FROM THE DESK OF

FROM THE DESK OF... SHELLY HARRIS

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by: Shelly Harris / Entertainment Attorney

QUESTION:

I am a singer, and, via an agent, I recently have been getting several jobs to sing backup on various projects. I’ve always been paid a straight hourly rate without any contract. Out of that hourly rate, I paid the agent 15 percent, which he says is the standard and customary percentage.

However, I recently procured two more such gigs, and the talent buyer sent me a contract to sign after the work was already done. Under that contract, it was stated that the fee they were paying me was my standard hourly rate plus the 15 percent for my agency fees. In other words, the payment to me was the $200 per hour hourly fee plus the $30 (equaling the 15 percent that I am to pay the agent), for a total of $230 per hour.

However, my agent still took his 15 percent out of the remaining $200, so that I only received $170. My agent says that is “standard practice for the industry,” but that sure looks like double dipping to me. What can I do, if anything?

ANSWER:

First, your agent is indeed “double dipping.” And there’s several problems with your scenario, including the fact that you did not receive the contract for signing until after you’d done the work, making it impossible for you to have legally agreed to its terms prior to completing the work.

In some areas of the arts, such as modeling, such agency double dipping has recently undergone scrutiny and major litigation.

Your main argument against your agent’s ability to do the double dipping in this case, however, is that the contract actually specifically stated that the full $230 per hour as part of payment to you, with the extra $30 earmarked for your talent agency fee. On account of that, it would appear on its face that the extra $30 was intended to be the standard 15 percent payment to your agent on your behalf, and it is wrongful for your agent to withhold an additional 15 percent of that sum.

It would be a different issue if the agent had a separate agreement with the talent buyer for an additional 15 percent to be paid directly to the agent for procuring artist services; in that case you’d still owe the original 15 percent of any total amount originally paid out directly to you. (A side issue is whether you have any kind of written contract with this agent, and what that contract specifically states about the possibility of such double dipping and the circumstances under which it would occur.)

This may be a battle that you could successfully win on legal grounds, but you will have to decide whether it is worth it for you to “die on that hill” since the agent could refuse to represent you in the future.

If you don’t already have a written agreement with your agent, I suggest that you get one ASAP, and that you also insist on seeing the contract before you even begin any future work in order to avoid any such double dipping scams and other surprises.

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