If I get an agent they don't get paid until i do right?

Question

i'm a 14 year-old girl. i'm incredibly interested in becoming an actress, but my family isn't very rich. I won't be able to pay for an agent, so I need to know. I understand that to be an actress you have to have headshots, and be able to travel; which I will find a way to pay for, but I wouldn't be able to if I have to pay for an agent also. Also, if anyone has any tips on acting, let me know. Thanks!

Answer 1

Correct - it is illegal for an agency to charge you upfront to sign with them. They ONLY get paid if/when you get paid.

Some agencies cover headshots, but don't count on it - it's for very marketable people, and usually older agencies. You usually have to show a lot of booking potential - as in, be able to be booked in the first few weeks.

Having an agent should only cost you if it's also paying you - you make money, or they don't either.

BTW, some agencies will let you specifiy that you will only travel a certain distance at your expense. I.e. you can say "I can travel 100 miles, then the client has to pay all my expenses." I know we allow that, and I always try to get my talents' travel expenses paid.

Answer 2

It take years of hard work, experience and training to become an actor. Unless you are realted to a celebrity. If you have not any of these three things, thinking about getting an agent is way premature. Agents aren't magicians waiting to make silk purses out of sows' ears. They are businessmen and women who are busy trying to market the actors they all ready have. Why would they want you until you can compete with the best actors in the world? Cause that's what you will have to do to be an actor yourself. Might as well buy a powerball ticket and hope to become a megamillionaire. Oh, and having a degree in theatre or acting is no help.

Answer 3

Well, you have one thing right--do NOT pay any money up front to an agent. That's just giving money away for nothing, so if you have any to spare, send it to me--at least I'm not lying about getting you any work in show biz.

Actually, your odds of starting a career now are SO slim. Most auditions are only open to union actors--and you can't just join the union, you must be established first (yes, a sort of catch-22). If you do go to an open audition, there will be dozens of others who can play a 14-year-old role, and 99.999% of the time the director will choose someone whose been acting professionally since age 6 or so (experience) or who's 18 and can look 14 (no child labor laws).

So your better bet would be to set a long-range plan to build a career in acting. Here's how:

Right now, get involved in any amateur shows you can. School plays, also community theatre (if you don't know where they are, ask at your local newspaper's entertainment desk or at your public library), also call local college theatre departments and ask if there are any auditions where a 14-year-old girl might be needed. If there are no roles for you, in the school or community shows you might volunteer to work backstage. All of this activity does two things: (1) builds your resume--you will list all the shows you've worked on (2) gives you a network of contacts in theatre.

Also, polish your talents. Take voice and dance. Read lots of plays, watch videos of good live shows (like the BBC Shakespeare series). Look for summer teen acting workshops at community centers or local colleges.

When you're a junior in high school, start looking for colleges. You want a bachelor of fine arts (BFA) program in theatre performance--NOT a bachelor of arts (BA)--the difference is that the BFA will be much more rigorous and pointed toward an acting career.

Early in your senior year, apply to 4 or 5 colleges: 1 or 2 that are really top programs that just might accept you (say, Yale or Maryland or Cal Poly); 1 or 2 that probably will accept you but might not (good state universities), and 1 that accepts everybody (that's your 'safety net' school). You apply early because it beats deadlines for more kinds of financial aid, but also because after the university accepts you as a student, the department of theatre gets to screen you and accept or reject you as a theatre major--you'll need to show them what shows you've done, maybe get references from some of your contacts in local theatre, and audition for them (travelling at your own expense). If the theatre department doesn't accept you as a major at one school, you'll still have time to get in at another.

The BFA program will take your talents to a high level, ground you in all aspects of professional theatre, and teach you the basic ins and outs of the biz. Finish that and you'll know the rest of the steps to take in the long hard slog to membership in one of the actors' unions (Equity, SAG or AFTRA) and an enjoyable, financially rewarding career.

Break a leg!

Answer 4

Your agent will receive the check and give you a check for the amount of money due you for your acting role.

The agent, more than likely, will take his or her commision, ususallly, 10%-to15%, of the amount the actor makes for the role.