How Can I Get Roles On Television?
To get on TV or Film do I need an Agent or Manager or both? First, let me say Agents are in the business of selling finished products. They do not develop actors. An Agent wants to represent a client who already has a developed resume, top acting skills and a strong demo reel, with professional headshots that match the TYPE of the actor.
Without these tools you won’t get anything more than a “C” agent. To be represented by an Agency with clout you need to have your package together.
Managers will develop you into a marketable package that well connected Agents will be interested in. There is a reason Managers typically sign a 3-year renewable contract. Year one we are developing you, year two you are starting to build relationships with CDs and year three you are starting to book. A Talent Manager doesn’t make any money until you start to book. So all the work we do the first two years to teach you about the business, about branding and marketing and building your resume, demo reel, headshots and getting you in front of casting is done without compensation.
We expect the pay back and rewards for our hustling and working our asses off to come in year 3, 4, 5, 6 etc. If you book a series regular in your 3rd year and another manager comes from a big company comes up to you and says we can package you with our projects say “thank you” and stick with your manager. Have some class and loyalty. Julia Louis Dryfus has had the same manager her entire career …and she has had a HUGE career. You don’t need a BIG management company to become a BIG success! You need to become the best actress in the world. You need to be GREAT.
To get a great Agent you need to have and be the complete package. Your headshots and demo reels must match you…your type. What is your type? To figure that out start by saying I am a cross between ____________ and _____________ and ____________.
I do a Type Casting for actors on my website http://www.secretsofahollywoodtalentmanager.com if you really want to know your type.
Once you figure out your type you should be auditioning for anything and everything you can to build your resume and to WORK. Even if you don’t take the job you need to learn how to book the job. And you must stay in training 2-3 days a week so you are always warmed up and ready for the bigger and bigger auditions. This is not a city where you can slouch and still make it in this business. At every corner there is someone working harder and more focused than you.
How Can I Get Roles On Television?
Dreams of being a film star won’t interest a Talent Agent. Agents aren’t interested in your film career. Agents make money off of television. If you want to be on Television you have to know what shows you are right for and you have to know what the tone and pacing of the shows that you are auditioning for. Actors who want to be on TV need to watch a LOT of television. Problem is many of them don’t. But you simply must know where you fit on TV. If you don’t know that…you won’t work on TV.
Your auditions have to be GREAT. They can’t be average. You have to really know your stuff. While you are making choices with the script for your auditions remember the writers have already outlined the pacing, the tone of the show and the way their characters deliver their lines, for example standing still or acting frenetically. You need to know the differences.
When you are working on your audition material know that your transitions in the material need to be strong, not lazy, because that’s what creates the dynamics of a scene. When you are reading your sides, you need to know who you are talking to and why you are in the script at all. If you can get a hold of the script get it, read it. If it is a small role you need to know whose storyline you are moving along. You need to know who the other characters are and how you fit in. On TV you are stepping into to the writers show. This may seem like a no-brainer but make sure you watch the show before you audition for it.
There is too much competition in this business to be an average actor. Mediocre will not be good enough. You need to train your talent until you are the best actor in the class, then switch classes and become the best actor in that class.
Only the best of the best end up on television. Are you ready to work hard at becoming the best?
If so, get a profile on Actors Access and Backstage. Submit yourself for everything you can. Build your resume, get some strong acting clips, reach out to a great manager and go for your career 100000%.
Wendy Alane Wright
Talent Manager
WAW Entertainment
http://www.secretsofahollywoodtalentmanager.com
Wendy Alane Wright is a Hollywood talent manager and the president of WAW Entertainment. Her clients have appeared on television networks such as ABC, NBC, TNT, CBS, Comedy Central, BIO, Lifetime, and more. They have booked TV shows including “Modern Family,” “Blackish,” “Extant,” “The Colony,” “Animal Kingdom,” “My Haunted House,” and “Henry Danger,” as well as hundreds of commercials for major spots including Shutterfly, Mercedes, Visa, Taco Bell, Honda, Legos, Hot Wheels, and many more. Prior to being a manager and a talent agent at Burn Down Entertainment, Wright assisted many high profile managers, agents, and publicists. For 20 years she was a recording artist, actor, and music producer, and is now the author of five books called, “Secrets of a Hollywood Talent Manager.” Wright teaches the business of acting all over the country and is on the faculty of schools including the New York Studio for Stage and Screen in North Carolina and LA Acting Academy in Phoenix, Arizona. For years she has appeared in numerous magazines, and on radio shows and talk shows including “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
Wendy Alane Wright 