Expert Help For Actors, Entertainers

Marin Independent Journal, Sunday Oct. 19, 1999

A veteran of the creative industry has formed a consultancy to advise professionals in their careers. Marie Salerno, a longtime broadcast and creative arts executive, has based Marie Salerno Associates in San Anselmo. It provides strategies for on camera and voice-over actors, broadcasters, singers and parents of child performers. Producers, directors and other media professionals also benefit from her one-on-one consulting. In addition, Salerno also lectures and conducts seminars on managing the business side of the performing arts, both for public and corporate clients.

Salerno recently served as an executive of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artist/Screen Actors Guild (AFTRA/SAG) unions in San Francisco, representing performers in all forms of corporate and entertainment media. She assisted professional performers and producers in resolving employment issues with major corporations, public institutions and government entities. During her 17 tenure at the union, Salerno was instrumental in developing the first union interactive media agreement, which has since been adopted for national use by AFTRA and SAG.

The Blair Witch Project Opens Flood Gates To Indie Film World:
New Opportunities Abound For Aspiring Performers

San Francisco, CA - The box office success of independent film The Blair Witch Project has widened the flow of opportunities for performers seeking work experience.

Now that film distributors accept feature length films on digital video, a medium more and more independent filmmakers use, more would be film producers and directors are getting in on the act, creating opportunities for those in search of performing venues.

"One needn't go to Los Angeles to get work, where they'd be a small fish in a big pond," advises Marie Salerno of Marie Salerno Associates, who worked with performers for over 17 years from within the union, and now counsels creative individuals and corporations on the business of show business.

"Here in the Bay Area we've had a steady increase
of independent films being produced. Add to that the new soon-to-be George Lucas film center in the Presidio, San Rafael's new Rafael Film Center, student films, video games, other interactive media, voice mail, advertising, Internet - the list goes on - in sheer numbers opportunities are greater than we've ever seen, and they'll continue to rise."

Salerno feels this trend first by the volume of calls she gets from people wanting to make their mark in the entertainment field. She consults on the business side, helping with such skills and activities as checkbook balancing, working with an agent, marketing, and how to focus the work search effort.

Parents of child performers, performers who left the field and want to return, professionals with a hidden desire to perform, and middle to older aged people seek out Salerno's services because she helps demystify the process and provides the tools to be successful and manage the business side of the profession.

Marie Salerno Associates, a Bay Area entertainment consultancy founded in 1998, provides business coaching for creative people. Marie Salerno offers an experienced, knowledgeable and friendly source for performers aspiring to join the ranks of the pros and needing to successfully navigate the cutthroat world of the entertainment business.