What Are the Benefits to Joining an Asian Pacific American Talent Agency?

East West Players have been receiving differing opinions as they pursue the creation of an Asian Pacific American talent Agency. Here's a recent update...

Our information gathering interviews are continuing. We’ve found a range of reactions to the idea of an APA (Asian Pacific American) talent agency, from excitement to hesitancy to (and this has happened more often than one may expect) initial hesitancy which grows into excitement. Part of this is an initial denial of ‘being held back because of ethnicity’ in their current agency (“No, no. My agency sends me out to all kinds of calls”). But as the interview continues, there is a moment when a realization strikes (“Well, I do get sent out for a lot of Latino roles. I don’t feel I’m right for them because I know I can’t bring that kind of [cultural] flavor, but I’ll go. Maybe an APA agency would be nice because I won’t have to explain…” –A Filipino American Actor).

As we continue compiling our findings, we’d like to toss out a question that was asked to us and has caused us to reflect the range of our exploration process.

Why not a talent management firm as opposed to a talent agency? Given the scope of our mission and the goals we’ve outlined for this agency…we had an A-ha! moment. Why not?

Stay tuned.

--Lisa Tang, East West Players