Do you need an agency......

[TomS]

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[jollyjelly]

Hi TomS, You'd do no worse than reading through this info here http://www.notapushymum.com/gpage2.html

Open Castings and auditions are great, but as I'm sure you will know will have hundreds and hundreds of submissions. Find yourself an Agent that suits your needs, geographically as well as professionally. There is loads of info in other posts on this site if you go to the 'Agents' section. All the very best of Luck for your ds.

JJ x

[francescasmum]

There in no need to have an agent if you are happy with your daughter just doing local stuff that is advertised locally or you hear of by word of mouth. The agent,s primary job is to find casting and submit suitable people on their books, if you are able to find those for your self and happy with the opportunities you can find then you do not necessarily need an agent for that. The other jobs of an agent are to negotiate pay, organise licences, pester for information, follow up payment etc, if again you are confident in doing all of that yourself then you do not need an agent. My dd has an agent who does all of this for jobs they get her but I also source castings for her myself, in those cases I sort everything out. Not everyone is confident enough to do this.
Not everyone NEEDs an agent to act. I have known of children who have had west end part who never has an agent

[TalyaB]

I have known of children who have had west end part who never has an agent

DS doesn't have one and was in Matilda and is now rehearsing to be Michael and Billy Elliot. Also does local drama school and is in this year's NYMT. If he wanted to get film or TV work, we'd definitely try to get one, but he's doing pretty well at the moment.

[riverdancefan]

I have known of children who have had west end part who never has an agent

DS doesn't have one and was in Matilda and is now rehearsing to be Michael and Billy Elliot. Also does local drama school and is in this year's NYMT. If he wanted to get film or TV work, we'd definitely try to get one, but he's doing pretty well at the moment.

Just got a lovely promotional pic of Z through the post today from NYMT
not long to wait now...

The lad that is featured on the material and posters for WSS was ensemble in "13" last year - now a lead, T was chosen to understudy the lead in TOS as well as learning his own part so he is grumping about learning the whole lot - loads of dialogue!

[TomS]

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[nezumi]

I think it depends what you want to do. If you want film or TV then an agent is a must really. We're 4 hours from London, my son loves theatre and singing, not so bothered about film. He tends to hear about the west end touring shows anyway (they generally want to audition as many local kids as possible for each role so are usually well advertised) and he's had some luck with those roles and some great experiences. Without the hassle of being expected to travel to London at short notice which being with an agent would entail (I have two other children as one, one with disabilities, so every trip involves roping in others to help out at home).

We did meet with a London agent but when they said they'd want him to potentially travel to London once or twice a WEEK for castings I realised it wasn't going to work out. Yes, fine, if we still lived in London, but not from four hours away.

West end theatre roles are also well advertised (although a lot are only open to those living within the M25). We haven't put ds forward for one yet, but may well do that as a next step. I ummed and ahhed for ages but really feel that we have made the right decision for us for now. I decided to spend the money I would have spent schlepping up to London regularly on singing lessons instead.

I havent' found the paperwork involved in professional shows too difficult; I am used to filling out license applications now and our local council has been surprisingly helpful with that side of things.

So long winded way of saying if you're happy with theatre I don't think it's necessary to have an agent.