Agents & Managers

So I can't count the number of times someone has asked me, "What's the difference between an agent and a manager?"

An agent is a licensed negotiator. A manager is not (unless he/she has a law degree).
An agent works with a team of other agents and has a client list between 50--200+ actors, models, singers, athletes, etc; depending on the agency. A manager works alone (usually), and has a client list of 1--10.
An agent deals with most of the black and whites of the business: breakdowns, submitting actors/dealing with casting directors, sometimes getting feedback for the actor after an audition, and negotiating contracts once an actor receives an offer for employment. A manager works with the agent on all of the above (via emails and quick phone calls ensuring his actor's best interests are being looked after), but also deals with the gray areas of the business: advising the actor on his style, discussing his career path in depth, networking with any and all contacts (i.e. dinners, drinks, etc;), and in general giving his actors the personal attention they need. And when it comes to negotiating a deal, a manager is legally NOT qualified to do so.

What's key is that the team of actor/agent/manager work together.

Years ago when I first arrived in NY, I started working with a manager who was recommended to me by a friend and an agent I impressed at my graduate school showcase. Unfortunately, the agency did not like dealing with managers. BANG! right off the bat there's no communication between the agent and the manager. Auditions would come up we'd need to discuss, I'd want feedback from my auditions since I was new to the city and curious as to what casting directors thought of me, my career path was headed in only one 'musicals' direction and I was getting impatient and frustrated, but the 3 of us couldn't discuss it as a team. My manager was kind of useless without having a relationship with my agent and I felt like I was paying each 10% of my paychecks for nothing. Agents take 10%. Managers take 10-15% (negotiable).

Eventually I left my agent and fired my manager. It took a few years of trial and error, but I can thankfully now say I've finally put together a team I truly believe in.

Some advice:
ACTORS WITHOUT AGENTS: Try and get one. The business is so competitive you are at a distinct disadvantage at getting union work without one. Example: in LA when episodics are casting, many times breakdowns come out that morning and casting directors are bringing in actors that same afternoon! No agent, no auditions.

Commercial Agents submit for on camera commercials, voice-overs, and print. To get my first commercial agent I hand delivered my headshot/resume to agencies I was interested in (See Ross Reports for complete list and I recommend flipping through the The New York Agent Book by K. Callahan--it's a great collection of all NY Talent Agency bios). It helps to have a name of an agent at the agency so you can put that name on your delivery. A week later send a little follow up thank you note to the agent . If you don't hear back they're probably not interested. You can send another note the next week or just move on.

No agent? Subscribe to BACKSTAGE MAGAZINE--it's the best publication! It lists everything being cast that will be holding open calls. And most shows are required to have open calls. It also lists student films, non-union work...all kinds of stuff. You're gonna end up buying one every week from a newstand so save the money and subscribe.

Whether or not you need a manager is entirely up to you. My theory is spending an extra 10% when you're not making that much money is OK if that team is going to help you get seen for bigger paycheck gigs. My manager knows everyone in the business on both coasts which helps a great deal. He'll get feedback for me whenever I want, has gotten me into the orchestral concert world, is another voice of reason when a gig comes up and I need advice. And I can call him whenever I want to discuss anything. Many times having a manager on your team provides security and the feeling that you're not being forgotten about. My agent has many clients he's gotta look out for, but with my manager there to remind him, I know my name is going through my agent's mind daily. And that's what you want--everybody thinking about you every day to make things happen.

Typical Crazy Day

Whew. It's been an intense week of auditions culminating in a crazy day today:

10am Print Casting for major magazine
Noon Callback for a lead role in an off broadway musical
12:45 Voice-over casting for McDonalds
2:30 Audition for lead role in a play at a major regional theater
4:30 Voice-over casting for Saturn cars
5:30pm Commercial casting for a health care company

To prepare for the day I started looking over the material for the musical and play auditions a few days ago--my theory on auditioning now is that you want to prepare but don't want to overprepare. Of course I read the scripts for both, then worked on the songs/sides. Thankfully I have a reader 'on-call' at home whenever I want... my wife :) But she had a really rough day at work yesterday so last night she fell asleep as she read the audition material with me! We got through it though (barely).

After a night of tossing and turning, it's up 2 hours before the first audition--8am. Steam shower to moisturize the voice. Off to the closet where I try and figure out the least amount of clothes I need to drag with me all day to dress right for the different characters I'll be auditioning for. Today's lineup: A Joe-Average office guy, a young Dad, a rocker/musician, and a rich preppy type. Nice Jeans, a few different shirts and lots of deodorant should do the job.

