At Get Repped, we help actors with their outreach to agents and casting directors with personalised professional career advice. In doing this, we’ve identified some common pitfalls that prevent talented actors from securing meetings. In this article I want to address these mistakes and provide practical advice to help you craft cover letters that actually get read and more importantly, get responses.
The Golden Rule: Professional, Concise, Structured
Your cover letter is an agent's first impression of you as a professional. Before they see your showreel or click through to your Spotlight, they're reading your words and forming judgments about your professionalism, communication skills, and career awareness.
The cardinal rule for any agent or casting director submission is to keep your email professional, concise, and well-structured. Agents receive hundreds of submissions weekly they simply don't have time to read lengthy, rambling emails. Your goal is to provide just enough compelling information to make them want to learn more about you.
Paragraph One: Your Introduction
Start with a brief introduction covering who you are, your training background, and your casting type. This should be no more than two to three sentences.
My name is Kieran, a London-born actor with Irish heritage. I graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2012 and have worked mainly in TV and Film.
Keep it simple and direct. Don't be afraid to state clearly why you're making contact, whether you're introducing yourself, have identified a gap in their roster you could fill, or simply admire their work and would love to be represented by them. Transparency and honesty read as professionalism.
Paragraph Two: Your Credits and Experience
This is where many actors make critical mistakes. Your second paragraph should highlight your credits and experience.
Always include the distribution company or venue. There are thousands of production companies, and agents can easily overlook credits they don't recognize. If your work appeared on Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, BBC, ITV, or Sky, state that explicitly. For theatre credits, lead with the venue rather than the play title, agents recognize prestigious venues immediately and you are doing yourself a disservice not to include them. It’s great that you study craft and method acting but agents want to know one thing… that you work.
I have worked across theatre and television for companies including Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC, ITV, Sky, RSC/Barbican Centre, Southwark Playhouse, Bush Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre, and Bill Kenwright Productions.
Format matters. Put key details in bold such as credits so they stand out during a quick scan. Agents are speed-reading your email, make the impressive information impossible to miss.
Suspect Spotlight Credits
One of the most frequent issues we see at Get Repped is a bit of a disconnect between credits and showreel. An actor lists major film or television credits, but when the agent clicks through to their showreel, that footage is nowhere to be found, or in some cases, the showreel looks self-filmed and unprofessional.
Honesty is always the best policy. If you were hired for a production but your part was cut, list it as "uncredited." If you only had one line, that's perfectly acceptable, include it in your showreel. What doesn't work is claiming significant credits you can't demonstrate through professional footage.
Under no circumstances should you list extra work as acting credits. This is an immediate red flag. Agents can spot inconsistencies between CVs and showreels instantly, and attempting to misrepresent your experience will damage your credibility permanently.
If you don't yet have a professional showreel that showcases your best work, consider including recent self-tapes instead:
Attached is a self-tape for a recent high-profile series where I reached the final two in the casting process.
This demonstrates you're actively auditioning for quality work and shows. If you signed an NDA for the audition do not share it with anyone.
Tone and Personality: Finding the Balance
There's often a temptation to make your cover letter "stand out" by injecting personality or humor. We've seen cover letters that begin with phrases like "Welcome to the wacky world of..." or other attempts at quirky openings.
Don't do this. It reads as unprofessional and virtually guarantees an agent will stop reading immediately. Remember, agents are looking for actors they can trust to represent professionally in the industry. Your cover letter is your first impression to that agent, make sure they take you seriously.>
That said, you don't need to sound like a corporate drone either. Write clearly and naturally, but maintain a professional, respectful tone throughout. Think of it as how you'd speak to a respected industry professional you've just met at a networking event, friendly but not overfamiliar, confident but not presumptuous.
Links: Less is More
When including links to your materials, quality and selectivity matter more than quantity. Lead with your Spotlight or IMDb profile, followed by your showreel, and then your most professional social media presence if relevant.
Three links maximum. Any more than this and you're cluttering the email, which makes it harder to navigate and reduces the likelihood an agent will click through at all. If you have a personal website, that can replace one of the three, but choose your links strategically.
Remember, the goal of your cover letter isn't to tell agents everything about you, it's to pique their interest enough that they want to click through to your Spotlight and explore your full profile. Give them just enough information to create curiosity.
Paragraph Three: Call to Action and Additional Value
Your final paragraph should include a clear call to action and any additional details that strengthen your application.
