Every time I have an interview with an agent, the agent criticizes my headshot and suggests I get a new one. I have gone to professional photographers, spent lots of money on headshots that I think look like me. I would like to know how agents use the headshots of their clients. What is their process for making submissions? Specifically, what do you look for in a headshot and how is it a useful tool for building an actor's career?
Recently, Back Stage spotlighted photos and resumes in a thorough and insightful feature. I would like to add to the diverse and valuable information gathered there, in a discussion focusing on the agent's process of making submissions and how actors' headshots and resumes contribute to the success of these submissions.
The author of this email cites two ingredients for a successful headshot: It must look like the subject walking through the door to an audition/interview and it must look professional. A "homemade" headshot cannot compete with the multitude of professional ones received by agents and casting directors. It will not be the one selected for an interview or audition from the stacks of actor submissions in an agent's office or the mass of headshots included in an agent's submission to a casting director.
An actor's looks and credits have great bearing in this business, and career activity depends on information obtained from headshots and resumes. A casting director may justify bringing in a particular actor to a director or producer based on what that actor looks like. An agent might push an actor to a casting director citing the most recent credit on the resume. It is crucial that actors keep their photos and resumes up to date. If they don't, they might lose out on job opportunities or annoy industry allies. A casting director will flip when you walk through the door with your newly permed blonde bob if they were expecting to see the straight brown shoulder-length hair in your headshot. If the most recent credit listed on your resume is the show they booked you in a year ago, not the two you've done since then, they might assume you haven't worked in a year.
Recently, we submitted a newly signed client for a role on a television show. The casting director called to see him for a younger role, no doubt responding to the photo we had submitted, which was five years old. To avoid a potentially awkward audition situation for both the casting director and our client, we turned down the audition, while suggesting that the casting director see him for the age-appropriate role for which he had been submitted. Without an updated photo, however, it was a tough sell. For agents, up-to-date photos of clients uphold a standard of truth in advertising. For actors, they can jumpstart a languishing career with a new look illustrating a new age range, opening new doors.
Agents like to have contrasting photos for making submissions. Each character on a breakdown is described by look, personality traits, and storyline. Based on that description, agents decide which clients to submit and what photos to use. The photo and resume must prove--visually and experientially--the validity of the submission. The sexy hotshot sent in for the contract role on "Guiding Light" won't be so convincing for Tom Joad in the Broadway revival of "The Grapes of Wrath," although the same actor might be perfect for both roles. Obviously, an actor can't supply his agent with a different shot for each submission. Two or three shots should cover the range.
Having a conversation with your agent before your headshot session to determine where you fit in the casting pool helps decide how to market your talents. Although every actor can play many parts, trying for one headshot to capture all the things you are dilutes the end result. A headshot is most successful when it reveals one or two personality lines. Therefore, capture the range of rural Americana to Park Avenue sophisticate in two separate headshots. Women have makeup and hairstyle changes to create new looks. Men basically have facial hair, so I suggest taking a roll with a five o'clock shadow followed by a roll clean-shaven. Composites work in the commercial sector, but rarely in the legit world, where casting directors are more concerned with casting a particular role than finding the most versatile actor.
The combination of a headshot and body shot is very useful in providing the necessary contrast in the agent's marketing arsenal. What is not useful is an 8x10 that is an extreme close-up of an actor's face. The agent or casting director will struggle to read anything beyond the initial shock assault of this distorted view. A headshot featuring an actor's body in the pose of a pretzel--crouching torso, arms akimbo, with the head no bigger than the size of a fingernail--won't provide much useful information either. Agents, when offering suggestions on what photos to blow up from contact sheets, will steer their clients away from shots with odd body parts--a floating arm without a hand, disembodied fingers holding up a chin, or a headshot that is three-quarters background and one-quarter face. They would logically advise the client to choose a photo of opposite proportions.
It is the actor's responsibility to keep his agent well stocked with photos and resumes. Agents like to have a goodly amount of these on hand so they can submit freely. If the agent doesn't include a photo and resume of an actor in his submission, then the casting director has nothing to refer to when the agent makes a push, and the actor is the one who suffers. Agents would like to give actors fair warning, but have no way of knowing how many submissions they will make at a given time. Actors should always have a supply of attached photos and resumes ready, so that when their agent calls, they can deliver them same day or, at the very latest, next day.
A movement is starting to make the entire submission process electronic, whereby agents would submit their clients to casting directors via the Internet. This is occurring for commercials on both coasts and film and television projects in Los Angeles. While most legit agents in New York retrieve their casting breakdowns through the Internet, they continue to submit their clients the old-fashioned way, with hard-copy photos and resumes. Actors are still expected to bring hard copies of their photos and resumes to auditions and use them in mailings to agents and casting directors.
Margaret Emory is an agent for Dulcina Eisen Associates and a member of New York Women in Film and Television. She welcomes your questions or comments via email at askanagent@hotmail.com. Back Stage reserves the right to edit them, and not all received will necessarily be used. Please do not phone or visit Ms. Emory at Dulcina Eisen Associates.