A common question I encounter is "Do I pay my rep if I find my own work?". The answer can be broad and varied but the IDEAL answer is YES.
WHY?
YOUR REP
Your rep, day in and day out, sells you to their buyers - casting directors, producers, directors, etc. They submit you on projects, they send out your profiles and materials direct, they phone, they email and they fight to get you in the door. All of this is exposure. And all of this work gets your face seen. All for FREE - because your rep doesn't make a dollar until YOU BOOK.
RIGHT PLACE RIGHT TIME
Now let's say you submit for a project that a Casting Director has put out on social media which you get called in for. Was it purely from your submission? Sure - but not entirely. The most likely case is that while yes, your submission for this particular project got you in the room for this particular project, the culmination of the compounding submissions, phone calls, emails and getting your face and materials in front of said Casting Director by your rep aided in your getting in the room. Because while Casting Directors will bring in new faces, they will also bring in faces of those that they know. And due to your rep's constant exposure of your face to their buyers, the buyer has gotten to know you and your work and so trusts you enough to bring you in. And you couldn't have done that without the FREE work your rep has done for you over a period of time.
NOW WHAT?
Well let's say you book the job. Hopefully you've had your agent go over the contract and negotiate it for you too - well that's their 10% earned in that job alone. Because you'll want to make sure you're protected first and foremost but you'd also want to make sure your agent knows what you are and are not booking - not to mention availability for future submissions while you're on set.
So with all of that, should you still pay your reps? Of course - not only have they done their job with this particular project by looking after your contract and making sure that the terms work in your favour but the work of exposing you to their buyers also aided in getting you in the room for you to land this job. So pay them their 10% because you know they've earnt much more than that.
ANY EXCEPTIONS?
Of course. Some rep's contracts will state that you don't HAVE to pay for any projects you book on your own. But would it be nice to? Of course. Why? Because you build trust in the relationship. You acknowledge the work that your rep has done for you despite you not booking any jobs that they've gotten you in the room for.
Some rep's contracts will state that you HAVE to pay commission for jobs you get your own - is it fair? Of course it is - because they've worked just as hard as you have to get you in various rooms which you didn't book and effectively they worked for free on so isn't it fair for the rep to get paid for that work albeit a little bit later?
CAN I NOT PAY?
Sure you can. No one is saying you HAVE TO. BUT there's only someone can work for free until they break. And it's at this point where if you're not earning them money, that you will be dropped. Because at the end of the day, it's business - not personal. It's show BUSINESS after all.
CHECKLIST
Your rep works for you everyday for free.
It's their job to get you in the room.
Their history of working for you may have aided getting you in the room even though you did a direct submission.
No one wants to work for free including reps so acknowledge their hard work and build that relationship.
It's just business - show business,.
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