Everything about the Agency

We are currently only very rarely accepting new Actors or actresses, which is why we can only give a chance to very well-trained Actors with a wide range of professional filming experience, because the projects on the German-speaking film market have become fewer, which means that the expectations of those looking to cast individual Actors are higher and the selection criteria are stricter.
Nevertheless, we take the time to read good applications, but only those that contain everything that professional Actors should apply with. Very good photos, a complete CV and a link to a meaningful showreel and, of course, you should have well-maintained profiles on Schauspielervideos and filmmakers.

Application by mail to [email protected]

If you have not heard from us 4 weeks after your application, this is tantamount to a rejection. We apologize for this, but we devote our full time and energy to the Actors we already represent, and when we also read the numerous applications, we have no capacity for differentiated rejections, because they should be differentiated. We are not fans of prefabricated standard rejections.

In principle, this is possible, but not acceptable to us. It would mean that this actress or Actors would be proposed by different agencies for one and the same project at the same time, which would lead to confusion among the casters and diminish trust in our Agency . We also don't want to see the fruits of our labor in terms of online visibility, current showreels and social media work harvested by other agencies.

No. As our Agency itself receives offers for advertising castings on a daily basis and responds to them immediately, we don't want to have to check beforehand whether the advertising Agency has also suggested this Actors or actress. This makes our work more difficult and, as with the film requests, it would lead to duplicate casting invitations and confusion.

No, there is no admission fee. We finance ourselves exclusively through referral commissions.

An acting agency takes on the placement of Actors for TV and cinema films, series, streaming services, commercials and theaters. The Actors enter into a contract with the Agency that regulates the agency commission in the event of a successful placement and the rights and obligations of both contracting parties. The Agency presents the Actors on the Agency website, maintains their presence on the actor search portals Filmmakers and Schauspielervideos, makes the Actors known to potential casting decision-makers and promotes the Actors in every conceivable way with their photos and showreels in conversations, personal emails and newsletters and draws attention to the Actors' new projects.

An acting agency takes care of the fees, conducts contract negotiations and takes care of all organizational aspects of a booking before and during filming, often also during the post-production of the project. It ensures that Actors are presented in the best possible way, making it easier for them to be found and invited to castings. In addition, the Agency advises the Actors on their career planning and supports them in preparing for roles.

Dear film school students,
We are always happy to support film student projects. As we receive many requests, we kindly ask you to consider the following points:

We have repeatedly had the experience of being offered a contract for voluntary work for our clients after a relatively complex recruitment process. We reject these contracts as a matter of principle, as volunteering would be done of one's own free will, which is not the case here. We insist that the university in question informs us in writing of the intended form of contract in the event of an appointment (expense allowance, German minimum wage, provision, profit-sharing).

Since we cannot charge our clients for our efforts to support the work of film students, even if the German minimum wage is paid, we charge a placement fee of €100 plus 19% VAT for every role placed with student productions. This is non-negotiable and must therefore be explicitly acknowledged in the inquiry.

Point 1:
You send your request by e-mail with the most important information about the project:

1. Project name

2. Shooting period

3. Filming location

4. Number of shooting days

5. Role description / main role / supporting role

6. Synopsis

7. Screenplay

8. Details of the director + vita or filmography

9. Info on fee / expense allowance / provision

10. Casting information (time, location, texts)

11. Your contact details - please telephone numbers with AB / mailbox, signature

Point 2:
We will gladly forward complete requests to our Actors and give you feedback or the Actors will contact you directly.
Please do not plan more than 2 casting rounds. Be decisive, otherwise you may lose good Actors.

Point 3:
If an actor or actress enters the next casting round or is cast, the Agency always receives the information first and forwards it to the Actors.

Point 4:
After filling the position, send us a draft contract by e-mail.

Point 5:
A clause must be included in all contracts stating that the performers will receive a download link to the movie immediately after completion of the rough cut

We process short films and feature-length films for which no remuneration of the Actors is planned in the following way:
You send your request by e-mail with the most important information about the project:

1. Project name

2. Shooting period

3. Filming location

4. Number of shooting days

5. Role description / main role / supporting role

6. Synopsis

7. Screenplay

8. Details of the director + vita or filmography

9. Info on fee / expense allowance / provision

10. Casting information (time, location, texts)

11. Your contact details - please telephone numbers with AB / mailbox, signature

We are happy to forward complete requests to our Actors, who will then contact you personally if they are interested; castings are arranged independently with the requested parties. If the Actors are not interested, they sometimes do not get in touch with us, which means that you will not receive any feedback.

