Dear Starving Artist, Get Something to Eat. By Ransford Doherty With Angie Sanders BOOK PROPOSAL (memoir) TABLE OF CONTENTS OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................... 3 ABOUT THE AUTHOR ................................................................................................................ 5 AUDIENCE .................................................................................................................................... 6 RELATED TITLES ........................................................................................................................ 7 CHAPTER SUMMARIES ............................................................................................................. 8 PUBLICITY AND PROMOTION ............................................................................................... 16 WHAT I KNOW FOR SURE ....................................................................................................... 19 Dear Starving Artist, Get Something to Eat. 2 OVERVIEW Written with humor and reflection, Dear Starving Artist, Get Something to Eat. (63,322 words) is a coming-of-age story spanning twenty-three years. It is the story of a young man who dares to chase his dream of becoming a successful actor while his understanding of personal success evolves. With this book, Ransford Doherty wants readers to learn from his mistakes and realize that pursuing one’s dreams is a continuous process. His story encourages all readers, especially aspiring actors and creative artists, to put their college degrees and practical life experiences to work by finding employment that will allow them to live their dreams and support themselves financially. Ransford Doherty’s parents were born in Sierra Leone. Their dream was for their son to become a hotshot lawyer, like Blair Underwood in NBC’s L.A. Law. However, a life-changing meeting with his undergraduate advisor while he was attending Longwood University spurs Ransford to change his major from law to theatre performance. Ransford wrestles with this decision, worrying about what his parents will think and the impact on his extended family members. Upon graduation, he travels from Virginia to California—dreaming of Hollywood stardom— with nothing but $2,000 and a duffle bag full of clothes. Two imaginary Blair Underwood characters serve as Ransford’s guide on his inspiring, cinematic roller coaster ride that is filled with obstacles and situations that test his definition of success, his faith in God, and his personal resolve. Ransford arrives in Los Angeles woefully unprepared for his new life. Just when he gets a job and finds his bearings in the new city, his roommates move out, leaving him to figure out his path to stardom alone. Soon, an acting role in a soft drink commercial leads to a chance meeting with a talent agent. However, Ransford knows he must quit his day job in order to gain her representation and remain available for the numerous auditions he feels certain will follow. Unable to give up his financial security, he decides to work the graveyard shift and attend auditions during the day, but soon, sleep deprivation takes its toll, threatening his ability to perform at his best. When a SAG-AFTRA strike poses another threat, Ransford realizes his finances aren’t growing with his resume. Fortunately, a colleague introduces him to the flexible and well-paying world of substitute teaching. Soon after he starts teaching, he lands a role in the movie Hostage alongside Bruce Willis. Ransford is certain this movie will be his big break but, unfortunately, his career doesn’t take off as he anticipates. After investing in a bad real estate deal, he finds himself in debt and at a loss about how to continue pursuing his career as an actor. He turns to his two Blair Underwood muses—L.A. Law Blair and Dashiki Blair—to help him reason through his problems as he struggles to balance the journey to become a successful working actor with his need to become financially secure. Even though Ransford’s face is now in ads throughout Los Angeles, promoting his role in a major motion picture with Bruce Willis, Ransford decides to return to teaching to support himself. In the midst of budget cuts and teacher shortages, several high school students make Ransford realize that his talents are needed both on screen and in the classroom. He then realizes that his teaching career will allow him to live his dream as a successful working actor while remaining financially stable. Dear Starving Artist, Get Something to Eat. 3 Ransford’s next big break comes when he lands the role of Coroner’s Investigator Kendall on TNT’s The Closer and Major Crimes. As a successful alum, Longwood University invites him to return to his alma mater to deliver the commencement address to a class of young dreamers. In the last chapter of the memoir, Ransford reflects on his career, which includes 20+ years and 500+ auditions, and offers life lessons to those hoping to make a living from their passion for the arts. A chance meeting with the real Blair