Managing Actors

At a certain point in your acting career, you're going to realize that it's not feasible to do everything yourself. There's just too many things to do! Submitting yourself, networking, memorizing lines, performing on set, attending auditions and classes. the list goes on and on.

Most actors eventually realize that they either need an agent or a manager to take on some of the responsibilities so they can spend more time doing what they do best: acting.

In this article, we'll start by explaining the differences between talent managers and agents, and then we'll dive deep on talent managers specifically and what they do in the process of managing actors.

​Acting Manager vs. Agent

So what's the difference between an agent and a manager, and what does a manager do for an actor? Well, here are the most important things:

• Ability to get things done: In general, managers have relationships with a wider array of people than agents do. This means a manager can potentially help you get deals on headshots, connect you with a great acting coach, or even put pressure on your agent to get you more auditions. An agent, on the other hand, solely focuses on finding and getting you paid jobs.
• Commission rate and/or salary: Agents are limited by law to about 10-15% commission (though in some states that can be as high as 25%). "How do acting managers get paid?" Well, unlike agents, managers are not limited by law and can be paid either on commission (most take 10-15%, but some can go as high as 30%) or salary. The highest-end managers are usually salaried at 70-120k per year PLUS commission.
• Legalities of getting work: Agents can legally submit you for auditions and negotiate contracts. Managers cannot do so legally, though many managers will do it anyway.
• Ability to get you into high-level auditions: Because most managers are not licensed, they're unable to access Breakdown Services, which is where high-level production breakdowns are typically posted. This means most managers can only submit their clients for lower level projects (such as indie and non-union productions – the same kinds you can submit yourself for using online submissions sites).
• Licensing and office: Agents MUST work out of a licensed office. Managers can work from anywhere and be anyone, including your family member or friend.
• Personalized attention: Agents have a large roster, usually of at least 50 clients (though many have over 150). Managers typically only have 10-20 clients, and some just have one or two. This means you'll get much more personalized attention and guidance from a manager, whereas you'll find it difficult to steal more than 5-10 minutes of time on the phone with your agent.
• Long term relationship: Most actors switch agents every few years, whereas many stick with their managers for at least 5-10 years (with some even going as long as 20-30 years). This means a much stronger working relationship and deeper friendship with your manager.
• Commission on jobs they book: Agents can only receive commission on the jobs they get or negotiate for you. Managers typically get commission on anything you book, even if they weren't involved.
• Getting dropped: Most managers are more lenient with their actors. Because they get commission from everything the actor books (whether they submitted them or not), they're paid more frequently than agents. This means they're more willing to help you find out why you're not booking, plus what to do to improve. Agents on the other hand are more strict and likely to drop you if you're not booking at least 10-20% of the auditions they send you to.
• Ease of signing: In general, it's easier to sign with a manager than an agent. Managers are more likely to take on actors who need guidance, whereas agents will only sign an actor who they think has a high potential of making money fast.

How to Get a Manager

Although most actors think they need an agent because an agent can help them get more auditions (which is what most actors struggle with), a great manager can help in many ways, including getting your career organized and helping you strategize on how to actually go about getting an agent!

So if you plan to look for a manager first, here's the steps I recommend you take:

1. Get Your Marketing Materials Together: Your headshot, resume, and reel are critical to capturing a manager's attention. Without them, you'll never have a shot. The first step is to make sure you have an excellent, high-quality acting headshot that fits within your brand. Learn all about actor headshots here. Next, you need to ensure your acting cv is formatted properly and up to date. Learn all about actor resumes here. Finally, your reel needs to have fantastic acting. If your performances are not natural, you'll never have a shot. Managers are just as discerning as casting directors are when looking at footage, and at the end of the day a great reel is less about the environment and more about your acting ability. Learn all about demo reels here.
2. Avoid Scammers and Unsuccessful Managers: Do not sign with managers who require you to pay up front, pressure you into signing a contract without allowing you to take it home for a few days to review, take more than 25% of your income, advertise with pay per click, on Craigslist, or on other websites, or don't have an easy-to-find and up-to-date roster on their website.
3. Find the Right Manager for You: You can search Google for actor management companies and make a list of managers based on where they are located (don't sign with someone who doesn't represent clients in your area), their client roster (make sure they don't already represent numerous actors with your look), and how satisfied their current clients are (you can often find reviews online or reach out to some of their actors to get feedback on how much they like their manager). After doing your research, you should create a list of about 10-20 managers you want to target.
4. Contact Them: Follow their submissions instructions exactly – their website will tell you how best to get in touch, so be sure to follow those guidelines (unless you're getting an email introduction from someone directly to a particular manager). If they want you to use an online submissions form, do it. If they want you to email a particular address, do it. Write a fantastic (and short) cover letter, personalized to the manager (Dear Margaret – not Dear Management Company) that explains why you want to work with THEM specifically.
5. Follow up 5 days after submitting if you haven't heard back. Set a reminder so you don't forget to reach out a second time – you can just use their online submission form or the same email address you reached them at originally.

