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Being a commercially represented actor

Commercial Agents: Being A Represented Actor

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Many new actors are not really clear about what it takes to have a good working relationship with their commercial agent. It is very beneficial to understand what is expected. So here are the responsibilities and expectations as it pertains to most commercial representation.

Upon signing with your commercial agent, there will be tasks for you do:
• If your agent doesn’t love your photos, he/she will expect you to shoot new pictures.
• You might be expected to redo your resume.
• If you have not taken a commercial or Improvisation workshop they may strongly suggest you take one or both to do better auditions.
• You will be told to sign up for one or two of the casting websites.
These actions must be completed before submitting new clients for auditions.

Once you start auditioning, your agent(s) have lots more expectations.

Clients must:
• Have a cell phone with voicemail
• Have appropriate wardrobe for the types of roles they will be auditioning for.
• Keep agents supplied with current pictures and resumes
• Update their profiles on the casting networks with new photos and resume’ changes.
• Always return agents calls within a few hours to confirm auditions
• With a few hours notice, be available for auditions
• Show up for auditions
• Book out with the agency if going out of town or for any reason are unavailable.
• Be on time for auditions.
• Let the agency know if you make or plan to make any changes to your physicality (i.e. large weight gains or loses, braces, hair color or major style changes, etc,).

Signing with representation doesn’t guarantee that you will always be with that agency. After a year, agents often drop clients if: they don’t get a good percentage of callbacks or booking; are not available for auditions or bookings; if they miss confirmed auditions; act unprofessionally at auditions; or are a problem client.

RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR AGENT
Most actors want to create a relationship with their agent(s) but are not sure if they should visit, call, send emails and if so, how often. Your relationship at least for the first year or two is just business. If you are going to visit, call or email, have a business purpose, i.e. to show video of acting work, to select new pictures, get direction on which workshops to take, invite them to a show you are in or to watch a TV program you are on, report any major changes that affect your availability or physicality, etc. Agents are busy working for you and their other clients. They don’t really have the time to hold your hand or hang out with you. If you do have a valid reason then making contact once every six or eight weeks is appropriate for many commercial agents. If you have been with your agent for at least a year and you have booked a few jobs through them, then inviting them out to lunch or giving them a small gift for the holidays would be amenable to most.

LEAVING YOUR AGENCY
If you are unhappy with your commercial agency because you are not getting out on many auditions, the auditions you get don’t feel like a fit, your agent is always unavailable for conversation, – first, try to talk with your agent before you make a move to leave. And only if your issues are not addressed should you drop the agent (only after you have interest from a new one).

To get more info about how to have the best relationship with your agent(s), check out my FREE video BEING A REPRESENTED ACTOR at mastertalentteachers.com in which three top Los Angeles agents talk about what they expect from thier clients.

If you missed the first two articles in this Commercial Agent series, you will find them and the accompanying videos in the archive on my COMMERCIAL page at mastertalentteachers.com.

There is a lot involved in learning to do your best at commercial auditions. For additional insights and tips, check out my book Hit The Ground Running @ www.hitthegroundrunningbook.com and for more information on Commercial Acting Classes: http://carolynebarry.com/workshops/commercial/

Insider Tips for Doing Your Best Commercial Auditions – Part 1

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Commercial auditions are challenging for most actors. Audition material or scenarios are at the most 20 seconds, which means you need to be up to speed right away. No time to get into the material. You are only in the audition room, on an average of 5 minutes. Just a few minutes to get comfortable, answer questions, take direction, hopefully get a rehearsal, slate and do one or several takes.

