How to find a talent agent

A talent agent can open doors for actors and get them auditions and bookings that the vast majority of people don’t even know about.

You do not believe me?

Ask Ethan.

Ethan was a teenage actor who had signed up for an on-camera acting workshop he was teaching. He had some theater experience, but had never acted on camera before. But he was very talented and enthusiastic, and after the workshop, he invited him to meet me at the talent agency where he worked to discuss representation.

We ended up casting Ethan, and in just a couple of months, we cast him in a major supporting role on Spike TV’s The Kill Point, starring Donnie Wahlberg and John Leguizamo.

This teen actor with almost no experience in front of a camera landed a contract on a major cable network television show because he found the right agent.

Can you imagine the auditions and bookings you would have access to if you signed with the right agency?

How different would your career (and life) be?

It all starts with finding a great agent to represent you.

Where do you find a talent agent?

And how do you know they are legit?

And he’s not going to rip you off?

One of the best pieces of advice I’ll give any actor starting out is to work with what’s called a union franchise agency (or agent).

There are several unions that you can deal with as an actor: SAG (Screen Actors Union) and AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) are the most common when it comes to working on camera. SAG and AFTRA used to be their own separate unions, but in 2012 the two merged to become SAG-AFTRA, a combined union to represent all actors for on-camera work.

There are advantages and disadvantages for actors who are part of SAG-AFTRA.

The union guarantees that they are paid a certain minimum wage for any on-camera work they are hired to do. They also guarantee certain working conditions and offer actors health insurance, retirement and other benefits.

However, once you join, you can ONLY do union work on camera. If he lives in one of the many, many smaller markets across the country that doesn’t have a lot of steady work for union players, this could be a big drawback.

But the question of whether or not to join the union is a debate for another day.

The important thing for ANY actor to know is how syndicates work with talent agencies.

Benefits of working with a union franchised agency

SAG-AFTRA franchises qualified talent agencies that meet specific requirements.

These are called union franchised agencies.

These agencies must apply, pay for free, and be approved by SAG-AFTRA in order to represent union stakeholders.

It does NOT mean that you have to join the union in order to work with these agencies.

In fact, for most actors who live outside of a major market like Los Angeles or New York, I generally recommend against joining the union (but that’s a longer conversation for another time).

What it does mean is that these agencies are highly regulated by SAG-AFTRA, and have all agreed to certain conditions for ALL of their actors, union members or not.

These conditions include:

• the agency must derive its income almost exclusively from the commissions it receives when it obtains work for the actors it represents
• cannot charge a fee to get actor auditions
• the agency cannot be connected with an acting school or run classes or workshops as an agency
• there can be no specific internal photographer or external photographer that actors must use
• they can only charge actors a 10% commission for SAG-AFTRA jobs (they can charge a higher commission for non-union jobs, usually 15-20%)

Union-franchise agencies only get paid when they get work for their actors. They are usually a safe haven from the many scams designed to scam unsuspecting actors.

Does this mean that non-franchise talent agencies cannot be trusted? Or that you shouldn’t sign with them?

Of course not.

There are many reputable non-franchised agencies that follow the same guidelines as franchised agencies. They work hard to get jobs for the actors they represent, and they only have the best of intentions.

But figuring out which of those non-franchise agencies are reputable and which are scams comes with a lot of experience working in that industry.

And there are many that appear to be legitimate UNTIL you start working with them and end up wasting your time and money.

That’s why I always recommend that actors try to work with a union-franchised agency when they’re just starting out.

How to Find a Union Franchise Talent Agency

Finding a franchised agency near you is easy: go to the SAG-AFTRA Franchised Agents page on their website at https://www.sagaftra.org/professionalrepresentatives and search for agencies in the market closest to where you live.

Don’t be afraid to expand your search beyond your local area; You can even check within a couple hour radius of where you live.

It may be more difficult to get to auditions in person, but there may be opportunities for you to record your own auditions and send them to the agency.

It’s much better to find the franchised agency that’s the best fit for you, and then figure out the logistics of how and when you’ll audition.

There may be many non-franchise agencies that are closer to where you live.

Many of them will be completely honest and give you access to some of the same auditions and bookings that you would get if you signed with a franchised agency.

And there are some who will lie to you, treat you badly, and cheat you out of hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Over time, you will be able to spot these bogus agencies and scams from a mile away.

But until then, and especially when you’re just starting your career, I almost always recommend signing with a union-franchise agency.