In the entertainment industry, many talent have multiple representatives they work with to potentially increase their bookings to grow their resume. It’s a big boost to your ego to have so many options to receive opportunities from. There is a downside though, receiving the same audition from more than one representative. Let’s chat about what to do in this situation.
- Most talent in the entertainment industry would submit a project to the representative to who sent the job to them first. Which ever job is in their email or phone call first is the prime person to submit to. Clearly that representative is working hard to get you an opportunity as quickly as possible and their efforts should be appreciated. This is the fairest way to handle multiple audition requests.
- Situation number 2 is a big one to think about. You receive the opportunity from 3 agents, all within 15 minutes of each other. You immediately decide the 1st agent should receive it. But then you remembered that the 1st agent has a tendency to double dip on commission. Example: If a job pays $4,000.00 + 15% Agent fee, you know they will actually keep that 15% agent fee and then still pull 20% off the $4,000.00 and pay you the balance. If you view the two other audition requests you could potentially see another just stating $4,000.00 (no agent fee at all listed and in this case they are also pocketing the agent fee and will double dip on YOUR money). The last option is said agent sends out the exact same job for $4,000.00 + 15% Agent fee. You know this agent does not double dip because they have emailed you about this situation. Of the 3 auditions sent out, the 3rd one is the most beneficial for the talent to submit to and said talent should question why in the world they have any agents who actually Double Dip.
- The final situation is you signed a contact with an exclusive agent. Said agent has a “territory” which could be local, regional or national. Signing with an exclusive agent is a huge risk. Clearly the agent is only exclusive because they are very greedy and in fact they may not receive any more opportunities than a non-exclusive agent. These exclusive agents are the reason this article was written, why you never ever request a retraction in the entertainment industry. More times than I’d like to count, a talent may submit a project to me, typically a voice over project, and within hours they may email or call requesting a retraction because their “exclusive” agent covers this territory. Placing a talent in a situation to retract their audition so another agent can send it to casting is unacceptable. This is very unprofessional behavior from said representative. Many talent are removed from the roster where they requested the retraction because this is so very inappropriate.
So please consider the above situations when not only submitting projects, but also dealing with the greedy exclusives who demand retractions.