125. Agent Termination, No Backbone

Tiwana Floyd shares a second experience terminating an agent. This time a print agent who wouldn't follow the funds. leaving Tiwana to figure out how to get paid for a job she booked. 

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Transcript

At a certain point in every actor's career, we reach that fork in the road with our representation where we have to reevaluate "Is this relationship really working? 

To stay or not to stay? That is the question. For me, the decision to terminate an agent is never easy. It's fraught with checks and balances, pros and cons, back and forth, all the what ifs and remember whens that finally help me get up the nerve to release the agent. 

And then...there are those junctures, the anomalies, that moment when the foul is so flagrant, without hesitation, you realize, this is some Bullshit, calling it 360 degrees complete. Let's get into another agent Termination story, shall we? A situation where I never felt so resolute in firing a print agent.

Welcome back to Acting Lessons Learned. I'm Tiwana Floyd, 

I don’t make a habit out of terminating agents. It takes me some time to reach that decision. I don’t displace blame, complaining that my agent isn't getting me out. I believe an agent is as good as the value and information I bring them. I recognize that until I get with a top 3 agency, most of the responsibility of getting access falls on my ability to market myself and build relationships with employers, and even then, I’ll still hold a majority responsibility in driving my career. 

When my contract is up for renewal, I act like a Human resources executive doing a review of my agent. I asked questions like are they were fulfilling the agreement we had when I signed the contract. Have I reached a plateau of how far they can elevate my career? Do they have the clout they said they had, do they lack vision? Also, it’s important that I like them as human beings. For me, if I don’t like you I can’t fake a relationship. There aren’t many people I don’t like, so if I don’t like you, there’s a high factor that people in the industry don’t like you and that can affect my opportunities. 

But some conducts that cause immediate action for me to terminate, like

mishandling of funds, deceitfulness, betrayal, and blatant lies. My termination of this print agent, Let’s call her Pam the Print agent, fell under the mishandling of funds. Not that she stole funds from me. She was timid in going after money owed me from a production she booked me on. Let me preface that the commercial print world or pretty much the world of modeling has no union regulations. It’s sort of the wild west, and therefore print agents are formidable business people who know how to negotiate and make sure their talent gets paid. 

If any agent lacks a backbone, especially in protecting my revenue, I see no future us because timidity leaves everyone under that agent susceptible to predatory producers.

Let me start with the backstory, of how I met Pam the Print Agent. My first print agent in LA was a mid-size multi-department agency. I wanted to get into commercial print as it was an extension of TV commercials and was a nice way to supplement my income. A close friend of mine knew this and offered to introduce me to her friend who was repped by the Mid-size agency and that’s how I got in, through a referral. I submitted my photos and met with Meredith, the head of commercial print and she took me on.

Now I was getting all these print castings, called go-sees, Now I’m dealing with still images, I had no idea how to navigate the audition. How should I pose, Should I smile, How do I tell a story with a photo. Needless to say, in the two years I was repped by Meredith I didn’t book any jobs. So, I asked Meredith for guidance. 

how do I prepare for a print job? 

What should I be thinking or doing when I'm at the go-see? I needed help with the Fundamentals. This was 2007, and the internet was the robust search engine it is today. Meredith would tell me not to worry, that I would figure it out. 

Pam was Meredith’s assistant, she was bubbly and knowledgable. When Pam would call me with go-see information, I’d ask her how to present myself and she’d offer helpful advice. So when it was announced that Pam was leaving Meredith’s agency to open a print division at a smaller boutique agency, I asked if I could go with her. 

Meredith’s agency had over 400 models, there was no way I was going to receive one-on-one direction, they just didn’t have the manpower. But I figured by going with Pam, I’d be a small fish and a small pond. And she would give me guidance. And I was right. 

Pam would get me what I would call low-hanging fruit jobs, where i wasn’t the main principal, I was more like a featured background. And that helped me learn how to navigate working in print. I would study the hero principal models. I don’t require a whole lot of hand-holding, I have a mechanical mind and I’m a kinesthetic learner I learn by watching and doing. 

Now Pam was getting me auditions in my niche, where I could rely on being myself and we started to have some success. And then I booked a job for a Tumbler drinkware company. You know those large plastic cups that you can fill with ice and a beverage great for the beach, or picnics?

 It was an alright shoot. There were about 15 principles but the wardrobe woman was atrocious. Like any acting job, commercial print models are asked to bring personal wardrobe and then the stylist will intersperse their costumes with our personal items. The head wardrobe woman, on this job, had mixed up all of our clothes. I learned this when I saw another model wearing my top. UGH! The job was shot in a large living room and when I saw the girl on the other side of the room, I couldn’t go over to her right away because we were already positioned for the camera. So, I had to get her attention and mouthed is that your shirt. She said no. It’s wardrobe’s. I went over to her and asked if I could look at the tag to see if were mine. It was a silver sequined tank top that I bought from a boutique store NY. The odds of the wardrobe stylist having the exact same shirt was rare. And I was right it was my shirt. 

