What do talent agents look for?

Answer 1

Full Service vs. Boutique Agencies Some agencies focus on only one area of modeling. These agencies are often called 'boutiques.' Other agencies focus on only high-end stars or celebrities, these also are referred to as boutique agencies. Some agencies only focus on actors and refer to themselves only as 'talent agencies.' Other agencies focus only on models and thus refer to themselves only as 'model agencies.' Full Service agencies have multiple departments that handle every aspect of both the talent and modeling fields. They are no better or worse than boutique agencies, simply focusing on a higher volume of work. One advantage of full-service agencies is that they may provide work for one model/talent in more than one department. How Agencies work: Talent agencies have very powerful and influential negotiating mechanisms that keep their clients working. Talent agents are representatives of specific talent agencies who negotiate deals on behalf of their clients and find work for their clients. Talent agents evolved out of the notion that many creative people have difficulty maintaining business relationships while focusing on their art. The talent agent along with other business professionals can help generate more money while untangling contractual problems for the creative people. The agent works for the talent in promoting and arranging bookings on the talents behalf and in return the agent receives a commission from the assignments that are completed by the talent. Agents of small agencies each take on a specific talent area like modeling and interact frequently with the clients in that area, but the agents must also have some knowledge of all of the talent that are represented by the agency. This knowledge enables the agent to make informed decisions when asked by other agents for input about a specific client booking. Agents deal on a daily basis with their clients (i.e. talent, models, etc.), buyers (i.e. casting directors, producers, networks, studios, photographers), Accountants, attorneys, business mangers, personal mangers and other talent agents. Agents help the talent adhere to the acting industry requirements by consulting with them on every decision from where to get head shots printed to what to wear to auditions. Just as the agents have a specific relationship with the talent, they also have a relationship with the buyer. The agent-buyer relationship is very unique in that buyers can be many different types of people with many different types of needs. For example, a casting director may be looking for specific actors from the agency to audition for a part, while a photographer just needs five children from the agency as soon as possible for a photo shoot. Agents also deal with attorneys, who document deals and 'clean up messes', and accountants who serve as record-keepers. Last but not least, the agent-to-agent relationship is very close-knit with everyone working to help each other get bookings filled so that the entire agency profits. Life of An Agent Agents spend a majority of their time sitting at desks conversing on the telephone. The telephone is their life line, it connects them locally to their clients, and many thousands of miles away to potential buyers. Buyers are always calling to request auditions for the agent's clients. The agent must relay this information to the client via the telephone, but since the talent is normally always working, many messages are left on pagers and answering machines. Agents also field calls from buyers who have worked with specific clients previously and would like to know the client's availability for future projects. A lot of these buyers will request recent head shots to be faxed or emailed right away. This means that the agent must take the time to pull the head shot and resume from the filing cabinet and then fax or email it. Since the majority of the agents time is exhausted on the telephone persuading buyers to use their clients, the agents do not like to spend much time conversing with their own clients on the telephone, unless the client is needed for an audition or if the agent needs to update records. Agents just do not have the time to chat with clients when the majority of their time needs to be spent finding buyers. Clients normally only call the agency when instructed to by an agent or if they are 'booking out'. 'Booking out" means that the client will be unavailable to work for the agency for a specified period of time due to illness, a vacation, etc. Most agent client correspondences are normally done through the mail, email, over the web with newsletters and rarely over the phone. Agents also spend a majority of their time reviewing breakdowns that are faxed in from Los Angeles. 'Breakdowns' are basically synopses of parts that are being cast by casting agencies. They always request a specific piece of material like a demo tape or a head shot and a resume to be sent for consideration in the audition process. On most breakdowns there is always a tight deadline (usually by the very next day) for consideration of the talent. The breakdowns are distributed to each agent and they must review the breakdowns and decide which of their clients, if any, will best fit the qualifications of the open part. It is during this process that many of the agents converse with each other to get different opinions of who's head shot shall be sent. This collective thought process helps to pin point the exact talent that should be sent, instead of sending a whole bunch of nonsensical head shots. If only one client really, really fits the part being cast than only that one head shot and resume is sent. The buyer receives hundreds of head shots a day and it makes their job a lot easier when the agents help to narrow the choice down for them. Plus, if the agent sends the talent the buyer is looking for, then the buyer will most likely return to that same agency when they need more talent in the future. Agencies become known in the industry by the clients they represent. Once the talent is decided on by the agent, the head shot and resume must be pulled and arranged into a presentable packet that is sent to the potential buyer. This is quite a labor intensive process due to the fact that most of the talent have a variety if head shots and other paraphernalia to choose from. There are commercial head shots, zed cards, demo tapes, video tapes, etc. All of the breakdowns must be finished quickly and mailed to ensure that they will reach Los Angeles by the following day. Modeling agents spend a majority of their time laying out portfolios for their clients. A portfolio can be defined as a collection of the model's best photos arranged in a specific way to appeal to the buyers needs. For models, portfolio books and composite cards or zed cards are essential in marketing themselves. The composite card acts as the models business card. It communicates who the model is through the body statistics and a sampling of photographs. The card is very uniform with one basic shot on the front with the model's first and last name printed underneath. The agency's logo also appears with their phone number on this card. Agents also design headsheets, which are posters with small head shots of each of the models that the agency represents. The headsheet is sent out to potential buyers as a quick reference material. When the agents are not answering phones or reviewing breakdowns, much of their time is spent writing and typing correspondences, editing film to be used as promotional material for buyer, interviewing aspiring talent, reviewing head shot files, scheduling makeup and Photography sessions and massaging egos. Each agent has separate responsibilities, but all work together as a team. Agents and The Web Now, with the advent of the World Wide Web, both agents and buyers sit at computers and email requests. The agent quickly scans through the agency's own online database and sends files filled with the talent that she would like the buyer to view. The file is received by the buyer. It is then viewed and a response is made by email as to the talent the buyer would like to audition the following day. This process eliminates all of the phone tag, and faxing and mailing that normally takes place, therefore, allowing the audition process to proceed at a quicker pace. The files that are sent to the buyer can also be saved by the buyer for future use. This eliminates lost head shots and allow the buyers to establish their own databases with talent that they might be interested in pursuing for future assignments Hope this helps. For more information go to http://www.affinitytalent.com

Answer 2

they look for good posture a nice smile and face

you also got to look good in clothes

natural look [hardly any makeup, and if you are wearing lip gloss make sure it is clear] #2 answ: Mostly they look for TALENT