Here we go…TOUGH LOVE ALERT….

I keep hearing various versions of this scenario; “I have an agent, but I haven’t heard from them in months (or years)”.  This statement also implies that you’re not communicating with your agent.

Let me reframe this situation.  It’s like saying, “I have a boy/girl-friend but I haven’t heard from him/her in over a year”. A-hem…uhhh…sorry to tell you…but you don’t have a boy/girl-friend. And if you haven’t heard from your agent in more than four months… I question whether you really have an agent or not. I's question it after four weeks of hearing nothing.

If YOU’RE not reaching out to your agent to communicate and discuss a weekly/monthly/annual agenda of practical and professional discussion items…you don’t have an agent, or you don’t have an agent that is working very hard for you (nor should they be  if YOU’RE not reaching out). At best you have a very bad client/agent relationship and, here’s the real tough love, you’re actually the one at fault.  It’s YOUR CAREER TO MANAGE!

Now let me reframe this again; I'll assume most of you have worked some place where you had a "manager". And I'll make a broad assumption that if not you yourself, then you saw other people slack off a bit when the "manger" wasn't around and wasn't there communicating expectations, wasn't there to give thanks; to give praise; to offer guidance. Imagine if the manager was absent and didn't communicate for weeks, months or a year. How hard would anyone be working for that manager at that point.

Since we don't have "Talent Managers" in Canada, YOU are the manager of your career. That said, your agent is a business partner and helps to play a role in the management of yoru career - but it's your lead!

You need and your agent each other. Neither of you makes money if you’re not working. And, at the end of the day you pay them. They may write and send you the cheques… but they’re sending you YOUR money, not theirs! So, you’re partners, but you need to take the lead. You don't work for them, they work for you. Now that dosen't mean you can be rude, demanding and bossy...you're still partners...and you need to be graciosuly aggressive when you need to hold them accountable. And you need to be grateful when they find you opportunities.

Now when I say YOU need to communicate with your agent, I’m not talking about calling or e-mailing like a squeaky wheel to whine and moan about how slow it is…that will get you nowhere fast! I’m talking about proactive and practical communications that help them do a better job for you, and graciously aggressive communications that make them professionally and reasonably accountable for updating you as to what is or isn’t happening as far as auditions and bookings.

• Weekly: You need to e-mail  or call your agent with your availability for the following week. Now that said, some agents expect that you be available for whatever/whenever…but sometimes that just isn’t possible, and sometimes if they know when, for example, your shift at the bar is or when you absolutely have to be out of town or otherwise unavailable, they can book around it. Sometimes. Sometimes they can’t and you have to pass, or you have to change your schedule. But, this is a practical and professional way to stay in touch with your agent. If you haven’t communicated your unavailability, it’s entirely reasonable for your agent to expect you to move mountains to make the call. And even if you have communicated your unavailability and they present you with a conflicting opportunity, it’s still pretty reasonable for them to expect you to try make the call (but if you have communicated the conflict, then they need to accept it and decline for you…you can’t blame them for trying and don’t be angry with them).

• Monthly: If it has changed, YOU need to be sending your agent a new, updated ad properly formatted resume every month. If it hasn’t changed you need to find a way to change it for next month by adding a class(es) or a credit(s).

• Every 3 months: YOU need to meet your agent in person and in a graciously aggressive way ask them to be prepared to review the submissions they have made for you in the last three months (they can easily pull lists from the Breakdown Services and Casting Workbook services). Together, you look at what auditions you got or didn’t, who is seeing you, who isn’t, look at what you booked or didn’t. Discuss strategy for the next 3 months for getting into the rooms you aren’t being called into. What were the roles; maybe you need to (re)define your hit/niche, narrow or broaden the submission scope. If you’ve unsuccessfully auditioned several times for a CD (meaning after 4-6 unsuccessful attempts) and haven’t been booked, or aren’t getting callbacks, maybe they need to get some feedback for you.

• Annually: You do call or e-mail your agent on or around the anniversary of joining their agency, right, so you can thank and acknowledge them for all they do that hasn’t yet yielded any commission…? You do call them and wish them Happy Birthday/Happy New Year etc…right? And you do book a meeting (maybe a lunch, at least a coffee at your expense)  in the first 6-8 weeks of every year to discuss what worked and what didn’t last year, what needs to change this year, define goals/roles and identify “perfect projects” and review your marketing tools (pics/rez/reel).

Breathe. Everyone OK? Did you know you had that much responsibility with your agent? Now you do.

Take all of this with a gran of salt, as all of your are at different places in your careers. This is a very broad and generalzed post, BUT, the root message still holds...you and your agent are partners and YOU need to take the lead in the relationship.

LTD!
Kevin