How do you get an agent?

[Truetoself]

My DD is currently in sixth form. She has had a passion for MT since she could express herself. All the advise we had received so far from various courses she has done was to wait til she finishes school to get an agent. As she is too old for child parts, the advice was most agents would prefer older people who have had further training.

However, I do know several toung people who have agents and fhey get the odd gig eg advert or extra.

As a parent, I am unsure what to do. Try and secure an agent bow or wait. If we are to try and secure an agent, how do we go about it?

What further training is your DD going to do? If she is going to do a MT degree or similar, they will have professional development and advice about getting the best agent there.

Does your DD perform regularly as part of a theatre group? The owner of my DS's group has a number of agent contacts, and they are invited along to specific performances to scout for talent.

@Thingsthatgo yes she plans to go on to a MT degree if she gets in.

She does performances where agents are invited but I feel unless you are doing a prominent role, you may not catch the agent's eye?

I will tell her to enquire. I didn't look into this previously as we were advised to wait til later

she could Google all the agents for various famous people and follow their submissions guidelines on their websites - self tapes etc. Unless she is very unusual it might not lead to anything tho. If she’s small for her age at 16 she could possibly get child parts but there aren’t many.

Not very helpful but mine was offered one via her MT school - they approached her rather than the other way round. We weren't even aware they were watching.

@Newgirls thanks. Great idea
@FlatStanley50 i hope this happens. I feel you have to be lucky to be given the opportunity to stand out in an MT school production as everyone is talented. Loads are capable of the same role but the one who gets given that role gets the opportunity to showcase his/her talent

Sometimes there are open castings but those tend to be for tricky to find young kids

If she plans to do an MT degree most of the colleges do not allow their students to perform professionally as they are not 'the finished article'. In their final year there is a frenzy of performances and agents days where agents come in packs to see who they would like to sign.
If she is currently in sixth form consider BYMT and NYMT. My DD is final year Conti and has been approached by agents who say her in a BYMT production 4 years ago so they are a good starting place.
There are open castings that she could go to in general sign ups start at 9am DD went to one a few weeks ago she arrived at 5.30am and was not the first person in the queue. You need to be really well prepared with you songs cut to the correct length and sheet music correctly prepared - things you get taught at college.
My DD did MT sixth form, but even with that her degree has given her so much more preparation for the industry.
There is so much to consider and it is a hugely competitive world with everyone being super talented.

There is usually a big hiatus between adult and child roles in professional MT productions. Most child roles specify 13 as the upper age limit and 4'10" (5' absolute max) as the upper height limit, and auditions for adult roles generally go to MT diploma/degree graduates show are 20+. There just isn't much available in-between - the current West End production of Oliver is unusual in that there are several older (sixth-form age) teens in the ensemble, but all of them had extensive professional credits in child roles.

So if your DD is really only interested in MT, there is little point trying to get an agent now. As others have said, if she goes to MT college to do a degree/diploma, they won't let her work professionally anyway. Final-year agent showcases would be a better route to securing representation, and as has been mentioned, opportunities like NYMT and BYMT are a very good way to get performance experience in professional-standard productions while training.

However, if your DD is also interested in acting (stage, TV, film, commercials) then having an agent would be beneficial. Over-16s can work without needing a child performance licence, so productions will often cast 16-18-year-olds to play younger teen roles (being short and young-looking is an advantage). It's worth being aware that the industry as a whole is painfully slow at the moment, and auditions are few and far between even for experienced young actors.

If you'd be willing to share your general location, I can suggest some agencies to consider. You don't need to live near your agent, but there are some which are particularly well-connected in regions of the UK outside London.

Thanks all. She was selected for both NYMT and BYMT this year and has chosen to go with NYMT. However, being in ensemble, will she get the opportunity to showcase her talent?

Noted @Needanadultgapyear and @TheatreTaxi 's advice. Again am wondering, will she need to get a main role in the productions to have a chance of getting noticed?

Thanks @Newgirls ag the moment I would like her to finish school, the her degree, before trying for work. However I thought I read that it is easier to get on Spotlight as a young person than an adult hence got thinking about agents

At NYMT she will learn a lot about working with others which is great for drama school.

You gain the right to a spotlight profile by attending an accredited course, you create the profile in the autumn of your third year the colleges provide will provide a huge amount of help with this and creating show reels.
DD was ensemble in her first BYMT and female lead in the 2nd. In the 2nd production she also took the social media role which really enhanced her profile.
When she was creating her spotlight profile her tutor pointed that the 'young creatives' who had been the director and choreographer of her BYMT productions were now established names so it gave her additional credibility.
Her three year degree has given her so much more than just singing, acting and dancing skills - most of her tutors are regularly working in the industry so she has developed contacts. She has been taught business management skills and teaching skills - they were marked on ability to give constructive feedback from day 1.

@Needanadultgapyear where did your DD do her college degree? Sounds great!

@Truetoself Italia Conti though her friends at Urdang, Bird and Arts Ed get similar help.

Thanks @Needanadultgapyear

If your DD is thinking of going to drama college then hold off on looking for an agent.

The colleges don't like you to take time out for professional work, and agents will be extremely unhappy if you start turning down auditions.

And auditions can come in at 5pm with a 10am next day submission deadline.

Your daughter would be expected to prioritise auditions over everything else. (To give an idea, we have turned down one audition in the last 11 years, we go on holiday with a full self-tape kit up in the suitcase, I can't remember how many parties, family events and other things we have had to cancel because a tape or an in-person audition has come in).

Extra roles (now known as SA or Supporting Artist) are of absolutely no use on an acting cv and shouldn't ever be put on Spotlight. They should be seen as potentially fun but nothing more than that.

If your DD is going to college then the 3rd year show case is the time to get an agent. Otherwise it is a massively oversaturated market especially for girls with very little opportunity. At 17, most agents would want either a very unique look, or a record of professional work. At 18 you have the problem that you will now need professional credits or college in order to be qualify for Spotlight, and without Spotlight you can't get the agent.

There is absolutely no point applying to agencies that rep famous people unless you have really strong professional screen credits in lead roles in international productions. That is the cold, hard truth. These agencies get over 200 representation enquiries a week... if they even spend 5 minutes looking at each application, that's 2 full working days of someone's time. They will look and see what credits the applicant has before even thinking about whether to bother looking at attached tapes. Most of the top agencies probably only take on 5 or 6 new people a year - some don't take any.

@OhCrumbsWhereNow appreciate your advice- thank you