"A Hollywood Agent Tells All"

A Hollywood Agent Tells All was given to me by my friend, Marie Del Marco . It’s an excellent overview for new and experienced actors. I read it this weekend and remembered how lucky I am in this business. In the book, Tony Martinez suggests getting a reference to get an agent from several sources, one of those sources worked for me. He said, ”Have your teacher pick up the phone and call me.” Tony takes all references from clients, friends and family. He said,”…I can’t say no to mom.” It’s a good read. I recommend it!

My teacher and still great friend, Grant James, called my first agent while I was standing there and told him that he needed to interview me. Bruce Henney was just starting his agency at the time and he was taking inexperienced talent. To this day, I am grateful for that phone call because it launched my career. Under Bruce, I received some non-union experience and even got extra work and a couple of SAG commercials. I was “Taft-Hartlied” for the Apple Bees commercial, but did not find out until I moved to LA almost 4 years later. Lesson learned: keep track of everything, not that your agent will do anything wrong intentionally, but you just don’t know. By the time I found out I’d been a principle, my former agent had left from the industry. Nonetheless, I had gotten my SAG eligibility.

A year and a few months after joining Bruce Henney’s agency, I moved to Marquis and auditioned for Michael, the owner and head agent at the time. My audition went terribly. It was awful. After I left the audition, I called him. He took my call.

"Michael," I said, "I was awful. I could have done a much better job, but I choked. I wouldn't want to represent me with an audition like that, and I wouldn't expect you to either. Thank you for the audition any way." He said,"Sarah Jean, come back in tomorrow and we'll talk." I was blown away! Upon auditioning me again, Michael took me as one of his talent and said that he respected people who knew they were awful. "So many actors do not know when they are terrible. You knew."

I thought being at Marquis was wonderful, but two weeks later the agency was sold to Tommy and his wife. The day the deal closed, Tommy called all the talent in (about 70 of us) and explained that he and his wife were the new agents at Marquis Talent. Tommy would represent the adults and his wife would represent children and teens. Tommy was great for me. I worked often, booking industrials frequently and commercials occasionally. I appreciated these jobs, because this is bread money in the Dallas market. I also booked my first film and a small part on Walker, Texas Ranger.

One day Tommy asked me if I wanted to go to Los Angeles for week. He was taking his top ten talent, and I was on the list. I said yes without having a clue how I would pay for it. At the time I was a personal trainer and an actor, but I kept my clientele to a minimum so that I could go to auditions, classes, and shoots.

I told one of the other trainers about Tommy's offer. There were three of us at the time in a small gym personal one-to-one gym. The two other trainers told everyone. They told my clients and their clients even some of the shop keepers nearby. Everyone pitched in to raise the $1500 dollars to send me to Los Angeles. Tears of gratitude are welling up in my eyes as I write this.

In Los Angeles, I only auditioned for two agents. At the Jana Luker Agency, Jana, Kathy and I did well together. Kathy agreed to represent me commercially and in print. And a year later, Jana began representing me theatrically. I've been with them ever since. When I moved to Los Angeles and found out that I was SAG eligible, I paid my fees and joined SAG. I was absolutely thrilled!

Meanwhile, Tommy stayed in Texas and promised to continue to represent me there. However, it didn't last.

I was doing a lot of research and discovered that Dr. T and the Women would be shot in Texas and I asked Tommy to submit me. He promised he would submit me and he never did. So, I fired him and met with Linda McAlister at Linda McAlister Talent. She had been a great support to me for years even when I hadn't signed with her. She’s an excellent agent and she is an amazingly supportive agent who truly cares about her talent. She works hard for her talent. To this day, I'm still with her agency in Texas. Timing is everything. And my time has come. I am ready, my craft is ready, and I’m beginning the marketing efforts I know it takes to get noticed. It will be interesting to see the process.