The Breakup
It happened. We broke up. My (now former) commercial agency and I parted ways. Thankfully, of all the breakups I’ve ever had, this one actually went pretty well.
Let’s back up. I signed with CESD about a year and a half ago, after a friend of mine referred me and we had a stellar meeting. Everyone over there are consummate professionals, and I knew when I signed with them that it was a business relationship I was going to trust.
So what happened? In short, we weren’t making money and my contract expired. For the first year auditions came in waves, but they came. For the past few months, though, for whatever reason we weren’t able to get me any auditions, so when my contract came up to be renewed, they decided not to re-sign me.
What I Learned
1) Go in trusting
When I first signed with CESD I knew they were a top agency and that I was going to trust them for the extent of my contract (18 months). I knew that even if things were slow they were doing the best they could and it was worth being with them. This allowed me an incredible peace of mind during the inevitable ebb and flow of auditions.
2) Maintain Relationships
This experience was a stellar reminder that it behooves every actor to maintain contact with everyone, especially people you work with or could conceivably ever work with. Because I had stayed in contact with people I’d met years ago, I didn’t have to start from ground zero.
What I Would Have Done Differently
1) Marketing
I would have been more active in marketing to the commercial world. I always sent thank you notes to anyone who brought me in, but I wasn’t consistent in targeting the top commercial CDs and continually updating them on my career. More active marketing might have kept the auditions coming.
2) Communication, communication, communication
I would have had a direct conversation with the agency when the auditions dried up. “What can I do?” Clearly something had stopped working, and I would have made more of an effort to figure out what was going on, and more importantly what I could do about it. The earlier you have this conversation, the better. Once a problem has persisted for a while it may be too late to fix it.
3) Classes
I was in the midst of a lot of commercial classes (Killian’s Workshop, improv at UCB) when I started at CESD. Both being in those classes, and having them on my resume, I think were helpful in generating a lot of auditions. As time went on, however, I began to focus a little bit more on other areas of my career. Not coincidentally, my commercial auditions started to dry up. All this to say, that were I to do it over again I would have stayed more active in commercial classes.
The Rebound
As with any Hollywood breakup story, it wouldn’t be complete without a new love. Upon parting ways with CESD I first conversed with my manager and then immediately called over to my friends at Brick Entertainment. I’ve known Kenny and Nelson for about two years, after initially meeting them on twitter (that’s right). I told them I was recently single, but that I only wanted to mingle with them. I went in for a meeting, we discussed what I’ve been up commercially, how each of us see me in the commercial world, and ultimately decided to work together. They are two of the smartest people in this business, and I’m thrilled to be working with them.
Final Thoughts
If you decide to stay around this business long enough to find success, it’s all but inevitable that you will work with many different agents and managers. Remember to always treat everyone with respect (i.e. don’t badmouth your ex), and always be maintaining all your industry relationships. You never know where you’ll be in 5 years.
Ben Whitehair is the Los Angeles contingent of this blog. Find out more information and view his materials on his website, or read the rest of his blog posts.
Archives
- April 2013
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- April 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
One of the MOST IMPORTANT THINGS to do in entertainment is preserve the relationships you have. The road is long and you never know who will come into play again (and you sometimes never know if they have come into play again, by saying something nice about you behind your back to someone who is considering working with you). WELL DONE! Best of luck with the new relationship!
Jenny, thanks for taking the time to comment!
Ben!
You are such an inspiration! Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Congrats on the new rep! You deserve it! Hope to run into you soon!
thanks so much, really appreciate it!
Wow man. What rich, albeit perhaps sad, experiences and transitions. It’s amazing what you learned that was in one way or another in front of your face but took a litle hake to see. It’s so great to see a fellow actor able to be honest with himself and learn from the things he could have done differently. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences Ben. I can feel new wrinkles in my brain already 🙂
Glad the sharing of my experience is helpful. Definitely continuing to learn as much as possible along the way.
Oh and by hake I mean shake lol.
Love it!!! Kindness begets kindness. Thanks for sharing. All the best on your new journey.
🙂
Terrific insight, Ben! You are so right, how we “leave” a relationship (friend, lover, business partner, agent, job) is equally if not more important than how we “began” that relationship. Life can (and often does) bring us back around to people from your past, no matter how large the city you live in. One day, you may find yourself at a dinner party, kids birthday party, AUDITION, PTA meeting or other venue and you are right across the table from someone you left, or who left you. So good for you for putting this experience into words and sharing it with the world – and, again, great insight!
I love this post. Did you actually say “conversated,” Ben? Ooh, you are bold! Congrats on the new love. <3
Thanks for reading and commenting…many more posts soon. And of course I didn’t say that…you can’t prove anything!!!! 😉
I think CESD might have been too big an office to sign with at that stage. Of course if a commercial rep of that caliber offers to sign you should accept, so you did the right thing, but a smaller office might be more willing to stick by you during the dry spells and give you the individual attention that you need in order to break through. I’ve been with a smaller agency for over four years now, and the first two years I didn’t book a thing. But my agent helped me tweak my look and strategized with me on making me more marketable to commercial talent buyers, and now I have two national spots under my belt. I feel like that may not have happened if I had been with a larger agency with bigger fish to fry than having a 20 minute conversation with little-old-me about the length of my bangs.
As usual, great blog Ben. As in anything – if we don’t learn something through the experience, then what’s the point?! I like that you turned this around and took responsibility for what was in your control, and hope you know what issues were out of your control (i.e. ad agencies have certain fads in terms of casting and type and blow in and out like the seasons).
Truly love that you have made so many solid relationships through social media – including me!
Ben-thanks for sharing this. Super helpful-as always! Loved you sharing what you would have done differently. And-thanks again for coming to my show!
It’s really valuable the way you share your own life with other actors, Ben. Thank you. 🙂