Aaron Marcus teaches actors to ask their agent, "Is there anything I can do to get more auditions?" when work slows down. The eight-word phrase avoids blame and opens a conversation about headshots, resumes, or submission gaps that might be holding you back.
When acting work is slow, you absolutely want to say these 8 words to your agent. If you're watching this to the end, I've got a great bonus video for you. It's staying motivated as an actor, how to handle the tough times we all experience. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel in the Actor Career Center. Look, we all Go through slow time periods. It's just part of the work, part of the industry. Even well-known actors go through tough time periods. And look, we have a lot of different options. I know some actors who get really angry with their agents and call them up and say, hey, what's going on? I haven't heard from you. I haven't gotten any auditions in a month or 2 months or 3 months or 2 weeks, whatever it is. And they just sound angry, and that's one way of dealing with things. It's not a way that I would recommend that you handle the situation because, look, you have to remember agents want you to get work. That's how they make their money, by you booking jobs. So they want to get you as many auditions as possible. So here's a strategy that I've used a A lot, and it's been extremely helpful to me. And, and by the way, before I tell you the strategy, if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when I upload a new video. If you like it, give it a thumbs up, that's always helpful, and share, share the link with your fellow actors. So here's what I have done, and this has been really, really good for me. It's a great strategy. What I do is there are 8 words. The 8 words that I say is, is there anything I can do to get more auditions? I think that's 8, if I got it correct. Yeah, that is a great line to use with an agent when work is slow. The reason why it works so well is because Number one, you're not blaming the agent. You're not pushing the agent into a corner. You're not accusing the agent of not doing their job. What you're doing is asking, what can I do? And what I have found— and these are the responses that I've gotten— sometimes they've said, you know, there just have not been any auditions in your category for a while. In which case, all I can say is, okay, that's great to hear. Hopefully that will change soon, but at least I know I haven't been forgotten. Another thing that could be said is, let's take a look at your headshot and resume. You know, maybe it's just not up to date. Maybe you need to make some changes. Maybe you need a new headshot. It's just not selling you well. That would be invaluable information. The other thing that could be said, and this is the last thing, Aaron, I've been submitting you a lot, and for whatever reason, the casting directors have not been inviting you to audition. And then I'd have to go back and really think of some things. But the important, the important part of this is having good, strong, clear communications with your agent, and you can learn a lot And you're not doing it in an angry, bitter, accusatory way. So anyhow, I just wanted to share that with you. If you have any strategies and any things that you will do or say to an agent when work is slow, please share it here so we can learn from you. I did promise there's a bonus video, and you can see it right up here. It's You know, it's the strategy of staying motivated. I got to look at it because there's a long one, long title. Staying Motivated as an Actor, you know, how to handle tough times that we all experience. It's a really good video. Anyhow, I wanted to share this with you. Love to hear your comments. I'm Aaron Marcus and can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
