The Agent List USA is a selected list of agents in New York and Los Angeles and their up to date contact details. We put this list together to make life a little bit easier for you when you are looking for an agent in America. This is an e-document.

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The Agent List UK 2018 is a selected list of just over 100 reputable agents, co-operative agencies and voice over agents in the UK and their up to date contact details. We put together this list to help make life a little bit easier for you. This is an e-document.

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Jane Pessoa Q looking for 6 actors for a rehearsed reading as part of Arcola’s Playwrought festival (a week-long festival of new writing) in February.

A new free download full of all the top tips from industry professionals including Casting Directors, Screen Directors, Stage Directors and Agents. Get yours now.

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Please note: the dates for this course has changed. 

We’re really excited to release our new course; Nailing The American Accent – Course & Recording Session.

Always wanted to land an American role? Well it’s another year and another chance to land that guest role in an American film or series. And with our help, you’ll ready for the call.

This is a four week course consisting of 3 hour weekly sessions ending in a professional recording session, where you get the chance to record material for your Spotlight page and/or Voicereel.

Listen to some of voice clips from our previous courses by clicking on the headshots below!

Course details below.

This 4-week course will explore the ‘General American’ Accent and how actors can learn to speak and act in the accent without self-consciousness or exaggeration. The course will be a combination of group work and individual instruction, with special focus on the physical actions needed to speak comfortably and accurately. Key exercises and activities will be focused on the sound, rhythm, and oral-posture shifts found in the accent and show how these shifts can help your acting work, rather than hinder it.

This course will be rigorous and require plenty of work and practice outside of the weekly sessions.  (It will also be great fun too!)

This course is limited to 12 actors only. 

Dates
Tuesday 6th March
Tuesday 13th March
(One week break)                                                                                                        

Tuesday 27th March
Tuesday 3rd April
Saturday 7th April (recording session)

Times
Workshop times: 6.30pm – 9.30pm
Recording session time TBC

Week One – The Basics
What do we need to do to sound ‘Generally American’? Also, what does that even mean?  We explore the Top Ten Giveaways for actors working in US accents, and how to avoid them at all costs. This session will have a  technical focus, building knowledge and skills that will then be applied to text and/or improvisation.
 
Week Two – Step-Up
In this session you will continue to apply and develop what you have learnt so far through a lot of text and/or improvisation work. You will also begin individual work on the speech/monologue that you would like to record.
 
Week Three – Text & Technique
Speeches/monologues are to be memorised for this session and ready to be rigorously worked through.

Week Four – Performance Conditions
How do you keep doing good accent work while acting well? What do you do when everything goes wrong? In this last workshop session, you will have monologues performance ready for the recording session and will be coached in not only the technicalities of the accents, but how the accent work can help your acting choices. 
 
Week 5 – Recording Session
Actors will have a 20 minute professional recording session where they will record a 30-45 second speech that matches their casting and showcases their General American Accent. This will then be professionally edited and sound balanced, and sent to you within 7 working days for you to use as a professional voice clip  on your Spotlight page or as part of a voice reel. 

Carter Bellaimey is a US-native Dialect Coach based in London. He has a BFA in Acting from Rutgers University and a MA in Sociocultural Linguistics from Goldsmiths University. He has been coaching professionally since university where he trained in standard and regional UK dialects at Shakespeare’s Globe and has been working with clients in London since moving back two years ago. He specialises in teaching actors from the UK American dialects (General American, Southern States [Rhotic/Non-Rhotic], New York, Boston, and The Midwest). He has coached actors from TV series such as Broadchurch and The Get Down; and theatrical productions such as War Horse (Lincoln Center), Thriller (UK National Tour), Dream Girls (West-End Premier), Antigone (The National Theatre).

Please take a minute to read our Terms and Conditions

“The best thing about this workshop is how well Carter catered to everyones specific needs and flaws when it came to the accent. He taught us how to sound natural and showed us examples of how there isn’t one specific way of doing a General American accent. He boosted my confidence and a timely American audition came just as the workshop came to an end. Actors Ascend always provide good workshops with substance that sharpen your skill set :)”

KIKE BRIMAH

“Thanks to Ascend Actors for running this. The course was useful and enjoyable, with a supportive atmosphere created by the team (producer, tutor, and students). The recording session at the end was great to have as a focus throughout without being a pressure or distraction. Definitely recommend. “

EVE PARMITER

Casting Workshop with Finnian Tweed (Gary Davy Casting, BBC)

Being cast in a soap is an actors dream! Finally a steady job doing what you love that pays well!