I believe that the following audition pointers that I formulated from personal audition experience, teaching thousands of students and observing actors who have auditioned at my casting sessions, will serve well your auditions for commercials (as well as TV and film):

  • As you walk into the audition, don’t think about anything you worked on. Let it all go. Be present to whatever happens.
  • Be respectful, positive and professional without losing your personality.
  • Give full attention to the person who is directing you: Don’t be distracted by anyone or anything. When you are being given direction, don’t be figuring out how to do what they are saying. Just listen and trust that you got it: otherwise, you might miss input.
  • If clarification is needed, ask questions. Questions are only irritating when they are unnecessary. Those running the session won’t think less of you because you request answers. Their input will help you to do a better audition for them.
  • While being recorded, if they talk to you or ask questions, don’t second-guess what they want to hear. They probably want to get to know you and see your personality. Just talk to them as opposed to trying to impress.
  • If the session director or CD is rude, short-tempered or seems ambivalent, do not take it personally. It may be their nature or they may be dealing with problems or previous actors who tested their patience. Stay pleasant, positive and do your work.
  • “Get centered” before starting your audition. Breathe, take one or two seconds before beginning or find your own way to “get centered” but don’t take a self-indulgent period of time to begin. Don’t be influenced by the anxiety or negative energy of those running the session.
  • Do not rush your audition. When actors are nervous or “in their head,” many speed up the dialogue or their improvised scenarios. When actors are connected and focused, they don’t rush. On the other hand, don’t speak really slowly or take long pauses between the lines.
  • Stay Focused. Whether you are auditioning for one person or a group, reading 
into a camera or speaking to an actor or a few actors, auditioning with a bad actor or a great one, in a small room or a large theatre, stay focused and don’t allow unexpected incidents to upset you and/ or put you “in your head.” No matter what happens, go with it and adjust quickly.
  • Motivate Out. For improvised and scripted on-camera scenes, when possible, find a way to “motivate out” your actions and/or dialogue at least fifty percent of the time to maximize your facial exposure.

    Most new actors constantly look at their partner(s), which keeps them in profile and they are upstaging themselves. Don’t cheat out. Learn out to “Motivate out.”

  • Look into camera. When auditioning with a reader and told to do the dialogue looking into the camera, don’t look back and forth between the two. It makes you look nervous.
  • Use the cue cards when needed. Most actors feel they will do better if they memorize the audition dialogue. That is true for many but if for one millisecond you are not sure of it, LOOK AT THE CUE CARD. It is there to help your audition. If you are convinced you know the copy and are stubborn about looking at it then you will go in your head to try to remember and will often loose the flow of your audition.
  • During the read, trust and commit to your instincts. Unless given a specific direction, don’t consciously perform anything you rehearsed. Some of the choices that you rehearsed might not feel right in that moment. Don’t interrupt your instinctive interpretation trying to perform them. Allow for your read to flow – you will most likely organically do most of what you rehearsed. When you are connected and “out of your head,” you are open to instinctive moments that are often better than those you planned.
  • Ask to do it again. When you feel your solo audition was lacking or if you have another interpretation that you would like to do, politely request, “If you have time, I would like to do it again” or “do another interpretation.” It is not a foul to ask. If they refuse, say “thank you” (mean it) and leave. It’s worth asking.

There is a lot involved in learning to do your best at commercial auditions. For additional insights and tips, check out my book Hit The Ground Running @ www.hitthegroundrunningbook.com and for more information on Commercial Acting Classes: http://carolynebarry.com/workshops/commercial/

commercial confidence

Building Confidence – A Must for Actors

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Actors don’t have tangible products to sell. Each is their own product and they must believe in and have confidence their talents and themselves or there is nothing to sell. Confidence is essential for everyone but it is crucial for actors and performers. Vanity, arrogance or egotism is not confidence. They are usually facades for someone who lacks it. If you are honest with yourself, you know the difference.


Confident is just who some actors are. Others may have had support from family and friends and/or from of multiple successes. For most, the lack of confidence is an issue that needs to be worked on. Lets start by considering the value of building your confidence. I believe:

  • • Experience creates confidence. The more you do anything, the more experienced and skillful you become. So the more you properly study, rehearse, audition and work, the more confident you are about your craft.
  • • Confidence produces freedom. With real confidence, you do not worry about what others think or failing thus you have the freedom to be courageous and you.
  • • With Freedom, your talent can shine. When actors get auditions, sign with an agent, receive good feedback or reviews, get callbacks and book jobs, etc., it helps them to feel confident. Unfortunately, these events are dependent on the acceptance of others. In that case confidence can come and go without these “wins”.

