We recently connected with James Coons and have shared our conversation below.
James, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
The biggest risk I took would have to be when I left the job I was making 2-3 thousand dollars a week, to become an assistant making $700 a week. I had returned home from performing overseas and knew that I was done performing as I didn’t have the excitement that I once had so I got a job in Beverly Hills at a spa. It wasn’t what I had thought I would be doing, but the money was great, was easy to get off work so was able to still travel and could enjoy life a bit. After being there a bit, I really started missing the entertainment industry, but didn’t really know where I belonged if I wasn’t going to be a performer, so I started looking at other possibilities when I saw an assistant position at Bloc Talent Agency. Bloc at the time was just a dance agency and only represented dancers, which is a world I didn’t really know much about and also didn’t really know much about the agent world, but I took a chance and applied. During the interview, the owner of the agency even brought up my lack of a dance background and I pulled a “Devil Wears Prada” and told her that I wasn’t in the dance scene, that I don’t know much about it, but she wouldn’t find a harder worker and I got a call the next day I had been hired. I now had this opportunity in front of me to be back in the industry, but at an entry level position making way less than what I had been making and even though I knew I would have to adjust a lot of things, I knew it was a risk I had to take. I’ve now been there 7 years, have branched Bloc out from just dance and have started a full commercial and theatrical division for them. Those few years of really budgeting and sacrificing things just to make sure I could pay my rent have fully paid off.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
For me, acting or being in the entertainment industry didn’t really cross my mind until my senior year in high school. I grew up in Paris, Kentucky, a town of around 10,000 people and grew up playing sports. It wasn’t until I switched to public schools for middle school that I was introduced to theatre and that first year I was an Oompa Lompa in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory that the school did. From there I did fall in love with performing and starting performing at The Lexington Children’s Theatre in the town over throughout the year and during the summer in their plays and musicals. Even though I had stopped with sports and switched to theatre, it was still just something that was fun for me and didn’t really consider as more than that. I loved history and politics and really thought I was going to be a constitiuational lawyer until I had a conversation with my musical director the summer before my senior year who showed me what else was possible and that performing could be a route for me. From there I got into dance classes, vocal lessons and more acting classes and really put all my eggs in that basket at this point. I auditioned for a few schools and even got a full ride to a state college for my BFA in MusicalTheatre, but I turned that down, much to my dad’s dismay, to attend AMDA in Los Angeles. I knew that if I was going to do this, I had to leave Kentucky and really do this. I spent the next four years training with the most amazing group of people, most who are still my best friends today, and learning all I could as I was still pretty new to actually training in theatre. The biggest setback came a week after I graduated when my dad passed away. It took me about a year to really process everything and be able to perform again. My family has always been the most supportive group in my life, but my dad was my biggest cheerleader. He drove me over night after I finished a closing shift at Starbucks to Atlanta, which was six hours away so I could audition for AMDA. Once I was able to see that he would want me to continue and really make this happen and I knew that he was still there with me, I was able to start auditioning again and booked a job working for Disney. With them I was able to perform and live in Tokyo, Japan for two years and helped them open their Shanghai Disneyland Resort. When I wasn’t performing with them I was working with Michael Donovan Casting working behind the table and being exposed to that world. When I returned from my last overseas contract, I knew that I didn’t want to perform any more. It didn’t bring me the joy that it once did. Once I started doing it for money and survival, it added an extra level of stress that I didn’t like. It took me a while to find my way to Bloc Talent Agency where I started as an assistant and then pitched branching the agency out from just dance to represent actors for commercials, tv and film. They believed in me and let me expand out and that has been my focus for the past few years. I knew that I wanted to create something different with these divisions of the agency. I had agents when I performed and always felt like I was just a number, a transaction to them that was there just to make them money. I knew I never wanted any of my clients to feel that way. I wanted to be apart of my clients journey in this industry, to be there to come up with a game plan to really make their dreams happen, and help them develop into amazing performers. I wanted them to feel like they had a true team player on their team. I think that is the biggest thing that sets me apart from other agents at the level I am currently at. I’m not worried about the number of bookings right out the gate, I’m looking at a bigger picture with clients and are we taking the right steps towards making that picture a reality. It is more than just getting a client an audition and negotiating a contract for them. It is making sure that they are in the right classes, have great headshots and helping them with their reels. At times I operate more like a manager than an agent. The things I am most proud of are the relationships I have with my clients and them knowing they have someone in their corner truly fighting for them. The best part of the job is getting to call a client to let them know they booked the job, whether that is a life changing Broadway debut or a smaller job, every job is a step in the right direction.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My goal with my divisions from the beginning when I started them was and is to create divisions that foster and encourages a talent’s uniqueness, helping them find their place in this industry and really thriving.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
For society, I think the biggest thing is showing up. I think so often society only cares about the mainstream events (Broadway, major movies, tv shows, art shows, etc), but some of the best work you can see are at local events or smaller less mainstream events. This is where artist get to take real chances, get to explore and truly push the boundaries and discover. Go to the show you think sounds weird, go see the art show that you don’t understand or dance performance. This is how conversations are started, and you may discover something about yourself or society that you didn’t see before. They can’t do this though if their local communities don’t show up. This is also where someone can see that they can do this on a larger scale. If it wasn’t for my director at the local community theatre, I would never have taken the chance to move to LA and chase this dream.
For friends and family, believe in your friends. You may not understand it, but this is someone’s dream. Yes we know it isn’t an easy path, yes we know we probably won’t make a lot of money, but art is more important than all of that. Art, whatever form, is a part of us, it is what pushes us through our days so while you may have your doubts about our career path, believe in us and know that we don’t have those doubts. We know this is where we belong and just need someone on the other side to just say I understand and I’m here for the ride with you.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/james_coons/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-coons
