YCAA

Our founder Jason Norris is featured in the October issue of Center Stage by theWorkbook.

The Rise of Canada's New Creative Class: How Local Heroes Are Becoming Hollywood's Next Stars.

Pages 36 to 39.
https://publications.castingworkbook.com/center-stage-october-2026

We believe the best careers are rarely built by accident.

At YCAA, our job is to recognize potential early, understand where someone can go, and help position them for the opportunities that move a career forward.

That means being selective. Staying close to the work. Making thoughtful decisions. And advocating with purpose when the right opportunity appears.

We don’t believe representation should be about volume.

We believe it should be about trajectory.

For performers, writers and creators with something real to build, that’s the standard.

Recognize potential early.
Position thoughtfully.
Make the advocacy count.

YCAA
Talent. Stories. Culture.

Two or three auditions a week can feel like momentum.

But if none of them turn into bookings, it may just be motion.

Somewhere along the way, actors were taught to use audition volume as a scorecard. More auditions must mean a better agent. More auditions must mean the career is moving.

Not necessarily.

There is no sense in auditioning for a part of the part has already been sent out to an actor as an offer.

A strong agent is not simply submitting you for everything you could technically play. A strong agent values your time.

They know which opportunities are actually worth pursuing.

There is also a difference between a submission and a real relationship. Submitting your materials is easy. Calling casting, pitching you by name and putting professional credibility behind you carries more weight. Good agents use that credibility carefully.

So when the submissions are heavy but the number of callbacks, bookings are light…That is information.

There is one honest caveat: early in a career, volume can serve a purpose. You gain experience, casting offices begin to recognize you and your team learns where you fit.

But after several years, if the auditions keep coming and the resume never changes, the answer is probably not simply more auditions.

Three well-matched auditions that produce two bookings can move a career further than sixty tapes that go nowhere.
Busy is not the same as working.

There is a stretch in a young actor’s career when the phone can suddenly go quiet.

It is not always about talent. It is not always about the agent. Sometimes, it is simply the age.

When a role calls for a nine-year-old, production usually needs a real child. But when a role calls for a 15, or 16-year-old, it will often go to a young looking 18-year old. An 18- or 19-year-old may be able to play younger while working adult hours, without a tutor or guardian on set.

That leaves real teenagers competing with adults to play their own age.

These are not the years to measure success by audition count alone.

They are the years to train.

Scene study. Theatre. Student films. Self-tape technique. Confidence. Discipline. Learning how to take direction and make strong choices without overthinking every line.

A quiet phone does not mean the career is over. It may simply mean the industry has entered an awkward window.

A lot of young actors quit here.

The ones who keep building arrive at 18 with something valuable: skill, maturity and readiness.

Eighteen is not the finish line. It is the door opening. The question is what you will carry through it.

Range is impressive. Clarity is bookable. The industry casts the actor it can place.

Most advice about getting an agent focuses on the résumé. The credits, the training, the produced pages. All of it matters, and none of it is what the decision actually turns on.

By the time we are talking, the talent is a given. What we are weighing is quieter. Is there a lane we can open that you could not open alone. Do we believe in where this is going. Are we the right people to spend the next decade fighting for it.

A no is rarely a verdict on your work. Often it just means the fit is not there, and the honest thing is to say so.

If you are an actor or a writer thinking about representation, the better question is not whether you are good enough. It is where you are trying to go and who is genuinely built to take you there.

Meet the people behind YCAA.

Jason Norris, President and Principal Agent. YCAA was built on one idea: represent actors the way you would want your own family represented. He leads on signings, strategy and where the agency goes next.

Megan Bishop, Talent Agent. In your corner from first audition to final booking, across film, television, commercial and voiceover.

Alex Fortaleza, Literary Agent. Leading our literary division, representing screenwriters across film, television and theatre.

Three people. One roster. One standard.

Meet Alex Fortaleza, YCAA’s Literary Agent.

Alex brings years of experience across film, television, production and music licensing. He understands how scripts move from the page into development, what producers are looking for, and what helps a project get noticed.

Over the years, Alex has built strong relationships with producers, executives and creatives across the industry. Those connections, along with the respect he has earned, give him a valuable understanding of how to position material and get it in front of the right people.

We’re proud to have Alex leading YCAA’s literary department and helping writers move their projects forward.

A proud new chapter for YCAA.

Thank you to eBOSS Canada for sharing the news of our new Literary Department, led by Alex Fortaleza. We’re excited to begin representing the writers behind the stories and characters audiences love.

Read the full article below.

YCAA LAUNCHES LITERARY DEPARTMENT, APPOINTS ALEX FORTALEZA TO LEAD IT | eBOSS Canada YCAA, a Toronto talent and literary agency, launches a literary department led by new Literary Agent Alex Fortaleza. YCAA Literary debuts at TIFF Market in September 2026 in Toronto.

In July 2019, YCAA opened in Toronto on one idea: build the agency we would want our own family to be part of.

Seven years later, we are adding a new department. Today we are launching YCAA Literary, led by Alex Fortaleza, representing screenwriters across the Canadian screen industry.

It is the same evolution respected agencies like The Characters made before us: talent representation first, literary second. We are proud to follow it.

Writers create the characters our actors bring to life. It was only a matter of time before our representation reflected that.

See you at TIFF Market this September.

YCAA. Taste. Strategy. Conviction.