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The Do’s and Don’ts of Getting an Industry Professional’s Eyes on Your Work


March 13, 2024

Getting professional eyes on your work, whether it’s something you wrote, directed or are acting in, can be hugely beneficial. However, industry professionals (especially those whose feedback would be most beneficial) are often swamped with such requests.

How do you get eyes on your work without making a nuisance of yourself? Here are some do’s and don’ts.

Do

Play the numbers game: The more people you invite, the higher the chance you’ll have of actually getting eyes on your work. You might be surprised who responds as you never know who could find your work most relevant to their upcoming projects!

Be prepared to comp: This one is tricky, especially if you’re taking the above advice. If you have comps to your show, maybe hold a couple back to use in case an agent or other industry professional takes you up on the offer. Otherwise, be honest.

Don’t send offers to comp everyone you invite unless you’re prepared to do so in every case. A safer route is to just offer comps to the most important asks. If you can, offer a friends and family discount code or something similar if comps are not an option. In special cases, it might be worth purchasing their tickets outright.

Make it personal: Everyone knows what a form email looks like. Agents, directors, etc. are flooded with emails, and if they get a copy-pasted email asking them to see yet another show, they’re more likely to pass it over without reading it. Be concise, but address them specifically, tell them why this work is relevant to theirs, and why you value their take on it. Don’t gush or beg, but be personable.

Pick and choose: Not every project we do is worth asking industry professionals to come review. Make sure the work you’re inviting people to put eyes on particularly showcases you and is of professional quality.

Follow up: While you don’t want to make a pest of yourself, a simple follow-up thank you note is a lovely and professional button on the experience. Don’t pressure your guests to give more than they have already, just express thanks that they took the time and let them know you value their input.

Don’t

Harass them with a million follow-ups: Send only one follow-up email. You will be remembered for the wrong reasons if you become a nuisance.

Use their personal info: This one should be intuitive, but I’ve seen young and eager actors make this mistake more than once and it is never received well. Do not go looking for an industry professional’s personal email and phone number. That is creepy and unprofessional. Go through an agent or publicly posted professional lines.

Apologize for your work: Once you get eyes on your work, show it off! If you don’t have faith in your work, why should they?

Take it personally: You might get no reply, you might get stood up or you might get unflattering feedback. While opening yourself up to criticism and rejection can be uncomfortable, holding onto it and taking it as a personal slight is unhealthy and not conducive to growth. Some asks will work out, some won’t. Take it in stride and move along.

Trick them: Please hear this. Getting someone to see your work by either vastly overselling it or selling it as something other than what it is, is not the move. The industry professionals who have given you their time will remember nothing about the work itself and everything about feeling duped by you.

Getting professional feedback and attention can be a big help. Don’t let the hoops you have to jump through discourage you. As long as you use common sense and treat industry professionals like the real people they are, you’ll be fine.

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