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Welcome to The Vermilion Podcast, a free audio library of business strategies, creative inspiration and industry knowledge for actors, filmmakers, writers, and anyone looking to activate their creative potential. I'm Misha Calvert, a writer-director who helps artists build the careers that they dream of. I really hope that this podcast inspires you in some way. Thanks for tuning in.
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Emailing industry. This is something that a lot of people get really freaked out about. And I'm here to tell you exactly how to do it in a way that's going to get you a very good result. Whether you're emailing casting directors, agents, managers, directors, producers. We live in an era where pretty much anyone can contact anyone. Email is a great way to do this, so there's no reason not to send professional emails to
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industry gatekeepers now.
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And I just want to lay it out, kind of demystify it, maybe make it a little bit less scary and then give you a step by step of what I recommend
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for emailing people in the film and TV industry, how to do it, how not to do it. And hopefully by the end of this, you're going to feel like you can
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go straight to your computer and send an update to these very important people with absolutely no problem whatsoever.
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So the first thing that I want to
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say about emailing industry is that there is nothing wrong with sending a professional email about yourself in a professional setting. You just have to make sure it's professional, that's all. But these people get thousands of emails a day, and it's part of their job to understand who is working, who is doing what, who's booking what.
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Keeping track of actors in the industry. So
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Your job is to make sure that they know who you are, and part of their job is to know who you are. So it's a symbiotic relationship. You just have to make sure that what you're sending to them is additive, and not taking up a lot of time and energy for no reason.
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So that
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being said, I like to say two emails a year maximum. This is a big general update on what you've booked. Anything exciting you're working on? Upcoming projects, new footage, new headshots? Never send an email that has nothing important to say, nothing substantiative like, you know, if you're just saying “Hello.” If you don't know these people don't do that.
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They get thousands of emails a day. So we want to make sure that you're putting something noteworthy or remarkable in this email. But that being said, two emails a year is good. Even one email a year, zero emails a year is not good. I would say 3 to 4 general emails a year is too many. Typically they're going to remember you.
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Even if it's just once a year, they're probably going to remember you. And every six months, I wouldn't push it beyond that unless, unless you have a project that's so big that it's in Variety or Deadline or Hollywood Reporter. But in that case, you're probably going to see the article anyway or someone's going to be talking about you.
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So I kind of think at that point you don't need to be doing your own outreach. You can just let the press speak for itself, or let your reps speak for you, or let your publicist speak for you. So I say two emails a year that are coming from you.
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Do not use AI to write these emails. Repeat.
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Do not use AI to write these emails. Why? Because there is a time in the beginning where people were first using AI to write stuff and like this new digital, super smart voice was sort of born at that time. And, you know, it's been about a year. AI has been writing copywriting for about a year, and by now people are catching on to the voice of AI, the voice of ChatGPT, of
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whatever program that you're using to write these emails.
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And casting directors, agents, managers, they don't want an email written by AI. They can tell they're not stupid, and they've read enough emails by now that they can tell when your pitch email is written by AI, even if it's just a first draft. Like sometimes I can tell when someone first drafted it with AI and then rewrote it later, I can tell.
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And so I think if I can tell, then some of them are going to be able to tell as well. Now why is that bad? Because
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They are getting a lot more incoming than you are most likely. So look, everyone's equal special.
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But in this context, they're really not. They're more special than you. Why supply demand? It's just market 101.
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they're in a position to offer you work. You want work? They have a scarce resource. You need to make them feel special because they are special. So how do you do that? Well, you certainly don't let a robot do the outreach for you.
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You want to take your human hand and your human voice and your unique personality. You want them to feel that you took the time. You invested the time to write
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this email that's going to make them like you. Also, literally, you're trying to form a connection with these people. It's not just get what you want out of it.
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You want to form a connection so that you can build on this relationship over time. Also, I just has a weird way of writing stuff,
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I was just cast in a film and,
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I'm pretty sure they took a script that was in a foreign language and then translated it with AI into English. It was pretty evident to me that I had had at least some part in the writing of this script.
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And to be honest, it was the worst script I've ever read. Now, look, I was getting paid to be there as an actor. I wanted to help out my friend who was directing it. It was a great experience. But the voice that I write with is weird. So why would you take these extremely important emails and let a robot do it?
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You want to put your own voice on it. As far as length. Short is sweet. Less is more. I think if you can get it done in three sentences, great. Three sentences is great. Plus a closer. If you have to do more, I would go up to five sentences. I would really, really try not to do more than five.
