How do actors really start out acting?

Question

How do they get an agent? They find one and say "I WANT U TO BE MY AGENT?" They pay them too right? Seems like everything involves money nowadays.

Answer 1

Most actors start out taking classes, some do extra work some will not do it. To get an agent, you have to either get a referral from a friend who already has an agent or someone who knows an agent or you do mailings. To find a list of legitimate agents to represent you for commercials, TV & film go to Sag.org. Use the dropdown menu on the right labeled 'resources' and choose 'agent information'. On the next screen, on the left choose 'Find a SAG franchised agent' and follow the directions. You can look up agents all over the US, but there are higher concentrations where the work is (Los Angeles, NY, IL, FL, GA etc.)

Then you can send them your headshot, resume, and a cover letter stating that you are seeking representation and wait to see if they call you in for an interview.

It's better to have a referral though. In the begining, it's more up to the agent if they will take you, not the other way around. If you meet a few and more than one is interested, then you have a choice. You can go on a probationary contract and have a trial period of about 6 months to see if you noth think it will work out then sign a longer contract.

You do NOT pay the agent until the agent helps get you a job! The agent also does not tell you where to get your photos taken for ethical reasons.

Oh, you should also be checking backstage.com for student films, theatre auditions, etc. Get all the experience you can! You can also check actorsaccess.com for auditions, but you have to pay to submit yourself for them. When you get an agent, he/she will do that at no cost.

Good luck!

Answer 2

How do actors start out acting?
By auditioning for local projects, and branching to more mainstream work (if that's their goal).

How do you get an agent?
Either you get "discovered"
OR you send your headshot, resume, and cover letter around to different agencies and hope one of them takes interest and signs you.

You pay an agent?
Yes, an agent gets paid, when you get paid. And that's it. Anyone or anything that tells you otherwise is a scam. This is usually like 5-15% of your paycheck. It kind of works like a real estate agent does to someone selling their house.

Answer 3

NO, they don't pay their agent anything, and anyone who claims to be an agent and asks you to pay them is a scam artist. Agents only make money when you make money, when they send you out on an audition and you get it, they take 10% of whatever you make. Most people I know that have agents got them by either mailing into them or inviting them to see a show they were in. But you don't need an agent to act or go to an audition. Agents are used in casting most professional gigs like equity theater, films and TV.

Answer 4

well, in a way, yes. in a way, no. Most of the time you audition for agents and if they think you have potential, they will become your agent. And if you get a good one, you shouldnt have to pay them until you start getting roles.

Answer 5

An actor must build his or her résumé, BEFORE getting an agent.

How do actors get started in actors? Every actor is different.
Many of us started acting in elementary school.

Agents look for actors in plays. It's very important to perform in plays.

It would take a very, very, very long time to ask actors how they got started in acting. Every actor has his or her on method for getting into acting.

I started in my parents back yard when I was 10 years old.
I wrote and directed plays!

Some of us have been in acting since Elementary school, high school and college and performing in NYC productions.

Agents want to see that an actor has acting credits and is building his or her résumé by performing as much as possible in local theater.

Legitimate Talent Agents cannot charge an actor to represent him or her.

The method for getting an agent is different in every city in the USA.

If you do NOT have a lot of acting roles on your résumé, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT, try to get an agent, as you will only embarass ourself.

An actor must build his or her résumé, BEFORE getting an agent. If you do NOT have a lot of theater on your resume, do NOT attempt to find an agent, instead audition and book acting roles.

Agents are busy and do not have time for actors that do not have a strong resume. Don't waste the agent's time.

The agent receives the check for the actor's performance and the agent deducts his 10% commission and mails a check to his client the actor.

NEVER, NEVER, pay an agent. Agents are NEVER to be paid by the actor.

The agent receives the check for the actor's performance and deducts his or her 10% commission and mails a check to his client the actor.

Agents are NEVER to be paid by the actor.
The agent receives the check for the actor's performance and deducts his 10% commission and mails a check to his client the actor.

NEVER, NEVER, pay an agent. Agents are NEVER to be paid by the actor.

