I came into LA recently. I met a friend in his office and walked in on quite an interesting conversation he was having with an agent.
My friend was booking a girl from a popular agent for an upcoming movie. This movie is well known as with the company making it. The agent decided to add an extra $200 on the girls rates from what he used to pay for her. Since the company in question he was booking for was rather well known he thought he could squeeze another couple hundred out of the guy.
But instead my buddy said you know what, let me call you back.
He then picked up the phone and called another agent from a competing agency. He was telling the agent what the movie was and the guy stopped him mid sentence and said say no more, I have the perfect girl for you. Normally she charges $1000 but for this project we’ll book her at only $400 and I’ll wave my booking fees, which for those of you who don’t know is typically about $100 per girl, per scene.
My buddy and I sat there a little dumb founded for a moment. He’s willing to book top notch talent for more than half her normal rate and wave the booking fees. My buddy had to ask what was up with that. Was there perhaps something he was missing?
The agent explained, I know a lot of girls think that when you work on a feature film they should get paid more but those girls are idiots. When I rep a girl I teach them the reality of the business and if she takes this job with you for less money today, it will come back to her 10 fold because your studio does a large amount of advertising. Even on the low end, her name will probably be listed in no less than 5 press releases about being in that movie before the movie is even released.
So basically the guy traded a few hundred bucks of pay for the performer for that day just to get her in that movie knowing it would in the long run pay off in making the star more well known which would get her more bookings and possibly for even more money.
As for the girl repped by the other agent, well I noticed her on Twitter on the day of the shoot saying how she was bored and didn’t have anything to do.
So what is more important to you? An agent who sometimes can get you an extra $100 or $200 for a scene or an agent who thinks about your future? That’s what you need to seriously start looking for.
Does your agent really have your best interest in mind?
Is he really thinking about your future?
Now before some of you get all bitchy and say that’s the fucking job of a “manager”. I do realize this however a smart girl will find an agent like the guy I mentioned who has the best interest of his client in mind with every booking request that comes in.
There are situations that you can have your cake and eat it too and sometimes you need to really make an effort to find those kind of people in your life.
I’m not by any means suggesting you have to work for less money just to get the great jobs you want, but at the same time trying to milk them for more money than you normally charge isn’t a good idea either. There is one particular performer who goes by the initials JJ, who loves to brag about how much she over charges one client, because they are rich and they can afford it. Well I promise you others hear her talking like and her little attitude cost her more than a few bookings for other companies.
Here are a few other tips for you ….
If your agent spells your name wrong on their website, that’s never a good sign. It’s even worse when you point it out to them and they tell you it’s better that way. YOU are the star, they don’t need to tell you how to spell YOUR name. There is an agent in LA who I won’t mention by name but once messed up spelling a Vivid girls name on their agency website. When asked about it the agent told the girl it was better this way, easier to spell. Vivid spent untold amounts of money promoting that girl under that spelling of the name and this agent thinks somehow another spelling all together (not even close to the original) is better? What a dumb fuck. So anyway, you get my point. If your agent can’t bother to spell YOUR name right. That can never be a good thing.
If your agent ever EVER suggests you lie about your age one way or the other (to make you younger or older), he’s bad news. You are who you are and your fans will love you or they won’t. But lying will only cause them to distrust you. They won’t care that your booking agent told you to lie. All they will remember is that YOU LIED. So long story short, if your agent tells you to lie, then he has some serious issues and isn’t looking out for your best interests. Fans today aren’t stupid and they WILL find out you lied about your age one day. Trust me on this one.
If you hear continued complaints about your booking agents “attitude” towards studios or people within the industry. I think it’s time to find better representation. If someone thinks your agent is a douche, that WILL cost you jobs in the future, probably many jobs. If one or two people bitch that’s one thing. Not everyone can get along but if EVERYONE hates your agent, seriously wake up and smell the coffee.
Call your agent at weird times of the day or get others to do it for you. If you find they have a hard time answering the phone then that may cost you some jobs. If people can’t reach your agent, then chances are they will just move on to the next agent and book someone else.
