Nikolas Yuen

One thing I wish new VAs understood: Getting an agent isn't the top of your mountain. It's actually the bottom of another, larger mountain. You not only have to be competitive enough to GET an agent. You now have to compete against me, your peers, AND the celebrities you look up to just to get heard by casting. When people say you need to be READY for an agent, that's part of what they're talking about. The other part is the lifestyle changes no one prepares you for. But please know, not every audition you submit to an agent gets heard. Many times your agent is only allowed to send their top 3, top 5 auditions & you gotta make it through THAT cut first. That's why I laugh whenever I hear people complain about casting calls closing too early & how it's a waste of time. That's a daily occurrence with big agency work. Unfortunately, you don't get to coast at an agency, no matter how glamorous or easy you fantasize it is once you have an agent. You get an agent and have to learn entirely new exercises to build entirely new muscles you didn't know you needed. Your talent has to be ELITE COMPETITIVE, not just good enough. Anyone in this business long enough has to constantly learn new things and get better. Or they find other non-talent ways around that part lol. But if you expect to get an agent and coast, you've got some hard truths coming.