agency spotlight:momentum talent and literary agency...

ovember of 2006 saw the arrival in Los Angeles of Momentum Talent andLiterary Agency. Garry Purdy, who heads the agency, brings a wide rangeof experience to the table when it comes to representing talent.

Like many agents, Garry started out as an actor after getting his BAfrom UC Irvine. While in LA pursuing “the dream,” Garry started interning atseveral companies including publicity firms, casting offices and talent agenciesbefore eventually becoming an assistant agent and then very quickly moving tothe head of new talent. He then went on to take over the commercial and printdepartment at the Beverly Hecht Agency for several years. It was there at BeverlyHecht that Garry met and started working with Mike Baldridge.

Mike comes from a technology and finance background, having worked at com-panies such as IBM and Bank of America, where he was Senior Vice President inTechnology and Operations. Mike eventually decided to “chuck it all” and make ago for the entertainment industry.

Both view their time at Beverly Hecht as an incredible experience that pre-pared them well for starting Momentum. Ross Reports recently had the opportu-nity to talk with both of them and find out their goals for cultivating new talentand what they have to offer their clients.

Ross Reports: What is the philosophy of Momentum Talentand Literary Agency?

Garry Purdy: Work twice as hard, betwice as good, and be twice as nice.

Mike Baldridge: When you start a newagency, you are completely dependent onyour relationships with casting to survive.Your submissions have to be twice as spoton, twice as good, and you have to be twiceas nice on the phone. Because they betterenjoy talking to you or they just won’t.

RR: How do you find new perform-ers? Do you attend showcases insearch of new clients?

Purdy: Most new theatrical clients tend tocome through industry referrals (managersand casting) although we also find new the-atrical and commercial talent online,through showcases and through submis-sions. We have a lot of managers and cast-ing directors asking us to please meet withtalent they believe in and we try (as bestour schedule will allow) to see as many ofthese referrals as we can.

AGENCY SPOTLIGHT: MOMENTUM TALENT AND LITERARY AGENCY < < <

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Ross Reports gets up to speed with Garry Purdy and Mike Baldridge of

Los Angeles

MOMENTUMUPWARD

By Bruce B. Morris

> > > AGENCY SPOTLIGHT: MOMENTUM TALENT AND LITERARY AGENCY

January/February 2008 9

Baldridge: Especially with casting andthe high level managers, it just makes goodbusiness sense to meet with the clients theybelieve in. If the meeting results in a goodmatch and we feel we can get the referredclient out, then you have the added bonusof the good will established between theagency and the casting office or the highlevel manager (who may have other highprofile clients to refer and this has hap-pened many, many times).

RR: What areas does the agencyspecialize in?

Purdy: We represent everyone fromEmmy and Golden Globe winners to “upand coming” development clients. Ofcourse it’s just one less challenge when newclients have significant credits on theirresumes, but there are often times whenwe’ll see that special talent that has somuch potential, we’ll take the chance.These “start from scratch” clients tend torequire a lot of work. But many times,we’ve seen these young actors that don’thave anything on their resumes get unbe-lievable opportunities (we just had thishappen on a three picture test deal withDreamWorks and Paramount).

Baldridge: It’s a crazy balance, becauseyou have to have your series regulars andyour award-winning resumes to be takenseriously in the business. However, theirony is: the kid from Idaho on your rosterwith nothing on his resume can just as eas-ily pop because he happens to have theright look. During the last pilot season,after Momentum was in business for onlyone month, we had 39 series regularopportunities (many, many thanks to cast-ing for this), some of which went all theway to network test. If you look at the waythose were distributed, a large percentagewent to complete unknowns who just hadthat “IT” factor. But the reality is: theywouldn’t have gotten the opportunity toget in front of casting, the producers, thestudio and the network, if the agency was-n’t also known for having its series regular,Emmy and Golden Globe winning

resumes. Those strong resumes are a largepart of why the packages get opened (thatand the agency’s personal relationshipswith casting, etc.)

Purdy: Kids are more straightforwardwith much less emphasis on the resume.You just need great kids with the right look.We are especially focused on continuing tobuild our youth department and over 18 toplay younger in all ethnicities. We are alsoknown for our “very attractive” 19-29 cat-egory and the business still seems fairlyforgiving resume-wise to this group. Buteven with these great looking young adults,you have to start leaning on the agency’scredibility in the absence of a strongresume. With clients in the 30+ age brack-et, unless you’re looking at some seriousguest stars credits, it can sometimes requirenothing short of “divine intervention” plussome serious horse power behind theagency to get an audition (but we see mir-acles every day).

