:: In the News ::
Going Hollywood right at home
Book has tips on getting into show biz in places other than L.A.
or N.Y.
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By NICK CARTER
Of the Journal Sentinel staff
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So you’ve got
Tinseltown dreams and a Midwestern heart?
Well, according
to a one-time Wisconsinite now working in TV, you can be a player
in the national entertainment industry from the comfort of home.
So goes the
line in “Hollywood USA” (Eggman Publishing, 270 pages, $ 19.95).
Phil Kramer, a
Manitowoc
native who lived in Milwaukee from 1984-87, is co-author. The book
sheds light on many obscure and not-so-obscure entertainment
opportunities available far from the show biz meccas of New York
or Los Angeles.
“People don’t
realize that the industry is spread all over the country,” Kramer
said during a phone conversation. “It’s getting too expensive to
do productions only in New York of Los Angeles” Kramer was on
location in Lajitas, Texas, where he’s serving as art coordinator
for “Dead Man’s Walk,” a TV prequel to the western “Lonesome
Dove.”
Taking a
step-by-step approach, the book gives the rundown on a range of
gigs – from how to snare a good acting role in a major motion
picture to getting your child into a local J.C. Penney Co.
commercial. A list of national talent agencies broken down
regionally, is included.
Along with
insider tips, the book includes more than a decade of
behind-the-scenes anecdotes.
Kramer, who
worked as a tennis instructor at the Town Club in Fox Point and
was a general manager at the then North Shore Racquet Club (now
the North Shore Elite Fitness and Racquet Club) in Glendale, was
lured to Hollywood 10 years ago. He returned to the Midwest to
earn a business degree from Northern Illinois University and has
since worked as an artistic coordinator and co-producer on
commercials, TV movies and music and sports specials.
Kramer, 40,
wrote the book with his actor friend and partner, Randall Patrick.
Patrick came up
with the idea for the book after years of enduring the questions
of those seeking to break into the industry.
“Hollywood USA”
is available in local bookstores. |
