Why I Walked Away From This Acting and Modeling Agency (Red Flags)

Hey, I got to tell you why I walked away from this new acting and modeling agency. Actually, ran away. Um, watch this to the end. I've got a great bonus video for you. If you're looking to get more acting or modeling work, you want to contact these 2 people. 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. Look, this just happened to me this week, and look, I'm always looking for new agents, not necessarily to get representation with— sometimes— but I also have created a great database for agents. I have over 700 agents, casting directors, managers. You'll find agents from every state in the United States, and people who buy my book, How to Become a Successful Actor or Model, will get this list. It's really, it's great. And so I'm always looking for new industry professionals to add to the list. So by the way, if you know of any great agents, casting directors, or managers, whether they're in the US or even outside the country, please send them to me. I'd really appreciate it. You can go to howtoactandmodel.com, click on the contact button, and send it to me. So thank you very much for that. So I just heard about this agency. There was someone who asked me a question and I saw a listing of some agents that she worked with. So I thought, well, let me check them out because I check out every single agent on my list. Don't work with over 700 industry professionals, but I will go to their website just to make sure that I think they're legit and I think they are a good agency. So I went to this agency's website and, you know, it looked okay to me. It's a small market. And so I thought, you know what, this would be the best way to try to find out what the agency is all about. So I submitted myself for representation. And, you know, if it was an okay agency in a small market, that's fine with me. I have plenty of those. And so I submitted my information and a day or so later got a response. And they said that they would like to have a Zoom meeting with me first before they want to represent me, which I completely understand. They want to make sure I'm someone who's reliable, someone who doesn't seem crazy, someone they can trust, someone who potentially would represent them well out in the acting and modeling world. So set up a date and we were going to get together on— I think it was Monday at 11 o'clock AM my time. So now it's like 10:30, haven't heard from anybody. I haven't gotten the Zoom link yet. So And I was getting text reminders, you know, you've got a, you know, meeting with so-and-so at this time, and I haven't gotten the link. So I texted the person a couple times. I had an email because I got email reminders as well. I still haven't gotten the link. Now it's quarter of 11, and I'm thinking, this doesn't feel right to me. I mean, you set up— An appointment, you got to respond. You got to send out the link so we can actually meet. Now it's 11 o'clock and I decided, okay, well, maybe there's some kind of glitch. Maybe they didn't see my stuff. Nothing. So then at around quarter after 11, I decided to give them a call, call their office. I didn't like their outgoing message. That was something else that made me feel a little weird. It was— it sounded like they were trying to impress the world by having someone with a foreign accent deliver their message, you know, just saying, there's nobody in the office now, leave a message, we'll get back to you. And Even just the sound of it, it wasn't clean, it wasn't clear, it, it just didn't have a great feel to me. So now it's 11:30 and there's a part of me, I just want to give this thing up. I thought, let me give them another try. So I sent an email to the agency, left another message, and I did get a response this time. And they said that the agent Was currently in meetings with other people, and— but they would forward my message. So here now it's 30 minutes past and nothing. Never heard anything. Still to this day, never heard back from the agent. Look, I understand something might happen in your life. You lose your cell phone. You're not getting your emails. Okay. You know, things happen. I get it. And if I would've gotten a response back from the agent just saying, hey, I'm really sorry. I completely forgot. I'm sorry. My child got sick. I'm sorry. Something happened. Let's reschedule. Okay. You know, not happy about it, but that's fine. I understand things happen. Never heard. Here's what I did here. I got a text message and it was from the agency, and they said, uh, we have a go-see for you for a fashion magazine. So apparently what they do is if they do sign you— and I have no idea whether they ask for money, whether you have to take their classes for representation, whether you have to work with their photographer Look, let me just tell you, I know that SAG-AFTRA, the union, does not allow SAG-AFTRA franchised agents to offer classes. Personally, I disagree with that. I am okay if there is an agent that wants to bring somebody in who is really skilled, who can make their actors much, much better, I feel fine with that. The union doesn't agree because they're afraid of a conflict of interest. Because what does happen sometimes is you want me to represent you, you know, I think you've got a great look, but you've got to take my classes, you have to shoot with my photographer. That's a problem. You know, if the agent says, hey, look, we're bringing some people in, this is a great headshot photographer, a great commercial photographer you can get some really powerful test shots with, They know these people, they trust them. Personally, that's fine with me. But once again, if it's, we're not going to represent you unless you buy this stuff from us, that's another category. And so what I'm assuming was happening, and I'm not saying they were selling anything because I don't know, but what I'm assuming is what they do is they will get breakdowns for auditions or go-sees and just send out mass emails or text messages to everybody