The Standard Contract

Many years ago I started writing about my experiences with
editorial,models, editorial and commercial agencies, and agents. Most
of these articles were in response to questions people asked me,
and while they gave a limited overview of the business in general,
one area which I never addressed was the contract used by most of
the major editorial agencies. Recently someone asked why I had
never written about it, so........

I thought I'd take a few minutes to discuss the so called "Standard
Contract", which is the one used by editorial fashion agencies when
they "sign" a new model. This is not meant to be a legal discussion
(I'm not a lawyer), but rather a layman's journey through the high
points of the contract. My bona fides for writing this is that I first
assisted a model who signed with IMG almost 20 years ago, and have
worked with and reviewed the "Standard Contract" with virtually
every major agency in the business.

A quick sidebar here, editorial agencies often "sign" models they
represent (although not always). Commercial agencies rarely "sign"
models (the correct term is the model is "listed", and the model may
sign a document which outlines the agencies commission rates and
terms of representation), although it is possible under very
unusual circumstances for a commercial agency to use a standard
contract with a model.

The first paragraph or paragraphs of the standard contract basically
outlines that you (as the model) appoint the agency as your
personal manager and they (the agency) consents to act as your personal
manager for the term of the contact. Most often (although not
always) the words "exclusive world wide manager" will appear, sometimes
(rarely) the scope of the contract may be limited to a
geographical area such as the city or state the agency is located in.
World wide? Yup, exclusive world wide manager. You may work with
other agencies in other cities or countries (and often do), but
only with the consent of your original ("mother") agency. The next
thing you will see in these opening paragraphs is the agency only
agrees to advise you, that they will offer "advice and counsel" on a
whole range of issues. What they don't agree to do (this will be
repeated and stated explicitly) is to find you work or offers of
employment. And they (the agency) will collect a percentage
(typically 20%) of all the gross money you make.

Whaaa, whaaa, whaaa? They won't find you work, and you agree they won't
be responsible for finding you work, they will only "advise" you,
and they still want 20% of everything you make??? Exactly. Strange
as it seems, this has to do with tax law and getting around the
restrictions typically placed on "Employment Agencies" in many places,
New York in particular. The next unusual thing about the standard
contract is that you agree that the agency can sign your name to
documents (like checks!), and in many circumstances act as if they
were you legally. They (the agency) will bill your clients,
collect the money, put it into their accounts, and eventually pay you
(minus their commission and any other money you might owe the
agency at this point). Are we having fun yet?? It gets better! Remember
the part about "any other money you might owe the agency"? Know
this, you pay for everything. You pay for your book (with the
agency name on it!), you pay for your comp cards, you pay for testing,
you pay for being on the agency website, you pay when your comps
are Fed Ex's to prospective clients. Now, the agency might advance
these expenses and hold them against your account, but you pay. If
you're lucky when you are getting started the agency might arrange for
a free test, but that's only because they talked the photographer
into shooting for free. If they (the photographer,
makeup artist, stylist) charge, you pay. Woof!

And now for the coup de grāce, "you understand and are aware that the
agency may collect from some or all of your clients an additional
service charge which will be considered an additional inducement
for the agency to act on your behalf". Huh??? What additional
service charge? How much is that? "May collect from some or all...."???
Ohhh they will, and from all your clients if they can get away
with it. How much? The service charge is typically an additional 20% of
your billing rate to the client. Doing the math on an imaginary
job, your rate to the client is $1,000. The agency collects 20%
($200) from you, and bills the client (typically) an additional
20% ($200) as a service charge. So on our imaginary $1,000 booking
you would receive a (net) $800, and the agency would receive a
(net) $400.

Finally the term of the contract is (typically) is two to three years.
And the contract will (again, typically) automatically renew for
one year unless either you or the agency gives notice of non
renewal (typically) 60 days prior to the expiry date of the contract.
This is just a heads up on what to expect when you sign with a
major editorial fashion agency.

In truth (regardless of my editorial comments) this is a good contract,
it has allowed the agencies to function properly for many, many
years now, and to provide an excellent environment for models to
make a good living (and for some, a very good living!). There are
small variations agency to agency, and there are models who have
slightly different commission rates for various reasons, but this
is the language you can expect to see when you are offered the
opportunity to sign with an editorial fashion agency.

One thing I always caution models about is when you finally sign with
an agency, remember, this is not the finish line, it is the
starting line. However hard you had to work to get there, you must work
ten times harder to stay there. You will not try modeling,
modeling will try you, and most will be found lacking.

John
--
John Fisher
900 West Avenue, Suite 633
Miami Beach, Florida 33139
305 534-9322
http://www.johnfisher.com

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