Actor Aaron Marcus walks through preparing for agency meetings and shares the one question that matters most: ask your agent what specific roles they'd submit you for. Get concrete character types, not vague labels, because that feedback shapes your headshot and branding strategy going forward.
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Whenever I meet with an agent that I'm interested in having representation with, there is one crucial question I always ask. Now, this took me years to figure it out, but I found that it is incredibly helpful, even if either I or the agent decides that we're not going to be working together. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and before I share this one crucial question with you, I'm going to cover some other things That will help you get the most out of your agency meeting. So the very first thing is when I'm looking for an agent, and just so you know, there have been times in my career where I've had agents in many, many different markets. There were times I had over 30 agents and it was great. At this point in my career, that's not, that's not happening. But What I used to do— well, not at the very beginning because there was no internet then— but what I would suggest for you now is go online and start searching for agents in your particular area if that's where you want to find one, or whatever market you're looking at. And once you find one, see if they have a website. And they do, go to the website and start looking at the talent, start looking at their actors and models. And even if you're not a professional photographer, you're going to be able to tell if the headshots look really good or if they just look horrible and amateurish. You also want to take a look and see, do they talk about any bookings that their talent has gotten? That can be really helpful to you. And I remember one time when I was looking at the talent, there was a guy I recognized, and, and I worked with him a number of times, so I contacted the actor, and I said, look, I'm really interested in submitting myself to your agency. Would you recommend me? And, and he did, and I did start working with the agent. And what I found is there's no better way to get representation with an agent than if one of their talent recommends you. And there are some agents that I know of who don't even allow people to just submit to them. They only take referrals. Now, when you go to the agency's website if you're interested in submitting. They will tell you very specifically how to do this. Typically what I find is that they ask you to upload some photos. It might be a headshot, might be a couple selfies, a resume. And here's my suggestion: if you don't hear back from the agent, give it a couple months at least. I would actually send a hard copy of a headshot with a cover letter to the specific agent at the agency through the mail. That way you know that, that agent is going to receive it. And, you know, sometimes you just never know what happens when you upload a photo. So that's another option for you. Now, when I've been offered the opportunity to meet with an agent I always ask, are there any materials you would like me to bring? Meaning a headshot, resume, commercial photos, things like that. And the other thing I will also ask is, are you— do you want me to do a monologue? Should I be preparing a monologue? Now I can just tell you, I haven't done a monologue For many, many, many, many years. Typically, the agent might give me some copy to read for a TV commercial or something like that, or sometimes the information that I already have, it's not necessary. But just ask them before you actually have the meeting with them so that way you are fully prepared. I would also make sure that I would always bring things to take notes with. Now, once again, in the dinosaur days, I would go in and make sure I had pen and paper. Today, I would use a cell phone just to be able to take notes if there's something I need to remember. Now, one thing that I figured out, and this also took me a while, what kind of wardrobe are you going to wear? And Here's what I like to do, and this has been really helpful to me. I always would wear form-fitting wardrobe so that way they get a chance to see my body type, and it just makes it much, much clearer to them. Now, another thing I would do in preparation is I know what agent I'm going to be meeting with, and once again, all this holds true whether you're meeting in person or even online, and I would do some research. On the agent. Now it's simple to do. And what I mean by research is I want to learn about the agent. Maybe they have an Instagram account, maybe they're on LinkedIn, who knows? Just check things out. Facebook, I don't know, you just look at a lot of different places. Sometimes there might even be a bio on the agency's website. I want to know more about the agent. Maybe where they grew up. Maybe they have some hobbies that you have in common. Maybe they went to the same college that you do. Maybe they have some friends that you know about, or they grew up in the same area as you. You want to have this information so that when you do sit and talk with them, you might find that you have something in common. Because look, during the agency meeting, it's all about having them remember you. Having a nice conversation with the person, and