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Unknown
Why? Well, I can tell you, you know I run a company, Vermilion, duh. I'm also making my films, and I'm not even as busy as some of these people. And there's times in my day where I do not have an extra five seconds. I'm in the middle of doing something. I'm like, answering emails on my way to get a glass of water because I haven't drunk water in like four hours.
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I do not have an extra five seconds. So if this email is too long, whatever email I'm reading and it's like not getting to the point, there's a good chance I'm not ever going to pay attention or respond. I'm not even that busy, and that's how I am. So I can't imagine how it is for these. Some of these casting directors and agents, like they will get 2000 emails in a day.
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And I've heard them say their goal is Inbox zero, meaning they're just trying to clear out their inbox down to zero every single day. Now that ain't me. But can you imagine? Like they're trying to read every email as fast as possible? If you have six extra sentences in there.
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Those six sentences are probably not going to get read.
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So you really want to get to the point. Three sentences if you can. Now, as far as getting their full email read and replied to there's an art to this and you're really delivering a series of pitches. Some people think that
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the pitch is the body of the email. No, the pitch starts with the subject line. The subject line is the first hurdle that you have to clear, because if you don't have a subject line that's going to make them want to open it, there's a chance that they won't open it.
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Imagine they're getting 2000 emails a day. What makes them want to open yours? Now, when I work with my clients, I help them write these subject lines, and I help them write these pitch
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emails so that it really is quite effective. When I work with people, so what I can say is that every subject line is different and that you want to not be too cute.
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You also don't want to be too vague. It's okay to let them know why you're emailing. It's okay to signpost, but don't
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be like, I want you to call
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me in.
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they know that. They know while you're writing them. Most likely. Now, if you want to clarify, for example, I had a client recently who got her first major audition for a TV show, and she got it by reading the breakdown.
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The breakdown was that you needed to look like one of the A-list actors who's in the show. So the subject line
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that she used was, I look like name of A-list actor. That was it. And they called her in immediately. She also did really look like that actor, and she was also perfect for the show. Just the look, the tone, the vibe, the energy.
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So that worked for her in that instance. But the thing that is going to work for you is probably going to be very different. And basically, if you think about it like they have a problem, what is their problem? They're trying to cast this role. They're trying to cast a show or they aren't making enough money from their current roster.
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So they need to make more money. And so that's why they should hire bring. That's why they should bring you onto the roster. Think of them as having problems and you being the solution to the problem. And you need to do the mental labor to figure out how am I there. The solution to their problem that they're having.
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And can I communicate that in like seven words or less in the subject line? The answer is yes, probably. You probably can, but you do need to do the thinking for them. Why? Because they don't have time to think.
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So once you have a bang in subject line, the next hurdle that you have to clear is the first sentence.
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The first sentence is critical. If they get past the subject line and they don't get past the first sentence, they're not going to keep reading. They're just too busy. So what does that first sentence have to do?
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Two options in my opinion. You can cut straight to the chase
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if you think that you really are the perfect thing for the burning hair on fire problems they have right now. You can just be like,
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“I'm the solution to your problem. This is the evidence why.” But if it's a general update or a general introduction, you can make it about them.
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You can make it about them. People love to talk in here about themselves. So I would make it personal. I would see what have they cast that I've absolutely loved, who's on their roster that I absolutely love
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or what?
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shows have the other clients in the agency been on? Is there an interview that this
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person did that you can watch like a minute of and, and call, you know, reference in that first sentence?
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“You were so well-spoken in your interview at the SAG Awards. I just love what you had to say about da da da da da”
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You don't want to go on and on because that gets kind of creepy weird. But I do think that people hearing a genuine compliment is going to be such a nice change of pace to a lot of the other emails that are coming in that day.
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So once you've got a winning first sentence, then you can get to the point why are you here? Okay, you want one ask per email. So if the ask is let's say it's an introduction email, your ask is for you to for them to review your materials and to call you in for something specific. So you'll include the materials and you'll want to position yourself in the pitch as being perfect for a specific project that they're casting.
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And if you don't know what they're casting, call number one. Look. Look harder. Right. You can find out a lot of this on the internet. And if you absolutely can't find anything that they're casting, look at the kinds of things they've cast in the past and position yourself as being perfect for one of those kinds of projects. So what you don't want to say is, “I'd love to be a reader.”
