L.A. Talent

L.A. Talent

My meeting with the L.A. Talent Agency went very well, although I thought it got off to a typical “Bryan” start.

I was scheduled to meet them sometime Friday afternoon. The agent that called me told me to give them a call Friday morning and check to see how the day was going. Then he would tell me what time to come in. I got up nice and early to get ready and placed a call at precisely 9:30. He was not in, so I left a voicemail. I waited, and waited, went to get an oil change, and waited some more. By 12:30 I had not heard from him so I called again to make sure that he was in the office. The woman that I spoke with told me that he was indeed in the office that day, but not wanting to seem desperate I did not ask to speak with him. I waited some more and then I called again at 1:30. I spoke to a woman and explained to her the situation. She put me on hold and then told me that I could come in anytime before 4:00. I didn’t want to seem desperate, so I waited ten minutes until I left. I got to the agency right at 2:00, composed myself and walked into the building.

The lobby was completely empty. There was a desk where someone could sit, but no one was there and there was nothing on the desk to indicate that anyone worked there. To the left of me was a set of glass doors that lead into the agency office. I could see the agents sitting at their desks talking on the phones. All of his or her desks were out in the open and I assumed that you just walked in to speak to someone. Then I noticed the signs. On either side of the doors were two big signs that read “Do Not Enter Unless You Are A Client – No Walk-Ins”. This really confused me. On one hand I was NOT a client of theirs yet, on the other hand I did have an appointment, so I wasn’t sure what I should do. Since I knew that they could see me and they had my picture, I was sure that they could tell it was me. I took a seat in the lobby and waited about 5 minutes. Then I got up and walked past the doors slowly, pretending to read the signs again, making sure they could see that I was still there. I passed the doors, waited a minute and then walked slowly past the doors again, slower still, re-reading the signs. Then I took a seat and waited another minute. By that time I had convinced myself that the people inside were asking themselves “who is the idiot that keeps walking past the doors”. I made a decision to take the bulls by the horns and walk in. I walked into the office with a big smile on my face and looked directly toward the only man in the office who I assumed was the person that called me for the appointment. He immediately held up his finger and mouthed the words “just a minute” to me. I mouthed back “Ok” to him and walked back into the lobby. Then I had a 30 second conversation with myself about how much of an idiot I was and I had blown my one good opportunity so far. Just as I was having this conversation and woman opened the doors and asked me if I was Bryan. I said yes, of course, and she told me it would just be a few more minutes.

After a couple of minutes the man, Mike, came through the doors and invited me in. I sat down and we talked for about 7 minutes. He asked me about certain things on my resume, and commented on how much improv/comedy training and experience I had. He was very impressed that I had dedicated so much of my life to doing it. There were other two ladies next to him and they all commented that I looked EXACTLY like my picture, which is a really, really good thing to be. He asked me how old I was and I told him 30. Like most people he didn’t believe me and was really impressed that I was older but could play much younger than I am. After that, he thanked me for coming and told me that they were very interested in me, but they had to talk with other people and they would be giving me a call either way on Monday. I asked him if there was anything else I needed to do for him, and he said no. This was just to see how I looked and to have a chat with me. I left the office feeling very good about it and hoping that I would get a call on Monday with good news.

I did.

As of Wednesday, June 15, I officially became represented by L.A. Talent for commercials.

I am incredibly excited about it. For one thing, at least I can now go on real auditions and hopefully start getting some work and making some money. Another reason is that this agency also represents people for theatrical projects. Theatrical is the area of television and movies. They do not represent me in that area yet, but if I do well for them, then maybe by next pilot season they will represent me and I can audition for television show.

One selfish I am excited is because I am a couple of weeks away from my one year anniversary and 31st birthday and I have accomplished a lot of what I had wanted to when I first moved out here. So I am feeling quite good about things right now. Which is usually when the floor drops out beneath me.