6 helpful things to consider when taking meetings with representation
When you’re taking meetings with new representation, it’s an extremely exciting time! You’re fast approaching the next level up in your career.
As much as you’re pitching yourself to them, they’re pitching themselves, and their business expertise, to you. They want you to become a part of their team and their industry family!
Whether you have one option (and all you need is one!), or a few options, it can be difficult at the beginning of your career to know who to sign with.
And if you’re new to the game and only have one meeting set up, it’s crucial to keep an even-keeled mindset in the meeting. You need to make sure you’re not viewing that person with rose-colored glasses and the gatekeeper to your career.
It may feel strikingly clear to you who the right person is, and if that’s the case, amazing!
If it doesn’t feel like an easy decision to make and you’re bouncing between options in your heart, that’s totally normal.
A few things to note regardless of who you end up signing with:
When you sign on the dotted line with a new rep, you’re entering into a new relationship. Relationships take time to build. Kinks may have to be worked out, trust needs to be built, and communication styles need to be merged.
Don’t have crazy high expectations right away. Know that they need to learn how to pitch you and strategize for you. It’s like dating. Sometimes you know right away that’s not your person. Sometimes it continues developing slowly over time into something beautiful. And hey, sometimes you even decide you want to marry the person! Know that whoever you choose, they deserve some grace as you guys start working together, and they should give you the grace to develop as well.
You’re not stuck in any contract forever and ever. If something isn’t working, you can abort your mission and move on. So don’t be so afraid of making the “wrong decision” that you get stuck in analysis paralysis. Take the proper amount of action and if you need to pivot down the road, you are 100% able to!
Here are some helpful things to consider when taking meetings and deciding who to sign with…
1.) You feel comfortable communicating with them and asking them questions.
No agent or manager should ever intimidate you or make you feel uncomfortable speaking your mind or asking them a question.
I’ve had parents express to me that their child’s rep had seemed bothered/annoyed by them asking a question or reaching out. As long as you’re not reaching out excessively or being genuinely annoying, no one should make you feel like you’re a pain for asking a question.
This is your child’s career (or your career for my teens/young adults reading this!) and you care about it. You want to be in a partnership with someone that puts you at ease and makes themselves available. If you need to communicate with them in regards to your career, you should feel comfortable doing so.
I had another adorable 12-year old I was working with and she asked the simple question in a meeting if the agency was non-exclusive or exclusive. She had been taking meetings with both types of agencies and was just curious how this agency operated.
The agent had a really rude response and practically berated her for even asking the question in the first place. To me, that’s a MASSIVE red flag. Going back to the dating metaphor, if your date acted like this on your first date together when you asked them something as simple as what they do for work, you’d walk straight out of the restaurant and lose their number.
2.) They show a general interest in what you want for your career.
More than just what they want for your career or the potential they see in you, they should be genuinely curious about what your hopes and dreams for your career are. They should want to know why you’re interested in this industry and what inspires you.
Being in an industry based on storytelling, they should want to know elements of your personal story and take interest in you.
The fact that you both hope to make money and book work is obvious and evident.
Money is good. Money is great. Money isn’t everything.
If the person you were on a date with wasn’t interested in what you want or who you are… you wouldn’t feel good being there and sharing space with them. Let alone trusting them with your career.
3.) They’re willing to strategize with you.
Since you’re both making an investment in each other, they should be willing to take the time to explain their strategy steps for your career
Again, if you’re choosing them, you’ll be trusting them for the foreseeable future. You want to know they have ideas for how to help you grow as a perfumer and professional.
Any representation that brushes off talking strategy in the first few conversations is difficult to want to invest in. You need to know how they’re going to be working for you or your child. I always tell my clients that this is their one and only career. They have one opportunity to eat. Their manager or agent has numerous clients they’re working for and numerous opportunities to bring home the bacon and continue growing their success.
Since you only have YOU to rely on, you need to make sure they have a game plan that is designed for you. Based on where you currently are and getting you where you want to go.
4.) They are willing to explain their contract with you.
Contracts can be confusing, even if they’re basic and standard. I have a few clients who have had amazing meetings with representation where the agent took the time to go through the contract. They explained all the different elements of the contract and made themselves available for any further questions.
If they’re serving you with a business contract they designed, they should be willing to take the time to explain the terms to you. And what it means for both parties involved.
5.) You feel like they’re a teammate or can become one.
A relationship takes both parties being active and equal teammates for it to grow and flourish.
You should clearly know what their expectations of you as their client are, and you should know what their process of working for you looks like.
What are your responsibilities and what are there’s? How do you both hold up your ends of the relationship bargain?
What does working together as a team look like?
You both should feel excited about the opportunity to get to work together. You should feel like they will hold up their end of the bargain, just like you’ll hold up yours.
6.) Your gut is your best indicator.
This new relationship you’re entering may be “love at first sight” and everything feels magical. They get you auditions effortlessly. Give you good, critical feedback but also are your greatest cheerleader. They operate for your short-term and long-term career.
Other relationships take time to build. You know you like each other, clearly, but it takes time to get into a flow.
When you’re taking time to process after your meeting, make sure you give yourself the time and space and get in touch with your gut. It probably is giving you clear signals of what the right thing to do is. And if it’s still a little cloudy, let the dust settle and continue diving into yourself until the answers appear to you.
Your gut is there for a reason and it’s asking you to trust it.
Want to design a specific strategy as you’re submitting to new representation? I’m talking curated lists of reps that are a great fit for you, tracking the submissions, writing detailed emails, having a follow-up system in place, and having it all tracked in a system? Not to mention be prepped with a list of questions to go into your meeting and knowledge of what you’re looking for in a teammate?
Being a young actor, or the parent of a young actor can be exciting and challenging! Not knowing where to invest your time, money, and resources or what the next best step is. If you could use some help creating a roadmap of the next steps and one-on-one advice, book an online strategy session with me. In just one session you’ll leave with more clarity and confidence.
Not sure if a strategy session is right for you? Let’s chat about what type of support you’re looking for. Book a free 30-minute consultation with me!
I wish you all the best of luck as you’re taking meetings, singing with representation, and building your career! Have any questions or recent meeting experiences you want to share? Let me know in the comments!