that's really what it's all about. I would also prepare in answering certain questions. Now, you never really know exactly what an agent's going to ask you during a meeting, but you might— I hear this all the time from agents. They will say to somebody, so why, why do you want to be an actor? And you don't want to give a response like, well, I want to become famous, I want to buy mansions, I want to have buy an island in the South Pacific someplace. What you want to do is talk about the enjoyment that you get out of acting, the importance of telling stories. It— once again, if that's, if that's your feeling. But you also want to be prepared for a question like, so what, what else do you like to do? You know, what are your hobbies? Now, if you've done your research and you know that the agent plays guitar and you play guitar, I wouldn't say, hey, by the way, I know you play guitar. I want to let you know I do as well. No, what you're going to do is just talk about, you know, I really love playing guitar. I've got an Ovation guitar, and I've been playing, you know, pop and classical music for, for many, many years. And now you are engaging with the agent. So think of these kinds of things ahead of time. Use your acting skills so that when they ask you a question, it's sounding like it's just coming off the top of your head, even though you've really spent time preparing this. Now, your mindset during the agency meeting is so important. You have to remember that you are interviewing the agent as much as they are interviewing you. And if for any reason something doesn't feel right, If your gut is telling you, I don't think we're going to be a good marriage here, trust your instincts. Because the fact is, if it doesn't work out here, that's fine. There are plenty of other great agents out there. So here it is. Here's the one question that is crucial for every time you meet an agent. After I share that, I do have one other Closing idea for you that will also be helpful. Whenever I go in to see an agent, I always ask— now, at this point in my career, no, but when I was at the beginning of my career, absolutely— hey, I just wanted to find out, like, what do you think my type is? You know, what kind of roles do you think would be right for me? Um, What kind of characters would you be submitting me for? And then sit back and listen. This information is crucial to your career because whether you work with this agent or not, if you do this at every agency meeting and you keep hearing certain descriptions over and over and over again That's telling you how you are being perceived in this world. And so let me give you an example. For me, I would expect people to say, well, you look like a professional. You could be the doctor. I'd be submitting you for the lawyer. You could be the high school teacher or the principal, somebody who's highly educated, very successful. That's your look. And that is my look. It doesn't necessarily mean that's who I am. Look, I don't have a college degree, so I don't know how highly educated I am, but the fact of the matter is I know my type well. Yes, every once in a while I do get submitted for things against type, but that's unusual. And so if you ask the question, you hear the response, and by the way, make sure They make it specific. Don't accept, oh, you look like the student, you look like the mom, you look like the teenager, you look like the dad. That's too generic because anybody in a certain age category will fit that. So I would, once again, just very gently push back a little bit and say, yeah, so as the student, what kind of student? Am I smart? Am I doing well in school? Am I a troublemaker? Am I the bully at the school? Find out from them so that way you can have a much clearer idea of what kind of headshot to put together, which will be invaluable to you, and how you are going to be submitting yourself. And I've got to ask you, have you had any experiences at an agency meeting? If so, let us know what happened at the meeting. Were there certain questions that you were asked? Are there questions that you asked the agent? How did things work out for you? Please share it here so that we can all learn from each other. And by the way, if you are offered a contract, read it over, take it home with you. You need to make sure you fully understand what is in there because this is a legal contract. The, the last part I wanted to share with you about the meeting Is just remember, if you don't get a contract offered to you, or they're saying, you know, we're not interested in representing you, it's okay. It's not like hitting a grand slam or striking out. Look, there are tons of great agents out there. So if it doesn't happen to work out with this one particular agent, that's okay. You'll move on. You're going to learn from the experience. Maybe there were some things that you could have said Or answer differently that you'll do next time. And so every agency meeting is a learning experience for you. It's not a one-and-done kind of thing. Hey, and if you haven't done this yet, please subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when a new video is uploaded. If you like it, give it a thumbs up. That's actually very helpful. Guys, this was Really, really fun for me. I hope this was great for you, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
