Beat Takeshi
Two-Hip Shakur
I just got picked up by an agency and I was wondering what to expect from them and how much is the norm for them to take per project.
Anyone work with agents?
- Thread starter Beat Takeshi
- Start date
Will Clegg
Veteran
If you are just getting started, expect them to do less than you do to find work, but they will negotiate on your behalf and take 10%. As soon as they see your earning potential, you can expect them to take the reins on finding the work though. Not that you can sit back and let it come to you - but you will find better gigs and steadier work if you bring them good paychecks...
Just my very limited experience and observation.
Just my very limited experience and observation.
For talent agencies it's 10%. And it will be always up to you to move your career forward. Agents, as a rule (99.999%) are not involved in creating careers, though they will try to find you a job. Managers are supposed to be more "career creators" (though personally, I don't think much of managers) and are not officially allowed to find you jobs. An agent will simply have you on a list of clients which gets sent around to studios with open projects. Also, if a producer or executive calls up an agent, the agent may give your name or your name among other names as a candidate if that's more or less what the producer/buyer is looking for. A good agent will pay you back more than the 10% he takes - because he'll negotiate the deal for you. If you are big enough, it may also pay for you to be repped by a lawyer in addition to the agent (lawyers take 5%), because some of these deals can get very complex. And if you become truly gigantic, then you'll also have a special accountant who deals with entertainment clients (and he/she will take various percentages, usually around 5%). The most is taken - if you are foolish enough to have one - by managers (20%), who can also be co-producers (which allows them to share in even more of the profits of your hard work 
)
My advice. For now, an agent is good enough - and stay away from managers (all IMHO). A good agent is one who is on top of things and hard working. Meaning, you get called back within hours, not days. Your materials (reel or sample scripts etc.) are sent quickly to potential buyers, your name is pushed frequently, agent has frequent contact with relevant buyers (nothing worse than a disconnected passive agent). When you become a bit bigger, and your deals become more complex (especially if you work in the TV industry), you may consider also springing for a lawyer in addition. A good entertainment accountant will find a way to save you more money than he/she costs - as long as you make a bundle, because these savings only come up once there is enough so that a few tricks can really make a difference (remember, 1% of 10K is not much, but 1% of 1,000,000 is real money). So, if you really go crazy - and there are many, many, many such folks in Hollywood, you'll pay: 10%+5%+5%+20%= 40% of your money to the "enablers". My strong advise, drop the manager at 20%. Of course if you become insanely huge (think Spielberg and the like), you'll suddenly pay.... 0% to any of them and they'll do the work for free, just for the privilege of calling you a client.
However, the most important thing to remember is: it is YOU who is in charge of your career at all times. You must create the opportunities. You must make the contacts and network. The agent can only maximize what you yourself come up with. The agent can't make you, he can only maximize what YOU make. Good luck!
)My advice. For now, an agent is good enough - and stay away from managers (all IMHO). A good agent is one who is on top of things and hard working. Meaning, you get called back within hours, not days. Your materials (reel or sample scripts etc.) are sent quickly to potential buyers, your name is pushed frequently, agent has frequent contact with relevant buyers (nothing worse than a disconnected passive agent). When you become a bit bigger, and your deals become more complex (especially if you work in the TV industry), you may consider also springing for a lawyer in addition. A good entertainment accountant will find a way to save you more money than he/she costs - as long as you make a bundle, because these savings only come up once there is enough so that a few tricks can really make a difference (remember, 1% of 10K is not much, but 1% of 1,000,000 is real money
). So, if you really go crazy - and there are many, many, many such folks in Hollywood, you'll pay: 10%+5%+5%+20%= 40% of your money to the "enablers". My strong advise, drop the manager at 20%. Of course if you become insanely huge (think Spielberg and the like), you'll suddenly pay.... 0% to any of them and they'll do the work for free, just for the privilege of calling you a client.However, the most important thing to remember is: it is YOU who is in charge of your career at all times. You must create the opportunities. You must make the contacts and network. The agent can only maximize what you yourself come up with. The agent can't make you, he can only maximize what YOU make. Good luck!
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Luis Caffesse
Admin
Thanks for that post Corpse... great info.
Mark Harris
Pain in the ass
what are they representing you for, Aram? As a director?
You're welcome. Ten years at one of the big three talent agencies here in LA - that's the time I put in. In the end, it's more fun on the creative side
Wrt. money and %, the key thing to remember is that an agency cannot take more than 10% by law. However, they can take less than 10% - and that happens with some frequency, once you become an established name of considerable size. This however is very individual, and the talent must negotiate for the lesser %, and again, you must be big enough to have the juice to pull it off. The 0% work for free happens only once you are on the Spielberg level - at that point the agent makes more from all the other clients who flock to him because he's "Spielberg's agent/lawyer/accountant", so it pays for the agency not to charge Spielberg since he brings in the rest (something not too dissimilar happens in the music business, where a big act can sign a very favorable deal with a label - indeed the label may lose money on the deal itself - but it pays off for the label because it brings in a lot more clients).