Here are my suggestions that are helpful in building your confidence:

Train with professional acting teachers.
When you honestly know that you have a solid acting training, you can believe in your craft.

Take improvisation workshops.
In professional improvisation classes, you learn to trust your instincts and commit. Once, you get over your fear of making mistakes, you experience that they are fun and that great moments come from messing up. This progression helps you to learn that no matter what happens in class or in life, you can handle it. This type of training goes a long way in building confidence.

ALWAYS BE prepared.
Whether putting up scenes in your classes, auditioning for jobs, or working as an actor, always be as prepared as possible. When you are unprepared, most will feel insecure about their work.

Acknowledge yourself for your successes.
Most of us are quick to find fault with ourselves and what we do. I strongly suggest that you ALWAYS take a few minutes to acknowledge yourself for what was accomplished or when you have done your creative best whether or not you get the job or the positive feedback you desire. This is really important for building self esteem. When you can be totally supportive of yourself, you will not be dependent on others to feel successful. And while you are at it, acknowledge others. It is great for them and reminds you to always do it for yourself.

Learn from mistakes.
We are human and we all make mistakes especially when we are moving into uncharted waters. Most learn more from their mistakes than from successes. So I suggest you look at mistakes as lessons and as gifts instead of emotionally beating yourself up when you make them.

Avoid negative, jealous, angry or bitter people.
Those we surround ourselves with affect how we feel about ourselves. As much as possible lose all the disempowering people in your life.

Have a full life:
The more fun and stimulating activities we are involved with the less pressure most actors attach to having to prove themselves.

Stay out of debt.
Too much pressure is put on booking work when actors have money problems. When your financial life is somewhat in balance, you go into auditions without the pressure of needing the money.

Enjoy your “survival” job.
If you have a job that you dislike, that can create negative feeling about yourself.

I truly believe that if you follow these suggestions to help build your confidence that it should have a powerful affect on your ability to feel good about yourself, thus do your best auditions and get acting work.

Carolyne Barry Commercials

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Teacher

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By: Carolyne Barry

There are numerous acting techniques and methods. The more popular ones in the United Stares are Meisner, Strasberg, Adler and Hagen techniques. Most teachers have their own version of the established approaches. Some combine styles and others create their own technique. Investigate to see which one feels like a fit for you – the way you process and create. Then audit the teachers who specialize in that approach until you find the one with whom you connect.

AUDIT: As it relates to acting classes: to be a non-participating observer. Auditors watch and are not allowed to work, ask question or give comments.

When you audit, do you know what to look for and the factors to evaluate?

I suggest you ask about and contemplate the following:

  • * it the teacher your auditing (YOUR Teacher)
  • * compatibility
  • * number of students in the class
  • * how often you will work in each class
  • * class policies
  • * cost / payment policies
  • * class level(s)

VERY important is the teacher’s approach and atyle. To determine that: Ask yourself these questions in order to determine if the teacher(s) you are considering is a fit for you:

  • * Does their style or approach make sense and appeal to you?
  • * Is there a technique that the students understand and can apply or is he/she just teaching tricks or giving direction that produces flashy, instant performances?
  • * After he/she works with actors, do you see an improvement in their work?
  • * Does the teacher utilize the class time well: starting punctually, allotting time and giving attention equally to all the students, dealing directly with what is needed and not going off on ego trips or telling too many stories of their accomplishments or bad
    experiences?
  • * Is the teacher constructive and supportive as he/she critiques and directs students?

Audit several teachers and then compare the answers and then you can make an informed decision on who will be the best acting teacher for you and who you will want to stay with for a year or two or more.

