Alphabet Kidz, Abacus, Theatre Workshop or Shana Goldmans?

Give advice, ask questions and find out information about Agencies.

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susielee
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Alphabet Kidz, Abacus, Theatre Workshop or Shana Goldmans?

Post by susielee »

Hi,

I am new to all this and would like feedback on these 4 agencies as I am currently looking into getting representation for my 9 year-old boy. Anyone has any dealings with them? If so, what type of acting work do your children get? Is it mostly commercials, or do you also get send for TV shows and film work?

Many thanks!
lyndahill
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Re: Alphabet Kidz, Abacus, Theatre Workshop or Shana Goldman

Post by lyndahill »

Theatre Workshop don't have an agency as my DD goes there - they are linked with one but it's not there's. Shana Goldman, I would have thought you had to attend the theatre school. Abacus are known to be good - have to audition and they don't open their books very often and don't know about Alphabet Kidz. x
mich707
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Re: Alphabet Kidz, Abacus, Theatre Workshop or Shana Goldman

Post by mich707 »

AK are really good..they cover a wide range of work: tv, film, commercials, voice-overs and modelling...so if you want the full package then they should be your first option. Abacus and Goldmans are both very good acting agents (both only cover acting side of things). Theatre workshop are a drama group: they are linked to Mark Jermin Management, who again covers the acting side of things only.
susielee
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Post by susielee »

Thanks for the replies! :-)
We are not much into modelling, so I am not sure AK would be for us... I've heard that modelling is their main thing. Is that the case? They also take the largest commission out of all the agencies I've seen and charge for photos that (apparently) you don't get to keep. I must confess that I had alarm bells ringing, so I am really glad to hear that they are legit... Their site looks great!
Do you guys know what type of work Abacus and Mark Jermin Management get? Do their kids audition for many Cbbc shows and the like, or is it mainly commercials? I know it's a long shot, but Dumping Ground and Hetty Feather are very very popular in my household!
lyndahill
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Re: Alphabet Kidz, Abacus, Theatre Workshop or Shana Goldman

Post by lyndahill »

Most agencies submit for exactly the same jobs. It's not the agent that gets the job, it's the child getting it from a good audition/casting. Just because you get a casting, doesn't mean you get the job - it's a tough industry. Some agencies may get more children seen, but that's mainly because of have hundreds more children on their books. Good luck in your search.x
mich707
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Re: Alphabet Kidz, Abacus, Theatre Workshop or Shana Goldman

Post by mich707 »

Mark Jermin a very good one for CBBC work
susielee
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Re: Alphabet Kidz, Abacus, Theatre Workshop or Shana Goldman

Post by susielee »

Thanks, Mych! I'll look into Mark Jermin too! :-)

And thanks for the reply, Lynda. I do understand what you mean, and in theory it is how it works. However I recently met an old friend now producing feature films and he explained to me that all big film and drama casting directors tend to use only two or three children's agencies at the very most.

What he said is that there are far too many children agencies in the market at the moment and the vast majority are not very good to deal with from a production point of view (i.e. agents are unreliable and/or slow to reply to emails and calls, they put forward kids that don't fit the brief, have children that constantly miss castings, have kids that are always late, represent children that can't really act, etc etc). Time is always short in TV and film, and because of that most big drama projects tend to go to their preferred reliable/reputable agents first before "doing the rounds". In fact, apparently many casting directors only look elsewhere if they have completely exhausted their options with their agents of choice.

So although it is obviously down to the individual child to ultimately get the job, it is in fact your agent's reputation that gives your kid a better chance of getting into the casting room in the first place, as most CDs might not even entertain the idea of seeing someone represented by certain agencies. My friend did stress the importance of having an "proper" agent with good, solid (and current) connections if looking for TV and film work. His advice is proving a bit of a minefield!... lol

Apparently things are slightly more flexible with commercials and theatre, as they have a different casting process to TV. Theatre has the luxury of time, and ads are more of a numbers game because of the lack of scripting on auditions. On the top of that, I was also told that, generally, the people that cast ads are not the same casting directors that do TV and feature films. So an agent might have excellent connections for commercials and not for film, for example.

There is certainly a lot to learn! I am starting to wonder what I got myself into... :shock:
Mamadetres
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Re: Alphabet Kidz, Abacus, Theatre Workshop or Shana Goldman

Post by Mamadetres »

I believe what your friend is saying is true for children who are extras but definitely not the case for featured roles, some film companies might have preferential agencies I am sure for named actors but in general everything goes out on Spotlight - you can see that and google from watching tv and films that the actors don't come from the same three agencies!
susielee
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Re: Alphabet Kidz, Abacus, Theatre Workshop or Shana Goldman

Post by susielee »

Definitely, Mamadetres! Maybe I didn't explain myself correctly... #-o There are countless Casting Directors in the UK, all using their own preferred agencies, so it's obvious that not every actor will come from the same 2 or 3.

Saying that, since I started looking into it I have noticed that a hand full of agents seem to have the vast majority of recognisable kids on their books, so I guess the actual number of agents with "big fish" contacts is probably not that big after all... A&J Management, Sylvia Young and Alphabet Kidz seem to have a disproportionate number of famous kids on their books, which to me indicates that they probably have some of the best contacts. Looking at Abacus site I noticed that they had quite a few famous kids in the past (like Keira Knightley, Tom Felton, etc), but I am not sure how much they get these days in terms of the current work being produced. I only recognised one girl out of all their children, but maybe I am just not watching enough kids TV these days! :lol:
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Re: Alphabet Kidz, Abacus, Theatre Workshop or Shana Goldman

Post by francescasmum »

Some children work very regularly, in decent roles with great exposure but as they are not soaps or block buster films the child is not considered 'famous'. My dd for one has always been busy since she started acting 5 years ago but most people would not recognise her face or name even though she took a lead role in a film which made it into the top 10 on Amazon Prime, was a big hit in both Japan and America and won a string of awards.
We think she has been successful rather than become famous (which is the way we and she likes it), with a Best Actor award at the Hollywood Women's independent film festival in 2014, part of Best Ensamble cast in the Angel awards at the Monaco film festival in 2013 and this year a film in which she was a lead recently won Best British Drama at another international film festival, so success and fame don't necessarily go hand in hand.
She is not with a well known 'kids' agency that comes up when you use a search engine or gets discussed on here, it's an adults agency with a few children on their books and prior to this agency she was with a small regional agency which also had adults and children. She gets seen for the block busters but also small independent films, book trailers, commercials, music videos etc. Not all her roles have come through the agency either. Some have been through word of mouth some have been through my own submission.
mich707
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Re: Alphabet Kidz, Abacus, Theatre Workshop or Shana Goldman

Post by mich707 »

susielee wrote:Definitely, Mamadetres! Maybe I didn't explain myself correctly... #-o There are countless Casting Directors in the UK, all using their own preferred agencies, so it's obvious that not every actor will come from the same 2 or 3.

Saying that, since I started looking into it I have noticed that a hand full of agents seem to have the vast majority of recognisable kids on their books, so I guess the actual number of agents with "big fish" contacts is probably not that big after all... A&J Management, Sylvia Young and Alphabet Kidz seem to have a disproportionate number of famous kids on their books, which to me indicates that they probably have some of the best contacts. Looking at Abacus site I noticed that they had quite a few famous kids in the past (like Keira Knightley, Tom Felton, etc), but I am not sure how much they get these days in terms of the current work being produced. I only recognised one girl out of all their children, but maybe I am just not watching enough kids TV these days! :lol:
I totally agree!!!!
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