Then I warm up my body with some light yoga/alexander technique before I eat a hearty breakfast. Since I'll be out pounding the pavement for 8 hours, and on days like this lunch isn't always an option, I find a great healthy breakfast helps.

Then I pack my bag (headshot/resumes, print cards, modeling book, audition song book, and some hair stuff and powder (it's summer), and we're off!

The print casting went well. PRINT CASTINGS are kind of a joke. Actors and models spend all this money for photo shoots and reproductions of professional headshots and modelling cards only to spend an hour of our time heading to some office where we walk in have our picture taken with a polaroid or digital camera a few times and leave. If you or anyone you know has ever taken an attractive picture with a polaroid--please let me know. I wish they could just use our headshots/cards right? But that's not how it works. So anyway I showed up, waited in a line of 50 models ahead of me for 20 minutes, handed in my card, and had my picture taken for 15 seconds. Done. $150.00 payday on the line. FYI with print castings, editorial magazines don't pay much (Vogue, NY Magazine, Men's Health etc; usually $150-450 for the day) whereas commercial print shoots pay much more ($1500-3000/day).

Then it's off the musical audition. I was nervous as hell. I hate auditioning! I'd have thought I'd have built up an immunity to audition nerves by now but NOPE! It's exhausting...calming myself down. To my surprise, every other actor was nervous as hell too. One guy was a pretty famous movie actor and he was pacing all over the place. He caught me staring and said, "Well this never gets easier does it? No matter what, you always start at the bottom with these things." So very true my man.

In my opinion, walking into a room of people you don't know and putting your talent on display with a job on the line is ususally pretty terrifying. Sometimes they're friendly and smiley and responsive, and the director works with you--then it's fun. But so many times they're tired, patronizing, and hard to read--the director says nothing and you feel as if the role is already cast and you're wasting your time. As actors we have to just take it all in and do our thing no matter what. It's so weird and difficult.

Anyway, the accompanist was decent so the songs went well, and then the reader was good and actually of the same sex of the character I was supposed to be reading opposite from! And that's a rarity! After a little adjustment from the director, I was happy with the audition.

Both voice-over auditions were fun. At the first I was paired up with this girl--she couldn't have been more than 19. But then she opened her mouth and this 35 yr. old raspy, sexy voice came out. It was hilarious. At the second audition I was paired up with a guy. We got into the booth and I quickly learned he couldn't read. That's right--he literally couldn't read the copy. I was amazed. With all the competition out there, some agent is sending out an actor who can't even read copy. I was pretty ticked off, but I didn't let it affect my read (you can't because most of the time the casting director running the booth gives you 1 shot at it and you're done).

Then there was the play audition. After preparing 15 pages of sides, I was ready. I went into the room. Played off the reader, tried to affect him, had fun and finished the first scene. Silence. The director said nothing. I was right for the character so I was hoping for an adjustment and we talk a little, whatever. But nothing. He asks me to read the second scene and before i know it I'm saying 'thank-you' and walking out the door. It's a sad feeling. To feel connected to the material, do good work, have a good audition in the room, but get nothing from the director--no sign of good or bad (which usually means they're going another way). It's frustrating as hell. If I spend the time on the material, and I'm right for the role, and I'm giving a good audition--work with me here! Just give me an adjustment, let me show you I can take direction and what else I can bring to the table. I mean it's hours and hours of preparation, thought, body work, and stress for 5 minutes in and out. But that's the reality of it.

The final walk in the hot sun led me to the commercial audition. They were running ahead of schedule so I was able to get right in. It was the most humiliating audition experience I've ever had:

The producer was in the room watching us on screen. I had one line, "Hanging out with an old friend." See, in my little vignette I was supposed to be playing with an imaginary dog, look to the camera, smile, and say my line. So I played with the imaginary dog, looked up, said the line and was done. I figured I'd get one or two more shots at it to loosen up and try some different things. Well, one or two turned into 30! The producer felt I wasn't giving him what he wanted from the line, "Can you try it smoother....can you do it again but this time vary the pitch...can you do it with no breaks?...can you play with the dog differently?... AND THE CAPPER: on the 28th time he says to me, "You've almost got it Ok? Just warmer. I need it warmer. But you're so close." At this point I wanted to kill him. I should have walked out after 5-10 times. How dare he sit there and put an actor through his power trip. It was unreal. I almost cracked up laughing it was such a circus. I mean it's ONE LINE! Any actor could do it. And that's why auditioning for commercials is like auditioning for print jobs--talent feels practically irrelevant.