​Are You Ready for a Manager?

Too many actors start looking for agents and managers before they're ready, searching online for things like "acting managers for beginners." Doing this is a mistake because you should start off by learning the ropes of your own career and figuring out how to manage yourself so you're not taken advantage of later on.

I strongly recommend you ask yourself the following questions to determine if getting a manager is right for you at this stage of your career:

• "Do I really want to pay 25% of all my acting income?" If you're willing to do a bit of extra work and submit yourself and take care of making phone calls yourself, you can save yourself a decent chunk of money and manage your own acting career.
• "Am I willing to submit myself?" In my Ultimate Guide to Finding Auditions, I outline the exact steps you can take to find and submit yourself for consistent auditions. I highly recommend reviewing that guide before making the decision to get a manager because most actors get one too early and don't learn the basic skills they need to grow their career. Knowing how to submit yourself without a manager or agent will actually make you more desirable to higher level managers and agents down the line!
• "Do I have at least 3 paid credits on my acting resume?" If you have less than 3 credits for paid roles on your resume, I would suggest that it's still too early to begin looking for a manager. You should spend some more time submitting and auditioning to hone your audition technique so you start getting paid acting roles before you focus on getting a manager. This is because most managers won't represent actors who have never been paid for their work (remember that they work on commission)!
• "Do I already have my own network?" Managers hate actors who just try to use them for their networks. It's a two way street – being able to tell a manager that you already know people in the industry makes you much more desirable! You should ideally know at least 5-10 people who work regularly in the acting industry, whether they're actors, directors, producers, casting directors, agents, or even acting teachers/coaches.

​How to Manage Your Own Acting Career

If you determined that you're not ready for a manager yet and instead want to manage your career yourself, here are some things you can do to start growing your career:

1. Create a free profile on 2-3 casting websites. Visit the three main casting websites (if you're not based in the USA, these sites might be different) – Actor's Access, Backstage, and Casting Networks. Make sure your profile is as up to date as possible with photos and credits/training.
   1. Note: If you have no credits or training yet, I recommend checking out my free guide How to Become an Actor with No Experience.

   
   ​How to Work With Your Manager

   

   A lot of actors complain that their agents and managers are not doing enough. But you need to remember: an agent/manager is only getting paid a small percentage of the money you're making, so you need to be willing to do MORE than they are when it comes to finding acting opportunities and organizing your career.

   You need to be the LEADER of your career – don't leave that up to them.

   Here are a few key ways to ensure you have a strong relationship with your manager so they help you build your career:

   • Be quick to respond. Your manager might text, call, or email you and nothing bothers a manager more than an actor who takes more than an hour to respond. Turn all your notifications on and respond within just a few minutes to make the best impression. The actors quickest to respond are going to get the most opportunities!
   • Keep working on your audition and acting technique. If you get nervous before auditions, you gotta get more training. Managers drop actors who don't book a lot of work, so audition technique workshops are critical!
     • Related: Acting for Film: The Ultimate Guide
     • ​Related:How to Prepare for an Audition

     And keep in mind, in general, it's not a manager's job to find you auditions – some do, but not all. So if that's important to you, be sure it's in the contract up front. If it's not in the contract or they don't tell you it's something they're going to help you with, then you should either not complain or find a different manager.

     
     Managing Actors for Parents: How to Manage Your Child

     If you're a parent debating whether you should manage your child's acting career, I'll offer you some food for thought in this section.

     If you already have an understanding of the entertainment industry (or are willing to read books and online articles to gain that understanding), managing your child's acting career is absolutely possible! As their career continues to grow, you may need to eventually look for a professional manager and/or agent, but you can certainly be their manager at the beginning.

