Your Agent Isn’t an Angel
OK, by saying your agent isn’t an angel, I’m not disparaging their mood, mode or how they operate. What I’m trying to say is that your agent is not here to save you!
Many actors suffer from the notion is it that it’s the agent’s job to dust you off, polish you to a brilliant shine, and escort you to the promised land. The belief is that the agent does all the work.
In fact this was MY mistake when I took on working with 90210. Inherently the coach and teacher in me kicked in and I was spending an inordinate amount of time getting the talent I inherited and brought in by the last agent working there into what I considered to be “fighting shape”. Polishing up their online profiles, telling them the best classes to take that would mean something on their resume and sending a lot of inspiring messages to prop up feelings of doubt, took time away from the most vital aspects of being a representative…submissions and bookings.
I realized that even actors that are represented didn’t really know a lot about business and marketing and had the thought that it would and should be my job. They’d do the “show” and I’d do the “biz”. And I was facilitating this…big mistake on both of our parts!
I had seen it for many years when coaching actors…this persistent thought that there’s someone or something outside of you that has the power to make dreams come true with little effort or output from you, and once you find that person, you’ll be rich and famous. But then it was “theory” and here it was in practice, evidence of this insanity. I drove myself insane too, then I stopped it at the behest of the head of the agency.
I want to let you know that during my tenure there I had actors who never got an audition at all. I was submitting them a TON and the CD’s weren’t calling them in. Not because they weren’t talented (how would they know?) but because the materials I had to submit with weren’t viable and requests for new headshots or media on their profiles, updating resumes and other requests were ignored or took months. I pushed the buttons knowing that they’d never get in the door…and it was a very disturbing place to be in. Since I left, I’m fairly certain many of these actors have sadly been dropped from the roster. A very avoidable situation.
Getting an agent doesn’t mean you’ll ever have an audition and it certainly doesn’t mean that you don’t have to do most of the work in getting opportunities yourself. Leaving it all up to your rep is folly. You have to be in classes, write/shoot/produce/direct your own material, put up a play/Youtube video/Facebook live and get yourself out there. These days you have to work harder than your agent. Training in class consistently, creating your own material constantly, and doing whatever you can to engage with other artists is essential to your craft and your career. You have to give your agent the tools to sell you. Relying upon anyone other than yourself is career suicide. Giving up your artistic and professional responsibility to an agent is a grave error that too many actors make. Do the work and make your agent catch up.
Stay tuned for more “insider” info in my next post. To Your Success, Lisa