| Think Before Blaming Your Agent |
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Although this experience dealt with a commercial print booking, the information will be helpful to you with whatever type of booking you have through an agent. A while ago I received a call from my agent in New York, letting me know that I had a print booking. This was a direct booking, meaning that I did not have to attend a go-see (the audition for models). It is always nice not to have to attend a go-see and just get a call from an agent inquiring about my availability. In New York, unlike some other markets, most of the bookings in today's time, come from attending go-sees. Direct bookings in New York simply don’t happen as often as in the past. When I was told the usage of this ad was a poster, I was waiting to hear from the agent about the bonus I should receive. Typically, in the commercial print world, a bonus is paid to the model if the ad is running in a high exposure format. These are ads that run on billboards, posters, on the side of a bus, etc… The reason for the additional fee is because talent can lose money if their ad is running in a high exposure format. Don’t get me wrong, it is great to be seen in a large format, but when an actor or model is so closely connected with a product or company in a large way, no competitor will hire the talent. People can also get over exposed in a market, and not get hired, even for non-competing ads. I was told by the agent that I would get the standard $250/hour (we don’t always get that fee in today’s market, but that is the going rate for commercial models in New York), but there would not be any bonus payments. I did not say anything to the agent. Honestly, I was very happy to do the job. Money is important to me, but even more important is the fact that I would meet and work with a new photographer and art/creative director. What better way to introduce myself to other industry professionals, then to actually work with them. I assume they will like my work, and keep me in mind for future projects. I do have to say that I was disappointed that there would be no bonus for the posters. However, after I was told that the posters would only run for 3 months, I felt better. When I got to the set and was shown a lay out of the ad, and saw that it was primarily a profile shot of me, I felt a whole lot better about not receiving a bonus. What I learned was that I should have trusted my agent to do whatever she thought would be best or could do in the negotiations for this job. I also was reminded that I should have asked the agent about the non-bonus aspect of the shoot to simply clear the air and not have me walk around with any negative feelings about an up-coming project. Let me know your thoughts. Add a new comment. If you have a question, feel free to add it to the Forum Page on this site. If you have a personal question, feel free to send it to me at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it If you thought this was helpful, imagine what you will learn while reading my book:
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