We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Roldane Plaisir a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Roldane , thanks for joining us today. Do you have an agent or someone (or a team) that helps you secure opportunities and compensation for your creative work? How did you meet you, why did you decide to work with them, why do you think they decided to work with you?
For me personally, signing with an agent was not easy. I personally know some people who’ve been signed to an agent without any experience in their resume except for just headshots, but for most actors/actresses they have been denied representation because of lack of experience and that was the case for me.
I had to build my own resume the best way I knew how once I kept getting rejections because I had no working actor experience at all when I started. I started off on backstage.com which connected me to many independent film makers. Backstage actually got me my first on set gig in which I was a supporting character, which is now on Amazon prime. After backstage, and after I built up my reel enough, I upgraded to Actors Access which is by far my favorite platform in finding work. Once my resume was at a point where I felt I would finally be considered for an agency, I put my reel together, cleaned my resume up, and sent out my applications to agencies I felt would best represent me.
I never had any guidance on the best way to get signed by an agent so it was trial and error for me, but I am more than happy to share what agencies like to see that would highly consider someone as a talent on their roster.
– get professional headshots done. You can only make it so far with a selfie headshot. Professional headshot photographers know what catches an agents eye and they will be able to capture you in settings and in expressions that best represent you as an actor/actress, or the agency you’re gunning for
– build your resume and reel. Whether it be by creating your own projects or working with independent film makers, have something to show and that showcases your talent. Additional advice – if you don’t want to be type-casted, try and create a reel that has range
– do your research on the agency before applying . Don’t just apply everywhere and anywhere without reading up first. You never want to find yourself in 2 types of situations,
1. Where you get an interview with an agency and know nothing about their company, values, and representation to talk about
2. Where you get signed by an agency and they are not what you expected and you’re not happy
– try and build your social media presence (if you have one) as much as your can. From my experience, most agencies love it when their talent have a positive presence and following on their social media platforms. Because, what you may notice is that most agency applications ask for your social media handles.
And last piece of advice
If you have commercials you have done, make sure it’s in its own reel file. Do not mix your film/tv shots with your commercial shots in a reel. I say this because there agencies out there that work heavily on commercial projects and so having a separate reel for that looks really great and clean.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint so don’t get discouraged if after you’ve felt you’ve done it all, you’re still not chosen. Keep looking, keep working, keep connecting, and don’t give up
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I was introduced to the acting industry by my father. He actually took me to my first commercial audition in Miami and I’ve been hooked on it since.
Part of me is very thankful to him for exposing me to that, but the other part of me is like “UGH DAD WHY” because navigating the industry can be a headache especially when you don’t have much guidance lol.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Besides being actress, I am also a writer. I write poetry and I want to shed light on that.
The most rewarding aspect of being a writer is how present I’ve become with myself and my emotions since I started writing. And how divergent my mind has become in expressing how I feel.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Omg.. I’m actually still trying to figure that out actually lol.
I just went viral one day with a funny little dance video I put up on instagram. Since then, my social media has been going up, but just as it goes up, it goes back down haha.
I’ve had some people tell me that I have to be super consistent on social media, but I did test that out and was posting every 2 days at one point and my engagement and audience build wasn’t going any where.
I’ve taken long hiatuses and have seen that it negatively impacts my social a lot so I do not take long hiatuses anymore, but figuring out a pattern that works for me and my audience is very difficult for me. It’s just not gelling lol.
So I don’t have any advice, but if someone has some more advice to give me, I will gladly take it.
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