In NYC, actors mail their "photo-postcards," to Talent Agents to informorm agents they will be appearing in a theater production.

Legitimate Talent Agents, are entitled to a 10% commission on the money the actor makes.

Agent receives the check for the actor's performance and the agent deducts his 10% commission and mails a check to his client the actor. NEVER, NEVER, pay an agent.

Agents are NEVER to be paid by an actor.

An agent may or may not attend a performance by an actor, as they have other lives, as do most people.

Outside of NYC, actors must find out the way to get an agent to attend a performance in which the actor will appear.

Most performances are not worth seeing - the actor is clueless as to what he or she is doing on stage, or the play is boring. The actor hopes the agent will attend the performance.

If you are not currently studying acting, find a community college, community theater where you can take acting classes.

Answer 6

not everything involves money. i personally take classes which are free because i go to school for it. But yes an agent would cost money...

Answer 7

The ways have been different,I try to enlist them for you:
1) as many may have mentioned,many of actors have started
with theatre & acting in plays; from small roles to leading role,just like cinema ,& they all said that what they had learned & experienced for theatre,has been very useful for their future career in cinema,in theatre it,s just you & stage&audience ,it needs much more self-confidence to cope with,& it,s much more complicated than cinema,so when they spend this hard times,it,s completely easy for them to play in front of camera,not eyes of audiences!
2) you may not have awared of this way of being actor,but
some of greatest stars have started with this ,& it,s " intriducing yourself & advertising with your picture" in cinematographic magazines & newspapers",can you believe
" Sean Connery " ( as 007) & michael caine have done this & that,s why they chose for their fisrt important role ?! yes,that,s right, I,ve read this fact in valid & famous sources.
3) the most straight way & the easiest way ,is academic education ,both in university or classic institutes.
Good luck

Answer 8

Hi,

agents get paid only after they find you work.

What I think you need is to start from the beginning. Talking about getting an agent at this moment sounds like it might be putting the cart before the horse.

Some good advice here that you have received. You want an agent. Ok. Now work backwards. What do you need to get an agent: communication, headshot, résumé, coverletter, labels/mailing list. The most important thing in that list is a résumé. So how do you create a résumé that's going to be interesting to get an agent? By getting work and training. What can help you get work? Or rather what will make casting directors want to hire you? If they see that you are well-trained and can take on the roles for which they are casting AND if you are right for the parts AND if you are better than the other candidates or have something to offer that is different or more interesting than your competition. What will help you be seen as a well-trained actor who is the right actor for roles and who is better than the other actors they see? Training with a good school and a good teacher.

If you have not been training, I think your time will be better spent building a base of SKILL first before looking for an agent. Remember that casting directors and agents eyes are trained and experienced and they can see when an actor is trained or not.

Here are some other things to think about as well in starting out your acting career.

This is a question I get almost daily....how to get started in acting. In fact it is a question that I have seen young actors have over the last three years and it is one that inspired me a lot to try and help, while at the same time learning myself. Consequently, I’ve learned a lot over these past three years.

It's important to know what it really means to be a working actor. Maybe you already know. I don't have much information about you other than what you wrote.

Here are some of the issues that actors face before they even get close to working:

*New to show business and just seem to be wallowing around to find out what you should be doing to get started in the right way!

*Not being sent out on many auditions.

*Rarely getting called back.

*No agent and not sure how to get one.

*Not many industry contacts and can’t seem to meet that industry professional they would really like to meet.

*Difficult to balance work and the demands of an acting career.

*Able to book jobs, but not always able to keep them and don't know why.

*Sending out materials—audition tapes, headshots, and résumés—but not getting the types of responses they would like or none at all!

*Don’t have the money to take classes, so just taking a workshop every now and again instead of going to a school or regular classes. It’s been the situation for months. Maybe even years.

*Having difficulty getting off work for auditions, because the boss doesn’t support employees' acting careers!

*Difficult to prepare well for auditions, because of work. Either too tired or just not enough time in the day to work on their acting career!

