Breaking Out of a Small Market: How Working Actors Move Up

This page is for actors who already work. You have real credits, maybe a supporting role in a streaming series or a part in an international film that shot in your country. You have an agent, or you have had one. And you have noticed something: no matter how good you are, the roles are not getting bigger.

If you are a beginner, this page is not for you yet. Start with How to Book Bigger Acting Roles and How to Find a Talent Agent.

The ceiling is real, and it is not about you #

Most European countries are small markets for actors. Portugal, Greece, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, the Baltics, the Balkans, Malta, Iceland: each makes a limited number of films and series a year. Every one of those productions has one or two lead roles, a few supporting roles, and that is it. Even in bigger countries like Spain, Italy or Poland, the number of leading roles in productions that travel outside the country is small, and the same twenty actors get most of them.

When a big international production comes to shoot in your country, it brings its leads with it. Local actors get supporting roles, day player parts and featured extra work. That is how many European actors got their Netflix, Amazon or Apple TV+ credit, and it is a good credit. But the production will not cast a lead from the local market. The lead was cast in London or Los Angeles before anyone scouted your country.

So you can be one of the best actors in your country and still never be offered a lead in an international production. That is not a talent problem. It is a market problem. More classes, better headshots and a new showreel will not fix it. Moving into a bigger market will.

Pick one market, not "bigger" #

"I want bigger opportunities" is not a plan. "I want a London agent within eighteen months" is a plan. Choose one target market and commit to it. The usual choices for a European actor are these.

• The UK. The largest English language market in Europe and the one most streamers cast from. Since Brexit, actors from the EU need a visa to work there, and the production has to sponsor it. That is routine for bigger productions and a problem for small ones.
• Germany. The largest market on the continent, with a great deal of streaming drama made there, and it regularly casts actors from Austria, Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands and further afield. If you can act in German, this is a serious option. If you cannot, it is not.
• France. Big, busy, and largely closed to actors who cannot act in French. If you can, Paris is one of the strongest markets in Europe.
• The Nordics. Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland make a lot of drama for streamers and export it. They cast across the region and use English in many co-productions. A good option for actors in northern and eastern Europe, and for anyone with a Scandinavian language.
• Spain and Italy. Both produce large volumes of streaming drama now, and both cast across Latin America and the Mediterranean respectively. Language is the entry ticket, as everywhere.
• The US. The biggest market in the world and the hardest to enter. You will need an O-1 visa, which needs a track record most European actors do not yet have. We have a full guide on this: The European Actor's Guide to Hollywood. Read it before you spend a cent.

Choose by three things: the languages you can act in, your right to work there, and where the casting directors who already know you are based. The last one matters more than you think, and the next section explains why.

Your warmest contact is the casting director who already cast you #

When an international production cast you in a supporting role, a casting director in London, Berlin, Paris, Copenhagen or Los Angeles looked at your tape and said yes. That person knows your work. They have seen you deliver on a real set. They know agents in their market. And most actors never contact them again.

Do this now. Write to the casting director, or the local casting director who passed your tape up the chain, and say what you want. Keep it short: you enjoyed the job, you are looking for representation in their market, and would they be willing to suggest an agent or pass your name on. Attach nothing. Link your IMDb and your showreel.

Casting directors do this all the time. Recommending an actor they liked to an agent they know costs them nothing and makes them look good. Not every one will reply. One reply is all you need.

The same goes for the director and the producer of that production. If they liked working with you, ask.

Getting an agent abroad while keeping the one at home #

You do not need to leave your local agent. Most actors who work across two markets have two agents: a home agent who covers the local market, and an agent in the bigger market who covers that one. Some agencies call this co-representation. Others treat the home agent as a "mother agent" who introduced you and takes a share of the foreign agent's commission. The arrangement is normal across Europe, and any agent who has worked with international clients will know it.

Tell your home agent what you are doing before you write to anyone. A good agent will help. They may already know agencies abroad, and an introduction from an agent carries far more weight than a cold email. An agent who refuses to let you look abroad is telling you something about how they see your career.

