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Hi, I want to know how agents treat their clients? My DS is with a new one who is lovely and very encouraging face to face. But to me on the phone is quite abrupt, rude and accusing me of spreading auditions to other children so they have the chance to go. I have said I never tell people what my DS is going for locally as it would reduce his chance of getting a part. I do find out a lot of them on here and other sites I look at. Do people contact their agent the minute their DC come out of auditions? I will definitely stay with them for now but its upsetting me how rude she can be on the phone.

Hiya - my kids are with 2 different agents. To be honest, I never contact my kids agents after auditions, I assume if they were successful, the agents will be in contact. Not sure about your agency's attitude though- both of our agents seem encouraging and pleasant - they haven't ever been rude or abrupt with us. Any chance they were just having a bad day?

I always drop a courtesy email just to let them know that we got there safely and on time and just a snippet about how it went. They usually reply fairly promptly.

I have never experienced rudeness from an agent. If you do, I suggest you point out gently but firmly how you have experienced their comments. Most people aren't trying to be rude and are mortified if others get that impression of them. Asking how you might provide feedback in a helpful way could be a good 'opener'. And if they believe that you have done something inappropriate, a simple, 'no, I'm afraid you've got that wrong - why would you believe that to be the case?' can sometimes flush out the misunderstanding.

Hope this is helpful and not teaching granny to suck eggs - I know it can seem difficult to have straightforward discussions with an agent, but they are just people and they are supposed to be working for your DC, so you share a common objective to get your DC the best possible chance of securing good roles.

Good luck

Deb x

Thank you both of you. I appreciate your replies. It has been on a few occasions now. But will stick with her and will probably say something next time.

michbv wrote:Hi, I want to know how agents treat their clients? My DS is with a new one who is lovely and very encouraging face to face. But to me on the phone is quite abrupt, rude and accusing me of spreading auditions to other children so they have the chance to go. I have said I never tell people what my DS is going for locally as it would reduce his chance of getting a part. I do find out a lot of them on here and other sites I look at. Do people contact their agent the minute their DC come out of auditions? I will definitely stay with them for now but its upsetting me how rude she can be on the phone.

This is appalling and precisely why we ended our contract with a particular agent. Telling other children about auditions is just second nature anyway and brings a huge amount of joy to many kids who are successful thanks to what they come across through unofficial avenues - isn't that the spirit of NAPM? Get another agent, one who values you and your child.

If your agent is rude then I would agree that there is no reason not to challenge this - as you might in any other area of life.

However, auditions are another matter. If the auditions are open, then I think it is unreasonable of the agent to complain if information is shared. If the auditions are NOT open then it's vital that information is not shared - however mean that seems.

If it is something that has gone out via Spotlight then actually everyone who has signed up to Spotlight has an agreement not to share it - though it does often happen.

The agent will probably have an agreement with Casting Directors (formal or informal) not to share information about auditions because CDs often don't want unsolicited submissions. Information about casting is only given to agents (rather than advertised widely) for very good business reasons. Although children may participate for fun, for CDs and agents it is a business. If word gets out that a particular agent's clients are giving out information about (non-open) auditions - that agent will get a bad name - that in turn will be bad for that agent's clients.

Also, the agent does have a responsibility to his/her clients. Increasing the competition for the agent's clients doesn't make good business sense.

Hi all NAPM's,

Just thought I would give you an update of how things are. I really appreciated your advice and experiences.
I actually spoke to the agent and had an open discussion of how she was making me feel. I would rather say things how they are, than let it boil up inside.
I really think its made a big difference with how we talk to each other. I appreciated that we both have stresses from our jobs and lives and how its important for her to get my DS jobs for her agency and also coz my DS loves it.
A mutual agreement ha been made on how far we can travel to auditions and also what type of job to go for with his experience level.

So just to finish here, THANKS to you all for your comments and we are continuing with this agent. I'm glad she is professional enough to discuss my concerns and we appreciated each others comments

Excellent result! I'm glad you have been able to sort it out.