2 more tomorrow and that's it for the week--a SAG experimental film and another voice-over.
Onward!

The Basics--Casting Final

Ok. To finish up casting...

Agents/Managers submit their actors' headshots/resumes to the casting directors for certain projects. The casting director then puts together a list of actors he/she will bring in to audition. Many times if a casting director doesn't know the actor or hasn't seen an actor in a while, he'll bring him in for a PRESCREEN. This is simply an audition for only the casting director so he can determine if he wants to bring you in for the creative team.

When auditioning for musicals, actors are usually asked to prepare 1-2 of their own songs in the style of the show they're auditioning for along with material from the show (given out by the casting director--usually a song and 1-2 scenes). When auditioning for TV/Film/Plays, actors prepare material from the show and maybe a monlogue (for plays).

Monologue Myth:
In school they told us we HAD to have monlogues in our repetoire (classical and contemporary). That's not really true. First of all the monologues you'll prepare now may not be pieces you even want to use for a specific audition 2 years later. Secondly, you will be growing as a performer and you'll want to update your audition materials as you do. The only time it definitely helps to have a few monologues in your rep is for open calls. Open calls for plays usually ask for a monologue. If you have an agent you won't need to go to open calls (although it's good audition practice if you're rusty). If you do not have an agent, you may be going to a lot of open calls.

Typically the audition process goes like this:
(Pre-Screen)
First Audition--for the director/music director
Second Audition (CALLBACK)--for the entire creative team (maybe producers)
Possible Third Audition--for everyone! The creative team, all the producers, the writers, etc;

The bigger the audition, the crazier the audition process.

What's fun is when you have 4+ auditions in one day--1 for a new TV pilot, a callback for a new Broadway musical, a voice-over audition, and a commercial audition. Things can (and WILL) get crazy so be ready for it.

For a complete listing of all NY/LA casting directors from Daytime TV to Primetime from Commercials to Broadway pick up a HENDERSON'S CASTING DIRECTORS GUIDE at Drama Books. It's a great thing to have because you'll want to send thank you notes to the casting directors after your audition and you'll need their addresses :) I use mine almost everyday.

BREAK A LEG!

The Basics--Casting II

So what to do when you're not Tom Cruise...

Everyday, roles are cast in plays, movies, musicals, television shows, video games, commercials, etc; Here's how it works:

The casting director first posts a "breakdown" of the production's details including rehearsal/shooting dates, audition information, and character descriptions that provide an idea of what the creative team/producers are looking for. Here's an example of a breakdown:

TARZAN, A New Musical - NY/LA/ALL US
Theatre
BROADWAY PRODUCTION
AEA PRODUCTION CONTRACT

Producer: Disney Theatrical Productions
Director: Bob Crowley
Choreographer: Meryl Tankard
Music and Lyrics: Phil Collins
Book: David Henry Hwang
Music Producer: Paul Bogaev
Adapted from the screenplay by Tab Murphy and Bob Tzudiker and Noni White
Based on the novel “TARZAN OF THE APES” by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Associate Director: Jeff Lee
Casting: Casting Agent
Auditions: Begin late May
Broadway Production: 2005-06 Season

PLEASE SEND ALL SUBMISSIONS (IN A SEPARATE ENVELOPE FROM OTHER PROJECTS) ASAP TO:CASTING AGENT ADDRESS NY, NY ATTN: TARZAN

NOTE: PERFORMERS OF ALL CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS ARE ENCOURAGED FOR SUBMISSION.

