Philip Carlson, a former manager and talent agent with a 30-year career leading New York agencies, offers practical trade secrets and a comprehensive guide to show biz in Breaking and Entering: A Manual for the Working Actor: From Auditions to Agents to a Career. Carlson was the first agent to sign Philip Seymour Hoffman, Billy Crudup, Liev Schreiber, Claire Danes, Idris Elba, Kyra Sedgwick, Adrien Grenier and Paul Giamatti. He has represented Viola Davis, Kathy Bates, Brian Dennehy and W.H. Macy among others.