If you have an upcoming show, invite the agent to attend. If you're open to meeting for coffee to discuss potential collaboration, say so. This shows confidence and proactivity without being pushy.
This is also the place to mention any additional skills or experiences that complement your acting career and could boost your application. Perhaps you're also a writer with an optioned screenplay, a skilled puppeteer, a professional stunt performer, or an accomplished horse rider. Include details that genuinely add value, not just hobbies, but professional-level skills that could expand your casting opportunities.
The Follow-Up Strategy
Here's where many actors give up prematurely. You've written your letter, sent it off, and heard nothing back. What now?
Following up is not only acceptable, it's often necessary. Agents are extraordinarily busy. They may have read your email and intended to respond but forgotten, or your submission may have been buried under dozens of others. A polite follow-up demonstrates persistence, professionalism, and genuine interest.
When following up, maintain the same professional, concise approach. Perhaps your circumstances have changed, you've received offers from other agents but this agency is your first choice. Or your show is coming up and you'd like to leave tickets at the box office for them. Give them a specific reason to re-engage with your submission.
Remember, no one is ging to advocate for your career if they don't know you exist. I think at drama schools and when starting out we all have that hope that we will that 1% whose career skyrockets. Realistically the acting industry is a hustle for most actors and you have to be your own manger. Don’t be afraid to be clear in what you want and be forward.
Luckily Get Repped has got your back
One of the most challenging aspects of traditional agent submissions is the uncertainty. Did they even see your email? Did they open it? Did they click through to your materials?
This is where Get Repped's email tracking becomes invaluable. Our platform shows you exactly which agents opened your email and which links they clicked. This removes all guesswork from your follow-up strategy.
If an agent opened your email and clicked through to your Spotlight but didn't respond, that's a clear signal they're at least somewhat interested, a polite follow-up could be exactly the nudge they need. If an agent didn't open your email at all, you know to try a different approach or contact another agent at that agency.
This data-driven approach eliminates the anxiety of wondering whether your submission was even seen. You can focus your energy on strategic follow-ups with agents who've shown genuine engagement with your materials.
Additional Best Practices
Research Before You Submit: Don't send generic cover letters to every agent you can find. Use the Get Repped database to easily click through to websites and client rosters. If they already have three actors exactly like you, they probably don't need a fourth. Target agencies where you could genuinely fill a gap. Have different templates ready for different approaches, don’t use one blank agent template, experiment and see what works best for you.
Address Agents by Name: Never use "Dear Sir/Madam" or "To Whom It May Concern." If you can't find a specific agent's name, do more research. Personalized emails get significantly higher response rates. Again, Get Repped does all this for you, all you need to focus on is writing your email which shows you in the best light.
Timing Matters: Send submissions during business hours on weekdays, ideally Tuesday through Thursday. Avoid Monday mornings when inboxes are overflowing and Friday afternoons when people are winding down for the weekend. I have always found midweek evenings are a good time to send so it’s there at the top of their emails in the morning.
What Agents Actually Want
Industry professionals consistently emphasize what they're really looking for in cover letters: clarity, professionalism, and evidence that you understand your place in the market.
Agents want to know your type, see proof you're working (or actively pursuing work), and understand why you'd be a valuable addition to their roster. They're not looking for lengthy explanations of your childhood dreams or your passion for acting, they assume you're passionate or you wouldn't be pursuing this career.
They want actors who are realistic about their level, honest about their experience, and professional in their approach. Your cover letter should demonstrate all three qualities within 200-300 words maximum.
Final Thoughts: Persistence with Professionalism
Securing agent representation is rarely a one-email process. It requires strategic research, professional presentation, and persistent follow-up. Most importantly, it requires treating yourself as a business that provides a valuable service, because that's exactly what you are.
Your cover letter isn't just an introduction; it's a demonstration of how you'll represent yourself (and by extension, your agent) in the industry. Approach it with the same preparation and professionalism you'd bring to an audition, because in many ways, that's exactly what it is.
The actors who succeed in securing representation aren't necessarily the most talented, they're the ones who combine talent with strategic thinking, professional presentation, and the persistence to follow through. Your cover letter is where you prove you possess all three qualities.
Take the time to craft it properly, research your targets carefully, and follow up strategically. With the right approach and tools like Get Repped's email tracking to guide your efforts, you'll significantly increase your chances of securing that crucial first meeting.