Way to go Lukeford.com! Sign me the fuck up! I couldn't agree with you more. I'm tired of getting pissed off and pissed on over talent representation. Your article prompted me to do a bit of research. First off, I can't find a single porn agency that's actually--really and truly--a talent agency. You see, in the State of California, talent agencies are regulated by the state's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. And lo and behold, they have a searchable database there. I ran a search on a few of our so-called agencies in the jiz biz and can ya believe it? They ain't there! If you want to go search for yourself, here's the web site-- right HERE. Maybe you can find them, I sure can't.

Of course, some of our porn agencies don't call themselves agencies. One such non-agency-agency, for instance, calls itself a 'clearing house,' whatever the fuck that is. I thought a 'clearing house' was that place where Ed McMahon works and gives out millions of dollars to people who buy magazine subscriptions, but I guess I'm wrong. Another non-agency-agency calls itself a 'register,' you know, a talent register, not to be confused with a 'cash register' which in reality is close to the same thing: both are designed to take in money and do nothing else.

There are also those who like to say they're 'talent managers.' But wouldn't you just know it, the State of California also regulates those people too! And the worst thing is this: whether you're an agent or a manager, the State regulates how much money you can charge for your services. And get this--in both cases the money is charged to the talent, not the producer. Want to know what they can charge? Thought you'd never ask. Well, my sources tell me that an agent--a licensed agent that is--is only permitted to charge a maximum of 10% of the talent's earnings for the job the agent secured for them. And as I already stated, it's the talent who gets charged this fee, not the producers. As for managers, they can charge a little more--15%--but get this, according to the regulations, they're not supposed to book or secure work for their clients, that's the agent's job. They're job is to manage, period.

I have an idea! From now on everyone should add the non-agency-agency's commission to the talent's fee and pay it to the talent. Then let the non-agent-agent collect the fee from their clients. Come to think of it, that's the way it's supposed to work,

Anyway, it's late, and I need my beauty rest. I'm sure this topic will be further discussed during the week. Let's see if any shit flies over this. Maybe I'll write some more about this myself even if others don't. Hey! Would you believe I might know a little bit of the dirt and fucked-up games some of these non-agency-agencies play? How some producers are charged more than others? How some of them have little, per-movie, flat-fee deals? How some producers get first-looks at new talent and other's do not? Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I've been in this biz for almost a decade, and most of it as a producer/director; I should know some of this shit, huh?





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