Blog

You may have recently come across film, TV, and commercial work that is being advertised through Facebook or social media. You may have wondered why these jobs are not being offered to you by your agent.

Let us tell you the reason why: the rates for these jobs may not be up to industry standards, and the usage can make it difficult for you to find other work in the future. Many of these jobs offer low rates for a lot of usage (all media in perpetuity, for example), which can take you out of the running for all other competitive brand campaigns for as long as the media is used.

This is the reason you have an agent; it’s our job to negotiate rates, make sure standards are maintained, and protect your rights. It is easy to be taken advantage of if you’re not familiar with the aforementioned. 

How It Works: 

Usually, when a client is looking for talent outside of an agency, it’s because the terms of the contract are not very favourable. Most commercial campaigns pay featured (recognisable) talent a minimum of $1,200 for 12 months usage. If you are heavily featured or use dialogue, you can get paid a lot more. 

General rule of thumb: if you see the words ‘in perpetuity’, do not proceed. Doing a job in perpetuity can rule you out of future work forever. It may only rule you out of working for brands that are in the same area as a job you’re locked in perpetuity for. Casting directors and agencies will ask agents to check potential cast are not featured in any campaigns currently airing or have worked in past 2 years for a competitive brand as this can cause conflicts.

Additionally, campaigns are typically set for periods of time, such as 12 months or less. Once the contractual period is over or close to being over, the client can ask for the period to be rolled over (extended), which means talent would receive an additional payment for the extended use of media they’re featured in. 

What You Can Do:

As a BGT talent, all the work you do is required to come through us. However, that shouldn’t stop you from querying further information about the job. Typically, limited information is given on these social media posts, meaning further investigation is required. Questions like:

• How prominent would I be?
• What is the brand/product?
• What media will be used and for and what length of time?

Then, once you have this information, you can pass it along to your agent to assess whether the job is worth getting in touch with the client or not. There are a lot of variables at play with advertising, and solid jobs will offer better rates due to the usage and rollovers involved - which is why a contract is required that meets AAANZ’s standards. Sometimes other forms of payments are offered, like Prezzy Cards or vouchers, however this is very cheap and should not be accepted as a proper form of payment for the work being carried out.

As your agent, we are happy to contact the client directly to ask the questions above, however we will need their contact details. Sending a screenshot of the job listing, as well as contact details, and any communication you've had so far  is the best way for us to approach new clients and job listings. 

Angel de Goude & Bella Leahy