Generating your own work - if you have an agent?

[bobbin beam]

I'm loving this thread.
What does a talent do when he/she has multiple agents representing them and how are they presented on postcards for mailings?

List all the agents/cities/contact#?

Or send out specifically targeted mailings with one agent listed and sent to that territory?

I am about to embark on such a course and would love to get a handle on this from others in the same situation. Thanks!

[AlexisAdair]

Thank you all for the great input!

I'm going to be trying to market just to the cities my agents are in right now (for starters, anyway), so for each city I'll include my contact info and that of the agent for that city. Not sure what I'll do if I try to cover cities not in either jurisdiction, but I guess I'll leave that until later...

Ya'll are quite a group of professionals, and I feel privileged to be able to pick your brains for info! :)

Alexis

[avitoots]

Bobbin -- What I've done and do is put the contact information for the agent that gets me the most auditions and/or work. She also happens to be the agent I have the best relationship with. So, that's how I decided which agent to use. I think if you put all of your agents' information on a postcard it will make the postcard look messy and unprofessional. Also, I put my contact information first just in case the CD, production house or ad agency uses another agent other than the one I have listed. Wouldn't want to be disqualified because I'm not represented by the proper agent. Of course, if you manage to book a gig with a client of an agent that doesn't represent you, that may be the perfect way to get your foot in the door. I've seen that happen with a fellow cast member who won a gig over a talent represented by the largest VO agency in Chicago. As a result of his booking that job, the agency picked him up as a client.

Alexis -- Not sure where you're located, but I'm in Chicago and have had auditions and bookings for gigs all over the Midwest through my Chicago agents. So you may find that your agents may actually have clients who do work in areas you would think are outside their jurisdiction.



Arlene

[Dina Monaco-Boland]

Arlene,

What about this... if you're concerned about missing opportunities by not listing the "right" agent on your marketing products, why not just have "Multi Listed Talent" and "For full list of agents, contact (insert contact info here)"?

Just a thought and you'd avoid the whole pidgeon-hole thing.

[avitoots]

Dina -- I'm not worried about missing opportunities. I was just explaining why I put my personal contact information first. Even if I gave them the list of agents I'm registered with, since I'm not registered with all the agents in Chicago (and I don't think I've ever met anyone who ever was), I could still miss an opportunity if I've never been picked up for representation by the agency the client works with. There are also a couple of agents in town I will no longer work with because of iffy ethical issues that have cropped up in my dealings with them. So, if they want to get in touch with me I make it very easy for them to find my personal information because it's first on the letterhead and is the only information on the headshot/resume and VO demo.

Arlene