But as we all know these auditions are like gold dust. So to help you get in the door,  we have brought you this new casting workshop with a fresh new face from the BBC’s Casting Department; Finnian Tweed.

Finnian likes to make his casting workshops as fun, friendly and productive as possible, getting to know each and every actors through their work. Finnian will asks participants to prepare a contemporary scene and will offer feedback and direction. 

Finnian Tweed has worked with some of the leading casting directors in the UK on a number of major film, theatre and television projects. Prior to working in casting he worked as an agent’s assistant for an emerging talent agency and then at Rossmore Management looking after an exciting roster of acting talent.

Shakespeare & Audition Workshop

We are truly thrilled to announce our first workshop with Director Zoe Ford (currently at the National Theatre working on The Lehman Trilogy as an Associate Director with remarkable Sam Mendes). 

Auditioning for a role in a Shakespeare play can be slightly daunting, even if you have the experience and training. This new workshop with director Zoe Ford aims to empower actors by sharing the tools she uses in her rehearsal room everyday; tools that will help unpick the technical and emotional requirements of the text.  This workshop is a chance to rediscover, sharpen and strengthen your Shakepeare in a way you have never done before.

Participants should come to the workshop with a short Shakespearian monologue to work on.

Zoe Ford is currently at the National Theatre working on The Lehman Trilogy as an Associate Director with remarkable Sam Mendes. Previous work includes; Octavia, Anthony & Cleopatra and Earthworks (all for the RSC), Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Teddy Ferrara and The Vote (all for the Donmar Warehouse and Henry V (Regents Park Theatre).

Consistently working in West End theatre is a great career track and gets you seen by all the right Casting Directors and Directors without even knowing it!  But getting the actual gig can be extremely hard, it may even seem impossible at times; but it’s not. We believe that opportunity will knock and when it does, we want you to be prepared for it.    

This workshop with the lovely Zoe Ford, is a theatre audition technique workshop. It aims to give you the tools and information you need to give a great audition and leave the Director and/or Casting Director with the right impression.

Zoe Ford has just finished working at the National Theatre on The Lehman Trilogy as an Associate Director with remarkable Sam Mendes. Previous work includes; Octavia, Anthony & Cleopatra and Earthworks (all for the RSC), Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Teddy Ferrara and The Vote (all for the Donmar Warehouse) and Henry V (Regents Park Theatre).

We are excited to introduce our new General American Accent refresher class with our favourite accent coach, Carter Bellaimey.

This three hour class is designed to re-energise and fine tune your all important American accent. We all know practise makes perfect, and unless you’re in America or an American show, it’s hard to keep the accent fresh and authentic. American self taps are coming in thick and fast, and we want to help you stay audition ready, so when the opportunity comes, you are well prepared.  

This class is for actors who or are comfortable working in the American accent.

In this class different American scenes and sides will be used and there will be a mixture of group and individual work. 

Carter Bellaimey is a US-native Dialect Coach based in London. He has a BFA in Acting from Rutgers University and a MA in Sociocultural Linguistics from Goldsmiths University. He has been coaching professionally since university where he trained in standard and regional UK dialects at Shakespeare’s Globe and has been working with clients in London since moving back two years ago. He specialises in teaching actors from the UK American dialects (General American, Southern States [Rhotic/Non-Rhotic], New York, Boston, and The Midwest). He has coached actors from TV series such as Broadchurch and The Get Down; and theatrical productions such as War Horse (Lincoln Center), Thriller (UK National Tour), Dream Girls (West-End Premier), Antigone (The National Theatre).

Back by popular demand! Acting in a TV show is a goal for many actors, and we would like to help you reach this goal.

This is why we have put together another workshop with Director Jermain Julien. This workshop aims to shed light on the TV auditioning process, leaving you well informed about both the external and internal factors that govern who gets chosen for a role.  Whilst going through scenes, Jermain will also dive into his preferred audition technique and give advice on what preparation he believes an actor should do before an audition.

