How to distinguish a low and high quality representation offer

Getting an agent sometimes seems like the single most important thing in the whole world as an actor. And it is important, but it's not so important that you should hand over control of your acting career to someone who doesn't know you and is not AT LEAST equally as interested in your career as theirs.

If you receive an offer of representation just from sending your CV and headshot, without the agent having seen you on stage, seen a showreel or even having met you, they are not going to stand a hope in hell of representing you effectively. You can probably assume this is a low quality representation offer. An agent like this will probably have five hundred people on their books in the hope that if five percent of them get work that'll still pay the bills.

A good agent will want to see you perform, meet with you, discuss your career so far, your strengths and skills, your areas of interest, your ambitions, the work you're interested in doing and they will tell you honestly what they can offer you and what they expect from you and you have every right to ask these questions too.

An actor/agent relationship is very important and you should feel like your agent knows you and cares about your career.

As a young, ambitious actor it isn't about having the most impressive agent with the biggest clout, this is most useful when you have a name for yourself and need someone red-hot to negotiate your contracts with Paramount. It is most important to have an agent who will work hard for you, who cares about getting you work and is passionate about their clients. You will know which agent this is as soon as you meet them.

Good luck!