WHICH AGENCY?

[emi's mum]

Ahhh I've got it.....the phrase in the About Us section.....Mad Fish Management represents fully trained children, teenagers and young adult performers....yes this needs to be re-worded. Thank you for this feedback. It helps us enormously.

[triple threat]

Is the spotlight fee expensive though? I know it is £90 yearly but I'm not sure what they do! is the money worth it?

[francescasmum]

sorry emi's mum, just thought is sounded really funny!
On the topic of professional photos, I sometimes think they can be much of a muchness (especially when an agency uses the same photographer). When a parent chooses/provides a photo you can often 'see' the childs personality more, I think.
We had some professional photos done and F looked like a little princess, all sweetness and neat. That is not her, though she does look like that for 30 seconds, 5 minutes in her presence and you soon realise she is a real tomboy who wouldn't brush her hair for a week if I didn't remind her!

[pg]

We had some professional photos done and F looked like a little princess, all sweetness and neat. That is not her, though she does look like that for 30 seconds, 5 minutes in her presence and you soon realise she is a real tomboy who wouldn't brush her hair for a week if I didn't remind her!

Yes, it's vital, isn't it to try to get a photo that somehow captures the "essence" of a performer (apologies if that sounds a bit arty farty).

Is the spotlight fee expensive though? I know it is £90 yearly but I'm not sure what they do! is the money worth it?

Spotlight is essential to anyone wanting to be represented by an agent. Many submissions for jobs are only accepted via the Spotlight link. Most paying jobs - any that are asking for submissions rather than CDs directly asking for actors they already know - will go out via Spotlight to agents and if the actor is not in Spotlight they will be at a disadvantage as their details won't be going to the CD in the way that the CD has asked for.

Spotlight is expensive and has a bit of a stranglehold on the profession (there are lots of would-be competitors, but none of them has made any major inroads yet). However, most CDs I know would regard Spotlight as essential because it makes their life so much easier - therefore agents think it's essential too!

I've copied a bit from another thread in case it's helpful:

I think Spotlight works a little bit like Yellow Pages for plumbers. You might have a brilliant plumber in mind but his prices are too high or he's not available. You'd probably ask people you know for recommendations for plumbers, you'd want to know a bit about their experience/qualifications, how reliable they were, how expensive they were likely to be, did they do a good job last time. You might take their number there and then from your friend or, it wasn't convenient or you didn't have a pen, you'd know you'd be able to find them in the Yellow Pages. You would expect to find their number there. If you found that plumber's number, you'd probably contact them and see whether they were available. If you didn't find their number, you might go back to your friend or you might start looking for an alternative plumber.

Spotlight is like a Yellow Pages for actors, it's where the people doing the casting expect to find your contact details. You might want to find a local plumber without asking round for recommendations - in which case, you'd browse through Yellow Pages and might be more interested in those with a CORGI registration and you might discount any that didn't have this. In the same way a CD might discount anyone who doesn't have a showreel or doesn't have credits which include a director's name they recognise - just as a way of cutting down the numbers of people they need to consider.
There are more actors than plumbers...

This is what casting is often like. CDs will tend to consider people they already know first (because it's less of a gamble), they will then go to agents they trust and ask for suggestions (often via the Spotlight link, because that's really easy). They might do this as a second course of action, or they may well do it at the same time as considering those they know. The only time CDs are likely to browse Spotlight, or send the casting breakdown to everyone, is when they have the time to consider including a few new faces in the audition line up OR when they don't know anyone - or don't know enough people - who quite fit the casting brief. In this case they have to cast their net fairly wide. This might be searching for a very specific look or skill. It might be enough to look through Spotlight or they may also put out a wider casting call. If they are considering including some new faces, then Spotlight is the best place for an actor to be listed because they won't miss Spotlight out in their search - whereas they might not cover other directories. It is unusual to put out a public "general" casting call unless they are after a lot of publicity or they really feel that they need a very wide choice of (as yet) undiscovered talent (this does happen more often for children than for adults) or they are actually looking for non-actors for some reason.

