Actors: How to Land a Breakthrough Role and Get to the Next Level In Your Career

Hosted by Jay Glazer

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Jay Glazer

Webinar hosted by: Jay Glazer

Manager & Producer at Neon Kite

Jay Glazer is a manager at ROAR Entertainment and has helped his acting clients win roles on shows like SHAMELESS, GAME OF THRONES, THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, MAD MEN, THE WITCHER, and Amazon’s upcoming LORD OF THE RINGS series. Prior to joining ROAR, Jay worked for Brillstein Entertainment Partners and The Gersh Agency. Jay has used his deep understanding of casting and the industry to empower actors of all levels and help them find the breakthrough roles they’ve been looking for. Now he will share his approach with the Stage 32 community. Full Bio »

Webinar Summary

If you’re an actor largely finding work in smaller independent features, short films, and TV guest star roles, how do you make the move to larger and more high-profile opportunities? 

In this webinar, a top entertainment manager who handles top actors will share tactics and strategies you can start applying to level up your acting career.

In traversing your career as an actor, your talent and ability are certainly paramount, but so is the way you are perceived by others. An actor can win a job largely by being perceived as “seasoned” and “ready”. Similarly, an actor can lose an opportunity by coming off as “green” and “inexperienced”. All creative decisions are a risk on some level, and the better a developing actor understands the dynamics at play within the ecosystem of higher-level decision making, the better that actor can position themselves as “the right choice” and land breakthrough roles that make careers.

Jay Glazer is a manager at ROAR Entertainment and has helped his acting clients win roles on shows like SHAMELESS, GAME OF THRONES, THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, MAD MEN, THE WITCHER, and Amazon’s upcoming LORD OF THE RINGS series. Prior to joining ROAR, Jay worked for Brillstein Entertainment Partners and The Gersh Agency. Jay has used his deep understanding of casting and the industry to empower actors of all levels and help them find the breakthrough roles they’ve been looking for. Now he will share his approach with the Stage 32 community.

Jay will offer an inside look at how working actors land breakthrough roles and develop highly successful careers, and will also explore the complexity and nuance of the representation landscape. He will begin by sharing how to generate your own material the right way to improve your standing, including making your own short films and series, and honing your showreels. He’ll then delve deep into what representatives look for in a client and how you can use this to your advantage. He’ll also teach you how to know if your agent or manager is working on your behalf or not and how to make the switch to “big” agencies. Next, Jay will give you an inside look of how representative actually work behind the scenes to create opportunities for clients and will demonstrate how you can take some of these same steps independently. Finally, Jay will offer a step-by-step look at landing the breakthrough role you’re looking for, from the pre-read through signing the deal.

Jay will give you tools you can start using immediately to boost your career and work towards landing the bigger roles you're after.

 

Praise for Jay's Previous Stage 32 Webinar

 

"Jay was thorough, thoughtful and truthful while also being personable. He was so well prepared with his presentation and had concrete examples to provide that I can implement immediately."

-Margaret M.

 

Jay was awesome! I thought this was one of the best webinars I have attended.

-Gregory M.

 

"Jay has tremendous real world experience"

-Zachary A.

What You'll Learn

  • Generating Your Own Material
    • Short films and successful case studies
    • Comedic vs. dramatic material – how to separate and highlight
    • EPKs
    • Honing and adjusting your showreel
    • Using available platforms
      • Vimeo
      • ActivePitch
      • Unique website
    • Tactics to avoid
  • What Do Representatives Look For in a Client?
    • Introductions, showcases and referrals
    • How to get higher level agents and managers/ hip pocketing
    • How to develop a strong, collaborative relationship with reps
    • Agent vs. manager dynamic
    • The “Big” agencies and how they work
    • How do I know if my agent/manager is working on my behalf, and what do I do if they are not?
  • How Do Representatives Create opportunities and How Can Actors Generate Their Own?
    • Casting – relationship based, emails, calls, etc.
    • Working with producers and execs
    • Forming relationships with writers and filmmakers
    • How do clients earn bigger opportunities and how is value perceived?
    • General meetings – how do actors get them, and how to approach?
    • Developing Mentors/allies/peers
    • Creating goals and timelines
    • How do “big agencies” factor into higher level casting decisions?
    • Cutting specific material for each project
      • And how this played into Jay’s clients winning jobs
  • Step-by-Step Approach to Landing a Breakthrough Role
    • Pre-read, callback, director session, chemistry read, test
    • Meeting a director/creative team – how to approach
    • Writing a letter to a director
    • Television vs. film “tests” – how these deals work

About Your Instructor

Jay Glazer is a manager at ROAR Entertainment and has helped his acting clients win roles on shows like SHAMELESS, GAME OF THRONES, THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, MAD MEN, THE WITCHER, and Amazon’s upcoming LORD OF THE RINGS series. Prior to joining ROAR, Jay worked for Brillstein Entertainment Partners and The Gersh Agency. Jay has used his deep understanding of casting and the industry to empower actors of all levels and help them find the breakthrough roles they’ve been looking for. Now he will share his approach with the Stage 32 community.

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Other education that may be of interest to you:

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No matter how great your script or story is, it’s not going to become a reality unless you’re able to pitch it effectively to the buyers and people who can help you get it made. Yet before you can even pitch it, you have to get in the room in the first place, and find someone willing to hear what you have to say. Getting that meeting is a skill in and of itself, and you’re going to need more than a good script and a good pitch to get the ball rolling. The good news is in this ever-evolving marketplace, there are myriad opportunities to get your project in front of interested people. The better you understand the industry and the world of pitch meetings, the better your pitch will work for you. Pitching is a form of sales. Whether you are selling your script, your ideas, or yourself, it is critical to understand your audience -- who they are, how they do business, and how they will evaluate your project. The more we can analyze who we are pitching to and how they are defining opportunity and success, the better equipped we will be to get a YES, and conversely, evaluate whether the individual or company we are pitching to is well suited for us. Let’s delve into how you can make this happen. You'll start by learning directly from Jay Glazer who is a manager/producer at ROAR that represents creatives in both the talent and literary fields. His clients have appeared in Emmy-winning SHAMELESS, GAME OF THRONES, THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, MAD MEN, Netflix's THE WITCHER and many more. Prior to joining ROAR, Jay worked for Brillstein Entertainment Partners and The Gersh Agency. Jay has found success in his roles by understanding how to secure important pitch meetings for himself and his clients, and he’s ready to share what he knows exclusively with the Stage 32 community. Jay will give you the knowledge and confidence to land the pitch meeting you’ve been working towards and nail it. He'll even offer examples of both email and phone call approaches you can use.    "Jay was thorough, thoughtful and truthful while also being personable. He was so well prepared with his presentation and had concrete examples to provide that I can implement immediately."-Margaret M.

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