Well I have been trying to figure out what my next blog should be about and after much thought I have come up with is subject finding an agent. So if you are looking to become an actor or actress depending on your gender you’re going to want an agent, why? Well having an agent is very handy really, you see whenever a film or television series comes to town they often contact agents and tell them what they are looking for. And then your agent contacts you and you go off to auditions. Now I am not saying you can’t get an audition without an agent because you can. And that is called self promotion and I will touch on that later.
Now how do you go about finding an agent, there are a few ways really.
- You check out agents in the yellow pages they are listed and you send off a copy of your headshot and resume.
- You go on the web and find that that way, you will find most agents have a website.
- newspaper ads (I don’t recommend those)
Now after you have contacted an agent and they have contacted you back and ask you to come in there is one important thing you should know. NEVER NEVER pay them fees!!! You don’t pay an agent until after they find you work this can be anywhere from 10 to 15% of what you made on the film. If they are asking you for fees please stay clear of them. Now after you have signed on with an agent get a set of decent headshots. Headshots are your calling card, it’s one or maybe the only thing the casting agent will see of you so do not have crappy head shoots. Your agent maybe able to suggest a good photographer or you can often find one on the internet.
Now I was talking about self promotion a moment ago, this is when you represent yourself; it’s doable but can be tricky. You have to do a lot of searching and make sure you find auditions. Now that said even with an agent it is a good idea to do self promotion. Your agent has a ton of clients and can’t always be focused on you. So it’s up to you to promote yourself at all times. Easy ways of doing this are sending copies of your headshot and resume to casting agents. Now you might ask how does one do this? It’s easy and you don’t need to sign up for any acting sites that you pay 50 bucks a month for just to get the names. Use IMDB, then use the net to get the address. IMDB is a great resource to find casting agents.
Now you might come across this scenario were the agent you are contacted says you need more experience before they take you on. Well one way to get that is to do extra work, and to get cast in independent films you can often find these casting calls on Craigslist, Mandy.com, or Kijij or at your local coffee shops, Acting classes etc. And if your in a small town, make your own indie films. Anything like that will help you gain experience.
So yeah that’s all the tips I can think about giving you for finding or getting an agent. If you have any question or can think of something I might have missed please feel free to ask or let me know and I will answer you question or add to this blog. As always have a great day and good luck.
Sincerely,
Christopher Renaud
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