RR: When you receive aheadshot/resume from an actor,what do you look for?

Purdy: Someone who stands out, isunique, different, not like everyone else outthere. It has to be someone who grabs ourattention, not someone that can get lost inthe crowd. If a client and the agency decideto work together, we want to know thatthey are going to grab the casting directors’attention. Having said that, we can loveyour headshot, but what really “seals thedeal” for us is the client’s demo reel, espe-cially the online demo reels that havebecome such a critical part of the business.When we see your reel, we know in the first30 seconds, much like casting does, if wesee that “magic” or if the potential for thatmagic is there. I can’t emphasize enoughhow important having very strong, veryspecific 60-second online demo segmentsis. Within your demos, don’t mix yourcomedy with your drama; don’t mix yourthug with your business guy. If you confuseyour buyer by mixing types, you’re going tolose the job, more than get yourself a job.

These days, you’ll be way ahead of thegame if you have type specific online head-shots combined with type specific 60-sec-ond online demo segments. You have tounderstand that casting is looking at 36tiny pictures on a computer screen thesedays.They just don’t have the time to be asimaginative any more, plus the pictures arefairly small on the screen.The headshot hasto “scream” blue collar, the picture has to“scream” executive, etc. and you best havea type specific online demo segment toback it up. It’s that winning combinationthat will knock down those casting doors.

Baldridge: For me, a lot of the time, itcomes down to: is the person defined? DoI look at the person and know exactly whothey are and what to do with them. In ourexperience, a very difficult category is theboy next door or the girl next door.Because the definition of that type is “youdon’t stand out!” So how can you get aclient to stand out when the definition oftheir type is “you don’t stand out?” It’smuch easier from a marketing perspectiveto either have a characterperson, or a very leadingperson. When clients are“in the middle,” that’swhen you have to advise.You have to make achoice, and you can’t splitthe difference. In thebeginning of a career, it’smuch easier to sell a defi-nite character or a definiteleading type.

Purdy: Or you can besomeone like DavidSchwimmer, where he’s good looking witha lot of the guy next door qualities, buthe’s so talented nobody cares (this is therare case).

RR: What other qualities, besidestalent, do you look at in order totake on a client?

Purdy: When we meet new talent, theycan have the look, they can have the

resume, but if the personality is missing, ifthey’re not that great human being youwant to work with, forget it! They can getmore talented, they can even get moreattractive, but success in this business tendsto magnify a person’s personality, so youhave to start from a great place. You alsohave to ask yourself: are they genuine, andwould producers and directors want towork with them. If we think they’re genuineand want to work with them, then otherpeople in the business are going to want towork with them as well. You also have toask, does an actor have a sense of who theyare and are they comfortable with it.Especially with development clients, moreoften than not, an actor will get cast forplaying who he or she is.

RR: If you meet with an actor andfeel that they could be more mar-ketable with some changes, wouldyou help them through the transfor-mation or make strong recommen-dations?

Purdy: Yes, as much as sometimes theydon’t want to hear it. A lot of people havean idea about what their look is, or whatthey think works for them, and sometimeswe think it’s different. We’ll make sugges-tions as to how we believe we can marketthe actor better. Sometimes it will be assimple as a wardrobe or a hairstyle changeor how they carry themselves.


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“IF A CLIENT AND THE AGENCYDECIDE TO WORK TOGETHER, WEWANT TO KNOW THAT THEY AREGOING TO GRAB THE CASTINGDIRECTORS’ ATTENTION.”

—GARRY PURDY


Baldridge: This subject gets particu-larly sensitive with actresses. Specificallyactresses that may have had a greatcareer and now are entering their 30’sor 40’s, because longevity in this busi-ness is not retaining one’s youth.Longevity is reinventing yourself con-tinually. That’s where we really have towork with clients sometimes, especiallythe bigger resume clients that worked alot in their 20’s, and now are strugglingin their 30’s, because they still perceivethemselves in the younger roles. Again,you’re most likely going to book whoyou are. If you are the geek tech guy,let’s not try to take a headshot of youas the slick, stock trader. We’ve hadmany “outside the world of reality”conversations with perspective clientsthat may be a definite character geek-type and they’ll say “my last agentdoesn’t get me. I’m clearly leading, andthey keep submitting me for nerd types.”Literally, it happens. That’s when youhave to sit the client down and make themreally look at who they are, and make suretheir marketing materials match howthey’re going to be perceived the minutethey walk into a room. It’s a trap to believeyou have to be glamorous, that you have tobe leading, that you have to be theMarlboro man. Sometimes the most suc-cessful clients are the opposite of that. Itell people: take the flaws, take the bignose, the big ears – whatever it is, thething you fear most, the thing you mostdread about yourself and exploit it. That’swhat you bring to the table. If you’ve got abig nose, don’t take a headshot that hidesit. Take a headshot that shows that bignose. If you’ve got big ears, don’t coverthem with your hair in the headshot. Let’ssee those big ears. Capitalize on whatyou’ve got. You are the most interestingand unique thing you bring to the busi-ness. Don’t hide what may be your biggestasset and get lost in the melting pot bytrying to be like everybody else.

