I had a client who wanted to get an agent. She was disappointed with the auditions she had gotten from other agents because they weren’t right for her and she didn’t land them. She was getting auditions with a lot of dialog and competing against people who were generally younger than her. She wasn’t being appreciated for her true value – her charisma, positive energy, body awareness, and sense of humor.
Many agents told her to strengthen her weaknesses – English and genericness – instead of exploiting her awesome traits.
Process
We didn’t go broad, we went narrow and bold. We contacted agents with this message…
“
Hello, I’m █████. I have:
🔥 A Japanese accent
🔥 A dark sense of humor
🔥 Crazy Physicality
🔥 Hot flashes
Would you consider representing someone like me?
Thank you so much!
█████
“
Resistance
This was scary for her. She imagined how many bridges would be burned by people who saw her embracing her accent instead of getting dialect training. How many would turn away from her based on her age. How many people would black-list her for being a little wild. She went for it anyway. It went out to every agent she could find.
Result
She got an agent that was Chinese American, understood her, and landed her two great auditions within a month.
The lessons to learn
- we can look at the big picture of what we really want. Do I want an agent (not necessarily helpful) / do I want perfect gigs (not necessarily in my immediate control) / do I want good job opportunities?
- we can figure out what that means and get specific about what that looks like
- we can ask for exactly what we want
- we can seek out the right people, not just people in general (she didn’t need all the agents. She just needed one)
- we can seek improvement instead of perfection
- opportunity is available to us if we commit