What do you do?
Recently I performed at an event as a juggler. No clowning, just me my juggling props and a 30 minute show. I was hired by another entertainment company to do the job since they don’t have any jugglers on staff and they paid my standard rate for a juggling show. Overall I had a really good time until the end when the contact gave me a check for the show to give to the entertainment company they hired. She stated “It is $xxx, right?” I said that I didn’t know what she was quoted for a price but that that was probably correct. As I walked to my car I did some mental math, and by mental I mean on my iPhone.
What I came up with disturbed me. I had done all the work for the gig other then recieving the phone call. I had driven to the job, about 30 miles, provided all my own equipment and recived numerous compliments on my performance. The math I did showed me that of the total amount paid for the gig by the customer I recieved 60% and the company I worked for recieved 40%. Talking to some entertainers that I know has led me to believe that this is an insane amount of money for the non-performing agent to recieve.
What is your experience with being booked by another agency? What do you think I should do in the future to prevent this? Does that seem crazy to you? Let me know in the comments.
That is show business for you.
You got your rate.
Now you know how much you are worth, in that arena, you wont charge so little I hope.
If you are undercutting other professionals it is important to riase your rate. Especially now, in this economy. There will be plenty of
newbies with low rates. We have to stand together.
I am assuming you saw the corporate rate.
750$ to $1200.
That is a broad but standard rate.
I hope you find yourself getting that rate from now on.
If you got paid what you are asking, then you should send the owner of the company who subcontracted you a thank you card for using you and ask he considers using you in the future. If it is a large event company who subs their jobs believe me they have a lot of overhead in advertisement alone. You should be happy you got what you wanted and be happier the company who subcontracted got what they wanted. Now if they lied to you and they talked you down money and made a bunch of money I would pissed. In the future if you don’t like it, don’t do business with them, just know there are people out there who would be willing to replace you. Good luck with all you do and be safe out there.