05.21.07

Go See With An Actors Agent

Posted in Acting Agents at 10:18 am by admin

It’s your first meeting (called a Go See) with a new actors agent. You spoke to them on the phone already and you got yourself an appointment to meet and discuss the possibility that the actors agent will take you on

When you go to ‘go sees‘, the actors agents will be looking to meet you in order to see what you have to offer with regards to casting suitability for acting roles in movies, television, theatre, etc.

They want to see if you have the ability to act and make the grade if they send you out to an acting audition, because if you do, they’ll keep asking you in to audition.

Take along your showreel and a printed copy of your Bio and some profesional photographs. I always include one montage of photos of the work I have already done as photographic support for my Bio. The actors agent might look at your showreel then (or they might not, leave it with them either way) with you and discuss the work.

Be ready to do a ‘cold read’ or a one-minute monologue to camera in order to see how you look on screen and how you handle audition conditions. Be prepared, be very prepared as this is the most important audition you will get - if you do not get past the actors agent you won’t get any others until you do.

Treat it like an opening night where you know what is going to happen but be prepared for a surprise, the actor agent may throw you a curve ball to check if you have to think on your feet right.

Anyway, be yourself and try to enjoy the experience, don’t get stressed. A tip to help is to make up a short script about yourself and your acting experience and get it down pat so you can recite it back perfectly at a moments notice. Practise at home in front of the mirror, or better yet in front of a camera so you can see yourself and correct any mistakes.

Don’t be stressed here, the actor agents want to like you because they get great joy out of ‘discovering’ a new talent and it is their business and their best interests to take on anybody who might make them money.

Your personal sales script.

Just like a salesman reeling out a sales script to sell you that new car, you need a sales script to sell yourself to the actors agents.

Think of it as a monologue featuring you, what you want to do, why you want to be an actor, which character roles you fell are most suitable, any outstanding features that you have, any special abilities, awards or accomplishments. Let them know all your good points.

Try to present yourself in a few different ways, act out a few different characters and emotions during your personal sales script to the actors agent.

But be prepard for the Actors agent to test you by throwing in random questions.

Remember making friends is not a one way street all about you, ask them about themselves, their business, how long they have been operating, how they got started, get them talking about them.

Get involved and start a conversation, keep it going by getting the actors agent to talk, in the end if they like you they will take you on, as long as they do not already have someone the same as you and as long as you can do the job and earn you both some money.

Getting the actors agent to talk to you about themselves and their business shows that you are proactive and interested in something more in the industry than just yourself. It also allows them to relax with the knowledge that you appear self confident and personable. 

After you’ve said goodbye with a hearty handshake and warm eye contact, you can go and pat yourself on the back for a job well done. You will probably feel so excited that you will want to arrange another go see quickly…. or maybe not just straight away.

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