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But at various points in their careers—and for reasons ranging from unemployment to boredom—many actors find that spirit unfulfilled by acting alone and taking them in a different direction. That is where the Actors' Work Program (AWP) of the Actors' Fund of America can help. With offices in both New York and Los Angeles, AWP offers soup-to-nuts employment and training services, including career counseling, job training, tuition assistance, and search and placement support. Some 9,000 people have used its services to date. On Wed., Nov. 9, in the Council Room at Actors' Equity (165 West 46th St., 16th floor), from 5:30 to 7 p.m., a "Small Business and Entrepreneurship Forum" will allow industry professionals to share their experiences, tips, and valuable information. To be moderated by this writer, the panel will include Gerrit Vooren, a video and film producer (www.reels4artists.com); Jane Labanz, operator of the Delicate Pen (www.delicatepen. com); Paula Lockheart of Music Together centers (www.lockmusic.com); and Sue Gilad, an editor (www.suzannegilad.com, www.paidtoproofread.com). Representatives of various government and private organizations will be in attendance as well. So what kinds of small businesses do actors start? The aforementioned Vooren is an interesting example. Born in the Netherlands, he has lived in New York for 19 years, working as a dancer-choreographer as well as an actor. In some ways, living in New York gave him the chance to pursue his artistic dreams, but in other ways it was frustrating. "I knew I wanted to become an actor, so I took acting classes, worked a lot, and felt really blessed," he says. "But since I'm Dutch, I played lots of Nazis, Russians, and other sundry bad guys in movies, TV, and soaps—I was Hans the terrorist on As the World Turns. Eventually acting became unsatisfying—me running around with a gun till I got shot. I was typecast—it's in my look, in my sound. I knew I had to take charge, do something. AWP literally started me with a typing class." Design, Vooren explains, was always a "serious love." He considered going into graphic design; he took classes in Illustrator and Quark and developed "a wonderful portfolio as the dot-com business crashed." Turning again to AWP, he worked with Patricia ("Patch") Schwadron, the organization's career counselor supervisor, to develop a clearer sense of what to do next. It was a process that led Vooren to taking more software classes, learning programs such as Photoshop and Final Cut Pro, and then a bookkeeping class. "I never had a business before," he says, "so I never had to learn about marketing or packaging or branding anything." Finally—as if for fun—Vooren took his video camera and transformed what was once a favorite monologue into a short film, using a Mac program called iMovie. Light bulb! He founded Reels4artists, a small business that offers artists from nearly all ends of the entertainment industry—actors, dancers, musicians—demo reels, documentaries, music videos, electronic press kits, and more. His visual wizardry has even been seen on Egg: The Arts Show on PBS. "Now I'm taking charge of my career!" Vooren exclaims. "I can shape what you need, I can find a writer, I can edit it, I can design it. My business is my baby." Like Vooren, Celia Gannon is a New York–based performer who had built a substantial resume through the years but with no guarantee of what might come next. And like most actors, she had a survival job—corporate event planning—between gigs. Early in her career, it would never have occurred to her to run a small business while simultaneously acting. Acting was her work. But while on tour with a musical, she met a fellow actress, Jaime Masiuk, which had the unexpected effect of changing her outlook. Acting is an unpredictable business at its best, and three years ago, after planning her own wedding—and creating a line of unique, handcrafted items for it—Gannon realized she might have a talent worth mining for its commercial possibilities. "I knew I was on to something when the event coordinator asked to keep the items," she says. "It was like I uncovered a resource. As an actor, you feel a little lost in the world outside performing." But what kind of small business? How would she start? How would she run it? Entrepreneur, she concluded, wasn't a role she was ready to play. Then Masiuk—who'd spent years doing floral design in addition to acting—got married herself and "it was clear," Gannon says, "that we had the complementary skills needed for an event design business. I mean, we found it—we found the answer to that eternal struggle of actors needing jobs to pay for their art. We figured it would have low or no overhead and that we would really be on to something if we could find our market and do a couple of events each month." Now they needed know-how and a name. Verve Event Design came first. "In less than 10 minutes at AWP, as I'd already done a lot of research into small business administration," Gannon says, "Patch gave us a resource list, then we moved." First came a visit to SCORE (the Service Corps of Retired Executives), a national nonprofit organization providing small-business counseling and training, which helped the twosome gain some business acumen. Then it was on to Baruch College's Small Business Development Center, which helped them rewrite their business plan and prepare to put their ideas into practice. "It's such a big thing to realize you can make money," Gannon says. "They helped us figure out cash flow, adjusted our marketing goals, and gave specific advice on how to find people in a position to hire us"—such as brides, bridal fairs, and vendors. Today, more than a year into launching their business, Gannon says Verve handles two events per month on average, earning her and Masiuk between $3,000 and $7,000 in monthly profits. "We have not been in a position—yet—to turn down jobs at this point, but we really can't commit to more than two events on a weekend," she says. Still, "Jaime is involved in a sketch-comedy group and I'm doing readings, so we're still in performing mode. Our next goal is to build the business to a point where we have a pool of subcontractors, so you might want to call me in a year. We know there's always going to be that struggle of the acting business versus creating a business—all those emotions that come up when you're not ready to give up acting but when you are ready to do more. That's when I remember what I learned at AWP. Patch told me, 'If you invest two or three years in building a business to potentially support your acting, isn't it worth it to explore it?' I think it is." < SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR | RSS | SAVED ARTICLES | REPRINTS SUBSCRIBE TO BACKSTAGE » more » » New York City » Northeast » West » Pacific Coast » Los Angeles » Southeast » Midwest » Film » Unions » Other News & Obits » Stage » TV / Video / Multimedia » Announcements An Evening With...Hugh Laurie January 17, 2006 'Back Stage West' will present a Q&A Hugh Laurie, the star of FOX Television's 'House', and recent Golden Globe winner for Best Actor in a Drama Series. The event will be moderated by National Film & Television Editor Jenelle Riley. 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