an urgent acting question?

Question

OKAY I HAVE TO ASK SOMETHING ABOUT MY NEICE SINCE I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT ACTING.FIRST OF ALL MY NEICE LIVES IN NYC.SHE STARTED OUT IN THE MCC THEATER.NOW SHE WANTS TO LOOK FOR AN AGENT IN THE YELLOW PAGES WITH HER PARENTS.SHE IS THIRTEEN YEARS OLD AND WANTS TO PURSUE HER CAREER NOW.SO WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS?

ESPECIALLY FOR AN AGENT?MEANING THE MCC THEATER TRAINED HER?

ESPECIALLY FOR AN AGENT?MEANING THE MCC THEATER TRAINED HER?

WHAT IS THE SCREEN ACTORS GUILD?DETAILS PLEASE?REMEMBER SHE IS THIRTEEN YEARS OLD AND TRAINED.

Answer 1

Talent is the only requirement she needs.

Now on to the requirements regarding agencies.

There are a lot of unscrupulous agencies to be found. Before signing with any agency, check with whatever union handles your niece's genre [Actors' Equity for stage work, Screen Actors Guild for television] and find out if the agency is on their list of agencies to avoid.

In finding agents, your best bet is to avoid the yellow pages and consult industry publications. Again, contact the unions for recommended publications.

Finally, be wary of shoddy business practices. Pay no registration fees -- the agency works for the client, not the other way around. An agency will likely want new photographs taken; if they insist that you use one certain photographer rather than give you several recommendations to choose from, that's usually a red flag that they have a reciprocal scheme in place. It is not, however, unreasonable for them to insist that new photos are taken at your expense; they have the right to enforce whatever artistic ideals they have set. However, new materials come only after a contract has been signed -- never get new photos or clothes simply because an agency PROMISES to represent you.

For more advice, check out some theatre chat boards.

Answer 2

This is a top Talent Agency. They have a Children's Department. Mail headshot and acting resume to:

Abrams Artists Agency
Attention: Children's Department
275 Seventh Avenue - 26th Floor
New York, New York 10001

Phone: [phone]

Answer 3

I only hang out with guys, so I'm very familiar with gay behavior. My guy friends hump each other all the time, and sometimes they kiss each others guns after they've been working out. They act gay, but none of them are, and there's no question about it. Does he act this way around other guys, or only you? If it is only you, that may be different. I don't know what goes on in the bathroom between my guy friends, but I see them do gay stuff every day, and it's pretty normal. Since you're worried about it and uncomfortable, ask him to stop.

Answer 4

Here is the name of a Legitimate Talent Agency, they represent children. Tell to NEVER look in the Yellow Pages for anything related to acting:

Abrams Artists Agency
Children's Department
275 Seventh Avenue, 26th Floor, New York, NY 10001
Phone: [phone]

She should mail her headshot and resume
to the above Talent Agency.
They have a children's department in New York City.

She needs to have studied acting, she needs to be comfortable auditioning in front of a camera, she should be able to perform a memorized monologue.
P.S. Please do NOT type in all capital letters, it is very hard for us to read.

Answer 5

Is your concern that she's too young or that you're afraid she will get hooked up with some bad people?

She's not too young if it's her decision and not her parents decision.
As to the yellow page agents: "Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from poor judgment." She'll have to learn the ropes that everyone else has had to learn. It's a tough business. But if shes a natural, go for it.

Answer 6

First of all in all her endeavors she should be accompanied by an adult. I applaude you for informing yourself for your niece. Don't leave here alone to pursue her career. Good advice here among your answers. There are unfortunately scam artists who will prey on situations like this.

You should NOT have to pay for an agent. That's one of the scams. If you find an agent who makes you pay for their services up front, beware. Agents get a percentage, usually around 10% AFTER they get the actor work, not before.

Also, be on the look out for agents who tell you that you need new headshots and then in the same breathe tell you to go to their own, recommended photographer. That happened to me once and I didn't go for it. Come to find out that the guy is a scam artist. He further claimed that if I payed $80, he would put me in his book to promote me. That's just not normal practice.

Consider the following when it comes to getting an agent:

What kind of acting are is your niece interested in primarily? (Film, televison, industrials, hosting, commercials, voice-over, commercial print, etc.). Some agencies specialize while others work across all of these areas.