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“I'd love to come in for you.” “I'd love to take you for a coffee if you don't have anything for me.” Now that is two. That's three asks. That's like two too many. Also, asking for a coffee cold is like a little, only a very few circumstances. What I recommend that most of the time it's can you solve a problem for them by coming in for something that they're casting, or by being the kind of actor who makes money for their reps.
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So that's the body of this pitch. Again, you only have a couple sentences to do this. So you want to make the one ask and then give them evidence, very succinct evidence, why you're the perfect person to make that ask or to fulfill the problem that they're trying to solve right now. Now you definitely are going to want to double check everything in this email.
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You're going to want to double check that the name matches the email.
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If you write the wrong name, they may actually get angry. They may get pissed. Cause they'll feel disrespected. They'll feel like you were sloppy, like you didn't take the time to actually know who you were writing to.
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I did that early in my career as an actor with one person. she reacted so badly, so rude and mean to me because of my stupid mistake. So just be really careful to make sure you get the name right. You also want no typos. You want zero typos in this email. You want zero spelling mistakes. You want to make sure there's no spare spaces, no spare commas.
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Like it should look pretty much flawless because it is a very important professional email.
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One thing I forgot to say so with the body text you can be funny, especially if you're a comedian. If you're in comedy, you probably should try to throw in a couple jokes,
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Don't be too cute.
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I've heard a lot of actors say
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I'm the perfect person that you've been looking for your whole life just to make your projects finally take off.
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And, you know, maybe you didn't have a hit last time, but you will. This time. Like, no, don't. Don't be so presumptuous.
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This is a professional email, and you definitely don't want to come off as arrogant or presumptuous. I think humility is great. Don't apologize in the email like you have nothing to apologize for.
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But,
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there's this middle ground where you're confident without being arrogant, and you're not to, like, cutesy, kitschy, you know, corny. Also, bullet points are fine if you just want to get through your accomplishments as, an actor and you don't want to put it in a bunch of sentences, bullet points are great. Agents love that. So don't be afraid of a bullet point.
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Unknown
Then finally, we come to the closer. It can be really simple. Now, I personally hate “Best,”. Just “Best comma”. “Best” what? Also, it's the most overused signature ever. It's like a business school thing that got totally co-opted and bled into the corporate world. And then. Just pick something else. Best what? Best what? It's not the best closure, that's for damn sure.
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Unknown
So you could do “Sincerely.” You could do. “Thank you.” You could do “Yours truly.” “Have a great day.” “Fond regards.” “Kind wishes ”or just your name? Just your name is great. First name, last name. And then in that footer,
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you want your website. If you have one, you're maybe if you don't have a website, your reel maybe your Instagram.
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If you have a professional Instagram. A picture a picture is great. A picture is great. I just worked with a client and convinced her to put her picture in the footer. Two weeks later, she signed with the manager because the cold emails that she was sending, they saw how frankly, how beautiful she was and just professional. It's like a great headshot.
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They saw it in her footer. They open the email like 20 times, called her in, and now they've just sent her a contract. So it's just an easy way for them to identify. Like what do you look like?
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a picture is worth a thousand words. What do you look like? And they don't have to click.
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It's right there in the footer for them.
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So in summary, I think I've given you guys a lot of tools to figure out how exactly you want to write this email. If you want help with it, send me an email.
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We can I can talk you through it. I can help you with whatever part of this still feels a little intimidating.
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But professional emails like this are totally customary. And they do. You work? Cold emails? Work. I've seen them work for, well, my one client who got called in for the lead in the TV show from a cold email, and then my other client, who just is about to sign with the manager from a cold email like this.
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Unknown
There's an option to track your email. You can see if it's opened, if it's clicked, how many times they clicked, what links they clicked. So I like to use Boomerang for that. I don't use it for everything, I only use it for the really important emails. But there is an option to do email tracking if
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you feel so inclined.
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I wish you so much luck with this. This is going to be a really, really exciting
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process and you should feel good about it. And hopefully it's the beginning of some beautiful new relationships with people in a position to give you work. Enjoy your emailing and let me know how it goes. Bye.
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Vermillion Podcast is sponsored by Vermilion. Home for artists. We offer classes, coaching, and community for creatives and innovators in the arts. If you're ready to find your voice and build the life of your dreams, we are here to support you every step of the way. Check out Club vermillion.com and schedule a free call today.
