Corporate Role Play

A question from an actor from New York who came to London to join his wife:

Q: I used to do corporate role play back home. I've heard that here, agents do not take commission for that. But a few people have told me otherwise. Any advice?

A: Generally, I'm not aware of theatrical agents seeking corporate role play work for their clients, as it doesn't neatly fall into the main categories: commerical, tv, film, theatre, voice over. However if an agent did get you some work in this arena, I imagine they'd take a percentage as usual. It probably wouldn't (and shouldn't) be as high as their percentage for on-camera work, but is likely to be between 5-15% depending on the agent, and whether they are a personal manager or a traditional agent.

As for finding corporate role play work, most actors I know get it through word of mouth, previous role play clients or through casting websites like CastNet, CastWeb or CastingCallPro. It's a great skill to develop and can be a nice way to pay the bills. I think the Actors Centre offers classes on it.

I have found some agencies that look after actors specifically for corporate work. I can't vouch for their service as I haven't worked for them, but they look interesting: www.corporateroleplay.co.uk, www.laughlines.net/roleplay_shows.html, and www.reactroleplay.com. Good luck and let me know how you get on!