Beat Takeshi
Two-Hip Shakur
Thanks Corpse. I think he takes my reel around or sends it to people when they request for camera work.
Mark, its for DP work.
Mark, its for DP work.
Gord.T
Still "Senior Member"
In music anyways it is 10%. From what I've read here is the same.
In my case, they book the job. Call you and give you the dates. The club pays you, you mail the agent 10%, although most are broke at some point and show up at the bar on payday with thier hand out (haha).
If you get too good for the agent, too booked, > 2 yrs steady, other agents will buy the contract from your former agent. Nothing to do with you. It just means you deal with a new agent with better gigs and in theory are moving up, or at least somewhere.
Lastly, most entry level agents are idiots and know nothing about anything.
Barring the ones that have been in the biz, failed, and took up booking to make ends meet, but still know nothing.
Finally you may arrive at an agency. Go there in person. Ask who they're handling and look for busy people with headsets. Then maybe smile, or not.
In my case, they book the job. Call you and give you the dates. The club pays you, you mail the agent 10%, although most are broke at some point and show up at the bar on payday with thier hand out (haha).
If you get too good for the agent, too booked, > 2 yrs steady, other agents will buy the contract from your former agent. Nothing to do with you. It just means you deal with a new agent with better gigs and in theory are moving up, or at least somewhere.
Lastly, most entry level agents are idiots and know nothing about anything.
Barring the ones that have been in the biz, failed, and took up booking to make ends meet, but still know nothing.
Finally you may arrive at an agency. Go there in person. Ask who they're handling and look for busy people with headsets. Then maybe smile, or not.
Not to stray too far off topic, but there is another side to the manager/agent thing. For a writer, getting an agent is difficult. You're work has to reach a certain level--producers are interested in you before agents are. Catch 22. But anyone can get a manager at any time. I know a few people who toiled in obscurity, hired a manager and soon they were getting reads, then sales, then getting produced.
Marketing yourself is not something everyone is good at. Getting a manager can be the smartest thing you'll ever do for yourself.
Yes, but note, the OP already has an agent, in which case, a manager is not brining anything to the table here. Of course, for a DP, a manager is even less useful.
And speaking of writers. Getting an agent can be hard, though often times what happens is that you get an agent from a smaller agency which is a lot easier, and not one of the big five, and once your career takes off, you move on to a bigger agency.
It is my opinion, that you can get an agent from a smaller agency just as easily or just as hard as a manager - the level of difficulty is the same. And yet, an agent will be more useful for the simple reason that he/she can legally get you work, which a manager is prohibited from doing (though that is regularly being broken).
Yes, people have gotten managers and gotten work, but who says that wouldn't have happened with an agent from a smaller agency?
The only circumstance where a manager can be more useful than an agent is if you need a lot of hand-holding. You can call a manager (at least theoretically) 24/7 - and that is not really true for an agent. A good manager will actually guide your career, sit an stratgize with you, visit you, and generally be almost a therapist level of service (one reason why they charge 20%). However, my contnetion is that you are the best person to guide your career, not anybody else. And I'm not assuming you're the kind of artist who needs tons of emotional support and hand-holding (to be fair, many actors need that very much indeed, and for them the manager fulfills a very important function, whereas an agent can't do that on account of being way too busy).
And speaking of writers. Getting an agent can be hard, though often times what happens is that you get an agent from a smaller agency which is a lot easier, and not one of the big five, and once your career takes off, you move on to a bigger agency.
It is my opinion, that you can get an agent from a smaller agency just as easily or just as hard as a manager - the level of difficulty is the same. And yet, an agent will be more useful for the simple reason that he/she can legally get you work, which a manager is prohibited from doing (though that is regularly being broken).
Yes, people have gotten managers and gotten work, but who says that wouldn't have happened with an agent from a smaller agency?
The only circumstance where a manager can be more useful than an agent is if you need a lot of hand-holding. You can call a manager (at least theoretically) 24/7 - and that is not really true for an agent. A good manager will actually guide your career, sit an stratgize with you, visit you, and generally be almost a therapist level of service (one reason why they charge 20%). However, my contnetion is that you are the best person to guide your career, not anybody else. And I'm not assuming you're the kind of artist who needs tons of emotional support and hand-holding (to be fair, many actors need that very much indeed, and for them the manager fulfills a very important function, whereas an agent can't do that on account of being way too busy).