After successful casting, you draw up a contract, send it first to our Agency by email and we check it. Since we cannot charge our clients for our efforts, even if the German minimum wage is paid, we charge an agency fee of €100 plus 19% VAT for every role placement in Nobudget productions. This is non-negotiable and must therefore be explicitly acknowledged in the inquiry.

A clause must be included in all contracts stating that the Actors will receive a download link to the movie immediately after completion of the rough cut.

Broadcasters keep lists of fees for every Actors .
ZDF is particularly strict.
From the age of 18, Actors receive a daily fee of €850.
This fee is used by ZDF for 3 years and is then paid €900. Every 3 years there is a 10% increase.
From the 10th day of shooting, a flat rate is applied. This means that ZDF demands a kind of volume discount and this is usually a 10% deduction.
However, it is not the case that 9 days are paid in full, as you are listed, and less pay is paid from the 10th day of shooting. This means that all 10 or 11 or 12 .... shooting days are paid 10% less daily fee.
More and more often, a special fee is mentioned by the casting directors before the casting invitations are issued, at which they have to shoot after a successful casting. If this special fee or the cap (the maximum fee that may not be exceeded for this format or the specific role) is not recognized, it makes no sense to go to the casting. Just because you may have completed an excellent audition doesn't mean you'll get more money afterwards.

The ZDF fees are therefore not freely negotiable with the respective production managers of the film productions if they call after a successful placement and want to discuss the contract of the Actors.
Other things are then negotiated, such as travel and hotel costs and the recognition of any blocking dates.

ZDF has MW fees for some formats. 

This means that a repeat fee of 10% of the former fee is due for repeat broadcasts.
In addition, ZDF has MA fees for some formats, which include a buyout and are usually 10% higher than the MW fee. But there are no repeat fees, even if the movie is repeated very often.
A repeat used to be a repeat. For years now, savings have been made and the first broadcast at night is not remunerated, nor is the first broadcast the next morning, nor is the first broadcast on one of the niche channels...
It takes quite a long time for ZDF to classify a repeat as a rerun.

Degeto also keeps lists, but these usually look a little more generous.

The ARD stations' fees can actually be negotiated freely, but sometimes there is an overall budget for the fees of this film or series and it is then often said that for this or that role only a budget of e.g. 1500 € per shooting day is planned.
Even if older, experienced Actors or possibly already well-known Actresses in ARD productions have already reached daily fees of over 2000 €, they have to be content with the 1500 € in this case, or the role is played by someone who can get involved with it

Degeto and the ARD stations also apply flat rates from the 10th day of shooting.

The fees for private broadcasters, streaming services and feature films can be negotiated freely. However, the production looks very closely at which formats the Actors have already shot and if the Actors has only appeared in short films so far, or the actress has mainly played in ZDF productions and it is clear from her age that she probably had a daily fee of €1,200 for this, then a production manager of the streaming production is happy to add something, but usually not much. Why would he do that if he recognizes the low market value of this person?

The Agency has the best negotiating position with Actors who have filmed for different broadcasters and a variety of TV and cinema formats, so that the market value is not quite so clearly calculable and the scope for negotiation is greater.

There are monthly fees for roles in the daily series on RTL, Sat.1 and ProSieben. These are lump sums, regardless of how many shooting days you had in a month. If you divide this monthly fee by the number of days of shooting, you end up with a fairly small daily fee, but you are financially secure and socially insured for many months, or even a year or more, and at least you don't have to worry about the immediate future.

Acting has always been a difficult business because there are many more Actors, those who want to become actors and already well-trained artists. Until recently, 5% of German-speaking Actors were able to make a living from this profession without having to pursue another profession at the same time and/or in between for most of the year.

There have always been far more applicants than roles, although men have slightly better chances of getting roles because more roles are written for men, but there are fewer male Actors on the market as a percentage. Times have become tougher, there is less filming in Germany and it is estimated that only 1% can now make a living from acting alone.

The application situation for Actors who are over 18 years old and have not yet been able to develop an impressive acting CV or a professional showreel with diverse, interesting broadcast formats as a teenager is at the back of the queue of applicants, as all those who have already gained a lot of filming experience in relevant projects (short films are not relevant) are preferred by productions and broadcasters. As long as there are well-known Actors without filming projects, newcomers have little chance of getting roles, except in nobudget. And at the moment there are definitely a lot of well-known people running around without work and even shooting for less money than ever before. So why spend the money on lesser known people? That's what the casting decision-makers are asking themselves and they're relying on name recognition and thus on security and audience share.

That's why we can no longer accept applicants who are not yet known to the casting team and have meaningful application material, because we are completely occupied with keeping the Actors who already have numerous projects behind them in the shooting process, because even a certain level of fame no longer protects against unemployment these days.