You only have to look at the queues for X factor and Dorothy type shows to see why CDs would think long and hard before putting out a public casting call!

I do know some casting directors who say they never look anywhere else other than Spotlight. Every CD I've ever spoken to has underlined how important it is to have a Spotlight entry.

Spotlight is expensive - and it's amazing that they manage to persuade people to pay to use it from both ends! Consequently, there will be a few employers who do NOT use Spotlight. This might include people who make corporate training films or only hire actors very occasionally and will almost certainly include people who are not offering any payment (eg. student film makers). For these kind of jobs it might be worth subscribing to the many services that don't charge the "employers" anything to advertise their casting requirements. (e.g CCP).

Even Judi Dench has a Spotlight entry!

[triple threat]

PG- thank you for the wonderful explanation!

I have one more question! ( sorry, I don't mean to bombard you with all these! ) Do you have to have an agent to be on spotlight and if you don't have one is it pretty pointless to be on spotlight?
Thank you for all the cooperation!

[pg]

You don't need to have an agent to be in Spotlight as an adult performer but you do need to have an agent or attend a stage school to be in Spotlight as a child performer.

Here's the page about children's entries:

http://www.spotlight.com/join/ChildrensAgentLogin.aspx

As an adult performer you have to have trained on a Drama UK course
http://www.spotlight.com/DramaUK.html
OR have professional, paid acting experience - Spotlight looks at each application and decides whether or not to accept the performer depending on the number/type of paid professional engagements.

You can find out quite a lot about how Spotlight works by browsing their website:

www.spotlight.com

[TomS]

......

[Selina2]

With Stagecoach you're paying for their package, which includes the registration workshop, the photo session and the entry into their Spotlight book.

[mumtomil]

Bonnie and Betty is GREAT! I have had 3 auditions, including a call back, this week alone and I'm 13.

[mumtomil]

Sorry, DD took over account. But, yes BoBe is great! Any questions feel free to ask.

[jollyjelly]

Hi, yes some agencies will charge a fee, but these generally cover spotlight entry and photos and a small admin charge... Peoples best bet I've always found is to go with the less commercial ones with less kids on their books, as you are more likely to get castings and auditions than the ones who have several hundred kids.

[poohstix]

I'd recommend Bonnie & Betty as well, they're submissions are split pretty much 50/50 tv/film and modelling.

[RedRabbit]

UKMM Agency are a scam agency, they accept models with portfolios (no cost to them) who they then use to endorse their agency, then they hold evaluation sessions rush through and hard sell you into this wonderful opportunity and those aspiring models without portfolios are sucked into buying one from their recommendation to a cost of £400-£1500!!
STEER WELL CLEAR! In my opinion this is fraud and exploitation especially where there is a child concerned.. how the law allows them to continue trading in such a guise is beyond me.

[Twinkle1]

Hello
Wow what a minefield for newbies I have a few questions and would welcome any advise.

Over many months I have been logging on and generally getting a feel for the world of agents etc. Based on what I have read, we recently applied for Bonnie and Betty agency and have been lucky enough to get an interview with them, to see if my twin girls are suitable for their agency.
Firstly does anyone know what happens at the interviews? Any advise welcome.
Also am I supposed to apply to a few agencies and see which ones would like to take on? And then from that make a decision on who to go with? I have really only applied to B&B at this point.
Do I have to contact my education authority before we join any agency for their permission etc?
Any advise gratefully received.

[Flosmom]

No, you don't need to talk to your LEA at this stage. They get involved when your DC needs a license for a job.

And I would advise that you consider a few agencies before deciding which one seems to suit you best. You'll have seen lots of views exchanged on these forums and what suits one doesn't work for another.

I don't know what happens at a B&B interview, but they are very well regarded so I'm sure there'll be another NAPM around in a moment who will know all about it.

Good luck - let us know how you get on,

Deb x