RR: How often should a performerchange his or her headshot?

Purdy: When starting out, especially com-mercially, if the pictures aren’t working(and we usually know within the first threeweeks how casting is responding to a pic-ture), you need to keep changing it up untilyou get “the shot” that does work. It’s alsobecoming more and more critical to have avariety of looks up online that are, as we’vesaid, type specific. The bottom line is youcan’t argue with casting. They eitherrespond to your picture or they don’t. Soyou must get the shot that captures theirattention over the other pictures on thescreen they’re looking at. The pictures mustalways look like you. People age differentlyand whenever your picture no longer accu-rately represents you, you’re not doing any-body any favors by hanging on to outdatedheadshots. In between, it’s also not a badidea to try a shoot here and there to changethings up a bit, throw some new picturesinto the mix, or perhaps experiment with anew look or type (always check with youragent and manager first for direction/ inputon this).

RR: What are some of the commonmistakes you see actors makewhen auditioning?

Garry Purdy


Purdy: They don’t relax and enjoy theprocess.They need to learn to like it, evenlove it and then everyone in the room willlove them. Also, when given material toread for an agency, actors need to con-stantly try to find different levels to play.After we’ve watched the same scenemany times, it can get boring (just like forcasting) when we see only one emotionalnote being played, such as just being“angry”. We want to see some range.

Baldridge: Remember, again just likecasting, we want you to be good. We wantyou to be great. We want to stop lookingfor that perfect actor to fill the spot on theroster, so come in knowing that we’re onyour side and own the room without over-powering the room. And a special notefor theatre trained actors: give us theclose up not the performance to reach theback of the theatre. We’re sitting a fewfeet from you and we want to see what thecamera will see that close, subtle but bril-liant performances that are real in everymoment.

RR: Are there things that actorsshould avoid that might make younot want to represent them?

Purdy: When an actor comes in after hav-ing other representation sometimes they’llspeak negatively about their experiencewith the other agency. It’s never attractiveto hear that negativity. We want to hearabout the positive things that are happeningin your career. That’s the biggest one forme. Also actors sometimes come in for ameeting and they’ve brought their girl-friend, boyfriend or a group of friends withthem. If you’re under 18, of course it’s fineto come in with a parent, but over 18, weneed to see that you can handle the processon your own (just like an audition). Also,sometimes actors will come in and try toohard to be interesting, and usually thatdoesn’t work. We have a saying, “try to bemore interested in the conversation thaninteresting.” In other words, if you’re trulyengaged and “in the moment” with theconversation, the rest will take care of itself.

But don’t get me wrong; you should stilltake ownership of the meeting, and keep itpositive and moving along.

Baldridge: There’s a fundamental testwhen perspective clients walk out of theoffice: do you have more or less energythan when they walked in? With mostactors, you could talk to them all day long,because they have such great energy andyou’re actually revived after they leave theroom. But some can literally exhaust youduring the process, and you can restassured that casting is going to have thesame reaction. Keep the conversation mov-ing back and forth between you and theagents so that everyone is learning abouteach other in the process and be sensitiveto when it feels like the meeting is comingto an end. On the prior representationsubject: even if you’ve had a bad experi-ence there is always a positive way tophrase that: ‘I was with so-and-so agency. Iappreciated all the effort they put into mycareer, but the combination just wasn’tworking, and so I think it’s time to make achange.’ That’s a positive way to look backon it. Very few clients have a real idea ofhow much work goes on behind the scenesat the agency each and every day for their


Mike Baldridge




career. If we have a client that we’re havingdifficulty getting out with their currentheadshots, etc., we’ll send them a submis-sion report to let them know how we’vebeen handling their coverage and what wethink needs to change. Sometimes this hasbrought the client literally to tears whenthey’ve seen the hundreds of submissionsthat have been made on their behalf. Mostclients have no idea the amount of dailyenergy it takes to keep their career going,whether or not casting is responding totheir current marketing materials (head-shots, demos, etc.)

