A recent “Ask Me Anything” chat on Reddit offered up some surprisingly good advice for actors. An anonymous former intern at a talent agency and producer’s office gave some insight on pilot season and how an agency works during that time.
A participant in the chat asked, “When you were at the agency were they taking on new talent? If so how did they usually find them? What got the agents excited about actors?”
“Izzypepper”, the former intern’s Reddit moniker, revealed that the agency was not looking for new talent during pilot season, but they were “aggressively shopping” their current roster during that time. Their roster primarily included “TV actors, either young, unproven talent, or old ‘special guest star’ actors.”
The former intern wrote, “When trying to get their young actors on pilots, they had an easier time working with actors who had a clearly defined “type” that they could quickly pitch to a casting director. For their new clients, they valued versatility and the ability to play a few different types until they could narrow down what they were really good at.”
One interesting note that was added at the bottom of the conversation was that the agency tried to get their young actors cast in commercials when pilot season was over. The insider advised that “it’s important to be extremely charismatic and versatile because [you] get less than 30 seconds of screen time.”
Wise advice comes from all different sources in the entertainment industry.