To find out who are the agents that cater to your niece's type, get a copy of the Ross Reports, Show Business weekly, that have a complete list of agencies in New York. Another excellent publication, is New York Agencies by Sue Porter Henderson. Her website address is www.hendersonenterprises.com.
The latter is updated quarterly and shows what kind of actors agencies are looking for in that particular period.

To get an agent , your niece will need a good headshot and a résumé, formatted according to industry standards. Also on the résumé, besides acting experience, agents and casting directors will also look at an actor's training, where she trains, the frequency and consistency with which she trains and with whom she trains. There are many resources available for formating your résumé.

Carefully select the agents you want to target, and do a mass mailing that is TARGETED to specific agents that cater to your niece's type. Send out a headshot and résumé and don't forget a cover letter, which must be very brief and to the point and state why you are looking for that agency to represent her. Remember that there are thousands of actors who are sending mail to that agent so anything you can do and say that will make her stand out from the rest is a good thing. Just keep it within the realm of what’s “reasonable”. You might want to think of using envelopes with a big window, so that the agents’ offices that receive her packet see her picture even before they open it. From what I gather, the majority of actors still don’t use those kinds of envelopes. It could provide her with a slight advantage. Maybe. Every little thing she can do differently than the rest could be of help.

You will need to find out how to write a good cover letter. Like I said, short, sweet and to the point. There are lots of books about it. One good one is by a guy named Brian O’Neil and it’s called Acting As A Business: Strategies For Success. I think it’s a must read for any new actor. I have personally taken his full-day workshop, had a consultation with him and read his book. He also has examples of résumés. And he also tells you how to build the résumé, which is very important.
Further, he is very specific as to what to do to get work. He has 20 years experience as an actor, agent and manager.
That's why I recommend his book to my visitors and in my book.

It’s a numbers game, so send out a lot of packages, but expect to get back a low number of responses: anywhere from 5 – 10%. It really depends on a lot of things; how good your headshot is, how good your cover letter is, whether you targeted the right agent, whether your agent is looking for your type in that moment, etc. If you don’t hear anything back, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re not interested. It could just mean that they’re not interested in that moment.

So once you have made initial contact, you will need to follow up. Timing is important as is the way you follow up. One way is to use post cards with her headshot on it. Use the postcards about once every three months to report what she's doing in the way of acting work and to keep in touch or even more often if she has something to report, like a show you’ve been in, movie, commercial or whatever. Don’t send them to say hi or have a good summer. Even report close calls, meaning call backs or on-holds even if she didn’t get the job. It means that she got close and agents and casting directors like to hear that as well.

Once you get that far, you should start getting some responses and some meetings. Like I said, stay by her side.

It’s a numbers game though, but be focused and don't think that if you just send out mass mailings that you will be successful. TARGET your mailings and you will have greater success and remember that FOLLOW UP is important. Be dilligent about that.

There are also schools like Actors Connection (www.actorsconnection.com) where you can go and meet casting directors, agents and personal managers. It will cost you a small fee to audition for them and sit through a, most of the time valuable Q & A session, but it can be worth it. I have gotten agents and auditions through them. It is also a place to go and take classes with casting directors and agents, which gives you the chance to not only meet them, but also to work together with them for anywhere from a few hours to an entire day or more. That in itself can be very valuable. More on that another time.

Lastly, you can submit your niecefor jobs online: Here is a list of websites through which you can submit her. It's not as good as having an agent, but I have gotten some audtions and jobs this way. I use nycastings and actorsaccess mostly. I have found that with two or three of these sites, I'm pretty much covered with regard to the important auditions that are out there. Once you start checking too many different sites, you find that there is a lot of repetition.

www.actingdepot.com

www.exploretalent.com

www.actorsaccess.com

www.backtoholding.com

www.bigbreakny.com

www.castingnewyork.com

www.easycasting.com

www.actormarketing.biz

www.nycastings.com

www.backstage.com

I would say that the best way to inform yourself about The Screen Actors Guild is to visit their website directly: www.sag.org.

Of course I cannot guarantee that what I have outlined will work for your niece. It is what I did and what worked for me.

Hope this information helped and good luck!

Tony
http://www.actingcareerstartup.com

Answer 7

She has to be able to act.