RR: What are some factors thatcontribute to a breakdown in com-munication between an actor andan agent, and how do you avoidthat?

Baldridge: It’s never usually what yousay; it’s how you say it. So, for example, agreat way for a develop-ment client to phrase the,“I want to get out more”phone call is: “Hey, I justwanted to kick aroundsome ideas about what Ican do to help, whetherthat’s workshops, intern-ing for casting, going tocharity events, whatever.”That frames the wholediscussion in a muchmore positive light, thanwhen a developmentclient calls to say: “I did-n’t get out last week,what’s the problem?” We know you didn’tget out last week. We know exactly whenyou got out and when you didn’t. Withdevelopment clients, it takes a village ofpeople and their efforts to get a careerstarted. It’s so much work, but it can alsobe the most rewarding when you get some-one to that next level.

Purdy: Another thing clients have tounderstand from the beginning; this busi-ness is not fair. It expects everything fromyou. It expects you to be available 24/7. It

expects you to have a job, and feed your-self, and then it expects you to be availableat all times for auditions. One thing thatsignificantly contributes to the breakdownin the agent-client relationship is not beingavailable for an audition or asking for areschedule because you have some non-industry-related conflict, such as, “I have togo to work”. Look, we get it, we know youhave to feed yourself, but you have to beavailable during audition windows.Another killer is when a client doesn’t bookout to let us know when they’re not avail-able. If we call you for an audition todayand you’re in Florida and we didn’t knowabout it – that’s not good. Even when youbook out, I guarantee, that will be the weekRon Howard is going to want to see you fora role in his film. It’s happened so manytimes, I can’t tell you. In other words, fairor not, you have to always be available, andyou have to make your acting career yourfirst priority.That’s why you are here.

RR: If an actor isn’t getting enoughwork from his representation, howcan they get out of the arrange-ment, especially if they aresigned?

Purdy: I think you start by asking yourselfif you feel that you and the agent have real-ly gone over everything, have tried differ-ent types, looks and approaches, have youprovided the agent with all of the necessarytools to promote your career (headshots,

“IT’S MUCH EASIER FROM A MARKETING PERSPECTIVE TO EITHERHAVE A CHARACTER PERSON, OR AVERY LEADING PERSON. WHEN CLIENTS ARE “IN THE MIDDLE,”THAT’S WHEN YOU HAVE TO ADVISE.”

—MIKE BALDRIDGE

demo reels, relationships through work-shops, etc.)? If that’s the case and the teamstill can’t get anything going, I don’t thinkmost agents would have a problem lettingthe client out of a contract. Sometimes theconnection is just not there or the energy isjust not right and you don’t want to holdanybody back from a possibility of bettersuccess.

RR: What can an agent do for aperformer that might prevent themfrom getting typecast?

Purdy: If a development client is work-ing, there’s nothing wrong with gettingtypecast.

Baldridge: That’s right. Don’t be afraidto be typecast in the beginning. Initiallyyour goal should be to get typecast. Getknown all over town as that glasses guywho does the techie roles, as the martialarts, butt-kicking Russian adventuress, asthe blue blood woman who speaks in prop-er English. Then, when you have estab-lished yourself by excelling in these specif-ic roles (that probably won’t be too far offof who you are as a person in real life),you’ll have the validation (and the experi-ence) to be considered for broader charac-ters. Until then, the biggest disservice youcan do to yourself is not being defined, notbeing instantly recognizable as a type, andnot being at casting’s fingertips with themknowing exactly what to do with you.Casting, producers, etc. will be far morewilling to give you a chance on a role that’sa stretch from your personality and typeonce they’ve seen your proven track recordof success. Especially with the develop-ment roster, typecast away!

RR: What is your submission policy?

Purdy: Our primary way of receiving sub-missions is through industry referral, but,we know how tough it is out there – so getyour picture and resume in front of ushowever you can – through the mail, drop-off, e-mail, we try and look at everything.Just remember, especially if you’re going to

try and drop-off to “read the room”. Ifthings are going a hundred miles an hourwe’re probably only going to have time tosay a very quick “Hi” and “Thank you” forthe drop off. You have to strike that bal-ance between persistence and over doing it.We’ve seen so many different ways thatactors have approached the agency.Sometimes they’ll send something trulyclever with their headshot, an eye-catchingcard of some kind, etc. But remember, firstand foremost for development clients, itstill comes down to a great headshot, agreat demo reel or a great read in the office(plus hopefully at least a few credits on theresume).

