The Submission Process Part 1: Do Your Homework!

Whenever I speak on a panel or talk to an actor who is just starting out in their career, a question I'm always asked is, “What is the best way to submit to your agency?” 

In these two parts, I’ll go over a few aspects of the submission process and some best practices. Let’s dive in! 

Part 1: Do Your Homework!

When you are submitting to agents/agencies, every single agent is going to have a different area of expertise and eye for talent so it’s important to do your homework in picking the right agent/agency to submit to. 

First and foremost, it’s important to make sure you are submitting to an agency that offers the type of representation you are looking for.  For example, there are plenty of agencies in the world that represent clients for Voice Over work ONLY.  We are not one of them.  While we have a great VO department, we are interested in representing the actor as a whole.  We get about 10-20 VO demos submissions each week when we don’t even offer that type of standalone representation.  I’ll also receive a number of pilot/features scripts every week even though I don’t represent writers. You are hiring this company to be advocates for your career.  It’s important that you know what their focus and expertise is. 

Once you have done your homework and identified the best agencies for you, make sure you are submitting your materials in a preferred format for the agency. Most agencies that accept submissions will have detailed information about the best ways they like to receive new submissions on their website.  Every agency has their own reasons as to why they like receiving submissions in that particular way and it’s important to follow those protocols. Are we going to disqualify an amazing submission because it didn’t follow the protocol exactly? Probably not. But we have these preferences to expedite the submission review process and make sure we are giving each submission a thoughtful evaluation. 

As an actor, you will face many opportunities where following directions is key whether it’s taking notes from a director or reading incredibly detailed self-tape instructions.  This is a way actors can immediately demonstrate a business skill right off the bat to a prospective agent. 

Social Media: 

In recent years, agencies have heavily relied on their social media channels to best interact with the entertainment community.  However, social media is generally not the place to submit for representation.  

It’s called show BUSINESS for a reason.  Not only are we looking for talented actors, but we are looking for partners who have a level of professionalism that will reflect well on all of us from a business perspective. 

While some on the business side use our social media platforms as a professional extension of our career, many of us view our profiles as personal outlets.  After a long day, I’m opening Instagram at 9pm to laugh at some memes, not watch reels.  There are professional ways to engage on social media platforms (like LinkedIn for example!), but generally speaking, your first interaction with a future business partner shouldn’t be via sliding into the DMs. 

In Part 2, we’ll take a look at the different materials you should include in your submission and best practices of what we are looking for! Have a great week