So it is officially mid-June…where is your Representation? Since my first year in Los Angeles all I have been doing since that day, I think sometimes, is altering things that people told me where absolutely true…because I’ve learned…they just aren’t. One of those many Hollywood myths is that there are only two times per year to get a “new representative.” Well, I absolutely disagree, but what I am willing to concede is that there are a few “better” times to attempt to get new representation than others. No different than finding a new boyfriend or girlfriend, there isn’t a perfect time to do that, but there are circumstances, conditions and scenarios that do HEIGHTEN that reality.
The same applies to being an actor, and getting representation MEETINGS. I’m a huge advocate for doing all that you can do to get as many meetings as possible and stop making the goal to GET an agent or manager. I have had 44 representatives in my career, no different than the concept of how many people you’ve “briefly dated” or been in a medium to long term relationship. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work out, and you have to move on. My strong recommendation is that you SHIFT your focus to getting meetings NOT to “get a new agent or manager.”
And yes, I will absolutely concede that the next 30 days is one of the BETTER times to make this happen. With the changes to our economy, and the economy of Hollywood, we do have less black and white “time frames” for certain things as we had back in the late 80s, the 90s and even the first few years of the 21st century. But still today, you have a great deal of industry players vacation and leave town from mid-May to mid-June, and then gear back up leading into mid-July…when the higher percentage of television shows are back into full production.
This means that they likely spend a fair amount of time in late April through mid-May and address their current client (actor) lists. They might even send out “cut letters” before they take a break and even set up some meetings before they take a break, but there is no doubt that from today for the next 30-days they’re really looking to solidify their client list for the upcoming TV season. So it is one the best times annually to “create meetings.” Tragically this tends to also be the SAME time of the early Summer that actors seem to “check out.” I don’t even mean that they go on vacation, because that is a bit of a fiscal issue, but either both visiting back home, going on extended vacations…but really just checking out. This is one of the many forms of the definition of insanity that I’ve seen.
At the end of the day, if you as an actor would use 4/15-5/30 as the time frame to really ensure that all of your materials are in their best shape (pictures, website, demo & resume) and then MARKET yourself to representatives almost full time from 6/1-6/30, you’re likely to discover that you will create more meetings with more opportunity and possibility. The definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again…but expecting a different result.” Well, if you keep on doing things in the same way at the same time as all of your fellow peers…that too…is insane. Think different, be different, pursue different. My best always, Kevin E.