More About Phase II

In a previous blog entry, I mentioned Phase II in my journey as an actor in LA. Essentially, Phase II is a mass mailing, first to talent agents, and then to casting directors. Monday (two days ago), I completed the first half of Phase II and mailed out fifty one envelopes to local talent agencies. In each envelope was my headshot, resume and a cover letter explaining some things about me, and that I was seeking representation. Mailing them was just the tip of the iceberg, as it literally took hours to prepare those fifty one envelopes.

First, I took my headshot (in digital form on a USB storage device) to a company in LA called Reproductions, and had them print 200 headshots. While I was waiting on the headshots to be ready (only a two day turn around) I took my monthly copy of "The Agencies" and selected the fifty one agencies which I would contact. A good part of my selection criteria was that they would accept submissions from non union actors. Next, I used MS Word's mail merge to create a database from which the fifty one mailing labels, as well as the individually addressed cover letters were printed. You can buy pre-printed mailing labels for all the talent agencies if you do not want to create them yourself, but of course, there is a cost associated with that.

Once the headshots were ready, I printed my resume on the back of fifty one of them. These headshots are on heavy duty stock and are designed to have a resume printed on the reverse side. Printing resumes on the back of headshots far in advance is not a good idea, as your information can change over a period of time, but doing so just before you send or hand a resume to someone eliminates staples and makes for a cleaner looking headshot.

Sunday afternoon, I put all the contents in the envelopes, put the labels on, and was ready to mail them on Monday.

Today, I received phone calls from two of agencies I had contacted. I have an audition with one this coming Friday, and the other next Tuesday. Will more agencies contact me? Don't know. I'll keep you posted.

Until next time............