     Here are a few things to keep in mind if you're going to manage your child's acting career:

     • You won't have access to major breakdowns that licensed agents and managers will. Because of this, you might find it difficult to get your child into professional productions (like Broadway and major film and TV shows). But that's OK! For the first year or two, it makes sense to help your child build their resume and gain experience before they're ready to submit to major productions, especially if they don't have much training yet.
     • Your child needs to spend some time and money on their basic marketing materials. Start putting money away now to invest in professional headshots and reel footage for your child. Companies like City Headshots and Actor Screener Shoot specialize in headshots and reel production for actors, and you can use them to shortcut the process of building a reel over time – remember that a child is only young for a short period of time, so anything you can do to speed up the process of getting them the materials they need to submit is critical. Here's a Free Acting Resume Template you should use as well.
     • You should consistently submit your child to auditions online. On average, you should aim to submit your child to at least 5-10 productions per week, but the more, the better! Submitting less than this will result in less than 1 audition per month, which will not be nearly enough to get your child working in the industry.
     • You should begin the process of networking with people in the industry. Attend classes and workshops with your child and go on set whenever possible so you can meet people. Take down their names and contact info, along with a personal note about them (i.e. he is traveling to Barcelona next month) so that you can keep in touch authentically every 6-8 weeks by following up and asking them about themselves. This kind of natural networking will keep you and your child top of mind with people who can potentially offer opportunities in the future.
     • You should help your child get an agent as quickly as possible while they're young. Under 18, it's significantly easier for kids to get agents. As soon as your child's basic marketing materials are ready, you should start the process of searching for and reaching out to agencies. Here's my Ultimate Guide to Finding an Agent, which will show you exactly how to do that.

     
     ​The Most Important Part of Managing Actors

     A manager will sign you on as a client because they want to be part of developing your long-term career as an actor. They might help you put together your actor's package, find an agent, and connect you to helpful people, and as you get more successful, they'll get even more involved by helping coordinate your schedule, overseeing your publicity campaigns, building out your team of advisors (accountant, lawyer, publicist, etc.), and even determining which roles you should take or pass on.

     Some managers even coach their actors on scripts or show up on set to provide emotional support, and many coordinate closely with an actor's agent to ensure the roles the actor is being submitted for fit well within their brand, and are for projects the actor wants to be in.

     ​At the end of the day, an acting manager can be a great addition to your acting career, but at the same time, it can also be a major crutch. Many actors let themselves become lazy after getting an agent or manager by no longer submitting or networking, and within a few months, they start wondering why they're getting many auditions. Is it their rep's fault? Is it their own fault?

     There are a million reasons you might not be getting auditions, but there's plenty you can do to change that (just read my Ultimate Guide to Finding Auditions). Until you take 100% responsibility for your acting career and don't let all the weight fall on the shoulders of someone else, you'll always find your career stagnating.

     So get out there, manage your own career or find great manager, and don't slack off. Keep working like crazy to make your dreams a reality!

     To wrap up, check out this awesome interview I got to do with talent manager Josselyne Herman Saccio where she teaches everything you need to know about managing actors in depth:
     

     
     Enjoyed this article?
     ​
     Book more work by thinking "Outside the Industry."
     

     ​​​​Understanding how managing actors works is just one part of growing your acting career.

     ​As someone who has worked with people in thousands of industries (through my headshot business), I've been able to take growth strategies that work for businesses and apply them directly to actors – to help them grow their careers faster than most would think possible (examples: one of my clients landed his first-ever Broadway role in just 4 weeks of working with me, and a brand-new actress signed with a high-level agent in just six weeks of working with me).

     I'd like to invite you to my free insider newsletter where I share my best material, including:

     • How to network easily and authentically with casting directors – even if you hate self-promotion.
     • How to find your Type and Brand in just 18 minutes (it doesn't require awkwardly asking lots of random people for feedback)
     • How to find a hardworking and reliable agent – even if you don't have a strong resume or reel
     • And much more.

     

     
     ​​​Martin Bentsen (author of this guide) is an actor marketing coach who uses “outside the industry” thinking to help actors book more work. He’s helped over 6,000 actors with their careers and actor headshots since 2009 and his photography studio City Headshots is ranked #1 on Yelp. He’s spoken at NYU, The New England Theater Conference, The Actor’s Green Room, and other venues.
     ​
     Want to book more acting work by thinking different? Start with his free Actor’s Toolkit to create new opportunities right away, or visit his website at www.martinbentsen.com.
     

     
     Some Additional Q&A
     

     
     ​What are Managers of Actors Called?

     Managers of actors are called Talent Managers!

     
     ​Do Actors Have Management Teams?
     

     Most actors only have one manager, but if they run a production company they might have a team of a few managers, agents, publicists, and more.

     
     ​How Much Do Acting Managers Cost?
     

     When it comes to managing actors, most talent managers either work on commission at around 15-20%, or they are salaried at $70-120k per year.

     
     Further Reading:
     

     • Natural Acting: The Ultimate Guide
     • ​Acting for Film: The Ultimate Guide
     • Acting Resources: Everything You'll Need to Build Your Career
     • Example Acting Resume & How to Build Your Own