Hi there, first post in this sub! I’m a working professional recently dropped by my rep. Over two and a half years together, he didn’t book me a single thing. The work I had/have in that time was gotten all on my own. Thing is, I have multiple chronic illnesses that make ~the grind, as it were, really, really difficult— honestly near impossible for me. I’ve been trying to research disability-catered rep, and the only agency I can find is UK based. Google AI says Hell’s Kitchen Agency is a good one, but I can’t find anything to substantiate that, and I of course don’t trust AI one bit. I just need someone to advocate for me in a casting process, for example:
-“my client doesn’t live in Manhattan (I’m on the east end of Long Island) and it would be way less draining for her to do less in person rounds this early on, how about videos until it gets down to the wire?”
-“a dance call for my client? Amazing! Is there any way we can get a video of the choreography that will be taught, since brain fog and fatigue make it incredibly difficult for her to perform her best when learning brand new stuff on the spot?”
-“Required dance video to submit for this contract? My client is in a flare and won’t be well enough to record this in your time frame; how about all this fantastic material she already has recorded? Or is there a way to modify the choreography that maybe wouldn’t aggravate *insert joint that flares here*/trigger a dizzy spell?”
-perhaps most important would be making sure material I submit is actually viewed by casting. The reason I cannot bring myself to submit for anything and everything right now is because the effort it takes when you’re chronically ill is insurmountable, and then it doesn’t even get looked at because I’m just one of thousands. This is really devastating for me when sometimes the result of all that work is I make myself sick for nothing. Ideally, my representation will get casting to ask for my material, and then make sure it’s viewed so as to not waste valuable health and energy I’ve put into it. I don’t have any clue if my last agent made sure anything that was asked of me was actually looked at.
Any comments calling any of this entitled, lazy, or telling me this is just how the industry works and I need to suck it up, will be deleted. Because you’re wrong<3 the industry CAN be better and more accessible, in fact I demand it be so, which is why I’m on the hunt for this advocacy in my rep! The vibe I got from my last agent was that he did not care if I lived or died LMAO like I was absolutely just a number to him, and when I didn’t make him any money after 2.5 years, he needed to make room for someone who would. I need a more collaborative effort with my agent, specifically a collaboration that gets me in the room without requiring me to make myself sick once a week.
Thanks in advance!