Scenes will be given to actors a couple days before the workshop to prepare.

JERMAIN JULIEN is a television drama director with a strong, cinematic eye.   His credits include  “Death in Paradise”, “Holby City” (core director), “Casualty”, “Wolfblood’”, and the “The Dumping Ground”.  View his showreel here. 

Please read our terms and conditions before booking.

Working in the West End is great, but working in regional theatre is where an actor can really build their craft without the West End performance anxiety and pressure! The Royal Exchange, Salisbury Playhouse and Theatre Royal Bath, are great regional theatres producing exceptional work and providing numerous actors with great theatre experience that can open doors here in London.

This workshop with Gareth Machin (Artistic Director of Salisbury Playhouse) is a welcomed breath of fresh air. Putting away the chairs and reclaiming the workshop space as a rehearsal room, Gareth aims to collectively explore a play through scene work and theatre audition technique. You’ll think your back a Drama School for a minute! 

The class will work on a play that Gareth will send to the class to read before hand.

Gareth Machin is the Artistic Director of Salisbury Playhouse. Previously he was Associate Director at the National Theatre, Artistic Director of Southwark Playhouse and Associate Director at Bristol Old Vic.

This workshop is sold out. Please email us at [email protected] to put your name on the waiting list.

Working in TV

Reclaiming the TV Audition – How to Combat Nerves – 

It’s common and okay to be nervous in a TV audition. Nerves can come from all sorts of places and reasons, but dont let nerves be the reason you dont get the job. But when the nerves take over and do not allow you to give your best performance, that’s when we need to worry!

No matter how long the audition is, it is your time to shine. To show the Director who you are, your opinions of the script and also your acting skill and that you can take direction. Don’t be nervous, be excited!

This new workshop with experienced screen Director Christiana Ebohon-Green aims to give actors more confidence by working with a well established screen Director. Actors will work on improving their screen audition technique by understanding what exactly a Director needs to see from an actor in order to choose them for the role. Scripts will be used in this workshop.

The most common TV auditions nowadays are for guest roles; guest roles that can last a day, a week or even months. Having guest roles on your CV shows that you are a consistent and solid screen actor, and can lead to a successful screen career. But as we all know, consistently booking screen roles is not an easy task!  

This new workshop with experienced screen Director Christiana Ebohon-Green aims to give actors the chance to work with a well established screen Director in order to improve their screen acting skills, audition technique and to understand what exactly a Director needs to see from an actor in order to specifically choose them for the role.

Christiana Ebohon-Green is an award winning drama Director, with fifteen years experience in the industry. She has just finished directing two episodes of Grantchester (ITV) and The Mallorca Files (BBC One).  She has directed many episodes of the most watched BBC, ITV and Channel 4 TV shows on our screens. Her credits include Father Brown (BBC), Doctors (BBC), Eastenders (BBC), Emmerdale (ITV) and Hollyoaks (Channel 4). 

We are excited to announce our first General American Accent class of 2019, with our favourite accent coach, Carter Bellaimey.

We all know that we are in pilot season; therefore having your best American accent ready for that audition or self tape is a must.

This three hour workshop is designed to boost your technical skills and fluency in speaking General American easily, without self-consciousness or exaggeration. The workshop will be a combination of group work and individual instruction. Key exercises and activities will focus on the basic sound, rhythm, and oral-posture shifts found in the accent, and show how these shifts can help your acting work in the audition, rather than hinder it.

No background in speech work, accents, or phonetics is necessary. All skill levels are welcome.

In this class different American scenes and sides will be used and there will be a mixture of group and individual work.

Carter Bellaimey is a US-native Dialect Coach based in London. He has a BFA in Acting from Rutgers University and a MA in Sociocultural Linguistics from Goldsmiths University. He has been coaching professionally since university where he trained in standard and regional UK dialects at Shakespeare’s Globe and has been working with clients in London since moving back two years ago. He specialises in teaching actors from the UK American dialects (General American, Southern States [Rhotic/Non-Rhotic], New York, Boston, and The Midwest). He has coached actors from TV series such as Broadchurch and The Get Down; and theatrical productions such as War Horse (Lincoln Center), Thriller (UK National Tour), Dream Girls (West-End Premier), Antigone (The National Theatre).

