Courting an Agency

Putting together an acting resume was more challenging than we had expected.

First off… Ben didn’t have much film experience. He’s done a lot of acting… but most of what he has done has been in theater. Don’t get me wrong, theater is fantastic; many of my favorite film actors started on the theater stage: Hugh Jackman, Kristen Bell, Zachary Levi, lots of others. But theater credits don’t have much weight on a film resume. The little experience Ben did have in film was mostly background work, and some of it was over a decade ago.

Another thing about resumes is that they showcase acting-related skills. What skills count as acting-related, you ask? Well… pretty much everything. Dancing, singing, and improv are all pretty typical things to mention, but also accents and languages, stage combat and stunts, abilities in different sports, weapons proficiency, motorcycle proficiency, character impersonations… if it’s something that has a real use on screen, it can probably be used on your resume. Of course, some people go a bit overboard, and start listing things like nostril flaring, ear wiggling, or expert couch potato-ing. That’s usually a nice way to get your resume tossed in the next available garbage receptacle.

So Ben did some soul searching, personal analysis, and put together a resume that did its best to gloss over his lack of experience, and show off his finer points. It wasn’t perfect, but it was something to start with, at least. Now that he had his head shots and resume, the next step was getting an agent.

Hiring a good agency is key to getting good job opportunities. Well, you can’t actually hire an agent, per se. Getting an agent is more like dating: they must be courted and wooed, and you often need to approach several before finding the right one. The top agencies get hundreds of people approaching them all the time; they’re like the popular girl on campus, with a trail of people following, hoping to somehow be noticed.

In Utah, there are several unofficial tiers of quality when it comes to acting agencies. The cream of the crop is widely held to be Talent Management Group. In typical fashion, Ben decided that he might as well shoot for the best. As attractive as he is, from a professional perspective it was kind of like the shy nerd going for the captain of the cheer squad.

Just like most people have a list of attributes they look for in their dating prospects, most top agencies require certain things to even consider bringing on new talent: professional headshots, a solid resume, and an acting demo reel. We had some great headshots; we had a passable resume. But there wasn’t any way to fake the reel. You either have it, or you don’t.

A demo reel is like a video resume. It shows what you actually look like on screen, acting. But getting one is not easy. It’s like that cliche problem of needing the ladder on the other side of the wall to get to the other side of the wall. To get one you need to have an actual role in a film that shows off your skill. To get an audition for a role in a film, you often need a demo reel. Round and round you go.

We had a few shots of Ben as an extra, but nothing we could use for this. Ben has never been one to be limited by what everyone else deems impossible, though. He just took this as a challenge. Courting the best agency in Utah, with nothing but his meager resume and his charm… bring it on! Thinking about it… he courted me with about as little to offer, and I was beyond convinced.

He did have some extra help along the way, though. He had some pretty great references. Sorry for so many cliches, but it really does make a difference who you know. One of Ben’s friends that he met on his first hobby project was represented by TMG, and sent in a letter of recommendation for him. Oh, and he also got a referral from Kenny Ortega. You probably don’t know who that is. He is just the director of High School Musical, Newsies, and Michael Jackson’s This Is It, among other things. No biggie.

Okay… it was a pretty old recommendation. Ben was an extra in High School Musical as a teenager. He apparently impressed the director so much that he let Ben shadow him for an hour or so, let him sing for him, and made it a point to call the top agency in the state at the time to recommend him. He called him “a young Tom Cruise.”

How Ben does these things… I don’t know. Anyone that knows him personally though can tell you… it doesn’t take him long to earn people’s respect and admiration. Maybe he should have become an actor then and there. But, he had other things he was focusing on, like his university studies and preparing to serve a full-time mission for our church. Besides, if he had, maybe he wouldn’t have been where he needed to be to meet me!

So… the referral sat and waited for him, I guess… until he was ready to be led back to it.

With recommendations from other actors, a decade old referral from a star director, and fervent prayers that they would find his skill set and passion irresistible, he messaged the agents at TMG. It worked! Well… they were at least intrigued enough to meet with him. They scheduled an audition interview for the week after our move. We were so excited!

We drove to California the first of February, unpacked the moving van the next couple of days, and then he drove back to Utah for the interview. 2,500 miles of driving in under a week on the chance that we might get an agent… crazy? Maybe. Worth it? We hoped so.

It was a nerve wracking wait that morning, when he went to see them. I tried to keep myself busy to distract myself, but I was checking my phone every couple of minutes, waiting for him to call. Finally, just after noon, I got the message. He had nailed the audition! I knew he would. They signed him then and there. Yay!!!

Agencies are regional, so Ben will still need an agent in L.A. But we figured if he could land an agent in Utah, we could play both markets for a while and they would make his resume look better for his pending auditions. Maybe having an agent would even make it easier to get someone to take a chance on him in L.A. We’re still working on that.

The point is, though… even with the recommendations… it was a miracle that this agency would take a chance on a guy with no reel, and a spotty resume. Without a reel, how can they submit him for jobs? They can’t really. Without a reel, how could he show that he was a professional? … He wasn’t, yet. And he had just moved out of Utah. Why should they care enough to represent him?

I fully expected them to say, “We love the idea of you. Come back when you have a film reel.” But they said they’d work with him. They knew talent when they saw it. Smart move, I say! Cool thing, though… they told him they wouldn’t be able to do much until he had his reel in place… but they have sent him several job opportunities, anyway. God has been so good to us.

We have some amazing wind in our sails. We feel like we’re hitting our milestones faster than we ever thought we would. And we’re only picking up speed from here. Next stop, Casting Central.