ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

12 years ago - Jendra Jarnagin

Sure agents won't do that "for free" but they will do it as part of what they do for you if they rep you. And if they want to rep you are not depends on all the usual stuff, like if you will make them money. I have had an agent for close to 10 years and all of them have lawyers they retain so I have never needed to have my own lawyer. My agent just deals with all that stuff as part of their responsibility to me. So this is actually the best question I have seen regarding agents. Most only think of agents as whether or not they get you work to make them worth the 10% you are giving up on every job(whether they got you that job or not) They do so much more for you than that, that even if they never get you a single job, they are still worth it in my opinion. And the people who are unhappy with their agents are often having unrealistic expectations of their agents and what they are able to do for them in terms of getting them jobs.

My agent consistently negotiates my rate far higher than I feel I would have gotten or felt bold enough to ask for, and she pays for herself right there. Additionally, she executes and enforces my contracts, does all my billing, follows up on late payments, sets up meetings for me when there is someone I want to connect to, coaches me on my career, etc etc. The streamlining of the bookkeeping by having all my 1099 paychecks go through her is worth it alone. It removes so much work and time from me that is very valuable.

But back to your original questions, I have had several jobs fall apart that my agent was able to collect kill fees, or "Pay or play" payment in full, or an up front installment, etc and still get me paid after doing a lot of prep work for a feature. And the clients cooperated without argument because they signed the contract that said that I was owed that. I feel that without the agent, I couldn't have collected on those jobs without burning a bridge and harming the relationship.

Jendra Jarnagin,
Director of Photography
www.floatingcamera.com

12 years ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Agents won't be interested in doing any of that stuff for free, and if they need to get the lawyers involved that'll cost you mightily. It's not going to be easy to get an agent to represent you without a decent portfolio already.

12 years ago - Eric Lau

If you are small time, they will represent you but do nothing. Best if you can "bring" your projects, aka money, to them so they can get a cut when you do all the work. In time, they'll throw you a bone if you're lucky. But that's call building a relationship.