SEEKING ACTORS TO PLAY THE FOLLOWING ROLES:

[TARZAN AS ADULT] To play male in his 20s. Caught between the world of gorillas and the world of humans, he is a human raised by a family of apes in the African jungle. We must identify with him and care about him and his emotional journey. Charming, sexy, vulnerable, lots of humanity, animal-like. Physically lean but toned, a swimmer’s body--NOT a muscle man. Strong upper body strength, physical, agile, fearless, must be very comfortable with movement. His body must be at one with the environment. Will fly. Needs a terrific pop/rock singing voice. LEAD

[JANE] To play English female in her 20s. Attractive, vulnerable, gutsy, lots of vitality, adventurous, fearless, funny, and beguiling. The new woman of her time. Very witty with great comic timing and a wonderful energy, but also has a Victorian sweetness and refinement. Her falling in love for the first time—with Tarzan—is overwhelming to her. Must be game and be willing to be physical as Jane transforms into someone very courageous. Will fly. Needs a terrific pop/rock singing voice. LEAD

Who gets to see the breakdowns? Well, not actors--at least not legally. Yup, believe it or not, it is illegal for us to see the daily Breakdowns. Why? Well, imagine 100,000 actors in the US with access to everything being cast submitting themselves (headshot and resume) to casting directors in cities all over the country. 'Twould make for a pretty chaotic casting process.

Casting Directors release their breakdowns through a service called Breakdown Services Ltd.--this service then posts the casting directors' breakdowns online for only "licensed" patrons to view. (Before the days of the internet they were faxed or delivered.) Of course licensed talent agencies and managers must pay a fee (up to $300/month) to view the daily breakdowns. It's a racket but that's showbiz.

It wasn't always this way. A dear friend of mine, a true Broadway gypsy who's been in the business since the 1940s, once told me how it used to be...'it used to be that if you were good, you'd get work in a Jerome Robbins or Bob Fosse show, let's say through an open call...and then if he liked you, Bob Fosse would just pick up the phone and call you to offer you a role in his next show. What the hell's a breakdown?' ...Ah the good old days.

I guess at some point producers and directors got tired of dealing directly with actors, and the talent agent was born. Of course producers and directors eventually got tired of dealing directly with agents as well, and the casting director was born. Or maybe the casting directors came before the agents? The point is, there are now 2 tiers of people between an actor and an audition.

Naturally, in an attempt to reclaim control over their own careers, actors have come up with many ways to 'illegally' access the breakdowns. And Breakdown Services has come up with just as many ways to catch these evil-doers in the act (i.e. posting a breakdown with false contact information attached to catch actors submitting themselves to the wrong person for a job).

Beware! I know an actor who was actually sued by Breakdown Services for accessing the breakdowns illegally.

MORE TO COME...

The Basics--Casting I

So, now that you know how a new show is developed. Let me get into how it's cast and casting in general...

A casting director is hired by the producers to bring in talent (actors) to audition for the producers and creative team. He/She decides who they think is right to bring in for an audition based on their relationship with the actor, the actor's credits/reputation, and their relationship with the actor's representation--this is key.

Attention all actors: if your agent is tells you he can't get you seen for television or film because your resume is too full of musicals he may be lying to you. More likely it's that your agent doesn't have enough of a relationship with these casting directors to get you seen. When I first moved to the city I left an agency that repeatedly told me they could not get me seen for TV/Film because I was a musical actor, to sign with a different agency that got me seen for lots of TV/Film--not b/c I had a different resume, but because their reputation with those casting directors was better established. A lot of actors blame themselves for their agents' problems. Don't do this to yourself. If you're doing everything you can to better your craft and you're realistic about your talent and marketability, there's no reason why you shouldn't be auditioning for anything you want.

Of course, it's not that simple because this is show BUSINESS not show PLAY. It's about making money. Competition is intensely fierce. And casting directors are always looking for 'bank'-able actors.

On Broadway this has manifested in the trend to cast television and film stars in roles more suited to less well known but more talented stage actors: Remember the Jeremy Irons CAMELOT example (post July 5)? Despite the dozens of talented musical theater leading men out there qualified to play King Arthur at the Hollywood Bowl this summer, the producers of this project chose Jeremy Irons. Why? Well, yes he's a talented actor with years of theater experience and training. But Jeremy Irons is also a movie star. He will sell tickets! With Broadway type projects costing so much to produce now-a-days, producers need to make sure they can put butts in the seats.

Unfortunately, this often means sacrificing the qualtiy of a production in order to have the 'hot ticket in town'. I'm sure Jeremy will be fun to watch, but he can't really sing.

Some would argue neither can Val Kilmer, Ewan McGregor, and the list goes on and on. There's even a rumor that Jeff Goldblum is sought after for a leaing role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical (WOMAN IN WHITE). And it's not just Broadway musicals. Broadway plays are often star studded. Sometimes successfully (PILLOW MAN, GLENN GARY...), sometimes not so successfully (GLASS MENAGERIE...).

