First night Boston

[martin ewen]

I'm being offered this gig but the spiders crawling across the agents face disturb me. Is this gig a sow with a large litter of suckling agents?(which in turn would make us willing to please fleas.) I kind of hope so. Any background would be appreciated as the agents now e-mailing me in all capitals. AND I FIND THAT ANNOYING ALSO BECAUSE I"M NOT DEAF AND I'M ACTUALLY QUITE SENSITIVE AND IT WOULD BE FORGIVABLE IF PART OF HER FACE HAD DECOMPOSED AND JAMMED THE KEY BUT WHEN SHE"S COMMERCIALLY CUDDLING she speaks like this AND ALL OTHER TIMES SHE SPEAKS LIKE THIS AND I'M STARTING TO HAVE BAD DREAMS.

thanks

[Tom B]

I know that First Night is a nation wide event. Although I dont know anything about First Night Boston, I have done First Night Cadillac for 4 years and its a reputal event. I always look forward to it, and always have a great time.
Not sure if this will help, but thought I would toss it in.
Tom B

[Jim]

Martin,

Who's the agent?

PM me if you don't want to name names. Unless her name is Lulu... then my advice would be to stay away.

Jim

[martin ewen]

I'm not one to be disparaging, I'll leave that to you.

Well funnily she does have a couple of L's in her name and a couple of U's as well so tell me, apart from the spiders and the outright lieing and the tendancy to forget things like payment in her dotage, is there anything else I should watch out for. Its not like you Jim to come out swinging so we could just call this hyperthetical agent Ulul.
Do tell.

[Jim]

Martin, how in the world could I have guessed who you were talking about on the very first try?

Where should I start?

- I've never heard one positive thing said about her from any performer who's ever worked for her.

- She once called me to offer me work from a client I already deal with directly and acted like they only had a small budget for the job... only I had already booked the gig myself for twice what she offered to pay me.

- I was at a gig I booked myself and there were other acts there that were booked by her. After talking to the acts and talking to the client, I realized that she was taking about 50% commission on each performer. When the client found out what the acts were actually getting paid (and what she was taking as commission) they were completely offended.

- I have heard several stories of performers waiting months for checks from her.

She's called me about 10 times offering work but I have never taken a job from her. I just don't get a good feeling about dealing with her. She just strikes me as completely unprofessional.

Go ahead and take the gig if you want to... But I would request a 50% deposit. Also, make sure the amount you're being paid is a fee you're comfortable with. If you get the feeling you're being underpaid, it's probably because you are. She takes a large percentage of what the client is paying.

When I deal with an agent these days, I want to know what the client is paying to have me there... the agent should get 15%-20% TOPS. If the agent won't tell me what the client is paying, I make sure the quote I give to go do the job is a fee I'm extremely comfortable with. Don't let an agent tell you, "Oh, the client only has $300 for the job." because you know the client is probably paying the agent $600 for a performer and the agent is trying to book a cheap act to make a larger commission. It's just the way it works these days. ALWAYS ASK FOR MORE MONEY.

I don't like agents.

[martin ewen]

I first grew suspicious when I noticed her name rhymed with voodoo

Thanks jim
I can find first nights closer to home than Boston.
I've done about 3 gigs for her and the clients afterwards would confirm increduluosly afterwards,
"and you work for Lucille?"
The exploitive business practices of ripping off both the client and the performer in the same deal are now, with info and communication so simple online, redundant and much harder to pull off.
It's great to be able to get background and let people that have already got a couple of decades of exploitation wither on the vine.
I'm off to Ireland tomorrow and it looks like some good acts. My copywriter should go easy on the prozac however.

http://www.spraoi.com/streetacts.htm

[Mr.Taxi Trix]

Nope.

Well, as the guy who introduced you to her, I'm putting in my 2 cents. Lulu has always paid me punctually, and has never offered me a low-paying gig. (600 US for 45 minutes was rock bottom, and she's done a bunch higher.) On a recent gig which I had to cancel, she was quick to work with me to find a replacement, and never whined. She's low maintenance with the phone calls. I believe Panic and Gross both have good relationships with her, and I've gotta give her the two thumbs up. Agents are a mixed blessing, yes, but you always have the option to politely decline. Or trash them in a public forum, I guess.

[Jim]

Just speaking from personal experience, Taxi. Martin asked my opinion.

If you have had positive experiences working with her, I'm glad you shared them here. I have never heard anything positive and I wondered why she was still in business.

I thought my advice was more of a "beware" than a "trashing" but either way, I'm just stating the facts.

And the other thing to keep in mind is: the things I described below are practices many, if not MOST, agents are guilty of. It's not only her... she was just who we were talking about at the time.

I have had SOME positive experiences working with agents, but virtually ALL of my negative experiences in my professional career have been as a result of an agent or agency screwing something up or not paying or underpaying or just being a hassle.

DIY if you can... and be wary of any agent if you must deal with them.

Jim