Commercial Agents
Today I sent mailings to several commercial agents. After reading for casting directors, and asking a lot of questions, I’ve learned that it really does matter who you employ as your agent. I always assumed that when a role came up (on a TV show or even for a commercial) the casting people sent a breakdown out to every agent in town. As it turns out, that’s not the case. A breakdown only goes out for roles that a CD is having trouble casting. Under normal circumstances, the CD either already has actors in mind to call in for the audition, or they call a few agents they work with a lot and ask for submissions from them. What does this mean for an actor? It means that unless you are with one of the agencies that gets called regularly from CDs, you’re not going to work as much as you could otherwise. And it means that your agent has to work that much harder for you… and you a lot harder for you as well.
Having learned all this, I’ve decided to focus on the agencies that casting people recommend as those they work with regularly. I will be making follow up calls tomorrow to speak with the agents I submitted to last week (legit agents), and then further calls next week to speak with those I submitted to this week (commercial agents).
I’ve been getting great feedback from casting people#–they all tell me that I’m competitive with other actors of my type, and rarely give me any direction, telling me I’ve nailed the audition. But they all tell me that I really need an agent to fight for me, to go that extra mile and give them the push to hire me.
Tags: Acting, Career.
4 Comments so far
I’m sure your big break will come soon, or whenever it’s ready to come. Were you an officer for the drama club when you were in high school?
By Larey (Lynsey) on 08.24.05 @ 8:34 pm
I don’t think I was. I wasn’t really popular enough to get elected to those sorts of things. I don’t think anyone who went to school with me would classify me as the outgoing social type. I was more the hardworking, dedicated person.
Nicholas hollered back on 08.24.05 @ 9:53 pm
Oh, well then it’s different now because no one runs for it anymore, it’s like left up to the officers, Townsend and Beatty.
By Larey (Lynsey) on 08.25.05 @ 5:23 pm
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