How Actors Should Negotiate Without an Agent - 3 Tips

If you're an actor or a model and you book a job on your own, whether you have an agent or you don't have an agent, you need to be able to negotiate. Well, that can be really hard if you don't know that much about the industry. You don't know what to expect. So watch the video until the end and use the 3 tips that I'm going to be sharing with you that will allow you to negotiate in your best interest. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to my Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel, where I try twice a month to upload a new video that will help people who are just getting started in the acting or modeling industry, or for people who've been in the industry for a while but they want to take their career to the next level. And look, if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, click the subscribe button as well as the bell, the notification button, so that way you will be notified every time I upload a new video. And if you like the video, please click the thumbs up icon. That's helpful to me, and it allows other people to see that there's value in these videos. So very first case scenario is if you have no representation at all and you book a commercial modeling job. Well, what kinds of questions do you need to ask? How much money should you be getting? Here's what you want to do, and this holds true for all negotiations. Try, if you can, to get the— whether it's the photographer or it's the art and creative director from the ad agency or the client, whoever it is who's hiring you, See if you can get them to throw out a figure because you might not have a clue as to how much you should be getting or how much you can be getting. So if you use this line, and it's a really good one, I've used it, hey, so I just want to find out, what, what does your budget allow you to pay for a model or an actor, you know, in this project? Let them toss out a number to you, and if it seems like it's in the right ballpark, great. If it seems like it's really low, then maybe you can start talking more about what you would like to receive. If you throw out a number first, you know, how much would you charge to do this, you know, this project, you might be so far off base in either direction. So always Number one, try to get the other person to throw out a number first, a figure first. The other thing too is if it is a commercial modeling job, what you need to do is— what makes it really tough is that for commercial modeling jobs, there is no basic amount that you should be getting from every job. Look, in every city and for every project, there are different fees. Connected with it because there's no union for commercial modeling. And so there's not a specific basic minimum that you will receive. Nobody has negotiated. You don't have a union negotiating for you. There are some markets where you might get $200, $250 an hour, $175 an hour, $100 an hour, $75 an hour. Who knows? So what you should do if it is a commercial modeling job, what I would do is I would try to find out in your particular area what is at least a customary hourly fee, half-day, full-day fee involved in this, you know, for commercial modeling work. If you, you know, sometimes there are some agents' websites where they will list what their charges are. You know, do a little research there. Maybe you can go to some Facebook groups, maybe some modeling groups in your area, and find out what, what's a range of fees for your particular area. Once again, maybe on an hourly basis. That would be really helpful to you before you start negotiating. Maybe there are some actors, you know, if it's not a commercial modeling job, where you can do the exact same thing and find out for TV commercials, you know, what could I expect to get for a, you know, a non-union spot. Now, if it's a union spot, it makes it easier because if you are a union member— or look, you could be a non-union member but still get hired for a union TV spot, there are minimums. And so what you can do is you can go to the union website, and, and I'll list it below so you can check it out, and find out what are their minimums for a TV spot. Now, those minimums are what you would get for an 8-hour day. It gets much, much more complicated depending on the use of the TV spot. You know, is it a local spot? Is it a, um, a spot that's going to be running in multiple areas, a regional spot? Uh, is it a national spot? Um, is it a Class A TV commercial, uh, where every time it airs you get paid? So, and once again, I, I don't want to go into all the specifics I don't know the specifics of a union TV commercial, but the short version is every 13 weeks. Once again, there are some exceptions, but typically every 13 weeks you will get paid a session fee and you will also get paid units. Units are, you get a certain amount of money per unit depending on the area. The bigger the market, the more units there are. So New York, LA, and Chicago have the most units, the highest population, you make more money. But anyhow, if it's non-union, once again, you want to ask because you don't get residuals from non-union TV spots. So find out from other local actors, you know, what people generally get paid for a non-union TV commercial, and that also will give you some additional information about negotiations. Here's the other thing too. And this is the third thing, and this is something that, that I ran into once for a feature film. I had an agent working on it with me, but here's what happened. And this is— there's some really important things that you can take from this and use for your negotiations as well. I was considered— I got hired, and I agreed to do this as a local hire. The city that I was working in was about 4.5, maybe a 5-hour drive for me each way. And because it was a small part, they said that the actor has to be considered a local hire, meaning they're not paying mileage, they're not flying me in, they're not paying me a per diem, which is a specific amount of money just for incidentals throughout the day. Because as a local hire, they don't need that. You're going to be driving back home. They were nice enough to— because they knew that I lived, you know, out of the area— they said, we will put you up in a hotel. Great. Okay, so here's what happened. I got an email from what's called the second AD, a second assistant director. So you've got the director First AD, first assistant director. You have a second assistant director. Sometimes, depending on the project, you get to have a second second. But anyhow, I got an email from the second AD saying they would like me to come in for a wardrobe fitting and to get a COVID test. It was about 4 days— actually, I'll tell you specifically, they wanted me to come in on a Thursday, uh, and I would shoot on Monday. Well, that wasn't great for me because honestly, I didn't want to drive 5 hours each way on, on the Thursday, then, you know, do the wardrobe fitting, get the COVID test, drive back home, and then