CASTING FROM BOTH SIDES – ‘WORKING IN TV’

Whether it’s for Netflix or for Channel 4, working in TV is a goal for many actors and we are determined to help you reach that goal. Drumroll please…

For the first time this year, we are really excited to introduce a new screen acting workshop with new Director, Dean Smith. Dean has directed an episode of Hollyoaks and has worked with other production companies including Netflix. He also has a unique perspective as a Director as he is also a professional working Actor, which brings a very unique fusion of experience and knowledge to this one-off workshop. 

Being able to navigate the TV casting audition and the actual TV job is a real skill; a skill that keeps you working. This new workshop with Director and Actor Dean Smith aims to develop that skill.

In this workshop, TV scenes will be used to refine audition technique and screen acting technique, allowing Dean to provide bespoke feedback on technical acting notes from a Director and an Actor’s perspective.

Dean Smith is a professional Director and Actor. His directing credits includes work for Hollyoaks (Channel 4) and Netfllix. His acting credits includes The Last Kingdom (BBC America), The Village (BBC), The Last Tango in Halifax (BBC), and regular reappearances in Doctors (BBC).

Working in TV & Film is a goal for most actors and this workshop is aimed to help you reach that goal.

This workshop with one of the most experienced TV and Film Casting Directors, Ben Cogan, aims to shed light on the casting process and provide you with useful tools to improve your audition technique in order to book the job.

Ben will explain how the casting process works and the most common pitfalls that actors fall into. He will also discuss how to approach and prepare for an audition, perform within it and essentially how to embrace and enjoy it! The workshop will also involve the actors performing a selection of scenes, receiving direction and constructive advice, and will end with a Q+A session.’

Ben Cogan has worked in casting for 19 years. He began as a Casting Assistant for many shows (including EastEnders, Holby City and Waking the Dead) before becoming the Casting Director for Doctors in 2002. 380 episodes later, Ben moved to Casualty, and, in his time there, 6 episodes that he worked on were recognised with BAFTA nominations. During this period he also worked on the Afternoon Play series, Kiss of Death and various short films – one of which (Wish 143) was nominated for an Oscar. Ben is now a freelance Casting Director having cast feature film Just Charlie (Winner of the Edinburgh Film Festival Audience Award), Trendy (nominated for Raindance) and Amaryllis as well as award winning short films , Apple Tree House for CBeebies, additional child roles with Tom Hooper on Jack Thorne’s BBC adaptation of Philip Pulman’s His Dark Materials and is about to begin work on the feature film: Witch West.

Working with Louis is always a pleasure for Ascend. His wealth of experience is jaw dropping and, I mean, is there a venue Louis hasn’t worked with?

Having worked as an Actor, Agent and now Casting Director, Louis Hammond CDG brings his unique perspective and understanding of an actor’s life to this new workshop.

This workshop offers the opportunity to work with a well established and experienced theatre Casting Director within an honest and supportive environment.  Through scene work and discussion, this workshop aims to give you the practical skills and advice needed to put your best foot forward at a local, regional and/or west end theatre casting.  

Your Spotlight CV will be sent to Louis before the workshop and based on your casting, Louis will hand out appropriate scenes to work on in the workshop, giving you enough time to prepare for a cold read. You will receive honest feedback and advice within a supportive environment. The workshop will conclude with a question and answer section, where advice will be given on how to approach relationships with agents, casting directors and directors, and how to make the most of auditions, with a particular emphasis on theatre. 
 