Underwood at the end of the book brings Ransford’s quest full circle, a sign that he has indeed gotten this dream-chasing thing right. Dear Starving Artist, Get Something to Eat. 4 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ransford Doherty is a successful American television and film actor, educator, motivational speaker, and brand ambassador best known for his role as Coroner’s Investigator Kendall on the TNT top-rated series The Closer and Major Crimes. He has appeared in several recurring roles on network television shows including Jonas, Las Vegas and Joan of Arcadia. He has also made appearances on Shameless, NCIS, The Office, and Bones. His film credits include Hostage, opposite Bruce Willis, and Something Like a Business, alongside Kevin Hart. Ransford has been an acting coach for the SAG-AFTRA AFI Conservatory, Get Lit MC Club, and the August Wilson Monologue Competition and a guest acting teacher for The Booking Room, Joshua Lebar, and Ani Avetyan. His online course, Act for a Living, is a masterclass for aspiring actors seeking long successful careers in Hollywood without being starving artists. The Diving Board Technique, a one-on-one course, teaches actors his proprietary technique that helps them discover, and clearly demonstrate, what’s not being said moment-to-moment in a scene. Ransford is an acting coach and a high school special education teacher. He’s a co-founder, curriculum creator, and brand ambassador for Winning at The Money Game, a program that teaches financial literacy using the game of basketball to elementary, middle, and high school students. Ransford lives in Los Angeles and is a native of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Dear Starving Artist, Get Something to Eat. 5 AUDIENCE Although Dear Starving Artist, Get Something to Eat is a blueprint for how to not to give up on any dream, this book is targeted to the following reading audience: • Parents struggling with their college-age children’s choice to major in the arts (acting, writing, theatre, music, etc.) and are concerned about their child’s financial futures. • Artists/actors who want to stop starving and start eating. • People who are interested in becoming TV, film, or commercial actors in Hollywood. • Actors who have quit the business and are looking for a way back. • Actors who are tempted to quit the business. • Actors who want to start enjoying life more. My book provides relatable stories and helpful hints for taking calculated risks to achieve career goals, and it illustrates the rejection, pitfalls, and successes along the way. The book is a narrative that reveals what is behind the glamourous and glitzy curtain of Hollywood. I wrote the kind of book that I wish I had read prior to moving to Los Angeles—at least I would have known what to expect! I didn’t know the sacrifices I would have to make or the joy I’d experience in going for something that I wanted. My commitment to the journey toward becoming a working actor has always been a deal between God and me. I’ve sometimes veered off the path a bit, but after 23 years, I’m still on the journey. Dear Starving Artist, Get Something to Eat. 6 RELATED TITLES I started the process of writing this book with a coach who helped me produce a 150-page stream-of-consciousness draft. With the help of my co-author, Angie Sanders, I was able to tap into the themes I wanted to cover and tell my stories with humor, candor, and rich dialogue. She was able to identify the holes in my story and helped me tackle the topics I shied away from writing about initially. Below are the four books that I think my manuscript compares to in subject matter and/or style: • The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide by Jenna Fischer. Similar to Fischer’s title, my book is inspiring, and it provides helpful guidance. My goal is for Dear Starving Artist, Get Something to Eat. is to make readers feel like they are receiving information from a trusted friend who has made the journey and has returned to walk beside them, pointing out the pitfalls as they blaze their own paths toward the life of a professional actor. Unlike this book, my book discusses the ways in which I overcame the pitfalls I experienced. • We’re Going to Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True by Gabrielle Union. Genuine and perceptive, Union bravely lays herself bare, uncovering a complex and courageous life of self-doubt and self-discovery with incredible poise and brutal honesty. My book also tackles self-doubt and self-discovery, but it also compels readers to remove all the glitter and glamour and participate in this business for the love of it and not for the money. • Definitely Hispanic: Growing Up Latino and Celebrating What Unites Us by LeJuan James. In this book, LeJuan James shares anecdotes about discovering the differences between his and his friends’ households, demystifies “La Pela” (the spanking), explains the vital role women play in Hispanic families, and pays reverence to universal cultural truths like food is love and music is in Hispanics’ DNA.