drive back again on Sunday to shoot on Monday. It just felt like a lot of work. So Here's how I negotiated. And by the way, because they reached out to me directly, I contacted my agent and I asked, look, is it okay with you if I just talk to the second AD directly, or do you want to take over? And he said, look, you've already spoken to the AD before, it's fine to talk with them. So here's what I did. Got back in touch with the Second AD. And the first thing I wanted to make really clear was I agreed to work as a local hire, and I'm not backing out on that. I'm not making any demands. And I think it's really important when you are negotiating that if you agreed to something already, you keep your word and you don't start trying to make Changes because, um, you know, they've already, you know, agreed to some very specific things. And I also don't want to jeopardize this job. You know, they could turn around and say, hey, look, this is just getting crazy. You said you were going to be a local hire. Now you're trying to change. Look, we're going to go with our second choice for this. I didn't want that to happen, so I let them know I said, look, I'm certainly going to abide by everything that I agreed to. Here's what I'd like to ask— not demanding. And I think that's another really important part too. I didn't demand anything. I asked. Worst they could do is say no. So here's what I asked. I asked, is it possible to move the wardrobe fitting and the COVID testing to Friday. And if that's the case, then could they put me up in a hotel Friday night and Saturday night and Sunday night as well? Then I would work Monday and then possibly just drive straight home Monday night. I guess it would depend on what time I leave. I said, if you need me to come in on Thursday and drive back home I will do that. I'm just asking if there's any way that you would be able to cover mileage for that extra trip. And once again, as a local hire, if I actually lived nearby, it's no big deal. I drive in, do the testing, do wardrobe, drive back home. But I'm far away. So I think it was really helpful just to be upfront with them To let them know that I'm agreeing to everything that I agreed to initially and that I'm not trying to force and change things. I'm asking. And here's what happened. They said, tell you what we can do, we will bring you in on Friday and, um, we'll put you up in the hotel for the extra nights. And I thought This is great. This is just what I wanted. Now, on a little bit of a side note, things change in the industry a lot. And actually, my shoot date now had been— it got changed for the 3rd time. They're actually— Yeah, I want to— I'm not going to mention any names or anything like that. There was a positive COVID test on the set, so they had to shut everything down. So instead of me shooting on that Monday, I then had to shoot on that Wednesday, the following Wednesday. So what they did was, and they were very, very nice about it, they said, look, drive in Monday morning and go straight to wardrobe, or actually go straight to getting your COVID test, go to wardrobe after that once you've been cleared. We're going to put you up in a hotel Monday, we're going to put you up in a hotel Tuesday, You can spend the day doing anything you want. You're not working on Tuesday. And then Wednesday you're going to shoot, and you'll— we'll put you up on Wednesday, you know, for Wednesday night. You drive home Thursday. And so essentially I got everything that I wanted. I only have to drive in once. They're putting me up in a hotel for 3 additional nights, which was really, really nice. Or actually 2 additional nights, which I really appreciated a lot. And everything worked out. Just the way I wanted it. Now, let me also just back up for one second to let you know I'm not telling you this is the only way to negotiate. There are people who come in very strong, who come in hard, who are coming in demanding, and they get what they want. I'm not saying that that's the wrong thing to do, and maybe that's the way to do it. You know, if that works for you, It's not my style. I don't feel comfortable doing that. That's in many ways, that's why I love having an agent do it. But there are a lot of people who are not in a position who have an agent, who have to book things on their own, or people who might have an agent but they are allowed— it's not exclusive— and they are allowed to find jobs on their own. But for me, I like taking a A softer approach. Certainly I'm being firm in there. I'm asking for these things. I'm not just saying, okay, well, whatever, whatever you want me to do, whatever you want me to do. No, I am asking for some specific things that make things better for me. But I think it's really important to, at least for me, to do it in a way where I'm not forcing, I'm not demanding, I'm requesting. And I find that a lot of times When you head in that way, it makes it better. And at least for me, I found that throughout my career, I get more things done that way. So number one, just to kind of recap here, get the information ahead of time, know what to expect, you know, as far as what you should be getting, what is, you know, I don't know if average, what is, you know, typical in your area so you can make an informed decision. You know, 2, you know, just make sure that you go in there and you're talking to people and you ask for some very specific things that are helpful to you that you would like. And 3, the 3rd tip is don't demand all this stuff and don't go back on what you already agreed to. Ask and let people know. That it's not an either/or kind of situation, that you're asking for this, but if it doesn't work out, you'll go and abide by everything you agreed to ahead of time. And I can tell you, look, in this business, you will hopefully— you're going to run into these people again in the future. And if you wind up getting a reputation of somebody who's difficult, Hard to work with, someone they don't trust because, you know, you agreed to one thing and now you're changing, you're demanding, and you're going to back out. That's not good for your career. So once again, don't let people walk all over you. Ask for things. But I think if you follow those 3 tips, it's going to be really, really helpful to you. 2 quick things. Do me a favor. If you have ever had to negotiate on your own, please share, share the story. Tell us what you did. Was it helpful? Did it backfire? You know, just so we can learn from you as well. And please share, share this link throughout your social media with your friends, just so that we can continue building a community. of, you know, professionals helping each other, actors and models helping each other by sharing experiences. That's why I have this channel. And the very last thing, if in case you haven't done this, don't forget, click the subscribe button, the bell notification button. If you like the video, please give it a thumbs up and help spread the word. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya. See ya.