What to look for in a talent agent?

-I really want to be an actress not for fame but because I am good and I enjoy it! I am considering getting a talent agent to help me start up a career but I want to get one that will actually help. I know the high profile agencies won't let me in because I have 0 experience but lessons and a few school productions but are there any less famous agencies you would recommend? Also what sort of stuff do you need to know about them before you choose?Whoa! An agent is not the first thing you need. And you need more han a few school producions.



About Agents: Once an aspiring actor has a good resume, he or she is ready to begin to work for a career. While building your resume and until you are well established as a professional actor, you need to network. My article on Networking for Success explains how to do that. Networking includes fishing for a agent. I call it fishing because that is exactly how the process of getting an agent works 鈥?just like angling for a fish.The aspiring actor needs to find an agency within a couple hours of where he or she lives. Agents do not sign people who live out of state or at a far distance from the agency. Then you need to submit for representation according to the instructions given on the agency web site. Of course, you are wary of scams as described in my book, The Tao of Acting. Feel free to contact me anytime to check the validity of an agency. You need a good headshot, resume and cover letter. (see 鈥淗ow to Write a Cover letter, etc鈥?on my website). You will be sending these things to the agency. Occasionally, an agency will have an open audition at a specified day each week or month and you can take your things and attend one of those. Do not start looking for an agent before you are ready. It isn鈥檛 true that getting an agent is the first thing you need to do to become an actor. It usually is the last thing. First you need to be an actor, working in amateur plays and films, taking an occasional class and building a strong resume that is proof that you can make money for an agent. All the while you are networking as explained in 鈥淣etworking for Success鈥?on my web site. Trying to get an agent before you are ready just will disappoint you. Read what Brian O鈥橬eil has to say about how to get an agent in Acting As A Business.. It can take a long time, years even, before an agent becomes interested in representing you. Like all matters of becoming an actor, you must not give up if you are to be successful in finding an agent.For more information about agents and how the work go to http://talentagents.blogspot.com . It is a really good site with solid information.you don't start out by looking for an agent. you start with getting training,experience and building a resume. agents are last on the list. agents only get paid if you work. they won't waste time on someone who doesn't know what their doing. you need to be located where your agent is. agents only send you on calls local to them. you need to find agencies looking for new clients. most places don't read unsolicited mail. the size and name of the agent can be immaterial. all mainstream agents get

their audition info. from the same source, so one is not necessarily going to know something the others don't. you want an agency that doesn't have a lot of clients that look like you. there is enough competition out there already, you don't want to have to compete within your own agency just to get out

on a call. the name of an agency has no bearing on what kind of auditions they have access to. any mainstream agent has access to whats out there around them.