Aaron Marcus shares how he landed a job by politely pushing back when an agent couldn't open his audition file. He resent it, confirmed they could watch it, and got the role. His advice: a gentle follow-up with agents can be the difference between getting noticed and being overlooked.
Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and if you're watching this on my Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel on YouTube, uh, welcome. And hey, don't forget, if you haven't done this yet, click the subscribe and notification button, and that way you will always be told when a new video is posted. And I also wanted to ask, as you can imagine, it takes a lot of time and money to keep this channel up and running. So if you're finding these videos helpful I greatly appreciate a donation. It just goes right into PayPal, whether it's $10, $15, $5, $1, doesn't make any difference. Anything that you can afford, I greatly appreciate you participating and helping keep this channel up and running. So here's what I want to talk about today. How far can you push an agent? So I was in a situation recently and an agent asked me to submit an online audition that I shot at my home. And Sent it back to the agent right away. Actually, this came in on a Sunday, which is kind of unusual, and— but I wanted to get it back to her because she wanted it as soon as possible. So sent it back, didn't hear anything. First thing Monday morning, sent an email, just wanted to make sure that she got the audition. And what she said was, got the audition, couldn't open it. And I'm thinking, that's really weird. Because I sent it out through the same process that I— actually, I use WeTransfer. It's just wetransfer.com. It's a free service. It's great. You can upload large files. And so she couldn't open it. And I mean, everybody else has been able to open it. So I decided it's a little uncomfortable. I just said, hey, look, well, let me send it again and let me know what happens because I want her to be able to open it, see it, and then she's got to send it to the client. So, resent it and didn't hear back from her. So I followed up again and she said, nope, still can't open it. And then I said, well, are you able to send it to the client? And if so, can they open it? And so I felt like I was really running this fine line. I didn't want to get her upset, didn't want to get her frustrated. On the other hand, I just spent all this time auditioning. I want to do this job. And so I would feel horrible if nobody looked at it after all this work. So she— after I sent her that note, I got an email back from her later that day, and she said, well, the client was able to open it. And loved the audition and wants to hire you. So, um, so anyway, I just wanted to let you know, I mean, sometimes you do have to push and sometimes you do have to follow up, you know, to make sure that people are able to see what you do. And, and, um, because otherwise you're not going to be considered for anything. But even forgetting this one specific thing, just in general, it's okay to push a little bit. And look, the worst thing that can happen is that you get some pushback and the agent says, hey, please stop bothering me. All right. Well, you know what? I'd rather have that happen than do all this work and not hear back from the agent because they couldn't see the information. Look, I think that's just being responsible, and it's all a matter of how you go about doing it. There was nothing like, hey, come on. I've already sent this thing to you twice. Come on. Just let me know. I'm always really nice about it. Hey, just checking in. I wanted to make sure you were able to open it, and if not, was the client able to open it? Just want to make sure. So that way you're presenting yourself in a professional way. You're also being assertive, and I think it's fine to do that because had I not done it, she wouldn't have been able to see it. Apparently, she wasn't getting back in touch with me. I guess she had tons of other people submitting things, so she didn't get mine. It's like no big deal. Anyhow, Always be assertive, but make sure you do it in a nice way. And I'll tell you, I'd love to hear if you have any suggestions or stories of where you pushed a little bit, whether it worked or it didn't work. Please share it with others. That's why we're here, just to help each other in the acting and modeling industry. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. And hey, don't forget, click the subscribe notification button. And if you can do a donation, really appreciate it. Thanks.