If you're wondering why movie stars accept roles in theater projects...maybe their career needs a boost? Or maybe, like Josh Lucas, they need a rest from the exhausting business of making movies: "Basically, the director lied to me--he said playing the Gentleman Caller [in GLASS MENAGERIE] would be like taking six months off." (Elle magazine Aug.'05) ...I don't know who's comment is worse? You want to "relax" Josh, go to Bermuda. Many actors would've killed to play that part.

Maybe these stars take the jobs because they see theater as a way to challenge themselves? And if producers are willing to pay, why not? (inside word is Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick made $100,000 each/week in THE PRODUCERS.)

The result of this trend is unfortunate. Because stars' schedules and salary demands often prevent them from staying with a show for a prolonged period of time, productions become revolving doors for movie-stars, with casting directors scrambling to fill roles and theater owners scrambling to fill theaters left empty after productions (BOY FROM OZ) close following a star's departure.

For experienced and talented Broadway musical pros, this is frustrating and pretty scary. When a Broadway actor has to compete with P-Diddy--how can he? As a friend of mine likes to say, "If this business was fair, not everybody would be able do it."

The Basics

Before getting into some exciting daily stories, I think it might help if I briefly describe how the Broadway industry works. This is for any young actors, writers, producers out there AND for all of us out there sick of trying to explain our business to our parents :) Ask them to read this. And feel free to refer back to this posting as you read others later on!

For Plays and Musicals
Basically, someone decides they have an idea for a new show. Usually this person is a writer or a producer. Then a few things need to happen:

a) the show needs to be fully developed--
written, composed (if it's a musical), designed (sets, costumes, lights, sound), cast, etc;

b) the creative team of designers/writers/directors needs to be assembled.

c) funding must be raised to pay for the "pre-production" development of the piece.

While the producer(s) is out raising money, the show is usually developed in the following stages:

Reading
Workshop
Out-of-Town Tryout
Broadway

a) A reading is a minimally rehearsed presentation of the piece for a small invited audience in a rehearsal studio where the actors 'read' the piece from their scripts with minimal (if any) staging.

b) A workshop is a more thoroughly rehearsed presentation of the piece often with basic sets, costumes, etc; for a potentially bigger (but still limited) audience still in a rehearsal studio or a small theater.

c) An Out of Town Tryout is a fully mounted production of the piece with full sets, costumes, make-up, lights, sound, music, and so on in a selected venue of the producer's choice. Certain theaters around the country (La Jolla Playhouse, the Globe Theater in San Francisco, etc;) now specialize in housing new shows in development.

Still with me?

Ok, so depending on the success of the readings and workshops (yes there can be multiple), producers decide if the show is good enough & if there is enough interest to take the piece to Broadway.

This is a big decision. For a Broadway musical, a workshop can cost up to $500,000 to produce. But to then mount the show fully produced in a Broadway theater means spending upwards of 8 million dollars and beyond (Wicked's budget was one of Broadway's biggest ever at 14 million dollars. That's a lot of money to raise & risk.)

Since New York critics have the power to close a vulnerable Broadway show within hours of opening night, many producers choose to open the show out-of-town. There, away from the pressures of New York, the cast and crew take a few weeks to work out the kinks, make any necessary changes, and ideally turn their new Broadway show into a potential Broadway hit.

Day One--A day in the life...

Hey everybody! I've been tossing around the idea of creating a Broadway geared website for a while. But unlike Broadway.com/Playbill.com (which are great sites for news, gossip, casting information, and theater tickets), I wanted to give people the inside, real 'behind-the-scenes' look at life in the Broadway & Entertainment industries.

It's great to read on Playbill.com that Jeremy Irons is playing King Arthur in the Hollywood Bowl's summer concert of CAMELOT (http://www.playbill.com/news/article/92931.html). But how did Jeremy get that job? Did he have to audition? If so, what was the audition like? What role did Jeremy's agent/manager play in securing the gig? What's the real difference between and agent and a manager? Does an actor need both? either? If so, why? What do agents and managers do? And how do you get one?

The questions spin on and on...

Check in with me everyday. By sharing our days with you, myself and some friends of mine in the entertainment industry (actors, producers, directors, writers, choreographers, conductors, coaches, agents, managers...) will help you to answer any and all questions you might have about this crazy business. And by sharing your days with us, together we'll strengthen our understanding of life inside Broadway and show business beyond. Jeremy Irons started somewhere right?