5 Reasons You Wont Book the Commercial

Why You Won’t Book the Commercial

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Even when you did a great audition

I am sure you have wanted to know why or why not you do not book Commercials when you feel you have done a great audition (and even when those running the session have let you know you did a great audition). You might get an avail or are put on “Hold” but then you don’t book the job. It can be very frustrating. Often there is no definitive reason so I believe it would be helpful for you to understand some of the business and subjective factors being considered that often have little to do with you, your talent or your audition.


Consideration that could determine why you will or won’t be cast:

  • Other Way To Go: When the commercial CD gets the breakdown and selects the actors for their session, many get creative and add actors who are “another way to go” for the role. And often, some of these actors could change the direction of the casting.
    Role is cut or changed: When watching the casting, the director and/or advertising executives might determine that a part is not working and then could cut it out, replace it with another role or choose to go with a different type of actor.
  • Matching: When casting a spot with multiple actors, the matching or pairings need to look like they could be couples, friends, workers or a family. And yet in a group of friends, office employees, neighbors, etc., it is preferred those cast be of different ethnicities, physical types or hair color- because many commercials need to appeal to various groups of people.
  • Identifiable and Aspirational: Commercials need to appeal to target markets. The actors cast in the spot must be people that those the spot is designed for will find aspirational or will identify with. And thus is a major factor in the casting. This is why casting specs are pretty specific as to age, gender, ethnicity and physical types. Then, because these considerations are often subjective, each group of people doing the casting and various target markets could create diverse factors that would make different actors identifiable and/or aspirational for various products.
  • Chemistry: When matching couples, families, friends, workers, etc., they need to work well together and have a chemistry that creates the feeling that they belong together. And it is something that is there or it is not and it too is subjective.
  • Compromise: Those doing the casting are not always in agreement on who they like in a role. In that case, so that no one looks bad, they may choose another actor (who might not be as good or as right). It happens.
  • Personal Preference: Directors and advertising execs are human and have preferences. Sometimes actors might remind one of someone they like or don’t like or another actor that may be too recognizable. Casting preferences can work for an actor or against them.

Knowing these factors should help you understand that when you believe you have done a great audition why you may not book the job. I know it is frustrating and seems unfair but realize that these same factors that might work against you for one job might work in your favor for others. And in order for you not to take it personal and to protect your confidence, I suggest that you remember this, “You didn’t lose the commercial, someone else booked it” – this time.

Who Books Commercials and Why?

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Once you have done your callback and leave that is when the director, agency execs, producer and maybe someone representing the client start the process of selecting who will book the job – whether they are in the room or via a video feed. I am sure you have wondered how the final selection is made: what is considered, the politics, who has the decision making power and what happens during those few days you are waiting to see if you booked the job. Read more

Commercial Improv

Improvisation Training: Vital to an Actor’s Career

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When actors interview with me before taking my commercial class, I always suggest that they the take a workshop either before, during or immediately after they take a commercial class. Improvisation, or improv, will help actors to get more Commercial auditions and is a major factor in doing better auditions and, I believe, is crucial to a commercial actor’s career.


As a commercial actress, I have booked over 400 national commercials and I truly believe that I got many of those jobs because of my Improvisation training. When I first started doing commercials there were no actual commercial audition training workshops so I studied acting and then started doing Improvisation classes – which I loved. I quickly saw that the freedom and confidence I was getting from the Improv work was helping me do better at my auditions and thus I started booking even more jobs.

Granted that era was not anywhere as competitive as it is now but I do know that Improvisation training is even more beneficial and vital today then it ever was then for several reasons:

First of all, so many auditions today do not have dialogue and require Improv skills therefore commercial agents are more interested in actors (especially new actors) who have professionally studied improvisation because agents know that it will be easier to them auditions.

There are more non-scripted commercials being cast then ever before so casting directors usually want actors who are good with improv. Legally SAG/AFTRA does not allow actors to Improvise dialogue at their auditions so actors will probably never be technically asked to “improvise” but in actuality that is what they will be doing – verbally creating their own dialogue and/or scenarios. AND those who study Improv usually do so much better at those auditions.

