Aaron Marcus, an actor with 40 years of experience, explains when multiple agents help or hurt your career. Exclusive contracts in the same market are illegal, but you can multi-list if you have time to manage submissions. He warns of the chaos when three agents pitch you for the same job, and how paying the first agent's commission can prevent costly disputes.
When I started acting over 40 years ago, I decided to begin working with the very first agent that I auditioned for. And I was so new to the industry and really didn't know very much that it wasn't until I started going on auditions and actually being on sets to learn that most of the actors in my particular area actually freelanced, and no one had exclusive contracts. And that seemed to make sense to me. You know, the more agents you have, the more submissions, the more auditions, and hopefully the more booking. But freelancing with multiple agents isn't always the smartest thing to do. And, and actually, in some areas, it's not even allowed. So how do you know if working with someone exclusively or multi-listing is best for you? Well, I'm going to walk you through various scenarios so that you will easily be able to determine which is best for your career. Okay, let's get started. When I first started acting, I was actually a full-time college student, and I really didn't have that much interest in acting, to be honest with you. I just thought it would be a great part-time job that would help— if I got work, it would help me pay my bills just to live as a full-time college student. And after doing it for a couple of years Part-time. I was loving doing the work. I felt the passion for it. So I dropped out of school and start working where I lived in the Maryland, Virginia, DC area. And what I quickly discovered was that nobody signed exclusive contracts. All, all the actors, pretty much all the actors freelanced. And What was really kind of bizarre was that, well, agents— all the different agents would have specific contacts with commercial photographers, with art and creative directors at advertising agencies, and even some casting companies. There weren't that many, but the bizarre thing was that the agents themselves Did casting, which is kind of a little bit unheard of, but that's the way it worked back then. Now, in markets like LA, you can't freelance. Everybody has an exclusive contract. But I want to make sure you know about this. Let's say you have an exclusive contract with a legit agent, somebody who is submitting you for film and TV. Well, maybe that particular agency, they also have a commercial modeling division, but maybe you weren't signed there. So that does allow the actor to sign another exclusive contract with a commercial modeling agent at another agency, and you might even have another exclusive contract for TV commercials and voiceover work With another agent at another agency. So you actually could have exclusive contracts with multiple agents in different markets, but they can't overlap. You know, you can't have, you know, 2 different legit agents in the LA market. So the real question that a lot of actors have is, is it better to have exclusive contracts or is it better to freelance? With multiple agents. So I'm going to share with you a couple of scenarios that will help you determine which is best for you. So let's say you are a full-time student or you have a full-time job and you have limited time for auditioning and even, you know, for bookings. Well, in that particular case, I think it's pretty clear you don't want a multi-list because the worst thing you could do is ruin your reputation. And if you're multi-listing and you're having to turn down lots of auditions or even jobs because you just don't have the time for it because of your commitment to school or your job, it's going to really hurt your reputation. But if you have a lot of free time and you can do a lot of auditions and, and do the jobs themselves, then Multilisting can be a really good idea. Now, at one point in my career, I probably had 25, 30 different agents. Most of them were in different markets. Some of them did overlap, and sometimes things got very complicated. And let me share with you one of those complications. I was flying out of town to the West Coast to, to work on a project. And this is before cell phones, and I actually had a pager. And pager goes off, and I have to find a, a phone, phone booth at the airport. And I'm calling this agent, and I don't have that much time before my flight. And the agent puts me on hold, and I'm waiting, I'm waiting, I'm waiting. I had to hang up. And a couple seconds later, pager goes off again, and it's from a different agent. So I'm thinking, well, it might be the same job. So call the agent back, the second agent, and the agent gave me all the information. It was a commercial modeling job. It was a high-paying commercial modeling job. So I accepted the job, or the audition. They're called go-sees for commercial modeling. And when I landed on the West Coast, I called back the first agent that called me. And I said, hey, I just want to let you know, you know, I got, you know, your page. I did call you back. You put me on hold. What's this for? And he started to explain it to me, and I said, oh, you know what? I got that from somebody else. And he was so angry with me. He starts saying, Aaron, I called you first, and I expect you to sign in with my agency. And I said, well, you did. Honestly, you did call me first. But you didn't respond to me first, so I'm going to have to sign in with the other agent. And then he started attacking me personally. I thought you were, you know, more professional than this. I'm very disappointed. And he's just like going on and on and on. And I didn't know what to do. So I called a third agent who was not in that market. I explained the situation. And she gave me this bit of advice that I found invaluable. And she said, look, call back the first agent and say, look, I can't sign in with you because I already accepted it with somebody else, but I'll tell you what, if I book the job, I'll still pay you, pay you your 20% commission fee. I thought that was brilliant, and I knew this was a mass cattle call. I'm not getting the job anyway, and this way maybe I can make amends. And when I told him this, he said, Aaron, That's why I appreciate working with you so much. The guy who just told me how much he couldn't stand me and I'm an unprofessional and all that kind of stuff. So yes, sometimes things can get a little nasty when you do freelance, especially if it's in the same market. On a side note, I booked the job and I wound up giving 40% of what I earned away in commissions. So if you have limited time, then work with one agent and see how things go. If you do have a lot of time, then sure, multi-listing sounds great, especially if you don't have an exclusive contract. If you are going to be signing an exclusive contract, make sure you know what exactly does Exclusivity mean? I'd love to hear from you. Do you work with one agent or do you work with multiple agents? Why? Please share it in the comments below so that way we can learn from you, and I will read and respond to every comment that you leave here. If you find this is helpful to you, don't forget, subscribe, click the bell so you are always notified when a new video has been uploaded and share the link with your fellow actors. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
