Cancellation

[jester]

Last Wednesday I got offered a gig in a night club for Friday by an agent I had never used before, but my freinds had so I took the gig. The agent confirmed by phone, which I normally accept at short notice, especially if my friends have vouchsafed.

I changed my arrangements for Saturday because it was a late night gig.

On Friday evening, I was about to go to work but I checked my emails (I had been working all day) and discovered that the agent had cancelled by email at 9.30 am

It was now 6pm

I was furious. I felt the least he could do was ring me on my mobile and send me a message. Had I known that morning, I could have sorted myself out with another less well paid but much more fun job.

So I did something I have never done before... I rang the client direct...

And they not only had not cancelled me.. they hadn't even booked me to begin with..

But as a consequence of ringing them and asking politely why I had been cancelled when the event was going ahead.. They booked me anyway. I got the gig and another two gigs as a consequence of working. And the client was very pleased with my work.

I'm in two minds about the ethics here because I never undermine an agent. Agents are valuable friends...

What do you think?

[scot]

I think it's great. You didn't do much wrong, and it's a complicated and rare occurance. If you want to work with the agent again, you might want to find out about the relationship between agent and client. Otherwise, if the agent doesn't know and the client is happy, I don't see enough wrong with it to stop. You were lucky.

[Guest]

Well, the agent booked you for a gig they didn't have right? So I wouldn't be worrying about ethics there. You never worked for this agent, and they never got you a gig ( or even had it for you ). So how could you be accused of undercutting them? ; )

I think it's perfectly reasonable for an agent to tell a performer that they want to hold a date on spec if everyone knows what's going on, but pretending to have a contract that they don't even have and then cancelling on you in a disrespectful manner is something else entirely, IMO.

My best so far was a tv agent cancelling my audition 15 minutes before hand because the casting director only wanted girls .... I was not amused.

[worldwidese]

Of Course It Was Worth It!

Seems to me like the agent was guilty of "Overbooking" in case somebody else cancelled.
But watch your back. Sounds like the kind of agent who could get pretty ugly.

[RobertBloor]

You didn't circumvent the agent.

He cancelled. And in doing so released and rights to your performance.

Robert