There are more non-scripted commercials being cast then ever before so casting directors usually want actors who are good with improv. Legally SAG/AFTRA does not allow actors to Improvise dialogue at their auditions so actors will probably never be technically asked to “improvise” but in actuality that is what they will be doing – verbally creating their own dialogue and/or scenarios. AND those who study Improv usually do so much better at those auditions.

Find a teacher or institution that specializes in Improvisation. A lot of studios mix in the Improv training with acting, commercial and cold reading. This is not really offering the maximum value of studying Improvisation. Then, some teachers offer it as an on-going class. There are several problems with this format.

I strongly believe that Improvisation should be a second training workshop along with your acting class. Your acting training is focused on the techniques specific to whatever discipline of training you choose – motivation, emotional connection, subtext, character life, pre-life and after-life, etc. Whereas good improvisation training focuses on creativity, commitment, listening, trusting instincts, supporting the other actor and building confidence. When both acting and Improv are studied at the same time, you will get more out of your acting class and you will be ready to start auditioning sooner.

At the start of the Improv classes that I offer in my program, actors talk about how nervous they are about taking an Improv class. Most are concerned that they are not funny, or creative or instinctive. A good improv class does not push you to be funny and when you are “in the moment”, not thinking or planning and being instinctive , most actors find that they are creative and often funny. Improv is about freedom and it is a process that is achieved in a safe space with a really good teacher who creates a supportive NOT a competitive environment. Don’t we all want that feeling of freedom in our acting as well as our life.

COMMERCIAL BOOKING SECRETS

Ever wonder how they choose the actors they book on television commercials? Is there some secret determining factors that influence the casting decisions? There is -and I think it is important to for you to know what it is. From years of being a working commercial actress and booking over 400 commercials, having done the casting for over a thousand TV commercials and being a commercial audition teacher since 1983, I strongly believe that there is a formula for why actors get commercial callbacks and bookings. I know it isn’t carved in stone or even the exact way the director, ad execs and clients would verbalize but I REALLY believe that this is basically the formula.

60 percent of why actors get callbacks is their physicality – what they look like. Since those chosen must represent the client’s target market and must be a strong physical representation of the character they are portraying.

20 percent of why actors get callbacks is their talent and creativity – what they actually do on the audition whether it is an improvisation or a scripted monologue or a scene. The decision-makers look for actors who are believable, unique and/or their work

The remaining 20% factor, is the actor’s confidence, personality and essence which usually needs to match up to the actor’s look. This is the factor that most actors don’t consider and often don’t understand.

Now, let’s say the actor is a great physical type for a particular commercial and does a great audition but he/she comes off arrogant or too silly then he/she will probably not get a callback.

Or if he/she is really approachable and likeable (which is important for most commercials) and is the perfect type but overacts on their auditions (which happens way too often) then again, he/she will not get a callback.

Now when it comes to getting the booking, the numbers change a little, since there is some agreement between the ad execs and the director on the looks of those being called back, the importance of the actor’s physicality is still important but now since it is still subjective, it is about 30%.

What also is relevant in the “looks” area is when it is necessary to match actors with spouses, friends, workers or family.- the consideration becomes, Do they look like they belong together. What the actor does in their audition, how they take direction, their creativity and talent now becomes the prominent factor at 40%..

The actor’s attitude, personality and essence factors comes in at 20%..

And finishing up the BOOKING equation are wildcard factors: it could be anything from the actor’s wardrobe (which one of the decision-makers really likes for the spot) to any of the execs or director having subjective preferences or dislikes. There are too many subjective wild card factors to cover here but I am sure you can imagine some.

This information should help you to not take it personal or think you did a bad job when you don’t get a callback or booking. And it should help you have the insights you need to put the odds in your favor for booking commercials. And by the way a lot of this is also applicable for booking smaller roles in film and TV.