Questions to Ask a Talent Agent
Questions to ask before signing with a talent agent, covering their roster, submissions, commission and fees, exclusivity, and how they handle a client who is not booking.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What kinds of clients do you represent?
Why ask it
You are checking whether you would be a natural fit for the roster or an experiment. An agent whose list is mostly commercial actors will pitch you for commercials, whatever they say about theatre. Ask for the roster page and see whether people like you are on it.
How long have you been agenting, and what were you doing before?
Why ask it
Newer agents are often hungrier and more available, which can be worth more than a famous name where you would be the smallest client. What matters is the route in: someone who came from casting or from a bigger agency's assistant desk has the relationships, while someone who came from an unrelated field is building them on your time.
Who on your roster is at a similar stage to me?
Why ask it
This gets a more specific answer than asking about clients in general. If they name two or three people you can look up, the comparison is real. If they only reference their most successful client, you are being sold the exception rather than shown the norm.
What have those clients booked in the last year?
Why ask it
Recent bookings for comparable clients are the closest thing to evidence you will get. Vagueness here, or a jump back to work from several years ago, usually means the agency's relationships have cooled or its focus has shifted.
Which casting directors or buyers do you deal with most often?
Why ask it
Real answers come with names and detail about who reads their submissions. Answers about having contacts everywhere, or being well connected across the industry, indicate cold submissions through the same portals you could use yourself.
What is your process for submitting clients, and how do you decide who goes forward?
Why ask it
Find out whether submissions are made by the agent, by an assistant, or by a system that pushes the whole roster at everything. It also tells you how often you should expect to hear nothing, which prevents a lot of unnecessary anxiety later.
How would you introduce me to the people you work with?
Why ask it
This asks them to do a small piece of the job in front of you. A good agent can describe your casting bracket in a sentence and tell you which two or three doors they would knock on first. If they cannot place you, they will struggle to sell you.
What would you want us to work on in the first six months?
Why ask it
Concrete answers about materials, reels, a bad headshot, a missing accent, are a sign they have actually looked at you. Answers about building your brand and getting you out there mean they intend to submit you as you are and hope.
What is your commission, and what does it apply to?
Why ask it
Rates vary by market and by type of work, so ask whether the same percentage applies to theatre, commercials, voice work and self-generated jobs. The detail to pin down is whether they commission work you found yourself, and whether commission comes off gross or net.
Are there any other fees or costs I would pay?
Why ask it
Legitimate agents are paid from what you earn. Requests for signing fees, monthly retainers, or payment for in-house photos and classes are the clearest warning sign in this industry, and no explanation makes them normal.
Is the representation exclusive, and in which areas?
Why ask it
Contracts often distinguish between acting, commercials, voice, modelling and presenting, and an agency may only be strong in one of them. Signing exclusively across everything with an agency that only works in one area is how people end up unable to accept work in the others.
How long is the initial term, and how do either of us end it?
Why ask it
Ask before you are enthusiastic. Notice periods, automatic renewals, and post-termination commission on jobs booked during the term are all normal but vary widely, and the answer decides how expensive a bad match will be.
How do you handle it when two of your clients suit the same role?
Why ask it
Everyone submits multiple clients, so an answer claiming this never happens is not credible. What you want is a plain description of how they decide, and whether they tell each client, because the alternative is finding out from the other actor in the waiting room.
Who negotiates my contracts, and do you use a lawyer?
Why ask it
Agents negotiate fees and terms routinely; larger or unusual deals often need a lawyer as well, at your cost. Knowing where their competence stops is more useful than being told they handle everything.
How will we communicate, and how quickly do you usually reply?
Why ask it
Ask for the actual pattern, not the ideal. Most complaints about agents are about silence rather than incompetence, and agreeing now that you will get an answer within a day or two makes it reasonable to follow up when you do not.
Do you pass on feedback after auditions, including the unflattering kind?
Why ask it
Casting feedback is often thin or nonexistent, so the honest answer is sometimes no. The useful signal is whether they will relay criticism when they have it, or whether they filter it to keep you happy, which leaves you repeating the same mistake.
What do you expect from me?
Why ask it
Availability at short notice, a decent self-tape setup, keeping classes up, replying quickly. Agents drop clients over these far more often than over talent, and hearing the expectations stated makes them easier to meet.
What happens if I am not booking after six months?
Why ask it
Look for a described process: a conversation, a change of materials, a different submission strategy. Reassurance that it will not happen tells you nothing, and clients are quietly deprioritised long before anyone says so out loud.
How do you think about my online presence?
Why ask it
Some agents care a great deal about follower counts, others consider it irrelevant to the work they get you. Either position is workable, but you should know it before you sign, because it determines how much unpaid time you will be asked to spend.
What questions do you have for me?
Why ask it
An agent who asks nothing about your goals, your availability, your other commitments or what you want to be doing in three years is treating you as inventory. The questions they choose also show you what they think matters about a client.
How to approach the meeting
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you go in
Look up the roster and the recent credits
Spend twenty minutes on the agency's client list before the meeting. Knowing who they represent and what those people have been doing lets you ask about specifics rather than accepting general claims, and it is immediately obvious to an agent that you have done it.
Check the licensing rules where you live
In many places talent agencies are licensed, and in some markets they are franchised by performer unions with limits on commission and contract terms. Find out what applies locally so you can tell a standard agreement from an unusual one.
Decide what you want from representation
Access to auditions you cannot self-submit for, negotiation on fees, or career guidance are different jobs. Being clear about which one you are hiring for stops you signing with someone who is good at a different thing.
Warning signs
- Any fee to sign, to be listed, or to stay on the books.
- Pressure to use a specific in-house photographer, class or showreel service.
- Guarantees of work, or predictions about how quickly you will book.
- Reluctance to let you take the agreement away to read.
- No named contacts and no recent bookings for anyone comparable to you.
- A meeting that is mostly them talking about themselves and asking nothing about your goals.
Things people get wrong
Signing with the biggest name available
Being the least important client at a large agency usually means less attention than being a priority at a small one. Ask where you would sit in their list before assuming reputation transfers to you.
Signing in the room
Take the agreement home, read the term, the commission scope and the exit provisions, and get advice if anything is unclear. An agent who needs a signature today is telling you something about how they work.
Not asking about exclusivity by category
People sign exclusive representation across every category with an agency that only submits for one of them, then find they cannot take voice or commercial work elsewhere. Ask category by category.
Afterwards
- Write down what they promised about submissions, communication and commission while you still remember the wording.
- Compare that against the written agreement, and ask about anything that appears in one and not the other.
- If you meet more than one agency, compare on named contacts and recent bookings rather than on how the meeting felt.