Hi, Bonnie.
Wow. Next time I talk to David Lawrence XVII, I will thank him for turning me on to HHH. Not only has it been a wonderful experience hearing the wide array of voices participating, but my small kindling that led to the firestorm of breakdown questions in August led me to your Actors Voice columns.
Whenever the kids haven’t been climbing all over me, I’ve been reviewing the archives as I work to take my career to a new level. What a fantastic resource! And thanks for sharing it with the Internet.
Without wasting too much time, a bit about me. I’m an actor/writer who was knee-deep in the industry about a decade ago as a journalist and aspiring comedy writer, but left LA after the dot com bubble of the late ’90s burst. I settled with my wife in Palm Desert, so not like Tennessee or anything. Serendipity, of course, dictates that getting out of LA put me out of the grind just enough to start booking projects that shot out here in the desert as an actor (something that I had trained in, but put aside for more practical work as a writer). After a bunch of “you should be working in LA,” I started the early stages of career pursuit.
The birth of two girls sort of interfered with gaining real momentum. I had an agent that I sort of stumbled into, I had some flirtations with what I now know were illegal breakdowns (as I had mentioned on HHH) and I was out for auditions here and there. But raising the kids was the higher priority.
Now that they’re old enough to not need constant care, I’ve been able to focus and build again on my acting efforts. My trusty Prius and I come into town as needed for auditions, workshops, etc. Through groups like Act Now, I’ve started making contacts, started building relationships, found much better and current headshots, explored a variety of professional resources, even found an agent who is a better fit than what I had.
Sorry. A ton of backstory (likely unnecessary) to get to the question: It was an agent I met through a personal contact. We met. We liked each other. It’s a small agency (two agents, maybe three). I had just earned my SAG eligibility, so he was interested in working with me. We never signed a contract, but he has been consistently sending me out for commercials (some okay, some great) and I’ve been increasingly getting callbacks and avails. Not closing the deal, but consistently getting close. Yay for me.
So I’m at the point where I realize more focused training (I just signed up for your Self-Management for Actors class email list, for one) is needed but I’m also getting mixed messages from people about whether or not a manager would be a good addition to the team at this point. I have a pretty good sense of my type and, based on what my agent sends me out for, so does he. But as I continue to develop my career, I don’t think it’s fair to weigh heavily on the agent for development (nor would I want to, it’s MY career, not his).
So I scoured the archives and really didn’t see a “when is it RIGHT to have a manager and what to expect from them” column. Just more of a “the differences between” column.
Thought you might be willing to give some insight to that.
Sorry about the long email. The writer in me. Clearly not the editor in me.
Thanks in advance!
Eric Olson
Eric, what a delightful email! Thank you. The reader in me sure enjoys the writer in you. 🙂 And I look forward to getting to know the actor in you over the years.
Adding a manager to the team is such a personal decision. Heck, they’re called “personal managers,” right? And the right one at the right time can absolutely make a huge difference in an actor’s career. I’ve seen managers facilitate meetings with agents a tier above. I’ve seen managers advise clients on best acting coaches and type and brand and headshots and demo reel edits and all sorts of things related to the actor’s journey. I’ve seen managers take great care in their relationship with their clients, as they develop them for years. Heck, I even had a manager a couple of years ago. It was awesome! The right person at the right time can do magic.
So, what’s “the right time”? Well, that’s just slightly less difficult to answer than “who’s the right person.” I always say that relationships between agents, managers, and actors are like marriages, and it’s tough for an outsider to suggest what would be the best fit, since so much intimacy is involved. Basically, there are factors such as where you are in your career, where you’re headed immediately and where you see yourself in five years, where the particular manager candidates are in their careers, what their rosters are like, and what access they have to parts of the industry that perhaps you lack.
A manager should be additive to the team. He should not have access to offices that looks identical to the access your agent has. Otherwise, you’re paying two commissions for the same reach. Unless of course you’re not interested in having a manager due to the rooms he can get you into! You want one because you need brand advice and guidance on how to pitch yourself or sparkle at networking functions. Okay, then you need the type of manager who is going to be way more involved with you than the manager who submits and suggests clients to casting, but doesn’t otherwise get involved in your day-to-day journey.
Yikes! See how complicated this question is? There’s no one answer! Because every actor’s path is different, their exact location on that path is not the same even if they’re sharing the path with another actor for a bit of the journey, and certainly no two managers are going to bring to the table all of the same assets, nor personal style.
So, I guess the best answer I can give you is: Start meeting with some managers. Put some feelers out. As you’ve learned, Hollywood Happy Hour is an excellent resource for checking out the folks you’re considering meeting with, as long as you do your preliminary homework before showing up with a question about someone. Do the research that gets you clear on what sort of manager might be a good fit for you. Talk to your fellow actors. Observe the managers who are out there Tweeting and sharing insight on their Facebook walls or in interviews over at VCN. Check their track records at Kabookit. Attend SAG Foundation events and watch the live streams when you can’t go in person (you needn’t even be a SAG member to take advantage of those events online). Get to know this community you’re considering choosing a partner from and then it’ll become very clear not only whether the timing is right for you to have a manager, but who that best manager for you might be.
For now. 🙂
It’s a journey. And just like you changed agents along the way, it’s likely you’ll have one manager for a little while and then perhaps move to another one. Or not! Some folks keep the same team for their whole career (lucky them! They’re the ones who didn’t start small and outgrow a team quickly. They waited, courted, and found their right fit before making a commitment). Either way, it’s a long road, this pursuit. Enjoy it! And lemmeknow how things go for you.
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001404.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.