Image Source: www.backstage.ie
If you’re planning to start your career with top quality services or if you’re considering to shift to a different agency, here’s what to do.
Once in a while, any actor evaluates his standing and feels the need for a change. An early start usually implies amateur acting lessons, workshops, voice and dance classes, fixing a portfolio with head shots, your resume and a cover letter and attending auditions. There is a phase when intermediate actors sense they should upgrade their career and get ready for an ascension. Usually this feeling translates into opting for a top talent agency to represent an actor’s interests.
The backstage of a theater
What Does a Talent Agency Do for You?
Provides you with a designated agent to handle bookings, auditions and contracts for you. Your talent agent should help you develop a great portfolio, secure auditions, of which some aren’t even open to the public, get cast in your specific domain (film, theater, musicals, choreography, modeling, screenwriting, journalism, producing, directing) with well negotiated deals and – to put it bluntly: make you famous.
Your agent should introduce you to areas in the entertainment industry you previously haven’t accessed and create a professional network for you.
What Do You Do for Your Booking Agent?
According to your contract and to the state’s jurisdiction, you will share between 10 and 20 percent of your gross income with your agent. You should also manifest availability and flexibility and try to create a real connection with your right hand in this industry.
Image Source: zurimodelandtalent.com
Why Do You Need to Consider Picking one of the Top Talent Agencies
a. If you’re a beginner or an intermediate
Perhaps you’re a perfectionist and desire to slide along the best professionals the industry has to give. If you can afford the service fees a top agency practices, it might be a good idea to shorten your way to success by working with an excellent agent. Picking your agent isn’t a singular action: it has to work both ways. Usually, well known agents with a lot of experience barely have any free time, so you have to make a very good impression right from the start. Keep in mind that a very busy agent might not be motivated enough to support a young artist.
b. If you’re an advanced talent
You probably worked with an agent independently before or you were perhaps associated with a particular agency. You already know how the whole process works and what to expect, what disappointments you can encounter and how an agent might support you and contribute to your success. Sometimes though, the relationship you formed with your agent disintegrates for various reasons. Your priorities might change, your view on your artistic activity might change, you could wish for different types of projects or you might want to shift to another niche. Agents are usually specialized on a particular area, from modeling to acting, singing or writing. Sometimes you get bored of what you’re doing and infatuated with novelty, and so the desire to start something new grows. If your agent, on the other hand, fails to represent your best interests, badly negotiates a contract for you or doesn’t get you enough collaborations, it is your right and opportunity to say goodbye.
Posing in an acting studio
Try to break up gracefully from your agent and pay attention to identify what best fits your needs in the future.
Opting for a top agency usually happens when you become more popular. Sometimes, agents themselves choose to offer their services once you get a bit famous, which doesn’t solve the whole problem. You still need to carefully research their past and activity and ask around for endorsement. Don’t worry, they definitely do the same themselves.
Let’s take a look at the best representative services you can get in the best two artistic hubs in the United States, all SAG-AFTRA franchised.
Top Talent Agencies in New York City
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AGENCY |
SERVICE |
AGE |
|---|---|---|
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Full Service |
Adult |
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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Television/Theatrical |
Adult |
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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Commercial |
Adult |
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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|
Full Service |
Youth |
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Full Service |
Youth |
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Television/Theatrical |
(All Ages) |
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|
Full Service |
Adult |
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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Full Service |
Adult |
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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Full Service |
Adult |
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
Image Source: hannswolters.com/
Top Talent Agencies in Los Angeles
|
AGENCY |
SERVICE |
AGE |
|---|---|---|
|
Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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|
Full Service |
(All Ages) |
|
|
Full Service |
Adult |
|
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
|
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Full Service |
(All Ages) |
|
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Television/Theatrical |
Adult |
|
|
Full Service |
(All Ages) |
|
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Full Service |
Adult |
|
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Full Service |
Youth |
|
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The Hollred Agency, Inc. |
Full Service |
(All Ages) |
|
Full Service |
(All Ages) |
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Television/Theatrical |
(All Ages) |
|
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Commercial |
(All Ages) |
|
|
Full Service |
(All Ages) |
|
|
Full Service |
Adult |
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Full Service |
Adult |
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Full Service |
Youth |
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Full Service |
Youth |
Image Source: hollywoodmomblog.com
You can also find suitable agencies in Miami (Florida), Chicago (Illinois) or Atlanta (Georgia), but specialist claim that the place to be as an actor in this whole wide world is New York or Los Angeles. You can browse through the whole list and make a short list of 10 and then 5 agencies to pick from. Don’t worry, after narrowing down to ten out of tens, it won’t be as difficult.
We warmly recommend to ask for personal recommendations before you opt for any of these agents or agencies and also read reviews on forums and sites. The choice you make now will define the trajectory of your whole career. It’s just like getting a dog – you don’t just go and pic