Always make sure in advance to see if your contract allows you to book your own shoots. If you are allowed to book your own work, be clear with your agent that at times you will do so. The last thing you want is them contacting a studio that you booked a job with directly, making them feel guilty or obligated to have to pay booking fees through your agent and make them feel like you did something wrong or underhanded, even though you didn’t. It just breeds ill will with everyone involved.
If your agent’s employees have a reputation for bad manners or improper behavior, that WILL cost you jobs. Who wants to work with someone with a bad attitude? I know I wouldn’t book work from an agency that treats me badly. So that means if your agent’s employees have an attitude problem, that WILL cost you jobs. The question is, how many jobs will you let it cost you before you wise up and move along?
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Great post Ryan,
I recently had a big agent turn down work for a girl in our upcoming mega-feature Not Charlie’s Angels XXX over a three hundred dollar difference in pay over a multiple day shooting schedule. Many agents don’t look at the publicity that special projects will provide but some do and understand there is real value in being a part of a marquee project. Our Charlie’s Angels spoof will be among the biggest movies of the year.
We’ve had a number of big time girls (and plenty of newer ones as well) ask to be put in this movie for much less then their normal rate because they know come awards time they will be nominated and quite possibly standing in the victory circle. That doesn’t mean much to some but it means a lot to others. I can only imagine what this one cute actress is going to say when she runs into me at a party and asks why I didn’t hire her for a part. Not sure if I will tell her the real reason or not that her agent turned it down. I am sure this agent never even contacted the actress to see if she wanted to do it but that is not my business.
I also know a new girl who just lost a job at Hustler because her agent didn’t tell her that LFP had a different window of acceptable dates for testing at AIM. Meaning instead of being 30 days compliant, they request 28 days. That is the agent’s job to inform a new girl. She was just going in that afternoon since her 30 day test was to expire in a couple of days but there was no rush since her next job was the following week. Well, there was a rush but her agent didn’t tell her. I hear this stuff all the time and not only does it mess up the talent, it screws scheduling up for producers as well.
Now I will say that most agents do a great job for their clients and we only work with girls from agencies. However passing up a role in Not Charlie’s Angels XXX is like saying no to Not the Bradys XXX- simply un-American lol.
Why doesn’t everybody stop acting like pussies and just call it out? I’m talking about Luke Ford and also the person who left the comment before this..
Yes, LA Direct models is owned by a scumbag and he rips girls off… Derek and his little sheep all lie to people in production, they force their non-working talent on you and they jack up the rates to pocket extra money, on top of spelling Vivid’s contract girl’s name wrong.. I believe it was Sunny Leone at the time.
Everybody is so afraid that Derek Hay is going to do something to them and ‘blacklist them from porn’ and so everyone has to be anonymous with what they say and its stupid. Luke Ford, grow a pair and do your job and actually spill the news, don’t sugar coat the shit and tell people its candy.
A-List Talent, Type9 Models, and Spiegler Girls are the top three in my opinion and I will always favor them over LA Direct.. Big Love had a direction but the two recent people on board definitely don’t fit the bill for ‘Kinder, Gentler, Management’..
So the second agent offered his talent for $500 less? Hmm that seems odd. The production company DID NOT ask to book the talent at a lower rate? The agent just offered to wave the booking fee and shave off $500 of her fee? That’s kind of shady. Yeah its a good thing for the talent to be in a big movie that will get a lot of press but why not just waive the booking fee? Or waive the booking fee and take off $100 or $200? It just seems really odd.
I agree especially considering the lack of legit business skills so many agents in our industry have but I will tell you this – if some agent offered me a deal, I would be quick to do business with them again in the future but if someone gave me hassle, even over as much as $100, I would seriously think twice about doing business with them again in the future.
So odd as it may seem, that guy isn’t stupid. That agent got his star in a high profile movie that will ensure her a good amount of publicity and it put his agency on the radar of an active studio that books a lot of girls each month.