Ardent Talent Is A Young UK Talent Agency
Boutique talent agency Ardent Talent opened its doors in 2017. It has rapidly built up a quality roster of young talent who are obtaining work.
The owner and manager of Ardent Talent, Sarah MacDonnell, has been an actress and performing arts teacher herself and her teenage daughter is a busy performer with a number of exciting feature film roles under her belt. Because of this, Sarah has a perspective of the industry as a performer and as a young performer’s parent.
Moreover, Sarah has worked as an agent for several years and knows not only how the industry works, but also many of the casting directors who are the gatekeepers to paid work.
Who Does Ardent Talent Represent?
Ardent Talent represents young performers between the ages of 4 and 21 for acting work. This includes theatre, films and television work.
The agency does not submit their young performers for modelling work.
All young performers on the books are accepted on the basis of sole representation. This means they cannot have a second agent. Given the complexity of managing availability checks for casting and work before each submission is made, sole representation is sensible.
Agents should be seeking to make money from commission on your work so representation fees are not good practice. Ardent Talent does not charge fees for representation, indicating a reputable agency. It is included on our list of 20 Reputable UK Agencies For Child Actors.
Applications are welcome from young performers from all over the country, as long as they are willing to travel at their own expense on very short notice to attend castings. Our article How To Become A Child Actor set out the extraordinary level of commitment you are taking on when accepting representation.
Ardent Talent Online
You can find information about the agency on their website. They include recent news so you can see which productions the young performers have been working on. Application information gives clear advice for anyone who wants to be represented by Ardent Talent. And the pages about the young performers gives an easy to read summary about their training, experience and relevant interests.
Ardent Talent has an active presence across social media platforms. They can be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
How To Make An Application For Representation
Firstly, check the Ardent Talent website to see if the books are open. If they aren’t, keep a close eye on their Twitter Feed.
Next, email the agency to ask for an application form. Include your child’s name, age and any relevant experience in the email.
Ardent Talent considers applications from those who do not have professional credits, but will be more interested in those who have some track history of working on stage or set. It is perhaps a good idea for every young performer to work on a micro budget short film at the least before seeking professional work. Film shoots with any crew or level of budget can be long and tedious with a lot of waiting and standing about. Each child must have a high boredom threshold.
Send the request only by email. Letters and phone calls waste everyone’s time. Agents need to review applications when they are not busy arranging casting and work. The nature of the industry puts everyone’s time under pressure and planning ahead is difficult. Interrupting an overworked agent in the middle of their work with a phone call to ask for representation lacks professionalism. It also means you didn’t read the instructions on the website.
What To Include In Your Application for Representation
When you complete the application form, check the information to be submitted and get it ready. Do not send partial applications in with follow up emails. The organisational skills of every young performer and their parent is stretched to the limit by sudden requests for self-tapes and castings. So don’t send in a disorganised application.
Every agent is happy to accept a clear headshot and a clear full-body shot taken at home. So you don’t need an expensive portfolio at this stage. Every photo must, however, show the young performer as they look in real life. The background should be neutral. Leave friends, relatives, hats, sunglasses and heavy makeup out.
Be clear about the relevant acting experience and when it happened. If you are unsure what an acting CV looks like, spend a few minutes looking at the young performer profiles on Mandy.com.
Remember to check the data size of your email. Make sure the photo and all attachments are lightweight so you don’t crash the agent’s inbox.
Ardent Talent Reviews Every Application
Most applicants will receive a rejection or hear nothing.
Reputable agencies want to only represent clients who will gain work. They spend a lot of time submitting performers for work, liaising with casting directors and producers, and sorting out an endless array of unforeseen problems. They also need to balance their own books so they can meet a diverse range of casting briefs and at the same time not have young performers on their books who would be competing for the same jobs. Yet they only receive commission when a performer receives payment for completed work.
On top of this, every day hundreds of aspiring performers inundate agents with applications. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to reply to every application.
Ardent Talent does, however, carefully review every single application. They will invite you to an audition if they think you might gain work.
So if you have applied and don’t hear anything, accept it and move on. Don’t waste everyone’s time and goodwill by making follow up calls or sending emails asking for a reason. If you can’t accept rejection at this stage, you are not suitable for an industry where there can only be one winner out of thousands of applicants for every single job.
