Photo by Steven St. JohnTribune

Tribune

Talent agent Marlyn Newby and photographer Martin Ryter talk with aspiring model and actress Alexandra Krizman at Maja Talent Agency in Albuquerque. The agency, which represents 125 people, receives 20 to 50 applications a week from potential clients. Only about 3 percent of those applications are accepted.

Photo by Steven St. John

Talent agent Belinda Holbrook of the Maja Talent Agency in Albuquerque talks in her office with clients Dave Bennett and Zar Horton. Agents look at specific criteria when choosing new clients. Perfect teeth and a desire to learn are perfect for someone in their 20s, while acting skills and body build are important for clients in their 30s.

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Inside Marlyn Newby's office sits Estrellita Edwell, a 14-year-old aspiring model with dreams of one day strutting down New York City catwalks.

Estrellita sits in a sparsely decorated, white-walled, yet strangely comfortable office with her mother, Roberta. They are eagerly awaiting a decision on whether the Maja Talent Agency of Albuquerque will sign her.

Newby, a talent agent, tells Estrellita to "put things in perspective."

She is, after all, only 5 feet 1 inch.

Estrellita bites her lower lip as Newby explains that casting directors don't even look at girls shorter than 5 feet 9 inches for runway modeling.

Such is the life of a talent agent, where an eye for detail - including the vibrancy of a person's smile or the quality of their posture - can make the difference between finding a star and just another wannabe.

Newby and business partner Belinda Holbrook operate one of about a dozen talent agencies in New Mexico.

It's a bustling industry locally, supported by the rising number of film, TV and commercial productions in the state - many of which come with directors looking for local talent.

Producers are enticed by the state's package of incentives - including a 25 percent rebate on the state taxes paid by a film production - and agents say they see the effects.

Holbrook says she receives 20 to 50 applications a week from potential clients, most of whom find the agency via the firm's listings in the phone book or the New Mexico Film Office's Web site (www.nmfilm.com).

The agency will only accept about 3 percent of those applications. Maja now represents about 125 talented and beautiful New Mexicans - including a few dogs.

"We are getting worse everyday," Holbrook said, about the Maja's selectivity when signing new clients.

Talent search

Vince Pulli opened his A&M Agency in Santa Fe two years ago, and now represents about 250 clients.

"Finding quality people, with quality talent, that can compete with L.A." is the greatest challenge, Pulli said.

According to Newby and Holbrook, the criteria used to choose their new clients varies depending on their age.

For potential clients in their 20s, Maja looks for people with good teeth, superior work ethic, a desire to learn teamed with ability, and an ego left at the door.

For clients in their 30s, acting skills and body build are important. For clients in their 40s and 50s, Maja looks for comedic personalities.

Once a talent is chosen, Holbrook says her job "is to package my talent properly so they don't look stupid."

Holbrook says an agent's primary job is coordinating audition times. By hiring an agent, clients avoid cattle-call auditions, she said. Instead, clients are able to schedule personal appointments with a guarantee of being seen by a casting director.

However, Holbrook does a lot more than just act as a scheduling service. She perfects r‚sum‚s, selects proper head shots, discusses wardrobe and makeup techniques, and acts as a one-woman pep squad.

"I prep and mold," she said.

Always at work

As she preps and molds one of her clients, Holbrook sips a diet soda with bubbly enthusiasm.

She used to work as a paralegal while modeling on the side. She needed an agent, and a friend recommended her to Newby.

Newby got involved in the business by acting as the agent for her daughter's modeling career. She began a modeling agency around 1998, she said.

After a few years, Holbrook gave up the modeling and paralegal work, and she decided to become an agent, joining Newby's firm in 2001.

Holbrook says she never stops working. She might get a call at 4 a.m. from someone requesting an audition with one of her clients for an appointment the same day.

She then contacts her client, downloads a copy of the script, and they start practicing the dialogue over the telephone. She said if there is time she will set up a practice scene in her office.

The Maja agency works to form a unique bond with its clients. The agency's office at 1001 Yale Blvd. S.E. is filled with laughter and jokes, as clients interact with each other.

Holbrook said these bonds make clients more comfortable when they work together on sets. Successes are felt by the entire agency, and clients congratulate each other on recent roles when they brush by each other in the halls.

Maja is one of six agencies in New Mexico bonded by the Screen Actors Guild, according to Zino Macaluso, national director of agency relations. Being bonded by SAG gives an agency access to actors signed by the union, as well as SAG-affiliated productions, which include most major films and commercials.

Macaluso says to be considered a franchised agent, a formal request on agency letterhead must be sent to the guild accompanied by a $10,000 bond and a copy of a New Mexico business license. An application is then sent to the agent, he said. The completed application is reviewed by the local SAG branch and the local SAG council. They make a recommendation, which is then reviewed by the SAG national office in Los Angeles, where officials make the final determination, Macaluso said.

An agent's take

Maja and other franchised agents are not permitted to take more than 10 percent of a clients' earnings, according to Macaluso.

Despite these rates, Holbrook, only a few years into the business, says she is still not making a profit, and it may take a couple of years to do so. She says her expenses run between $1,000 and $1,500 dollars a month.

Lynnette O'Connor, owner of the O'Agency in Albuquerque, also SAG franchised, said her income has quadrupled in the last two years, though she wouldn't provide exact figures. The O'Agency, formerly the Eaton Agency, opened before the state's recent film boom and now represents about 250 clients.

O'Connor says her clients make a base rate of about $750 a day or $2,500 a week for movie work. When the movie goes to theater, DVD and TV, the actor and agent continue to get a cut.

For commercials, O'Connor says clients will earn about $450 for the filming day, then between $30 to $3,000 a week while it runs, depending on how often the commercial runs and the size of the market.

Holbrook attributes some of her success to Breakdown Express, a computer program that connects talent to directors. O'Connor agrees that the program, which allows agents to upload a client's r‚sum‚ and head shots into a searchable database, is vital to a talent agency.

The program is only used by five agencies in the area. Gary Marsh, a Los Angeles resident who owns and developed Breakdown Express, said he is not charging New Mexico agencies for the service. He says his company does not think it's fair to charge agents for an area that has about 15 local projects a week, instead of the 400 to 500 in New York and Los Angeles per week.

The same program would cost agents about $136 a month in New York and $216 a month in Los Angeles.

Hyper, antsy and nuts

"If you are hyper, don't like to sit around and are kind of nuts, then this may be a job for you," Holbrook said.

She talks while rapidly clicking through about 500 photos on her computer to choose a new head shot for one of her actors. The one where the actor is gazing up with a sexy pout, showing just enough of his perfectly straight teeth and flawlessly tousled hair, appears to be a winner.

"I know what I'm doing," Holbrook said.

Newby goes through a back office and compiles a group of head shots, including one of a stuntman who can breathe fireballs.

Agents like Newby are willing to put in a lot of time, energy and money towards finding the next big triple-threat: someone who can act, dance and sing.

And despite her lack of height, there's still hope for Estrellita.

The aspiring model sits with perfect posture, her legs crossed revealing a pair of black leather pumps, as a smile starts to creep across her face.

Newby says that she did not ask Estrellita to come by the Maja office because she thinks Estrellita could get paid to walk in high-heels.

Instead, Newby thinks Estrellita can act.

It may take months to sign Estrellita, if the Maja Agency signs her at all. Until then, Newby and Holbrook recommend acting, dance and voice lessons - all an effort to mold Estrellita into that elusive triple-threat.

"It's a very hard world to deal with," Newby said.