Heather: What is the best way to follow up with an agent?
Anthony:
On what, exactly, are you following up? If it's a cold submission, there's probably no follow-up necessary. If they were interested in taking a meeting or in seeing you perform, believe me, they'd have gotten back to you… or maybe they still plan to. Like a lot of agents, I have auditions for new talent every few months. Submissions in whom I'm interested go into a folder, and when we're looking, we go into the folder and start contacting people. On rare occasions, if I'm particularly excited by someone but the timing just isn't right, I'll reply and let them know, and give them a rough time frame in which they can expect to hear from me with next steps.
If you're following up on an audition or a meeting,
first off, give us a few days. Sometimes, the decision-making process takes a while. We often have to consult with other people in our office (or even in other offices, in some cases,) to evaluate where you fit in our roster. I can't tell you how many times I've had to pass on someone I like simply because I had too many other people similar to them on my roster. Particularly when one of those other people is either one of my top clients, or someone that I'm working very hard to develop. It's hard to promise someone that I will work hard to create opportunities for them when there's someone in their category that I'm already putting a lot of time into.
That said, if a week or so has passed, I don't think it's a bad idea at all to send an email, or even a hand-written card. It's important to remember that this isn't your opportunity to pitch yourself, so don't make excuses or remind me of an issue you had (“Sorry I couldn't think of a dream role; I was on the spot”). Simply thank me for seeing you, mention that you'd love any feedback (if you would), and leave it at that. You can say you had a good time, or that it was nice to meet me, or make a comment about a piece of conversation that happened in the room (“thanks for telling me about that acting teacher – I called her the next day!”) but trust me. No agent is going to forget to reach out to someone that they're excited about. And if they're not excited about you, you're better off continuing your search, anyway.
Anthony Boyer
Theatrical Agent – TV, Film, and Theatre
DDO Artists Agency
Theatrical Agent – TV, Film, and Theatre
DDO Artists Agency