Actor Growth

So today I was working on set and at the same time was hoping to hear back from my agent about the contract that I received yesterday. As it turns out, my agent never contacted me back again. Therefore, it looks like the course of action now is that I am going to make the decision solely on my own and unfortunately this incident is making me think of my current relationship with the agency.

I think I can say without a doubt that one of the most difficult tasks thus far in my acting journey is finding the right agent that is always responsive and motivated to answer questions with he/she being just as excited about me moving my career forward. So why is it that this seems so difficult to accomplish?

So my action plan now is that I am going to decide in signing on the contract alone and over the next week or so I will re-assess my representation situation.

Usually when you get an agent you are always wondering what kind of parts you are being submitted for. It’s a pretty standard practice to request a list of productions that your agent has submitted you for just to see if you are both on the same page in terms of getting you out there.

One common complaint that actors have is that their agent never submits them for lead roles in big productions. Someone told me an interesting perspective about this as many times when you audition for large roles it can be the first time that you have ever seen a particular casting director.

Therefore, this is one of those first impressions situation as if you mess up there you could possibly get overlooked for future roles. So in the agent’s eye it is better to hold off until they feel you are ready professionally to audition for larger roles.

Makes sense in many ways. It’s always good to see things from a different person’s perspective as many times impatience can make you do things that will end up working against you.

Well this was interesting. I was looking at my casting workbook status about the agency change and apparently I have the new agent listed. The thing is it mentions that the agent didn’t activate the section where you can modify your resume detail and at the same time in the “Agent’s note” section it still has the same comment from the previous agent.

That leads me to believe that the account hasn’t been looked after yet by the agency which is kind of making me question a lot of things considering I did e-mail them too. I definitely don’t want to just switch to a different agency just like that too as that is a little impulsive.

What’s going on……..?

Alright, so I officially transferred to a new principal agency today. All I did thus far though is that I phoned the casting workbook and told them of my new representation. As it turns out, the agent is sick today too unfortunately.

Now this one represents me for both Principal and Background work which will make things interesting as I am very curious how this will turn out for acting auditions. I do notice too that casting workbook is giving actors a free website. Might be something to check out if you need it.

I haven’t gone to any auditions in weeks though, so hopefully I will see some action soon.

Alright, so I went for the agency interview today and it was definitely fun and relaxing since as I mentioned I had a working relationship with them before. In general, we just talked a bit about my goals and what I wasn’t satisfied with when it comes to the current agent that I am represented with. As well, I did one monologue and one scene read through.

I actually learned some interesting tings too as the agent was telling me that she knew that I was hard working and reliable person as when it comes to background work she told me that I already have a good relationship with the casting directors as I get specific calls from them. That was a very encouraging thought I must say.

Besides that, an interesting topic came up about me possibly joining the union to a certain capacity to help further my career. So decision making time soon. Although, I probably will go with this choice.

I saw something odd today where I noticed that a certain talent agent here in Vancouver seems to have a rather precarious lifestyle it seems. While I personally am not represented by the person in question, the agency itself seems to have an okay reputation amongst the film community. But that sure makes you wonder if it is wise to be represented by a person if their personal lifestyle is rather questionable.

I say this because like in a business who you associate with often defines who you are too. So while you may be this non rowdy person who tries to do things right, having a business association with someone who is the complete opposite can often put you in the same limelight.
But does an agent representation really matter in this case as long as they do their part to help you get seen?

Kind of hard to say I guess as I never encountered this situation personally. But in a general view, it is often advised that if the agent has a bad relationship with casting directors then for sure you should consider signing elsewhere. Personal life though…..guess that is a completely different field to debate about.