be nothing more than places for spammers to advertise. If you're not familiar with Yahoo! Groups, when you join a group, you have the choice of having all the postings e-mailed to you as they're posted, or having them sent to you in digest form, or not emailed to you at all - in which case you'll have to go to the website to see what's going on. I tend to forget to check the board, so I've found the e-mail notifications is the best route for me. They get pretty busy sometimes, so many feel the digest is best for them. I found the digest too tedious to wade through because many responders include the ENTIRE prior post or 2 in their reply, so you end up with the same message repeated many times within the same digest edition. I find it's much easier to have each post emailed to me, and just delete the ones in which I have no interest.

Atlanta Theatre is a Yahoo! Group and bulletin board where you'll find postings to announce upcoming auditions as well as questions and answers by other actors, directors, writers, etc. You can join and/or just visit the bulletin board to find out about auditions as well as upcoming & running shows, etc. This group is primarily for theatre happenings, but because of its popularity it often is used to announce film and other acting auditions.

Love2Act.com provides Atlanta acting resources for all actors. Includes links to filmmaking classes, acting courses, acting workshops and showcases. You can post your headshot and resume online for free. They also provide film auditions, theatre castings, monologues, ideas for improvisations, cold readings, and roles in TV, film, commercials, and theatre. They are sponsored by Professional Actor's Studio, but that doesn't hinder their freedom to post all resources.

Acting in Atlanta is another Yahoo! Group that was created and maintained by Atlanta actor, Kevin Harry long ago. Back in 2000 or 2001 he joined Stephen Caudill to run ActorSphere. Although this group still exists, and you're still able to read & post messages, it's just not as active as it use to be. We'll see if it picks up after ActorSphere is no longer free.  

Before you log off the internet, you're gonna want to get your very own Actor's Guide Southeast. This is a book that list just about every resource you'd want to know about in the entire southeast. And since it's a book, you have it in hand when the net isn't available. It includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee & Virginia. You can find it at any book store or buy online. It costs $25 for the book and directroy and $18 for the directory alone. IF YOU'RE A BEGINNER, YOU NEED THE BOOK. It's a concise, complete, and realistic introduction to what is involved in working as on-camera talent in the southeast region. It answers questions such as: What is an agent, a casting director, and what do they expect from me? How do I get auditions? Where do I get a headshot, and what should I put on my resume? What kind of training will I need? What kind of work is there? What is different about working as an actor in the southeast as opposed to L.A. or New York? The Actor's Guide also includes special chapters on voice-over and the children's market.

Click on the Theatres link to the left and you'll go directly to the Atlanta Performs website. Here is a good resource for theatre info: most of the theatres in the Atlanta-Metro area, audition info, and some class info. Go there and get familiar with the site - it's a good resource to bookmark and check often.
 

WHERE TO FIND SCRIPTS
Not only will it help you as an actor to be familiar with many scripts, one of the tools of the trade is an audition piece called a monologue. There are 2 types of audition pieces: cold reads and monologues. For a cold read, you're given a page or two of the script upon arrival to look over for a few minutes, then you and another actor or the casting director will act out the scene together, and the casting director will hire based on the performance he/she gets. Unfortunately for me, many casting directors prefer monologues: a 1-2 minute, one character scene that you've memorized and tweaked and perfected just to perform for casting directors to prove that you have the right stuff to be hired as an actor. Almost any day of the week you can use your favorite search engine and search for scripts. You'll get so many, it's impossible to sift through them all. It's been quite some time since I've done such a search, so by all means, see if you can't find some of your own script sites. Until then, the following are a couple of places for you to find scripts for monologues.

Drew's Script-o-rama has scripts from just about any TV show or movie. 

Monologues has only monologues - zillions! So it'll take quite some time to look through them. And yes, these sites are FREE! As a matter of fact, EVERY site or resource I reference is free.

The Atlanta Public Library has a huge selection of dramatic literature as well as scene and monologue books. But if you're willing to pay, of course I suggest your nearest Barnes & Noble or any other book store that you're particularly fond of. (I can spend HOURS in any book store!) 

Now, go to your favorite search engine and start searching for script sites. There's BUNCHES out there. Yes, I have quite a few of them in my bookmarks which I have not posted here. This is intentional. I use to be a teacher, and I know for a fact that if I do all the work for you, you'll not know how to stand on your own two feet. As I said, the first thing you need to do is RESEARCH. So if you don't know how and I do it for you, you'll never learn to do it for3..... yourself. You know the saying, "Teach a man to fish..." Well, get working!
 

VOLUNTEERING
I put myself through college on music and theatre scholarships and one of the stipulations of those scholarships was that one had to crew a certain number of shows - either at the local community theatre or in the college theatre - if you were IN the show, you still had to work in some type of crew capacity. During my first year in Atlanta I was an acting intern at Actor's Express where once again I was required to crew some of the shows. When I completed that internship, I stayed on at Actor's Express as a volunteer. I've done everything in a theatre except run the light board and direct. So believe me when I say, "You'll learn more about yourself as well as the Atlanta theatre industry and the people who run the theatres by volunteering!" Honestly, there's not a theatre that doesn't depend to some degree on volunteers - without them, they'd be in trouble. So, got to the Atlanta Performs website for a complete list of theatres in Atlanta and contact them to find out how to volunteer. 

I'm not saying you have to build a set, or hang lights, or sew costumes - unless you want to do those things. But you can usher, work in the box office, work the concessions. These are great ways to get in the door and have people get to know you and vice versa - and SEE ALL THE SHOWS FOR FREE! To really learn the business, be a member of the running crew. You might find you have a special knack for the technical side and become a sound or light board operator - they usually get paid. Or you may find you have a knack for the logistical side and become a stage manager or an assistant director - they usually get paid, too. 

You don't have to volunteer at the same theatre all the time, either. Move around, get to know more than one theatre company. You might find a particular director or production company that you prefer to work with and they'd be happy to have you work for them again.

In the long run, you will have gotten to know many actors, directors, teachers, and techies in the industry. You'll have built up an excellent network of friends and resources. Not only will you know where to go and who to ask about productions that are going on or coming up, but most importantly these people will know YOU. There are some theatre companies in Atlanta who admit that they do not hold open auditions. They will not audition anyone for whom they cannot get a good reference. They know the quality of their show depends on the quality of the people involved. Companies that do hold open auditions cannot help being affected by how well they know you, too, so even they will benefit by having gotten to know you through your volunteering. 

And remember what I said about not wasting your time nor theirs - volunteering gives you the opportunity to determine if a particular production house or team is a good fit for you. You can decide if you want to work with them again.
 

OTHER PLACES TO NETWORK
Hang outs for theatre industry people include Manuel's Tavern in Little 5 Points, Einstein's in Midtown, and quite a few other places. BUT... would you really want to be the weirdo that just out of the blue tries to hang out with the theatre crowd at Manuel's? The only way to be included in these hang outs is to get to know these people by volunteering, taking classes, being a working actor or techie, or "meeting" them on the bulletin boards mentioned above. This isn't to say you HAVE to hang out at bars or restaurants to get to know these people. I don't, simply because I'm just not into "going out" more than once in a blue moon. The only reason I bring this up here is that this is a good way to get to know the people you work with "outside of work" - and make more friends in the process. It's one of the many components of NETWORKING.