RR: What are some of the successstories in finding new talent?

Purdy: We have a couple but I know onein particular. My sister and I were at a gro-cery store when I noticed this huge, seven-foot tall guy, and thought “Wow, that’ssomething unique”. I was telling my sister,and she said, “Well, give him a card.” Shegrabbed a card from me and gave it to him.So the next week he called me, and said hewas reading an agency book, and wanted toget an agent. He came in, we talked, andsince then he’s gotten into the unions, he’sbooked a film, shot a couple of commer-cials — one opposite Shaquille O’Neal, andhe’s rocking and rolling.

Baldridge: I think, in terms of new talent,some really exciting clients have come to usthrough management referrals. Typicallywhat happens when you’re [a] new[agency], a manager will start by placing afew of their development or mid-level peo-ple with you. There’s no stronger vote ofconfidence than when that same managerthen comes back and places their twentyguest star resumes and their three timeseries regular clients with us. We now havemanagers who are bringing clients to usthat already have deals in place and wecouldn’t ask for anything more generousthan that. A great new talent story camethrough just such a manager. We alreadyhad two of this manager’s larger resume

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clients and he asked us to please look afterone of his newer development clients. Weall really liked her, but without much onher resume, we were definitely taking herout of respect for this manager. Well whowould have thought that she (the develop-ment client) would be the one who woundup getting the three-picture test deal fromDreamWorks and Paramount! That’s whatkeeps this business so interesting everyday; you just never know what’s going tohappen for which client next. As a sidenote on the managers we work with; wereally pride ourselves on being part of ateam. We include the managers in justabout every conversation and discussionand we present a united front to the client.This teamwork with our managementcompanies has resulted in some incrediblereferrals to the agency. We’re very excitedabout this pilot season because of the levelof resumes on the roster. Literally in thelast three weeks alone we’ve picked up athree-time series regular and a two-timeseries regular. It’s exciting to go into pilotseason with that kind of horsepower.

RR: What is the best way to succeed in the entertainment business?

Purdy: Never give up. Never give up.Never give up. No matter who tells youthat you can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, do it any-way. So many actors working today havebeen out of work for 10 or 15 years – andthey never gave up. In the meantime, youhave to find a way to be happy. Whateverthat is. You have to find your happinessuntil you make it. We have an actress thatwaited on a casting director today. Theactress has a naturally great personality,but, she was also happy. As a result, thecaster brought her in for an audition. Thiswas because the actress is in a great placementally and emotionally while she’s mov-ing forward towards her goal every day.You know Olympic athletes? They don’twin gold medals over night. It takes a lot ofdiscipline and hard work. Always stayfocused. Keep your eye on the goal.

Baldridge: Another thing we tell ourclients: you have to love the hunt, not thereward in the beginning. Get up everymorning and ask yourself: how am I goingto move my career forward today? How amI going to make another connection in thisindustry? What workshop am I going to dothis week? In other words, love the process.If you love auditioning, if you love figuringout how you’re going to open that nextdoor, you will wake up every morning feel-ing satisfied whether or not you bookedthat week. If you place all of your attentionon the reward and “Why don’t I have ityet!” you’re not going to enjoy this businessvery much. Of course, you have to keepyour eye on the end game, you have to keepyour goal in mind, but a lot of times thedecision as to whether or not you getbooked is outside of your control. But yourability to get in the room over another actorwho is not as proactive, your ability to doan outstanding job in the audition overanother actor that didn’t take the time toget coached, that is within your control.The other thing is you have to give yourselfpermission to succeed. If you can’t seeyourself 70 feet across up on that screen, ifyou can’t see yourself as a series regular, it’sgoing to be hard for those series of eventsto line up for you. When someone comesinto the agency, you can tell who has giventhemselves permission to be there, who hasgiven themselves permission to be success-ful, who has given themselves permissionto be a client, and who values what theybring to the table. Casting senses it imme-diately. It’s not that you go into a roombeing obnoxious or cocky, but you go inknowing that you belong.You belong in thatroom. You belong at that audition. Youbelong at that agency. And that, is such arefreshing thing to see. RR

Momentum Talent and Literary Agency6399 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1010Los Angeles, CA 90048(323) 951-1151Garry PurdyMike Baldridge

agency spotlight:momentum talent and literary agency...

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