Once you have your target market and, ideally, an introduction, the process is the same as finding any agent. Build a list, research each agency, check who they represent, shortlist, and write to a named person. How to Find a Talent Agent walks through it. Cover Emails to Talent Agents shows you what to write.

Two things change when the agent is abroad. First, lead with your international credits, and name the casting director who cast you. That is the credit the foreign agent understands. Your national theatre and TV work goes further down. Second, say clearly what your right to work is: EU citizen, UK visa needed, whatever applies. An agent will not take you on if they cannot see how a production would hire you.

Fix your materials for the new market #

Everything a foreign agent or casting director sees must work in English, whatever your target market. Check each of these.

• IMDb. Every credit listed, with the right role name and the right production. Your international credits need to be visible at the top, not buried under a long list of extra work. Casting directors abroad will not recognise your national titles, so the streamer and co-production credits do the talking. See Your IMDb Credits and Understanding the IMDb Starmeter.
• Showreel. Open with the international work. A London or Berlin agent needs to see you in a scene they can follow within the first ten seconds. If your best scenes are in your own language, that is fine, but put an English scene first and keep the rest short. See The Problem with Multi-Lingual Showreels.
• CV. Translate it into English. Put the production company and the director's name on every credit. A foreign agent has never heard of your national broadcaster, but they may well know the director or the company.
• Headshots. Current, and in the style of your target market. UK and US headshots are plainer than many continental ones. Look at the actors on your target agency's website and match the look.
• Casting platforms. Spotlight for the UK, which needs professional credits to join. Filmmakers and e-Talenta for Germany. Casting Networks in several markets. enCAST across Europe. Keep every profile complete, because casting directors search by field and an empty field means you do not appear. See Where Actors Can Find Castings.

Sell what the local actors cannot offer #

A German production has thousands of German actors within an hour's drive. A London production has more actors than roles by a wide margin. To be cast over a local actor you must bring something they cannot.

For an actor from a smaller market, that is usually languages. Polish, Romanian, Greek, Hungarian, Portuguese, Serbian, Finnish, Russian: these are cast far more often than people think, because the target market cannot supply them locally. A London production needing a Czech-speaking character has very few Czech actors to choose from. The key is that you must be able to act in the language, not just speak it. Say so clearly, and put a scene in that language on your reel. List every language on your enCAST profile, because casting directors filter on it. See How Languages Open Up More Castings.

Beyond language, it is a look that the local market does not have in depth, a physical skill, or a track record with a director the production wants. Work out what yours is and lead with it. How Actors Can Get Jobs Abroad covers this in more detail.

Paperwork, briefly #

If you are an EU citizen and your target market is in the EU, there is nothing to arrange. You can work anywhere in the Union. The same applies within the wider European Economic Area for most purposes, and Switzerland has its own arrangements.

For the UK, EU actors need a visa for every job, and the production has to sponsor it. Larger productions do this routinely. Smaller ones will not. Tell every UK agent and casting director your status up front, so nobody wastes time. Working in Europe: Visas and Work Permits has the detail, including the position for UK actors working in the EU.

For the US, read the Hollywood guide. The O-1 visa is a project in itself.

How long it takes #

Plan for one to three years from deciding to move up to being represented and auditioning regularly in the new market. The first year is mostly writing to people and waiting. That is normal. Actors give up in month six because nothing has happened, and nothing has happened because that is how long it takes.

Keep working at home while you do this. Every new credit at home is another line on the CV the foreign agent reads. Keep applying on enCAST, because international productions shooting anywhere in Europe cast supporting roles here, and one of those is another casting director who might introduce you to an agent.

What enCAST can and cannot do #

We get asked to help actors find agents or land bigger roles every week, and we understand why. But enCAST is a casting platform, not an agency. We do not represent actors and we cannot put you forward for a role. What we can do is show you to every casting director and production using the site across Europe, and that is where the introductions start.

So make your profile complete, list every language you act in, keep your showreel current, and apply to everything that fits. Then write to that casting director who already knows your work. That email is the step most actors never take.