You are an entertainer, an artist who has a lot to offer the world. Your creativity not only shines through your work, it touches others. Your work can have an impact on people around the world. Being given such a large platform to express your creativity means you need to prioritize the development of career. You need people in your corner who can move your career forward. You need people to help you complete the day to day tasks of running you, the business. Luckily, talent representation does just that.
As an entertainer, it is important for you to focus on honing your skills. This can include anything from writing, singing, modeling, dancing to sports practices.
Rehearsals, media training, interviews and press junkets are just a few of the activities you will be participating in and there can even be multiple activities to complete in each day. In addition to those, you have responsibilities to your family, friends and social acquaintances.
Making time for stress relief and just plain fun is a must for busy entertainers. It gives you time to relax and recuperate so you can maintain focus and passionate about your goals.
So, when will you have time to promote yourself, book jobs across the industry and know which events to attend? How will you get invites to the biggest red-carpet events and schedule events for performing?
Whether you are just starting out in the entertainment industry or are already at the top, talent representation can benefit your career. Here are a few reasons why it’s so important to have a talent representative.
Talent Representatives Have the Contacts
Knowing who to contact to seek professional jobs is key to making your career a success. Even though you are multi-talented, you can’t just sit and wait for jobs to fall in your lap. You must chase the dream gigs or the coveted roles.
Talent representatives can help you do this by using their extensive rolodex to make the right contacts. They know the directors, the right press members, the publishers and others who can make a difference in your career. By utilizing talent representation, and therefore their vast number of contacts, you better your chances of finding the best gigs around.
Talent Representatives Get You Gigs
You need jobs. If you are not a household name already, it will be difficult to get the interviews you need to establish a history of solid work. Talent representation can do this for you. They know how to charm the big names in the industry.
Talent representatives can get you in front of the people who hire entertainers and turn them into big stars. Where it may be an exhaustive process for you to accomplish on your own, your representative can make it happen with just a few phone calls. With their large number of contacts, you can rest assured that your talent representation will get you gigs that will help your career.
Talent Representation Creates a Network for You
Attending social networking events sounds great in the beginning. You are somewhat star struck yourself and it’s fascinating to meet others, possibly role models, in your same industry. After a while, however, you realize you do not have the time to attend every event during a week or even a day.
Talent representatives attend meetings with executives on your behalf. They also schedule the myriad of essential activities you need to do. These include photo shoots, screen tests, auditions, coaching, style sessions, demos and other portfolio building necessities.
Talent representation take this burden from you and do all the networking for you. They represent you. Instead of juggling a million things to do, your representative will help manage your schedule, create the network, and represent you.
Talent Representation Negotiates the Best Deals
After networking for you and getting you the contracts you need to grow your career, your talent representation can also negotiate the best deals on your behalf. They have extensive experience in making sure you get the best deal for your career.
They understand the fine print of every contract, ensuring there is no hidden content that robs you of money or harms your reputation and brand. After all, the contract received affects you both. Your representative understands the contract and can determine whether it is in your best interest or not.
Talent Representatives Get Paid When You Get Paid
Working on commission inspires talent representatives to work hard at getting you the most money possible for every contract you receive. They literally do not get paid until you get paid.
You are not responsible for paying a your representative up front. Instead, you pay them after you get paid. Essentially, you have someone working for you and promoting you for free, until you get paid.
The need for talent representation is necessary whether you are starting out in the business or have a well-established portfolio. Doing the right research can help you choose the best representative for your career.
Jason Swartz
Jason Swartz is the President and Founder of Alliance Talent, a world-leader in the entertainment business. Growing up in Los Angeles with a passion for music, he took his local childhood concert business and made in an international concert booking company. Specializing in entertainment booking, social media branding and monetization, and music publishing, Jason was the first to scale social media monetization for the music industry across Facebook. Today, he runs Alliance Talent, a leading entertainment company and concert promoter; focusing on concert bookings, talent representation, brand management, and social media monetization.