Actors share more agent stories with me, than about any other topic.
There are some terribly-bad-agent-nightmare experiences out there, and I’ve been told some moderately bad ones, too.
My Actor Friends, Myself: We’ve all had both good and bad experiences with different agents.
If you’ve have had some great experiences to share about agents, would you consider sharing some of them? I’ve started a discusssion board on this blog’s Facebook page.
(No specific agent names necessary.)
You show me yours (agent experience) –I’ll share mine, both the good, and the ugly.
Most novice actors enter The Business with this same agent fantasy…
To have an agent that you can depend on for your entire career
Who daily devotes him or herself to creating infinite opportunities for your professional acting career
Blazing professional pathways
Arranging meetings and auditions for A-level projects
Making your acting career trajectory their priority.
That entry ideal, about agents and representation, and what actually is the most an actor can expect…is not really how the agent-ing business usually works. In the very best situations, something near it can occur.
But that is not every actor’s experience. I would say that the pre-professional actors’ agent ideal, about how their agent (representation) is going to professionally behave; and the assumption of commitment, of attention that the actor or their career actually will ever get; is rarely what happens.
Sadly, there is stuff that can (and too frequently does) happen, after an actor commits to an agency (and vice versa) that can be, unexpectedly, awful.
Then there’s the middle ground. The Purgatory-like hell.
No agency commitment, at all. No auditions, even after an actor is signed.
Actors who I have never met (not even have I seen their acting headshot)… have emailed me their intimate agent stories, the purgatory. And worse. Much.
And there’s always the internal conflict, isn’t there? So many actors take an agent-nightmare, personally.
(It does n-o-t happen to just you…and there’s a very good chance that it doesn’t happen due to any flaws of the actor…yeah, those. The ones the actors are sure created the bad situation. Why are they sure?
Because they try to make sense of the randomness that can happen in this business, and does.
It’s not congruous with their dream, with the logical result of their hard work.
It’s not.
But it does happen. To many actors. And it’s important to know about it, and be ready, with a strategy and career regroup readiness; in case it does.
It’s extremely helpful when an actor shares her or his experience, with other actors.
Simply, you could save lots of other actors a similar heartache.
Often, bad stuff happens in (or to)acting careers, because the actor wasn’t aware of the possibility…and didn’t know what look out for, or what to expect. The actor probably could’ve avoided the heartbreak, setback, or other crushing awful-whatever.
The least of which is acting-career-restart.
Seriously: Some acting careers never get back in the game…
…When something terribly disappointing occurs.
Or an actor’s trust is violated, seriously; after a year, or a few more than that, invested in the representation that left a drawer full of headshots to gather dust. At best.
Sometimes it can hijack an entire career.
As a matter of course, actors always have to give agents “time” to develop their careers.
The realization that the agent isn’t doing the job, or that the representation may have behaved in a way that is a detriment to an acting career, or worse… is almost always after a significant amount of time has passed.
In Hollywood, when a represented actor hasn’t worked…
…It can be very difficult to get another agent.
If an actor is able to get meetings with other agencies, the first thing the interviewing agency will ask the actor is what have they been doing lately.
Translated into English, from Hollywood Talent Agent-ese means:
“How much acting work have you done within the last few months?”
They don’t want to hear the actor blame their previous agent. Uh uh.
They want to see the commission money.
I am often asked how to get an agent. By actors.
It’s one of the most common questions I am asked. Actors email me this question, they ask in Hollywood Actor Prep comments, on Twitter, etc.
(Sometimes, from extremely remote places on the globe, by people with really bad translation apps.)
There is no one way to get an agent, and no standard system in place.
In Hollywood, it may be the most difficult place of all to get acting representation.
Do you have a story to share about how you met your agent, or got yours to represent you–
Some actors have had great agent experiences to share.
If you’ve had representation who has really gone to bat for you, or helped to bump your career up in a big way (or lots of little ones) –please consider posting something about that positive experience on the Facebook wall. How it happened, if you would. Please.
The big talent agent mystery …
To most actors who haven’t yet gone pro, or don’t have a whole lot of real acting career experience, the whole talent agent thing is a big mystery. And unfortunately, it’s always been, throughout history. Currently, it’s still the same.
An actor doesn’t find out what it’s really all about until they are in it. Solo.
About agents, and actually about the Industry, altogether…especially the inside workings of the acting profession, has always been learned by doing. Information, and true experiences, were always on the other side of a “mystery wall”.
Please consider contributing to the discussion, by sharing your input, your actor experiences, please. No matter where you live. For the benefit of other actors. For all actors.
Shining a light on some bad behavior, outing it, becomes a positive cause, then…because that can change things.
Bigtime.
For all actors…
It’s a way of supporting each other, and connecting to each other, and making a global group.
One way to better the acting career, and how tough it always has been.
Best,
Dana
Please share your experiences on the Hollywood Actor Prep Facebook Page–
And share this by liking or putting on your Facebook wall–
And with any actors you may know.
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Good advisement.