LOUIS HAMMOND CDG
Theatre includes: Barber Shop Chronicles (Roundhouse/UK Tour/BAM New York); The 5 Plays Project (Young Vic); Beautiful Thing, Macbeth (Tobacco Factory, Bristol); Heroine, Kanye the First (HighTide Festival); The Sugar-Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie (Arcola/HighTide Festival); Inkheart (HOME Manchester); The Distance (Sheffield Crucible/Orange Tree Richmond); Romeo and Juliet (Sheffield Crucible); Harrogate (HighTide Festival/Royal Court); Creditors (Young Vic); The Funfair (HOME Manchester); Primetime, Violence and Son, Who Cares, Fireworks (all as Casting Associate at the Royal Court); Romeo and Juliet (HOME Manchester); Amadeus (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Winter’s Tale (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); The History Boys (Sheffield Crucible); Driving Miss Daisy (UK Tour); Batman Live (World Arena Tour), The Trial of Dennis The Menace (Southbank Centre); The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Liverpool Playhouse/Nottingham Playhouse); Blue/Orange (Arcola); Von Ribbentrop’s Watch (UK Tour); Mrs Reynolds and The Ruffian, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Absent Friends (all Watford Palace); All My Sons (Curve, Leicester); 50th Anniversary Season of 50 Rehearsed Readings, Caryl Churchill Season, International Residencies and new writers’ Rough Cuts presentations (all Royal Court); The Member of the Wedding, Dirty Butterfly, The Indian Wants the Bronx (all Young Vic); Loot (Tricycle Theatre); Blowing Whistles (Leicester Square Theatre); Testing the Echo (Tricycle Theatre/Out of Joint Tour); The Importance of Being Earnest (UK Tour/Vaudeville); Donkeys’ Years (UK Tour); Rock’n’Roll (Royal Court/Duke of York’s), Jus’ Like That (Garrick).
 
Head of Casting at The Bill (Thames TV); films include Arsene Lupin, Ne Quittez Pas, Beyond Re-Animator, and Mirrormask.

Louis Hammond is a member of the Casting Directors’ Guild of Great Britain and Ireland.

Rick Laxton aka The Screen Casting Director

From guest roles to leads, from soaps to dramas, Rick has cast it all; he has a wealth of screen casting experience that can whip even the least experienced actor into shape.

We all know that getting in the casting room is tricky but once you show the Casting Director that you’re a reliable and versatile actor, they’ll want to show you off to Screen Directors over and over again! Then, you’re well on your way to a career in TV!

This workshop aims to work on the actor’s versatility in the casting room through strengthening the various ways of approaching different types, and sometimes challenging, guest roles in productions. This is to ensure whatever screen castings you get this year, you can confidently put your best foot forward to get the role.

A variety of scripts will be given out in the workshop for actors to work on.

Rick Laxton is a freelance Casting Director and a member of the CDG.  Rick is currently casting projects for BBC1 and Amazon Prime, his other freelance credits include ‘Peter Kay’s Car Share’ for BBC, ‘Crown Court’ for ITV and ‘The Evermoor Chronicles’ for Disney.  He was Head of Casting at Lime Pictures from 2010 to 2015, where his credits included ‘Hollyoaks’, ‘Rocket’s Island’, ‘The Case’ and ‘House of Anubis’.  Before that, Rick worked in the ITV casting department for seven years, working on shows such as ‘The Street’, ‘Vincent’, ‘Coronation Street’, ‘Blue Murder’ and ‘The Road to Coronation Street’.

THIS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19

The TV audition is the annoying but necessary part of being a regular working TV actor. For some, auditions are easy and breezing, but for others it can be the reason why their TV career isn’t taking off, not their talent. 

This new workshop with experienced Screen Director Christiana Ebohon-Green  aims to prepare actors for a real TV audition. Christiana aims to share the secret do’s and don’ts of the TV audition while improving your screen audition technique; so when the real audition comes, you’ll be ready. Practise makes perfect! 

Prepared scripts will be used in this workshop.  

THIS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19

Working in Serial Drama is a great acting gig and is a goal for many actors, but how many are actually prepared for it? 

This workshop aims to prepare you for working in a TV series. Through discussion and practical scene work, you will learn about what is expected from a booked actor on set as a guest, semi-regular and series regular. They do say luck is preparation meeting opportunity, so let’s get prepared!

Prepared scripts will be used in this workshop.

Steve Finn is a TV Series Director and has just finished directing episodes for Coronation Street (ITV).  He has directed over 164 episodes for Eastenders and has worked with the show since 1992. Other Directing credits include Coronation Street (ITV), Holby City (BBC), Casulaty (BBC), Hollyoaks (Channel 4) and The Bill (ITV).

.Please take a minute to read our Terms and Conditions