This isn't exactly true. Virtually every actor and actress has an agent as it scales better than negotiating every gig independently. The big difference I see is that the gigs are mostly very short and numerous. Very few are more than a few
days work.
But let's think about it: The actors you're talking about who have the agent on the lowest rung are still professional actors, i.e. they do acting to earn a living and nothing else.
However that set of actors is a small sub-set of those actors who get a role every now and then but don't earn a full time living. So there is an entire class of actors who get an industrial spot, do summer stock, play an extra or do voice overs who don't have an agent.
I know this because I've hired those actors for various projects. However if those actors had a name that you could recognize they'd have an agent.
Comments
This isn't exactly true. Virtually every actor and actress has an agent as it scales better than negotiating every gig independently. The big difference I see is that the gigs are mostly very short and numerous. Very few are more than a few days work.
But let's think about it: The actors you're talking about who have the agent on the lowest rung are still professional actors, i.e. they do acting to earn a living and nothing else.
However that set of actors is a small sub-set of those actors who get a role every now and then but don't earn a full time living. So there is an entire class of actors who get an industrial spot, do summer stock, play an extra or do voice overs who don't have an agent.
I know this because I've hired those actors for various projects. However if those actors had a name that you could recognize they'd have an agent.
They are probably doing themselves a disservice in that industry then.
Not really — an agent who doesn't get you gigs still gets a cut. Having an agent doesn't always open doors or get you more money.