FAQ

Do you accept onto your books everyone who applies?

We receive over 100 new applications a week. We keep those we deem suitable on file and will contact you when we have our auditions. Please bear with us to email you a response to our auditions. It may take us a couple of months to let you know if you have been invited or not to our auditions. We hold them ever February and August.

How do I find out more about the auditions?

The agency auditions are not “open auditions”. Top Talent will only invite children who they feel they can market and feel have a look that can work for them. So your child may not be invited to the auditions, but please make sure you put as much information such as skills and performance experience to back up their application. All this will help in your child being chosen to attend the auditions. After attending the auditions, not all children will be accepted on their books and it is worth preparing your child for this rejection. The standard and sheer amount of children that attend these auditions, does not allow them to take everyone on, as much as they would love to. The auditions give the children an understanding of the kind of pressure at a professional casting. This pressure is where a lot of children struggle and the main reason why they hold these auditions. To apply, please go to our JOIN US page.

What happens if I am selected to join the agency?

We will inform everyone by email if they have been selected or not after the auditions. Those that are selected to join TOP TALENT will then have to attend a photo shoot in either Manchester, Glasgow or Hertfordshire.  The fee for our photo shoot will be £100 + VAT to join the acting and/or modelling division, this is to cover the photo shoot and also an initial training workshop and will last a period of one year. More information will be explained in the acceptance letter they send you. (If you are interested in joining the Modelling division only, you still need to attend these auditions). We then charge a commssion of 23% for all child acting work and 30% for all child modelling work we get them. 

On joining TOP TALENT can you guarantee my child work?

No Agency can really guarantee you work. Once your child’s photograph is circulating it is ultimately up to our clients who they choose for each job. What we do guarantee is the fact that we only take onto our books those who we feel we can successfully place in jobs. After all, it is also our reputation on the line. It is for this reason we only select a few people.

When do castings normally take place?

Most castings do take place in London, however more and more companies and directors are seeking regional kids and there is work and castings happening in Manchester, Cardiff & Glasgow. So even If your child is not near London, they still have the opportunity to attend auditions in these cities and many productions are being filmed outside of London too. So please do apply to us, we are very interested in regional children.

Why is there a fee for the agency?

We aren’t charging a fee to join our agency. The registration fee is merely to cover the photographs essentially as these can normally cost between £100-£200 to get done by yourself. By taking lots of children’s photo’s in one day, makes the photographers rate much lower and therefore also for you. The fee covers children aged 3 – 15 years and costs £100 + VAT for a year and is primarily to cover the cost of the photos. You will also notice that we have a very professional and clean look to all our models. All are taken against a grey background and models wear a plain black t-shirt (a plain blank canvas basically for casting directors). 

I have my own website, can't you just tell clients to see me there?

No. If you are a model or actor with our agency you have to have your photos on our site. It would be extremely unprofessional of our agency and time-consuming for our clients to be directed to dozens of individual websites to find the right model for the job. In addition, our agency must maintain control over the quality of photos and the manner in which our models our represented. Clients want to book actors quickly from an established and professional agency.

I'm always hearing that you should not pay an agency to go onto their books.

Despite what people say, that agencies should not charge a fee, this only applies to model agencies, talent agencies are allowed to charge for website inclusion and photos. You will find that nearly all child agencies will charge something. It is just adult agencies that don't, as their running operation is completely different from the Children’s scene. Children's agents on the other hand organize set auditions and can also pay an audition fee. Mainly for photographic castings. Clients will also be less inclined to work with an Agency who does not supply a high quality, well presented Casting photos of their Actors and Models. At TOP TALENT our fee also covers your entry and page in the casting directory online.

Who will take the photographs?

We use renowned photographer ElbowRoom Studios for all our London & Manchester Talent. All photographers adhere to our same look and all worked extensively in the industry. We take all our folios 'in house' to provide a constant high quality and standardized layout to give it a clean and fresh look.

How will I know when a client is interested in me?

We will contact you if you have been successful in a casting. We will endeavour to get feedback as to why your child may not have got a certain job. Often, it is merely down to the look really. Do they look like the part or not?

What successes have Top Talent had?

For a full list of our credits as well as current news, please see our CREDITS PAGE.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to drop us an email at: admin@toptalentagency.co.uk