One of the key challenges for anyone who wants to have a creative career in entertainment, especially if they aspire to be an actor or writer, is getting representation. Agents serve as gatekeepers in Hollywood, letting studios, producers, networks, and everyone else know that this person has talent, this person is worth their time and consideration, and it’s difficult to get anywhere career-wise without one.

 

The problem is that agents only bring in money when their clients get paid and breaking new talent is a laborious process. Agents do not take on un-tested talent lightly, so people who are new to the business are left wondering how to attract the interest of an agent, get signed, and then keep the agent committed in the long run.

 

In the past few years, two books have emerged as the insider guides to the world of agents and agencies. YII checked them both out.

How to Agent Your Agent by Nancy Rainford

 

Nancy Rainford is a former agent who also worked in casting and is now a producer-manager. She has the veteran’s perspective on the agenting business. Her book is written for anyone who needs an agent, actors and non-actors alike, and has a conversational, just-between-us tone. She tells stories from her days as an agent, a lot of them not very flattering about her former brethren. She makes you feel like she is your advocate in the process of getting an agent, and in getting your agent to keep working for you throughout your relationship with them. She definitely spills the beans on the good, the bad, and the ugly about working with agents.

 

One of the most helpful chapters (within a book packed with good, solid information) is called “Outsmarting the Fox.” It’s about the agenting of the agent that the title refers to, but can be applied to many entertainment industry business relationships and situations. Following advice like “When you call, have something for them rather than always needing something from them” will no doubt get your agent (and anyone else you are relying on to help you on an ongoing basis) to take your calls more frequently and cheerfully than they otherwise would.

 

If you read the book, read that chapter twice. It’s that valuable.

 

An Agent Tells All by Tony Martinez

 

Tony Martinez’s book is written from the perspective of a working agent. Though his book is also an easy read, the tone is more matter-of-fact than chummy, and he really sticks to the actor-agent relationship and the journey of an actor in this business, rather than providing advice for writers and other creative types, too. The only dishing of dirt that he does, for the most part, is about bad actor (or aspiring actor) behavior, and it is always with the goal of illustrating a gaffe you want to avoid in your quest for an agent and a career as an actor.

 

One of his most valuable chapters is “How to Be a Good Client,” and, though he does not spell it out, a lot of the advice can be applied to other entertainment industry relationships and situations. But the main point of the chapter, as with the book as a whole, is to make you the best possible client you can be to your agent, to give your agent the most opportunity to get you work and keep you working, and providing big fat commission checks for him or her. Though he may not actually hand out the book to his new clients (he probably makes them buy it), Martinez definitely wrote it always thinking about what he would want his own clients to know in order to make his job- and life- easier.

 

The Bottom Line

 

If you are an aspiring actor, I cannot imagine a better guidebook to the business side of your trade than An Agent Tells All by Tony Martinez. How to Agent Your Agent is a worthy second choice read for actors, but doesn’t provide the detail of the acting business that Martinez’s book does.

 

If you are a writer, director, or other non-actor creative type who will be seeking and working with a commissioned representative, I’d recommend How to Agent Your Agent by Nancy Rainford first, knowing that Rainford takes the time to dole out advice for you, too. If you read An Agent Tells All, you’ll have to translate the content to your chosen career path yourself, but if you can do that, you’ll get a lot out of the time spent reading it. 

 

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Tags: An Agent Tells All, career advice, entertainment industry, How to Agent Your Agent, Nancy Rainford, Tony Martinez

This entry was posted on Friday, June 12th, 2009 at 3:12 am and is filed under recommended. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.