Hey Bonnie,
Love the column. I just started reading it recently, and I have already worked my way backwards a couple years. Awesome stuff.
So, here’s a question that I couldn’t find the answer to: the anomaly. Your perspective would be greatly appreciated. FYI, I’m currently an NYC boy, but… not forever.
I have done a lot of the research you have talked about in the past when it comes to targeting CDs and agents. I’ve found my type (the gregarious jock), and industry people agree with my assessment. Additionally, I have a great pitch because I know my type (it’s a shallow version of me!). I have headshots and a reel, albeit a bit lacking in variety (I just got out of college), that I and others agree definitely represent my brand well. My resumé is solid — just need to keep working. So, overall, I’m happy with where I am.
So what’s next? Targeting! You have shown me the light here, and I am now pursuing that light vehemently. Fortunately, I have made some solid connections already, and my motley crew agrees on what roles/shows I am right for. It’s not tough to guess the shows filmed in NYC that need my type. So off to work I went, researching a few shows. I ended up creating Excel sheets that sorted the guest/co-star roles from my top shows by agency. I then researched the individual agencies and the agents in order to determine the best fit(s) based on all your lovely criteria and my own gut, too.
Now I want to contact particular agents, but how!?!?!
- Do I write letters and send a traditional submission? You yourself (and many others I have talked with) have stated the futility of mailings. Is the targeting really going to make that big of a difference? No matter how good my cover letter is, I’m still sending it in an envelope with the rest of the world.
- Maybe I should email my targets? Isn’t this a bit invasive though? A lot of agencies don’t have general emails, and using a personal email seems odd. But hell, maybe I should just do it because it could be the best way to get in the door.
- Now the last method is what I call “The Bonnie Way:” Meet the target in person at an event or seminar. And, boy do I love The Bonnie Way, but… problem! Some of my targets (I sound like an assassin) don’t do such events, and some of them have very generic names that make research beyond the obvious stuff very tricky.
So, I’m stuck between a possibly useless method, an invasive method, and a seemingly impossible method (with certain cases that is). Where do I go?
Hope you enjoyed my stream of consciousness email. Look forward to hearing back from you and starting a relationship. Who knows, I may be in LA soon? Thanks a ton, and I hope this helps others.
Cheers,
Devin Wilmot
Okay, first off, HUGE applause for doing the unglamorous but essential and effective work of typing yourself and targeting your shows and potential agents. I wish more actors would do that! Talk about empowering stuff! Yay, you!
Next, I love how you’ve categorized the obstacles and options. I totally agree with your assessment of the task at hand and your choices. Let’s decide what’s the best way “in there,” now that you’ve created and refined your target list.
Mailed submissions — while generally ineffective and almost entirely useless these days where casting directors are concerned — are more accepted in agency offices, because, well, agents do want to sign new clients and they do need to find out about you. Hopefully, the agency is sending agents or assistants out to showcases and plays, to visit acting classes, to attend networking events, and all that jazz, but yes, from what I’m hearing, mailed submissions are still opened and considered at agencies. For now.
You asked if targeting makes a difference. Absolutely. Open mail in a casting office or at an agency or management firm for one day and you’ll become keenly aware of the difference between a mass mailing and a targeted mailing. In a targeted mailing, you take the time to express why you’ve chosen this particular mode of contact, timing for making contact, and such. In a targeted mailing, you reference any common relationships or explain what it is about you that makes you a good fit — specifically — for their roster, demonstrating your knowledge of what they specialize in and who you are. Mass mailings, on the other hand, feel mass. They are generic. They are cold.
So, yes, you’re still sending a mailing and it’s still in the bin with all the rest, but hopefully the reader of the letter will set it aside for being somewhat different from the many, many others, and you’ll happen to be a good enough fit for the agency’s roster that they’ll at least invite you in for a meeting.
As for email, I say only if you’ve been given the go-ahead (and hopefully a better email address for the contacts you’re hoping to reach than the ones that are publically out there) is this a good idea. And actually, it’s a better idea as a follow up to the mailed or in-person contact you’ve had. Email is easiest to ignore. We may hold your postcard off to the side if we like your look. Even if we love your look, an email may get buried in the flood of work we’ve got in our inbox, and despite our interest and best intentions, your “submission” never really lands.
Postcards are good. They’re cheaper than full-on headshot/resumé mailings and you can use them to follow up on those first mailings, reminding us you’re still around and ready to meet up.
And yeah, “The Bonnie Way” is pretty dang badass. As for the generic name issue, that’s where the plus or minus sign, along with quotation marks, make you a power-user of Google Alerts. For instance, I have a business partner whose name is the same as a minor league baseball player who gets a lot of press. Fine. I have a Google Alert set up for “Ryan Basham” -baseball. That means his first and last name have to show up in a row and the word baseball had better not be a part of the mention. Voilà! For a casting director with a common name, try “Scott David” +cast. (“Cast” covers “casting” and “caster” and “casts” too, of course.)
About the out-and-aboutness, well, someone in every office is probably out somewhere, doing some networking. If not the casting director, try the casting associate or assistant. If not the owner of the agency, try a junior agent or assistant to the agents. If not the manager herself, try her receptionist or intern. Someone is out there, scouting, meeting people, participating in panel discussions, doing talks at SAG or the Paley Center, lecturing at universities or dropping in at private acting studios. Check out places they need to be. A film financing seminar might be a great place for an indie casting director-slash-producer to hang out. A fundraiser put on by a powerful publicist should attract some high-powered agents.
No, you may not find a place to hang out with your “targets” every week, but you’ll hit a few over the course of several months at various new media events, opening nights on Broadway, talks at the SAG Foundation, even Actor Tweet-Ups! And it’s all about the long haul. Connect using social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Linked In. Interact but don’t ingratiate. Be on-brand but not overly-promotey. Connect. It’ll pay off. It just takes time.
And I’ll see you when you get to LA. I can assure you, with a focused targeting plan like the one you’re already putting in action, we’ll cross paths pretty quickly after you arrive. Yay!
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/001287.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.