The model was mortified and so embarrassed apologizing and turning red. When there are issues on the set, it’s best to let your agent handle it. I called Pam and explained the situation and she low-key made excuses for the wardrobe stylist. Now, I didn’t want to hear that. I wanted to hear Pam say, let me call over there and see what’s happening. Then she asked me what I wanted to do. I said I don’t want someone wearing my shirt but since she’s already been photographed in it and we’re still shooting the scene I wasn’t production to pay for cleaning it. 

Pam. went into this, if we raise this issue it could cause problems for the wardrobe person. IDGAF about the wardrobe woman’s job. She’s trash. She’s obviously not good at her job. I said I’d handle it. 

It sucks to have to be the person to point out infractions against you. But I did it. I went to the wardrobe woman bringing the mishap to her attention and notice all of my clothes were on various racks and not in the garment bag the way I left it. Sooooo…I’m an only child and like a cat, I am very territorial about my belongings. Also, I have nice things and I take care good of them, so now I’m seething and trying to maintain my composure. 

I inform the wardrobe stylist about my shirt and I start gathering all of my belongings. She apologized placing the blame on her assistant. But, I’m not trying to hear her because their assistance is her responsibility. I tell her that I'd like to have my shirt dry-cleaned and asked how we should go about that. She obliged and got the producer involved to get my information. 

I was mad at myself, for not keeping my things in my possession, but proud that I had advocated for myself without losing my shit. LOL. 

We finished out the eight-hour day, production paid to dry clean my blouse and I put it all behind me. 

The pay structure of print jobs can be 30- 90 days. It falls under the independent contractor, I believe those structures have gotten better, since. But I’m not 100 percent sure. When I hadn’t received payment for the Tumbler commercial by the 90-day mark, I contacted Pam to see if she had received it. She hadn’t. I asked if she would contact production to follow up because, you know, anything could happen. The check could be lost in the mail. Maybe I. Put the wrong address. Maybe there was an invoice that was missing. Who knows? But it wouldn’t hurt to put a call in or send an inquiring email. 

Pam followed up, and called me with the update. I remember exactly where I was because I experienced a wash of rage come over me. I was driving in Los Angeles and stopped at a red light on Exposition Boulevard at La Cienega. It was six o'clock at night. It was wintertime so It was dark. Pamela explained what Production told her which was, they paid the photographer the lump sum who then distributes payment to all the models and the check had cleared sixty days ago. 

And so I'm like, I didn't, I didn't know that was how it worked. And I asked if she called the photographer. And in this bubbly, kinda clueless lackadaisical way she said, well let’s give him a little more time. I’m sure it’s on it way. And this is where the rage started bubbling up. 

Maybe I misheard her, so I asked did you say the check cleared sixty days ago? She said yea. I said, no, he’s had enough time. Call him in the morning and follow up. She said, well, you know, just wait a little while. Let's give him a chance. And you know, Try to get the money together and I'm like, give him a chance. What? What do you mean give him a chance?

And then I heard honking horns. The light had turned green and I was enraged by pam’s cavalierness. I began to drive and told her she was not a good agent and that I was not going to move forward with her. I shocked myself and Pam, her tone changed as she tried to reassure me it would all work out that I should give the photographer some time. There she was advocating for someone else who had trespassed against me. I pointed it out saying how are you advocating for the photographer. Is he your client? This is the second time you’ve done this, you didn’t take care of the issue with my shirt more concerned about the wardrobe woman’s job. I told her as my agent, she needed to have more of a backbone in protecting her clients. And since she didn’t I had to terminate the relationship. 

I said It's very clear that this person is not operating in good faith, so we don't actually give him a pass and wait for him to finally get a conscious and do right by us. There’s $3000 on the line. No, we should take action now, And if I had to take the photographer to small claims court I would. She sorrily apologized and I disappointedly said good bye Pam. 

Now I had to figure out how to get my money. A month had gone by, and I hadn’t heard from Pam. The owner of the agency Pam worked for called me. I had never met the woman or spoken to her, She spoke solemnly, introducing herself. Hello Tiwana, this is Diane, Pam is no longer with us. But we're still trying to get you paid. What we’ve learned so far is the director seems to have kept the money and he hasn’t paid any of the talent. But we can’t get a contact for him. If you learn anything, let us know. In the meantime, we’ll still be working on getting you paid. 

He kept. All of the money?

