The Dumbest Comment I Ever Heard From An Agent - Unbelievable

In this video, I'm going to be sharing with you the dumbest comment I ever heard from an agent. It was just unbelievable. Also, watch this video to the end. I've got a great bonus video for you, 11 Ways to Prepare Before an Agent Meeting So That You Stand Out. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Center. So it was a number of years ago, I decided to reach out to an agent. And because— and I work with multiple agents in different markets, and this was a smaller agent in a smaller market, but I wanted to reach out just because you never know, there might be a job that the agent hears about that some other agents aren't hearing about. So You know, if there's an agency out there that, you know, I visit their website, it looks like a legitimate place, I'll check them out. So contacted the agent through the website. They asked for headshot, resumes, you know, pretty— I think that was it actually at that time period. So sent it and then got a follow-up email. Unbelievable. The agent said, I need a headshot with you smiling, showing teeth, because the headshot— and actually, I'll show you my current headshot, which has a very similar feel. You can see it here. It has a very similar feel to the one that I sent, and it doesn't show teeth. And it's not like I'm trying to hide anything. I actually do have teeth in my mouth. But there's a certain look that I have when I smile without showing teeth as opposed to a toothy smile. I happen to like the one with my mouth closed. I think it, for me, once again, it's just for me, it's more interesting, puts me into a very specific kind of category. It has me standing out. I think it's, it's just a really good look for me. So I sent an email back to the agent and I just mentioned that, well, this is the only headshot that I have and I don't have any with my teeth smiling because this is the look that I like. She wrote back and it was a little bit terse and she said, well, if you don't send me one with your teeth and open smile, we can't work together. I was shocked. I, I was just shocked. At that time period, I probably have been working as a full-time actor for like 35 years, and I've never had an agent tell me, well, you've got to send a headshot showing teeth. Look, I understand if it's a certain kind of product, they need to see teeth. They'll ask for a selfie. Or sometimes they just ask for a smiley selfie. That's fine, I'll send that to them. But she wouldn't work with me. And I had a couple of options. I could have just completely let it go. Maybe I should have. I just felt so angry about this, and I just thought, what kind of agent are you? And so I sent an email, and I tried to pose my anger in a way where I didn't look so angry. And I just said, okay, I understand. Just to let you know, and I started listing all of these projects that I had done. I worked with this Academy Award-winning actor, worked with this person. I booked almost— I think it was like around 1,200 jobs at that point. And I said, but this is the headshot that I have, and if that's what you need, I'm just— I'm sorry, but we're not going to get a chance to work together. And that was the end of it. So my thinking is the agent just isn't very smart, doesn't really understand the industry, and it's fine. Yeah. So I just wanted to share that one with you, and I would love to hear if you've ever— and please, you don't have to mention names. I don't want to start getting into a battle with individuals here on my channel. But if you have experienced some kind of crazy comment from an agent Please share it with us so that we can learn from you. And the other thing too is share, share this, this video with, with other people, your fellow actors, so we can continue to build, you know, a great channel of actors helping each other. If you haven't done this yet, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when a new video has been uploaded. And if you like it, give it a thumbs up because that's always really helpful. Now I did promise I was going to share the link to another really helpful video, 11 Ways to Prepare Before an Agent Meeting and How to Stand Out. So just look up there, you'll see the link, click on it. And yeah, this was— it was an old memory, but I wanted to share it with you. And just so you know, look, sometimes we just run into craziness, and if that stuff happens, you just know you have to keep looking. That's all, uh, because there are plenty of great agents out there. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.