#2 YOU DON'T NEED A NEW AGENT

THINK YOU NEED A NEW AGENT WHEN YOU NEED ELITE AUDITIONING SKILLS & A NEW LOOK - I interview a great many actors from all kinds of backgrounds as part of my on-boarding process.  Partly due to my extensive training in improv and partly due to MORBID CURIOSITY, I spend a lot of time deep listening to the recent history of faltering acting careers.  There is no question that a common reason that acting talent comes to send their materials to talent reps is because of a belief that they have substandard representation and THEY JUST NEED MORE AUDITIONS.

At the outset of a conversation, I wouldn’t really know if that assertion is true or not.  However, after contributing 100 auditions at a rate that is ten times greater than the previous talent reps, I think we can safely say what the actor needed IS NEW AUDITIONING SKILLS or (my favorite, ad nauseam,) A NEW LOOK.

I carefully screen all my clients for SOLID AUDITIONING SKILLS.  However, according to the actual results leader board there is no question that there is a big difference in career returns between actors who have SOLID AUDITIONING SKILLS vs actors who have ELITE AUDITIONING SKILLS.  I don’t pretend to be able to unpack these subtle differences except by looking at an 18 month review of career progress.

Since I am brutally pragmatic, I’m just going to state my opinion in the most simple language:

IT IS EASIER TO GET A NEW LOOK THAN TO GET ELITE AUDITIONING SKILLS.

IT IS EASIER TO GET A NEW LOOK THAN TO GET ELITE AUDITIONING SKILLS. 

IT IS EASIER TO GET A NEW LOOK THAN TO GET ELITE AUDITIONING SKILLS.

But ideally, have both.

You can get a new look in 30 days with the help of a team of stylists and a superb photographer.  To get elite auditioning skills you might need 3-6 years of intensive training.  Which is the more efficient approach?

The most pragmatic approach is to do both, contemporaneously:

1. Get the KILLER LOOK ASAP; then get career changing photos from the right photographer.
   
2. Set a definite and practical plan to train yourself into elite auditioning, drama and comedy skills, as appropriate to your career aspirations.

Assuming you have some fundamental skills in acting, you can get elite auditioning skills at proven training centers which focus the actor's audition technique along practical lines concerned with the actual booking of jobs.  There are many opinions about whether this is a viable strategy but I can tell from reviewing the results that come back from various clients who are auditioning frequently that elite auditioning skills are a primary determining factor in who gets the job.  The other factors would be the look and the momentum (ie. credits).  Generally speaking, if the momentum is strong enough, it trumps all other concerns.  But if you have no momentum, the goal is to get momentum and that can really only be accomplished with a look and auditioning skills.

With respect to elite comedy and drama skills, when you hit a career lull at 29 you might consider doubling-down on training.  When you're having trouble gaining any kind of career traction as an actor who can no longer play college or high school, going to RADA or The Old Vic (in Bristol, England) to get a MFA could significantly alter the way you are perceived as a relative newcomer.  Such training might also reveal deficiencies in your acting skills that you previously were not aware of.