We're talking about 15 principal models that did not get paid. The photographer kept appx $60,000 of model fees and agent commissions. That's a lot of money for someone to keep and not be held accountable by some sort of court of law. And so I told her. Right then and there that if she's not willing to make the call, she can no longer be my agent.

I was fuming. The injustice of it all. This had never happened to me. I’d heard nightmare stories of agencies robbing talent. And now I was one of them. It felt so personal.

The fact that someone could be so, so deceitful and think that people who worked for something didn't deserve to get paid. So I had to figure out how to go about this. And I remembered I had a call sheet. Actor Fren, if you take nothing else from this story, take this. ALWAYS get a call sheet and always get contact information on the people who hired you. Keep it in your files indefinitely, but at least until you get paid. I looked at my call sheet the photographer’s name was listed but there was no phone number and no email address. And I couldn't find him online because he had a common name, like Kevin Smith.

But what I did have on the call sheet was the casting director's name and phone number. Now at this point, I don't give a damn about crossing a line, crossing a casting director’s boundaries. I didn’t care about any of that, I'm thinking I'm just doing business, right? So I call the phone number. Thinking that this is the casting director's business number. Thinking it's her office somewhere. 

Well, it turned out it was her personal home number because she didn’t have an office. Now this is 2007 or 2008. I'm not expecting to be calling a casting director's home number. When she answered she was pleasant, until I tell her my name and that I'm talent…and before I can get the rest out, she lambasts me asking how did you get this number?

I said, calmly void of emotion, well, I got your number from the call sheet from the Tumblr commercial, and I haven't gotten paid, and I'm trying to find information for the photographer because we know that he kept the money off all the models and I'm going to take him to small claims courts. She was livid. How dare you call me asking me for this information. I work with these people.

They, I, I could have, I could get a bad reputation from this. And I said, well, 15 models didn't get paid from the people that you're worried about your reputation. How would you feel if you didn’t get paid for three months and learned your money was stolen from you? All I'm asking for is contact information, a phone number, and an email address. I feel like that's the least you could do. She gets all huffy at the same time softening.

Well, I can't give you his phone number. Here's his website. His information should be there, and you didn't get it from me. And she hung up on me. I never auditioned for her again. I think retired.  

I went to the photographer’s company website, I found an email and a phone number. I shared it with Diane at the agency. Then proceeded to call the photographer. I called, and called, never getting anyone on the phone. But. I’d leave messages everyt time. This is Tiwana Floyd talent on the Tumbler Print job, I didn’t get paid. The production company said they paid you and the check cleared on this date, When Can I expect my money. and then I email the same thing and that I am willing to take him to small claims court because now I have an address from his website. I didn’t know if I would ever get my money. All I knew to do was be relentless. 

You have to let people like this know that you are not gonna go away. And I know a lot of my actor peers. Would be afraid to be, to be relentless to even call the casting director for fear of being blacklisted. But again, it's the principle. This was a tremendous injustice to me, and I wasn't just gonna fall by the wayside and, maybe not get paid. I was gonna at least fight for it. Days went by and I still didn't hear from him, I began looking up Small Claims Court filing.

And then Diane called me and said victoriously, we got your money. We have the check here. Would you like me to mail it to you or would you like to pick it up? I told her I was on my way. So when I arrived I met Diane for the first time. She apologized again that Pamela hadn't done her due diligence to make sure that we got paid and protected the talent. She didn’t tell me the terms for Pam’s departure and I didn’t ask. She didn’t divulge all the details, she just said the director finally paid the money. 

I don't know if Pam was fired or if she left of her own volition. I don’t think she was cut out to be the head of a department. A least not at that point. What I learned was prior to moving to a new office, Pam was an assistant at a mid-sized boutique that had an on-site accounting department and a legal team. It’s possible she never had to deal with going after talent pay. Not everyone is good at aggressively chasing the money.

At the very least I could have respected her saying Tiwana, I’ve never dealt with this before, at the mid-sized agency we had a team who handled this. Let me look into how to navigate this and we can work together to get you paid. And as I say that, I have to remember not everyone is good at simple communication or runs the risk of looking vulnerable. 

Either way, I never regretted leaving Pam, I kept tabs on her for a short while. I saw that she opened a print department at another mid-sized agency and then. I forgot about her. And there are no signs of her anywhere on IMDB. Maybe she realized being an agent wasn't her calling. I just hope no other actor lost money due to her negligence in following the funds. 

Have you ever experienced an agent who didn’t get you paid or worse stole your money? It’s a hard blow to experience. All I can say is be relentless and do everything in your power to remedy the injustice. 

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When it comes down to terminating an agent. Listen to your gut, especially when there are immoral factors at play. 

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