In the complicated world of being hired for a job in the entertainment industry, it’s almost a guarantee that each individual job will be different from all of the others. There is no straight and narrow path because each job has it’s own production, crew, directors and goals.
When you have an agent submitting you for potential projects, know any job you ever book with your agent should be invoiced by your agent and payment should be mailed directly to your agent. This is standard procedure for the efforts your agent took to get you considered and hopefully hired for this job.
If you are ever in a situation where you have been communicating directly with production, know that you need to arrange for payments to go to the agent.
How;
- By asking your agent for a check-authorization form. These forms state that you agree for all payments to go directly to your agent.
- If the paperwork on set doesn’t offer an agent payment, ask, as it is possible.
- Keep your agent cc’d in emails with any questions about payment.
Should you be worried your agent may not ever pay you or may take more than they should from your payment? No, not if you have the right agent. Unfortunately in the big world of agents, there’s plenty out there that are double dippers
How do you know if you agent double dips? Ask them. At Impressive talent, our commissions are 10% for union projects, 15% for any other projects. If a talent books a job at a rate of say $5000.00 + 20%, we would not only pay the talent the $5000.00 but we’d also pay them 1/4 of the commission since our maximum intake of commissions is 15%.
If a talent receives a payment directly from a production house or client, they should immediately reach out to their agent and state they received payment and send the check stubs to the agent so they can calculate out their commission. This is not an ideal situation and if it happens said talent could be cut for getting payment on the side. It’s best to let your agent handle all financial matters related to any projects they find for you.
In some instances if talent were paid directly and didn’t send their agent their payment, an agent can state they are not submitting said talent for any other jobs until payment is received. It’s not an assumption that all talent have an agent, and it’s not an assumption that all agents are great for the talent they rep, so check out your agents but know they hold the purse strings.