Lessons in Talent Finding

The last couple of days have been fairly eventful.

It all starts with me finding a talent pool company - because they are not a talent agency, they claim - on the web. after searching for talent agencies, mind you. so I find the company, check out the website, tour around it a little and I decide, on a whim, to give them my name and some basic info, becuase what's the harm, right? I mean, it's a legitimate company and they're based in New York. Maybe they'll pour over their submissions and call me back in a week or so.

Three hours later, I get a phone call asking to set up an interview at their offices in New York. I set up a time, wait for the day, and drive myself into the big city for the first time ever on my lonesome. Bully for me! When I get there - very early, too - I find out that it wasn't an interveiw so much as a cattle call. I am surrounded by dozens of other would-be actors or advertising models who are all looking for the same thing: easy money and a foot in the door to the entertainment industry.

I go through the 5 minute interview - not so much an interview as a snap-shot and glance over - and get a call back. I think, Cool; they like me.

I just got back from this second interview. Let me tell you what i learned:

1. Never park in Manhattan. It's bloody expensive and not worth it. Just take the train and walk or subway wherever you need to go.
2. Peak hours for the train - because it changes the fare - are between 4PM and 7PM Monday thru Friday.
3. No Talent Agency worth your time asks fro $500 up front with a monthly fee of $40 to keep your name current and in the open.

These are all valuable lessons to learn, because i now realize that to really get into acting, I need to actually be in or much closer to NYC for me to be able to get the contacts I'd need to start. The place didn't seem shady at all, but they wanted I cannot and will not provide. I am talent - to a degree - and I should not have to pay any agency for the right to be presented. Granted, if all they wanted was the $40 a month to look for jobs for me, I probably would pay it, because I can afford something like that. Not really, but I could swing it.

What chaps my hide the most is the fact that they wanted $500 to throw together a composite card - like a resume and headshot, but for a model - for me which I could make myself in about an hour. To their credit, they were not pushy or trying to sell me the idea. I applaud them for it. But I still feel like I would have been taken advantage of if I had agreed to their ridiculous terms.

Now, I've learned my lesson. Time to put it into practice!

-S.