Expert: Peter Messaline - 6/25/2008

Question
hi Peter, congrats on no joe jobs in 30 years! Seems like I should check out the advisors, so I am writing to have you point me to it. I am an actor and also produce and coach. Listed on imdb and SAG member.  Vic Clay

Answer
I checked your imdb entry -- I must use that discussion feature!
Looking at your career and your promotion, I am humbled. As I always am, looking at US actors.
How much of a barrier is it, operating from Boston?
Almost no Canadian acting schools have a career/business course. What's your feeling about US schools? I was lucky, all those years ago when I started, that it was possible to crab into acting sideways (in my case through carpentry, electrics, stage management). Today's graduates, still wet from high school, really need all the help they can get with the transition from "I want it perfect" to "I want it Tuesday".

The Advisors' website is Under Construction. Again.
It will eventually have basic information across the whole business, with subscriber access to more detailed pages. Plus many, many contacts and a discussion board.

The Advisors is me, plus Miriam Newhouse, my wife and co-writer, plus resource people from the production, tax, and visual arts areas. It grew out of our book for Canadian actors, "The Actor's Survival Kit". While the details are Canadian (we often have to persuade where an American equivalent book would assume), the philosophy is universal.

Do you know about ProTalent? (www.protalentsoftware.com) It's an improvement over Holden Log, I think. I am looking forward to meeting its developers in a joint acting career seminar later in the year.

More Qs than As here!

Peter M