ACtors: Pay Your Agents What They're Owed

Guest post by Alex Collins

The title of this blog post caused some of you to bristle a little, didn't it?

As actors, we think that we do “90% of the work and deserve 90% of the pay”, but the reality is quite different, so let's do a bit of an analysis on things.

An agency takes on a heck of a lot of overhead (mortgage/rent, desks, computers, equipment, utilities, insurance, bond/license, legal fees, business fees; salaries, and a whole lot more) and risk when opening up shop. They are betting on YOU as an actor. 

An agent doesn't get paid up front. They only get paid when you book work. These payments come in the form of commissions and range from 10% for union work up to 20% for non-union and print work. 

> Think about how many auditions you've gone on in the last year. 
>> Now think about how many you booked.
>>> Now think about how many emails and phone calls happened for each of those auditions and how much additional paperwork and time went into each of the jobs that you booked.

A SAG-AFTRA one day co-star currently pays $1,056+10%, so your agent is going to be making $105.60 in commissions. That's a heck of a lot of UNPAID work to get to that booking and a lot of work for that $!05.60. Agents need to have actors booking a lot of work just to keep the lights on each month, let alone pay a staff and break even.

So, let's amend the word owed to EARNED. Agents earn every single penny. 

From this point forward, whenever you look at your finances and you consider the percentages of commissions you are paying to your agent, don't say “I owe my agent X” instead say “my agent EARNED X from this job that I booked.” That slight shift will allow you to be grateful for the opportunity to work, appreciate the hard work your team puts in, and realize that they get paid very little overall for what they do.

When , how, and why do I owe my agent commissions?
For SAG-AFTRA bookings, what you do and don't own commissions on can be found HERE.

In addition, as actors, you need to also be educated on the contract you signed with that agency. There are SAG/AFTRA franchised agency agreements and there are ATA/NATR agency agreements. There are pros and cons to both. Legitimate agencies have agreements under one of these sets of guidelines, but the ATA/NATR agreements may in some cases favor the agency slightly in certain ways, including residual payments. So, always read before you sign with a new agent, ask questions, take your time to review, enlist the help of your mentors/teachers, and if needed, an entertainment attorney. 

A note on how long it takes to get paid.
If you work a non-union job, it could take as long as 90 days for the agency to get paid and another 30 days for them to cut you a check, minus their commissions. So, if it has been less than 120 days, don't freak out, don't stress out, and certainly don't get angry at your agent or imply they are doing something unprofessional. 

If you work a union job, by contrast, there are specific timelines on how long it should take you to get paid, penalties if you don't, as well as how long an agency has to pay you. The basic gist is this:

• When should the production pay me (either directly or the agency)?: Usually, within 10 business days of the close of the week that you shot.

• When should my agent pay me?: An agency is required to turn around payment from a production to the actor within at most seven days after receipt. 

• When should I pay my agent commissions if paid directly?: Actors are required to pay within a “reasonable” time period after receipt, which is interpreted to be ten (10) business days. 

A final note about “agency fees.”

We hear this one a lot, but NO, an agency fee is NOT a payment that YOU as the actor were ever entitled to, so NO, an agency is not “double dipping” when they take their agency fee AND a commission. The commission you owe is ALWAYS going to be owed, whether or not the agency is also earning an agency fee.  

Agency fees are often added to lower paying, almost always non-union jobs as an enticement for the agency to expend effort in submitting their talent and managing the booking. If you're unrepresented as an actor and book that job, you aren't entitled to that agency fee also. 

So, in summary, it's not double dipping, you're not getting short changed, because it's not a commission.

As actors, you need to educate yourself on contracts (both agency contracts you sign for representation as well as contracts when you book work). You need to learn what is and what isn't commissionable and why. You need to learn when you're due money and when to start chasing down late payments.  

Be your own CEO. Be your own advocate.