Actor Growth

Today I was reading this article that talked about how some people absolutely detest talent agents who don’t bother to send you a reply in regards to your inquiry about seeking representation. In general, they take it as an egotistical/pompous attitude of an agent to not have the courtesy to reply to the talent.

To make it more interesting, some people felt it was even worst for agencies that accept e-mail submissions and don’t have the courtesy to take say 1 minute of their time to reply to the sender on whether or not they are interested in signing them. I was reading agent responses to it too and some mentioned the reason they never reply is that they either get too many inquiries or replying leaves room for the sender to push the conversation further if the agent had no room for the talent in question.

One reason why I like online submissions a lot is that I can immediately see if the agency viewed my material or not. I must admit, I tend to have a bias thought where if they don’t take the time to reply after viewing my material I tend to think they just feel that they are too good to bother with me. Hence, the very stereotypical agent that thinks they are all that. On the flip side, if they do respond even though they have no room for me that at least shows that they sincerely appreciate everyone who submits to them and are keeping the bridge open as you never know what will happen in the future.

Just for the record, I feel the same about actors who think they are too big to talk/respond to others when it comes to things like this. The experience has been mixed for me personally and I can honestly say there are agencies I will avoid in the future too largely based on the fact that they did see my material but did not bother to reply.

In my view it just feels like one of those situations where the person was not willing to give you the time of day early in your career and so when you become successful why would you want to hang around with a “phoney” so to speak? Granted that is a bit harsh, but it’s how I feel personally as I’m sure in this industry you will get a ton of people who come out of the woodwork once you have made it. That’s why it is good from an actor point of view to know your fans and supporters early too I’d say.