Mandisa A. Johnson, MS, MFAThree things to Not Do in the Atlanta Film and TV Industry ,Part 2
Angela leaves work early and fights the Atlanta traffic, in order to make it to an industry event. Once she arrives into the parking lot of the event location she searches frantically for a parking spot. She drives around towards the back of the building, breathes sigh of relief once she finds one. When she pulls in, she opens her mirror, brushes her hair and re-applies her makeup. She then reaches over into the passenger seat and grabs her headshots and actors resume. She then kicks off her flats and replaces them with her high-heels
Angela begins to walk back around towards the front of the building, and as she gets closer, she notices that the line to get inside has extended.
Angela sighs loudly and says,
"Well, I’m here now. I might as well wait.”
Once Angela is in line, she notices several people from set. They chat for a while and one asks her,
“Hey. There’s a new talent agent that will be here tonight interviewing talent. Have you thought about meeting with them?”
“Hmm. I’ll think about it.”
Once Angela is inside, she notices the talent agent seated at a long table interviewing talent.
“Oh, yes!” Angela says to herself.
Angela waits next to the table when someone taps her on the shoulder and points to the line behind her. Angela glances over her shoulder laughs to herself and thanks the person.
Angela stands in line for at least an hour and contemplates leaving. That’s when she realizes that she was closer than she thought. Once she’s at the front of the line, a man from the talent agency grabs her arm and pulls her towards the table where the talent agent is seated.
“Oww! That hurts.” She yells and yanks her arm away from the man.
The man from the talent agency proceeds by pulling the seat out for Angela and pushing her into the chair. She looks at him and gives him a strange look. He then tells her,
“You have exactly five minutes.”
“Okay,” Angela slowly says.
The talent agent looks at Angela.
“Headshots?”
Angela slides across the table both her commercial and theatrical headshots.
“These are nice, but, where are your full body shots?”
Angela shoots the talent agent a strange look.
“Full body shots? Angela asks. I never knew I needed those."
“Yes, ma’am. Full body shots.” Look, I love your look and from your resume you seem to have a lot of acting experience. I think you'd be a great fit and I'd love to sign you, Miss. Miss?”
“Angela Scott,” Angela responds.
“Miss Scott, I love your look and I think you have what it takes to be an actor in the Atlanta film industry. In the next few weeks, I will be hosting an actors workshop and will be opening my office in downtown Atlanta. I’m looking to sign talent for background work and major television and film roles. I’d love to sign you, but first, you need those full body shots. Do you think you could get those for me within the next ten days.”
A smile spreads quickly forms across Angela’s face.
“Absolutely.”
“Good.”
The talent agent says as she hands Angela one of her business cards. Be sure to send them to me once you get them.
The man from the talent agency walks over to the table, grabs Angela by the arm, to which Angela snatches away and quickly grabs her headshots and resume from the table.
“Oh, I’ll be keeping those.” The talent agent says to Angela.
Angela releases them and walks away from the table.
Shortly thereafter, Angela gets someone to take some full-length photos for her. Once those pictures are returned to her, she searches for the talent agents card and emails her the photos.
A few days go by when Angela receives an email from the talent agent, that reads:
Hi.
I really like your full-length photos. But, when submitting for representation, I also require a headshot and an actor’s resume. Please be sure to send those to me ASAP so we can get the ball rolling on getting a contract over to you.
What’s wrong with this scenario? What should Angela have done? Please share your comments below!