Aaron Marcus explains how to ask your agent for travel reimbursement and hotel costs on distant shoots. Frame it as a request, not a demand, so you don't risk the booking. The agent can often secure these costs separately from your rate, and other models probably aren't asking.
Hi, my name is Aaron Marcus, and I've been a full-time actor and a commercial model for almost 30 years now. I've booked over 1,200 jobs, and here is your quick tip, which is part of my quick tip series. Mm-hmm. Uh, I recently had a job, and, uh, the agent called me, uh, to let me know that it was booked. Uh, I got the hours. I also got the location. The location was about 3 hours away from me. So, um, I asked the agent if she would be able to get me some kind of travel on top of my fee. And they were also talking about ending the shoot. It was a long, long day for this particular print job shoot. It might end at 9 or 10 o'clock at night. I asked if they would cover a hotel room for me as well. And so one of the things that I wanted to share with you, it's always okay to ask. The worst that can happen is people say no. And as long as you phrase it in a way so that it's not a demand, you're not backing people into a corner, then it's okay. And I made it very clear to the agent. I said, look, this is not a deal breaker here. Certainly, I don't want to lose the job. Would you mind asking the client if they would pay for travel and a hotel if we are running really late? on the night of the shoot. And she got back in touch with me and she let me know that actually we were going to be shooting earlier in the day. It was not as long of a shoot as anticipated, so the hotel was not necessary. And she did get me money for travel. What was interesting, and I certainly didn't say anything about this on set, there were a couple other models who were complaining that they had long drives and they wished they had gotten something for travel. I don't know if their agent asked and didn't get it, or maybe the models just simply didn't ask the agent. So if you're ever in a situation where you are driving a distance, it's always okay to ask your agent. And the key thing is to let the agent know, don't lose the job for me. This is not a demand, it's simply a request, but if you could, that would be great. And the other thing also to know is that typically the way it should work is that If you do get money for travel, that is not taken out of the percentage that the agent gets for the booking. That's separate, and that you should get that in full without any percentages taken out. Anyhow, I'm Aaron Marcus. This is your quick tip. And if you have any questions at all, always feel free to go to my facebook.com/howtomodel page. And if you're watching this on YouTube, Please give it a thumbs up. If you are watching this on Facebook, please like it, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon.
