4. SUBMIT, SHOWCASE, AND NETWORK

Now you have your list of potential agents narrowed down, so how do you get them to meet with you? The most common (and most difficult) way to get an agent is to submit your headshot and résumé, unsolicited, by mail. The VAST majority of these photos end up trashed. Most will sit in a stack for weeks or months before they are even opened. Timing is everything for unsolicited submissions. For commercial agents, casting and taking on new clients is a constant, year-round process. But for theatrical agents, the best time to look for an agent is during the summer hiatus, when television casting is extremely slow because shows are in reruns. The worst time of year to look for an agent is during pilot season, when TV casting is busiest. Pilot season is loosely early January to late February.

Submit

Your submission should include your stunning 8 x 10 photo, your résumé printed or stapled on the back, and a brief cover letter. Avoid giving your home number or address (you never know who will see this, especially if it does end up in the trash) so give a pager, voice mail, or calling service number instead. These should go out in a manila envelope, closed with the brads but not sealed. You can actually buy ready-printed agency address labels from breakdown services, or from our friend Samuel French. These will make your life much easier, but again — save time, dough, and effort by using targeted mailings.

Showcase

Another way to meet agents is to do paid agent or industry showcases. These usually involve preparing a scene or monologue and paying a company to perform it for agents that they bring in. These showcase companies can be found in The Working Actors' Guide. These are great because they usually cost about thirty bucks a pop, and you already get the agent to look at you and your work. You can also ask them questions about their agency, the industry, and basically all around schmooze. Like mass mailings, showcases are most cost-effective when you target a smaller group of agents.

Network

Finally, the most effective way to get an agency interview is to get a personal referral. This is often through your acting coach. But it may also be through your half-aunt's brother-in-law's college roommate's daughter. You should explore all possible leads and industry contacts. If a connection is tenuous, ask your potential contact to take a brief informational interview with you. Take that person to coffee or lunch, or ask them to take a short phone meeting so that you might pick their mind about the biz. This is a lot more polite than calling someone whom you do not know, or barely know, and asking them to pull strings for you. And this informational interview, if played right, will lead to the sort of help that you need.

As you go about your networking, you must start a file of industry contacts. This is so you can keep track of who you talked to and what you talked to them about, so you don't make a fool of yourself in case you meet them again. Also subscribe to Dramalogue/Backstage, and buy the actors' bible, The Working Actors' Guide. Keeping track of what's going on in the industry will be key. It also couldn't hurt to read Variety every once in a while.