Acting Cover Letter Help!

Hello. First I would like to thank for an opportunity
to ask you a question. I'm Russian and I came to United States 4 years ago
to pursue my acting career ( I'm 16).When I turn 18 I'm moving to NY to
pursue my career.
Today I have been working on my cover letter and this is that what I came
with :" Dear( agents name) Your agency has been recommended to me by various
people during my search for representation in New York/Los Angeles. I have
always loved acting and I have taken various acting classes in and outside
of United States, so I am sure that I am the right type of "white bread" to
be represented. I have enclosed my resume and photos for your consideration.
I am looking forward to meeting you and I will contact you by phone ( date
and time). Truly yours, Daria XXX.
do you consider this to be a good cover letter?
IF you don't mind Ill address my another problem, when I was in Russia
I have been in MANY theater productions and such,however I lost information
( director's name etc, ) how should I present it in my resume?
I decided to be an actress when I was 7 ( I saw the lord of the rings) and
I was like this isit... I want to do that. Thank you so much for a chance
to ask you a question.
Truly yours,
Daria XXX


ANSWER

There were a lot of mistakes in that mail above that I received. I corrected most of them.

First of all, with regard to the cover letter, have a look at this page.
It's a similar question I answered from a girl not long ago and has
some of the things I think will be helpful for you.
www.actingcareerstartup.com/acting_cover_letter.html

Secondly, I would suggest you have a look at these pages as well. They
are about what you need to consider when you get an agent.
www.actingcareerstartup.com/looking-for-an-acting-agent.html
www.actingcareerstartup.com/get-a-talent-agent.html

That leads me to your accent and English language ability. The better
your English is, the more kinds of roles you can be cast in. Otherwise
you will always be the Russian girl. There is absolutely nothing wrong with
that, but it limits the number of auditions you can go on and consequently,
the number of jobs you can get.

This page shows you step by step exactly what you have to do to get an
agent.
www.actingcareerstartup.com/get-a-talent-agent.html

Also, even though you have a lot of experience, you should still be going to
class. Your acting craft never stops growing. You must keep learning. Also, it is
important for you to know that even if you don't have a lot of experience, agents and
casting directors will be looking to see if you have been training or not.
Here's how to choose the right school for you:
www.actingcareerstartup.com/acting_classes.html

Lastly, with regard to the addresses, names you have lost. I don't know what
to tell you except don't lie. You must find some of them at least.

I hope this is helpful to you.

Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions.

Tony

Is it possible to have more than one talent agent?

ANSWER:

As long as you haven't signed an exclusive agreement with any one agent, you can have as many agents as you want. My advice though would be to be honest with your agents, especially with the ones that get you most of the work. It could happen as happened to me a couple of years ago, that I got called in for the same audition by two different agents within 15 minutes. I accepted to go to the audition from the first agent. When the second agent called, I told him that I had already accepted to go to that audition. In that moment, I was so glad that I had told the second agent the truth, which was that I had another agent as well. Even though I wasn't obligated to tell him, I was thinking it might be better to be honest, which would help maintain a good, open relationship.

I just think it's always good to be clear up front. Takes the stress out of life. There's enough of that already.

Hope that answers your question.

Here is some information about how to actually go about getting a talent agent.


Tony

How to convince your parents...

...to support your wish to become an actor?

Question: How could you give yourself a chance at a career in acting when your parents don't like the idea?

I have a friend who is really good at singing and acting and she would really like to try a career in acting but knows it's not what her parents want and thinks it would disappoint them. But it's her dream and she doesn't want to spend her whole life thinking she should of given it a go. How could she do this without support from her parents and not disappoint them?

ANSWER:

At her age it will probably be very difficult for her to do it all on her own without the support of her parents. One of the biggest mistakes people make in just about any area of life is to try and convince someone of something that they themselves know very little about.

One of the keys to being able to convince someone is to be very knowledgeable on the subject. If your friend is anything like most younger aspiring actors, she probably doesn't know very much about what it really means to be an actress or a singer other than what she sees on television or at the movies.

So, she has to do a lot of homework. Think about a lawyer who goes to trial with his client. That lawyer, in order to convince the jury that his client is innocent, has to do a lot of studying of the facts, do research, investigate, read, ask questions, talk to experts AND he/she has to be a really good communicator able to get the key points across in a compelling and convincing manner.

Have a look at this page on my site for new and aspiring actors. On it you will find a lot of different links about various aspects of starting an acting career that might be helpful to your friend. Among the very first links you will see are two that have to do with how to convince your parents to support your acting career and the second actually will take your friend through how to conduct the conversation with her parents to have a better chance of convincing them. The other links will get her well on her way to learning about what it means to be an actress and what will be expected of her if she hopes to be successful. http://www.actingcareerstartup.com/teen_acting.html

But like I say at the end of one of those pages, this is not a guarantee that it will work, but one thing is for sure. After doing the work, your friend will definitely and without a doubt, know more about what it means to be an actress than she does right now.

Good luck to her!

Tony