they represent, and then it's up to the actor or model to submit themselves. See, that's not how great agents work. And once again, I'm not saying it's not a legitimate agent because I have no idea. But the way that really good agents work is they will— they hear about an audition, let's say. They will submit your headshot and resume to the casting director. If the casting director thinks you are right for the role, then they will grant you an audition, and then the agent will get in touch with you and say, hey, got an audition for you. If you— if they do it the other way where they just throw everything out and you have to go through lists of things to see what is right for you, and then you're submitting. You don't even know if the casting director or the photographer has an interest in seeing you. You could be spending a tremendous amount of time shooting an audition, submitting it, and they're not even going to look at it because they don't think you're right for it. Look, I just spent literally just 10 minutes ago, I just finished and uploaded everything. I just spent over an hour doing a very complicated TV commercial audition, and the agent had submitted me, and there were 4 different roles that they asked me to read. The casting director asked me to read for, and sometimes they wanted 3 different takes. They also— you know what, I don't want to get into all the details here, but the point is This stuff can take time, and if they're just slapping stuff against the wall and sending it out to you, and here you could be spending a tremendous amount of time doing an audition and the casting director has no interest in seeing— that's not how good agents work. So let me just tell you, when you are searching for agents, number one, just make sure that they are not selling you anything and basically blackmailing you for representation. That's not good. And hey, on a really side note, but this just popped up in my head, and as you guys know, this is what happens. Here's a— here's something I highly recommend that you don't do. Like, if it's a virtual meeting, that's one thing. If you're meeting somebody in person, I made this mistake once. It was with a casting director, but it would hold true for an agent as well. I will never make this mistake again. I was at a casting. I was taught— I walked into the room, casting director is there, and said, oh, hi, so nice to see you. And I put out my hand to shake her hand, and she immediately put her hands up like this, like, you know, somebody just scored a touchdown. She did not want to touch my hand. Look, I get it. I understand, you know, the casting director might be seeing a lot of different people. There are lots of germs. People don't want to get sick. I do things differently in my life. I wash my hands, you know, after I shake a lot of people's hands. I don't put my hand in my mouth afterwards. You know, I might put sanitizer. There are ways of dealing with it. But look, I understand it. And then I had to go and do the audition. So right after this exchange took place and my hand was still just sitting out there and it felt very weird, Now I'm going to an audition and I'm thinking about it. I was really distracted for the audition. So anyway, if you're going to meet an agent, don't initiate putting out your hand. They put out their hand and you feel comfortable shaking, great. Otherwise, hi, nice to see you. Just wanted to mention that to you. Just a couple other really quick things. If they are promising you things, watch out. There are no guarantees in this industry. Look, I've booked almost 1,300 jobs so far. I have no idea if I'm ever going to book another job for the rest of my life. Nobody can guarantee you success. Nobody can guarantee you bookings. And if they do, ask for the money up front. You know, and the other thing too, and this is probably one of the most important things, trust your instincts. Trust your gut. I'm not saying you have to love the agent to work with them. I'll be very honest with you. There are some, and I work with a lot of agents in different markets. There are some agents I don't necessarily like. I don't necessarily— I know that I would never be friends with them for a whole variety of reasons, and that's okay. You don't have to love every person you work with. Now, there's a difference between not necessarily loving the person and being treated poorly. That is something I will not I will not take. And if something happens, I will say something to an agent or any industry professional. There's no room to have someone insult you, be nasty to you. It's just uncalled for, and I don't like seeing it, and I'm not going to take it. Let me just also tell you that there are a couple of agents who I really like. Matter of fact, I've got one agent If I'm stuck and I need a reader, this person is always there for me, even if it's for an audition that he's not involved with. Once again, that's unusual. Most agents don't do all that, but trust your instincts. If something is not quite feeling right for you, trust it because it's probably true. So anyhow, I, I can do a whole other session on how to pick the best agent for you. But anyhow, I just wanted to let you know about this experience. Make sure that when you are meeting with agents that they're telling you things that are right for you, that make sense. There are a whole list of questions that you can be asking. I'll save that for, for another session. If you have ever had any unusual experiences when meeting with agents, please share it here so we can learn from you. And by the way, if you haven't done this yet, subscribe to the channel, click the notification bell. If you like it, give it a thumbs up. And if you found this helpful, please share it with your fellow actors. That is very helpful. Hey, I did promise a, a really great video for you. It's right up there. Yeah, it's all about if you're looking for more acting or modeling work, contact these 2 people. Hey, I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.