*Have to work at a club or restaurant or in a job they don't like until the wee hours of the morning and end up going into auditions looking and feeling like a zombie.

*Having to work at a job that robs them of valuable time they could be using to spend on developing their acting career, auditioning or something else.

*Don't have the cash to make a show-reel or audition tape, get headshots.

*Not sure how to choose a headshot photographer!

*"Don't know how on earth it's possible to make a résumé, if I don’t have anything to put on it! How on earth can I start an acting career!"

There are certainly more issues that actors face. At any rate, this is the reality. I certainly don't want to rain on your parade, but I say all this to let you know, something that you already know which is that there will be a lot of things to do before you get there. You will need clarity about what it is you really want in your life and in your acting career, motivation, determination, thick skin, a method of planning, business skills and you will need to see how real, working actors put these things into practice.

After you've started to think more about the mission on which you are about to embark, you need to study, study, study acting. I would advise you to get information about the different acting techniques and methods that there are and then choose one. To help, look up books by:

Uta Hagen
Lee Strasberg
Sanford Meisner
Stella Adler

Then one of your number one priorities if you are serious about becoming a good actor, a working actor will need to be getting into a good program of study. It is essential to your career! Essential! Here is some other information in the following link that can help you in choosing classes:
http://www.actingcareerstartup.com/acting_classes.html

Start studying the trade papers to get a feel for the industry, what's going on, what's hot, what's not, issues, casting directors who cast certain projects, agents and what they are looking for, etc.:

Backstage (or go to their website www.backstage.com)
Show Business (www.showbusiness.com)
Hollywood Reporter
Ross Reports
Theatrical Index
New York Agencies
Check out www.sag.org , www.aftra.com , www.actorsequity.com for information about the three major unions.

Lastly and maybe most importantly, you MUST realize that the person who will embark on this new mission of becoming an actor is YOU. Whether or not you are successful (and only you can define what success means to you) will depend a lot on how the industry treats you, but it also will depend largely on you. By that I mean, your attitude, your talent, your willingness to learn and be curious, your perseverance, determination and method, your clarity around what you want out of your career, your capacity to find creative solutions and creative ways to promote yourself and set yourself apart from the rest, your ability to first create a financial base so that you can concentrate fully on your craft, your ability to motivate yourself and to handle rejection, your capacity to be disciplined and plan for your success and it will also depend on your capacity to sell and market your acting ability.

I say this to say that you will need to develop and work on yourself. This is true for anyone. These aforementioned things are what many, many, many young actors overlook and thus find starting an acting career to be a difficult endeavor.

So what could your next steps be?. Find a good acting class and a good teacher. DEVELOPING YOUR SKILL AS AN ACTOR should be your number one priority while you do your homework on the industry! Without that skill, you probably won't go very far in this very competitive field.

Gather some information and talk to actors about what it really means to be a working actor, not the Brad Pitts and Julia Roberts', but the average Joe, out there pounding the pavement, getting jobs that last a few days at a time and who are piecing their work together by doing student films, commercials, looking for an agent, auditioning, getting rejected, doing mailings, preparing for auditions, going to class, saving up for months just to be able to get those new headshots, etc. Talk to actors who are working regularly and learn from what they’ve done. Also talk to actors who are struggling and learn from them what not to do! You'll be surprised at the number of people you talk to who are complaining about not getting work or that they don't have an agent, who after months or even years still don't have a plan! Compare your findings and put together your strategy. Have a look at this link in which you can see what a typical day looking for work could be like:
http://www.actingcareerstartup.com/working_as_an_actor.html

One last thing. Be aware of all the other types of acting possibilities there are:
Film, television, theater are the obvious ones and even within them there are subdivisions. There is also hosting, industrials, on-camera commercials, commercial print, student films, independent films, spokesperson, stock photography.
Community Theater, student films, commercial print work and stock photography shoots could be some things you could do to get your feet wet while you are starting out.

I hope this gives you some insight and I hope to have made you think.

Best of luck!

Tony
http://www.actingcareerstartup.com